Confessions of a House Bound Paper Crafter

Between the loss of my mom in June and the COVID-19 thing, I've been having a very difficult time paper crafting and doing the things that truly make me happy.  

I have to be honest here and let you know I really, really  miss my mom and I miss my friends and hanging out with them.  I miss our get-togethers and fun card making times.  And although I read all kinds of motivating stories about demos that are doing this and that to carry on their Stampin' UP! relationships, quite frankly it makes my head buzz and I get tired.  

I don't know whether it's the times we live in or I'm just getting older, but I haven't figured out how to engage my friends and customers by holding Zoom and Facebook meetups and the whole virtual media thing tires me out.  I guess that's why I haven't had much MOJO going on and seem to be spending my time binge watching Netflix and trying to think my way out of this funk instead of yakking with you all and posting cards and projects.  

To my credit, I have to say my leisure time hasn't been all about watching the latest episodes of Frankie and Grace I actually have spent some time in my card studio reorganizing and doing lots of serious cleaning and purging.  One day I'll do a tour of my room, but for now this is what it's looking like:

When I've had the energy and mind, I've also been finishing up old projects, using up scraps of designer papers and retired card stock I've accumulated and trying a few new things.  I haven't felt very challenged though, until I saw this clean and simple sketch challenge from Freshly Made Sketches and it called my name.

So here's to the first challenge of the month (year actually) and what I came up with.  Hopefully I can continue to find inspiration and challenges that re-motivate me to stamp and I can continue to share with you in some form or other.    

For this card I used the Trimming the Town Designer Series Paper for my background and one of the layers.  I like all of the papers in this suite.  They're colourful and appealing in every way.  

My card base is Poppy Parade with a layer of Pool Party.  The cute little gnome is from the Gnome for the Holidays cling stamp set.  

The sentiment "There's no place like GNOME for the Christmas Season", was perfect for this card.  This card may not meet the visual "clean and simple" criteria of Freshly Made Sketches challenge #451, but it sure was simple to make. From start to finish this card took about a half an hour to make.  Having a sketch you can work with, is a great way to nudge your creativity.   You have to like that.  

I coloured the gnome with Stampin' Up! Blends, matching up the colours in the Trimming the Tree DSP ... Poppy Parade, Garden Green, Pool Party, Old Olive, Smokey Slate, Daffodil Delight and Crumb Cake.  I also added a little shine to the gnome's nose and the Christmas lights with Nuvo Drops.

Thanks for bearing with me through this rant and glimpse into my personal difficulties with procrastination and lack of motivation.  And, hopefully my card for the sketch challenge has inspired you to pick up your card supplies again and get crafting. 

I'd love to hear how you've been coping and creating.  If you're not motivated like me, I'd love to hear your story too, maybe we can work this out together.  In the meantime......

Happy Stamping!

Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot

Penny Hanuszak, Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator 

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