flowers

Sun. Finally. I’ve been cooped up in the house for the last month with four unruly teenagers. Not humans, but book manuscripts. Making progress, but these kids are driving me nuts. So sunshine is a very good excuse to grab the camera and wander around my neighborhood after lunch. Instead of taking a nap. That hard job falls to Spec Ops Cat. He excels at it, trust me.

I’d noticed the rhododendrons blooming down the street and wanted to get a picture of the PINK blossoms. So pretty. There are some gorgeous red ones on another sunny corner, but they are almost bloomed out. Sun spots matter. 

Then what I thought was candytuft turns out to be something else, which I have no idea what it is, but it’s beautiful.

While I continue to slog through the technical side of indie publishing, wanted to let you all know I am still at it, giving it my best, and whining. Er, writing. A lot. That means I get rewarded with chocolate, so I’ve created my own fat monster. I’ve had to resort to giving myself a sticker on my calendar every time I complete another chapter. Fun stickers. Now I’m hoarding stickers.

The sticker fetish coincides with my new hoarding, er, hobby habit; stamping. I started with Anna Griffin card kits and it’s a slippery slope to Crafters Companion dies and stamps. Yesterday I almost grabbed a plastic wrapped magazine out of woman’s hands in Barnes and Noble because I thought she had the British stamping magazine I was stalking.

Lucky for her, she did not have the edition I wanted. My military background aside, I watch a ton of pro football. I’ve seen tackling moves. Consider that a warning to the stamping gals cruising the magazines at my Barnes and Noble. Just saying.  

When I did find the coveted issue on the stands, I practically yelled in glee. The holy grail. Swan stamps and dies. They GIVE you cling stamps with the magazine. There should be a law against that, really. Monday I actually went on eBay to purchase two back issues I had to have. No judgments. Stop me before I stamp again!

But stamping is a great stress reliever from dealing with said teenagers. I even get to switch chairs in the office. Purple for writing, pink for crafting.

There is nothing like coloring in the lines of the stamp and then using water and a paint brush to turn them into watercolors. If you use permanent black ink and watercolor pencils. Only a few of the thousand needed accessories. Including a baby toothbrush to clean my stamps with baby shampoo and water. Scrubbing the ink off the stamps calms me down too. Simple pleasures. That whole cleaning and scrubbing calm does not apply to the rest of my house. Not the same thing.     

So I wanted to show you my first effort at making stamped cards. Since no guts, no glory, I started with probably the largest and most intricate stamp I own for my first project. Also, the first time using a rocker block too. Did a couple of test stamps that came out great, and then on to the watercolor cards. No fear!

I’m a rookie stamper. I admit it. So all I can do is improve, right? And I bought some glitter ink. Because of the teenagers! That’s my tale and I’m sticking to it. It helps me relax. Fun colors and it’s cheaper than therapy. I think.

Got the crazies? What’s your craft therapy?

Happy May Day!