Well, here goes nothing… I’ll be the first to admit it – I don’t know what I’m doing here and I am definitely not a writer; however, I am equipped with a can of Coke, my new lap top and my desire to share my world (especially my world of crafts).
This is my first blog and, while I thought it would be fun to blog, I never thought that I would have anything interesting enough to share. Then, about a year and a half ago, a co-worker of mine who knows I am an avid crafter, sent me a link to her sister’s blog – For the Love of Paper (http://kimberly-crawford.blogspot.com/). It was my first experience with a crafting blog and I ate it up! I immediately signed up to get the blog posts by email so I wouldn’t miss any. Kimberly Crawford is an AMAZING crafter! And I’ve reveled in her successes as a crafter – her work has been published several times in different magazines and on different products and she even has her own line of stamps (check out Mint Motif at i{heart} papers.) Wow! I thought – there is no way I can compete with that. Things started changing for me about six months ago when my cousin introduced me to Rachel, the writer/creator of This Scraptastic Life (http://thisscraptasticlife.blogspot.com/). Again, I was blown away. Rachael is a FANTASTIC crafter and her blog is so fun to read! When I finish looking at her blog I feel like I’m watching a cliffhanger - just waiting for the next blog to continue the fun, crafting journey with Rachel. In September, I got to take a road trip with Rachael as we visited my cousin, Susie, and I came back SO inspired. These ladies were MY kind of crafters and I learned so much while having a lot of fun! As I peruse these ladies’ blogs, ones that they link and others that I have discovered along the way, I continue to improve and expand my crafting skills. Another person who I owe a lot of credit to for my success and improvements is my friend, Brooke. Brooke is THE craftiest person I know and she is the owner of Scattered Star Dust (http://www.etsy.com/shop/ScatteredStardust)– a store on Etsy.com. Check it out! Every time I’m around her I get inspired to take on a new project. Eventually, I just need to work on finishing all of them. LOL **I kind a feel like I’m giving an acceptance speech at the Oscars, so I feel the need to thank my mom, Kay, and my boyfriend, Travis, for buying and allowing me to buy and collect my crafting supplies, for being supportive and accepting my messes.** With that all being said, I’ve come a long way with my crafting - from the little girl who sold so many (ugly) handmade key chains to many charitable people to the woman who now relishes is making homemade cards, scrapbooks, jellies, pickles, apple sauce/butter and other goodies. I love taking on new projects! Scrapbooking really became my “gateway craft.” I started scrapbooking without even realizing it was a big deal; I wasn’t aware that it was an actual hobby, much less that anyone else “dressed-up” their picture book!.
Five years ago I made my first invite for a Halloween party that I was having and it’s become a tradition. I look forward to the Halloween party every year because I get to share my crafting skills almost as much as I look forward to socializing with our friends. Through the years I have saved all of those invites and others that I’ve made for various events. My first intent was to include them in the scrapbook layout for those events, but since that hasn’t been done yet and they’re starting to pile up I’ve been trying to come up with different ideas on what to do with them. So… here we are – the idea that I liked the best – a blog!
Ryan, who is like a brother to me, mentioned that he has been keeping all of my cards and invites. It surprised me, especially when I thought back to some of my first projects and how un-impressive I find them now. I thought about my first “scrapbook” which I thought was just a fun way to display my pictures and how I just cut the pictures out with funky scissors and added colored paper behind the pictures. I also thought about my first attempt at a Christmas card and how I just stamped and embossed a snowman on plain white, pre-made cards. I also thought about my 5 years’ worth of Halloween invites and how much I had grown as a crafter. I began to realize how I would love to make a blog that shows how I have grown as a crafter. I love looking back through others’ blogs and seeing their journeys, I can’t wait till a year or two passes and I can look back and see mine too! It’ll be so much fun!
Welcome to my blog – I hope that you enjoy my journey and that you find inspiration in my creations and my growth. Thanks for reading. I can’t wait to start posting my projects (Just try not laugh too hard at some of the earliest projects – i.e. my first “scrapbook.” LOL.)!
-Amanda Kay
