While recently packing to move, I found a box of old mementos that belonged to my mom. Family photographs wanting to escape the confines of their albums and her tidy paper doll collection were amid the gentle chaos. There were also greeting cards she had saved over the years and a few in particular that she had recovered from my great-grandmother after she passed away. These cards addressed to the woman I affectionately called “Granny” were actually ones I had made when I was quite young. I had nearly forgotten my early adventures in paper crafting until that moment. Individual letters, sun beams, flowers, and blades of grass – all hand cut from construction paper with the slight imperfections of safety scissors. I hand wrote my own short poems inside and always signed them “Love, Leann” in my newly perfected script.
Fast forward to last year. I decided to throw together a birthday card for my friend “K”. If you knew her, you would understand that this card is totally her (except it really should be pink paper instead of red):
Between taking this photo and handing her the card, I added some swirly embellishments on the inside using shiny black embossing powder and a stamp, which you can see in other cards below. It’s rather plain, compared to what I make now, but it inspired a whole line of these monogrammed cards.
They served as a stepping stone to what I currently do, gave me a chance to explore some of the craft supplies I had been stockpiling (forget “Hoarders”, my reality rescue show will be called “Craft Addicts”), and was a cool way for me to give my friends personalized gifts on the cheap.
At this point, I remembered Etsy and opened my own shop. I planned to sell custom, made to order, monogrammed cards in the vein of the ones above. I made one sale to a friend who had moved out of state:
Looking back, I can really see the difference between when I started out last year and these two. It gave me a sense of accomplishment that I hadn’t had in a long time. Even though these were the last monogrammed cards I made, they were the inspiration for continuing in the direction I am headed now.
Lessons learned: Sometimes your new ideas are actually your old ones, just grown up. Also, practice might not make perfect, but you will definitely improve over time.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!
-Leann
Sowing Crafty Seeds 