CUT AND PASTE FOR GROWN-UPS

My fascination with beautiful paper began with scrapbooking. I was a regular at Remember When’s 6-hour, Friday night crop parties. For $10 we got an uncomfortable chair, ample table space, radio music, a modest dinner (salad, pizza, drinks!) and access to craft tools and store supplies. Such a deal. My well-numbed rump was crying out by 10 pm, but I never wanted to leave at midnight. I was just beginning. I watched women around me glue photos down on colored cardstock, pop on a flower or a butterfly, smile and start new page. It seemed like a race. How many pages could they finish? It was a numbers game.

It was different for me. I loved thoughtfully selecting just the right papers. I’d sift through treasures from my personal stash (This one? Nah. That? Maybe!). Or I purchased edgy Basic Grey paper, which I loved for its eclectic mix of modern and vintage designs, or some warmly romantic Anna Griffin cardstock. I designed my own embellishments so I could use leftover bits and bobs from the last crop party. My photos influenced the colors I picked, and I would fiddle with each element until my “masterpiece” was nearly complete. Then I would distress the paper edges with sandpaper or burnish them with brown ink. If the theme suggested it, I softened the look with delicate pastel chalks. I savored each step of the process, not watching the clock. I became absorbed by the journey. (So that’s all you got done? Yea, pretty much. Actually…it’s not finished.)

When I began to make handmade cards, I wanted to do it my way. But to be transparent, I got off to a shaky start. I did not know if I could create cards I would want anyone to see. So I initially bought Anna Griffin’s fabulous cardmaking kits. They include cream cards, pre-sized and folded, hundreds of shiny embellishments, sticky squares, sentiment insert sheets, and high quality envelopes. I “made” some of these cards for Valentine’s Day, Halloween and a couple of birthdays. But I craved more. Because the design decisions had been made by Anna, you simply stuck this bow here or that flower there, sort of like grown-up paper dolls. (I just aged myself, right?) Beautiful but unsatisfying. Where was the creativity? And more importantly, where was the fun? I wanted to play. And then play some more. I decided to investigate just how I might be able to do that.

In 2021, I discovered talented people on Youtube who designed their own greeting cards and published tutorials. Many revealed where they obtained their cardstock, glues they recommended along with techniques, and a few of them, like Kathy Clement who is my guru, churned out these videos every few days. I had found My People! They were creating fanciful imaginings and having fun. I watched. I learned. And then as Easter approached, I found the courage to just start. Using some Stamperia Provence cardstock, I began to cut and paste. (Photo: One of my first cards.) Later, I tried folios and eventually junk journals which require much more time and effort. Paper crafting fulfills my urge to create. My Youtube channel is called Papurrific.