Cardmaking is my passion

I was six years old when I learned how to properly color in the lines, and when I say properly, I mean going back and forth in a straight line inside the lines until the whole image was the color you wanted.  After I mastered this technique...with a variety of coloring books and hand drawn pictures, I started to give pictures away as gifts.  For a seven year old,  a hand drawn and colored picture was fun to do, but certainly didn't make it to the art gallery (aka...the fridge) everytime.  Soon, for birthdays I started folding a piece of notebook paper in half and I would gather information on the person for whom I was making the card.  For example, when I made a birthday card for my mom, I knew that she loved the color purple, so that was my color of choice, then I also knew that she loved pretty things, and I would create her a custom card with maybe flowers or butterflies.  My mom was my biggest supporter when I was really getting into card making.  In fact she would often come to me with request for cards going to people I never met.  One time she wanted me to make a card for a young man at our church that was going into the Navy.  She got the vital information that I needed, aka his favorite color, name, and other important information that would help to make the card very personal.  I created a neat card with a ship on the front and a picture of a sailor at his going away party in the inside with his name on a banner.  I had always drawn my cards and colored them with either crayons, colored pencils, or markers, or a combination until I discovered scrapbooking.  My sister introduced me to scrapbooking when I was 18 years old, my senior year of highschool. This new knowledge came at a great time too, because I had to make a scrapbook for my English class as an exit project.  I used all of the pointers my sister had learned and taught me and I created my fist album.  I had left over paper and stickers, not to mention a taste for the possibilities of papercrafts.  I used my "scraps" to make cards, and I have been hooked to this form of card making ever since.  I do occasionally buy store bought cards (when I have no time to make a card), but I usually reserve the store bought cards for poeple I don't know very well.  I love making cards for family members and close friends though, and by now, if they don't get a homemade card, they wonder if I'm mad at them or if something is wrong.  Of course, as much as I love papercrafting, I don't always have the time for it.  Having a job, school, housekeeping, being a wife, sister, aunt, daughter and friend usually limit my time in my craft room.  I am always on the lookout for new ideas and creative twists to old ideas.  I have a hard time making the same card twice, so almost every card I've whipped out has been it's own unique creation.  I will post a few for inspiration!