Okay, be honest now, who is as fed up with this Covid virus as I am? So far husband and I have managed to stay healthy, so I'm grateful for that, but just generally bored, sick and tired of staying at home, and hating to wear a mask every time I need to go shopping. We're fortunate that grocery delivery slots have opened up now and thank goodness for Amazon! They deserve a prize for keeping us sane. I really hate it when people criticise them, as they were delivering from the beginning and it always comes on time (at least here). I made some face masks (not as easy as it looks) and bought a couple more, but none of them are comfortable to wear for more than an hour.
Those of us who do crafts are really fortunate, however. I do know a couple of women who live alone, have no hobbies, don't read, don't garden, don't drive..... and now they're depressed. Well, if that were me, I'd be downright suicidal! On the other hand, crafting gets a little old after a while, too. Yet I carry on, sort of.
Unfortunately, I've had to make a few of these sympathy cards lately. I ordered the die (above) and some stamps, but sympathy cards are not my favourite thing to make. It usually means someone has died (in every case for us, thankfully, not from the virus). It's also difficult trying to decide what colours (nothing too bright), stamps, paper, etc. to use.
This card (above) was for a friend's birthday. I used the Tim Holtz/Sizzix dies to make the flowers and coloured them with Distress Ink and gel pens. As with all my cards, I spend much longer on the planning than on the actual making of the card. I end up looking at Pinterest, CraftWorld,
Split Coast Stampers and other websites for inspiration, but then whatever I make never looks like the original anyway. Maybe it's not meant to?
For example, I saw this card (above) on the Internet and just loved it! So of course I had to order the die (Tim Holtz/Sizzlets again for both the flowers and the lattice dies) and try to copy the general idea. I did make one myself but mine was not this beautiful however! It never is!!!
When I see them side-by-side I can see what I missed: the original has a grass border and the flowers are smaller (or maybe the card is larger?). Ah well, my recipient liked it anyway. I never seem to have the RIGHT colour ink, paper, or the right die, despite having a fairly large stash (though it's constantly growing).
My Stampin' Up stamps are all about 10 years old and still in their original boxes. These are just a few of them.
And my other stamps are in mostly plastic bins (about six of them this size (below). I have one box for just sentiments, the other three are mostly not sentiments.
And of course, two boxes of punches (remember those??) and on and on. Yet, as I said, I never have just the right one! Sigh....oh well, I suppose I'm doing my best to keep the craft industry alive. How about you? I'd love for you to leave some comments so I can see what you've been up to or some suggestions for organising, perhaps.
I'm also really still struggling with my Gemini Jr. but that's a story for another day.
