Thank You, Liz!

Okay, so I made a Thanksgiving card that turned out GREAT but photographed terribly, so I won't post it. I have my pride, and it would be pricked if you saw a photo that was so color-unbalanced coming from me. That's what happens when I use something other than white cardstock. *sigh*

By the way, if you have Apple Music, their 2015 Smooth Jazz Christmas playlist is festive!

So, my friend Liz, who's an OUTSTANDING graphic design artist and lovely human who drinks a lot of tea, gave me a gift card to Simon Says Stamp for my birthday. I bought two sets with it--one book-themed set from Three Room Studio and Gina K's layered eucalyptus because, why not?

Anyway, when I told Liz what I bought, she asked for a bookmark made with the book-themed set. The stamps arrived yesterday, and here's what I made for Liz to say thank you. Eeeep!!!!

Obviously, this is a GIANT cup of tea on VERY small books, but who cares about scale? Not me! Because this turned out even better than it was in my head, which almost never happens to me but must happen to Liz quite often because she's such a pro.

A few tips if you want to do something similar. Staples tend to rust (which would be sacrilege in a bookmark!), and I didn't have small ones anyway. So I sewed instead of stapled and pre-punched holes using a Stampin'Up mat pack and a fancy bookbinding awl. To reduce bulk caused by the fold, I used 80lb Neenah Solar White instead of my usual 110lb Papertrey.

The tea bag is made from a 2" x 5.5" strip scored at 2.5", 2.75", and 3". After stamping, coloring (with assorted Copics), and folding, I punched the corners with a Stampin'Up corner punch. After positioning the two holes using the mat pack template and awl, I sewed the paper-strip ends together and knotted the thread in the back, trimming one tail of the thread really short.

The tea tag is 5/8" x 1 3/4" strip scored at 7/8". Read is stamped on both sides, with the R at the fold end. I poked a hole in the middle, sewed the end of the long tail through to the inside of the fold, added a drop of glue, and stuck the end of the thread down.

And there you have it...my most favorite thing I've made in a long time. Thanks, Liz! I hope you love it like I love you, my friend!

Birthday Snowflake: When Inspiration Takes a Weird Turn

So today's card was totally inspired by THIS PIN by Kate Wilson. I love it so much...the red square, the white snowflake, the little gemstones, the subtle sentiment...basically, I love everything about it. Kate is a genius!

But here's the card I made. Hmmm.

Where, you might ask (with complete justification), are the red square, subtle sentiment, and tiny little rhinestones?

Well, I realized something as I kept cutting down a square of red cardstock to get the perfect balance behind my snowflake. My snowflake punch punches a chubby snowflake. Whatever punch or die Kate used is delicate, curvy, and beautiful.

Her snowflake is also not a natural snowflake shape as snowflakes have six arms, not eight, but really, artistically, should we be sticklers on this point? I'm not going to hold wrong numbers of arms against snowflake stamps anymore because it makes me feel OCD and obnoxious. Feel free to condemn inaccurate snowflakes yourself, of course. I'm not going to tell you what to think because in addition to being irritated by inaccurate snowflake stamps, I used to hate turning odd numbered years of age, which, honestly, is borderline pathological weirdness, so who am I to judge?

By the way, I just turned 53, which is both odd and a prime, and I'm just fine with it. I considered the alternative. I also credit the meditation I've been doing lately with overcoming at least a bit of my OCD. Yay, me!

Anyway, my snowflake is not delicate. In fact, its chubbiness was not flattered at all by a high-contrast background that merely emphasized its thickness. So I ditched the red square. Now, my snowflake feels better about itself.

Without some contrast, however, the card looked rather blah, so I decided the sentiment needed to be bolder, and instead of clear rhinestones, an iridescent red sequin layered over a snowflake sequin would add sufficient interest.

It's interesting how the sequin flashes turquoise in some light. That's real, not some weird photography trick.

I've used the word weird a lot in this post. Perhaps it's time to go to bed.

Anyway, I hope to have lots of time to stamp over this Thanksgiving week, and I hope in between stuffing turkeys and baking pies, you do, too.

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and gratitude,
Susan

Birthday Mission

Hey!

I'm a crafter on a mission.

I sat down at my craft desk today to start making birthday cards for next year. Christmas is pretty much a lost cause at this point (Barnes & Noble has some lovely cards anyway), so I shall forge ahead with a mission to make all the birthday cards I need next year.

That's about forty cards. Which is about twenty more cards than I've made this year. But maybe, just maybe, I can do this.

Today's card is a promising start, completely indebted to THIS GORGEOUS CARD.

You'll note the obvious changes and similarities. First, I increased the white space around the focal point with a horizontal card (6.25" x 3.5") because, you know, why not? The color scheme isn't very different, but I used hearts instead of flowers with a watercolor effect. Instead of a single strand of string, I used two to bring together the colors of the hearts and add a little interest...my hearts are much more basic than Kleine-stempe's gorgeous flowers. And orange and hot pink look so fun and fresh together, don't they? I kept the black sentiment on a banner. 

For the mechanics, I used circle punches (1.5" and 1.75"), and to ever-so-slightly pop the top circle, I punched a 1 3/8" cardstock circle to glue under it. The Memento markers blend so nicely with a single spritz of water. What a simple, beautiful technique!

The Birthday Mission is definitely off to a satisfying start. Yay!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

A Lot of Cards...One Even by Me!

I made a little time to stamp last weekend, and came up with this card, which is a little busy for me, but I like it anyway.

The sentiment is an old Stampa Rosa wood-mounted rubber stamp that's closing in on 20 years old. The holly comes from a Hero Arts clear set. The burgundy and shadow gray are such a dramatic, contrasting pair!

And now, a huge thank you to Lisa, Eddie, Kelle, and Jackie who all donated beautiful cards to Karen's Card Shop in the past couple of months. Special thanks to Kelle who included Christmas cards in her package because she knew I hadn't made enough of my own this year. What a treat to have some of her beautiful cards to send to my friends and family who are used to getting handmade "specials"!

Here the card shop donations are...all bagged, sorted, and ready to take to church. I'll be putting some of them out in the shop tomorrow.

And here are cards that people have sent to me in the past six months or so. Today, my cork board got updated. It felt so good, and I can't thank those of you who have sent cards enough. 

Stampers are awesome people!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

So Much Gratitude

People are good.

I know. Some aren't. Of course. But in the past two weeks, I've encountered a lot of good people. Kathy's family has encountered a lot of good people.

Kathy's funeral service was astounding. Her church, her friends, her family turned out for standing room only in a very large church. The receiving line for the visitation lasted three hours. The eulogies were given by her pastors and one pastor's wife. The choir, which must have had 70 people in it, sang some of her favorite songs. There was laughter. There were tears. She will be missed. So very much.

Because Kathy's youngest daughter had a third of her head shaved (a consequence of surgery to relieve pressure on her brain the day after the accident), her older sister asked everyone to wear hats to the funeral. In memory of Kathy, in honor of my uncle, and for one day only, this Duke University graduate wore one of George's caps.

I am grateful that Kathy's daughter is recovering so well from her pelvic fractures and brain bleed.

And now, the long adjustment. Kathy and I were very close--physically and emotionally--growing up, but in our adult lives, we've seen each other only occasionally.

Front: Aunt Linda, Kathy, Jenny (her sister)
Back: My mom (hiding), Grandma, me, my crazy fabulous sister

Her parents, her husband, and her daughters, however, now have to adjust to life as amputees. A big, vital part of their lives disappeared in an instant. They keep looking down, expecting to see her. They could use your prayers, good wishes, positive energy...whatever goodness you can send out into the universe.

I'm grateful for my department and their support as I went to NC for the funeral and had to cancel a class. I'm grateful for my students, who took the change in schedule in stride. I've never cancelled a class for personal reasons in all my years as an adjunct.

I'm so grateful for the cards I've received.

I'm grateful to the baristas at Starbucks. I walked up to the counter at 7:00 a.m. Tuesday morning after sitting in my car texting Kathy's husband and crying. I looked like hell. The first barista didn't even say hello. She just said, in the kindest, most sincere voice imaginable, "What's wrong?" "I just got back in town last night from a funeral," I blurted. "I'm so sorry." And then they called my name when my drink was ready. I walked up to this cup and started crying again.

I think I might spend a little too much time at Starbucks.

I'm grateful for all the kind comments and emails on my last post. Stampers are the best sort of people.

I'm grateful for some time today to stamp. I'm not exactly in form since my stamping time has been cut so dramatically, and it's a good thing I have a stash of store-bought Christmas cards. But it was fun to get inky and make a few cards and some pretty trash.

On the school front...my teaching is so very satisfying! I was asked to participate in a study this semester, and it's going very well. Also, the English Department is promoting me to Lecturer II status. It's taken over a year, but I do feel like I'm getting my feet under me again. It's wonderful.

My thanks to those of you who are holding on to my blog and most especially those who continue to send cards to Karen's Card Shop. You're keeping it going! (Two of the cards I received were purchased there!) I miss stamping so much, I miss being able to sit down and produce something blog-worthy in a half-hour or so. I miss being able to play.

There's a time to every purpose under heaven. Now's the time for grieving, working, and seeking balance. But as Paul says, in all things give thanks. Thank you, Lord, for all things, but most especially so many good people.

If you feel like sharing, I'd love to hear what you're grateful for. There's so much goodness in the world, and we should celebrate it. Kathy would appreciate that!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Life

Well, life is in many ways great. Five of you have sent cards to Karen's Card Shop, for which I am so very grateful. Thank you. School is going extremely well, for which I am so very grateful. I had time to stamp about a month ago and am now am making time to post one of the pictures, for which I am grateful.

Stamps by Hero Arts

The full-card picture looks rather washed out because the colors are so light and my photo skills are limited, but in real life, those pearls are pearly and the colors are soft and frosty looking, as in the close-up. Oh, how I long for cooler temperatures in this unseasonably warm autumn!

I'm grateful for so many things but also feel rather washed out and grieving. My cousin Kathy died last weekend as a result of a car accident. Her younger daughter was in the car with her and just got out of the hospital today. She will, thankfully, recover, but because she had surgery to relieve some pressure from a brain bleed, she'll be wearing a hat at the funeral. Her older sister has asked everyone to wear hats to the funeral so her little sister won't feel weird.

Kathy, her sister Jenny, my sister Lisa, and I grew up together. Kathy was funny, bright, and crafty. She taught elementary school, loved Jesus and babies, volunteered in her church, went on mission trips, led youth groups, played the guitar, loved horses, took amazing photographs, and was a huge University of North Carolina Tar Heels fan, just like her daddy. I've never held that against them, though they did rib me about going to Duke.

One memory of Kathy from our childhood keeps playing in my mind. I walked into Grandma and Papa's house and found the living room door closed, which was unusual. (Papa eventually removed that door because it was mostly just in the way.) So I knocked on the door and heard a muffled "come in." Grandma and Kathy were sitting on the sofa with their arms around each other. Both were sobbing. "What's wrong?" I exclaimed. Neither could speak through the sobs, but they both pointed to the television. It was the episode of Little House on the Prairie when Laura's dog died. I sat down and cried with them. We three were weepers. I still am. Grandma and Kathy aren't weeping anymore, and it's a small comfort to think of them together again, giggling.

Her husband, two daughters, mom, dad, sister, and so many extended family and friends are devastated right now. A bright light as gone from our lives, and we miss her so much.

Sunday, I'm wearing a Tar Heels baseball cap to the funeral. It'll make her dad smile. But y'all, my heart is breaking.

Healing Wishes

Here's the last card I have in my computer from Before the Flood, or as I have taken to calling it, BF. As we've been purging and reboxing stuff in the basement, I've been labeling the new boxes "PF" for post-flood.

Which means I should be labeling stuff before the flood "AF" for anteflood, sort of like antebellum but with a flood instead of a war. But why label boxes that are going in the recycling bin? That's just silly.

I want my craft space back! It's hard to believe the flood happened on Father's Day. Almost a month ago. And this downtime has happened when I actually have had more time to stamp. It's not fair!

Since Father's Day. That's a lot of Whining Time. Or WT, if you will.

Instead of more WT, however, let's look at a pretty card using an old staple, Dot Spot from Papertrey.

The large Dot Spot was inked with Memento pinks, spritzed with Tattered Angels sparkly stuff, which doesn't show up on the pictures, but oh well. The center was inked with Memento Dandelion and spritzed. The paper is a Hero Arts handmade watercolor paper, which is delightfully textured.

And hopefully by the end of next week, I'll be able to make something new.

Thanks for your patience!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan