The beginning

I believe that life is a labor of love. Ten years ago, I took up making greeting cards as a hobby. I wanted to make a unique card. One day, I bought some colored water pencils, and began coloring a cardboard paper. I wanted the card to be completely hand-made. Out of the blue, the thought of quilting a card popped up. I found some needle and thread and began experimenting stitching a card.

One stitch at a time, I discovered the potential and limitation of the paper and thread. The paper is more pliable after it dries from the water color. The paper actually stretches a little, like a taut piece of fabric. In order not to tear the paper when stitching, I had to use very fine needles and threads. By trial and error and a lot of patience, I made my first Pastel b. greeting card and sent it to a dear friend in New Jersey for her birthday.

A few weeks ago, while clearing up the clutter at home, I found a box holding these precious cards I had made with so much care. As I spread out each card on the bed, I realized that ten years had passed. I sat on the bed recalling the painstaking steps it took to make each card. Looking at the finished product now, with the pastel colors still so soft and un-faded, the stitches and beads still taut, I realized that some things are made to stay.

As I reflected on the past decade, I saw that creating a life that I wanted is very similar to creating one of my precious cards. I have been in the process of creating an ideal life one step at a time all these years, just as I had made the card stitch by stitch back then.

This blog is about the creation of Pastel b. cards and the metamorphosis of the creator behind Pastel b. I believe the process is as important as the result, if not more so.