stamping

Cards Using Handmade Paper

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A few months ago, I made some paper and wanted to use it in some cards.

Christmas card using handmade paperFor Christmas, I had grand plans for a cool card that had a little gingerbread man stamped directly on the handmade paper. However, I completely forgot that the paper was still textured and the image barely showed up. It didn’t occur to me to iron the paper or flatten it using my Cuttlebug, so I went with plan B and just used the paper as a background panel. It turned out cute and simple, so I was fine with it.

Birthday card using handmade paperThen for birthday cards, I decided to use an embossing plate to give it a swirly texture. My big plan for this one was to have a hole punched in the textured paper and then stamp the sentiment on the main card paper through the hole. Um, not as easy as it seemed in my head. Again I turned to my trusty plan B. I grabbed some tracing paper (I hope to find my vellum one of these days) and a test panel I made with regular copy paper to line up where to stamp the sentiment. Then I just attached it with brads. Similar effect with a little more visual interest. I love when plans change for the better! Continue reading →

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Don’t Be Afraid Of Mistakes

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“Nothing will stop you being creative more effectively as the fear of making a mistake.”
– John Cleese

Don’t be afraid of making mistakes when it comes to creativity.

Throughout my life I have had a tendency to be a perfectionist. A little over a decade ago I decided to try stamping. My friend Debbie who introduced me to the art pointed out that it is impossible to be perfect while stamping. She was absolutely correct.

I decided to make a hobby of stamping and that helped quite a bit with my tendency toward perfectionism. I learned to enjoy the little imperfections and realize that sometimes mistakes can change design plans for the better. I’ll always be grateful to Debbie for introducing me to stamping because it is so fun and has been helpful to me.

However, I continue to struggle with the fear of making mistakes in some ways and have let it stop me from trying things like creative writing. Still working on that one, but I have at least signed up for a creative writing workshop next month.

The fear of making a mistake can be a tough one to conquer, especially for those of us who tend to be perfectionists. But it is not impossible to overcome.