In The Beginning ...

My sister inherited all the creative DNA in our family.  I got none.  She is very crafty, and I am SO not.  Without explicit instructions, I am unable to create ... well, anything.  But I want to make cute things with my own two hands!  So I have dabbled in different kinds of crafts - crocheting, sewing, scrapbooking, cardmaking (I even tried knitting once.  I've been making the same scarf for about 6 years now and it's still 6 inches long) - and give up after nothing I make looks like it does in my head.


When my sister asked me a couple of weeks ago if I wanted to join her in a card workshop at Archiver's, I was excited, but hesitant.  What if I embarrassed myself by being a complete noob?  What if my stuff turned out like a 2nd grade noodle project?  I furiously scoured the internet for remedial crafting courses ... to no avail.


First, let me just say that the instructors at Archiver's have the patience of a saint.  Seriously.  Second, I was incredibly relieved when the class was from a pre-packaged kit (whew!).  No real creativity involved, per se; it was more about the techniques and tools, which was perfect for me!  I got to learn the "lingo" (pop dot versus glue dot, etc.) which I never knew before.  I also got to learn what all those fun tools were for (half of which I probably have stashed away in my storage room because I never knew what they did or why I bought them)!


We made Itty Bitty Valentine cards from a kit created by Archiver's.  The final product was this:

You can't really tell, but the cupcake top is puffy and blinged out.

My card with little quilled heart in the bottlecap isn't exactly cooperating

We also got to make a bag!  It looked a lot harder than it actually was, and I was quite pleased with my end result:

Even the envelopes got some lovin'!

In a little over 3 hours, I learned the basics of stamping, scoring, punching, quilling, layering, and all the vocabulary that goes with them (excluding the words of the four-letter variety - those were all mine).  Not a bad deal for $20.


So after this class (and another $80 or so on my way out of the store) this was my first official foray into the world of papercrafting.  Heroin has nothing on Archiver's.  Just sayin.