 Hi everybody, it's Sandy. Welcome to my YouTube channel where today I have something very special for you. An interview I did recently with Sherri Woods from California, another one in my student interview series. So I hope you enjoy meeting Sherri and getting some inspiration from her. Welcome Sherri. I'm so glad you could have this conversation with me today. It's been a long time since we've kind of known each other. I checked my blog this morning and your very first comment on my blog was in 2015, way back then, and it was on a post where I was doing skin tone coloring, which would be what I'm doing this week on YouTube and on my social media. So I thought that was a nice little bit of kismet. So welcome after all this time we get to talk to each other. Thank you. I know that's the first time actually ever. I think so. I think so. Well why don't you start by telling everybody a little bit about you, how you got started doing creative things, and kind of what your journey's been. Okay, well I've always been making something. I started out, you know, as a teenager make sewing. I did a lot of sewing and such. And then that morphed into eventually scrapbooking. I started scrapbooking because everybody was scrapbooking. And I had all the things. And then I didn't really like and then sort of drifted off into the toll painting. I started toll painting. Maybe the late 80s I started toll painting. And so I had buckets of paint. I mean all those little little craft paints. I had all that. And I painted everything that wasn't nailed down. The kid and the husband had to keep moving, otherwise they get painted too. And then after a while, you know, all of that is all decorative painting. And after a while you run out of things to paint. And people do. So I kind of put that aside. And then I somehow I discovered, I said, well, I can use these same paints to make cards. And so that started me on the card making thing. And because I learned somewhere along the way, you water them down, and they're like watercolors, but ooh. So I made, I made a lot. That's how I started making cards. And then I had a friend who was into stamping. I said, oh, oh, I can use your dealer. Yeah. I can start with stamping. And then I started getting into that. And then I discovered YouTube videos. Oh, oh, this was like a whole new world. All kinds of new, new things. And I started doing stamping. And somewhere along the way, I discovered, I discovered Sandy, all not because, oh, oh, scenes. I can do, I can make scenes. And kept going from there. And then from, actually from, from your tutorials, I learned about different media. I learned about Copics. Ooh. And then pencils and paints and real watercolors. And it just, I have all the things now. So I guess I'm your dealer too. Sorry about that. Gateway drug. Yeah. That's right. Well, I'm all in favor of people getting addicted to art supplies, because it's much healthier than a lot of things you could be addicted to. Well, that's right. You know, I don't, I don't drink, I don't smoke. So, you know, putting all that money into art supplies, right? That works. Well, you've talked about a bunch of different mediums you've used along the way. What's your favorite one to use right now? And how has that changed over time? Oh, gosh. I don't know if I have a favorite. I kind of bounce around. I love the Copics. They're probably my go-to if I want to do something fairly quickly. But then I get frustrated with them because markers dry out or, then I don't have the refills. I have to put that aside for a little bit. And then I get into doing painting. Right now I'm doing a lot, doing a lot of painting with watercolor. But then I said, well, those pencils have been sitting there for a while. I think I'll try those for a bit. So I kind of bounce around. Yeah. No letting any of those mediums sit there unused. Yeah. And then I just went on vacation and I said, well, I don't want to haul a lot of stuff with me. So I said, well, I'll just take a little bit of my sketchbook and my fountain pen. And that's, that did me for a week. Oh, good. Yep. It's great that you have so many options for different things to play with. Right. So is that the kind of thing that inspires you when you sit down? Do you decide on the medium or do you have another project in mind? Like what gets you started? I think most of the time I find something that I want to make something like that. And then I said, well, that, okay, that one was watercolor. Okay, I'll do it in watercolor or that kind of thing. Yeah. Well, cool. Do you have colors that inspire you? Like your favorite color combinations or stuff? Or do you bounce around with that too? Yeah, I bounce around with that. Mostly it's what I have. Although the collection is growing. So what's your process? Like how do you go from, okay, there's this idea I saw and now I need to put it on a piece of paper. Do you go through any kind of process to get it there, to revamp it, to make it your own? Or do you just try to replicate what's there and then see what happens on the paper? It's a mix. Sometimes I see something and if, oh, I have that stamp. And so I try to get it as close as I can to the thing that I saw. Sometimes it's just, I got to make that card. Exactly. Yeah. But other times it's, well, I don't have that stamp, but I have something similar. I think I can do something with that or I don't have that color. But hey, I've got this one that works really well. I like this one. So I'll try something a little bit different and make it my own. So it's kind of a combination. Yeah, depending on the mood. Sometimes it's just, I've got to make that exact card. Oh yeah, totally. That happened to me, I think with my first purple onion designs card. Because I saw something, I'm like, I have to make that thing. That stamp and I had to go buy that thing. And that was one of those that was very distinct in my memory. Do you have a particular one that you saw that you just were like, that is the card and like they got you to go do something different? Oh yeah. Well, there were two that recently that I had to make that card. And one of them was yours. A purple onion designed by Coincidence is the village scene. Oh, that big one. The one that took you five hours to make. Didn't take you five hours as well. That's the one. And you know, I actually bought the stamp and it was kind of sat there for a while because I said, I don't really want to do an epic one. I'm always like, well, what if I mess it up? But, oh, just go for it. Just go for it. All right. Well, it sounds like you have some words to tell yourself when you start doubting your skills, you know, just go for it. What kinds of things do you say when that negative voice starts coming in your head? Like, how do you get past that? It stops a lot of us. We just put the stuff down. We're like, I can't do it. So I'm not going to try. Yeah. How do you get to it? You're going to laugh, but I hear you. It's just a piece of paper. It's just a piece of paper. Go. It's a little paint. It's a little paper. And if it, nobody needs to see it if it doesn't work out. That's true. And sometimes people, I think, actually like to see it when it doesn't quite work. Okay. Everybody has a goof. Let's see. Well, what went wrong with it and what can I do with it? And sometimes that you can actually save it. Well, it's not quite the painting I want, but it makes a great background. Sometimes you can just put a butterfly on it and cover up whatever didn't work. Yeah. I've done stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. One of your cards inspired one of my videos last year. And if you remember, I did a task that was based on your card. It was on red card stock and you had colored flowers. And I was trying to re-engineer what you did. So why don't you tell us what you did on that card to make those flowers. They were very muted. So they kind of sunk into the paper really beautifully. So how did you do yours? Oh, thanks. Yeah. It's just red card stock from a big box store. It wasn't anything special. And I stamped the image and then colored it just with copics that matched, kind of. And then I was remembering contrast, contrast. We need to get that darks in there to give it the depth. And then that was kind of the key and then blend it out so that it didn't look quite so standing there. And then when I was making it, I was a little bit panicking because I said, oh, it's too dark. But with the copics, especially on that paper that matches, you have to wait for it to dry. And it took me a little bit to realize that. I said, oh, okay. It came back a little bit. Oh, it looks better. Yeah. One of the nice things about colored card stock is that all those edges that don't blend when you're on white paper, they kind of don't show up on paper. Nice. And what I made it, it was kind of funny is that I said, well, with this technique, you don't have to color the whole image, just the highlights in the dark parts. But I don't know that it really saved that much time. I was trying to be careful and blending it out. When you're trying something new, it's always going to take a little more time. But if you're making Christmas cards like that, making multiples, it can get quicker. So I'll put a link to my video that shows your card. I'll put a link in the description so people can go see your card and also pop it up here on the screen. Everybody can see what we're talking about. Oh, thanks. Let me see. What else? You sent me some pictures of some of your works that you were proud of. And I want to ask you about those purple onion, the van. Oh, it's a series that I thought was hysterically cute. Tell me about those. Like, how did you get to doing that? Oh, gosh, so I bought that stamp a long time ago. Just because I liked the little van. And I maybe used it once or twice and then kind of sat there. But then I saw a card by Amy Young where she had that same stamp and they were driving along the Pacific Coast Highway. And I said, oh, I fell in love with that. That was the one. I said, I must do that card. And I have the stamp. So I did that one. And, oh, by the way, Amy actually sent me her card. That was very sweet of her. Oh, that's nice. Amy the doll. So that gave me the idea of they can be in other places doing other things. So I had my brother-in-law, his birthday was coming up and he's from San Francisco. So I said, oh, I'm going to have him cross the Golden Gate Bridge. Oh, fun. And then we had gone on vacation in Utah. So I said, oh, they're going to be going through Bryce Canyon. And then I ride my bike all the time locally here on Pacific Coast Highway. And I said, oh, there's a local landmark. It's a big water tower. So I'm going to have them going by the big water tower. So I'm thinking, well, I haven't done one of those for a while. Where can they go next? Oh, that's so fun, just taking your stamps on a trip with you. Yeah, yeah. All those little characters. It's a nice challenge to just see how do you draw each of those things. Right, right. Do you work from pictures? I do mostly, mostly from photos. Yeah. Yeah, great. Very cool. What advice would you give to somebody who's stuck creatively? What do you do when you have no ideas? You don't know what to do. You've got a blank piece of paper in front of you. Where do you, how do you get past that blank brain? I always seem to have a list of stuff to do. Things I want to try. You keep an actual list? Yeah. A Pinterest kind of list, mostly. Okay. I pin them on Pinterest. Oh, I like that one, because I like the colors or the technique or that card, that kind of thing. So there's always, and I just go, when I'm thinking of something to do, I scroll through that and say, oh, okay, let's try that one today. That's good. Also, I have a birthday list of people I like to send cards to, so there's always a birthday or two or five. Yeah. I have a Google sheet full of them. Got to keep myself organized somehow. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes hard to keep up. Yeah. Well, I have noticed that you've also been doing some stuff beyond cards. You've been doing drawings and stuff, some animal drawings and things. What's got you inspired in doing that kind of stuff, like trying other things that are beyond card making? Oh, well, I guess it kind of started with the lockdowns and pandemic. Well, I just got to find something to do. So I started your 30 days drawing class, and then I got all excited with that. I can actually draw. Really? Wow. What a funny realization. Oh my goodness. I did that. That's so very cool. I did that. That's great. So that kind of got me going, and I took the drawing 101, and then I said, I'm going to try. I'm going to try. So I did. Well, I'll try. I'll just try something. I tried a portrait, and it looks like her. Yeah. I was very impressed when I saw that. And then I tried doing our dog, Molly. Well, at that, and I still am at the point and says, let me just try it in pencil first, because you can erase. So I did, and I was, I'm pretty pleased with that. It's framed right over there. Oh, that's nice. How old is Molly? Oh, Molly passed a year ago. But yeah, she was 12. German Shepherd, 12 years old. Yeah. She used to have a shepherd. Yeah. They're special. Big giant bear. Yeah. Something that I think the pandemic did do a lot of people. We suddenly had more time on our hands. People started taking up new things and trying new stuff. And I think you said you retired at this point. Yes. You've got more time on your hands. Yeah. Yeah, I retired just in time to have a pandemic. Yeah, a couple of years. We had a couple of years to travel. But yeah, so retired and pandemic shut down. So hey, something to do. There you go. I know you've got new skills. So definitely. Yeah. Yeah. Well, another thing people might not know about you is that you are one of our admins on the Facebook group. So here's my public thank you to you for all help for the Facebook group and helping to manage that. Tell me about your experience on the group. What do you like about it? What do you enjoy there? Oh, definitely seeing everybody's creations. They're all a little bit different in different levels of skills. And that's great. I like to see people especially when they say, well, I don't know about this, but it looks great. You're seeing a flaw, but it looks great. I like getting to know people a little bit through their art and their comments and such. So it's fun. I really enjoy seeing all of the creations. Yeah. So many people have gotten to know each other in ways that I wasn't really expecting when I created that Facebook thing that there are people there who exchange cards with each other. And, you know, they say, well, I'm feeling sick now and somebody else wishes them well and send them a good will card and stuff. It's just a really nice community. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Community is the nice word. Yeah. And so thank you very much for your help in that. So Sherry is one of the people who helps to randomly pick a number for the prizes. So if you want, she might be one of those people who has helped you to get a half price off class as a prize because we do that each month. But Miley, I appreciate your help with that. And I appreciate your positive comments, like you're saying that there's always something good in people's artwork. Just the things that you tell people are so helpful and engaging. So I think that's why you're beloved in the grid. Thanks so much. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. It's my pleasure. Pleasure to help. That's awesome. Well, let's leave with one more piece of advice. Okay. So somebody comes to you, Sherry, and says, I want to try doing such and such, whether it's a new medium or something, but I am just not capable. What would you say to somebody who just said, I can't do it? You can do that, but I can't do that. Of course you can. Yes, you can. You just, you know, just jump in. Just give it a try. Of course you can. Get started. Take a class. If you feel like you need to do that, just jump in and try it. Do you have nothing to lose by trying it? That is a great thing. Nothing to lose except a piece of paper. It's just a piece of paper. Piece of paper is no big deal. Right, right, right. We can all try something new. So thank you so much for joining me just for this quick chat. It was good to get to know you and to finally talk to you face to date instead of through Facebook Messenger. And I hope that everybody else will leave lots of love for you here. And over on my blog, I'll have pictures of some of the creations that you have made. Some of your drawings, some of your cards, and, you know, link to that other video so people can see that beautiful Christmas card that you sent in. And yeah, well, thank you so much. And I'll see you over in the Facebook group. Okay. Thank you very much, Sandy. I enjoyed it. All right. Bye-bye.