10 Tips to Keep the JOY in Crafting! [+ Many Cards]

Hello and welcome, I'm Jennifer McGuire. I'm glad you're here today. I wanted to talk to you about something important, something I've been thinking about a lot lately as we start this new year, and that's how to stay joyful. crafts I often see comments or hear people say that they are obsessed with a different aspect of crafts, perhaps feeling a little discouraged or uninspired, so I thought it was a good thing to talk about and instead of you looking at me face while I just

keep

chatting I thought I'd talk about this while I create a bunch of

cards

.

Now this can be everywhere. I'm warning you because I'm doing two things at once, but I want to make the most of my time. spend here I have 10

tips

for you on how to stay joyful and create these are things that I have learned over the years and I hope they are useful to you, but first let's start with our first card and then we will move on to Tips now for my first card and

many

other

cards

in this video. I'm using my colored cubes. These are actually two boxes full of color inspiration. Now I use them a lot when I start

crafting

.

I'll look through them. Look. for a color combination that is inspiring with the products I plan to use and I use this as a kind of Kickstart to create now, maybe your Kickstart to create is inspiration that you find in a video or on a website, we'll talk about that. a little later, but I usually start with a product in mind and a color combination like the one you see here. I will use these cards several times in this video. You'll see me do it now that I've chosen my colors. I wanted to show you the products I'm going to use on my first cards and then we'll start chatting.

I have two sets of dies here that are new from Concord 9th. This Is The Love quilt top die on the left and on the right we have The XO quilt top dies can be used together or separately and this really brings me to my first tip and that is to think about what you buy when I go to buy a new set of dies or stamps. I try to think of five different ways. or different cards I can think of using that product when I look at these die sets I can think of

many

you have those little faux stitched hearts that you could use to create a background you can use pieces together separately I can think of so many ways to use it , so I know I'll take advantage of it.

I also know that this style of product is something I have used a lot in the past and is something I reach for frequently. For example, these were made using some of the older Concord 9th quilt dies. You can see I've used them a lot. I've made a lot of cards with mass production backgrounds and since I know I use them in this new style, I'll probably reach them too. When I use the products I invest in, I find that I'm more creative and enjoy

crafting

more. Now as I work on this first card, we'll start by creating a template for all those colorful hearts in the background.

I wanted to talk more about how to think about what you buy now. I mentioned thinking of five ways to use the product before you buy it, that's something I've talked about for many years, in fact in the past I've suggested writing it down on a Post-It note with the five ideas as you buy it to so that when the product arrives you can put that Post-It note in the game and you don't have to try to remember them and make sure I use what I bought. As soon as I bring the product home, I put it in a container with other products that are new products that I just received and I really want to use them that way the next time I go to create.

I can look in that bin and make sure they get used to it and don't forget, so that's my first tip: really think about what you buy so that when it gets to your house you're excited and ready to craft before moving on to the next advice. Let's go back. to the card here I created a template for this heart background and I'm gluing the template to the front of a four and a quarter by five and a half inch white card in all of those heart openings. I'll glue white dies and then on top of that I'll layer colored dies later.

Now you can just do one layer, but I like to increase that dimension, so I'll start with the white and then we'll add the color as I glue them together. instead, let's talk about tip number two and

keep

ing it joyful and crafty, and that is to make sure we use the supplies we have. I find it very inspiring to go through my old supplies and find something I haven't used in a while and including that in something I'm making makes me feel like I've made a good investment and I also feel more creative when I use something in a different way , so every time I create a card almost always something on my card is older. that I have wanted to use for some time or haven't used in some time.

You'll see me add an older supply to this in a moment. Here's a tip for using your older supplies more than once a month. I go through my old stamps, dies, and stencils and try to look at them through a different lens. I look for products I haven't used in a while and think about how I could use them in a different way - maybe it's an old Christmas tin. I use it to create a spring card or maybe there's a sentiment in a stamp set I've never used before and I can reach for it, so when I go through my old supplies once a month, I purge the things I know.

I'll never use it again, but if I come across a Dyer stamp set that I really need to use again, really like, or feel inspired, I'll grab it and put it in another container next to my new supply container, so when I go to create I can take some of the old and some of the new here's a good example, this Concord 9th floral die set is one I had in my two U bin, it says two U, it's an older die set, but I wanted to use the word friend again on a card because I really like the style, so when I needed a sentiment for this card, I dug through it to use an older supply bin and discovered that that friend died and now fits perfectly in this case.

I'm using that older friend's die along with the new stamp set. This is Concord's ninth perfect match stamp set. You'll see me use it later. It's a little sentiment that says "Hello friend." I cut out the word "little friend." I just have a little greeting and I'm stamping it right above our friend's die cut, so I'm using a new stamp along with an older die cut to create a new sentiment. Mixing and matching the new with the old helps you get more. Use your supplies and get that creativity going. I really encourage you to try these first two

tips

to really think about what you buy and put the new stuff in a container so you remember to look for it and also take some of the old stuff with you. supplies and place them in a use container so you can make sure you reach for them again.

This is a huge help to me and allows me to be more creative on this card. I was able to use the new and the old together and get just the look I was going for, so here's a look at the finished card. I layered the hearts so they are uneven. I love that look of Dimension and added a few silver hearts here and there for shine. This is definitely one of the Card Designs I hope to mass produce. I'll cut them up and assemble a bunch while watching a good True Crime documentary and I can leave out the sentiment and put in whatever sentiment I need for a particular regular occasion when the time comes.

It's time for our second card. Again I'm going to use some of these Concord 9th quilt dies and then when we get started on this I'm going to dive into tip number three to keep the joy and craftiness of this card going. I'm going to grab that faux stitch quilt XOXO. dies and I'm going to change it to fill the entire front of the card, so I'm going to align it once at the top of the card and then I'm going to align it underneath so this allows me to get a different one. Look from the square die.

I wanted something that wasn't square, but a rectangle, so by using it a little creatively I got a different look. Then I'll trim out the sides and start building the X and O layers in the background that I already prepared. - I die cut those, I'm going to glue several layers together to give it a lot of dimension and this brings me to tip number three. My third tip to keep it joyful and crafty is to watch clever videos, but do it very carefully now that I make clever videos for living This Is My Jam this is what I do there are a lot of great creators on YouTube.

I encourage you to watch these videos. There are many things that we took a lot of time behind the scenes to experiment with and then share with you. It's a great way to learn new techniques or new ways of using products; However, when you are watching videos, make sure not to compare yourself to the person you are watching. I do this for a living and this is an edited video. I edit everything. the times I make a mistake, I edit every time I start over. I spend a lot of time working on this. You see, 35 minutes, it takes me two or three days, so keep that in mind while you watch them, don't compare yourself to what you are seeing in a video also if you see someone in a video doing something that you really don't like, for example here I am accumulating tons of Dimension, if you don't like a lot of Dimension, that's okay, take the Nuggets of information that you think could be useful to you and make it your own.

I'm going to pause that discussion and get back to the card real quick. I'm using this new Concord 9th Sweet Sayings Die Set. I love this game. I'm using love and hugs on this card and other cards and will use some of the other dies later. Love and hugs cut the letters of love and hugs the outline and there is a shadow that dies in many ways. I can use this now while I put together one of these love and hug feelings. Let's conclude with the last tip. That advice was to watch clever videos, but do it carefully.

Be sure to look for inspiration, not comparison. Be sure to look. for the little details that might apply to you or help you and ignore the things that don't appeal to you and remember that we all make mistakes that you just saw in an edited version here in this video, in fact, I kept a mistake later on. just to show you that it happens to all of us right now after having gathered this feeling of love and hugs. I really like how it looks, two shades of gray on white, but the final sentiment covers up too much of those padded X's and O's. background, so I decided to take this love and hug sentiment and save it for later and create another one and just cut out the word hugs to have the outline die cut here.

I'm going to cut off love and that's how I'll stay. with hugs I'll save that love for a future card so now I'll put together the same die cut but just the word hugs while I put that die together together let's move on to my next tip to keep things joyful and crafty and this is a big one. I recommend that you focus on inspiration instead of comparison. This is difficult for many people. I know this perfectly well, especially these days on social media, but it's important to focus on inspiration rather than comparison. There are so many great crafters on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. and more, they create amazing pieces that are meant to inspire you, they are meant to make you want to create to feel that joy of creating, they are not meant to make you compare how good their card is and how good your card is, that is not the point is inspiration.

Here is a good example. When Lila was little, it took her a while to learn to ride a bike, maybe because she is the fourth child and we are a little tired, but she didn't know how to ride. a bike yet and she was a little fearless about it I guess you would say I had to remind her that everyone learns at different rates she could read very, very early her friend couldn't her friend learned to ride a bike very, very early that's fine both of them They're great now that they're older and they can both read and they can both ride a bike so don't compare where you are to someone else's, you might be better at something than the person you're watching on a video and she's going to be better than you in some things it's okay don't compare just look for inspiration and along the same lines if you're on Instagram or Facebook don't look at the amount of likes or comments you receive on a card, it doesn't matter as long as you enjoyed creating it and your recipient Enjoy receiving it, that's all that matters now, let's look at this whole card, you can see I added the hugs, I just cut out the love and layered it with some dimension. a little glitter and added some hearts so I was able to change the quilt die and use the hugs die creatively.

In fact, when I got that feeling of love and hug, one of the five ideas I had was to cut the words. so you might have different feelings as we conclude this card, let's conclude with this advice to focus on inspiration over comparison as we look at the work of others, really every time someone shares a card online it is to inspire, not to make them feel worse for his cunning journey. Okay, let's move on to our next card. This one is pretty simple, but I use some of theproducts that I showed you before and I combine some older products all on the same card, so using the quilting die that I showed you before we have a white color. square and I'm just adding the pieces to make the word love.

I decided to dig into my two U's bin that I talked about earlier. These are older supplies that I wanted to make sure I used again and I will be using one of them. for the background and one for the sentiment, this is the Concord 9th Happy Rise Stamp and Die Set. This one was in my bin to use. I wanted to make sure to use it again and also as a background I found this pinwheel quilt die. I showed you some. that I had prepared previously, I used this foundation a lot and therefore it is permanently in my use container because I reach for it very often, so I am using them with my new products again, making sure to put them all in for a good use.

I also wanted the word and something I could put between hugs and love, so I found this stamp set from Simon Says Stamp. It has a feeling that I could just cut the word out and use it on my card if you want. I don't like cutting your stamps, you can always just mask them out, so this just shows you. I really try to use that to use up the older supply container. I want to visit it again. It really saves me time when I need the right sentiment or just the right background for a card, I can look in there and usually find something in that bin that works great with whatever new product I'm using embellishment wise, for this I'm using the new Concord and 9th polish. hearts look how cute these little hearts are and the good thing is that they combine with the eight and a half by eleven pad of paper that you see there.

I really like that they came out with patterned paper that is so big because you can make note cards. I'll use some of them in a future video, but for now I'm just using the enameled hearts and I'll use these little clear gemstones or little dew drops later in this video. By the way, a little advice for collecting small ones. enamel dots I find it best to take a craft knife and stick the sharp end of the craft knife under the enamel dot and then lift it up and place it on your project. Using a craft knife seems to work great and I like that these enamel hearts stick really well so I don't have to worry about them coming off now.

At this point I changed my mind. This is one of those times where I normally edit it, but I decided I wanted a mat on this. Square, so I ripped it off my card and I'm gluing it back onto a piece of dark gray cardstock to have a little matte and I'll trim off the excess. Remember that clever YouTubers make changes and mistakes all the time. At this point, we usually edit them, so never feel like you're the only one struggling like your crafting guy, oh boy, me too, so here's a look at this simple completed card.

I added a little fake postage to the envelope. Flap which is from the Concord 9th Sweet Say die set that I showed you earlier. I simply glued it to the flap of the envelope and if you stick it well enough it will stay in the mailer so you can see all the details on this card. and how I combine different products to get a different look, okay, let's move on to a completely different style card and now we will discuss our next tip for this card. I again reached for my Color Cube. I found this beautiful color suggestion and that's how I chose. distress inks that go with that and I'll do a very quick ink.

Background mixed while I blend ink, let's move on to my next tip for keeping things joyful and crafty, and that is to focus on your crafty love language that I feel. like everyone has a crafty love language, something you really enjoy doing with crafts, for me is die cutting. I love die cutting and gluing die cuts. They are cut together. For some people, it may be coloring. My friend Kathy Raccoon loves to stamp something and color it. She could spend hours coloring something that isn't my thing, it stresses me out a little and makes me a little anxious, but it's what she likes, so she focuses on that and I focus on die-cutting.

My friend Christina Werner loves watercolor and men. she's good at it, I can't do it, I've tried and again it's something that makes me too nervous so I encourage you to find what your love language is and focus on it now. I'll come back to that tip, but First, let's work on this card. I have an ink blended background and will use the Concord 9th Medley Die Set to cut it out. You see that big die there with the big open flower. Now on that open flower you can leave it solid and stamp one. Of the sentiments there, any sentiment will work or you can use the matching stamp set or there's this die here that you can put in place and it will add the details so you can have a continuous floral background and of course there are other dies here. which all work well together separately, that's one of the things I like about Concord 9th, but in this case I'm just using the background die without that floral die insert to cut from our ink Mixed Background and we'll use this set of stamps in a moment and later, as I die-cut this background and cut additional layers to glue behind it for Dimension, let's talk more about focusing on your crafty love language or your joy of crafting.

I mentioned that watercolor sometimes stresses me out, now I wanted to learn. I tried, I tried, I took watercolor classes, I learned from Christina and I realized it wasn't my thing and it's okay if you try something and you try to get better at it and you realize it's not your thing, it's not . your love language so don't do it don't feel pressured to do something just because you see it in a video a good example here I am gluing die cuts to create Dimension I love the dimension on my card I encourage you to try it However, at some point moment, if you try it and decide you'd rather not have the dimension, you'd rather have a thinner card, that's fine too, there's nothing wrong with that, so watch videos and try new things, but if you determine that something isn't your thing, right? your love language, don't do it, there are many examples that frustrating is another good method.

I enjoy frustrating, but I know it's not for everyone. The same goes for rainbow cards. Rainbow cards are very popular. I saw someone on a message board say "they." You're tired of Rainbow Cards, okay, make the same card or try the same technique, but in whatever color appeals to you, don't feel pressured to try something that's not in your crafty love language. Well, back to the card. I glued it onto a white cardstock background I used the Concord 9th Double Stripe Card Panel, it just creates faux stitch lines. I had a bunch of them left over in my extras drawer, so I glued my die-cut panel over that and then added it to a four and a quarter by five and a half inch white card.

I also added some of those Concord 9th clear drops, a pretty quick card to put together and I really like the results of this so I decided to make another one and realized that the background could be used with any type of Inky background and I have a lot of them left over in my extras drawer so I thought I'd look there and found a bunch that are alcohol ink backgrounds I had left over from a previous video. I'll link to that video here at the top right. I'm going to take one of those backgrounds and use that background to create a similar card, but I'll change the sentiment and as I make this card I thought I would.

I mention another tip for maintaining joy and craftsmanship and that is what to do when you lose your mojo when you're not feeling creative. My best advice when you're not feeling creative is to prepare for the next time you're one of the best. One way to prepare is to have extra pieces like the ones I have here that are ready to use next time. I feel like I'm ready to elaborate. Another way to prepare is to organize your supplies. For most of us, not all, but for most of us, if we're organized, we feel more creative and the third way is to think about something you learned from a video, maybe it's a video for me or someone else. , but it's something you'd like to try, try it next time you don't.

You're not feeling very creative, it'll usually get you going, so here's my full card. You can see the alcohol ink background die cut and added to the card, that sentiment is from a Concord 9th die set that I will show you in my next example in In fact, I love that sentiment so much that I plan to put it in my container to use and The next time I'm not feeling very creative or have lost the joy of crafting, I'll make a lot of those feelings, so be prepared and ready for the next time I want to craft, so in closing, a tip to keep joy and craftsmanship is not getting discouraged when you lose your charm or not feeling as creative when you don't feel creative. take the time to prepare Get your pieces ready for the next time you're ready to create, organize, or watch videos, and look for a little nugget you want to try the next time you're feeling creative.

Okay, let's move on to the next card. I'm going to do some stamping here and the inside of this card has a surprise. It's an example of where I stretch a supply to get more uses out of it. Right now for the front of this card I'm using this new Concord Lines 9th Called Love twist stamp set, it actually has two sets of twist stamps, one for the middle and one for the outside, and it has a lot of cool sentiments if you've never used a rotary stamp. The good thing is that you seal it once and turn it.

Turn it again and turn it and do it four times until you get a full, colorful background again. This one is special because it has an outer seal and an inner seal that you can use together separately. First I'll show you what it looks like when it's stamped. together and then I'll have an example card where I only use the outside, which leaves that window open. I like that it has a lot of different options, so you can use it in a lot of different ways. Remember that tip when you buy something, make sure you can think of five different ways to use it now this stamp set also has coordinating die cuts available this is where I got that loving, I love you sentiment that I used on my last card.

I really like that one and there are other dies that coordinate with the stamp set I really like that Concord and the knife, make sure the coordinating dies can be used separately, it doesn't have to be used with just the stamp set, right now, Rotary stamps, if you've never used one, come with a guide. that guide is that transparent piece with the black printing. I'm taking the outside stamp and lining it up with the impression on the guide. You can see me doing that. There it's pretty easy to see through the stamp and line it up with my stamp. a little pink because I already stamped it once with pink ink, once I have it lined up with that grid, we're going to take our template, this is a Concord 9th sticky mat, and we're going to line up the X on this guide, see? that X in the back center we'll align that X on that guide with the of our stamping tool, close the door and then we can start stamping, however, remember that this twist stamp has an outside stamp but also an inside stamp that you can stamp together separately, so I'm going to stop here. and put the inside seal too.

I just wanted to show you how to use just one if you prefer, so I'm lining up the inside stamp with the black imprint on that clear guide. Once you have it lined up there, now we can take it. to our template, align the black line on the clear guide with that template that we have in our stamping tool, so I'm lining up those once I've pushed the stencil into the corner of my stamping tool, I'll close the door to grab both stamps and now we're ready to stamp. I'm going to take a piece of white cardstock that's four and a quarter by five and a half inches and I'm going to place it on that sticky template and it has little guidelines so it's easy to line up, you can put whatever size piece you want on there.

I found another cube color suggestion and I found inks that More or less match it and I'll use those four inks for each of the four turns of our stamped turn so that we have it in the first position. I have The Jig in the corner of my stamping tool. I'm inking my stamp. the first ink and I will press it firmly onto the cardstock. Now my inks need to be re-inked so you'll notice I stamped them a couple of times just to make sure I got a really nice print, that's another nice thing to use. a stamp positioner or a stamp tool like this, now I'll rotate my stencil one turn and take the next color ink, pick up the same stamp and stamp that, then rotate the stencil again and stamp with the next colorand I will do it four times until we have a complete background with all four colors while I make the print.

Let's move on to my next tip for keeping the joy and craftsmanship going, and that is to embrace these crafty little businesses like Concord 9th. Concord 9th emerged. with this great idea of ​​making stamping stencils and dies and I love how you can get a creative and unique looking background so I encourage you to embrace these small craft businesses that not only create products that keep our industry going and keep us They keep creating, but they offer a lot of inspiration at no cost, every time you get a product or see a product that interests you even a little bit, you can go to their website and there will always be many examples to see there for free , they often have videos too.

These small businesses not only work hard to create new creative products, they also look at other industries and find tools that might work well for us and show us how to use them, research all the options and figure out what's best right now. There's a Concord die set tonight that's really creative. There is a die set and a stamp set that you can purchase together or separately. I really like the die set here because, as I mentioned, there's a lot to it. Concord 9th is good at that, but look at those ticket dies they create little tickets that are connected to each other by perforated lines, you can use them in so many ways.

I'll show you how to use the ticket dies later in this video, but for now I'm using those hearts that are connected. They are meant to be little heart tickets, but I'm going to use them to create a pop-up inside our card, so I use those Connected Hearts to cut out of dark purplish blue cardstock. I want them to stay connected instead of breaking apart like small tickets, so I'm putting a piece of tape on them. On the back, any type of tape would work here. Notice that there is a small tab on the right side.

I also want a tab on the left side for the technique I'm doing again. I'm using these dies a little creatively, not how they were originally intended to be used, so I cut another die cut with that die and I'm just cutting the little flap on the end so you can see there's this little flap here with the fold line perforated in the center. To stick that on the other side of our Folded Hearts, I put some masking tape on the back so the punch doesn't come apart and I'm going to stick it on the left side, so now the left side of this little heart is die cut.

The piece is like the right side with a small flap sticking out. These little flaps will allow us to glue them inside our card to create the pop-out feature I made with off-screen white heat. I etched a sentiment into one of the hearts using off-screen white heat. the Concord 9th medley stamp set that I showed you earlier in this video and now we're going to fold those two tabs to the left and to the right, we're going to fold them back and then we're going to fold the other hearts over each other so that I'm going to fold it back. in and out and in and now we have a folded piece with the little flaps or tabs sticking out of those little tabs.

I will put some strong adhesive either strong double sided adhesive or strong liquid adhesive while I am using it. here I'll keep it folded and press it on our open card and then I'll close the card on the other flap and we'll put something heavy on that and press it down until we're sure it's dry and it's holding up well once. It is dry, please check it when you open it. Now we have this fun pop-out heart feature and that's not really what was intended with that die, but we got a little creative and I'm grateful to companies like Concord 9th for providing us with products. which can be used in many different ways, so another tip to keep the joy and craftsmanship going is to embrace these crafty companies that create these unique products, check out the inspiration they offer on their websites and if you have some time, send them a handmade card.

I think you'll appreciate it, so I added 11 hugs to the front using the die set I showed you before and I also added some clear gemstones, but the fun part is when you open it up and see that surprise. function above, okay, let's move on to the next card. I'm using the same set of twist stamps that I used on the last one, remember how I showed you there were two stamps, one could do the outside, only one could do the center or you. You could use them together on the last card. I use them together on this card.

I just stamped the outside, so notice that the bottom has an opening where I can add whatever I want. I love having that option. You can see my full background on the left. It's just like I did in our last example, but I left the Center stamp for that open space. I'm using those heart quilt die cuts from the beginning of this video and one more shape. Remember that I always try to think of five ways to use a die set, stamp set, or whatever I bring into my craft room. I'm using these half heart dies to form a flower.

I have my sticky mat here. Turns out it's the template I used for the twist stamping before you can use it too. like a normal adhesive mat in the center I put a die cut circle, it doesn't matter what color it will be covered in, I put glue on it and then I place my hearts on it or my halves of hearts, one against the other. another one, after I've completed this circle, I'll form a flower and it will have these faux stitch petals that were actually meant to be hearts, but it works great as petals.

I will soon put a large die cut circle on top that actually does this. It looks like some sort of scalloped decoration around my circle, so there are lots of ways you can use these shapes again. This is the joy of crafting. Find many ways to use a supply you have now. I'm going to leave this on my sticky mat while it dries once it's dry. I can remove it and now we have this fun flower or scallop circle. I'll put glue on the back of this and add it to the center of our spinning background.

I love how that opening creates a focal point to finish. From this card, I again used an older set, it's the Concord 9th happy rise stamp set that I showed you before. I stamped this, "nice to meet you" in black ink and used a circle die to cut it out and add it to the center of our scallop flower. I also used a Concord 9th enameled heart as a simple accent, so this again reiterates the tip of using something new from your new container and something old from your container to use together to create a new card design, okay, let's move on to a little more. projects and we still have more tips to keep the joy when creating these projects are really fun because they are little matchboxes that you can put whatever you want inside.

I can think of a million ways to use them and I'll share them as Come on now, this is Concord's ninth perfect match stamp set. Coordinating dies are sold again together or separately. I used this stamp set before, but now I'm focusing on this die set. It has many small die cuts that can be used in many ways. cards too, but you have the basic die cuts that create a very simple little box, then there is this stamp set that can be used to decorate it. There are some really fun ones here to do that kind of mashup theme.

I won't use them today. video but I know they're available and they're really fun and kind of fun but I'm going to look for things I can use for my kids so I'm going to make some hugs and kisses and a rainbow themes and I'll be using the Concord 9th die set Sweet Sane that I showed you earlier in this video. I thought I'd show it to you again because it's been a while. This is a long video, but notice that there are these types of fake postage looking dies. I will be using the hugs and kisses one in these projects, so I cut the hugs and kisses several times out of white cardstock and kept the letters in place.

I'm putting glue all over the back and then putting just a piece of white. cardstock behind to hold the letters in the openings. I then die cut the hugs and kisses many times out of other colors of cardstock and will place each of those letters on top of the white die cuts already in place. give us a little dimension and a lot of color in those letters, so while I glue them on, let's get back to the topic of keeping it playful and elaborate. My last idea was to embrace clever companies to appreciate all they have to offer and even ship them. a card, if you get the chance, that brings me to my next tip, which is to try to make crafty friends.

I know this can be difficult, many of us live in areas where there are no other crafters, but the internet can be a It's great, join Facebook groups, join crafty groups. You'd be surprised how quickly you can find someone you can connect with and become friends with. Most of my crafty friends I found because I saw them online just encouraging other people and that was really inspiring to me so I met them and we became friends. It's a great way to make a connection with someone who understands the love of crafts, so I have a Facebook group to share handmade goodness.

There are many people who have made friends there. communicate with others, I encourage you that it is always helpful to have someone who understands your love for crafts, you can also share cards, you can send cards to each other, share inspiration, you could even Zoom together and do some crafts. I do this often with some of my crafty friends now as someone who suffers from anxiety, especially social anxiety. I know that can be scary, but there is kind of a safety zone around the online crafting community and it's something that I really encourage you to try to make some of those connections that you can. it really helps keep the joy in crafting and you have someone to send your cards to, okay back to the projects, I have my little hugs and kisses gathered and I have these leftover pieces, lots of leftover pieces that I can save for later , remember to be prepared for the next time you feel creative, now is the time to create the little boxes for these.

I'm using those perfect Concord 9th dies. There are two dies, you cut the two pieces and basically just fold along the score lines that the die creates and add. a little bit of strong adhesive I like to use a strong liquid adhesive here I am forming the base which means folding all the lines and then putting strong adhesive along the little flaps we will do this on both sides and that creates the base of the box now this box can hold a lot of things you can fold money you can fold little notes and put them inside you can even put small chocolates remember that the die set has matches that you can put inside and you can stamp something next to the matches, but I'm going to put small chocolates here and I'll put them in my kids' lunchbox and we'll probably make this as a Little Valentine gift in my daughter's class, but all you have to do is fold those little flaps and glue them on. and there you have the base of your box now for the outside of the box that slides in and out you just put strong adhesive along the smaller flap and then adhere it to the opposite flap and put something heavy on it while it dries up.

I decorate the outside of these boxes. I thought I'd mention my next tip for keeping things fun and crafty, and that is to mail your cards. I know we create a lot of cards and we love making them and sometimes it's hard to part with those cards. but I really recommend giving them to someone, that's the greatest joy of making cards. If you want, you can make two identical cards so you can keep one or you can simply take a photo of your card with your phone and save it. an album so you can refer to your older cards any time you want, but mailing them will definitely keep the joy of crafting going.

I return to the projects. I used just my Concord 9th Ticket Dies to cut these White Folding Ticket Dies. very well and fits inside the box on these dies. I plan to write a little message that I can put in my daughter's lunchbox. I like to include something in our lunchbox every day to give a little encouragement. I created this third box here where I put some rainbow sunshine and stamp everything from the Concord 9th Perfect Match stamp set and matching die set in so many ways you can use them, you can even stick several together to include even more little chocolates or small gifts while I show you a closer look. these projects and a bonus card I created using some leftovers.

I wanted to talk about my last tip for maintaining joy and craftsmanship, and this one is important. This tip is to remind you that crafting is a guilt-free zone, there should be no guilt. in the preparation do not feel guilty for how longyou spend crafting or for the little time you spend crafting don't feel guilty if your craft room is messy or if your craft room is clean do what works for you don't feel guilty if you enjoy collecting craft materials and Not using them is okay and don't judge others for how they choose to craft.

Don't feel guilty if you don't want to try foiling safely, but others do what works for you. don't feel guilty if doing crafts is what gets you through the day if it's your therapy don't feel guilty if spending time in your craft room is what you most look forward to doing do what works for you don't feel guilty about anything This is supposed to be your joy and make sure you keep the joy when crafting. I hope this video was for you and don't feel guilty if one of my tips doesn't work for you again, look for those nuggets that do.

I'm grateful you spent This Time with me I hope it was of some help and I'll see you soon with the normal crafty video.