Quirky, But Approachable

In Florida, we had dinner at a very fun restaurant which had a cheese board appetizer on the menu.

If I could only pick category of food to have for the rest of my life, it would be dairy. Milk, cheese, yogurt, sour cream - I love all of it. Well, except Swiss cheese, which I can only describe as a taste that reminds me of the smell of West Texas. If you've ever driven through West Texas, you know what I'm talking about. You'd never put that smell in your mouth, I can assure you.

I'm actually not even sure Swiss cheese is really cheese, because if you can get past the hideous smell and taste, you discover that the texture is rubbery - like a superball! So let's just exclude that abomination from the dairy category, and I welcome the rest as my one true chosen food group.

So we ordered the cheese board. It had some beautiful cheeses on it all with unusual toppings. The one we liked the most was a VonTrapp Oma cheese from Vermont, which, praise the Lord, I found at Whole Foods! It was topped with (reserve your skepticism) something called "olive caramel", which was incredible. Black olives in a jammy sauce that appears from the recipes I found to be very simple.

So when the cheese dude brings the board to the table, he describes each of the cheeses. Sometimes, in restaurants when this is happening, you sort of tune out and avoid eye contact - or I do, anyway. It's sort of awkward - I read the menu and I ordered it - it just seems weird to have some poor waiter memorize it and rattle it off to you when all you want to do is eat cheese and talk to your companions.

But this cheese dude obviously shared this feeling, and he inserted some hilariously weird language into his spiel - we almost didn't notice at first, until he finished describing the Oma cheese as "quirky, but approachable."

I thought we were going to die from the giggles after he left.

I do love my cheese to be approachable. And unapproachable cheese (like Swiss) is a real tragedy in my book.

Now I refer to all my cheese as quirky, but approachable. Sort of like me, really.

Today was a red letter day for sure. I got my MISTI stamp positioning tool, and after Maddie Bat got done sitting on the box, I got to play with it.

Now you might be asking "What is a MISTI?"

Well I first heard about this tool in this thread on Splitcoast, where I like to get all my breaking craft tool news.

However, I subscribed to the thread, but like an idiot, I didn't think I NEEDED this thing. I read the posts and the tips but didn't truly understand the wonder of the thing until +Libby Hickson came to Texas for a holiday visit. I went up to stamp and play with her and the Texana Designs crew while she was here and someone had one. It took exactly 45 seconds for me to NNNNEEEEEEEDDDDDDD one. Unfortunately, by that time, the secret was out, and this genius inventor was scrambling to find a manufacturer and fill backorders, so I had a little wait. Turns out the timing was perfect though because I was gearing up for Leadership and didn't have time to play.

Today, I shooed away the critter, opened the box, and joyfully stamped 24 customer thank you cards for February orders - all PRECISELY lined up and completely identical. That's right - with Lotus Blossom.

Color Combo - Crumb Cake (solid image), Baked Brown Sugar (middle image), Early Espresso (teeny detailed image. 

Stem is Baked Brown Sugar and Early Espresso.

The hinged lid lets you stamp in EXACTLY the same place every time, which is perfect for an image like this. What I do is put the cardstock into the corner of the MISTI and put the stamp face down on my cardstock. I pick it up with the lid of the MISTI and then it's in exactly the right place. When you've stamped all of one layer of the flower, position the card back in the corner, and then lay the second stamp face down on your first stamped layer - do this right now with your Lotus Blossom set and you'll see what I mean - stamp the solid image, and then put the middle image, stamping surface down on top of it - you can line it up COMPLETELY precisely. Then imagine closing the lid on it to pick it up and shazam - you can stamp it 1,000 times in a row in exactly the right place. It's a complete miracle. It does for cling & clear stamps what the Stamp-a-ma-jig does for wood stamps.

Here's a video explaining it better than I can:



As you all know - I'm old school - I love wood mounted stamps.

But THIS is making me all giddy about all my cling & photopolymer stamps - oh, the places I'll go!

And I love this entrepreneurial young lady creating the American dream in her living room. Just makes me happy to support a person who makes something wonderful in our country.

Do YOU want one of those beautiful Lotus Blossom cards I made perfectly in a jiffy?

All you have to do is place an order this month :). Lotus Blossom is a free Sale-a-Bration set.

Loveyameanitbye.