Coffee and Penguins and a Really Cool Blog Badge

Memory Box's penguins are just the cutest little critters. There are dozens of them with all sorts of accessories. My favorites are, of course, the aviator, the chef, the artist, and the coffee-drinker. If you could see me now, sitting in my breakfast room at my desk with a cup of coffee by my side, you'd know why this coffee-drinking penguin stamp is so extremely appealing to me.


Simplicity Tip: To matte or not to matte? That is the question. Here it is necessary, but I ALWAYS try to do without mattes whenever possible. In this case, the gingham ribbon and sentiment put too much black on the left side of the card, resulting in an unbalanced feel. By adding the black matte, the penguin gained a little visual weight and evened the card back out. My Simplicity philosophy is to always ask, "What is the LEAST I need to get my point across visually?"

Which leads me to the extremely cool badge my very creative reader Tejal designed. I don't know if Tejal had read all the way back to the first post of Simplicity, but I used this quotation from Leonardo Da Vinci to jump-start this whole crazy blog. So I've added Tejal's pretty creation to the sidebar of Simplicity. If you would like to do the same, she gives easy-to-follow instructions on her blog. Just click the link in her name above.

Thank you, Tejal, for sharing your talent and enthusiasm with all the rest of us! You ROCK!

Long live simplicity!

PS I can't believe how easy Blogger's new design feature is. It took all of five minutes to completely freshen and update the look of Simplicity. I hope you like the new look because I sure do!!!!!! And I never would have tried it if Tejal hadn't mentioned how much she loved it. Thanks again, Tejal!