Being an artist

It's a beautiful spring day here. The sun is shining and there's not cloud in sight. The temperature's been on the rise several days and reaches new high points every day. This is nice. If you're not allergic to pollen that is. Otherwise it's not that fun. If you live in an area where there's still snow it's not fun either.

I was talking to friend on phone yesterday. She's a very artistic lady. I wish I could express myeslf that way. In poems and pictures and such. My friend writes poems I want to frame and hang on the wall. Beautiful stuff. I've tried writing poems. It didn't work out that well. They were just so trivial and not very interesting to read at all. I've tried painting too, but that was just a disaster. I have a picture in my head I want to paint or draw, but it never comes out they way I want it to. This makes me very upset and usually I heave the whole thing away. I think I'll stick to making cards. Those turn out at least almost as I want them to.

Or maybe I should stick to reading instead. I'm pretty good at reading by now, having done it since I was like six years old. I've always been an avid reader. When they asked in class what we thought of when thinking of the word "library" I just had to say "Heaven" since I love books and I love libraries. That got a laugh out of the class. But I truly wish I had a library. Imagine a whole room full of books to read. New adventures to be part of.

The other day I printed out some of the card challenges on Split Coast Stampers (see link) where they challenge you to make a card of a particular design. You have to put the card elements in a particular order or use squares or circles. Fascinating! I tried making one such card. It turned out better than I thought. I got many new ideas. However, I'm a bit picky about what I do since cardstock is way expensive and I really want everything to be beautiful.

Ok, now I really got to go. I have two essays to write for next week and keywords to write and cards to make

Ta ta for now!!

Nina

Headache

I've made a mistake. I went to SplitCoastStampers to get some inspiration for making cards. Now my head hurts from way too many ideas forming in brain at the same time. Very much like when I go to craft store to look around to see what's new. Not a good idea if I don't have any money to buy stuff with.

Anyway, I managed to print out some sketch suggestions since I seem to lack the inspiration how to place my decor on the cards. Did that make any sort of sense?

I'm also royally annoyed with the country and the city I'm living in. We do not have all the great craft stuff the Americans have. We have what you might call a limited supply. Take wheels for example. There are no stamping wheels in the store! And the ink pads! They're hardly bigger than a postage stamp!! In fact, I've seen postage stamps bigger than my inkpads. I've got two now at least. One black and one red. I'm in the beginning of my stamping career so I don't own that much yet. And wouldn't you know, I found a really neat set of clear stamps in a magazine (thank you H!) with a jungle theme (yes, there is a giraffe in the set). Now, if I understand correctly I have to mount those stamps on an acrylic block of some sort before setting out to stamp. I did some checking and realized it was cheaper to order a whole set of different acrylic blocks from the same place that had the stamps than to go to craft store and buy a single block. Shipping was included in that tally. Isn't that interesting? Shows how the prices are ridiculous here when it's cheaper to buy a whole set from halfway around the world and ship it here than buying a single block (of the wrong size of course since the biggest one is too small and in this case, size matters) in the store down the street.

Time to breathe...

I think I'll go check out the special paper craft shop that's supposed to be somewhere outside the city. Maybe they'll have more reasonable prices. I doubt it, but one can dream...

Home! Cardmaking! Oh and thinking of assignment 2.

Ta Ta for now!

Nina