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.
