I've moved ...

Come on over and share a cup of hot cocoa with me in the new place: Suse Ink. It's a place to find out about rubber stamping, scrapbooking and other artsy and crafty things. Mostly, using rubber stamps from The Angel Company(tm), and occasionally a few others that I already have in my collection.

Do you ever read the scrapping magazines and see those articles about those lovely organized stamp rooms? Have you ever been amazed when the article says that this highly organized and very creative person owns a number of stamps that includes 4 or 5 zeros in the number?

I know I was absolutely shocked the first time I saw such a number. I really didn't believe it was possible to own that many rubber stamps.

Then I started wandering around the Internet looking at the offerings from the companies that are out there; there are literally thousands of possiblities. I suppose it is possible, then, to own so many.

Well, I've never counted up my stamps, but I'm sure it isn't that many. I buy in sets because it is so much less expensive than buying the individual stamps from the stamp stores. My competitor in the rubber stamp direct sales business sells sets that cost about half of what it would cost to go to the store and buy similar stamps individually. And then at The Angel Company(tm), Angels (who are independent distributors) sell stamp sets that run about 2/3 the cost of those offered by our biggest competitor. How can we do that?

A huge part of the cost of rubber stamps is the oak handles they are mounted on. At The Angel Company(tm) the philosophy is to offer high quality rubber in an "unmounted" form. Cling cushion is provided instead of the permanent adhesive cushion for wood mounting. This cling cushion "sticks" to acrylic, then can be peeled off with no damage to the stamp of the acrylic for storage.

Acrylic blocks are available in a huge variety of sizes to hold your stamps while working with them. Most stamps can then be stored in CD cases for easy, compact storage.

Samples and techniques and so much more will be filling up the posts over at the new place. Mug mats are provided, mugs and cocoa mix are there too. Hope to see you soon over at www.suseink.com.

Win an IPod and a ton of books from Camy Tang - Author of SUSHI FOR ONE

Camy Tang's first book, Sushi for One, just came out. To celebrate (and to generate interest in the book) she is hostessing an awesome contest. The grand prize, first place winner, will receive an 8 GB iPod! Plus a lot of books (I didn't count them all ...)

For more information, and to enter, go here:
http://www.camytang.com/contest.html

You will need two things
- you'll need my email address to put in the contest entry form -- SuseADoodle at gmail.com. Please be sure to use that, okay?
- a Yahoo ID so you can join her Yahoo Group, Camy's Loft. And you will WANT to join her Yahoo group because every week she gives away books!

An author who whole-heartedly believes writers are readers too!

The contest runs till October 31, 2007.




The book sounds like a wonderful read. It is on my list of "GET THIS SOON!" Books and I've scheduled an afternoon to read it cover-to-cover. Want to know a little more about it? Check out:
http://christianfictionblogalliance.blogspot.com/2007/09/sushi-for-one-by-camy-tang.html
or
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310273986
or
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=273981&netp_id=479128&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW

FAIR TRADE CHOCOLATE EVENT

Who doesn't like chocolate? There are very few people who don't. (They were probably given chocolate as a kid but were told it was calves' liver or something like that.)

Did you know that about half of the world's chocolate is produced with slave labor? For more information, visithttp://www.stopthetraffik.org/.

If you like to cook and would like to win a goodie bag of Traffik-Free Chocolate, stop over here: http://rkhooks.net/2007/09/03/stop-the-traffik-chocolate-event/

If you participate, stop back here.

In the comments section leave your name and the url to your blog post that you use to enter r k hooks' event, using Traffik-Free Chocolate.

I'll be posting this info about the event at each of my blogs.

Feel free to leave your comment and link at each one. (One comment entry per blog please, though.) From all of the comments posted, there will be a random drawing and I'll send out a chocolate-related thank you to three winners.

DREAM & Share your Gifts with us all ...

Okay, looks like another "vein" ...

Here is another link to go visit. This time it is a "birthday look" -- looking to see where she has been, where she is now and how she got here:

http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2006/08/27_years_ago_to.html

Okay, you read that, right? Sure you did? Now, go here:

http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2007/08/happy-birthday-.html

And now:

http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/

The last link there is the main page of her blog. Here you can find some awesome project files using PaperTrey's stamps to go with punches. The project files are way cool, IMHO ...

For instance, go here:

http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2007/08/2.html

And scroll down through the post until you get to the little tins that hold a dozen Hershey's Nugget candies. These would make awesome Christmas gifts, wouldn't they?
I'll be working on some designs this weekend, using stamps from TheAngelCompany(tm), for the labels. Check back here with me next week for the results, okay?

DREAM ... Follow Your Talents ... You never know where it will lead

Go over to the Loop de Loops blog by Kay (use this link below):

http://loopdeloops.blogspot.com/2007/09/dreams-can-come-true.html

Yes, go NOW! STOP reading here and go there. Listen to Jimmy then pause Kay's playlist and click on the video.

Go on. Git! Scat! I'll be here when you get back.


















Okay, you've been there. You watched the video. Did you survive her dare?

I didn't. And I already knew that he got three resounding "yes" votes.

I heard about this, and an excerpt of him singing, on the classic music radio station I tune to in the car. Came in on a debate in-progress about whether it is "proper" that an amateur should sing opera and do so well in such a "vulgar" popular venue.

The opera snobs were upset by this. Music lovers, in general, though, find this to be thrilling.

I'm really sad that Pavarotti died; I used to love to hear him sing this song. It was almost "his" song. But this guy, to be honest, I like singing it even more than I liked hearing Pavarotti sing it. :-)

Never underestimate your dreams, your talents, your gifts. They are yours. Treasure them but nurture and use and follow them.

Low Thyroid Daze -- Update, sorta ...

Back a few posts ago (http://whigmaleerie-workshop.blogspot.com/2007/07/low-thyroid-daze.html) I mentioned the foggy brain, scatter-brain side of being low thyroid. Since then, I have decided to try to remember to take part in a few weekly writing, photography and art "prompts." One of the writing prompts was to write about a famous character's secret vice.

Hmm ... for some reason, vampires or soulless people have been invading my writing lately. So, I thought about Dracula and what vices could he possibly have besides what we already know?

Not sure why I did it, I decided to check out Wikipedia.org for info on vices. (Even though Wikipedia has been around now for a while, I visited it the first time just two weeks ago. It's sort of fun to use ... but that is another post completely ...)

And on their list of vices is ABSENTMINDEDNESS! And Scatterbrained!

Eesh! I'm in big trouble.

Have a great day. Oh, if you're so inclined, you can read my Dracula's vice story here: http://whigmaleerieworkshop.blogspot.com/2007/08/this-weeks-challenge-fiction-friday.html
Just be warned -- if you do care about what happens in the Harry Potter books and don't yet know the end -- I sort of give it away at the end of the this story. You've been warned that I "spoiled" it. Trust me, it wasn't intentional. The character just insisted on getting into the story and before I knew what was happening had almost taken over ... :-)

Finally, some new cards to post ...

**sigh** for some stupid reason (made sense at the time, though) I piled a few items on top of my printer/scanner. Then, it became easy to add one or two supposedly important papers to the pile so I wouldn't lose them. Before long, I couldn't find the printer/scanner.

It wasn't quite that bad, but figuring out what to do with the stuff on it so I could scan a new card was more than my creativity could handle at the time. So ... it has been a while since I posted any cards.



This is my favorite of the cards I am posting today. I made it last night for a swap among members of our T.A.C. Team. The theme was "My favorite new set." Well ...

I have to admit that this card doesn't meet the "rules" of the swap -- so it is a "bonus" card. The favorite set is "Alpha Grunge" (the Letter G is from that set). But it was actually introduced in one of the supplements which are previews of new stamps for the next catalogue and idea book.

The butterfly and saying are "GWP" stamps -- free stamps available with any $30 purchase. I think I remember reading we aren't supposed to use the GWPs on swap cards ... oh well ...

I've been making cards with a friend most of the summer. We meet once or twice a week and make cards. I get tired of hauling everything in and out of my house and hers -- so I have left almost all of my ink and cardstock and stamp sets at her house. I had to use whatever I had on hand to make these cards.

The paper for the G and the "background" are really cardstock that I used Palette Ink Spots with a direct-to-paper technique to create.

These are three of six similar cards that are the actual swap card. The stamps used to make the background and of the card and the attached ATC are stamped with an older set called "Blossom Builders." The inks might be Palette Inks, or from my Whispers caddy of inks. So, once again, the cards don't really meet all the rules of the swap.

Again, the letters are from "Alpha Grunge." Love this set of letters as they are a good size -- about an inch and a quarter tall. Great to use on an envelope -- Stamp out the initials of the person you are mailing to and then hand write the rest of the name ... If there is room, maybe even the first letter of the city where they live.

Okay, these are "CIP" -- cards in progress.

I had a packet of cardstock with three or four hues of mustardy-yellow and some Basic Grey papers that I wanted to try to use up. Sat down one night and cut into cards and layers. Tried to use every scrap. Plopped the pieces into a nice storage box and draw out of it whenever I want to make a card. Half the work is done -- the card/front is waiting for me to add the layers and the stamped image.

One day I didn't bother getting out the ink or stamps sets. Just layered up what I could.






























These cats are cute. They're from an internet rubber stamp business that is closing up (sorry, I don't remember the name of it -- but things are on clearance there. If I find it again, I'll come back and edit the post to include the link.) Not quite sure about the little kitty that I used on the background of the card ... Is he holding a mug? Are they two paws? Are they supposed to be little "angel wings" on his back? Cute anyhow ...

The saying is from my "enemy" competition (LOL!!) Stampin' Up!. Love that whole set. One other great saying in the set is a WC Fields quote: Start each day with a smile and get it over with. :-)








This card is made with a 12x12 embossed cardstock I got on clearance at one of the local Anchor Paper Express stores that was moving and selling off their inventory so they didn't have to box it all and move it. The green circle was punched out with a clever lever punch (not sure what size it was now) -- I l liked the fact the dots on the cardstock and the punch were the same.













This is another of the "bonus" cards for the swap, though the set used (besides the GWP saying stamp) is new one called "For All Seasons." Yellow background is a direct-to-paper with 'thatched straw' VersaMagic chalk ink. I accidentally stamped the saying upside down -- so tore the paper to put it back together the right way up. Used the Crop-O-Dile to make the holes and to set the eyelets.

I used to HATE eyelets -- all that banging. The Crop-O-Dile is way cool! The pumpkins are colored in with Glaze Gelly pens -- first in yellow with the orange on top. I like how this card came out. Almost as much as I like the card with the same saying at the beginning of the post with the Giant G ...

My Weird Brain ...

Your Brain is Purple

Of all the brain types, yours is the most idealistic. You tend to think wild, amazing thoughts. Your dreams and fantasies are intense. Your thoughts are creative, inventive, and without boundaries. You tend to spend a lot of time thinking of fictional people and places - or a very different life for yourself.

What Color Is Your Brain?

Wonderful Gift Card Tutorial found HERE:

From time to time, I spend an afternoon wandering through Blogdom and click on blog names that sound interesting in someone's "Here Are Blogs I Visit" list. I'm never quite sure how I ended up where I am, but thankfully I can bookmark where I am and with some mental agility (often lacking though with my low thyroid foggy brain) can even navigate back there and back here once in a while. This link is to an awesome free project tutorial:

http://stampinmama.typepad.com/stampin_mama_a_mama_that_/2007/07/my-surprisea-gi.html

I think you will enjoy the project quite a bit. The instructions are detailed and make it easy to accomplish the same results with your attempt to duplicate the project. However, I would change the colors -- as I don't like to use "clashing" colors -- that is, those colors that are opposites on the color wheel. I'm more into the harmony of using colors that are closer together on the color wheel. Personal preference. When CASEing, you don't have to use the same exact colors, you know. :-)


Edit; 09-03-07:
THANKS, Marilynn! I've updated the link. It better work now! LOL.

There's a Blogging Contest Going On -- check it out ...

Over at Ashwin’s blog, you will find one crazy blog owner!! You can win $2500!! To enter just copy this text and paste it in your blog!! But hurry, this competition will not last long! So get posting!

Above is a direct quote from the blog giving away the cold hard cash. I'm not sure I believe it but what the heck, I'll try it -- this once. LOL

Anyhow, just have a wonderful day and I'll be adding more to my blogs real soon ...

Low Thyroid Daze

I really don't know how I end up at some of the blogs I have read recently. Basically, I am visiting one blog, click on a link to another blog in the margins that is "recommended" or is regularly visited by that blogger -- and I just keep moving through the blogging world that way.

Thankfully, I do bookmark a number of them or I would never ever be able to find them again. (You should see the -- l o n g -- list of links in that "favorites" file ... I still may never find some of those blogs ever again.)One that I visited tonight has an entry on Hashimoto's Disease, a condition that causes hypo-thyroidism (or low thyroid). Below is the link to that blog entry. At least she has a sense-of-humor about the situation. Which is, in the end, the only way to deal with it.
http://www.ishouldbefoldinglaundry.com/i_should_be_folding_laund/2007/07/i-will-not-take.html#comment-76886334

Now that you have visited that site and read her entry on low thyroid, I'll tell you my take on it.

About 14 years ago (gee, has it really been THAT long ago??), I decided I was not going to go on a real "diet" per se, but would be a little more careful about what I ate -- in other words, I would regulate the portions a bit better. Over the course of about 2 1/2 years, I lost about 75 pounds.

In 1996, I moved from New Jersey to Minnesota to attend the University of Minnesota -- to finally finish up my Bachelor's degree but in a different field than I had originally studied. I had already been through majors like Pharmacy and on to Psychology. Now I was finally going to pursue the field one of my high school teachers had suggested a thousand years before -- art. Particularly, pottery.

In the first six months in Minnesota, I continued to lose weight but now lost another 55 pounds in that short time. To those who condemn fast food as causing the weight problems of America, I can tell you that is not true. I ate McDonald's or Burger King almost every day for lunch in that time; and Perkins for dinner two or three times a week. However, I didn't supersize my orders, didn't get the free refills on the soda. I just couldn't make my own lunch (or dinner, either) for the low prices I was paying. I did, however, drink a lot of water (bottled because I do not like the taste of chlorinated city water) and walked most of the places I wanted to go (the city buses were not my favorite mode of transportation).

In my studies, I took a class on formulating your own clays and glazes. Other students in the course were using white lead in the glazes they were making. And I was noticing a couple things-- I had a very embarrassing "startle" reflex; I could hear someone coming and be totally aware of their presence, but the second they appeared in my peripheral vision, I would jump out of my skin
-- I was getting a tremor in my hands that made it hard to do some of the fine drawing that I like to do
-- And my memory, I thought, was getting worse

I knew that the last two could be symptoms of lead poisoning and had an inkling that maybe the first could be too (though, I don't know for sure). So, I went to the University Hospital Clinic for a blood test. It came back negative (good news, no lead poisoning) -- but bad news, because that meant finding out what was causing these problems.

A couple of blood tests later came back with Graves Disease. This is an auto-immune problem that causes the thyroid to be over-active.

Over-active thyroid, I was informed by the endocrinologist could cause all kinds of terrible things if it wasn't taken care of, the worst was an enlarged heart. Since I already had a fast heart rate, I really was worried about this possibility. My father had died when I was 12 of a second massive heart attack in three years. I didn't want that to happen to me. Besides, I was not coping well with the startle reflex problem nor the shaky hands. So, I agreed to let him order the radioactive iodine for the death-to-the-thyroid treatment. Right now I do not remember which isotope was ordered, but the radiology department did question whether that was really what they wanted to use.

I had the treatment but a few months later was extremely overactive again. A second treatment was ordered, this one was just under the dosage that I had read about at the AMA website that has been linked to leukemia ...

That was toward the end of 1998 and into the summer of 1999. Now, I have a different doctor. She had once promised to get my thyroid levels into the middle of the "normal" range -- that is, she would increase my Synthroid prescription to a sufficient level that I would get off the bottom basement floor of the normal range. That was a few years ago and I am still laying on the floor of the normal range. Maybe, since we've moved a little over an hour away from that doctor's clinic, it is time to find another doctor?

Low thyroid has its "moments" -- like "I should be folding laundry" says -- you go bananas over little things that shouldn't even be an issue; just deal with it an move on.

Worst, though, is the mental lethargy and fog that can creep up on you. And the scatter-brained behavior that sneaks into your life (on top of the mental slip that just happens as a matter of the course of aging) ...
like I could not find my keys one day. I finally told myself to look in all the illogical places since they were not in any logical spot in the house, nor in the lock of the front door nor still in the ignition of the car. I looked inside shoes, bureau drawers, in cups and saucers in the kitchen cupboards. I searched through the bookcases, and on my husband's desk. I dumped out my purse for the tenth time just to be sure I had not somehow overlooked them the first nine times. Finally, I decided to look in the veggie crisper in the fridge. Not there, but I did find them sitting on the shelf where the oj container should have been. Found the oj in the pantry beside the butter dish (with a stick of butter in it). Went back to the fridge for the peanut butter. Threw away the oj and put the butter and peanut butter where they belonged.

That doesn't happen all that often anymore as I have tried to develop a few habits that will, hopefully, help me cope with being forgetful and scatter-brained as the years go on.Oh, remember that diet I wasn't going to go on? And how regulating what I ate allowed me to lose so much weight?

Well, it found me again. But now, getting rid of it is just about impossible. The rapid heart rate has gone, thankfully, but so has a decent metabolic rate. Dietary methods of increasing the metabolism usually work by increasing the thyroid activity. As I have little to no natural thyroid activity, such methods just don't work. (It's almost like I had it surgically removed.)

Moodiness is something I really wasn't susceptible to in the past, but now -- I won't even go there.

Things that should have changed but did not:
-- Sensitivity to bright sunlight is a symptom of overactive thyroid -- still won't go outside without my sunglasses which frustrates my husband when I have done something with them (like with those keys) and need to take the time to find the sunglasses before I'll go anywhere. Having three or four pair of sunglasses does help but isn't always a foolproof solution.
-- For a while I thought I had been born to live in Minnesota instead of New Jersey. I hate the heat of summer but didn't have a hard time with the cold of Minnesota winters. Killing the thyroid was supposed to help me deal with the heat. (My normal body temperature was 2 degrees low, making me feel heat more and cold less ...) My body temperatures now "normal" but I still hate the heat of summer and now can't bear the cold of winter.
(We moved out of Minnesota to Wisconsin. And the winters aren't nearly as bad here --
now that might be, as one joke puts it:
A government agent came to a farmer and told him that the state lines were being redrawn. "You now live in Wisconsin and not in Minnesota any more." The farmer was ecstatic, "GOOD!" he exclaimed. "Maybe the winters won't be so bad over here."Or it just might be global warming -- most of the local farmers did get their corn planted this year about 2 to 3 weeks earlier than "usual.")

Four Notecards

Here are four cards I made today ... I was trying to keep them simple and fun.

They all use white card stock as the base, then paper from the TAC(tm) Designer Collections as accents; inks are from the TAC(tm) Palette Hybrid Ink Pad series. These inks are a fantastic addition to any stamper's tool chest! They combine the archiveal qualities of pigment inks, and the fast drying of dye inks. Palette Hybrids are a bright, waterproof ink that is a pleasure to use.

The Butterfly stamp was in my work kit for the day, but isn't in the current catalogue. :-( Sorry. However, a very similar butterfly, even about the same size, IS in the catalogue in a set called "a wittle bug," #T-2034. The butterfly was colored in using Glaze Gelly pens. If you haven't tried these yet -- ooh, they are so fun to use. The ink flows out of them so smoothly and dries transluscent and raised like heat embossing but without the heat gun. TAC(tm) offers these as well in the Fall 2007 Catalogue and Idea Book; they make a great half-price item for hostesses to consider for their wish-list (hint hint) ... Shadows under the butterflies were added using a gray Tombow brush marker, also available in the TAC(tm) catalogue.

The doodle stamps are from a set that is brand new to the newest catalogue, called "curls & swirls," #T-2773. This is a set that is so versatile! You can use it as a main design or to create an accent or even to create an awesome background.

I must admit -- I am stymied by many of the fads in papercrafting right now. One of them is the use of staples to affix layers together. However, in the work kit for today was a small stapler that had a pack of various colored staples with it. So ... I figured, try it and see why it is so popular.
**Sigh** It looks okay, but I still don't quite understand why it is such a popular fad ... although it does add a tiny "something" that just wouldn't be there is I had used only a tape runner to affix the two layers together.

Twice I have mentioned the "work kit for today" -- basically, I knew I was going to my friend's house today to "play stamps." So I went around the house and tossed a few odds and ends into a tote bag with the thought "maybe we can find a use for this, maybe not."

I find that if I have too many options in front of me to choose from, I get overwhelmed and just get lost trying to make decisions. I have found that if I limit my choices -- get out only three or four sets of stamps instead of all of them, a couple inks, and one or two embellishments -- I have a much easier time actually getting the work done rather than agonizing over which product to use here or there. I always know that upstairs in a drawer I can find anything else I may suddently decide a card needs. But, by then the decision is made that the card indeed does need this other item.

If you find you have trouble -- not trouble focusing, but trouble deciding what to focus on -- try limiting your choices. I had a lot of fun today making those four cards with two inks (two tones of pink and burgundy), one card stock and one accent paper. My friends that I was stamping with, each got one card finished -- they had a harder time making their decisions today. But, funny -- they both needed birthday cards today: the one needed one for her husband and the other for her father-in-law -- both had birthdays today, and both ladies needed cards. Their cards were awesome. I wish I had gotten photos of them! I'll post a "blueprint" of their layout soon ...

AWESOME way to use up a ream (plus) of paper

I hate to admit it, but I used up more than a ream of paper printing off free issues of an on-line magazine and newsletter. At least it was recycled paper ... but still ...

Normally, I would be angry at myself for using up so much paper; **sigh** so many trees. And being a paper artist, paper is an important commodity to me; but being a person who loves God's creation, trees are an even more important commodity.

However, as paper is available with "post consumer" recycled content, and most paper companies plant and replant the stands of trees they use for papermaking, it is a sort of renewable resource.

So, if you like having something in your hands when you read it, and like having it in a notebook or in a file for easy reference at at future date, be sure you have plenty of paper for your computer printer when you check out:

http://www.dotcalmvillage.net/

The click on the links for the What Next? online magazine and the Whatever ... Whenever newsletter.

The projects and art design lessons in these publications are fantastic. The projects are sort of designed to get you to purchase some of the products that Cre8it sells, but after looking through these projects, I'm planning to purchase some of the Sheer Heaven very very soon!

The Angel Company new Fall 2007 Idea Book & Catalogue has arrived!!

The Angel Company™ new Fall 2007 Idea Book and Catalogue has arrived!

It is brimming full of stamp sets, papers products, inks, tools and embellishments to make any crafter's heart sing and shout, "I just gotta have one of those!" At the very least, it will get your creative juices pumping and flowing and inspire you to Be Alive While Living, to Create Your Life instead of just letting it happen to you, and to Live Purposefully.

Sounds like a lot for one 128 page catalogue, doesn't it?

Why not contact me today to find out more?

SuseADoodle@gmail.com

FOUND IT!

Oh, my goodness, I actually found the old blog from last summer. Even figured out the user name and password (after many attempts and failures). So, now it is moved over under my new user name and password. And once I figure out how to show the list of "My Blogs" over on the sidebar, they'll all be there -- even that old one. YAHOO!

DUH!

Believe it or not -- I tried this once before. I set up the blog and posted my first post ...

(That was sometime last summer.)

And then I tried to fill out my "profile" ...

I hit "Preview" didn't like it and did something wrong. When I tried to make just one change, everything went "kaplooyie" and {{poof}} was gone. Within seconds of posting that first entry, not only did the profile information disappear but so did my the paper I had scribbled my user-name and password on. UGH! I mean, how scatter-brained can a person get?

So, I will try to retrieve the information from the dark recesses of my brain's "Shh - Quiet Please - Library of Useless, Unneeded (because it is unused) Information" to locate the original blog and maybe even the user name and password.

In the meantime, I plan to start a couple other blogs here. Hopefully I will be able to keep up with them and then keep them fairly distinct in their topics. This one, I hope, will concentrate mostly on using Rubber Stamps in all types of creative ways -- not just making cards or decorating scrapbook pages, not just on paper, but in a wider variety of ways. Also, I will post information concerning my business as an Angel demonstrator with The Angel Company (tm) in my self-proclaimed role of "Creativity Tour Guide."

Blog Site Launched ...

... but not into space.

I spent my day, though, "Lost in Cyberspace."

Desperate to find out about the brand new Fall 2007 Catalogue from The Angel Company(tm), which debuted Thursday night, 6 PM CT, at the company's annual Seminar (convention) in Kansas City, I ended up wandering around, and stumbled into the crater field of stampers' blogs.

:-)

Wow! There are some extremely talented people out there. And I enjoyed my journey through their thoughts, their artwork, and the bits and pieces of their lives that they share in their postings.

One wonderful Angel has posted photos of the display boards from Seminar. You can see them here: (I think: the typepad blog site is down right now, so I can't double check ...)
http://stamps-paper-ink.typepad.com/

The samples are awesome this year. I hven't been all that interested in purchasing the TAC papers until I saw these samples. WOW!

(I think I am over-using that word, but right now it is the best one I can come up with ... brain's just a little fried at this hour of the night.)

THANKS to all the creative and wonderful stamping, scrapping, item-altering, creative, crafty and conscious people out there who are posting their thoughts and activities to help make a disconnected world a little more connected in good ways.