Welcome!

Welcome to the start of what I hope to be a learning experience for myself and others. While this isn't my first foray into the world of blogging, it is the first where I've decided to add some accountability, posting on a regular schedule and one where I can open myself up to other stampers and crafters for advice.

I've been an avid crafter for many years now and until recently, 2006 to be exact, I really paid no attention to stamping. I briefly checked out scrapbooking and found that even though I enjoyed it, I seemed to lack the time required to do it on a level that made me happy.

I attended a Stampin' Up! workshop back in 2001 and instantly fell in love with their products. I purchased a few items but without a real thought as to what I was going to do with them. I attended another workshop a couple of years later and it was the same thing. There were new products I loved but I bought with no plan. I kept in touch with the demonstrator and eventually held two workshops. One was a basic class, completing a few card projects and seeing one 6x6 scrapbook page completed. The second workshop featured candles. This was the key for me. It was at this point that I switched gears from an occassional stamper to a dedicated one and become a demonstrator myself.

As I mentioned, I've always been a crafter and my main focus has always been to take those traditional methods and apply them to paper crafts or decor. I'm not sure where that interest came from but it's there and it was in 2006 that I realized what had been missing was the plan. I'm a hoarder when it comes to craft supplies! I love to find the nifty, cute, odd and so on. If I can find a use for something outside of the intended, I love it more! Now that I had a focus on what I was going to do with my crafting, it made it all the more easy to create.

My intentions with this site is to give other people the opportunity to learn and fuel their creativity. I've found the most frustrating thing for myself is to have a finished piece in mind but only have parts in hand. There are times that I lack the ability to put them together just right. Sometimes, this results in the "happy accident" and other times, I'm starting over. I may come back to it, I may not but I always feel that I'm learning from it.

So, for now, I have a few simple projects to post and some thoughts to share!