Sweet Circle Sparks Memories

Most of the stamps in today’s card come from an old Hero Arts set called Spring Hello. I drew a circle and stamped around it until it was filled in. 

Bright pinks and greens remind me of the early 1980s and the preppy trends. I LOVED dressing preppy and going to a very preppy prep school. But the 80s were very complicated for me and not a time for the best mental health of my life. 

In fact, my mental health was pretty terrible way back then, which is one reason why I’m so careful to support my students’ mental health. Late teens and early twenties are such hard ages. When I wore colorful pink and green wrap-around skirts and carried a purse with wooden handles and replaceable covers that matched the skirts, I remember how insecure I was, how I didn’t want anyone to find out about my father’s neglect and narcissistic abuse, how fat and ugly I thought I was (I wasn’t). The 1980s have me trying to practice some selective amnesia.

And then there was the year of the pink cancer: 2022. Ugh. I’d love to forget that…except so many people were so kind and supportive. 

Now it’s 2025, and I’m okay. Yay! But now I wear a lot of red, black, blue, and gray, and the wood-handled purse disappeared years ago. My hair is shiny silver, and that’s empowering. 

Do you have a decade you found to be complicated? Or a year? Or an age? What was the color scheme that takes you straight back?

I challenge you to flip the script: make a card in those colors and ENJOY the process and the results. 

It’s a good feeling.

Or maybe I’m just crazy.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,

Susan