Excuses, a Request, and RAKs

Believe it or not, I've only been able to make one card since I returned from vacation on Sunday.

I KNOW!!!!

But coming back from vacation and jumping straight into the back-to-school chaos has inhibited my mojo and made me fall into bed wiped out every night, when I would ordinarily retreat for an hour of cardmaking after everyone else is in bed. Since I posted the one card I made yesterday, I have nothing of mine to post today. Never fear, however! Scroll down for some lovely inspiration in a few more RAKs I received last month.

Awkward non sequitur: I have a friend who's going through a very bad time right now. If you get a chance, please pray for all cancer survivors who are trying to move forward with living. It seems to me that the doctors nearly kill you, declare you cancer-free, and abandon you? How the heck do you process all that and move forward with living with the uncertainty that the cancer might return? As if that weren't enough, my friend's husband left her the day she was declared cancer-free. Um, yeah. Sometimes life just sucks.

Now for the request. If anyone knows of online cancer-survivor resources that might help my friend, please let me know. Links would be muchly appreciated.

And now the truly fabulous RAKs...

Check out the outlining on Linda's pretty rose...I could never do that!

Sue used one of my favorite stamps, colored beautifully, and a bit of bling, plus a great color combo!

kegbo (Sarah) definitely made me laugh with her cute nurse and blinged ribbon

Perfect coloring and outlining (again!) from Sue Berker

Thank you, ladies, for brightening my days with your lovely work. All of these will join the other handmade cards I've received this year...on my inspiration board in my craft room.

I Feel Shame....

Just placed an early-morning impulse order at Papertrey. And Creative Play.

Sigh.

I'm so weak.

And happy.

Autumn Goodness

Autumn is my favorite season of the year, and Papertrey Ink is having sneak peeks of their autumn sets HERE.

THUD!

I'm not sure I'll be buying all the sets, of course, because I already have some amazing fall stamps that need love, but seeing Nichole's gorgeous post, I feel my will weakening. Plus, her post gets me all excited to see what the other companies I love will come up for this autumn.

Halloween, however, is NOT my favorite holiday. I'm a bit baffled by the number of sets StampinUp, PTI, Hero Arts, Mark's Finest, and other companies come up with every year. My objections to Halloween are not religious but rather focus on the fact that Halloween--a holiday that used to happily occupy one night of the year--has taken over autumn, leaving Thanksgiving--a much more meaningful holiday--disappearing between a commercial Halloween and commercial Christmas. Greed has taken over gratitude, and if you're a regular reader of my other blog, you know how I feel about gratitude.

I'm all about the attitude of gratitude. And right now I'm grateful PTI and other companies give us so much beautifulness with which to celebrate autumnal gratitude.

A Pair of Cards from Talented Readers, a Sparkly Dolphin, and a Happy Stamper

When George and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary last week, two kind and talented Simplicity readers sent us cards. Check out the pretty piece of lace tucked into the knot of ribbon on Patti's card, as well as the masking she did on the oval for the sentiment and the rounded bottom corners. Sweet!



Card by Patti M.

While Patti went romantic and sweet with her card, Linda E. decided on taking a more, shall we say, risque approach to our 25th.

Oh. My. Gosh.

I died.

Laughing.

Card by Linda E.

Seriously, this is a pretty card, even if you're a perverted Engish major. Look at Linda's lovely rock-and-roll shading on the pears, and I love how the die cut stamped panel and mat corners mimic the shape of the pear bottoms.

*snort* She said, "Bottoms."

I can't do this. The card just makes me laugh, giggle, and think naughty thoughts, which was entirely Linda's intent. If you are new to Simplicity, and perhaps feeling a tad lost as to why Linda sent me a pear card to make me laugh and think naughty thoughts, please read this post to get in on this ongoing and extremely juvenile, yet oddly intellectual joke. You'll never look at pears the same way again.

Geeks are fun!

They also, occasionally, make punny, sparkly dolphin cards.

The sparkles may be hard to see (click to make it big), but the dolphin has been colored with a gray Bic marker and then colored again with a clear Sakura Stardust pen. The waves were stamped with Brilliance Sky ink, so they also shimmer a bit. Stamps are by A Muse, and the paper is SU bashful blue and PTI white.

My son took the following photo. He doesn't know his mother is a weird English major. He just knows she spends a lot of time sitting at her craft desk playing with paper and pens. He occasionally likes to play along. But mostly, he wants to take pictures of his feet. I kid you not.

Please don't forget to comment on the give-away post for your chance to win a free roll of 1/8" Scor-Tape!

Stuff and Things

First of all, I'm all off schedule, and this bothers me. I hope to get back on my regular posting schedule (so those of you who receive Simplicity in your email get it first thing in the morning), but the next few weeks may be a bit, um, unpredictable. It doesn't help that I can't trust Blogger to post when I pre-set the time for posting.

Second, my personal review of the summer issue of Take Ten is lukewarm. After a couple of perusings, I think there are some truly FABULOUS things in it (and you'll be seeing me playing with some brilliant ideas in the next month, I'm sure!), but the summer issue has nowhere near as much clean-and-simple gorgeousness as the spring issue. If you're looking for more embellished, shabby chic, distressed, or artsy card inspiration, however, you'll be extremely happy with it.

Third, here's my latest order from Mark's Finest Papers. [Full Disclosure: I paid for this stuff as I'm no longer on the DT. I will continue to use the free stuff I received during my time on the DT, but I want you to know that I'm putting real money there as well. The products and customer service are fabulous!]

The Smooch colors are Carrot and Kiwi. LOVE them for summer! The twine is nice, too, and I love the fact that it's wrapped on wooden clothespins. It's easy to tuck the loose end into the groove of the pin and it stays in place nicely. The orange twine is a fab summer color...very bright and happy. The lime twine, however, is more of a soft mint...a bit bluer, rather than yellower. Still very pretty but not true lime to my eyes.

The limeade cardstock is a perfect match for Memento's Pear Tart, and as I'd used up all my DT sheets of it, I had to order the pack. Also, the white 140lb cardstock is so nice and heavy and perfect for card bases. This is actually my second purchase of this particular cardstock, which is equal to PTI's in quality but has a smoother finish. That little difference is fun to play with for me, but then, I'm a white cardstock whore.

Fourth, here's my first order from A Muse. I ordered from Krystie, who was kind enough to send me a catalog when they first became available. All I've done with these cuties so far is put them in my catalog. The images are what you would expect from A Muse: crisp, perfect, and very clean. More on them later, after I've had a chance to play with them.  As you can tell, I'm in a summer groove right now....

Fifth, here's today's card. When I posted recently that Dot Spot was one of my favorite PTI sets, several people asked for ideas on how to use it. I've made about six cards this week with it and will post them over the next few days. This one is my favorite of the bunch, only because it's so incredibly simple, and y'all know how simple I am. Give me paper and ink, and I'm happy!

How-To and Design Tips: I stamped the cherry stem from Everyday Button Bits in Memento bamboo and then added the two smallest Dot Spot circles in Memento rhubarb. I filled in the center of the dotty circles with the solid circles in the set. The sentiment, from EBB like the cherry stem, is one line, but I stamped it as two to tuck it into the cherries. The red sweet and green you're so create two visual triangles of color that unify the very simple design. Rounding the bottom corners works with the round cherries and polka dot leaves.

Sixth, because five things just are not enough, please check the previous post for the winner of the washi tape!

Have a lovely, sunny weekend!

Chatter and a Card

Chatter

Someone asked what flower punch I used on the second card on this card. It's from StampinUp.

Someone else who shall remain nameless (okay, it was Marty!) sent me a RAK. The package included a stamp I almost bought a month ago but didn't because a little voice whispered in my ear that someone really nice would send it to me soon. You'll see it on a card soon. Marty also sent me a Crop-A-Dile corner rounder that is absolutely the coolest corner rounder ever! Be still, my heart. I don't deserve friends-I've-never-even-met-in-real-life who are this kind and generous!

Someone else entirely asked about my stamp index, which I referred to in a recent post. This subject--my stamp index--is a source of grave frustration to me. I've had four iterations of index since I started stamping. Not one has met all my needs.

Below is a picture of the THREE binders that housed my Version 4.0 index. The pink binder houses Papertrey stamp images. The brown binder contains Mark's Finest and StampinUp images, as well as a punch index. The green binder holds Hero Arts images, as well as images from miscellaneous companies. 

Three binders. They are pretty colors, but three binders are two too many and not easily portable. One thing I love to do with my index is take it with me when I travel. Plus, dividing everything by manufacturer seems artificial, especially when today's card is so very representative of how I work: mix and match. So I'm reworking the index and will share the new one when I'm done, which at the rate I'm going should be sometime in the year 2020.

I have a lot of stamps.

Still, it won't really take until 2020 to finish because I'm obsessive.

But you knew that.

Didn't you?

Sure you did.

A Card

As you can see, I combined a sentiment from Papertrey's Mega Mixed Messages with a flower stamp from StampinUp's Happy Harmony set, thus proving my point about the silliness of segregating stamps in my index.

The ground on this is washi tape, and I--SURPRISE--actually like the tape on this card, which was vaguely inspired by a card I received from Krystie Lee. Her card is much prettier, but as I have it and will not show it to you, my card will not suffer in comparison...unless you scroll down her blog and find an aqua, orange, and celery one-layer card with a button on one flower and a sheer white ribbon around the bottom.

Her card, however, has no bling.

So there.

Cheers and the Question of Art

I made this card a while back with the intent of using it during Little Things week. Then I forgot about it. What a shame because it's a fun card!

Hmm. I want a margarita.

There's been a lot of chatter on SCS about whether what we do is art, and it's got me thinking. Here's my perspective on the subject. If you're not interested in my blah, blah, blah, just skip to the supply list at the bottom of this post. There's as much value in that as in my musings on art. *snort*

Art, to me, is the end result of deliberately creative self-expression.

That's it. Not all art is good art, of course; in fact, a lot of art--perhaps even most art--is bad. But it's still art. It doesn't take talent to make art. Sweat, hard work, and study are actually more important, but little kids make art all the time without sweating, studying, or working hard. I make art, and Leonardo Da Vinci made art.

His, however, is way more better than mine. He devoted his life to his art. My art is a passionate hobby.

But that doesn't matter. We shouldn't compare our creative expression to anyone else's creative expression. I do the best I can with what I have and follow my own muse. Leo did his best, too, and his muse totally rocked. 

I found a quotation from Einstein on Pinterest recently that's relevant here:

Art is like genius. Leonardo climbed the tree. I swim in the water. I'm not denied art because I can't paint the Mona Lisa. 

Creative self-expression gives voice to what's inside a person's heart, soul, mind, spirit. What's inside us is valuable, precious, special. We should treat it with respect and not belittle it, and we should let it sing in whatever way it can. I'm Susan and stamping makes me happy.

No, what I do is not at all in any way comparable to what Leonardo did.

It's not supposed to be. It is what it is. And it's good enough for me.

Care to make some art? Grab a stamp and express yourself!

Supplies
stamps: SU Cheers to You
ink: Memento
paper: PTI white
accessories: Memento markers, glue pen, glitter
Card Size: 4 7/8" x 3 1/2"

Monday Blah, Blah, Blah and a Card

I've been experiencing a crisis of sorts in my stamping. You see, my 2009 resolution to use all my image stamps is pretty much accomplished. The very few images I haven't used were bought for scrapbooking anyway, so I don't feel it is cheating to leave those out.

What do I do next?

Sigh.

That resolution gave structure and purpose to my stamping for over two years, and now it's gone. Oh, I'm still stamping, but I feel sort of aimless and adrift, if that makes any sense at all. When I'm not in my craft room, I develop all sorts of intentions of purging and simplifying and trying something new. When I actually go to do these things, I find myself whimping out.

I gaze longingly at the A Muse catalog and then tell myself that no matter how yummy that paper looks, it would be silly to buy more cardstock. I'm resolved to use up my colored cardstock, but much of what I make with it won't get posted here, mainly because I don't like a lot of the colors...they just aren't me. Should I just sell the stuff that isn't me and start over? 

That's a rhetorical question.

The truth is, I'm sharing my floating in the doldrums with you not so you will feel sorry for me or offer up advice, but so you will know that YOU are not alone whenever you hit the doldrums yourself. These slow periods happen to most everyone who passionately engages in any hobby. They are not permanent, nor are they unhealthy. They just are. I'm trying out a few new resolutions, reorganizing some stuff, studying magazines, and generally taking it easy, making cards using my Second Theory and plugging away at using up that cardstock!

This card is 7.25" x 3.5" in size.

What do you do when you're in the doldrums?

Supplies
stamps: SU butterfly, Shady Tree Studios sentiment
ink: Memento
paper: SU pretty in pink; Mark's Finest white
accessories: SU butterfly punch, Fiskar's bracket border punch, rhinestone

A Bunch of Words about Subscribing and Following Blogs, and Commenting

If you're an old hand at reading and commenting on blogs, please feel free to ignore this post. If, however, you are new to blogs or still struggling to understand the ins and outs of blog reading, you might find some helpful information here. This post is a response to several questions I've had from readers recently.

 Subscribing to and Following Blogs

Here's what I know on the subject.

1. Email subscriptions: If a blog has a button on the sidebar for email subscription, you can sign up to receive the blog in your email inbox. Every time the blogger adds a post to the blog, you'll receive an email of it, though there is often a lag time before the email is generated. Emails of Simplicity, for instance, go out sometime around 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. Eastern Time, regardless of what time I post them.

To sign up, type your email address in the box provided and follow instructions. You will be sent a verification email. This is to keep someone else from signing you up for blogs when you don't want them to. Unfortunately, spam filters on email programs sometimes filter these verification emails to a junk email folder, so make sure you verify your subscriptions!

Email subscribing is extremely convenient if you read a few blogs, but if you subscribe to LOTS of blogs, a blog reader site is much more convenient.

2. Blog Reader Accounts: Google Reader, a free blog reader, is my preferred method for subscribing to blogs. Because I read so many, it saves tons of time for me to see a list of all my subscriptions at a glance. Blogs with new content show in bold type, so I only have to click on those to read the content. If I want to comment, all I have to do is click on the post title and a new window opens with the blog post in it. To start a Google Reader account, click here and follow the prompts.

There are other readers out there in cyberspace, but I've never used them. If you have a favorite other than Google Reader, please share it in the comments!

3. Following in Google: Sadly, I can't answer questions about this one because I don't do it, though I did make it available to readers since so many people prefer it. Perhaps someone can comment about how this works? Pretty please?

Yoona asked if she would get the blog in email now that she's a follower, but I don't think so. Can anyone answer that for her?

4. Bookmarking: You can always simply bookmark blogs to your Favorites in Explorer or whatever web browser you use. This gets cumbersome and time-consuming if you read a lot of blogs, though, because you have no idea if the blog has new content when you click. Of course, I post almost every day (sometimes twice a day!) but most bloggers don't.

Commenting

All bloggers love getting comments (well, nice comments, not troll comments!). Sometimes, readers get a little confused about commenting or are afraid to try. Here are some tips on commenting.

1. If you are on the actual website of a blog (not reading the feed in an email or reader), click on the comment button and follow the prompts to leave a comment. Don't be afraid to click the comment button multiple times if your comment doesn't "take" right away. There's some glitch in Blogger that causes this annoying thing to happen, but just keep clicking. A blogger would rather get a double-posted comment (we can easily fix that) than no comment at all.

A Note about Leaving an Email Address: PLEASE leave an email address when you comment, especially if you ask a question. Your email address will not show publicly but it will show on the comment email I receive. I prefer answering questions directly. It's faster for me if I have an email to reply to, and you don't have to hunt for my answer in the comments or hope I answer in the next blog post (I often forget about answering by the time I do the next post!).

If you comment under a Google account profile, I should get your email address automatically when your comment lands in my in-box. If you comment as Anonymous or leave off your email, there's no reply address on the comment email I receive, so I can't answer you directly. 

2. Subscribing via email allows you to comment in two ways. First, you can simply reply to the blog email. This is a private communication (well, as private as email allows!). This is nice because the blogger then has your email address and can reply to your questions directly. Second, you can click on the email's link to the blog post and comment publicly on the blog. For drawings and give-aways, you usually must comment directly on the blog to have your entry count.

This will be important the week of March 20th on Simplicity. *wink*

Email Comments versus Blog Comments

Email comments are nice for asking a blogger questions, simply because it's so easy for us to reply directly to you. When I get several of the same questions, I'll consider doing a public answer, but usually, email is the best way to handle questions.

Email is also a great way to share stuff with a blogger that isn't really appropriate for a public comment. (For instance, just yesterday, I got an emailed prayer request from a reader, and feel quite honored to have her think to ask me...but it doesn't relate to stamping at all.)

The strength of email commenting is also its weakness. It is private, which means other readers aren't benefitting from any insights you share.

Blog Comments are part of what we English majors call public discourse. Bloggers adore sparking public discourse. The idea that lots of people can share their ideas and insights in comments and help others is part of what drew me to blogging in the first place. There are several posts on Simplicity in which the comments are FAR more helpful than my blathering, and those are my favorite posts!

I hope this helps clarify some of your questions about subscribing and commenting. I also hope it increases your comfort with leaving comments and asking questions. Don't be shy!

Mojo Holiday

My mojo has gone on holiday without me. Darn it. Just a month ago, I was doing double posts to share my mojo overdrive. Now, I got nothin'. The stampin' mojo will return, I'm sure. But in the meantime, I decided to shamelessly exploit my golden retriever, who is really much cuter than any card I've ever made.



Darth Daisy Gives You the Evil Eye



Darth Daisy: "Say what?"



Gravity...got...my...lip...!!!



Daddy Walked My Paws Off

Musings on Stuff

There have been lots of threads at SCS lately lamenting the massive quantity of stuff we papercrafters collect, and then my PSF, the totally awesome Joan B, started a thread about how none of the new products companies are releasing wow her. Lots of people agree with her. Including me.

But then, I'm into extreme clean. I've been stamping for almost a decade, and if you consider my AR/OC tendencies, you can just imagine how I was in the early days...needing to try every single technique, every single stamp I could buy, every single product I could sneak into my house. I made paste paper, stamped with bubble wrap, and tore wet mulberry paper. I added acrylic paint and dish detergent to water, blew bubbles in it through a straw, and made bubble paper. Heck, I pounded flowers with a hammer onto paper. I had no shame.

After a while, though, I found out that what really made me giddy was a clean-and-simple style, largely free of techniques and very sparse in product. I don't need a bunch of what I have to achieve my style and have slowly been purging the unneeded supplies. Designer paper doesn't do much for me (though if I start scrapbooking again, that might change). I don't have or want a die cut machine, and the embossed look isn't something I've ever been able to carry off well.

I've found fabulous cardstock, inks, and cutting tools, and it would take A LOT to make me change any of them. I love my Scor-Pal but don't feel the need to upgrade it. Now, the products that get me most giddy are stamps. I have tons of them, but new ones still excite me, still make me giddy enough to reach for my check card. And yes, I recently placed a couple of orders for new stamps. I love buying new stuff and will certainly continue at the controlled and reasonable pace I've set for the past three or four years.

But all this talk about too much stuff and nothing wowwing people has got me thinking. I know, I know. Thinking is dangerous, but I just can't help myself. And it's led me to add a new resolution to my crafting goals. I will quite consciously drag out those older supplies and stamps and use them. My plan is to get excited about what I have, get creative with it...HAVE FUN.

Yesterday's cards that combine new stamps and old ones are a good start. Today, the stamps are all old. The flower stamp and sentiments are discontinued Hero Arts stamps I've had for years. The first card looks pretty fresh to my eyes, not dated at all. The second card looks dated because of the font of the sentiment, but only those of us who stamp AND keep up with trends would know that. The person who receives that card will have no idea.

Do any of you care to join me in this resolution?

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts discontinued
ink: Memento
paper: PTI white, SU pixie pink
accessories: rhinestones

Sidebar Update

I have reorganized and updated the sidebar. If you only read Simplicity in your email and never click on the actual blog, you're missing out!

1. There's now a search tool. Yeah!

2. I added a lot of blogs to the Blogs I Love feature. I encourage you to check those out if you're not already enjoying them!

Stylish Blogger Award

If you're getting Simplicity by email, this will be the second post of this day (because Blogger is deeply annoying...I'd scheduled the first post in time to go out in this morning's email...grrrrrr). Anyway, don't forget to scroll down to see the cards for today or yesterday or whatever.

Both Jennifer and Julie have awarded me with the Stylish Blogger Award. Thanks so much, ladies!

To accept this award I have to meet a few requirements:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award
2. Share 8 things about yourself
3. Pass it onto 8 bloggers
4. Contact those bloggers and tell them about their award.

I'm supposed to share 8 things about myself. Since I share so much of myself on my other blog, some of you who read it might get bored, so I'll try not to be redundant.

1. When I was in first grade, I was small for my age, but the bullies feared me. Whenever I saw them picking on other kids, I got in their faces (or chests if that was all I could reach) and dressed them down. Bullies really are cowards if a midget five-year-old can subdue them. When I hit puberty, I was the victim of bullying. No one came to my rescue so I simply ignored the bullies and they left me alone pretty quickly.

2. I was a brother in the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity while in college. (Yes, all members were called brothers...APO was originally founded as a group for Eagle Scouts but eventually let in any man who wanted to serve and then in the 1960s became co-ed.) APO was not affiliated with the Greek council, and many of the brothers (both men and women) were members of traditional Greek organizations, but APO was as Greek as I got.

3. I spent 20 years being the designated driver for drunk USAF aviators. My hubby's call sign was Spot, so when I would walk into the Officers Club, everyone would cheerfully yell, "Mrs. Spot!" They were so glad to see me because they knew I'd drive them anywhere they needed to go. Once, a drunken captain slumped across my back seat said, "Susan, you're a good sh*t." I took it for the high compliment it was.

4. I've only been drunk once in my life, when I was 21 years old, and that was quite enough, thank you.

5. The dust bunnies in my house are golden, and I've made peace with them.

6. My first job after college was writing on-hold phone messages for different businesses in the greater Sacramento area. Who knew reading Shakespeare and Chaucer and Milton prepares you for writing 20-second advertising blurbs? My favorite job ever was teaching college English. My worst job ever was working at Hardee's (a fast-food chain).

7. I see dead people. [Just kidding. This is getting long and I wondered if you were still paying attention.] All my life, people confided in me and told me their problems. I often don't know what to say or wonder if what I say is right. So I am studying to be a Stephen Minister, and now I'm learning that I shouldn't say much of anything. Listening is really all most people need, which is oddly relieving.

8. Ironically, a lot of people drawn to Stephen Ministry love to talk. But then, y'all already knew that about me, didn't you?

Now I'm supposed to give 8 other blogs the Stylish Blogger Award. This is why I don't usually post awards people give me. I can't pick just a few and it feels strange doing so. What I'm going to do instead is update the sidebar links to blogs I enjoy. I haven't touched that in a long time, and it certainly needs refreshing. Check back over the next few days as I add more blogs to it. If they're listed there, I think they're stylish!

A List of Stuff and Two Challenges

1. Yes, I am in my last month on the Design Team at Mark's Finest. No, I am NOT closing the blog. Sheesh. Rumors need no help getting started, do they? But it was sweet of some of you to worry about this. I will continue at MFP in a position that requires a bit less time than the DT and is very much in keeping with my style of creativity and my new year's resolutions relating to crafting. I will certainly continue the regular posts here because I need to blog. It's an addiction.

2. Interventions to stop my addiction will not be welcome. In fact, you'll have to pry my stamps from my cold, dead hands.

3. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm feeling melodramatic tonight. A week of kid vomit will do that to me. My apologies. For the melodrama and for the mention of vomit. Oops, I did it again. Mentioned it. I didn't v.... You know what I'm trying to say.

4. While I'm making a list, think about what you'd like to see more of, less of, or different here at Simplicity. You don't need to tell me now, because I'd much rather have you oooohhh and aaahhhh over the two cards below, but I will be having a separate post for discussion of what you want to see in 2011 here on the most visually boring blog on the internet.

5. No, I'm not going to hire professionals to make Simplicity look hipper and cooler because I'm neither hip nor cool. I'm simple and darn proud of it. Although I really, truly have blog envy when I visit Carly's blog.... Sigh.

6. Envy is a deadly sin, so I'd best flog myself and get over it. Wait. I'm a Methodist and we're totally against flogging. I better just get over it.

7. The OLW for this week is over on Jennifer's blog and I LOVE IT! Naked Trees! So here's my card.

I sponged deliberately straight lines for the horizon and box to balance the very curvy lines of the tree, which is from Hero Arts and is one of my favorite tree stamps EVER. I won't tell you how long I debated the straightness of that horizon, but I like it. The bling is my favorite part of the card, though.

8. Bling is good.

[deleted by author]
10. I heart you. You make this whole blogging thing so much fun and motivate me and inspire me more than you will ever know. Thanks so much.

11. I'm going to bed now. You can thank me for stopping at eleven later.

Random Thoughts

Please scroll down if you missed the OLW31 post.

I've got a lot on my mind right now, mostly craft related, and it's just so frustrating to be one person and unable to DO IT ALL! Here are some of the things I'm thinking about:

1. The winter issue of Take Ten magazine. Oh. My. Gosh. Would you like me to list all the cards I flagged on my first reading of it? It would take a while! My usual complaint about this magazine is how un-clean and un-simple and un-fast so many of the cards in it are. This issue...well, it'd DA BOMB. Go buy it now. I'll wait for you.

2. Are you back? Good. Isn't that the best issue EVER? Anyway, I'm also thinking about Christmas cards, how mine are not finished, much less signed, addressed, stamped and ready to mail. Ordinarily, I get started on them the day after Thanksgiving while I'm avoiding the malls, but not so much this year. Sigh. I also haven't got a single gift I need to mail packaged yet...and some of them are not even made. WHINE, WHINE, WHINE.

2.5. Also, I have an obcene amount of new rubber and photopolymer right now, and I DON'T HAVE TIME to play with all of it. Feel sorry for me, please. 

3. I just ran into Lincoln's mom at the post office, where I mailed two RAKs and bought my Christmas stamps, so two tasks done. Yippy! Lincoln, if you remember, was a baby who died in May of a dreadfully aggressive leukemia. I had asked for prayers for him here and on my other blog. Lincoln's family is still grieving deeply for his loss, so I ask again for continued prayers for healing and comfort for this family who fought so hard to save their son's life.

This is their first Christmas without him and I thought it would be nice if they got more than the usual Christmas cards, just to let them know that people care. If you would like to send Lincoln's family a card, please email me at susanraihala at woh dot rr dot com, and I'll send you my address. I'll take your cards to them as they come in.

4. It's December. How did that happen?

4.5. This means I have to organize the give-away for OLW29. Help me, Rhonda! Literally, Rhonda, please let me know how many people sent cards. Thanks so much!

5. Next week is the Mark's Finest Papers December release. How did that happen?

6. Why am I blogging when I should be stamping? Why? Why? WHY?

Goodbye for now. Hope you're not as panicked as I am.