Creative bloghop

This was the idea of a now-anonymous blogger ages ago - the idea is that the creative bit includes anything  artistic, crafts,  needlework, painting etc etc, you name it. You have to write a bit about yourself, answer 4 questions, add photos (optional) and, like a game of tag, nominate 3 people to follow the next week.  I got tagged by Kate Perry, who is a very talented crafter living in Spain who I know through what was then the Graphicus Guild, and is now the Chocolate Baroque forum.
So here goes -
I am retired, living in Norfolk with a very patient husband who puts up with an ever-increasing mountain of  overflowing craft stash - 3 grown-up children all away from home who have also learned to put up with my craft stuff, in varying degrees of resignation!
I have always loved paper, pens and pencils  and spent all my pocket money at the local stationers first, then at the art store later -after leaving school  I spent 4 happy messy years at art college, first in Preston then in Liverpool where I ended up changing courses to the school of printing and studying typography - I got just as messy, only this time with printer's  ink!  College diploma and City & Guilds certificate  (even a medal!) did not lead to jobs, so I ended up as a civil servant in London.
I started crafting seriously when my daughter was around 11, with quilling and parchment craft initially, and bought my first rubber stamp and mini ink pad because I was fed up of quilling leaves. The next ones were small square stamps to make my own teabag folding papers, which  were  annoying to use and cut out individually and then colour in with felt tip pens.
Then I discovered Create & craft TV, where thanks to Jayne Nesterenko  I found out how to use some medallion stamps I had ordered at a show, and forgotten how to use by the time they arrived. I became hooked on stamping,  especially when I watched Glenda Waterworth - I still have some of the wood mount stamps from then. Once I discovered unmounted stamps -especially when they were so much cheaper and took less room up - there was no stopping me. Even I have to admit I have far to many stamps now, but I still can't resist buying new ones, especially from Chocolate Baroque, and trying out new techniques.
I have been lucky enough to run several workshops for the WI, which have been great fun, if hard work.

Now the questions...............
1. What am I working on
    my tags for the monthly challenge at Chocolate Baroque - this year it is a technique challenge, and this month we had to use embossing cracked in the freezer.

These are my two, after several failed attempts, using an old koi carp stamp from Elusive Images and a fragments stamp from Chocolate Baroque on the actual tag. I discovered that clear embossing powder will actually go opaque if you you reheat and refreeze it enough times! - the backgrounds to the fish are using brusho inks, which are my current addiction.
The next set of tags are to use zentangling, which is definitely not a favourite of mine..........
I have new sets of Christmas stamps to play with as well, which will hopefully be blogged on Wednesday

2.how does my work differ from others   and
3 why do I create what I do
I put these together, because to be honest, this is not something I have thought about, I just play! I do prefer simpler designs - I hate huge ribbon bows and loads of flowers on cards , and it takes a lot even for me to add ribbon at all. I usually make cards, because I like the results of my playing to be useful - I am not a fan of altered spoons and the like, if I have a wooden spoon I will be cooking with it!

4 how does my creative process work
As I said, I normally just play - I rarely start out with an idea of how I want the finished card to look. I may want to use a particular colour scheme or stamp, so i start out with that. I have to admit to being a very messy crafter, usually ending up with an A5 size space on the table to actually work in - the rest of the the space is ink pads, stamps that I thought would go well with what I started out with, and hopefully some scissors ( I swear there is a black hole on the table which swallows scissors!). I have several boxes of 'orphan' stamps which need returning to their sets, although some sets do manage to stay together probably as they are used so much.
I love challenge blogs, they are great for kick-starting ideas - I follow several, and am always discovering new ones through bloghopping, but very often never get around to actually doing an entry; it does annoy me that often I find a new challenge that I have just blogged the ideal card a couple of days earlier - sigh - though it would annoy me even more if everyone could backlink old stuff all the time!

now for my victims -

Moira Walters, who is a very talented crafter and a great source of inspiration, and who keeps me up to date on all things crafty. Moira runs craft classes - admittedly in the wilds of Norfolk at one of the best-hidden village halls I know -she does not have the best of health, and will I hope be able to add her blog next week.

Jane Aldridge, another very talented stamper , who says
I am an enthusiastic crafter who is an addicted rubber stamper and zentangler. I live in Norfolk with my husband and two furry companions. For many years I was a University administrator, until we took the leap and moved from Essex to Norfolk to have a different pace of lfe. i am lucky enough to have opened my own craft shop a couple of years ago partnered with a great friend, Sarah. I regularly attend local crafting events such as Sincerely Yours and run workshops and clubs as well as put up something creative on my blog everyday. I have a mixed taste of styles - I like collage mixed media style, steampunk as well as clean and crisp styles too. I love to be inspired by all the creative talent you can now view online and am keen to try lots of different styles and techniques

.Elaine Friend another very talented crafter, who does the most gorgeous needlework as well as stamping, and another who does not get around to blogging as often as she should!