Getting started in the blogging world.

As I am setting up this blog for the first time, it is difficult to resist the urge to look at what other "popular" blogs look like and see what they are saying!  I am determined to do my own thing however and that means from the opening page I will KEEP IT REAL.

I am not sure about anyone else with a blog, but for me picking out a name, adjusting fonts and colors, and setting up the blog are the yucky parts of this adventure.  I want to skip over all this technical stuff and cut right to the part where I can interact with other crafters and begin the fun networking!  I know...let's get this intro stuff out of the way first.

My name is Tanya and I have enjoyed crafting for as long as I can remember!  The more hands on...the more paint and glue on my clothing...the more mess I leave in my wake- the happier I am!  There is hardly a day when I don't have threads stuck to my clothing, ink stained under my nails, and some unknown goop in my hair!  (and I would have it no other way) While many of my friends can claim an area of expertise, I fall more into the category of jack of all trades.  My defense here is that there are just so many things to make, and not enough hours in the day to do 'em all!  My mother was a tad bit old fashioned, and made sure us kids all knew how to knit, crochet, cross stitch, sew, cook.....you get the picture right?

About 8 years ago I really started to focus on scrapbooking.  I really enjoyed having a hobby that allowed me to interact with other women but as is often my personality I wanted to push the boundaries.  I noticed some embellishments with stitching and thought "I can do that!"  So I got a sewing machine and began stitching on almost every layout!  Then I wanted to incorporate fabric into the mix so I started playing around with it.  Sure it ended up on layouts in a sort of mixed media effect, but I also ventured into making custom draw string bags for my boyfriend's gaming friends!  This was my first real taste of making a little bit of cash doing what I enjoy....and I wanted more!  It's not that I wanted to travel the world or anything but as any "real" crafter knows...funding this addiction we call crafting takes some serious skills!  Since I am in no hurry to appear in an upcoming episode of some coupon reality show, I needed to find another way to balance the spending of cash to buy the latest "must have" tool, paper, or supply!  lol   I got a bit off track for a while experimenting with the wonderful world of making rag quilts and now 5 later...I am still dabbling in them.  Finally, I moved from an area where I could scrapbook with others, to a college town with no scrapbooking groups to be found.  I tried traveling as much as 1-2 hours to attend crops but found the drives home late at night not appealing to me.  I decided to go online.  I played around on several sites, and enjoyed the friendship, and the swaping and sharing of supplies and crafts but in the end still felt I wasn't quit doing what I needed to be doing.

I wanted to SHARE my work.   For me, a big part of being creative is actually sharing it with someone.  It's not the "hey look at me and how talented I am!" kind of sharing...but rather the "hey- I made this with you in mind- and I put thought, and attention into the details just for you!"  So I began to look for an outlet.  I considered several programs that involved the troops over seas...and just didn't feel the calling.  I looked into volunteering at children's centers and seniors centers doing crafts...but again it just didn't feel like a match.  Finally, rather by chance, I stumbled upon a comment on a users gallery where she had posted a card she made for her CHEMO ANGEL patient.    This was it!  Although I had never really made a card before, I knew this was what I wanted to do!  So yeah, add card making to the list.

Card making is nice because you are working with such a small project and the finished result is very satisfying!   I will say that there are a bazillion fabulous artists online who provide great eye candy and inspiration too!  This is one of the cards I created for my Chemo Angel Patient.  I haven't mentioned it yet, but I have a newly discovered frugal side of me.  I am really liking the fact that card making allows you to use many of the supplies you have on hand already- like paper scraps!  The matching envelope in the photo was pulled from my scraps stash, the ribbon was one I made too small for another project, ...and even the flourish was cut from a project I "messed up on" earlier. Put them all together and it looks like I intended for it to look like this from the beginning yes?  More on my resolution to "use what I have" later.

If you would like more information about being a Chemo Card Angel please go to Chemo Angel Cancer Support  to learn more and sign up!



So why do I have an Etsy blog?
That is such a good question!  Although I hope to have a functioning blog that is my creative outlet for writing and sharing with my online friends, I also want a place where I can post things I have created that I would like to sell on Etsy.  I am not wanting this to be my main focus- partially because for me, focusing on any ONE thing is just too much to ask!  I am a dabbler...I won't be the crafter who makes 1000 invitations to a wedding...I simply don't have that drive or attention span.  Crafting is a fun outlet for me...and I hope to keep it that way!  So here's to the new blog...and over the next few days the opening of My Itsy Bitsy Etsy Shop.  Right now it is empty, as I undergo the task of taking photos, and uploading them!  Once all this foundation is complete I am hoping that I am bit more exciting to visit...but we all have to start somewhere and today is the first day of this little journey!

Thanks for stopping by!
Tanya!