A Blog Hop with a Difference!!

Hello my lovely visitors and welcome!!

Last week I was so thrilled and honoured to be asked by my sweet friend Heather Jacob to take part  in a Blog Hop with a Difference.  The difference with this Hop is that the posts  are not all done at the same time.  They are spread apart and as it progresses the tour spreads out to encompass more and more crafty blogs.  Each of us has to answer some questions about our creative life and then tag 3 more of our crafty friends to carry on the Tour the following week.   As you can imagine, this is going to become HUGE!!
To visit Heather's Blog CLICK HERE.  Believe me, you will be awed and inspired by her work.  She is an amazing artist and a beautiful soul as well.  I have come to know her on a personal level and feel so very blessed that I can call her my friend.

So, to the questions ...
What am I Working on at the Moment?
Right now I am working on some Design Team projects for Meg's Garden and 2Crafty Chipboard but, unfortunately, of course, I can't really show you those.  I can though, show you a couple of pages I am currently working on for my Positivity Journal.

These are coming together a little slowly but I only work on them when I'm in the mood and there is nothing else I need to do.

When and how did I start Paper Crafting?
For as long as I can remember (and that length of time changes from day to day,  LOL!) I've always been creative in one way or another.  I used to sketch, I've knitted and crocheted.  I've sewn and made clothes for myself and my children.   I've also done embroidery, ribbon embroidery and cross stitch.   Each of these crafts though fell by the wayside when I discovered paper craft.  The cross stitch and embroidery are the most recent but those I had to give up because of my eyesight.
This is the last cross stitch piece I was working on.

Every once in a while I'll do a little more,  but I can't do it for too long because my sight just goes fuzzy even with my glasses on.
Some years ago, my niece started sending us cards which she created digitally on her computer.  I loved them so much more than the store bought variety and thought "I could do that."   I think I printed only about 2 cards when I decided it wasn't enough, there must be more I can do with this, so I started searching on the net, found some blogs (Luckily for me Heather's was one of them), and that was the beginning of my paper crafting journey.   As you can imagine, my style has changed quite a bit over the last few years.
This is the first card I made for my youngest son in 2007 (I cringe a little when I look at these now) ...

 ... and here is the one I made for him last year.

A feminine card made in 2007 ,,,

... and one I made not long ago.

I think my makes are a little more 'grown up' now and I have to thank the paper crafting community on the net for that.  I have learned so much from visiting other people's blogs and seeing what they do and how they do it.  You guys out there are so generous with the way you share your processes and techniques, it is awesome!!  Thank you!!  Thank you!! Thank you!!  I hope that in my own little ways I have contributed to that too.  This sharing of ideas is also one of  the reasons why I will be doing this till the day I die or at least till I am not able to do it any more.  Before, when crafting, there really wasn't any way to share it with anyone except family and close friends.  But now, with Blogger and Facebook and Pinterest, we can share the things we create with the whole World.  We can ask questions when we have a problem with our crafting and we can share experiences with others who also love doing what we do.   We can get ideas  that we may never have thought of ourselves and we make friends with people who we may never meet but who become a part of our lives just the same.  I really, really loooveeee this Scrap Booking and Card Making Community!!!!  Mwah!!!  

What do I like to make and How does my Creative Process Work?
I have never really thought about my processes before and, I have to admit, I don't really think I have a specific process.  My main love is making cards and they are usually created for a specific person so that persons' likes and dislikes have a great influence on the type of card I make for them.  I might begin with the style of card, or the colour I want to use or even with a flower or particular embellishment.  It seems to change from piece to piece.   I have also, of course, made quite a number of cards for no specific person or reason but  simply because I was in the mood to create or because I wanted to try a particular style or technique.  Here is one such card.

I love the look of torn and curled paper and this is one of the cards I made whilst experimenting.
Now that I'm thinking of it though, my Art Journaling always starts with colour.  I might want to try a certain colour combination to see how it looks or I've seen one somewhere that I really like so I want to try that for myself.  So, I experiment and. if I like the background I've laid down, I'll keep it for future pages.  Sometimes my pages come together really quickly but other times it may take days or even weeks before I know what I want to do next.  I never glue anything down until all the embellishments and all the bits and bobs are assembled and placed just the way I want them.
Here is a background that's been patiently waiting to be finished for a while now.  Still not sure what I'm going to do with it ...

 ... and here is my favourite Art Journal page!

I love the colours and also just love how those butterflies turned out.
As well as cards and Art Journal pages I also make Mini Albums and have created and decorated a number of boxes and off the page projects.
As an example, this is my latest box ... a Caddy for my Art Journal and supplies.

How do I stay inspired?  Firstly, because I absolutely LOVE paper crafting.  It satisfies a need I have in my heart to be creative and it satisfies that need extremely well.  Secondly, I stay inspired through the Paper Crafting Community.  I think there are times when we all get a little disheartened.  When the juices just don't seem to want to flow.  I've seen a good number of posts where people have said they've lost their 'mojo' and don't know how to get it back.  I've lost my 'mojo' a few times too, but when that happens I visit some blogs and take a look at what everyone else is doing and usually there will be something out there that peaks my interest and gets the creative juices flowing again.  So, once more, I say thank you to all you wonderful paper crafters who share your gorgeous works!!!

Where do I do my Crafting?
I first started this hobby in 2007 and I would sit at the breakfast table and everything crafty that I owned at the time was kept in a large craft bag.  Now though, I would certainly need more than one craft bag to hold my stash so I am really lucky to have a dedicated crafty space with a bit of storage.  It's not huge and it's not fancy but it is just right for me.  When our sons left home we converted one of the spare bedrooms into an office.  My husband and I each have our own computers and our oldest son's ex-bedroom had a desk and bookcase which covered all of one wall, so this was the perfect place for us.  Now though, my craft space has taken over quite a bit of this room. My hubby complains that he is now only allowed one little corner but I just tell him he should be grateful I've left him that much and, at least, we are still in the same room together.  LOL!  Here's a few piccies.  I apologize because it looks a bit messy but I assure you it gets a lot worse than this.  A LOT worse!!!
I originally sat at the black desk to do my work but found I was standing up more than I was sitting down and kept getting terrible backaches. But now ...

 ... I have this awesome stand up work table that my hubby built for me.  He's not really happy with it but I love it!!   So much better for me now that I can stand up comfortably and I have the old desk top where I can have my sewing machine and cuttlebug set up permanently instead of having to drag them out of the cupboard each time I need them.

My puppies like my desk too because they sleep in their basket underneath when I'm there being creative.  If you look closely I think you can just barely make out there is a little dog in there.

So now I will pass the baton over to these lovely ladies who will be posting their contributions to this Hop on the 30th June.

Kerry-Jean Watson lives in Adelaide, South Australia and is a very talented young woman who has a vast range of interests.  She is on the Meg's Garden Design Team and has also done a Guest Design spot for Imaginarium Designs and for Australian Scrapbook for their on-line blog.  Her eye for colour and composition is amazing.  She creates  the most beautiful and elegant pieces and has also now turned her hand to designing stunning paper lines for Meg's Garden.  Find her blog HERE.

Adriana Bolzon also lives in Adelaide and is a wife and mother.  Another very talented woman who is on the Design Teams for Meg's Garden, Kaisercraft, Couture Creations and has been published in various crafting magazines.  Her Scrapbook pages and cards are full of colour and vibrancy and she also creates the most brilliant and unique Decor items.  Find her blog HERE.

Helen Tilbury lives in South Africa and is also a wife and mother.  She is on the Design Teams for 2Crafty Chipboard, 7 Dots Studio, Inkido and Scrap Magazine.  She has also been published and is the owner of the Scrap Around the World Challenge Blog.  This amazing artist has a gorgeous arty style and she uses lots of gesso and paints and inks in her work.  Her creations are rich in colour and detail and the most amazing textures.  Find her blog HERE.

Each of these gorgeous women are super talented and never fail to inspire me.  I do hope you will pop over to each of their blogs to have a look.  I am sure you will be fascinated and inspired.

Thank you so much for visiting.  I hope you have enjoyed reading about the creative side of my life and that you will continue the journey as this Blog Hop progresses.
Enjoy the rest of your day.  Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg