the most wonderful time of the year...

...and that would be... ...the holiday that speaks to the very heart and soul of any paper crafter... ...the one in which we are granted full permission to spend inordinate, and sometimes obsessive, amounts of time immersing ourselves in paper & ink, stamps & sparkles... ...the one in which we lovingly eschew words such as "store bought" and replace them with words like "made with love"... ...the one in which we become the Rumplestiltskins of crafting, spinning DMC floss and PTI's button twine into, um, projects (because if any of you can actually spin DMC floss and PTI's button twine into actual gold, well, then, you and I need to talk, my friend, because I've been on the lookout for a BFF who can spin button twine into gold and then teach me how to do it)... ...that's right, friends... ...say it with me... World Cardmaking Day. Ah. Could there be any better day? I think not, friends. So, what will you be doing to celebrate this occasion of occasions? Me? I'll be spending it here. Scrapbook 'N Such in Wichita Falls. Teaching some cardmaking classes... hopefully hangin' out with some new friends... the kind who like to make cards on such a day as World Cardmaking Day. This will be a super sweet little trip for me seeing as how the oh-so-tiny town known as Dallas (or at least the part of it that I live in) is hard pressed in the area of scrapbook stores lately. It will be nice to walk into a space that's filled to the brim with paper love. Feel free to come on out and join me... good cards, good times, good laughs. What could be better than all that on World Cardmaking Day? Of course, if you're over there somewhere... wherever your there is... and not here... then maybe you can plan your own little World Cardmaking Day fiesta. If it were me... and I were there and not here... I'd attempt the apparently impossible task and get started on my Christmas cards. Whoa. Hold the phone. (Do y'all actually say that where you are? Hold the phone? It strikes me that I have no idea where that phrase comes from or why I say it because it's not like it makes a whole lotta sense here. And yet I say it. A lot. And yes. I do actually use the word y'all. That word is a conjunction, people, and we all know that if it's a conjunction, it must be an actual word, right? Fo'shizzle.) Anyway... Christmas cards. I feel the season coming upon me and it's only September, folks. I will not procrastinate this year, I will not procrastinate this year. (I'm really good at saying that because I say it *every* year. It's always on my holiday to-do list. Right above "procrastinate.") In an effort to bring on the holiday cheer, I bring you this little number. I have to say... Graphic 45 was huge at CHA. HUGE. And I loved their booth, and I loved their papers, but in a wow-those-papers-are-beautiful-and-incredibly-detailed-and-super-vintagey-and-fresh-and-also-totally-intimidating-because-they're-not-really-in-line-with-my-lazy-clean-and-simple-style kind of way. Know what I mean? But I do love vintage Christmas stuff. And I did end up with a package of their Christmas Past collection. Sigh. So I made this.

I dig it. And it totally puts me in the mood for the holidays. And no. I will not be mass producing 140 of these babies for my personal Christmas cards. Because the other employee (i.e. my husband) of the Witty Family Christmas Card Sweatshop would not like that.

You can find all the info about this little holiday sweetie over at the Emma's Paperie blog. Still on the lookout for the perfect stamps and design for the Witty Family Card of 2009. Might head on over to the World Cardmaking Day site for some inspiration. Maybe I'll see you there, too...?

Later, friends!