Making goals and being "sew inspired"

I took a big step and submitted a project to a papercrafting magazine this week.  I wasn't selected, but instead of being deterred, I think it has motivated to keep trying and perhaps one of my goals for 2011 will be to get published. 
Here is the project I submitted.  The theme was sewing inspired papercrafts.  I made a wall hanging using Cosmo Cricket's Material Girl line.  Honestly, I am a huge Cosmo Cricket fan.  They are one of my favorite lines.  I love their creative themes, color palettes and whimsical patterns. 

Ironically I do not sew.  If I can make it out of paper, ribbon and glue I will, but needle and thread and sewing machines intimidate me.  Perhaps that will be another goal for 2011, learning to sew. 

Now I need to figure out someone to gift this to.  Anyone out there enjoy sewing and need a decoration for your sewing room? 

Also this weekend I went to the the CK Convention in Bellevue.  Slightly overwhelmed by all the amazing product and the sheer number of crafters that were there.  Happily returned with a number of great things which will soon be showcased on this blog. 



Christmas Advent Calendar Project

It is almost November and I am starting on some Christmas crafts. While I was out shopping for supplies for my Christmas cards, I was pretty excited to come across this DCVW Advent Calendar kit at my local Joanns last week. 

The kit is amazing.  It includes two 12x12 red and white chipboard background pieces, 25 envelopes, three sheets of 8x8 decorative paper, ribbon, rhinestone jewels and tons of stickers and chipboard pieces to decorate each day. 

It also comes with an idea sheet, but you can decorate the days as you wish (with the exception of the 4th, it is printed on the sled, so you are pretty much stuck with the sled for the 4th).  I used the decorative papers to cover the envelopes for some of the days.  The kit includes a red snowflakes patterned paper, a green plaid paper and a light blue polka dotted paper that resembles snow. I also used Stickles to accent the envelopes for the 21st-25th and I utilized my Crop-o-Dile to add eyelets to the corners to thread ribbon through.  I am not sure I like how long the ribbon is at the top, so I might incorporate a larger ribbon bow at the top to take up some of the white space when it hangs on the wall.

I have the perfect recipient for this advent calendar, my friend Melissa's son Mason.  He is four and when I found this kit I knew instantly I needed to make this for him.  I have to find some tasty treats to fit inside each envelope.  I am hoping that Ghirardelli chocolate squares will fit perfectly in the first twenty days and I am thinking I will fill the last five days with lollipops or candy canes since those envelopes are smaller.  Maybe I will fill the envelopes with a little note too!

So I am still learning all the features of my new camera, so these pictures aren't the best, but at least it gives an idea of what the project looks like.  I think taking pictures during the day might be helpful in reducing the flash glare.  As you can see, the chipboard background has a glossy sheen.  I figure the more posts I write and the more pictures I take, that this blog will show gradual improvement with time.  I hope to showcase some of my completed Christmas cards in my next post.  I am currently using the Jolly by Golly line from Cosmo Cricket and also the Noel line from Making Memories for my holiday cards this year.  Look for my next post in the next couple of days.  Thanks for reading!

Camera issues and Christmas Projects

Honestly, I have had some issues trying to update this blog.  To take the photos of the Halloween cards in the previous post I borrowed a digital camera from my parents (it is 4 years old, only 4MP, has crappy battery life and apparently new SD cards are too advanced for the camera).  We had a pretty awesome digital camera until this past summer when our home was burglarized and someone stole it.  We had been meaning to replace it and hadn't gotten around to it until I realized I wanted to start this blog and photos of the projects I was working on were kind of necessary. So we finally bought a new camera last weekend. Hooray! Costco had a great deal on a Fujifilm 14MP point and shoot camera and it also does HD video. Hopefully I will find the courage to do some tutorial videos for the blog soon. 
My plan for this weekend to is to upload some photos of the Christmas projects I am currently working on. I am almost finished with an advent calendar that I am making using a DCWV kit I bought at Joanns and I started crafting some Christmas cards.  My plan is to hand make all my cards this year.  In years past there have been two lists of card recipients; the handmade card list and the store bought card list.  A friend outed me on facebook about the two lists, so I figured this year I better start making cards sooner so everyone gets some handmade love. 

Halloween in Wonderland cards

Truthfully, I made these card in the beginning of September. 

I have been waiting until the calendar page turned to October to send them out.  Last year a friend mentioned to me, "I didn't know people sent cards out for Halloween".  Oh, little did they know that I do not necessarily need a holiday to send cards out.  I think that is the best part of making cards, being able to send a little note to someone out of the blue. 

Back to these Halloween cards.  I just love this Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland paper.  I especially love the tags and the playing cards.  Tracking this paper down however was a little bit of an adventure.  I try to support local scrapbook stores as often as I can.  I often find myself calling stores in search of a particular line or brand of paper.  In this case, Halloween in Wonderland was a tricky to track down.  I could find none in Tacoma, but truthfully there is only one scrapbook store in Tacoma (Scrap That! which I love).

I was able to find a few pieces at Papermuse in Sumner, but they were almost sold out (and that was back in the beginning of August). I was able to track down the remaining papers in the line and the tag sheet at The Scrapbook Nook in Kent. 

One free Sunday afternoon, a little bit of ribbon, some basic cardstock and some Stickles later, viola!

Why I heart crafting and started this blog.

People always say you should do what you love.  While I agree with the sentiment of that statement, I am not necessarily convinced it is true.  I think most people do not have the luxury of being in a profession they truly love.  I mean, the world needs accountants, but I don't know any of them who "love" accounting. Maybe a more appropriate statement would be along the lines of "do something you can stand and that affords you the resources and time to do what you love in your spare time".  Perhaps more importantly this is my current mantra.  While I wish I could spend all day in my craft room fashioning things out of paper and glue dots, alas I am required to make a living elsewhere.  It is actually interesting how I stumbled upon my love of paper crafts. 

About four years ago my friend Katy asked if I could help her with some ideas for Christmas gifts.  A friend of hers had taken some photos and made them into cards and Katy wanted to do the same.  While I would not consider myself a crafting genius by any means, I am a little craftily inclined. One afternoon we took to cropping photos and affixing them to cards and she made some really beautiful gifts.  After she left, I thought about how much I enjoyed the time and how much I loved working with paper and making cards. 

As luck would have it (okay, honestly I didn't think it was lucky at the time) a few months later I found myself laid off from my job and with some free time on my hands.  Days I did not spend toiling away applying and interviewing for jobs I spent cutting and gluing and making cards.   While it was a very stressful time, I found an outlet in card making and other paper crafts.  I eventually found a full time job and while it isn't something I am passionate about (seriously, if you work in accounts payable and payroll and you are passionate about your work, perhaps you need to explore the world a little more) I am glad that it pays the bills and leaves me with expendable income to spend on paper, fancy cricut machines, glue and ribbon. 

Along the way, I have encountered a number of inspiring people, projects, and resources and I figured what better way to share them with other crafters than through a blog.  I read so many other blogs that I am inspired by and have learned so much from other people that I have lots to share.  This blog also gives me a way to share the projects I am working on and I hope encourages me to get them done in a timely manner.  My friend Melissa got into scrapbooking a few years ago and has inspired me to start a scrapbook of my own.  Up until now I have limited my paper crafting to smaller scaled things like cards, but I hope to start working on my wedding scrapbook soon.  I figure no time like the present since our third anniversary is tomorrow.

Well I hope to post something every few days and I also hope if you subscribe that you find my blog entertaining and a resource.

Thanks!

P.S.  Why is the blog called "I heart hello"?  People who know me super well will think it is because I love Hello Kitty, and while it might be a little bit influenced by that it is actually something I came up with when I started thinking about if I wanted to start a business what would I call it.  I thought, well I am a card maker and cards are like little hellos and who doesn't love a little hello.  Even in the age of e-mail and text messaging I think people still love getting something in the physical mail.  So I heart hello was born.