ILLINOIS STATE CARD

 Hello!  I'm sure we have all had this dilemma where we open our mouth and volunteer for something and then say OMG what have I said?  Well I had that moment.  I belong to a card group on Facebook.  I joined basically for hints and to admire all the works of others.  Once in a "Blue Moon" I would post a picture of something I did but very very rarely.  I would however make comments on others works of art on the beauty or creativity.  Well one of the things I noticed alot of these card makers doing were "State" cards.  I didn't quite understand it at first but then caught on that it was kind of like a game where you download a map of the USA states and then collect cards from each of those states coloring in that state as you receive the state card.  I would read and giggle as people were writing "I need OHIO!! I'll give you NEBRASKA!"  With thousands of members in this group there were daily requests.   Well this was not really something I was interested in but I sure did love looking at all the different ways people portrayed their states in cards.  I however barely have time for normal cards yet alone trying to keep up with that challenge.  Then.....................I made THE comment!  I told someone that the Dutch card she received was beautiful and I loved the look of the windmill. Well the creator of the card messaged me asking if I would send her and ILLINOIS card and she would send me a Dutch card in return.  She is from the Netherlands and just starting the State card collection.  So I thought what the heck I can do 1 card.  Well knowing that it was going to the Netherlands made me want to make it a bit more special and since I have a love for "Fancy Folds" I knew it had to be a "Fancy Fold".  So I opted for a Screen card.  Little did I know that making a specific State card was going to take me literally 3 1/2 weeks to complete.  I knew what colors I wanted but trying to decided what I wanted to embellish it with was so difficult for me because I wanted it to be informative yet not just written up on a sheet of paper.  I put out my feelers to 4 of my best talented friends (we have a little "Gang" we call JP&I) and got some great ideas from them as well as a few stamped images to help me along.  The card came out pretty good.

Now I was quite pleased with it and so was the woman in the Netherlands.  Then she posted it in the Facebook group we are both in that she received her Illinois card and all of a sudden I start getting messages from people needing Illinois cards in exchange for Iowa, Ohio, California, etc you get my drift?  Well I had to decline unfortunately as there is not enough time in my days to do that type of commitment and I have learned my lesson to keep my mouth shut lol.

Til next time...........................................

HAPPY CARDING