Newbie Encouragement
 

Hi,

I'm new to the hobby-I have been playing around and reading about it for a long time but only recently did I get up the courage to start doing it and sharing my work. I was wondering...do you remember your first card? Did you give it to someone? If so were you nervous/self-conscious? I know we all have to start somewhere and I tell myself there is no right or wrong, just do it and if you make a mistake, figure out how to make something with it, or grab an embellishment. :D Still I am very self-conscious about sending my work to others. I do have a few things in my gallery but they are not near in the same league as most of you. Still, I really have fun doing it and I suppose that's what matters most! :)

Glad you decided to dive in and start playing rather than just looking in from the sidelines!

I made cards in other ways before I discovered stamping and if I look back now at my early makes (both non-stamping and stamping) I may well cringe slightly. But at the time, I was learning and exploring and let's face it, it's a very rare learner who produces things to the same standard as an expert who's had lots of practise.

I think we're often way more critical of our stuff than anybody we might give it to would be. Most people are not going to think "Hmm, that alignment's a bit off" or "That would have been so much better with a green brad rather than a blue one" - mostly they'll just be happy you thought to send a card and if they even think about the fact you made it, they'll be happy you spent time and love on them.

This is absolutely what matters most! It's hard not to compare what you make with other people's work sometimes but it really isn't a competition so if you had fun you're doing just fine :)

The making and the enjoyment of the process are truly the most important. I look at my earlier stuff (in pictures - the actual cards are long gone) and it's much the same as looking at pictures that I drew in school "back in the day". I can see where I started and how I came along and it's satisfying to see the progression. My first card was a gift to a friend that had been making cards for some time (she convinced me to start) and, yes, it was nowhere near as "professional" as hers, but she was thrilled that I'd actually made a card and she still has it up on a shelf in her craft room. Talk about validation! This card-making thing is a very addictive and satisfying pursuit, and comparing and competing truly have no place in the project/process. Continue having fun and doing what makes your heart happy!

I don't remember my first card, or whether I gave it to anyone. I don't usually give my work away anyhow, because I like to craft more for its own sake than for an actual purpose (although I did make a card for a baby shower recently. Pretty simple, but well received.)

I think you might like to check out the Hope You Can Cling To (HYCCT) forum here. There's a month of challenges and then at the end, you pack up your cards and ship them to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas. They love to receive them, and everyone loves to see everyone else's take on the challenges!

The first card I stressed over (different to my first card) was one for a monthly card send (as we addressed them to one another rather than sent them blank for them to use) group. I remember it was a pre-printed green background (I think marble) with a daisy Quickutz die cut and a brad that I used embossing powder and heat embossed to change the color. So FANCY!

My "first" card was actually my HS graduation thank you notes. Back before computer programs, we took some relevant artwork I had done (for the graduation program that wasn't selected) and shrunk it down as best we could and printed it onto copy paper and did a sort of tri-fold with it.

I felt far more nervous the second time around than I did the first (oh that teenage confidence). Now I have confidence. I'm not a DT designer or a Dirty Dozen gal but I am confident in what I can do and own it and just love doing it MISTAKES and all!

When I made my first card I had no clue that SCS existed or there were other cardmakers in this world (let alone better than me :D). So I was not too conscious with my first few cards, I was very happy that I was making such beautiful things and yes I did give them out. My kind family only had kind words to say to me :) Now when I look back them yes they do look a lot different from what I make today but then I was happy with them just like now I'm happy with what I'm making now :)

Good for you for jumping into this wonderful hobby!

Here is probably the FIRST card I ever made. I am 72 years old (young), and I found this in an old box recently. It's a card I made for my grandmother in 1950, when I was only 8 years old!

Old, Old card I made when I was only 8 years old! by buggainok - Cards and Paper Crafts at Splitcoaststampers

I'm glad you have gotten started. The beginning is insecure for a lot of people like any new thing we try. And I sure understand what you mean about the beautiful cards here being a little intimidating as a new card maker myself...but they had to start sometime too!

Just stay open to new ideas and techniques...over time you will know the ones that you like and make you happy. And dont quit the first couple of times you do it! Give it a chance.

There are lots of tutorials on youtube I find very helpful as well as here and many mfgs have them too. You can also learn a lot by using sketches-designs other people put up as a challenge.

I didnt know about this place either when I was making my first card. I have little time to do it so my progress is slow but I am not giving up and you shouldnt either!!! I am so grateful I found this place! I am learning loads and the people are great! :)

I would say don't worry about it or be self-conscious. I remember making cards out of xerox paper folded, with just pencil drawings, as a kid, up to a high-school student using my computer to print out computer graphics (with visible pixels!! The pixels were big squares!! LOL) as cards. Then in college (an adult now!) I would make cards using my very first stamps on CONSTRUCTION paper, coloured with faded, dying Pentel markers (markers for kids). I gave away all the cards I made, just because I don't like to keep anything. The people I give them to are free to throw them away; no hurt feelings on my part. Don't feel nervous. Just jump in and enjoy making them!

edited to add: To this day I still make cards that turn out yucky, and I STILL give those away.

The most important part of this hobby is to have fun and enjoy the creative process! The bonus is have a little piece of art to give to someone.

My first couple of cards were a disaster to me. But then again was my first couple attempts at painting, cooking etc.... But that is how we learn. I still have card disasters but it doesn't bother me as much as it use to.

The first card I made was a paper tole card I dont have it as I gave it away to someone I think it waas a musical one ive still got the same paper tole sheets as I bought some more once i found out how much i LOVE paper tole. When i started stamping (try like 2 months ago or less!!! so im new too) the idea was oh i can save money by using stamped sentiments instead of having to use a peel off sticker all the time so i got a couple of sheets of all different sentiments BUT i watched a scrapbooking made simple video using JUMBO stampendous stamps and it just got me HOOKED seriously and so ive got like heaps of stamps so many i havent even tried all of them yet

Ive got the hang of embossing more than the actual stamping process my problem is that I have lack of strength and dexterity due to multiple disabilities and of course videos that say "dont press too hard" so i didnt and i couldnt work out (mostly for larger stamps) why the images just were not all coming through. Someone on SCS suggested a stamp press a week ago and its on its way here

Im in Australia so a lot of stuff has had to come from overseas which is a bit of a pain and now i have the stamp that got me hooked onto stamping in the first place the IRis and the cottage rose jumbo stamps I also liked the lily but cant find it anywhere they stamped it and embossed it and then coloured with watercolour pencils im waiting for the stamping press to try the big stamps cos i really dont think the images will come out.

Since writing about it ive discovered people have this trouble without disabilities anyway and partially its the angle im lying on (cos im bedridden) so im not at a table Anyways in answer to your question i havent really been too self concious although ive now set up a shop on facebook to sell cards and crochet and other items to raise money for a charity Thats made me a bit more self concious!

I think you just have to have go and giving cards its the thought that counts! When i looked at other handmade cards in a group on facebook and their prices and mine - they were a lot less detailed than mine were for the same price so i reckon people are getting a bargain i just hope some sell cos ive got loads!

from Erin

I got started card making through Stampin Up classes. I was able to learn bit by bit tips and techniques. That helped build my confidence and skill.

My first cards were quite simple. They went to my daughters. That first year I sent out Christmas cards also, after just discovering card making in September.

Remember, most people you send cards to won't be card makers, not real critical, and just happy and amazed you created a card.

Splitcoast has helped me immensely, as well as you tube. Lots of us started out with basic, simple cards and those cards evolved as we learned lay-out and design.

Buddy's mama stated above about learning other things. There are always bumps in the road. That how we learn.

Welcome and great job on your first cards!

Well done for diving in and trying something new! To copy what the others are saying, its all about enjoying what you do. No matter how long you've been doing anything, there will always be people who have more experience/practice/talent-its not about what they can do, its all about you enjoying the process and learning as you go along. We all do the same things differently- we all find our own take on a design/subject/technique. Having started many years ago, my one bit of advice now would be take your time finding what is 'you'- whether that's stamping/altered art/decoupage/vintage/distress/cute/die cuts- rather than investing a lot of money into what you are enjoying right at this minute, try different themes/techniques first. Its way too easy- and I'm sure many of the others will agree with this- to throw loads of money at a particular style or way of working, only to discover 6 months down the line,you enjoy something else even more, and then you have a lot of stash that doesn't see the light of day again.(Many of us looking faintly embarrassed here):oops:And do remember we are all our own worst critics! We will all look at stuff we've done, and see faults that a non-cardmaker doesn't!:shock:

Oh, also! Even after nine years I many times CASE my cards......meaning-copy and ( I can't remember what the S stands for) ;-) everyone.

I replicate cards I see here or that my SU demos showcase. They are never exactly the same, and eventually designs become embedded in your brain! That's when I started creating on my own. Designs just started coming without copying all the time.

Hope that helps.

Welcome, Erin. So happy to have you here with us! And glad you have discovered the fun of this wonderful hobby of making cards. I'll bet the stamp press will help you with stamping. Just keep on stamping and having fun!:)

I recently found one of my first cards I made at classes I attended. I thought oh wow not so good, but my family and friends enjoyed them back then, nearly 20 years ago. I think as we stamp more we find a style that suits us, as with everything the more you do the better you get. As long as you are enjoying making cards, for me it's very relaxing. All hand made cards are beautiful as we have taken the time to create a card for someone, giving someone a card you made is special. Enjoy playing with all different techniques.

When my boys were in high school another booster mom asked me to go to a Stampin' Up stamp meet. Frosty was popular back then and we made some Frosty season cards. I was hooked so I bought my first Frosty stamp set. Then I bought blue ink at the office supply store, and I found some blue fabric type threads and I bought a pack of blue designer papers. I made my very first set of Christmas cards! Frosty was my first card. It was like most crafter's first cards. Cute but lacking in design. However my family and friends loved them. Then my first son graduated high school and my next project was a scrap book for him from his baby pictures to graduation. I didn't do too bad. It turned out pretty good. That did it for me. Hooked forever!

I have been stamping since I was about 55 and I am now 74. Just go for it and create cards for loved ones. My gallery is pretty lame as my husband is ill and just haven't had time to post all the new cards in a long time. Just remember that you can't make mistakes...they are just an opportunity to create something new. There are so many wonderful designers out there...learn from them and add your wonderful ideas to the
cards you create. You are the only one who knows your family and friends...create for
them. I always make cards for family, friends, doctors, dentists and staff at least twice
a year as gifts to let them know that I am thinking of them, respect them and want to
share with them. You will be surprised at your own talent...JUST GO FOR IT!

Almost forgot the most important thing to learn more about stamping is to visit the techniques tutorials...I have a binder filled with the tutorials from splitcoaststampers. Also, if you are just beginning to stamp, I would suggest that you make a binder of all your stamps, punches, sayings, etc. so that you know what you have. It is much easier to look through a book, etc. to see what you want to create than going through all your stamps later on. Splitcoaststampers.com has all the info you need as a new stamper.
You will find that as you collect stamps, sets, markers, die cuts, etc., it easier to just look through your book as you grow.

Hello, GirlFriday! Boy, can I relate to your post!!!!!!!! Not only was I nervous/self-conscious when I sent my first card to someone - I still am and I've been making cards a good 8 years now. I have yet to post anything on SCS as I don't feel like my cards are "good enough".
I do send them to family, friends, a couple charitable organizations and the last 2 years I have actually made boxes of 8 cards x about 30 boxes that were sold at a benefit. How shocked was I when people actually paid $ for the darn things?!
I think you just have to take the plunge and SEND!
I make cards as it makes me happy to be creative and make something that in my eyes "at least isn't too bad". I suspect that the positive feed-back you'll receive from recipients of your cards will help you to make/send more.
As my husband has pointed out many times: I am my own worst critic and I think that's true for most of us.
You go, girl! Make and send away!!!!!!!!

In my mind, I hear Jack Nicholson holding up that cute little dog and saying "Don't be like me! Don't be like me!" :) I am so hard on myself when I am making cards!! I remember when I found that someone had "favorited" a card in my gallery - I was over the moon!!! Send your cards!! If cards make you nervous - make tags for gifts that you give to people...bookmarks...go small. Have fun!

DIVE IN!!!!!

Oh my goodness, we all started out rather like someone first entering kindergarten. My sister-in-law got me interested in making cards a number of years ago. I must say I have improved and have found out some my mistakes turned into great cards or new ideas. Keep on trucking so to speak! I just know you will have fun and be surprised how different techniques will become your favorite.
Harriettb

Hey GirlFriday, welcome to our wonderful world of cardmaking! :D Strangely, my first card I wasn't self conscious about, I'm more self conscious now! Have fun and create to your heart's content. 15 years later I still love it, I wish you many years of creative fun :D

First off, welcome to this wacky world of paper crafts! :) Dive right in. I SO remember my first cards almost 15 years ago at this point...lol!

I proudly gave my cards away in the beginning...and that's even with mistakes. I totally over embossed everything - I couldn't figure out why the pretty melted powder turned so ugly...lol!

I was a pretty decent scrapbooker, but with stamping I caught every edge and smeared it all - of course...because the local craft store - Michael's at that time only carried Pigment ink!

I ordered online from across the country so I finally started to have a little fun as my collection of supplies started to grow...and I did a ton of dry embossing - the hard way - lightbox and brass stencils (remember those!).

Then shortly after I saw an ad for stampin up in a scrapbooking magazine and connected myself with someone and the learning began - thank goodness, as I wasn't too good. :)

It all comes with time. Now at that time I could scrapbook like no one - actually taught locally, and I threw myself into the deep end with card making. It's so much fun and still to this day my favorite thing to do is techniques. Just have fun - share your work, appreciate the journey - just like anything in life - we get better the more you do it.

Absorb like a sponge, take classes and try new things. I still have to try things 3-4 times before I can nail it. Life is a learning process - just enjoy the ride.

:)

PS - save a few of your early works (at least in photos) - it's fun to see how far you've come later on!

Thank you so much everyone for your kind words! It means a lot and I appreciate you all taking the time to respond.

I do love this craft! I sent a card and bookmark to a good friend of mine-according to the tracking (it was sent in a package with some other things) it was received over a week ago. My friend acknowledged receiving the package but said nothing about the card or bookmark. It hurt a lot, but I will not let it take away from my love of papercrafts. I will just add them to my "Do not send" list.

Aw, that sucks!! Maybe just ask her outright "what did you think about the card and the bookmark? I made them especially for you!" - maybe topmost in her mind were the other things in the package.

Your friend's lack of comment probably means that she didn't give a second thought to the fact the card and bookmark were hand crafted. Sadly, in this day and age of mass production and consumption, many people are just blissfully unaware of the time and effort involved in actually making something.

There can be a weird reaction involved to hand crafted items - if you call it "couture" then everyone expects it to be a fantastically expensive, beautifully-made, one off. Call it "home made" and people think it's inferior in some way. Most of the time though, people just don't think at all about how the stuff they own comes in to being - don't be hurt or discouraged, just put your friend in the same camp as the vast majority of humankind and give yourself a pat on the back because you know better :)

I second what Joanne said. There's also a whole camp of people who look down their noses at those who make cards and such and call it "craft" like it's a bad thing - what THEY do is "art"... I'll tell you right now - anyone looking at what Dina and Birgit produce, for example, would have to change their mind in a big, fat hurry! Take a good look at the gallery on any given day - there's a lot of ART in there!

I never get an acknowledgement of a card received. An acknowledgement usually comes up in conversations months later. Or when I do not send a handmade card out.

I missed making and sending cards out these last two Christmas because of migraine attacks. I did get a few nice complaints that my cards were missed.

My mom did save all my cards. I also had an Aunt frame one of my cards and give it to her daughter as a present. She thought the card I made fit her daughter's remodeling decor in one of her room's.

There have been a few family and friends that never acknowledged receiving my cards. Sorry to say, but these few people are now on the "store bought card list" only!

So, complements and acknowledgements don't come often, but when they do, they are nice.

Just be happy and make your cards. Don't be upset when you don't get acknowledged. Just do it because you like too!:p

I look at it this way, I have the right not to like their mass produced choice of cards for me.

Also even if I got handmade things as part of a package, I would thank a person for the package and be done, even though I have been creating for years, I don't know that I would stop to be specific in my thanks in this instance.

People are strange. I have been making and sending cards to my brother, sister-in-law and niece for about 4 years now, and they never said anything. Then I found out they had them all displayed in their home because they loved them so much. They just never said anything about them! Make cards because you love doing it, send them to people you love. You just never know how they can touch someone!

When I lived in England I use to send my Great Auntie here in the USA (more like a grandmother) a large box of Thornton's chocolates. The first few years she never touched them but just offered them to people who visited her. That was fine by me because it was a useful gift for her (she could buy anything she wanted) then she realized people were actually asking her if she had any chocolates when they visited and even my uncle asked her if she had any, and he isn't a chocolate eater but was on his 3rd piece. She hadn't she had just offered them to guests... well that changed once she tasted one. Sometimes people don't know what they have until someone else shows them.

What I am trying to say is do what works for you. I have never received a personal thank you from my nephew and niece for their cards specifically but it wouldn't change my actions because I am being true to who I am.

Last Christmas my mom painstakingly made her first Christmas cards ever, with my help. She handed them out to her friends at church. When some of them didn't respond as enthusiastically as she had hoped, she said "hey! You MUST admire these " and went on to describe how she stamped AND coloured each person (it was a Nativity scene) and how long each card took her. Lol. She got her "oohs" and "ahhs"! They had simply not realized that it was handmade, or if they had, they had no idea about the effort that went into them. And my mom herself, when she had asked ME to make her these cards, I said I would, but only if she helped me because each card took about half an hour. She was shocked because she had thought that each card only took about three minutes!!!

Hooray for your mom for educating her friends! Sometimes, people just do not realize something is handmade, or all the steps you took to create it.

I have a good friend who is absolutely not "crafty". Never has made anything in her life. I always send her my handmade cards, and she is always very appreciative. But....one day we were having lunch and she had my latest card in her purse (had just picked up her mail.) She was looking at it, and saying nice things.

Then I said I had colored it especially with the colors she likes. She looked at me in astonishment: "Oh my gosh," she said. "You COLORED this yourself? I thought the stamps you used came already colored.":)

I have had people say to me that they especially appreciated my Xmas cards because I made them. That made me feel good! I feel like I shouldn't expect a comment on every card I send out through the year. I don't want someone to feel obligated to praise something they didn't care for.

And you probably have noticed that many commercially made cards are made to look like hand made cards. We must be doing something right!

You are right about that. While I was waiting in line today at a store, I looked at a rack of cards by Papyrus. They all are heavily embellished and look very much like handmade. The price for them was $7.95!

Maybe there is hope for me to break even with all the money I've spent on cardmaking supplies, if I consider that all the cards I've made and sent could have cost $7.95 each.:)

I honestly dont remember my first card but I sure have made a lot since then. I am so blessed to have so many places to donate my cards to. Yesterday we did our twice yearly fund raiser at church and sold over 800 cards! Its so much fun making them that its a blessing to have a way to off load them yo make more. Welcome to this fun craft!
blessings.

Welcome to the world of crafting / card making!! I started only 4 yrs ago and I am in love with it. I encourage you to browse through gallery and find your style and CASE the card (Copy and Share everything and give credits to the original creator). Once you find your own style you will be making cards like no tomorrow!!!