I'd Like To Thank....

Thank you speeches are fun.


Since the Olympics are dominating the airwaves right now, I've been thinking about how fun it is to see someone truly be thankful for something which most people consider a solitary victory.

I think the reality of life, my belief in rugged individualism aside, is that if you are engaged in any pursuit that depends even in the smallest way on inspiration, you most definitely never have a solitary victory.

Art is uniquely a collective pursuit.


One of the things I am compelled to do in my alone time is view and learn about art. I would say for every single card I make, I've viewed 1,000 cards and/or techniques. That's the ratio, probably conservatively.

I bet it's not just me. I bet you do too.

So please imagine me climbing onto a festooned stamping medal platform in an obnoxious red white and blue Ralph Lauren sweater and saying the following:

• Thank you for making the 10 minute video that I know for a fact took two hours of prep and 6 hours of editing and photography and an hour of uploading. It inspired me, cost me nothing and only took ten minutes of my day.
• Thank you for cropping, brightening and adjusting your photo and adding a full supply list to your Splitcoast gallery, even though it took you ten minutes to make the card and an hour to edit it. It helped me make my version of your card. 
• Thank you for Facebooking your messy desk and your work in progress. It made me feel happy and normal. :)
• Thank you for pinning your favorite cards - I re-pinned them.
• Thank you for commenting on my blog and my gallery and my Instagram pics - it makes my morning walks so fun to interact with you while listening to little birdies and drinking tea. 
• Thank you for posting your hilarious failures. It keeps it real. 

Now we should play the stamping national anthem. I am imagining that it is traditionally played on a kazoo. 

 Today I'm hosting the Splitcoast Mix-Ability challenge, and it's based on a happy accident.

I was actually filming an upcoming tutorial for Splitcoast when I had a little artistic accident that resulted in a super fun little abstract landscape. And believe it or not, it happened when I was CLEANING! (pauses for fainting)

The black part of the image is actually the product of me cleaning my brayer in between prints. So basically it's trash - but I discovered some pretty images in the cleaning process. Spooky little misty landscapes. The greeting is from Really Good Greetings.

Here's another one with my fave retired set EVER - Branch Out.

So I made a little video for you of this simple process. I hope you try it and come play in the challenge!

Loveyameanitthanksabunchbye.