Just Getting Started

Sometimes, just getting started can be the hardest thing to do.

Of course, a wrist problem can set you back a little too. Although I’m certain to stop every ten minutes (okay, sometimes every twenty), I can still overdo it, at times.

Once I get started though, when I see the colors change on a spindle, it’s difficult to stop.

I suppose it’s like that for a lot of things. I just started swatching for a knit for my friend’s newest addition to her family.

They’re adorable, aren’t they?! Too cute!

The pattern is from a book I got in the mail from Storey Publishing.

I love the One Skein books! If you only have one skein of a beloved yarn, try one of the patterns in the books that got their start from the book One Skein Wonders. They’ll make great use of that precious skein.

Here’s another I want to try after the baby booties.

It’s like, once you get started, you can’t just pick one.

When my wrist needs a break though, I try my hand at cardmaking.

Ever since I started scrapping/photo albums for my family, cards just seem a natural extension. It helps to use up scraps and it keeps the creativity flowing. Besides that, there’s always an occasion. But there are a couple birthdays approaching and I’ve been dragging my feet getting any cards done. Mostly, just getting materials together. Sometimes that can be just as fun as the making! But, you can get a little overboard. (raises hand) I think the paper stash grew by another five packs…

So did the punches and dies. Sigh.

At any rate, I needed two different birthday cards with two different looks to them. I find I’m either attracted to a very simplistic look like in my scrapping/photo albums or full-blown multi-layered looks. I’m not feeling pop-ups yet. But, you never know.

This one is Boy Child’s birthday card.

I used gray and red for the main colors. It has one dimensional piece with a cupcake stamp that I’ve always loved to use for birthday themes-also gray and red. But, then, because it’s his birthday…

I put a pop of color to contrast the gray and red theme on the inside. I thought that was pretty cute. Honestly, between you and me though, he won’t care about it. He’ll be too busy checking out the gift card that comes with it.😉

This next card is for my mil.

Her birthday is in November. She’s a grand dame, so I felt  it should be a little upscale festive? I don’t know…something like that. I liked the results here too. By the time I got to this card though (um…around 12ish today), I had found a Craftsy vid on layering cards. I had also downloaded a couple on making birthday cards, and one on stamping a couple days ago.

I think I got to see most of the vids, sort of. Me seeing a video anymore is like watch five minutes, do laundry, watch five minutes, fix a plate, rewind last segment, and on and on. Hey, I’m a single mom. I can’t promise that I followed any particular methods exactly. I rarely do anyway. I’m a closet rebel! But I absorbed a lot, I think.

This one also has dimensional aspect as the last half sits up from the card. You can see from the shadow here. It does say Happy Birthday twice, but I needed to use that ‘happy’ die cut before it got torn somewhere in my stash-so I forgive me and you should too.😉

I made the dimensional embellishment with some patterned paper scraps, a punch, a die, a couple stamps, and a marker. It sounds like a lot, but it went pretty quickly once I figured out what I wanted to make it look like. I imagined in front of the stamped cake, a couple of birthday present boxes would look kind of nice. I didn’t have any string, so I cut off and colored the bow from one of the stampings of the birthday cake that I had rejected earlier. Then I masked a stamp to get the birthday tag (I saw that method in the Craftsy vid on stamping).

On the inside, I used some stamps again. I really love stamping. But, they don’t always work out for me. This was my fifth try and it was the best of all the tries, so it stayed. Reminds me…I need to practice my lettering!

There’s always something to start, isn’t there?