Cara Brandon

Hello! Welcome to Cara Brandon Creations, my name is Cara. I am a Special Education Preschool teacher turned digital Junk Journal creator!

How did I go from being a Preschool teacher to making Digitals?

In my 20's I worked for a company called, New Horizons.  New Horizons was a software training company.   I was an instructor, and taught programs like, Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.  One of the programs I was asked to  "learn" was Photoshop.  I say "learn" because, well, I was given 2 days to learn Photoshop.  Then, I was sent out to teach to a classroom of Graphic Designers and Photographers. I was teaching people who used Photoshop everyday!  I was terrified!  I had some rough classes in the beginning, really rough, Eventually, I found my groove.  I will say, the students in those classes taught me much more than the book I was given to learn the program.

Fast forward to 2011(ish), I went back to work after being home with our two kiddos for 3 years.  I returned to work as a Special Education Preschool teacher.  

For many years Preschool was my creative outlet.  I would make playdough,  color matching games, Graham Cracker Gingerbread houses, all things preschool.  This was perfect since our kids were also in the preschool stage!

After quite a few years of teaching, I had either made or acquired enough (more than enough) for my classroom, and my own children.  So I needed a new creative outlet. 

That's when I found Lorrie Nunemaker on Youtube, and Facebook.  She had a swap group and I was HOOKED! I swapped, Pocket Letters, stuffed envelopes, Dex cards you name it!  For a time a co-worker and I would send out Pocket letters to each other through inter-school mail! It was so much fun! 

Then, one of the swaps was a Junk Journal.  I was so intrigued by the Junk Journal swap but also very nervous about the idea of tearing a book apart and sewing in my own signatures.  After awhile,  I got over the fear of messing up a book and went for it.  My first Junk Journal was a hot mess!  I didn't care, I just wanted to keep making junk journals!  So I made 1 for my son, and 1 for my daughter.  I did several junk journal swaps, and around that time I created my Youtube channel as a way to make crafty friends.  My friends, co-workers , and family didn't GET junk journals.  (Most of them still don't). So I needed a way to connect with others who did.  

Then 2020 came around, I had taken a year Leave of Absence from teaching, so that I could help my kiddos with online school.  EVERYONE was home, together, in the same house, all day, EVERYDAY!  

In october of 2020 I wanted to create a tag for my October Daily.  I was following prompts from Pink Odd Bird and one of the days the prompt was to include a Raven on the page. 

I couldn't find what I was looking for so I decided to try and make my own.  I went to the Graphics Fairy, and started tooling around with their tutorials.  A few hours later, my days at New Horizons and teaching Photoshop came back to me.  I had this crazy light bulb moment and said, well hot damn!  I know how to do this! I was giddy with excitement!  I created the Raven tag, then decided to create an entire kit.  It was such a blast! I already had my Etsy shop up and running and thought what if I list my digital kit on Etsy. 

Well I had NO idea how to save the files, or how to make downloads.  With some trial and error I figured it out.  I put my First full kit in my Etsy shop.  After that I was so excited to continue making new kits!  I LOVE the creative aspect of making digitals!  I also love being able to use the digitals, print them out and use them in journals.  The entire process fills my heart, and my creative soul with such joy! 

Well that is the long winded version of how a Special Education Teacher became a Digital Junk Journal creator! 

I am hoping my digital designs will spark YOUR creativity! I also hope that you will feel excited to use a Cara Brandon Creations in your next journal, or paper crafting project!

Big Hugs, and Happy Crafting! 

Cara Brandon