A Dose of Inspiration

This morning my husband woke me up early so we could take our daughter's cat to the vet to get neutered. The cat was scared to death in the vet - first time he had gone anywhere outside of our house since we first got him as a small kitten. I remember feeling that way when I first started making scrapbook pages and cards... I was afraid to cut my paper for fear that I would make something not so great. When I got home, I read a post on the paper-ED Instructor Resource Group on Facebook that really inspired me and I wanted to share it with you. The post was made by a fellow Michael's instructor - Denise S. Kavakli. She wrote:

This is a quote by Ira Glass that was posted on a blog that I follow. He's talking about writing but it really applies to crafting too. It's an idea I'm going to be sharing with my students when they are disappointed with their craft (it's a long one but I think it's worth it):
“What nobody tells people who are beginners — and I really wish someone had told this to me . . . is that all of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, and it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not.

But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase. They quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story.
It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

This makes so much sense. It’s normal to be afraid to take a step forward…just don’t give up. Looking at the cards I made when I first started crafting versus where I am now makes such a huge difference for me. I really think one should keep a journal of work so they can look back and see where they came from. That was part of the reason for starting my blog. It really helps to encourage me to look back at my beginnings and then look at where I am at. Keeping track of what I have learned along the way helps to keep me motivated…

My advice to you, as a new crafter, track your progress through a card journal, or even a scrapbook of progress.

I have today off and have plans to get my craft space cleaned up some so I can work on my Michael's samples for our September Open House which by the way is September 8th from 11 am to 3pm. We have several new Holiday Card Classes that will be available in September.  I am also keeping an ear out for info on our Christmas Card collection for the troops. Last year we had a crop dedicated to collecting the cards - I haven't heard if we will be doing that this year. Once I know I will let my readers know.

This open house, I am bringing a scrapbook of all the classes I will be offering...stop by and take a look!