I am a total newbie and I am already addicited! EEK! 
A brief background about me:
Early teenager years in 2002 I applied for me first CC and it was a store card from Macys. I did not know anything about credit UTL, INQ, etc. I was fed by my ex boyfriend at that time to start building my credit so I can open a cellphone line for me and him 
biggest mistake I ever done was to listen to that fool, which makes me a fool LOL
Since then Chase CC came in, Aspire and First national bank rolled in. Not huge limits the biggest one was First national bank at $1000. I did good in paying them on time because that is what I only knew - JUST PAY ON TIME. But my dad passed away in 2004, kinda went into "i don't care about my credit let me just help my mom and my brthoers." not a bad thing at all but I did not know how to handle both. Then all those credit cards went into collections. I didn't care at that time and I did not realize it was going to hurt me in the long run.
Fast foward in 2013, when I am now older and "wiser" and understanding credit, I signed up for Credit Karma and all my collections started to fall off one by one. Then Capital one sent me a offer for their MC Platinum card in 2014 and was approved for $500. I kept my UTL low and had CL's, then applied for QS in 2015 and same thing. Then here comes Nordstrom, Ann TAylor, Bergdorf Goodman and lastly JCrew. Then a car loan in Dec 2015.
Feb 2016 - I am not sure how it started but I am traveling a lot this year starting in April and I started looking for travel rewards cards. I apped for Venture - delcine gave me a LAMe excuse saying that I dont have mortgage (i rent). I apped for Discover IT - approved. This month I apped for Chase Freedom and Citi HHonors both approved. I did apply for Barclays and AMEX declined due too many INQs. SIGH I am good for now and there you have it my friends, I am in the garden until the end of this year so I can apply for Chase Sapphire LOL and hopefully AMEX next year.
I do lurk a lot on these posts and if it wasn't for you guys, I'll go crazy!! 
As of right now 8 INQs all across the board.