Hello, 2021

As 2020 ends, I'm filled with gratitude...gratitude that we've not lost a loved one to this mess, that we have been gainfully employed, that we have great wifi. But my heart hurts, too, for all those who have lost loved ones or experienced the terrible long-term effects of the disease, for all those who have had other health problems and had to deal with a health-care system in crisis, for all those who struggle financially or who have to stay in dysfunctional, toxic homes. 

My heart hurts for those who have had to deal with injustice, hatred, violence, political division, and the ugliness of the world. 

I am always an optimist. I believe we will come through this changed and stronger...eventually. Right now, we're in it. And it sucks. 

Our hobby allows us to make pretty things. It's therapy, an escape, self-care, a way to show love. Take the time to make the world a better, more beautiful place. Take care of yourself and those you love. Take care of your neighbors, even if they voted for the "wrong" guy or look different. Do good. Do no harm. Stay in love. Say hello to 2021. 

We've got this. 

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and kindness,

Susan

Blocking Inspiration

 Sticking with the blocking concept from yesterday's card but using an inspiration piece this time...

Like yesterday's card, this card uses Simon Says Stamp's lovely Sending Sympathy set. The branch stamps in the set are so simple and perfect! I struggled with the arrangement for a while, let the card sit unfinished on my desk overnight, came back to it, and solved the puzzle in a few minutes.

When you get stuck, walking away for a time is often the easiest way forward!

The color combination was inspired by this pin. I had inks to match but ended up substituting a Sahara Sand heart in place of the Wet Cement ink.

My syllabus is updated for the spring semester. I will teach two sections of English Composition 2 online via Zoom. Comp 2 is my favorite on the composition classes because it goes deep into research methods and writing, and students tend to be more serious than in Comp 1 classes. 

Last semester taught me just how little we can cover in a Zoom class compared to a face-to-face class, and ultimately, I suspect the experience of teaching online will make me a much more efficient and effective instructor. Nevertheless, I long for the brick-and-mortar classroom. I miss people!!!!

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and kindness,

Susan

Simple Concepts and Blocking

Back in the day, color blocking was a very common practice in scrapbooking. It may still be today, but I've not scrapped in about 12 years, so I'm supremely out of touch. 

I like using blocks on cards--a 3 x 3 square grid is particularly appealing to OCD me--but for today's card, I just separated the image and the sentiment onto two panels and left them white-on-white with no colored cardstock. 

To the paper and ink, I added a single, tiny rhinestone. 

The stamps are from Simon Says Stamp's Sending Sympathy set.

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and kindness,

Susan

Back to Basics, Return to Roots, Focus on Foundations...Whatever

 After months of sporadic stamping--with uneven results--I found myself continuing to struggle with getting back into the stamping groove. I surfed Pinterest, took a stab at some inspired cards, threw the results in the trash, and walked away for a few days. I ordered a bunch of new stamps in November, but they didn't help.

I tried cleaning out my stash, only to realize that everything was already so very tidy and organized and purged that there really was no point. 

No. Point. 

*sigh*

So I decided to get back to basics. Paper and ink. Eleven years ago, I started a thread on Splitcoast Stampers. At the time, dies, Copics, and Prismacolor pencils with gamsol were everywhere. I tried to encourage people who didn't want to make cards that required lots of expensive supplies (and massive artistic talent)--cards that often ended up being thick as doorstops and impossible to mail--to follow their instincts and make simple cards...a counter-cultural impulse that received a ton of support and eventually ended up birthing this blog. 

Simplicity by LateBlossom. 

All three of today's cards embody that original impulse and get back to the root of who I am as a stamper.

Nothing but paper and ink. Not even bling. Lots of white space. 

The floral set is an ancient Papertrey set, new to me, called Flower Garden that I picked up for about $5. 

After shaking down my mojo with these three cards, I'm feeling ever so much better! 

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas despite our current very weird situation. Ours was certainly lovely, with a bit of snow even! I had no idea that our military years were training us to handle a very COVID Christmas, but we managed quite nicely. 

Singing Christmas hymns around the Advent wreath

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and kindness,

Susan

Pondering Christmas 2020

The following, slightly modified, was written for presentation in worship at First United Methodist Church of Springboro this past weekend. Before that, I used a slightly different version for a devotional on Facebook Live. If you're feeling the weight of grief this Christmas...even "just" grief from the loss of "normal," may these words bring a little comfort to you. Merry Christmas.

Think for a minute about the night of Jesus’ birth. Little Bethlehem was crowded to overflowing for the census. People were gathering everywhere…no social distancing. I can easily imagine the noises, the smells of animals and food and unwashed bodies, the jostling for space. It must have been sensory overload for a young couple from little nowhere Nazareth.

On Christmas Eve, when we sing Silent Night, it’s easy to forget that chaos. The beautiful, soft song about a calm, quiet, holy night represents the spirit of Christmas—our longing for peace—more than the literal reality of that night, with Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus crammed into a stable and dealing with visiting shepherds spreading the words of the heavenly hosts to all…a good night, but not a quiet one. 

Mary handles the mess calmly. She treasures these things and ponders them in her heart.

Christmas 2020 needs a bit of pondering in our hearts, too. What do we think of this strange Christmas season? How do we process what’s happening?

We can use our technology to Zoom with family and friends, and we can order gifts to be shipped online. We can send cards and boxes of homemade goodies through the mail. We can decorate our homes and worship and light candles online, using the Advent kits our church handed out. These substitutes for our usual traditions and comforts help…some. But Christmas 2020 is unprecedented in our lives. It won’t be the same as Christmases Past.

What do we think about this? In his book Stillness is the Key, Ryan Holiday says that we need to find more moments of silence in which to think, and he describes a place in Helsinki, Finland, designed for that. “[T]here is a small building called the Kamppi Chapel It’s not a place of worship, strictly speaking, but it’s as quiet as any cathedral. Quieter, in fact, because there are no echoes. No organs. No enormous creaking doors. It is, in fact, a Church of Silence. It’s open to anyone and everyone who is interested in a moment of quiet spirituality in a busy city. You walk in and there is just silence. Glorious, sacred silence.”

Where do you go to find glorious, sacred silence, a peace so deep that you can ponder?

The silence that gives good pondering doesn’t come in a Christmas Eve candlelight service. Think about it. There, we gather in community, crammed into pews—no social distancing. The little ones are restless and often “help” with the readings and the preaching and the prayers. The songs are participatory, the readings often responsive, and when we light the candles, we are multitasking…singing, tilting, passing the light, trying not to spill wax or light the person in front of us on fire, trying to keep little ones from lighting themselves on fire.

Silent Night—the song—is wonderful for bringing community together in peace, hope, love, and joy. But maybe not in silence.

The psalmist said, “Be still and know that I am God.” It's a good verse to guide us through this mess.

Christmas 2020 will not be the same for any of us, and that grieves us. It is a loss. Whether this is a first Christmas without a loved one, or a first Christmas without the long drive to Grandma’s house to gather with the whole family, or a first Christmas without a crowded candlelight service, it’s just not going to be the same. How do we reimagine Silent Night? How do we reimagine Christmas in the time of COVID?

I think we’re being invited to ponder the meaning of it all in a very real and profound way. Because as much as we want Christmas to be about gathering and eating together and exchanging gifts together and caroling together and passing fire down the pews together, the real meaning, the real celebration, the real truth of Christmas is that Christ our Savior is born. That’s our treasure.

God willing, we will have more Christmases for traveling, gathering and passing the light in community, but this Christmas brings its own treasure, if we can be still and know it. If we can find the Kamppi Chapel in our own homes and hearts for glorious, sacred silence to ponder God’s love for us.

Seek out those moments you can be still and silent…there may well be more of them this year. As you are still, know that Emmanuel, God with us, is born. My hope is that we will treasure this, and ponder it in our hearts, just like Mary so long ago.

Peace be with you. 

Growth, Gratitude, and Gold

Growth

Well, my crafty friends, fall 2020 has certainly been a period of growth. In the spring, educators were hit with an emergency, but by fall, we had had time to plan for the online learning environment. As many online classes as I took over the summer to learn about online teaching, nothing really prepared me for the special challenges of teaching on Zoom. 

The best teacher is experience. And I learned so very much from on-the-job practice! For instance, I learned that I can teach about one-third as much on Zoom as I can in a face-to-face classroom. That means my Zoom activities need to be especially robust and efficient, and my homework assignments need to pick up the slack. I also learned that some in-class activities migrate to Zoom easily, and others don't migrate at all. 

At. All. 

Sigh. My go-to theme for the semester was "We're all learning together!" And boy, howdy, was it true. 

My biggest regret from the past four months has been how little time I made for stamping. That needs to change. My quest to be the best virtual teacher I could be took over my life in not entirely healthy ways. This semester ends Dec. 16 when final grades are due. Deep breathing and healthier boundaries will need to be in place by the time the new term starts in January. 

Gratitude

Several stampers helped brighten my term, most especially Eddie, who sent a few DOZEN Christmas cards to me. These cards will be used by our church's card ministry to brighten the holidays of our shut-ins and members in nursing homes. Thank you, Eddie. 

I'm also grateful to Joan B. and Francie M. for their encouragement and support throughout the semester. If you're looking for a StampinUp consultant, email me and I'll put you in touch with Francie. She recently rejoined StampinUp and is just as kind and creative as you want a consultant to be!

Marcia P. sent me a lovely card inspired by one of mine and a cool distressing tool because she read that I use scissors to distress the edges of my paper. She also wrote me a letter, which was so special! No one does that anymore. 

Marty and Jo Ann sent me fabulous birthday cards, and several others reached out in email or messages on Facebook. You've made me feel loved. Thank you all! 

If I missed anyone, I'm so sorry. 

Gold

In the past four months, I've made cards here and there...most of which ended up in the circular file. But last weekend, this happened. 

I used some fabulous shimmery gold cardstock, the StampinUp subtle textile embossing folder, and a bunch of dies from various manufacturers. It was inspired by a number of foliage cards I've seen on Pinterest and Instagram with lots of die cuts artfully wodged together. 

I denominalized that word. Wodge. It's a noun meaning a wad or mass of something. But in crafty terms, it needs to be a verb, doesn't it? 

We crafters wodge a lot of different things. To wodge. 

Whatever. It's a pretty wodge. I pearled the wodge, too. 

I do hope you all are staying healthy and sane in all the craziness right now. Today's the first Sunday in Advent, and our church celebrated it as Hope Sunday. (How convenient it would have been if it were Peace Sunday...but my pastor doesn't organize her church calendar around my card themes. Such a pity.) 

We need hope right about now, don't we? Hope that the vaccine is available soon. Hope that our nation starts healing after the insanity of this last election. Hope that 2021 will bring us together instead of continuing to tear us apart. 

Y'all, we are all on this spinning dot in the big universe together. We all need love and safety and respect and freedom from fear. Let's commit to giving those to others as we hope to receive them for ourselves. 

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and kindness,

Susan

More Good Bugs in the Great Weirdness

Butterflies, as we have established, are good bugs. So are ladybugs. Ladybugs don't bite, they eat aphids, and they come in a range of fun, happy colors with polka dots. What's not to love? We have quite a few hanging around our house now. Cooper ate one on the front porch yesterday...which somehow seems to sum up the weirdness. 

I always look forward to fall and the season of pumpkin spice everything, but today's cooler temperatures caught me by surprise. Time seems to have lurched quickly since March, and part of me finds it hard to believe that fall is right around the corner. Those lovely ladybugs will be hibernating soon. 

So why do I feel stuck in limbo, like so much of life is simply on hold...indefinitely? The Great Weirdness is doing a number on my head, folks, and on many of my friends and family as well. It's easy to slip into anxiety and depression, even if you're not normally anxious or depressed. Take care of yourselves. Reach out and get help before you sink too low. Acknowledge the weirdness, but don't let it win. 

A great way to stand up to the Great Weirdness is to do nice things for people. Just one small thing a day. Send a card or small gift to someone. Buy their coffee. Send them a fun text or meme you think they will like. Whatever it is, do it intentionally. Those small gestures make a difference...sometimes all the difference...for someone else and for yourself.

So just do it. 

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and kindness,

Susan 

Falling Leaf

Some stamps are timeless and far too perfect to ever get rid of. This leaf from Stampa Rosa is one such stamp. 

I like the dimension here. The burnt orange square is glued to the card base, the brown square is popped up with a thin dimensional, and the stamped square is popped up on top of the brown square with another thin dimensional. Squares often create a static feel, but this staggered popping seems fitting for a falling leaf image, doesn't it?

I've mentioned frequently that autumn is my favorite season. A few leaves have started to fall despite warm temperatures. But pumpkin-spice everything is just around the corner, folks, and I'm as happy as a puppy chasing leaves about it. 

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and kindness,

Susan

Two Types of Bugs

So there are two types of bugs: good bugs and bad bugs. Now, I'm not talking about ecology here, or the fact that all animals are useful and serve a purpose. I'm talking about the fact that revenge is a dish best served with protective gear and lethal chemicals.

You see, my darling husband George, our dog Cooper, and I were all three stung by yellow jackets Friday before last while sitting on our deck. Cooper and I experienced the regular discomfort of such stings, but George, who was stung under the eye, swelled up and broke out in all-over hives. We spend an evening at the ER plotting revenge. 

He executed the plot (and the nest of yellow jackets) without further incident. But he's had renewed swelling and itching over this weekend, and I feel that, perhaps, the bad bugs didn't suffer as much as they should have.

So yellow jackets are bad bugs, no matter what an entomologist might say. 

Butterflies, however, are very good bugs, and they look pretty on cards, too!

I colored two different species of butterflies the same because I'm simple that way, and the colors made me happy. On a butterfly. Same colors on a yellow jacket...not so much. 

Doesn't Wink of Stella make a perfect shimmer for butterfly wings? My heart's all aflutter!

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and kindness to all creatures without stingers or venomous fangs,

Susan

Re-Inspired during The Great Weirdness

 In The Great Weirdness, I find my mind doesn't work the way it used to. It's often irritable, restless, and far more negative that it usually is. I mean, my mind usually doesn't say, "The glass is half full." My mind says, "Hey, that glass is refillable!!!"

But The Great Weirdness is a thing. And sometimes the glass is empty.

After spending far too long surfing Pinterest for inspiration, I got the idea to let my previous cards inspire me. That led me to make these two cards, inspired by THIS CARD, which was inspired by THIS CARD. So the original inspiration wasn't, in fact, my card, but someone else's, whose pin has been adulterated with a spam link.

If you bother reading my original post for this design, you'll note that it took many steps to make that card. This card went together rather quickly, mainly because I skipped the embossing. The colors are Distress mustard seed and speckled egg. I used the inking tool to ink scraps for the solid panels...which gives a very different look than colored cardstock. 

While some of my adopted college students have returned to school, some have (like our son Nick) opted to stay home this semester. All of Nick's classes are online, and he didn't fancy another shot at the roommate lottery. The above card will go in a care package to one of the girls who's returned to campus. 

The ones staying home to study will still get packages, though. The Great Weirdness is so hard on all of them. 

After I finished the card above, I still had some small scraps of mustard seed and speckled egg paper. The following card came from using them. I like it a LOT. 

Which version do you like best? Why?

I hope you're doing as well as you can in The Great Weirdness. I start teaching on the 24th, two classes online. It's getting exciting as the plan comes together! But oh, my. It's so weird.

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and kindness,

Susan

Purple No. 2

Here's the second in my purple series. Numbering them makes them feel so artsy. 

I can't remember ever thinking too much about purple, but it's a finicky color. Today's card uses two shades of blue-purple that don't look anything like yesterday's red-purples. I combined them with a happy lime for extra punch!

Originally, I had very thin mats under both of these panels, but the elegant thin-thick-thin matting I love so much didn't work with the folksy look of this design. One wide mat under a raised panel looked much more appropriate.

I hope you're holding together through all this. Today was a hard day, but tomorrow will be better. I just know it!

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and kindness,

Susan

Purple No. 1

Three of the four purple studies I did for my informal purple challenge definitely look like Simplicity cards, and today's is one of them (obviously inspired by Mia's awesome circle cards such as the ones on this post). 

For this card, I really wanted to spotlight three of the pretty stamps from a very old Technique Tuesday set, and circles seemed a really good way to do that. This gold-and-reddish-purple combination was inspired by this pin. 

 

Stay safe and healthy!

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and kindness,

Susan

"Has Susan Lost Her Mind?"

Okay, so yesterday's card was deeply atypical for Simplicity, and yes, the balloon shape of the butterflies was indeed a "happy little accident," not at all planned. It's fun to do the unexpected, so here is another non-LateBlossom card that uses *gasp* colored cardstock (base and mat!) and six colors of ink. 

Today's color challenge was similar to yesterday's...use as many different colors as you can. It was loosely inspired by a color combo on Pinterest. I do love using those pins as jumping-off points, even if I usually only pick two colors at the most! 

Next up...purple. I challenged myself to use every single Hero Arts and Archival Ink purple pad I own, which is way too many considering how rarely I use purple. The results were mostly fun although a few ended up in the circular file. Four cards made the final cut, and one of them made me happy as a kindergartner with a paper-plate-cotton-ball bunny!

In other news, one of my classes for fall now has 17 enrolled, so I'm pressing hard to get the class website put together. My syllabus is BEAUTIFUL. I created it in MS Publisher, and while it's not finalized quite yet, it's making me so very happy!

Stay safe, everyone. 

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and kindness,

Susan

So Many Colors

My next color challenge took the form of many colors--and dark ones, at that--on a card. I rarely use dark colors, preferring lighter or brighter shades, but the beautiful new dark red Light House from Ranger's Archival Ink made me want to play around. So to speak. And rarely do I use more than two colors plus a neutral on a card. Most often, it's one color and a neutral!

Anyway, after creating a rainbow of the larger butterflies, I filled in with the smaller butterfly and bling colored with Sharpies and Copics. The final shape reminded me of a balloon, so I added a birthday sentiment. 

So much fun! And such unusual--for me--layout and colors. 

What might you challenge yourself to do with color that you don't normally do? Consider taking some time this week to play. 

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and kindness,

Susan

Happy Summer Color Challenge

Let's talk about color prejudice for a moment. I really like blues and greens and grays and pinks and reds, but for no logical reason, the colors yellow, orange, and purple don't generally appeal to me. And don't even get me started on StampinUp's old orchid opulence, a.k.a. Fairy Vomit. 

Just. Don't. 

Feelings about color run strong in people's hearts...just check out the interweb chatter every year when Pantone announces its Color of the Year and seasonal colors. Everyone has feelings about them. Color prejudice really is a thing, and it's just first-world bickering. Nevertheless, it plays out in our craft spaces daily as we favor some colors over others. 

So, several stamping friends and I decided to challenge each other to use colors that we don't normally like or use. The yellow and orange beach card from Friday is one such challenge card. Today's mustard seed and gray card is another. 

And I'd like to point out for the record that just because I don't like certain colors doesn't mean I don't buy them. Today's card uses Distress mustard seed. I bought it because I can't have part of the color wheel not represented in my stash.

No. I don't have a problem. Why do you ask?

Come on. Admit it. You have the same need for completion. This unhealthy insatiable need for rainbows of every product imaginable is an inevitable part of crafting and took me to Marco's Paper on Saturday to buy red-violet Copic markers for coloring bling because all my purple Copics tended toward blue-violet and, when you need red-violet, blue-violet simply will not suffice. 

But I really like my mustard seed card. 

Today's card uses Papertrey's old A Wreath for All Seasons stamp set...a longtime favorite of mine. To get more berries on the card (because it didn't look yellow enough), I rotated the berry stamp, inked it up again, and stamped. The bird is from Hero Arts Color Layering Birds and Blossoms. This VERY yellow card makes me VERY happy!

Now, today's post has been a light-hearted look at color in crafting, but those of us here in the United States know that real prejudice--the kind that oppresses human beings--is no laughing matter. If you're like me and interested in learning more about how to grow your inner anti-racist, one place to start might be the book So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo. That's where I'm starting because no matter what color we are on the outside, we all bleed red and are beloved children of God, worthy of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...along with equity and equality. We need to remember that. 

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and kindness,

Susan

Embracing the Heat

It's been so hot and humid in Ohio (and will only get worse this weekend), so I decided it was time to embrace the heat with a beach scene (even though I'm in a land-locked state). I long for salty breezes and the peaceful sound of waves on the shore. 

The stamps are from Gina K's Hello Sunshine set, except for the star fish, which is from Hero Arts. The orange and gold Copic coloring was easy without shading, but masking the chair to stipple the sand was extremely fiddly. I don't really like orange (except for autumnal shades), so this card took me out of my comfort zone with color. It also gave me a chance to use some BIG bling. Yay!

What are your favorite calming sounds? For me, ocean waves are definitely in the top three, along with babbling brooks and humpback whale sounds. 

Stay calm and healthy, and love your neighbor!

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and kindness,

Susan

Journey Back in Creative Time

Sometimes, an inspiration piece leads us on a merry goose-chase for a satisfying design. Such was the case with today's card. The end, however, justifies the means, and the process was fun, too! 

First, here is the inspiration PIN. Mia's amazing. 

Next, here's the FINAL version of my card. 

The card is 7.25" x 3.75". The dies are by Inspiration Obsession. And I love the way this turned out! 

But the first version of my card flopped spectacularly, especially if you look at Mia's card first and then mine. I'd thought that since my dies didn't warrant as long a center panel as Mia's did, I could get away with shifting the dimensions. The shift to standard A2 card dimensions ruined it, however, and the single layer of the stamped panel, glued directly to the base rather than popped up as on Mia's card, looks terribly unfinished, flat, and blah. By returning to the original dimensions and matting the stamped panel, I was able to more effectively capture the spirit of Mia's lovely card with my different dies, theme, and colors. 

The creative process...sometimes you have to screw up to get it right. Persistence and patience and experimentation get us there in the end. But most important of all...I had a blast with this process. So yay, me! 

And many thanks to Mia for once again providing amazing inspiration.

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and kindness,

Susan

Aviator Penguin

Years ago, Memory Box asked for ideas for their penguin stamps. The penguins did all sorts of things; they were chefs and artists and cowboys and graduates and brides. I came up with the idea of a WWII-era aviator penguin...and Memory Box made it. 

It pairs nicely with Hero Arts From the Vault Travel Set. 

The card's a bit busy for me, but I do love this little guy! My grandfather was a pilot in WWII, and it makes me think of him. If you're at all interested, Papa features in the devotional I gave on July 3. He was a "special one who loved [me] into being," as Mr. Rogers put it.

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and kindness,

Susan

Color Layering Seahorse Strikes Again!

Okay, so I've commented before about how frustrated I get with multi-step stamping that goes beyond two layers, but the Hero Arts Color Layering Seahorse is an exception. First, I adore seahorses and their even more flamboyant cousins, sea dragons. God outdid Himself on these improbable creatures. Second, if you get the three layers on this image fairly closely lined up, it looks fine. 

This card was loosely inspired by THIS PIN, which is gorgeous and softer and more organic than my stylized and ever so bright card. Lime and teal make for a fun combination, don't they?

Just so much fun!

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and kindness,

Susan

Monday Morning Coffee and Real Words

Nothing's better on a Monday morning than a hot cup of coffee...because adulting is hard.

StampinUp's Nothings Better Thank set 
is so much fun!

Did you hear that Merriam-Webster officially added irregardless to the dictionary? So many people feel very strongly that irregardless is a not a word and therefore shouldn't be in the dictionary. A few years ago, I felt the same way. Then, I read Kory Stamper's most excellent book Word by Word. Stamper is a lexicographer, and her expert argument completely changed my mind about neologisms and other evolutionary changes in the English language. Irregardless most definitely is a word...a bad word, but a real word, nevertheless. Check out her blog post HERE for a funny (and extremely logical) definition of real words. 

I propose that Merriam-Webster fully commit to the verb form of adult...to adult...and to the gerund adulting. Currently, adult/adulting is on the dictionary's list of words to watch. Lots of people use it, and it is extremely descriptive of a state of being that the year 2020 has realigned drastically. 

Adulting is more bearable with a good cup of joe (or four cups, on Mondays), which I take "black as midnight on a moonless night." (Thank you, Agent Cooper.) Unless I take it in a latte swimming in steamed milk and sugary flavored syrup at my favorite coffee shop or from my favorite live-in barista, Nick. 

There is, for me, nothing between those two glorious extremes of "black" and "milky syrup with extra shots." How odd for someone who's a moderate in most other things. Mondays and I defy logic, it seems.

And in closing, let me just say, "The owls are not what they seem." But my oh my, they are adorbs.

Source

How do you take your coffee? 

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and kindness,

Susan

Going All White? Go with Texture

After seeing a couple of paper weaving projects in various magazines at Barnes & Noble, I wondered, "To weave, or not to weave? That is the question."

To weave, it is! 

After tearing strips and weaving the background from Neenah Solar White 80lb paper, I ran a large scrap of the same paper through the Cuttlebug using the StampinUp Subtle Textile embossing folder. Then, I punched the snowflakes from that textured paper. The sentiment strip is vellum with white heat embossing. 

There's so much going on here with texture, and it all works for me! What do you think?

And is anyone else in the U.S. longing for winter? Snow would be really nice about now....

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and kindness,

Susan