10 Tags About "My Little Card Shop"

Let's break away from my card blog posts to more important stuffs..lol. I will be doing this 10 Tags about My Little Card Shop which is also a way for you to get to know the online shop and the person behind it.

1) I started My Little Card Shop (MLCS) in May 2012 with a lot of doubt and hesitation because I'm putting what little talent I have in card making to the facebook world by setting up a page. Initially, I dabbled in jewellery making but I was so terrible at it. Just to make a pair of earrings, I take two hours, lol. The name comes about because I'm feeling humble about the shop hence the word 'little' and 'my' because it's basically mine. Card because I want to emphasize that this online business is about cards, although I dabble in other papercrafts too.

2) I broke the mental barrier by telling myself that I want to start this online shop for a looooong time and this is my passion which I believe I will get better as the time goes by. Halfway through, I started my part-time studies and now it has become even more challenging fulfilling orders and getting by little sleep but I take it in my stride. I didn't want to just be a fixed income earner. I like the idea of money coming every now and then so that I don't feel like I'm poor until my next pay day. But ultimately, I'm doing this to spread the value of receiving a handmade card which I plan to do for a long time ever. In order to spread this around, I keep the price affordable so more people can buy.

3) Initially I tried to 'buy' my fans by constantly paying facebook to advertise it so that it will come out in people's newsfeed. I was amazed by how the number got higher and higher. However, I started to think that I may not gain real fans so decided to do away with it except occasionally sponsoring posts for special promotions. I want to organically grow my fan base. I started blogging because I also have a personal blog and also to showcase the cards I've made so far and other projects/

4) The first batch of cards I made was for the workplace I was in. I see that they often buy cards and I showed my cards and she emailed me saying how she loved them. So for the last couple of years, I've been making them every month, which explains the birthday card posts. It helped me to build a good portfolio, develop my skills and make my work more known to other people. I'm forever thankful to that one person who believed in my skills and pay me on on alternate months, without wanting to receive the change.

5) My style is more of the scrapbooking/collage/layering type rather than a one-note typical handmade cards. I often study advanced scrapbook layouts and see what techniques I can pick up from them. I've never stopped learning even though I've pretty much adopted my own style and I learn mostly from pinterest, blogs and recently instagram posts. (By the way, you can click on the instagram icon on the right side bar to follow MLCS)

6) Speaking of style, I love vintage or shabby chic designs most. If people don't have a specific design type, and it's for a female, I tend to lean towards this style especially for romantic cards. For males, it's full on collage style type of design.

7) I started to dabble in more complicated card cutting such as the popular tri-fold cards and the easel card which is basically a card with a cover that can be propped up. To bring in more variety to the papercrafting family, I also make mini albums that don't require stitching (because I suck at it..haha), bookmarks and now, even wedding guestbooks which is the one thing I'm so happy to do because I get to use many pretty things!

8) My favourite embellishments to use are paper doily and crystal or pearl swirls. I also love pre-cut diecuts which come in packs so I can save costs and  use them on many projects. I also like chipboard pieces which is great for building dimension. I love cutting out flower shapes out of patterned papers and I tend to buy those with nice flower designs.

9) Recently, I also dabble in mixed media for my cards because I don't want it to be just a plain ol' cut and paste type of cards. I like to add colour mediums such as distress ink, watercolouring and splatters for some background interest. I've taken a crash course on it to see how to incorporate mixed media and it was worth my $15.

10) My least favourite embellishments? This is so laughable because so many people are so crazy over them and can even own hundreds of thems. I don't like to use washi tapes. HAHA! If you ever see me use, it's because I'm short of ideas. I usually see them as tacky scotch tapes with patterns on them. Oh dear, many people will be mad at me for this.

I hope you will use this post to also encourage yourself to pursue your dreams and hone your skills. It's not just about passion. It's about putting in the time and effort to keep that passion burning alive no matter how tough it can be at times. Just remember, what value you want to add to your life and to other people's life and know why you're doing what you're doing now to keep you on track.

Thanks for dropping by!