Keep Calm and Eat a Cupcake

My question to you is, how could eating a cupcake NOT calm you?

They should give them to people to see if it can cure the fear of public speaking or arachnophobia.

On second thought - I'm not sure even a cupcake can cure arachnophobia. Or fear of monkeys, which I have. Yes, Sue, I can hear you laughing at me from Canada.

Monkeys are gross.

I hope there's not such a thing as a monkey spider. Shudder.

WAIT - back to cupcakes.

Okay so last night on our way back into town, I saw the UPS plane at the gate at ABIA. I squeeeeed like a crazy person because it was 6 PM. A UPS plane at the gate at 6 PM could ONLY be carrying my expedited preorder from the new catalog, because that would be JUST the right time frame for them to load up the trucks overnight and be at my door bright and early with my happy red label box.

Just as I was growling in a comment on Facebook that my friend Mindy had already gotten hers - I mean, as I was typing, my driver knocked on my door - at the same moment!! Now THAT, my friends, is LOGISTICS.

So I ripped open the box and made this for you!!! YES OMG WE NOW HAVE A STAMP TO MATCH MY SHIRT!!! You should order one for convention while you're thinking about it ---->>>> HERE.

Anyhoo. LOOKIE.

SQUEEEEE!!! Did I say that already?? Yes, that is two new sets of Framelits, a Keep Calm set, and OMG the new firm foam ink pads are the BOMB! The coverage is SO much better than with our current ink pads - you will just be floored. They are somewhere between a craft pad and our current pad in ink consistency and the ink pad itself is very smooth and soft. If you were a masher or a pounder before - you'd best quit those habits before you get these dreamy ink pads. They make using solid images completely blissful!! I'm in love. LOVE, I tell you.

And if you're interested, there is a new, completely customizable starter kit for only $99 - KAPOW! As a bonus, all my newbies get a Keep Calm and Stamp On T-shirt as a welcome gift from me :) Join the fun here.

And for my beloved driver and friends at UPS - thank you!!!

Cleaning Products and How to Avoid Cleaning With Them!

I hear from people who are PROBABLY telling the truth that products like bleach actually have a housekeeping purpose. But as every stamper worth her colored pencils knows, that kind of talk is just a crazy waste of air.

I can guaran-dang-tee you that no toilet is ever going to be as pretty as what I'm about to show you!

When I saw Beate's video for Bleached out images on Splitcoast, I knew exactly what I was going to do with my BELOVED new Fabulous Florets set. These flowers were perfect for this technique! I have bleached stamped images before, but always on colored cardstock, not Crumb Cake and it's stunning! It turns the cardstock this yummy buttery color and provides a great base for coloring



Now I did not emboss my images first - I just stamped them in black. If you do this, just paint the bleach inside the lines so you don't bleach the outlines of the images. If you do get bleach on them, after it dries, just use a marker to put the lines back in. I used colored pencils for my flowers, because I wanted a bright, intense blue. I put some uncolored bleached flowers on top of these after curling them with my bone folder, and I added fine black glitter to the flower centers.

The greeting is also a summer mini set - Happy Greetings. I love that font.

Now on to important stampy matters. I was lucky enough after a lifetime of searching to find a 72 drawer card catalog! I have wanted one of these for SOOOOO long, I can't tell you how excited I am to have found one.

It needed a little work, so after a sweet friend helped us with that, we moved it into the house this weekend.

Before I could get all the drawers back in, I discovered how a card CATalog gets its name.

Betcha didn't know that either...

Loveyameanitbye.