CAS & Ego

I've been reading. I don't say that to shock you. I read a lot. I make no secret about the fact that I love a good read. And I know, I don't usually share what I finger through on here. That's because it's so wide ranging and not always relevant to what I am posting.

But today is different. I read a book that's only been out for a few weeks, called Die Empty by Todd Henry. It's a gloomy title I'll grant you. The reason I bought it is because I'm a big fan of Todd's better known, The Accidental Creative.

I enjoyed the content and made a few notes as I was turning the pages but nothing particularly spoke to me until I reached the chapter on Being Confidently Adaptable. The one which begins "This Chapter is for everyone but you. In this chapter we'll be dealing with the effects of an overinflated ego." And yes, he read me correctly. I started to mentally harumph at reading about inflated egos. It's not a problem I have, I can easily skip this section. And my finger momentarily hovered on the skip to next page button. But I felt challenged by the opening sentence, so despite myself, I read on.

What made me sit up was a passage on value and complexity. How when we are creative, we sometimes incorrectly assume that in order for an idea, design or piece of art to be seen as worthy by our peers, it must be complex. I recognised myself in this. I all too easily have dismissed my own ideas because they are too simple.  I have, in the past, felt I could only share projects with the world which have taken a good deal of time to make, have been complex to piece together or involve a new technique.

My ego has gotten in the way. Good design ideas and creative projects have been cast aside because I have deemed them too simple. Even if the design is near perfect. It went into my mental trash bin. Whether for my work or my hobby.

So I've done a simple CAS card. I could tell you that it's harder to do, as more attention and focus is on what little detail remains. I could impress upon you (and myself) how culturally significant and intellectual the art of minimalism is, to lend it some gravitas. To satisfy my ego. To have approval from my peers.

But no. Today, I've made a card that took just a couple of minutes to put together. Not because I deliberately wanted to prove a point. It's an idea I've had and dismissed in the past. I knew I'd love the look of it and it would excite tingling goosebumps of satisfaction in me. It's a good design. I would go all funny inside if I received something like it in the post from someone else.

This is the kind of card my ego doesn't want me to make or to share. I want you to think and know I could do much more. But this is a card I'd buy if I saw it in a shop or on Etsy.

I love that I have discovered this about myself. I'm now going to hopefully weigh up my future creative ideas differently. I love complex projects. I love simple projects. And if they both give great pleasure when making and fulfil their purpose, then they have equal value. That is, once my over inflated ego is told to take a hike.

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Supplies

Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Geometric Style

Washi Tape Play

Finally I understand the lure of Washi tape. I admit I didn't see what the fuss was about when it started filtering through to the craft community. However, I'm now hooked. I've ordered a collection of rainbow coloured tapes but they haven't arrived yet. I do have my stash of black and white tapes though.

I saw a few examples of Washi tape which mitred the corners and I fancied trying it out. Not as easy as it looks. I cut a piece of plastic with a mitred edge and stuck my washi tape pieces onto it, so that I could accurately trim of the corners. Being plastic, it was easy to peel the washi tape away, once I had cut to shape.

Sticking the tape down onto the card was the trickiest part as it has a tendency to curl back on itself, making accurate piecing difficult. With patience and a few hits and misses, I finally stuck it all down.

Clean & Graphic Embossed Card

I'm still adding to my stack of birthday cards and wanted to make a black and white card, accented with a small amount of one other colour. Looking through my stash of card, I decided to go with pink. It's one of those colours that I love to set against black.

I first cut through the white card, about a third of the way down, with a die. I then ran it through an embossing folder. After placing a strip of pink onto the black card, I added the embossed card, leaving a gap for the pink to be seen.

I die cut the circles and stamped the border and sentiment with a freebie from Craft Stamper Magazine.

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Supplies

Stamps: Craft Stamper Magazine - Time To Celebrate

Dies: Spellbinders - Labels 17 & Circles,  L'il Inkers - Stitched Circles

Embossing Folder - Cuttlebug - Damask

Rainbow Hearts & Traditional Red

I treated myself to a new die set the other day. It's the Staggered Heart from Die-namic Dies. It's a great design that I can see quite a few different ways to play with. I began by creating a rainbow of colours by cutting thin strips of coloured card and adhering to a thin paper base. I ran this through the die and saw the result I was hoping for.

I placed it onto white card and stamped a sentiment. I didn't feel it needed anything else.

For the next card, I had intended to use the negative space left behind. However, the temptation to fill it overcame me, so I cut into some red card and adhered into the space.

One die, two cards again.

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Supplies

Dies: Die-Namics - Staggered Heart, L'il Inkers - Stitched Rectangles