Another week has zoomed by, and I've spent almost 0 time in my crafting mode. With the summer here, I'm finding it more and more difficult to set aside time to make cards. Not for a lack of trying, mind you. But sitting down to complete a card is a challenge when I've only got 10 free minutes at the end of the day.
I generally make my cards in one sitting. The exception to this is coloring stamps - I will color a bunch of images at once and fussy-cut them for later use. But the actual card assembling does happen in one sitting. So, having a "work-in-progress" card feels a little strange. I keep wanting to head back into the craft room to finish up what I'm working on.
At the same time, I'm fully embracing the idea of slowing down and really enjoying the creative process as a whole. Most of my personal favorite cards were created with a lot of time and effort - by taking joy in finding the right paper, of getting the shading just right and picking out the perfect ephemera. When I slow down while tackling an idea or concept, things fall into place more naturally and instinctively.
Learning about my own creative process and how creative processes work for others is absolutely fascinating to me. I always waver between creating sporadically with unpredictably wild abandon and creating consistently through careful and practical planning. I should probably accept that my creative process is ever-changing, but I still spend time trying to figure it out and find strategies to improve my flow.
Thanks for reading!
~Elle~
I'd say to everything there is a season, and summer may be your sporadic crafting season. My creativity ebbs and flows over the year and this summer I've been more productive. For the last year I've tried a new method I call Couch Crafting. Instead of making a card start to finish while in my craft room, I keep my Misti and a rotating collection of stamp sets on the table aside the couch. I watch my son play video games and converse with my husband, or watch YouTube while stamping out images. Sometimes I'll bring down my colored pencils and color a batch of prestamped images. Or maybe fussy cut the colored images. Whatever the mood and situation dictates. I get so into coloring I sometimes can't talk or watch YT, so then I'll stamp or cut. The time I get in my craft room when the family is elsewhere, I tend to make backgrounds. Its more a technique time and I just play. Then periodically I look through the collection of backgrounds and match it up with some colored images, and boom, I have a card. Feels like I'm being creative almost every day though I may only have finished cards to show for it once every week or two. And I kinda like that on a card finishing day I can kick out several at a time between my collections of pieces. If I did it the other way around I'd only make a single card design and no more than 2 or 4 of them at a time, more likely only 1 cause I spent too much time on design. I like having gift sets together, so now sometimes I'll stamp enough for multiple cards at once and either color identically or in color sets depending on the image. I'm liking that when I'm in the mood to color I don't feel pressured to finish a whole card. The old way of making a card start to finish I'd sometimes be disappointed when the coloring was done or dread having to make a background for them. Now I do the part I'm in the mood for on that day and just wait for all the parts to be complete. Doesn't work if you have a pressing deadline, but I know me and deadlines and I don't get along. You'll never see me on a DT for just that reason!
ReplyDeleteI find other's methods fascinating too and have enjoyed hearing your thoughts and learning how you challenge yourself. :-) One more observation... I loved scrapbooking for all the time I spent on making every little thing just right, but drifted away from it when I saw how I could get almost instant gratification from cards. Then I started taking as much time on a card as a layout, but having no satisfaction since it was not being kept and would likely be thrown away. I told myself when my son leaves for college I'm going back to scrapbooking, but I'm kinda nervous about doing that too. At least when a card doesn't turn out just the way I envisioned, I mail it and forget all about it cause I never see it again. Who says crafting is like therapy?!? Sometimes I think I need therapy *because of* crafting! LOL