That was then...this is now...

I wanted to show you some of my craft when left to my own vices and some of the cards I made when in a class or inspired by some other cards. The card below was one I made after purchasing a really cool book that made me feel like an artistic Queen. They had the pattern for the small envelop and as you can see, I did good matching the papers. I was on a roll. I made a bunch of these (1999) and sold them at various venues.
This card was made at a craft store in Mountain View that closed a short time later - it was the location because the teacher was excellent and the store owner was very friendly. I had always looked at that card thinking I could reproduce it when I came home. I never could.I found this image through MS Office clip art and had matching paper and thought, wow, look at me. Go girl! I was on a rush then. This was last summer. My job was depressing and making cards at home kept me going (until they decided to lay me off).
I know how to take a Microsoft image and put it in PP to change the color of the item. They'd already had the image I wanted, I just wanted to use it more than once, so I change the color of her top and matched the paper with it. Ugh, what was I thinking? Lucky for me, my friends liked the cards.
Then I met KT at a class after web searching for a craft store in my area. I was thrilled at having found the store let alone that they actually had classes. Yep, paper heaven, here I come. This was last year. KT was a fabulous teacher and we always have fun in class. These little purses were a hit and I was able to duplicate it for a non-profit I volunteered for (I made 75 for the group's Christmas party and it was well received). Exciting isn't it?

Then I made these little goody bags for special co-workers at work. The EAs had to dress up as pirates and everyone loved the cute little goody I gave them. They thought I was so talented.

KT showed us how to make these as well. Imagine my excitement when I was able to duplicate these at Christmas for co-workers.
So, imagine how artsy I felt. I suddenly felt like making cards all over the place.
I guess reality had to set in sooner or later. Go ahead and laugh because I do now when I see these cards. I mean, honestly, did I need help or what? This was last year. I couldn't understand what the problem was. I finally realized I needed structure (typical of a person like me with OCD, right?).
This was made in August of this year. I did scraplift from a card KT gave me because I loved how she made the paper look like lace. I didn't have a punch, so I improvised. Not bad, huh?
I still have a ways to grow but I'm learning and the blogs have been immensely helpful and awesomely inspiring.

So whether you are new to crafting or you're in the middle like me. Keep on trying and find your niche. Pretty soon you'll be soaring like the experts here who can design on a dime. How cool is that?