I NEED it ... don't I?

I woke up this morning and checked out my emails.  In my inbox was something from Craftstash offering a free Halloween goodie with any purchase, alongside free postage for orders over £15.  My crafty need was fired up, and before I knew it I had a basket of items totaling £27.  I was about to check out but left the computer for a few minutes while PayPal loaded.  And then I had an epiphany.  What was I doing?

I've just gone part time at work so money is a little tighter than usual and it occurred to me that buying for the sake of it was not something I can do now.  I was sad, but I deleted those items and left the website.  That feeling left me soon after, and I am now glad I didn't make the purchase.

This morning's experience made me remember a post on the Facebook Craft Carnage page that I could relate to - something about accidentally leaning on their mobile phone and buying things from Hochanda, the craft shopping channel.

I suspect that this is something we all do a lot.

On the craft channels there are some fantastic demonstrators that make those craft items go from 'mmm, that's interesting' to 'I have to have that in my life' in a few short minutes.  We watch as they ignite our crafty devil who tells us to buy, buy, buy.

My latest purchase (below) was a departure from my usual card making - I suddenly needed to try mixed media and invested in the one day special of two different types of modelling paste, some acrylic paint, black gesso and something (??) called studio acrylics.

As the ODS was so popular it had sold out once and was on extended delivery - and here is the where the problem lies.  I didn't record the show and there was a 2 week wait to get the goods.


And there it is, the age old problem of the time taken from craft order to craft receipt by which time that feeling of need has gone.  How many of us do the buying but then when the items arrive we are not sure how to use them and so don't do anything with the stuff we ordered?  I hold my hand up to being one.

So my question is did I really NEED those things?  At the time I thought I did and the urge to get hold of them was huge.  I just wanted them so much I didn't stop to think about whether I would really use them or if I could afford them.

So I am left with some things that may come in useful down the line - maybe when mediocre mixed media art work comes into fashion!

I think the only way I can resist, is to not watch the shopping channels at all and not be tempted by lovely emails with offers I can't (?) refuse.

So I am going to try giving myself a moment to reflect on what I really need .... and in the meantime, if anyone can give me some hints on how to use the modelling paste stuff ......

It's okay to not be perfect

It's widely shown on all the craft pages that I visit that there are some extremely talented crafters out there.  So much so that many of us less talented crafters feel slightly intimidated to show our own makes.  The sites are friendly and there is a community of supportive members, but for us self conscious crafters we sit back and admire, not wanting to put our creations on show.  Craft Carnage is a Facebook page where crafters of all abilities are welcome to not only show case their great makes, but you can post your mistakes in a light-hearted way with a group of truly friendly crafters.  What Craft Carnage does is allow us crafters to be 'not perfect'.  It's okay to not be perfect and I am certain that even the most talented card maker makes errors sometimes.

Nuvo Drops from Tonic Studios comes up a lot on the feed, plenty of smudged drops adorning cards that have had time and love dedicated to them, only for the drops to go awry.  Craft Carnage showcases those cards anyway.  And the community rallies round with suggestions to save the item, or just to show support regardless.

I set up Craft Carnage many months ago with the aim to celebrate all things craft, good or bad, and the page is going from strength to strenth.

Pop over for a visit - and remember 'it's okay to not be perfect'.