Half-Way Through This Weekend ...

I titled this post the way I did because my weekends seem to be very long and exhausting. Oh, I love doing what I do (or I would not do it), but I seem to need more recovery time than I used to. So let's get the whining out of the way early, shall we?

Since I have so many repeat customers at my Saturday markets, I like to have new stuff every weekend, but this week it did not work out that way. All of last weekend was taken up with workshop prep, execution and cleanup. I do not think I finished taking the tables down before Tuesday evening. Then Thursday night I took a Beginning Bookbinding class at a local stamp store and did not get home until 9:45 pm, and with a 10:00 pm bedtime, I was totally wiped out.

Last night I made a book based on what I'd learned Thursday night, and I had a brief moment where I thought it might be fun to make some to sell, you know, as a higher-priced item than my cards. After I finished making it, I decided not to pursue this avenue after all. It is fun, but not for mass-production. I think I'll make them for special gifts, or maybe one now and then and try to sell them during my Holiday markets. I much prefer making irreverent cards!

On to today's market! It was supposed to be hot, hot, hot today, so I packed some frozen towels that I actually remembered to prep last night, but there was such a nice breeze, it was tolerable without them. The day was pretty slow sales-wise for me, right up until the end and I made two great sales in the last 15 minutes. Yay!

We have a new food vendor selling breads and cookies. Check out this puppy:

That is one cookie, and I set up a card next to it for perspective. That is (was) one monster cookie! I say "was" because I consumed it rapidly. :-)

And looky who stopped by again:

His owner managed to get the bird to agree to sit on my shoulder, if only for a few seconds. It was just long enough for someone to take my camera and snap this shot!

Next up we have Farmer Mike's sweet peppers.

Aren't they colorful? I am not so sure about the "sweet" part, though. Last year he had me bite into a sweet pepper, and we decided that "sweet" was a subjective term. He just laughs at me, a lot! But he asks me if I am feeling old, and I can get a Senior Discount out of him some days, so I am okay with the laughing part. ;-) Actually, most of the farmers have a good laugh with we citified folk. We pick through fruit like we're at the grocery store, and they stop us and give us lessons, so it all works out for the best.

After I got home this afternoon and washed off all the hot, I sat on the couch with the ole laptop and caught up on my email and did a little blog surfing. Over at June's blog, she has been making some FABulous cards using her scraps. So instead of passing out on the couch, I decided to dig around in the pile of stuff from last weekend's Clean Sweep, and got to work using the parts-is-parts contained there-in.

Remember this guy:

I made two of these cards a few weeks ago. I actually made 4 of the turtle panels, but only two of the cards, since I got tired of punching out and assembling all those squares. So this afternoon, I rescued the two turtles from the pile and set to work. I had my PTI Guide Lines set still out, since we all know I never put anything away, and I decided to stamp the border instead of punching out the squares.

Remember when I said my first try with this set worked really easily? I've decided that was Beginner's Luck. After all, I am The Crooked Stamper, and I proved that this afternoon. Big Time.

Here is the final result of my labors:

I used SU Basic Gray to stamp the grid, then two of the little designs in alternate squares to make the border. Like it? Well, this is the 4th or 5th iteration. I decided I liked it enough to stop trying. I like the idea a ton, but this is the best I could do execution-wise. I am sure I'll get better with time.

Here's some detail of the best corner on the card (that is, if you ignore the bent corners on the card stock...):

I used Wild Wasabi ink stamped on Certainly Celery card stock. I first tried Wild Wasabi for the grid, too, but it was too boring.

Next I grabbed my extra stamped houses and townhouses from my "Welcome To Your New Home" session. I also had some extra printed sky pictures and some pre-scored Wasabi card bases. I made two of these:

and one of these:

In this one, I had three townhouses, but I thought it would be cool to pop one up and have it be the focal point, and have the other two in the background. By being in the background, it meant I did not have to color them (I am so lazy), so I used my SU Grey Watercolor Wonder Crayon and a wet brush to schmear on some shadow.

I put the trees in front of the background townhouses to make it look like a tree-lined street. Then I pondered what the heck to do with that huge empty on the right side of the card. I ended up (obviously) making it a 'park' by adding two more trees and a park bench (bench by A Muse). It may be a little busy, but I am okay with that.

Tomorrow I have my Sunday market, but I should be home by 2:00 or 2:30. I'll probably shower and pass out, but I do plan to stamp a ton Sunday and Monday. Yep - Monday! I took the day off because I knew I'd need it to catch up on all the stuff I do not do on Saturday & Sunday because I am having too much fun doing these markets. ;-)

Now pardon me while I go rest my eyes ... I feel a nap coming on ...