Seek Joy

Ah, joy. I find it in the little things. Such as this picture, where I quite deceivingly look taller than Maren. If you have met me in real life, then you know that it is near impossible for me to look taller than anyone, so I'm not sure how this picture even happened, but I'll take it! Don't you just love it when you meet someone and you just know that you will hit it off and you get that kind of instant happiness because they know it, too? Love that. It's kind of like dating - friend dating, NOT real dating - where you get to skip all the awkward first date stuff where you're trying to determine if you like each other because you've already decided that you do. Sidenote... if you are thinking to yourself... "Self, how OLD is that chick (meaning me, not Maren)? She has not just a few stray grays, but full on streaks," then I would say to you, no, I am not old, and yes, those are full on streaks. And yes, I have always hoped they would turn out like Stacey London's on What Not to Wear, but sadly, they have not. However, have I mentioned that I am lazy? Much too lazy (and frugal - which is really just a nice word for cheap, but it sounds better, so I use it) to be dying my hair ever 6-8 weeks. And then I would just be the girl who needs to get her hair touched up instead of the girl with the gray streaks, and I prefer the latter to the former, so there you have it. If you must know, I tell my youth group girls that I get "silver highlights." Anyhow, where was I? Ah, yes, Friends. And CHA. Like always, I took very, very few pictures at CHA. I am generally helping Cindy with orders and paperwork, so picture taking kind of goes by the wayside. I know that doesn't make for a very exciting CHA report, but that's the way it is. (Didn't some famous newscaster say that at the end of every newscast? I can hear it in a deep voice... "That's the way it is.") I got sidetracked from busting out my new PTI set by some baking that needed to be done to say thanks to the small army of people that helped out while I was gone. 8 loaves of amish cinnamon bread, 2 batches of lemon blueberry muffins, and one chocolate chocolate chip cake later... and yeah, I haven't stamped today. Keeping my fingers crossed for tomorrow. Until then, I'll leave you with this project. The stamp set is new to me and I love the sentiments and images in it. I have one problem with the large floral image that I used here... it is cut off at the corner. As in, it is made to be fit into a corner, so the images are a bit cut off on each side. Huh. That seems a bit odd to me. Why make it fit into a corner when it would be just as easy to finish the whole image and make it so much more versatile? Anyhow, I decided I could work around that and I did. It is not a problem if you're a bit creative with it. I inked the image with markers, then added a bit of yellow over the pink in the flower centers to give it some depth and variation. The patterned paper is punched with my first-ever Martha border punch and I figured out a way to give it a bit of a different look. I punched both the top and bottom of the strip as normal, then cut the top of the strip off so that the little circles are cut in half. I like it! And can I just say, I am working at being ok with imperfection. Prime example... the stitching. In my mind it was so much more wavy and flowing, and I tried to just work organically and not draw it out first and just stitch with abandon as opposed to being all, uh, myself... and this is what happened. Me + stitching with abandoned just does not = perfection. Ah, well. I refuse to redo it. I'll refer back to the previous quote... that's just the way it is.

Later, y'all!

Seek Joy card Stamps - Blooming Memories Stamp Set (Art Warehouse) CS - White (PTI) Markers - Pink Passion, Summer Sun, Yo Yo Yellow (SU) PP - Early Bird Sunrise Pattern Paper (Cosmo Cricket) Other - buttons, Scallop Dot Edger Punch (Martha Stewart), sewing machine