Quick Story

I just HAVE to tell you this story, then I'll be back later with some pics from today's market.

I love being an SU Demo and I love my SU customers. I don't think I can say this enough. Even for first-timers at my Stamp Camps, there is an instant camaraderie that just ... happens. People start talking, helping each other, and it just all flows so smoothly.

One of the best parts is my role in bringing all these people together, and letting them take things from there. I've had people realize they live one neighborhood from each other, and they start planning field trips to the LSS, or to stamping conventions. It's all so ... nice.

But the story in particular I'd like to share with you is about weddings. It all started when a new customer - we'll call her S, found me and exclaimed, "OMG YOU ARE TWO STREETS AWAY I AM SOOO COMING TO YOUR CLASSES", and she did! And she still does! Then one Sunday, customer R mentioned she'd gotten engaged and was going to make her own invitations, favors - EVERYTHING, and did anyone have any suggestions on how to get started.

S's eyes got real big, they exchanged contact information, and R pulled off THE BEST wedding EVER!

Next up, customer J announced she's engaged, and ... R steps up to the plate. They live near each other, so they arranged meet-ups and exchanged ideas and samples and links (some from S, customer #1), and then J, with A Plan, borrowed some of my stuff and pulled off THE NEXT BEST wedding EVER! OMG, these ladies ROCK!

Time passes, and one of my new customers, M - you guessed it: is engaged! She asked me directly for assistance, but knowing I don't hold a candle to these other ladies, I put them in contact with each other. Here it is, one week later, and R, J and M are meeting Monday night to get M started on her little adventure.

AND I DID NOTHING except introduce them. They did all the rest. I dunno, it just gives me a warm fuzzy. Maybe even more than one warm fuzzy. These ladies are so sweet and open and ... I just love 'em to pieces.

That's all. I just wanted to share.

I have some stamping to do, then I'll be back with pics from today's market.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sympathy Week, Part ... Last

Hi! Remember me? Whoa, this week totally got away from me. All of a sudden it was Thursday and then it was FRIDAY and ... and ... I didn't stamp! Ack! But it's not like I've been sitting around doing nothing. Well, okay, maybe last night I did nothing. I tried to make up for it this afternoon during the 1/2 day I took off of work.

First - I got domestic. I KNOW! I DID! I emptied 2 boxes of ... um ... er ... new stuff and I put it away. Then I broke down those boxes plus a few more so they're ready for next week's recycle, and also so I can move in here.

Next up: dusted & vacuumed. This happens rarely, but, well, you know that character in Peanuts - Pigpen? Mmm-hmmm. It was time.

THEN I assembled my second of two Plexiglas display racks and stowed it in the car for tomorrow's market. MORE floor space!

THEN I went into the Captain's Quarters to have a few words with my new cabinet. When I first measured (twice!) and put the screws in the wall, the resulting spacing was 1/8" too far apart. Carp. So today I re-measured (twice) and re-did the holes and the screws. I even double-checked them by making a template (paper with markings for the placement of the holes in the back of the cabinet) and checking the holes in the wall. Then ... I hung it up:

YES! Isn't it purty? I proceeded to grab all sorts of homeless crafting supplies and stowed them on these tiny shelves.

You can see my paints and sprays and Flower Soft and some other stuff. I wasn't going to use the dowels for ribbon, but I have some Martha ribbons (on the left) that were hidden in a box, so now they are out where I can see them. I also grabbed some other homeless ribbons and put them on the right. The shelf with my paints has holes for another dowel, but I'm not going to use it. Better as a plain shelf.

While going through all this drama, I re-discovered this set:

I got it many years ago when the SU Wonderful Words first came out, and I wanted it in French. (Why, you ask? That year we had a vendor at the market from ... some island and they spoke French, so I thought it would be cool to make cards in French.) This was when SU had just opened in Canada, the Quebec catalog was available in French, and none of the US stamps were offered in other languages yet. This was also before SU made it clear there would be no "across the border" sales. I'd already done a trade with a Canadian Demo before SU put the kibosh on that sort of thing.

Anyway, I actually have two of these, and I'll be selling this French one. If you'd like it, let me know. I'll add it to my Buy My Stuff list over there on the right.

Then I actually, finally, made another Sympathy card. This one is an oldie but a very popular one:

I make it a little different each time, but I always use these '07 SU In Colors. Heaven help me when I run out of them. The stamps are from Endless Creations, and I've had them for years.

This isn't a traditional Sympathy card, and many people have purchased it for non-traditional situations. Like a son who lost a fellow High School friend. Anyway, it's sold out, so I've made a few more.

Then it was time for something NEW. I opened one of my new Totally Stampalicious sets and made this:

The piece of patterned paper was out, and I used it not only for the bottom layer, but the green die-cut shapes are from the other side. I made two of these. Wow, at this rate I'll use that piece of 12x12 paper in my lifetime. Yes, I still have some left.

For those of you who are visually challenged like I am, here's that sentiment, up close and personal:

I don't know about you, but having been a sewer (that's sew-er, as in someone who sews, and not that other "sewer" thing) for many, many years in my youth (yoot - name that movie), I find this sentiment hysterical. Especially since NOW I can't even see the freakin' needle.

Moving on, I had some other new stamps in the house from Starving Artist, and I made this:

Let me just say it took me over an hour to get this far, and I'm still not in love with it. I'm not happy with how that sentiment looks anywhere on the card front. Say what? Inside?!? Put it inside?!?! Not in my world.

The chair and pillow were stamped on two pieces of paper from my now-opened Max & Whiskers Basic Grey 6x6 pack. (You do understand that this totally justifies its purchase, and enables me to buy more BG this weekend. Totally.)

The larger piece of patterned paper is SU, and was laying on my Heaplet, so I used it.

Doesn't the cat look like he's floating? Like I should have put him further down on the chair? Mmm-hmm. And all that tearing of the blue layer? I originally wanted to put the sentiment up there, and it looked good, but not right next to the cat's head, so I added the ribbon (!) and moved the sentiment down. Eh.

Tonight I need to bag & tag these and all the cards I made last Sunday so I can take them to the market with me tomorrow. It's supposed to be lov-er-ly weather-wise, and I'm looking forward to that!

In other news, the cocoon is still a cocoon. No butterfly or Mothra yet. I did put up a piece of cheesecloth, held in place by monster thumb tacks. If the winged one emerges when I'm at work, I hope the cheesecloth will contain him and I can use it like a net to take him outside later. We'll see how that goes.

That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by!

Rumors of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

I am not dead. Nope, just busy and distracted and lacking of the mojo. The butterfly/moth is still in its cocoon, I've made no new cards, and I have nothing to share of any significance. HOWEVER, I do have this afternoon off from work, so I hope to get crafty then. Plus, I have big plans for the weekend, so I'll be sure to bore you with all those details, too. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

SCIENCE is IN THE HOUSE!

This morning as I got ready to leave for work, I spotted something dark on my Kitchen ceiling. I figured it was a moth or something - harmless, but when I got closer, I saw it was a caterpillar hanging upside down, like they do when they are getting ready to wrap themselves up and become a butterfly or a moth.

NOT IN MY KITCHEN! I have NO FOOD for you, little one!

I tried to gently remove him to relocate him outside, but he was stuck real good. When I got home tonight, he was still there:

Yeah, it's a little fuzzy, but I was standing on a chair, holding the camera above my head with my little finger against the ceiling to keep it from moving too much. You people have no idea ...

That shot was taken at 6:03 pm. I just went into the Kitchen to start slicing and dicing stuff for my pot luck dishes for tomorrow, and look at THIS:

This was 7:47 pm. EEEEK!

This morning, one of the guys at work suggested I set up a camera on a tripod at ceiling height to record the progression, at which time I invited him to bring his in tomorrow, and we'd come home at lunch time to set it up. He wasn't buying it.

So this poor thing is now going to transform into a flying creature in the next 10 days or so. I thought about putting up some netting - tacking it to the ceiling - so when he appears he won't fly around the house if I'm at work and I can just take him outside when I get home. Hmmm ...

I read that when they first emerge, their wings are wet and they need to unfold and dry, which is why they hang upside down. If the wings get stuck against a branch, they will dry bent and the butterfly will never fly - he'll die. So sad. I know, the circle of life ... but I want this one to LIVE!

Oh, and I have a cat. So if this becomes a flying thing and I am not at home and the cat tries to catch it (if she even notices it) ... I could home to utter destruction.

I shall provide updates as they happen. This could get interesting.

I need to go slice and dice my veggies now. I'm making tomato+basil+mozz thingies and also Panzanella salad. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Sympathy Week, Part First

I have sadly sold out of Sympathy cards, so for the rest of this week, I'll be making them every chance I get. To keep me sane, though, I plan to throw in other cards - some irreverent, or (like in today's example) some to clear out the Heaplet-wannabe.

Let's begin our journey with a look at the current state of The Captain's Table:

No, it's not pretty. Let's do those numbers:

1. My morning coffee, getting cold.
2. Several punches I was using to try out to see which one went best with my new flower punch (the white one). I call this a UFO, so the stuff is still there.
3. My Thanks stamp I use on every Thank You note I send with my etsy orders. It lives there.
4. My PTI Mazel Tov set I played with on my last sick day. Not cleaned or put away yet.
5. My sushi buttons. I have since put them into an empty Flower Soft container. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.
6. The paper du jour. I wanted to use this to make Birthday cards today.
7. The "I cannot bear to throw this way" ribbon scrap pile. It groweth. I see a woven ribbon card in my near future.

Let's not forget the floor next to the table:

Just because I clean my stamps and put them back into their cases does not mean those cases get put away. You also assume I have the space to put these away, which right now I do not. :( I just look away.

I'm just trying to keep it real, and I am glad to take one for the team, once again, if it helps you feel better. I did manage to stamp today, though. PLENTY of room! :)

First up, I have photographic evidence that I took the picture I used on my next card. This is the view outside my car window in Oct, 2005, while I was stopped in traffic somewhere in the South, either Florida or Georgia:

Thank goodness for power windows. Instead of looking at all the stopped traffic in front of me, I happened to look to my right. Lucky me! I later cropped that photo down to this:

... and I've used it ever since to make these:

The sentiment is stamped on paper vellum (as opposed to cardstock-weight vellum), and the vellum is placed over the photo. The ribbon hides the adhesive. Vellum adhesive and I are not on good terms, and we never have been. I find that ribbon is my friend in these situations.

This card is a nice change to the traditional Sympathy card, and it has been very popular.

Next up, I saw this card on SCS, and I needed to CASE it. I saw it as a perfect time to break out my untouched and unloved Basic Grey paper packs, and today I chose cappella for its more muted tones. This is what finally came out:

I chose 6 pieces of the 6x6 papers, 5 for the larger layers and one to cut for the vertical black patterned pieces. I used Artichoke for the layers on all the cards. I softened the sentiment (on PTI white) by stamping an image over it in stamped-off Going Grey (now retired). The ribbon loop is SU's Basic Gray 5/8" Satin (so yummy) and the pearls in the corners of the black layer (yes, they are tiny, but they are there) are from my stash of Every-Company's-Pearls collection. The base is Going Grey, because I thought White was too stark.

Here's another of the cards so you can see the different paper I used for the layer with the same pattern paper for the black piece:

I like that I found one layering color (Artichoke) that went pretty well with all those papers.

Since all those BG papers are 6x6, I had trimmings left over, so I decided to USE them instead of putting them back with the rest of the pack. I took the 1" strips, stuck them to a scrap piece of printer paper:

... and die-cut it:

I got two pieces cut out, and they now live on the UFO pile, which is better than all those left-over strips of paper.

Next up, I celebrated my 9 Sympathy card victory by cutting up that sheet of Bathing Beauties. Here's one of the resulting cards:

The background is a lace backgrounder from Cornish Heritage Farms, stamped on So Saffron card stock with So Saffron ink. The ribbon is one of the new SU laces. I think since I have this image off-center, I might add something on the right, maybe dangling from the ribbon. We'll see.

Here is another one:

Same as that first one, except I used the other new SU lace ribbon, and I did the folding thing that I watched today in a video. VERY easy to do, and I love it with that lace. And if I ever find the link again, I'll be sure to update this post. ;/

After I'd made 5 of those, I had this image left:

Since it was three ladies instead of just one, I thought I'd use my "We'll be friends until we're blue in the hair" sentiment, but it didn't fit. Still pondering what to use here.

Also, fatalities of the cut were these two images:

Look at their legs! I know it's supposed to look aged or watermarked, but these look like the ladies have the measles or some cruel rash-y disease. Until I make peace with them, they will not be on any of my cards.

That's it - 14 cards in one day. Not too bad. I have a plan for tomorrow's Sympathy cards, which will open up another opportunity for me to play with UFOs and attempt to diminish that Heaplet-wannabe a bit more.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go reclaim some drawer space so I can put some of those stamp sets away.

Thanks for stopping by!

Market Update

Today was another sunny & clear day. A little hot, a little humid, but there was a decent breeze, and we were largely distracted by the throngs of people who were out and about. A pretty good day all around.

First, I must divulge a deep, dark secret: I have difficulty driving my vehicle in reverse. It's true! And this is a near-fatal flaw for a crafter, where you need to back up your vehicle at pretty much every venue to unload, and most of the time you are trying to squeeze between two other vehicles, and your own is packed to the gills, so you have no line of sight out the back. Yeah, I sucketh at this.

Apparently, I can't park on the street, either. Just look at this:

I'd pulled into the alley and backed into that space. And this is after I'd fixed it! It was worse before! I am a full 12" from the curb, and deserving of a ticket. Oh, but there's more! Look:

Do you see anything wrong with this picture? Here, let me show you:

Okay, I mostly got between the two corners of the spot, but barely. Now look at that sign. See where it is in relation to the marked parking space? Is this a TEST? How, in Heaven's name, is ANYone supposed to manage this? You can't park beyond the sign, but it's IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MARKED PARKING SPACE! I defy them to ticket me! Hmph. I've been parking there for weeks, and so far - so good.

Let's look at some produce, shall we?

Here we have Farmer Mike attempting to get all artsy on us with this sweet pepper display:


And the obligatory close-up:

I decided to make a Panzanella salad for Tuesday's Pot Luck lunch at work, so several of these came home with me - at least one of every color!

The weekly Mater shot:

I bought some of the Romas there on the right for my salad.

Watermelon(s):

Eggplant:

Squash - Acorn, I believe:

(Told you it was getting to be squash season!)

Spaghetti squash (one of my faves):

In the olden days, when I used to cook, I would nuke one of these babies, scrape out the stringy innards and use it as a pasta replacement. ZERO calories, people! ZERO.

Dear Lord, more okra:

I asked Farmer Mike when this stuff would start to DIE, and he said first frost. Sigh. That'll probably be December here ...

Some giant Zukes:

... poblano peppers:

... and basil! I bought two bunches of these:

... one for my Panzanella salad, and one for my tomato-basil-mozzarella thingies. Yeah, I couldn't decide, so I'm bringing both.

Hot peppers:

Oh, would you look at that... Farmer Mike has put his jalapenos in with the "peels paint" peppers. And you know what, I witnessed at least two different people filling bags with these things. HOT stuff. One of the guys said he buys them every week.

Moving on, Farmer Margie had quite the fruit variety today:

... and pretty grape tomatoes:

I got two of these boxes for my tomato-basil-mozz thingies. All I need now is the Mozz. Tomorrow...I'll go shopping tomorrow.

Then we have green beans:

... and orn-yons (you have to say it like Justin Wilson... I miss him so):

Farmer Katie also has some maters:

... and more cut flowers:

Speaking of flowers, the floral guys didn't show up today ... it's getting to be show season plus today was the last day for the County Fair (and I missed it again, drat!)

Early-in-the-day bread offerings at the bakery:

... and pies:

By the time I got my Rosemary bread for my Panzanella salad, most of these pies were gone.

When I got back to my table after taking all those pics, lookie what I found:

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! The rock lady made me a rock that looks like my kitty! How sweet!

Something new at my spot - my vertical card display:

LOVE IT! I love it so much, I'm going to put together the other one and try them both next week. A good investment, indeed.

Here's a shot of my little corner of the market:

Oh, speaking of the rock lady, this week she had a school bus:

... a terlet:

... and some critters having lunch! -->

Before the beverage stand showed up to set up next to me, this little bike was parked:

So cute. The young lad was there with his Mom. Just look how cute that bike is, and the helmet.

I was drawn in to this jeweler's table by these two necklaces:

I think the colors are stunning! The one on the right could be for someone in the Red Hat society! They are both way to chunky for my tastes, but I can still appreciate them!

And I know I don't do the doggie parade any more, but I will show you this guy:

He's a Shar Pei, owned by my friend and SU customer. He's a former show dog, and from what she tells me, show dogs learn things they need for the show ring, and not things like Sit. So she and her other Shar Pei have been teaching him things, and in two weeks, she said "he gets it". Such a good boy. Here is another shot I took of him:

Such poise! His name is Torch - check out the flames on his collar! :-)

[ETA] And we had a new visitor today - a parrot:

This is not Tweety. This guy is bigger and not so nice. His owner said there was NO WAY we could hold him. Looking at those claws, we backed off.

(Like my hack job with that picture? I have zero editing skills, but I needed to cut out some people.)

Check out the color of his under-wings:

So pretty! Er, handsome!

Ready for some mutant veggies? I have to warn you, the last ones are not appropriate for small children, again. Actually, there were some even less appropriate than these. I've sworn not to ever, ever publish any of them for fear of losing my 3 (maybe 4) readers.

Here we go. As the kids said: a nose:

This next one was just ... well, we think it was several eggplants all grown together ... conjoined. Plus each of them had "growths". -->

That's all I'm going to say about that.

Another one with conjoined issues:

And last, but not least (not even close) ... They asked me how you tell a male eggplant from a female eggplant. Uh-huh. You KNOW this is not going to end well, am I right? Then they showed me these:

And yes, once again, the grown men were giggling and sniggering like little kids. One of my Tweeps asked me if they were 11 years old, because they were sure acting like it. People, do you now see the suffering I endure for my craft?

ANYway, in other news, I've sold out of Sympathy cards, which is sad in itself. Not only do so many people need them (one guy bought an extra, "just in case"), but now I get to spend a good part of the week making more Sympathy cards. ;( I can think of things I'd rather do. Perhaps I'll intersperse my efforts with some irreverence, just to keep the mood a bit lighter.

I've also been blurfing and watching videos for ... are you sitting down ... Christmas ideas. Yep, if I don't plan now, I'll be playing catch-up until mid-December, and that's not ever pretty. My markets go through the Saturday before Thanksgiving, so it's not like I'll get any extra time before my holiday shows begin. Yeah, I know, whine, whine, whine. If I get my act together soon enough, I might even be able to squeeze in a Holiday Stamp Camp this year. Maybe. I'll let you know how the planning goes for that. (Don't hold your breath.)

That's it for today. I hope to have something crafty to show you tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by!