Copics and Pretty Trash

I’m enjoying my Copic storage tower of little plastic drawers, and it’s making coloring with Copics easier. Well, it’s much quicker to find the right one, which is easier, I suppose. 

This new set from Hero Arts provides a lovely design for basic Copic coloring…which is the only type of Copic coloring I do, actually. 

It’s important, I think, to keep things real, and coloring with Copics results in pretty trash on more occasions than I might wish. Which is fine because the amount of trash made has very slowly decreased just as my stash of Copics has very slowly increased. So either I’m getting better or my standards are lowering. Either way, having a growth mindset and tolerating the pretty trash works to my advantage.

By the way, the phrase “pretty trash” was given to me by my friend Leslie, who lost her battle with breast cancer years ago. I miss her snarky self. Her screen name was Crooked Stamper. 

Bob Ross was wrong, bless his heart. There ARE mistakes, and we thank the good Lord that we don’t have to share them in public like Olympic athletes do. Holy cannoli, I can’t imagine the pressure those athletes are under with all the world watching! And what about the garbage thrown at Simone Biles in Tokyo? Seriously? She’s showed them. 

Go, athletes!

And now I’m off to mix some spicy birdseed for our Birdfy feeder. The cardinals are quite perturbed that the feeder has been empty since yesterday, and are very vocal right now. Today’s pics from the feeder show the birds’ irritation, such as this lovely lady glaring at the camera!

Or this one who pitched a hissy fit. 

Such a diva.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,

Susan

Angles Love Curves and an Update

Today’s card is bold and balanced, with curves and angles everywhere. But mostly, I love these colors. They are so calming. Plus, please give me credit for using a colored card base on a card that still looks like I made it. Simplicity, indeed.

Stamps by Simon Says and sentiment by Papertrey. 

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Update

So I’m still working through the emotional garbage that my dad’s death dredged up, but it’s all ultimately good and necessary processing. But that distraction meant that my 6-month cancer appointments snuck up on me. Today was Zometa infusion day to keep my bones healthy. 

Monday will be a DEXA scan, which will tell us if the Zometa is doing its job. I’ve got mammograms, bloodwork, and an appointment with the oncologist. After six months of no appointments, I’m feeling a bit of PTSD getting stuck (Zometa requires a blood test the day before in addition to the infusion). But I’m not expecting any bad news. My health seems pretty robust, actually!

And just for fun, here’s a gift I received from my friend Kim, whose BC diagnosis came a year before mine. She found these mugs and bought one for each of us. My first drink out of it was wine. 🍷😉

Makes me wish I had a flamingo stamp to make her a thank-you card.

Go be flocking fabulous today! 

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,

Susan

Birds of a Feather

First of all, a big thank you to Martha B for sending some lovely card for Karen’s Card Shop! Stampers are the BEST!

Today’s card comes courtesy of Tim Holtz dies, continuing my feather theme. These layered dies are so pretty and interesting…and help me use some of reams of colored card stock I’ve been hoarding collecting for years.

And speaking of hoarding collecting, I had to add another set of drawers for my Copic markers. They needed room to breathe, especially after I added another ten colors. 

It’s so much easier to find the color I’m looking for, now. And of course, I had to make some cards with Copics and will be showing them over the next week or so. 

A friend has recently been a bit down, and she decided to start a sewing project. Perked her up quite a bit. There’s a lesson in that for all of us. While doing a creative project won’t “fix” serious depression, it is worth the effort, when you feel a little down, to seek out creative stimulation. 

And for an extra mood booster, put on one of the top ten songs that make people happy while you create. What a great list!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,

Susan 

Soft Christmas

It’s rare that I make a card I actually like with a colored card base. I love lots of cards with colored card bases made by other people, but the cards almost never look like I made them when I do it. There’s some sort of cognitive dissonance that afflicts me almost every time. 

But not this time. 

This card feels completely mine. The soft, grayish, greenish blue (or bluish green) makes me so very happy. *squeal* Stamps by Papertrey. 

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It feels good to speak your truth. I finally sent the email I composed in May to the lawyer for dad’s estate. She’d sent me a form, as per South Carolina law, but let me know in no uncertain terms that I was excluded from his will. Big surprise, that. 

Not really. He disowned me when I was 19. For a while, my sister was the sole beneficiary of his will, on the condition that she gave me not a penny. Narcissists like to sow discord and division, and I’m proud to say that he never succeeded at that with me and Lisa. Then, Lisa did something to piss him off, so we were both cut out. 

Anyway, I considered not responding at all to the lawyer’s letter, but this morning, I realized that this poor lawyer was doing her job. I assured her that his beneficiary deserved his estate given how kind he was to them in life, and they to him. Those of us treated unkindly by him don’t want a thing from him. He didn’t give us the one thing we valued, which was honest love.  

THAT would have meant something. 

It felt good, but so sad. How can one human create so much chaos, conflict, and harm in his life? As my sister said, it ends with us. 

Mercy, grace, peace, and honest love, 

Susan

Angles and Curves

One maxim of design I learned from Cathy Zielski was that angles love curves. When a card has too many curves, throw in some angles. When it has too many angles, throw in curves. 

Today’s card uses lots of both. Curves come in the flower forms, the leaf fronds, and the wood-grain embossing of the background panel. The angles come in the rectangles and squares. This card makes me so happy! Especially the white on white, the Stickles on the flowers, and that embossing folder. 

I’m currently writing through some of my feelings about my dad now that he’s dead. It’s hard, and sad, and painful, but I know it’s necessary and very much worth it. One pattern keeps popping up in the writing: all the good people who helped me through his narcissistic abuse. 

Over and over, good people stepped into the breach. And that news is amazing. Because good people still do! Right now, the United States are not very united, or so it seems if you pay attention to the media. I think there are far more good people than bad, and far more people who want unity over division, peace over conflict, love over hate. Nobody is perfect, but there are more good people than bad. Kindness isn’t loud, nor is unity. But the impulse for both is all around us, if we take the time to look…and to be.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,

Susan

The Soft and the Bold

Today, we’re looking at two cards made with the same Waltzingmouse Fine Feather stamp. The first is soft, monochromatic, and, well, feathery. It takes advantage of quick-dry pigment inks in three shades of pink. 

The card is serene, symmetrical, and appropriate for the sentiment. 

Our bold cards is, well, bold, with a Kaleidacolor spectrum ink pad as the star of the show. Since the feather has white dots, it made sense to go darker to enhance the contrast, but then, how to create a background? 

Speedball brayer to the rescue! The colors got so rich and beautiful! I cut two strips from the brayered panel, flipped one so they fade in different directions, and added the gold speckles, gold thread, and sentiment. The boldness, beauty, and touches of gold fit the birthday sentiment perfectly!

I hope my American readers had a lovely Independence Day celebration. We attended a concert by the Centerville Community Band and Chorus. Our younger son plays trumpet in the band. 

Last night I slept with Cooper because he’s so scared of the fireworks. [I sleep in the guest room as George snores like a chainsaw, and Cooper usually sleeps with George.] He settled down once the trazadone kicked in.

As long-time readers know, our dog Lily is a bit of a demon. More like Puck than Beelzebub, but still, a demon. Here’s some photographic proof.

The two of them sounded vicious…and of course, 
Neither one meant it. Because they are goldens.

I snapped this picture two minutes after the first.
Such pretty and patriotic pups!

Mercy, grace, peace, love, stars, and stripes,

Susan

Waltzingmouse Revisited and Revived!

Claire Brennan’s Waltzingmouse Stamps were AMAZING, but world events (Brexit) crushed her small business exporting from Ireland. She’s stayed busy in the meantime (lots of beautiful fabric designs posted to her Facebook feed!), but for those of us in stamping who’ve missed her brilliance…she’s working on a comeback. 

It’s going to be slow, she assured me, but she’s coming BACK! Yippee!

To celebrate, I’m playing around with one of her old sets, Fine Feather. Today’s card uses Impress Fresh pigment inks, which give such a lovely, opaque finish. My pigment inks have been sadly neglected lately, but it certainly was fun pulling them out. 

And below, there’s a photo of the packaged cards for Karen’s Card Shop from Kathryn, Pat, and Eddie!  Took them to church today and restocked the shop. For the first time in a few months, get well cards were fully stocked!

Finally, here’s a bonus picture of my son Nick (he of “it’s just water over beans”) and our Best Boy Cooper, just for fun. 

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,

Susan