Creative Blog Hop + Giveaway

Hi crafty friends! Today I’ve got something a little different to share. Last Monday amazingly talented Miriam Prantner tagged me in her post HERE to take part in the Creative Blog Hop. It is a never-ending blog hop which takes place on Mondays. Each blogger answers four questions about themselves and afterwards they tag three other creative bloggers. How fun is that! So, here goes with my interview questions:

1. What am I working on now?

Well, I’ve been working on a complete draft of my first card making book since January. I have to finish it by September, then my book will be published in South Korea in December 2014. Thankfully, I almost have my cards done. Now I started adding some instructions for each card and writing essays about my crafty life in California. I can’t wait to see how my cardmaking book will turn out.

2. How does my work differ from others in my genre?

I really love what Miriam said about my work in her Creative Blog Hop post. “Her work reminds me of advertising. She is able to tell a whole story with a single image. It’s witty, catchy, graphic, and clean.” I also describe my style as clean and simple. That doesn’t mean my cards are quicker to make, though. I always try to think outside the box, and I love being creative with the images I put together. The creativity is the most important element on my creations that I work so hard to achieve.

3. Why do I create what I do?

I had not enjoyed any arts and crafts until I was first introduced to scrabooking by my friend in 2010. Since then crafting has been a large part of who I am. Making cards is both therapeutic and rewarding for me. It gives me huge pleasure when it turns out as I envisioned my thoughts. I am often amazed by how powerful one layer CAS card could be based on creativity and storytelling. It’s also my way of spreading a little joy to people I love. Sometimes, I’m surprised to see myself who is passionate about cardmaking, because I had never thought of myself as a creative person back in Korea.

4. How does my creative process work?

I get my inspiration abasolutely everywhere. But I tend to get my starting point from different types of figures or patterns and single image itself. I try to see a detail in something that I like and then a big idea shows up in my brain. I jump right into the project, then I get halfway through and start squinting and starting and wondering if it’s any good at all. I spend a lot of time thinking about cards… coming up with ideas. I don’t mind re-dos. I usually make more than three cards to chase the perfect “make.” Sometimes it takes me several days and many hours to finish a card that I’m totally in love with, but that’s just fine since I enjoy the process so much. As you already notice, I’m a perfectionist when it comes to making cards. I strive for flawlessness and set excessively high performance standards, accompanied by overly critical self-evaluations. I derive pleasure from doing so, and it motivates my creativity be challenged.

Okay, not that I’ve shared with you about me. I hope you feel like you know me much better than before. Now it’s time to introduce you to my three blog friends who I adore their creations. In no particular order we have:

Hi, my name is Vera Yates. I was born and raised in Indonesia, but been calling Texas home for over 19 years. I am married and mom to 2 spoiled doggies. I loves color, pretty papers & stamps. I am pretty open to try out any kind of crafts, but I enjoy paper crafting the most. It all started in 1997 when I attended my first scrapbooking class and since then I pretty much hooked on scrapbooking and soon after branched out to card making. Outside paper crafting I am passionate about dog rescue and I love to travel.

Hi! I’m Lorena Cantó: A Spanyard mother, wife, dog lover and full time journalist specialized in foreign affairs by day… and passionate paper crafter 24/7. We are currently posted in Bolivia, South America, and my love for all things ink and die cutting travels with me around the world. From the barest clean & graphic to the unbelievably inky and messy, there’s no creative technique I’m not keen to try!

Hi! I’m Linda McClain. I’ve always been “crafty” and a bit of a geek. Evidence? I bought my first scrapbook from the Five and Dime and filled it with clippings about the moon landing way before scrapbooks were trending. I married my husband for his sexy math skills and together we watch Big Bang Theory reruns every night. So yeah, I’m THAT quirky, geeky and vintage – but NOT antique. I like to tattle on that darlin’ man, our two great kids, the puppies, and life in Texas, y’all. I love that all these crafts from the 50s to the 80s are back.

Hope you are still with me. If you got this far, you certainly deserve a big treat. To thank you all for your patience and support, I have two cling stamps to giveaway: Flower Bursts Pattern stamp and Canvas Background stamp from Hero Arts.

You have until August 31th at 11:59pm PST to enter. The random winner will be announced on my Facebook and my Instagram on September 1st. I want to make sure you have many opportunities to win the giveaway, so I came up with 5 chances to enter. You are not required to do them all, I just love giving you guys bonus chances to enter.

• Leave a comment on this post, 1 entry.
• Follow my blog via email and comment on this post, 1 entry.
• Like Mayholic in Crafts Facebook page and comment here, 1 entry
• Follow @mayholicincrafts on Instagram and comment here, 1 entry
• Share the giveaway on your Facebook with a link to this post and comment here, 1 entry.

That’s all for me today. Thanks so much for hanging in there for a long post. I’m going to sit back and look forward to Vera, Lorena, and Linda‘s posts next Monday as they join the Creative Blog Hop too. Happy crafting!