for inviting me to ?*shamelessly*? admit to my crafting addiction. I'm going to divulge some of my hobby history with crafting supplies today. Luckily I don't actually need to worry too much about that quote, but I do think it's quite funny.
Truth be told, my addiction to stationary and crafting supplies is not as bad as it once was. Mostly because my spending priorities have changed a lot. When I recently packed up my house, I did feel guilty that an entire room's cupboard space had been dedicated to craft supplies. It was all the fault of a guy who sold metal embossing stamps in England... I blame him.
Have you ever heat embossed a stamped image onto paper for the first time? It's mezmerizing - well it was to me and totally got me hooked. That was the first stamp I bought. I now own several hundred.
I took up card making classes and eventually started a ~~part time business~~ hobby of making greeting cards. A few of them did sell at various craft markets but not actually enough to call a business. I gave it a name and pretended it was one for a while. I probably made about 200 greeting cards since 2001. The need to be creative even went as far as designing and having my own Madagascan themed rubber stamps made which you can see in these photos.
When I started working for Adobe, I had access to the latest Photoshop design tools and that was very exciting for me. I was able to do design courses that I used in my crafts. I bought a silhouette cameo machine which added a whole new dimension to my hobbies as I could now digitally cut out vinyl and cardstock. In about 2014 I launched a wedding invitation business which was so much fun. It didn't bring in enough money to live off unfortunately, but I loved what I was doing and helped many happy customers.
What I didn't realise at the time was that all of these skills and hobbies were actually going to meld together towards my current business. I am very grateful that even when I didn't have space for my crafting supplies, I didn't sell them and had them in storage because they have brought so much joy to my daughter who also loves crafting.
Card making is only one of my many hobbies, the others include scrapbooking, calligraphy, fineline typography and sketching, knitting, sewing, baking, gardening, photography, candle making, digital design, video splicing and mosaicing.
I'd like to know what hobbies @fionasfavourites would like to share with us, I am almost certain that she has a good story to share.
Calvin & Hobbes - Bill Watterson