A Shout Out To All The Black Sheep

I am a runt selector.

And I stretch the word runt a bit to also mean quirk-filled, three-legged, etc.

On the few occasions where I got to select an animal (rather than an animal selecting me), I selected the weirdo of the litter. The tiniest, or oddly marked one, or the one all the litter mates were stepping on.

Those make the best pets, I swear.

My quirkiest friends were always the best friends too. The least judgy. (Yes, I know that's not a word, but I just made it a word.)

Sometimes when Maddie needs her hour long hug every day, or Splotchy sings the song of his people all night, I think - I sure am glad they ended up with me. I'm not sure everyone would have indulged their quirks to the degree we have.

Yesterday when I sat down to make card, I took a look at the new All Ye Faithful set, and I challenged myself not to make a Christmas card.

That ruled out at least one of the other images in the set, and possibly the third, as they are fairly traditional Christmas images.

I LOVE this artist's style. I love the sketchy lines and the gentle abstraction.

So as I looked at this image, I shut the Christmas carols out of my head and I thought about the job of a shepherd - human or otherwise. He has to protect all the little sheep in his care, and probably sometimes from each other.

So as I wondered why he was holding that one little guy I thought - IT'S THE BLACK SHEEP!

How sad it would be to be the black sheep, right? But look how nice this guy is to the black sheep :).

So I scoured my shelves for a sentiment that would work for my little black sheep, and ended up where I end up most of the time - Feel Goods. These are my favorite sentiments in the catalog, and this one is perfect for little Blacky McSheeperson.

Seriously - it's like they were meant to go together.

I did a video of this card, but as happens about every fifth video, the codecs got jacked up and so I just have the card today. It is just a simple watercolor with Brusho, and the sheep (can't see in the pic) are sparkly with clear Wink of Stella.

It wasn't that exciting anyway :). I just saved you 12 minutes - you're welcome.

I hope you are having a relaxing weekend.

We made our first brisket in our new Primo Grill. I splurged on this sucker after I earned some Stampin' Up! bonuses and it was worth every penny. It's made in the USA (vs. the Big Green Egg, which is made in Mexico and China.) It's INCREDIBLE at temperature regulation, and for our first brisket smoking attempt I have to say - it was darn near perfect. I think the only thing that could have been improved was that it would have been better if it was an untrimmed brisket. No one likes a skinny brisket. But the bark was PERFECT, it was falling apart, and it was delicious.

I want to become the brisket queen of South Austin and have brisket flash sales where I tweet about a brisket and I'm sold out in 20 minutes.

If only there was more time in the day.

Loveyameanitbye.