I have an Open House planned for Saturday, May 23 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Clubhouse where I live.
I don't have family here and I don't have friends here, YET. We've lived in this area since 2002 and I don't know many people so I am having this Open House to introduce myself and meet my neighbors and the neighborhood.
You may ask why I don't know ANYONE after living here for seven years? Because my "Day Job" since 2001 has been an Over The Road (
OTR) truck driver. Home was seen about 1 day a month with an occasional month I came home for 10 minutes. The winter months of December, January, and February I would be home and spent the entire time doing my paperwork and getting ready for tax time.
I started
scrapbooking in 2004 when I found a magazine at Lowe's (of all places) while my husband and I were fixing a truck whose roof window blew out on Interstate 10 west of Tucson, Arizona. That was an experience, let me tell you. I took pictures of the repair process.
The beginning months of 2005, while I was home, my addiction began. My local Michael's store became my "drug" dealer. Being new into this experience and not having any guidance from someone who knows the process and short cuts, the paper aisle alone proved to be a sensory overload. All the colors. All the patterns. All the textures. Which to choose? After much time spent in going from one end of the aisle to the other and back, touching these papers and being thrilled again and again over the colors and patterns, I did what anyone with not a lick of sense would do. I just loaded up my little basket.
After I got home with all of these beautiful papers the excitement of creating pages was nearing euphoria. Laying out each piece of paper, lovingly touching each one again and proclaiming that this piece of paper was beautiful. Then deciding the next piece was even more beautiful than the current one. I crashed, hard and fast.
I decided that I could not make one cut on any of these papers because they were too beautiful to destroy. I wanted to keep them in pristine condition and look at them and touch them instead of cutting them up.
Another trip to Michael's was called for. This time find papers that are "pretty" and can be cut and used in layouts. Out in the pathway that lead to different parts of the store were huge wire bins. In these bins were row after row of "Slabs". Wrapped in plastic and over an inch thick for $19.95 was a grouping of papers. Thumbnail images of each print and solid contained in the packet were displayed with the word "Coordinating" at the top just under the word Slab.
You know what is coming next. I bought it. I took it home. I took the protective plastic off and looked at the papers. One piece at a time. Now, I have MORE PAPER I CAN'T BRING MYSELF TO CUT UP.
Slowly, very slowly. I convinced myself that these papers are for me to use and cut up. The day that I reluctantly cut the first piece of printed paper was both liberating and enjoyable. My three month stay at home to learn this thing called
scrapbooking was just about over. Within two weeks I would be going back to my "Day Job".
And, I believe you know what comes next. From early in the morning until long past dark I was cutting papers, attaching photos, making layouts one after another. The OBSESSION took hold. Trying to cram as much as I could in the limited time I now had left was nothing short of crazy.
My poor husband was not only neglected, he got scolded for wanting to know what was for supper. I couldn't stop myself. I didn't want to stop myself. Time was of the essence in getting photos, long stored in boxes and on shelves, into albums.
The next winter home, January,
February, and March, of 2006 I learned about die cutting machines from craft programs on television. This world of
scrapbooking, one that I did not know existed before 2005, was now being blared everywhere. Magazines, television programs like the Carol
Duvall Show and Sandy
Genovese's show about
scrapbooking with the
Sizzix machines. I had to have these new tools. So back to Michael's I went.
Then, (hanging head in shame) I found eBay. The purchases I made were numerous. Delivery to my home was the best part. I didn't have to make trips to the store any longer. Now I had "Christmas" nearly every day when the postal person came knocking on my door.
You already know where this is leading also, don't you? Where was I going to put all of this stuff now that I have gone totally bonkers?
Well, years have passed. Winters come and go with new accomplishments and my skill level grows. I have a "Studio" to work in now, a small bedroom, outfitted with kitchen cupboards and
armoires for storage, and a roomy table to work on.
This has been a struggle learning all these techniques by myself. Rewarding and
exhilarating when I get a new technique accomplished, but it has been frustrating at times not knowing where to start or how to go about it.
Finding
Stampin' Up! and learning that there are people that teach techniques by using hands on training and guidance during my search this winter for card making sent me off to find someone close to me that I could take classes with. What a relief it was to have an actual person teaching me and coaching me in the use of new products.
Having gone through the experiences I have in learning all by myself, and the frustration I felt in not knowing how to do something I found in a magazine or on the
Internet, I decided that I could put this knowledge and experience to good use. Helping someone else struggling with learning this craft is my goal. So many techniques to teach and products to sell to aid in the creation of beautiful gifts, cards, and scrapbook pages.
For my Open House coming up, I am working on display items that will cover as many techniques as I am capable of making. Basic cards that are easy to make yet beautiful to behold. Advanced cards that require more skills and knowledge. Scrapbook pages that are simple and easy, on up to pages that are elaborate. 3-D Projects such as bags, boxes, and event
commemorative items. Oh the possibilities.....
