Home At Last

I've been telling all about my years of searching for the perfect craft - or more correctly, the craft that I can be good at. So, now I'll tell you about the craft that I've finally landed on that I think I can call my own. About 9 years ago my niece Tracy and her husband Rob moved in across the street from us. I decided to have a dinner party to introduce them to the neighbors. In thinking about all the different types of invitations I could use, I finally, for some totally unknown reason, decided to stamp them myself. So, I bought a "You're Invited" stamp and a pad of navy blue ink and I was on my way. After the invitations, it was a very easy step to start visiting rubber stamp stores and art stores that carried rubber stamps. That led to Rubber Stamping 101 classes (yes, I took 101 TWICE - at 2 different rubber stamp stores!! LOL). Then, I met a few people in class and that led to more classes and more friends, but more importantly, the knowledge that there were a lot of supplies and tools out there that I didn't have and really needed! The third class I took was an embossing class. I liked it and immediately bought a heat tool and some embossing powder. That started a years long journey of collecting almost every color of embossing powder known to man. Funny thing was that I only use clear or detail gold embossing powder. Finally, I wised up about a year ago and gave all my embossing powders to my friend Ellen who then gifted me with a wonderful Stampin' Up background stamp - "Tres Chic". This is a beautiful stamp and I will let you know when I finally get around to using it!!! I'm truly serious when I say that I amass, collect and hoard, but don't use.



The reason that rubber stamping appeals to me so much is that I can't draw. I have always wanted to do watercolors and I love them, but you have to draw (even just a little) to get the bone structure for the watercolor. So, it dawned on me that I can let other people do the drawing and I buy the art work in the form of stamps. Then I transfer their artwork to my canvas (actually my cardstock) and I finish the artwork with, what else. . . . . coloring within the lines!!!! But, I do use my own creativity to decide the color scheme, the embellishments, whether to emboss or not, which stamps to combine. I love rubber stamping. . . . . but even more than that, I love collecting all the wonderful tools that go with rubber stamping!!