Today we have a special guest...

Today we have a guest on Lessons from the Scrapbook Page. It's my friend and fabulous author, Camy Tang. She's celebrating the release of the second book in the Sushi Series: Only Uni. Another fantastic read.

Here's Camy talking about her creativity...

I love scrapbooking and making cards. At first I got into scrapbooking because a friend of mine is a Creative Memories hostess, and it was fun making albums with my pictures. Problem is, I have way too many pictures from years and years ago, and not enough recent pictures. And it got boring doing albums of my old pictures when I don’t even have recent pictures of my husband.

Then my friend Sharon Hinck introduced me to stamping and cardmaking. It’s the same type of crafty thing I like about scrapbooking, but the projects are different. I can use them or give them away as gifts, which is the kind of practical thing I like more than picture albums, since I don’t look at my pictures very often and don’t have kids to pass them down to.

There’s also something about rubber stamps that brings out the kid in me. When I use the Creative Memories stuff, it’s mostly stickers and cut outs, which are fun, but there’s just something about stamps and ink! Some first grader inside me comes out and goes to town as soon as I get my stamps out!
What I like about both scrapbooking and card making is that I can either be creative while I’m doing it, or not. I can be patient and detail oriented, or not. I don’t have to be one or the other every time I start work.

Some days, I want to come up with some completely new design. Other days, I just want to copy what someone else has done. Some days, I’m anal about placing pieces just right. Other days, I let it slide if the flower is so off center that it’s sitting outside the vase. I can scrapbook or make cards no matter what my mood is.

Somehow, while making cards, the act of creating something from paper and ink and ribbon soothes me. Sometimes I listen to music, sometimes I listen to a writing workshop on MP3, sometimes I don’t listen to anything at all and just let my mind wander, brainstorming my next book. I don’t need to pour as much of myself into cardmaking as I do into my writing, yet I still come out with something pretty.

And after a session of making cards, there’s a fine feeling of satisfaction. I’ve completed a project that’s useful. I could use these cards to send to family or friends, or I could give blank ones as gifts (did that last Christmas and people were thrilled!).

I try to do some cardmaking every month. Not because I need that many cards, but because there’s something about it that adds value to my life. It helps ease my stress, it gives me satisfaction, and it fulfills a specific part of me that isn’t quite fulfilled with my writing or my knitting.

It’s also fun to realize there are so many people on the internet who enjoy it, too! Like my friend Tasra! Thanks for letting me spout off on your blog today!

Camy Tang is the loud Asian chick who writes loud Asian chick lit. She used to be a biologist, but now she is a staff worker for her church youth group and leads a worship team for Sunday service. She also runs the Story Sensei fiction critique service. On her blog, she gives away Christian novels every Monday and Thursday, and she ponders frivolous things like dumb dogs (namely, hers), coffee-geek husbands (no resemblance to her own...), the writing journey, Asiana, and anything else that comes to mind. Visit her website for a huge website contest going on right now, giving away five boxes of books and 25 copies of her latest release, ONLY UNI.

Comments

[Camy Tang]

Thanks for letting me stop in today, Tasra!
camy