An Experiment: Day Nine, plus a Grammatical Digression

Today, we're going to look at two different cards using Kaleidacolor pads and Papertrey's Life stamp set. Before we get to the cards, however, here is the link to an older post about Kaleidacolor pads

What I Know about Kaleidacolor Pads

That post details tips on getting good images with Kaleidacolor pads, which really are a lot of fun once you figure them out!

Now, The first card today is a simple one-layer card that uses Stickles for added umph.

The simple blossom stamp from Life is inked with the Melon Melody pad and stamped repeatedly across the bottom of the card. This looked fine, but the lighter colors needed a little something extra, so I pulled out my yellow Stickles and went to work.

The results are lovely...so cheerful and sunny. The sentiment nestles nicely down into the blossoms. The only bad thing about this card is that I used all my yellow Stickles on it! Darn. Must place an order. What else do I need to buy to get free shipping on a $2.95 bottle of Stickles? What a situation!

The second Kaleidacolor card goes in a completely different direction color-wise...from sunshine to rich gemstone shades.

Here, there's bling to create some shine amidst the dark, lush shades.

Now, let's digress on the word alright. There's debate about using alright instead of all right, and today's sentiment calls for me to weigh in on this controversy.

I've always emphasized rhetorical situation in composition...in other words, who's your audience, why are you writing to them, and for what purpose are you writing? In broad terms, there are two main categories of rhetorical situations: formal and informal. In formal writing, it's best to be absolutely correct and, well, formal. Don't use slang, don't abbreviate or contract, always punctuate properly, and always use the most correct word choice.

Informal writing, however, allows some latitude. This blog, for instance, is definitely informal. I'd like you to feel as if you're sitting down for coffee and conversation with your best friend...or at least sitting down with someone who totally understands the need to order enough stamping product to get free shipping. Some of you read Simplicity more for the writing than the stamping, and that's alright (or all right) by me. I'm so happy you're here and hope you're having fun!

If I wrote Simplicity in the same style I wrote my master's thesis, none of you would hang around long. My thesis was awesome. I won an award for it, but it's not exactly fun reading. The title is As Gold Is Proved in the Furnace: Chaucer's Wife of Bath and Medieval Disputatio. I would never, ever have included a word like alright in something so academic. My thesis advisor's head would have exploded.

What a mess that would have been.

So if reading the sentiment on the second card makes you itchy and twitchy and generally on the verge of head-popping, then don't use it. I happen to like the sentiment a lot, and I'm fairly certain that Bob Marley wasn't writing a New Historical analysis of medieval debate as played out in the Wife's discourse in Canterbury Tales. Nope. He was writing a friendly little song of encouragement, probably while high on weed, which will certainly render a person just a tad informal.

It's a sweet song, and that's all I have to say about that.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan