Dear Steve Jobs

Dear Steve Jobs,

I need you to design a bra.(My thought upon waking this morning)

I had this thought as I was wrestling with a jogbra - the non-magician equivalent of a straightjacket, except much more difficult to get in and out of. Also, in a straightjacket, you do not look as though you are hiding a baby seal in your shirt. After I had exhausted all the obscenities I knew, the light went off. The best designer in the world needs to tackle the bra.

The basic design hasn't changed since it was invented. The CONTENTS haven't changed for millenia. Please, Steve? For me? Think of the gratitude of all the chicks of the earth.

I've made a mockup for you.

I give you .. The IBra. It only has four apps, which you should be able to figure out for yourselves if you look closely. The slide to open should bring joy to all who see it. Please let me know when it's done, Steve. I love you.I will be in line at the Apple store when this baby hits the market, believe me. And I'll pay whatever.

Now, speaking of technology, several of you wanted to know why I think the Stampin' Up! unmounted stamps are superior. So, for Sue and everyone else, here goes.

After you remove the die cut cling mount stamp from the sheet, you remove a die cut backing from the matching label, leaving the label on the sheet. The die cut stamp and the die cut label are exactly the same size and shape.
Remove the backing from the back of the stamp also, to expose the cling mount. Set it down on the label, lining up the edges. See how the other label still has a protective cover on it?
The label will stick to the cling mount of the stamp, like this:and then when you put the stamp on your acrylic block - LOOKIE - YOU CAN SEE THE STAMP DESIGN - EXACTLY WHERE IT WILL BE WHEN YOU STAMP IT!Pretty sure if Steve Jobs wasn't busy working on my bra, he'd be kicking himself that he hadn't thought of this.

Good design is sooo important. God bless the Steve Jobs and Stampin' Up's of the world.

And on a serious note, God bless the 109 victims of that horrible nightclub fire in Russia and their families. What a tragedy. Russia has had a difficult few weeks - the terrorist attack, and then this. Say a little prayer for those people.

I picked out the new little Russian Matryoshka stamp for my card, since they were on my mind.

I love this image. Nesting matryoshka dolls are some of my favorite objects in the world, next to my IBra, because they are both ingenious and beautiful.

Nearly everything on this card except the ribbon and paper is from my Occasions mini pre-order! The striped background on the oval is made by stamping the new Solid Stripes in pink, then lining it up and stamping again in brown to make the alternating pattern.

Stamps: My Matryoshka, Solid Stripes Ink: Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Pretty in Pink
Accessories: Large Oval Punch, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Scallop trim border punch,
Sweet Pea Stitched Felt, dimensionals, Big Shot, Ovals Die

What are you doing this weekend, besides putting the IBra on your wishlist? :) Leave me a note :)

Oh and for Mary B in Milpitas - the die I used on last night's project is in the big catty - it's the Bitty Box & Envelope die.

Loveyameanit(especially you, Steve Jobs)bye.


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I Fancy You

I think it would be cool if people still talked like that.

Fancy is a fun word. And like everyone says about the Eskimos having a squillion words for snow, we should have a squillion words for fancying someone.

You know what I fancy? THE NEW UNMOUNTED STAMPS FROM THE OCCASIONS MINI CATALOG!!

I emailed Stampin' Up! tonight and told them the truth. I own a lot of unmounted stamps. I own clear ones, rubber ones, ones I cut myself, ones that are cut. I even own a few of the ones that have no foam and have the design printed on the back, which I thought was brilliant.

But deep etched red rubber is my soul stamp. It's high quality, lasts forever and the images are perfection. But you can't see through red rubber. So you depend on the outline of the image for alignment. It's no better than a wood block, really.

When I saw what they had done to these new unmounted stamps and how they solved that problem, I squealed. It's brilliantly, perfectly engineered. I could not be happier. I'm not surprised. Everything they do is first class. But these - a complete coup. Plus they come in a case with a printed label with stamp set images already on the cover. I'd love to show you, but we can't link to the catalog yet. I got mine on a pre-order. WHEEEE!

I am wowed. I fancy them. And here's what I did with them. One of the new sets plus the new Sweet Pea designer paper and the mini pizza box die.

So, so dang cute.

I hope you fancy it. There's lots more where this came from!!!

Wait till you see the rest of my goodies!!

What are you doing this weekend? Anything I'd fancy? :)

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A Thursday Giggle...

Click here. Oh, and put your drink down. :)

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White Paper Packages Tied Up With Strings...

These are a few of my favorite things!

(I know you're singing now...)

I was packaging up my Etsy orders last night from our Cyber Monday sale, and I used a couple things I thought were fun.

First, this beautiful blue/white and yellow/white twine I bought from another Etsy seller - Whisker Graphics. I LOVE this twine!!

Next, I needed a little stamp for my tags, so I turned to the most overlooked stamps Stampin' Up! makes - my incentive stamps. I LOVE INCENTIVE STAMPS! And not because of their price. I love the unique designs that you don't see elsewhere in the catalog, and I love their tiny scale.

The stamp I decided to use is from the Best Card Ever set, which contains all sorts of fun stamps for indicating your work is handmade.

I liked this because it's so simple, and just points you to the word art. (Click for larger image)

Speaking of art, if you want to see something fun you can do with shimmer paint and an old book, click the picture below.


Let me know how you're doing!

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Want FREE Handmade Goodies? (and the cutest kitten ever?)

But wait - there's more.. There's also the world's CUTEST kitten!!! But first...

You know how I feel about buying handmade. If you don't, please click here. It's not trivial.

To support the handmade art community, some Etsy sellers have gotten together for an unbelievable Cyber Monday event you won't want to miss!

Cyber Monday is the Monday after Thanksgiving, and is called that because of the unusual spike in online purchases for the holidays.

A group of talented ladies who do incredible work, and then also me :), have teamed up to bring you a crazy bunch of gifts if you shop online on Monday.

If you purchase $20 in merchandise from ANY participating Etsy shop, you will receive a handmade item from EVERY ONE of the participating shop owners. So, let's say you buy $20 worth of jewelry from my friend Bunny. You will receive gifts from SIX shops! WOWZA!! Don't miss it.

You can see the official announcment in my shop, and you can visit all the participating shops to pick out what you want for Cyber Monday.

On your mark, get set, GO HANDMADE!!

Oh - I promised you a kitten.

Here you go. 1) You are welcome 2) I apologize to your family in advance for you watching this video 5,000 times and forgetting to bathe or cook.



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I'm Thankful For..

Blue skiesThe mysteries of nature

My favorite cathedral

People traveling safely to parts unknown

Photography, to help us remember

Americans who give the last full measure of devotion

Symbolism

The details

Clean and simple design

Buildings that don't leave out the curves

Coconut Cream Pie

Stained Glass

Art

The magic of light and shadow

And, of course, each of you. I hope you are having a safe and happy Thanksgiving. And if you are from outside our borders, a safe and happy Thursday upon which your American friends give thanks for your kindness and friendship!

Loveyameanitbye

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She Shoots, She Scores!!

And by she I mean me!

I scored big at Half Price Books today. I found an old Bible, a Russian dictionary and FIVE copies of a little Schubert sheet music book - whee!! This one is the first sheet music I've gotten there that was the smaller scale print that I like! Whee! Lots of cards coming with this fine little print! Wait - you can see one right now!!

Paper: Cool Caribbean, Whisper White, Real Red, Music sheet Accessories: Real Red Polka Dot Ribbon, Silver Cord, Merry Sizzlitz Die, Merry Details Die, Circle Die, Big Shot Machine, Self Adhesive Rhinestones
I die cut a blue and a red bird so the bird would have a shadow that was blue.
All supplies Stampin' Up! (Except Music)

This is absolutely my fave Christmas color combo. I've been trying hard to design my own personal Christmas card with this combo, but I'm still struggling. Hopefully it will come to me in my sleep tonight!!

Are you making your Christmas card? Tell me about it!

On Cyber Monday, which is the largest online shopping day of the year - the Monday after Thanksgiving - I will be participating in a very special event.

To support a handmade Christmas, several Etsy sellers have coordinated a fun giveaway..

Spend $20 in any participating shop's store, and you will receive a handmade item from EACH OF THE OTHER SHOPS!

It's going to be quite the affair, so stay tuned for deets!


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Rejoice!

A few things today. First, if you are not watching LOST, you should be. It's the most complicated, deep, interesting show I've ever seen. It has a reference to nearly every book I've ever read, and I've read a lot of books. It has philosophers, authors, artists, theology - pretty much everything you could possibly imagine. It's a challenge. You can't say that about much TV.

Sadly, the last season begins soon. In preparation for that, over the lull between seasons, I've been re-watching the entire show to prep for the last one. Without giving LOST newbies too much context, on a later show, there's a very important baby, being carried by a very important woman, wrapped in a deep blue blanket. It's a very striking and symbolic scene. As I've said before, blue is an essential part of the Christian story of Mary, who sometimes is depicted wearing a light blue, but mostly a deep, jewel blue.

"The older, classic and more representative color is dark blue," according to the Rev. Johann Roten, S.M, director of the Marian Library-International Marian Research Institute at the University of Dayton. "Mary's dark blue mantle, from about 500 A.D., is of Byzantine origin and is the color of an empress."

Maybe that's why Christmas will always be a blue holiday for me.. the sky with that star, Mary and baby in blue, the nice wintery blue that everyone understands in December. That's what I worked with for this card.

Stamps: Doodle Factory O Holy Night, Sentiments Christmas Nativity, Paper: Stampin' Up! Whisper White and Basic Black,
Ink: Stampin' Up! White Craft Ink, Memento Tuxedo Black Ink,
Accessories: Copic Markers, Acetate, Big Shot, Circle Die, Corner Rounder Punch, mini glue dots

Rejoice. :)

I know it's hard to tell, but this is a true snowglobe card a la Libby Hickson. I folded acetate in half and ran it through the Big Shot with my circle die, positioning the fold just a bit inside the circle so that it made a little folded card for me - same with the white. I covered up the glue dot holding the cardstock and the acetate together with the black base of the snowglobe, which is just a 1 x 3.5" strip, corner rounded.

Baby Jesus lives outside the snowglobe, popped up on top of the acetate with dimensionals.

I know it's Thanksgiving week, but for lots of reasons, I couldn't resist a blue nativity card. :)

What is up for your weekend? I'm doing another fair Saturday and then I really need some sleep before Thanksgiving...

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So Angry About All Those Years with ...

I am SO glad I broke up with the old collage substance. He was no good for me. He never dried, he was clingy, and goopy, and ... Well I'm just glad it's over. I put him out with the trash.

Thanks to Claudine Hellmuth, I am now craft dating matte gel medium.

He's polished, professional, neat, easy to be with. Just better in every way. He makes me happy every time I see him.

I busted him out last night to make a happy little holiday canvas. I had some canvases left over from the art I donated to the benefit for Amy Bouquet's Cat Haven Fundraiser, and I decided to infuse them with a little candy striped Christmas-y goodness. So easy and fun.

Stamps: Patterned Pines Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Barely Banana, Melon Mambo Paper: Whisper White, K&Co

I think it makes kind of a fun, non traditional looking holiday decoration. Are you making decorations? With my two insane tiny tigers, a tree is out of the question this year, so I'm having to get a little creative with decorating the house. I'd love a link or description of what you're doing! I need ideas!

Have a great Thursday!

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It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's...

An angel made out of Big Shot stuff!!

Wouldn't this make a fun little ornament or desk decoration for your co-workers for the holidays?
I just ran some brushed silver cardstock through the Big Shot with the Petals a Plenty embossing folder, then cut out two of the Beautiful Butterfly wings - but note, when you do this, you have to make sure the embossing/debossing side is the right direction since one of the wings will be flipped.

The wings are turned upside down to make them look more angel-y, less butterfly-y.

The cone for her body is just the Circle die, with self adhesive rhinestones around the bottom.

After you form the cone, and put it together with sticky strip, cut two teeny slits on either side of the narrow end, and use these to insert a punched 1" circle of silver paper into for her head.

For her hair, I just made a little lasso of silver cord, tied around the middle and then cut. I attached it with mini glue dots.

Very quick and easy! Got the holiday spirit yet? :)


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Reports of my Absence Have Been Greatly.. Accurate

I would love to say exaggerated, but that would be a lie. I was working hard getting ready for the two shows I had this past weekend.

The first was the South Austin Artists Co-op Show. This one is held in what used to be an Albertson's grocery store. When Albertson's moved out, they abandoned most of their store fixtures, which now serve as display spaces for the artists. There were lots of different types of art there, which made for a great day. I even got to meet a blog reader, Connie, who was so sweet and fun!

Here's my table before the event started. I got the revolving card racks from Displays2Go and they are AWESOME! Very well made and I think they'll last a long time. They hold a squillion cards. Seriously, a squillion.

The second show was at the Jewish Community Center and it was absolutely the best run, nicest show I've been to. My biggest sellers were my Sassy Maddie notecards, the pencil daisy cards and these little Bar/Bat Mitzvah money books I copied from Nichole Heady - I sold every one I made. I decided to leave them generic so that they could be used for either.

The other art at this show was amazing. I saw the most delicate, beautiful mosaic done with teeny millefiori beads and pretty glass. It wasn't what you think of traditional mosaic at all. The lady a few booths down from me was from England and she made these freaking ADORABLE bags with sassy little ladies on them! The stitching and embellishment is incredible up close. This chick has a lot of style!
What are you guys up to? Working on stuff for the holidays? I think I had a vision of what my Christmas card will be the other day, so I will finalize that this week so that I can make them over Thanksgiving while I'm watching Christmas Vacation!! :)

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The Stamping Sweatshop...

Yay! It's Friday!!!

The stamping sweatshop is in full gear! I'm the only sweatshop employee, and I'm also the sweatshop master, so every time I feel like slowing down, I have to yell at myself. It's very exhausting!!

But I have my two shows this weekend - you can see the details on my facebook page if you'd like to come by.

So I've been working hard trying to get lots of different types of cards ready.

I cranked out some onesie baby cards the other night for both shows and they're sooo cute!!


Each one has a little animal from Niko Art on it that I colored with pencils. These are so simple and cute!! Tonight I need to make some generic cards for any occasion and then I think I'll be ready for a long weekend of shows!!

If you're in Austin, come on by!

Happy Friday!

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Let's Mix it Up!

Let's mix it up, shall we? This weekend I'm doing two art fairs - on Saturday, the South Austin Artist's Co-op show, and on Sunday, the Hadassah Bazaar at the Jewish Community Center (Details here on the Understand Blue Facebook Page).

To prep for Sunday I've made some beautiful Hanukkah cards - quickly becoming my favorite holiday cards because of their BLUEness, but the nice lady putting together the show also asked me to come up with a "mixed" holiday card for people who have half Christian, half Jewish households and want a nice holiday card.

I was stumped until yesterday, when I came up with a nice, wintery, simple card I think does the trick!

What do you think? The star is from Mazel Tov (Papertrey Ink) and the tree is from my FAVE sizzlits die - Merry Details - the one with the bird with the foofy tail. I now have 8000 foofy tailed green birds I can do something with after making these cards.

The icicles are from the Martha Stewart Icicle border punch, which works for drippy goo for Halloween or for icicles! At first I added glitter to the icicles, but it broke up the simplicity and I bagged it. BAG IT DANO!

Greeting is from Sincere Salutations and the ornament hanger is from Tree Trimmings.

Happy Tuesday everyone! You've been so quiet - what are you making this month? Tell me! :)

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Variations on a Theme of.. Man I Love These!

I just do. They take a long time, but they're so worth it! They are just variations on this card, and I'm making them for the South Austin Artists Coop next weekend - are you coming to see me?

I'll be there Saturday and at the Hadassah bazaar on Sunday - contact me for details on either or both if you will be in town!

In the meantime, enjoy these little ditties! And today is the last day to vote for my book in the Blurb contest - click the link in my sidebar at the top to vote, or if you're seeing this in a reader, click here.






Have a great Monday!!!

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What Alice Means

As I sit here waiting for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, I think about Alice and what she means.

When I was little, and my dad read me that book dozens of times - the annotated version so we could see the notes and the chess moves - I loved Alice because it was an impossible world. A place where sometimes you were big compared to the world, sometimes you were small. Sometimes a smiling cat puzzled and amused you from somewhere over your shoulder. Sometimes mean queens did bad things to you, and sometimes wise rabbits led you to amazing places where you learned things you didn't think were possible. Now, of course, things are different. I'm all grown up. Now I love Alice because, well - it's so much like real life. :) I fell in love with these little Alice images from Niko Art on Etsy, and thought to have her looking out of a rabbit hole from the inside of the card might be fun. I colored the images with Copics and my white gel pen. The branch is from Branch Out - Stampin' Up!

If you haven't read the book, please do. The best version is here.

Speaking of rabbit holes, there's been a techpocalypse at Casa Blue. My main PC will not stay on, and AT&T has lost two towers, which apparently my air card for my laptop depends on, so I have no internet at my house. :( So if I'm a little sporadic, it's because I didn't have time to go to Starbucks to blog.

Hope your technology is safe and sound and that your are all happy!

Loveyameanitbye.

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It's All I've Got Tonight

God Bless them.

Stamps: Service & Sacrifice Ink: Basic Black Paper: Kraft, Graphic 45 Communique, Whisper White
Accessories: Ballet blue & Real Red markers
All Supplies Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

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I'm so Tired I Need to Sleep on Your Butt, Please

No, I mean it. I'm really tired. I'm too tired to lay my head down on my little fuzzy blanket. Your butt is here, and I'm sleeping on it.
This is what happens when you combine cold weather, a space heater and some long stretches of crafting by "the feeder" - yours truly.

There is no way that was comfortable. Do cats not get cricks in their necks like we do during bouts of extreme sleeping? Someone should figure out why and make a vitamin out of it for us! I would love to sleep on Splotchy's butt and not have a crick.

Anyway, I'm in mass production mode. I have two craft fairs in one weekend coming up. I need lots of cards. So they need to be simple. I turned to Jennifer McGuire, one of my idols, for a sweet and simple card. She always makes just punched patterned paper sooo beautiful. The cool thing about this kind of card is that every single one of us can make a card like this in two seconds with scraps and any stamp.

Stamps: Hero Arts Ink: Basic Black Paper: K&Co giant box of sale paper Accessories: Retired Heart Punch, 1.25" Square Punch

I hope everyone has a fabulous day!

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Today is Special..

On October 4^th, 4 teenagers armed with knives broke into a home in a small town in New Hampshire. Alone and sleeping inside were a mother and her 11 year old daughter. These 4 boys broke into this home with the intent to rob and kill anyone inside. They stabbed the mom, Kimberly Cates, to death and left her daughter, Jaimie, for dead in their driveway. It was a completely random act, their home was chosen only due to its secluded surroundings.

There is no way to explain this. Not to you, me and certainly not to little Jaimie, whose life is forever altered.

I will say that I do believe that all things work together for good, certainly more for good than for evil. Whatever happens to this little girl, this event will shape the special person she will be. There will probably be times when people won't understand her, because they don't know her story, and times when she won't understand anyone else. But, as they say, life has a way of course correcting. We can all pray that little Miss Jaimie makes her way through life with peace and grace.

And, since we are stampers, we can do what we do, and that is, make a card. Shine a little ray of handmade sunshine on the subject.

To see what this joint effort is all about, to send a card yourself, and to see the card I made for Jaime as well as the full blog hop, click here or on the button below.

Thanks for stopping by.

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