Welcome!

I am not new to blogging nor am I new to blogging about the cards I make but I figured it was time to make a separate blog for the purpose of showcasing my creativity.  My "life" blog was getting taken over by cards!

So here we are.  A little about me.  I live in southern California (no it's not always sunny and warm), am married to an amazing guy, and have a beautiful (sometimes too much so...that's terrifying) daughter who I like to refer to as a pre-pre-teen.  I swear they act like teenagers earlier and earlier these days!  We have two adorable little dogs that make life so much more fun with all the laughs they bring.  I am purposely forgetting that they also like to chew up things like my brand new Spot Bot carpet cleaner attachment nozzle.  I work fulltime but manage to make time to be creative.  For some reason I have to always have something going on.  I am not one to be idle too long.       

I like to think I have always been creative.  I just didn't always exhibit my creativeness.  As a child I loved to write short stories and draw but as I got older that changed.  I soon became creative with clothing (I wore some weird stuff for awhile) but then went into the military (yes...little ol' me was in the military) and lost my creativity.  I was into being free, on my own, and living it up instead.  I've been out for quite some time now, life has settled down, and finally I have captured my creativity again but this time in the form of papercrafting.

How did I even start papercrafting?  It always seemed like something older people did.  I always stayed away from it.  Much of my family and some of my friends scrapbook and invited me to participate.  My answer was always, "NO".  For one, I am way too much of a perfectionist when it comes to making things.  Two, if I start something new I jump in with all I have and all the stores have but I knew scrapbooking was expensive.  I finally relented last year.  I don't know why.  Maybe it was my husband hinting at me to preserve our pictures, which I always intended to print and put in a photo album but never did, that did it.

I started with scrapbooking our vacations.  After a few pages of that Christmas started looming over my head so I started making Christmas & birthday cards (just because people's birthdays just happened to be during that time) and there's where I was hooked!  I ended buying every tool I saw that I thought I needed (I knew that would happen).  I spent a lot.  Way way too much but now I feel I have a good stash and can create anything my imagination comes up with.

I love making cards the most.  I recently started selling them on etsy and have gotten a pretty good response both there and from outside sources.  It's something I enjoy and I hope to continue with this new endeavor.

To see my work you can visit my etsy shop at www.etsy.com/shop/19eighty or follow me on Facebook at 19Eighty Expressions.  I am also on Twitter @19EightyExprssn.