I have always been told that I am not a creative person, which is kind of not really a nice thing, to keep telling someone, especially since they were a small child! I think it was because my mom is SUPER creative and can do anything under the sun, and for some reason , she just didn’t have the patience to work with me for some reason! I know that she even did this creative thing with another lady at church for children and she always seemed to do just fine with the other kids, just not with me!
I did have an baby sitter at one point who was super awesome and even helped me to make a small little quilt for my baby doll. I mean I ACTUALLY MADE THE QUILT, and didn’t give up in frustration, or have her do it for me! I still have it somewhere too! I have always been super proud of it.
I think that people are creative in their own ways though, and maybe it isn’t conventional like with arts & crafts. Which, I haven’t really ever tried many things along that line, because I have had it hammered into my head that I CAN’T so, I don’t even try! I always said my creative outlet was something like writing, blogging and that kind of thing. OR that I do love to color (even though, I hated it when I was a child!)
One thing that I kept looking into, that I thought would be something that even I would be able to do, was embroidery, but I never could quite narrow down a machine that I would want, and then I figured having to buy fabric would be a little bit of a pain as well, so I kind of just decided against it.
Last year, after my mom and dad had their wreck, she ended up getting a cricut machine from her neighbors sister. I kind of new about Cricut, because I had tried to scrapbook before , and I know that a lot of people do scrapbook die cuts and such with them. Her machine is a legacy machine, but it was free and she found a bunch of the cartridges at the the thrift shop. She made a few random things, but seemingly lost interest for the most part.
Earlier this year, I had heard that they were coming out with the JOY and I had actually saw ONE in the store at one point. I thought it was super cute, and I was interested, but I just held back on it. Then I started watching random videos and such, and David ended up getting me one.
I have to admit, trying to learn it basically on my own about drove me crazy! Oh, and trying to learn it with David around was a little annoying as well, because he is essentially just like my mom apparently- I seriously was having flashbacks and having thoughts of WHY did I even try!
There are so many resources out there for the cricut ,and that is why I haven’t given up on figuring things out just yet!l, There are youtube videos, facebook groups and dedicated websites all about specific machines & more! I have saw several e-books that I am interested in as well! Some of the best resources are the bundles of svg’s ,paper cutting templates and more!
I was doing super well with stickers and such, I had even created one totally from scratch. I was learning about SVG’s and just the basics of the cricut, and it seemed like I was learning something new every day! I hadn’t ever experienced that sort of feeling before. My mom, since her machine is so old, doesn’t connect to the internet or use design space so I even felt like I had learned more than her about something for once, so that was a great feeling as well.
I had an extended return policy, and since I was evolving and seemingly learning so much, when they had the cricut air explore 2 on sale for the same price, I opted to return my Joy and upgrade. It did break my heart though, when I went in the store and my Joy was sitting there for half price, and I seriously considered bringing it home and having both!
Now with my new cricut, things have been VERY hit and miss, and I don’t know if it is ME or if something might be actually wrong with it! It seems to rip my scrapbook paper really bad for some reason, and it isn’t that old. I have even replaced the blade, reduced the pressure and got a more strong grip mat. So, I have been a little frustrated, but I am still trying! I think it is sometimes me, and sometimes the machine so.. We’ll have to see how that goes!
I haven’t been on a sticker kick since I got the new one , I have been mostly concentrating on making Christmas cards for a few select family members and friends. You do NOT even know how excited I was when I made my first card prototype, even though the colors weren’t what I was going to use or anything! My mom kind of really knocked it, even though it was a prototype, but I kind of expected that. I also sort of suspect that she is a tiny bit jealous of my having a newer machine! I know that sounds a little silly, but she always makes a point to say something a little bit offhanded about anything I make, and makes a point to say that she likes hers just fine and all that sort of thing!
There are so many things that I want to learn, including how to maybe decorate shirts and tumblers and such. I know that one of the things that actually pushed me to get a cricut was that my aunt Jackie made me a shirt that says Fur Mama , and has Marley & Sam’s name on the back and I was like WOW I think I could get to where I could do that! She has the same machine as me, so it kind of inspired me!
I hope that maybe when I get a little bit better, I can bring you some more related content about things that I make, resources and that sort of thing. I thought it would not only be something to learn and inspire me, but it might make for some awesome blog content at some point in the future.
