Society of Stamp & Scrap-aholics

Blog Award

My friend Donna is uber-talented. Really. Check out her blog at Three Umbrellas.

And I mention her today because she has presented me with a Blog Award:

So I'm here to thank the giver, spread the love, and share five things about myself before passing this award on to five others. So here's five things about me:

1. My favorite candy always has been and always will be Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I would burn down Hershey's factory for turning me into little better than an addict, except then I wouldn't be able to get my fix. What a brutal world we live in.
2. I prefer to be called "Deborah." Unless, of course, you have a special childhood dispensation because it's fundamentally wrong to expect someone to start calling you Deborah if they first knew you as a Debbie - which I was until officially putting my foot down in 1987. That said, there are a lot of people out there who didn't know me until 2005, and they all keep calling me "Debbie." (Unfortunately, they're all little old ladies at my church, and I lack the sufficient courage to correct them.)
3. If we ever have insurance again, I am immediately going to have my deviated septum un-deviated. And my adenoids removed (why they didn't yank them along with my tonsils is a mystery). And if I still can't breath out of both nostrils at once - something I haven't been able to do in over ten years - I'm going to have my head chopped off.
4. I am undergoing a tremendous mind shift and intend to convince Spouse that we give ourselves three years to adjust to relying solely on those foods that are locally grown and/or raised and to disdain all meat that is produced through a CAFO. 
5. I am desperate to move to the country - three acres will satisfy me, I think. 

Okay! There you have it! And I am now passing this award on to five people who will inspire you: Arlene, Kathy, Tomoh, Pia, and Susanne.

The Me-Me Award

I've had a few people give me some awards in the last few months. I very studiously copied them into a folder to pass on when I had the chance. Now I'm getting some time, and I find that I no longer remember who sent me what.

What a chowderhead.

So if you sent me an award and I didn't post and pass it along, it's because I was too stupid to actually attach some sort of note identifying the rules, etc. If you have been miffed at my lax behavior, please feel free to send me an email taking me to task as I so richly deserve!

My lovely Hero Arts buddy and fellow former Hostess, Donna Mikasa, has sent me the MeMe Award, and I am determined to not blow it this time!!! The rules to this one are that you have to reveal seven secrets about yourself and pass the award on to seven other bloggers. Now somebody sent me something like this on Facebook, and I went ahead and posted it on my page there. So this information is technically NOT a secret anymore, but the majority of the world doesn't know it, so I'm thinking it counts as a secret.

Seven "Secret" Things About Me

1. My maternal grandfather was 70 years old when my mother was born... and she is an only child. I’m the only person of my generation that I know who can claim a grandparent born in 1875.

2. I flunked Algebra in high school because I was so intimidated by everything that I’d heard about it, I didn’t do the homework. When I took the class again, I did the homework and felt like a total idiot for ever being afraid of it.

3. I was a goodie-two-shoes who never did drugs or drank or anything even remotely racy until my freshman year in college when I decided to see what was the big deal about mind expansion via pharmaceuticals by dropping a hit of acid. I found the whole experience to be overrated and kind of annoying.

4. In 1987, I was on my way to Washington, DC, with no job and no prospects, so I figured I might as well have no money, too. I gave my last $3 to a woman begging in the Port Authority bus station in NYC. And thus I entered into the most successful period of personal growth that I have ever experienced.

5. Watching Survivor is my Guilty Pleasure.

6. I am a logic puzzle junkie.

7. As a child, I loved The Little Colonel series by Evansville, Indiana, native Annie Fellows Johnston, and I have managed to collect all but one of them as an adult. Written in the early 1900's, these books were last published in the 1940's - which is why it's been difficult to collect them.

I would lie to share the Me-Me Award with the following seven people:

1. Pia
2. Jacqueline
3. Beverley
4. Diana
5. Alana
6. Susanne
7. Andi

Thank you, Donna, for sharing this award with me!

Blog Awards

I awoke at 3:00 a.m. to a terrifically loud thunderstorm that was sending my dog into fits of anxiety. Poor, poor Bisquit! Storms never used to bother him until the last year or so, and now he's just a Wreck whenever they roll in. I decided to get up and try to ease his anxiety and thought maybe I could attend to other matters while doing so.

(This is kind of funny, actually, because he is largish - being an Airedale Terrier - but is apparently under the impression that he is the size of a squirrel as he is convinced he can hide his entire self under the bottom of my nightgown.)

What he's looking for is a way to hide from the storm.

Despite the fact that there is a roof between him and the storm.

What's bizarre is that, while the roof fails to convince him he is safe, wrapping a sweater around his head makes him feel like he's ensconced in a bomb shelter.

Dog Logic.

That, or his ostrich heritage is ducking it's ugly head.

At any rate, it's 3:00 a.m., and I am so far behind on so many things that I might as well get up and take care of some long overdue tasks. And now that Bisquit's head is protected by his sweater helmet, I should be able to concentrate, right?

Okay, first off, I have an award that I received over a month ago from a very nice lady AND talented rubber stamper named Dawn Turley. Dawn hails from Australia, and she has a blog, Dawn's World, that you should check out.

The award is called The Lemonade Stand Award, and it's given to a blogger who shows great attitude and gratitude.

I am very honored to be chosen for this award, and I thank you for presenting it to me, Dawn!

I hope you'll give the following artists a visit - it's time well spent, I promise!

My first nominees are "unusual" as I have never really "spoken" to them, and I'm nominating them as a group. At least two of the ladies from this group have visited my blog and left nice comments. Now here's the "unusual" thing about them - they are part of a confederacy of European artists! They all are united at one blog called Europe Artfire Guild. And what a cool blog it is! They have a variety of skills and artistic talents, so you get a fabulous, ecclectic experience, PLUS they sell their wares, so you can gratify your eye-candy lust with actual ownership of the object that inspired it!

I'm nominating Laura at Laura's Stamp Art Journal because she does amazing work and is really nice!

I'm also nominating Cat (another European) at Cat's Wire because I've lurked at her blog a bit, and I like her style. She makes terrific jewelry, too!

Then there's our Hannah at Jorgaunna's Place of Fascination. Hannah is a 17-year-old with a work ethic I would love to see Gigi have at that age. She's also a real sweetie!

Lastly, I nominate Annie at Stamping with Annie B. I don't know her, but I like her work and think y'all would like it, too!

Ladies, to pick up your Lemonade Stand Award:

1. Comment on this blog.


2. Cut and paste the award logo and use it in your own blog.


3. Nominate 5 to 10 blogs you feel show great attitude and gratitude.


4. Link to your nominees within your blog post.


5. Comment on their blogs to let them know they've received the award.


6. Link back to the person who gave you the award to show your appreciation.

I'm a Member of the Hero Arts Hosti!

Actually, to be more accurate and formal, I should say that I have been invited to join the Hero Arts Blog as a Hero Arts Hostess. But Hero Arts Hostess is a real mouthful, so I'm thinking "Hosti" is easier and faster to type.

Plus it's cuter.

And you know me. Why be correct when one can be cute?

It was a very thrilling occurrence, I must say! If I had known that my name was in the hat for such an honor, I probably would have been totally bonkers with anticipation. As it is, I just opened up my email and there was this lovely little invitation from Lisa Spangler.

My mouth just dropped open I was so shocked. As I wrote Lisa, "Chop off my legs and call me, 'Shorty'!"

I accepted immediately, of course.

What does a HA Hosti do, you ask?

I haven't a clue. All I know is that they're going to give me free stuff to play with in exchange for activity that will help maintain the fun and happy atmosphere currently enjoyed by those who visit the blog. (I suspect there may be some moderating duties, card making, maybe a little creation of blog content. Maybe, if I get good enough at the video demonstration thing, they'll ask me to make one! However, this is ALL SPECULATION! I really have no idea what my duties will entail. I'm just tossing out some educated guesses.)

You can read about it here.

There are seven of us altogether, and I can't wait to work with them. I know all of them with the exception to Lisa Carroll, but I'm fixin' to correct that in the near future! You can click on the links below to see their creations on Flickr - enjoy the eye candy!

• Jenn Biederman
• Kelly Booth
• Lisa Carroll
• Judy Jung
• Donna Mikasa
• Deborah Nolan
• Karen Piskor

The Proximity Award

My good friend Julie has given me an award:

This is called the Proximity Award, and is is thus described: "These blogs invest and believe in PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers, who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

These eight bloggers have not yet received this award (I hope):

Andi, Elana, Kelly, Lysa, Ashley, Suzanne, Kiara, and Kryssi.

Enjoy, ladies! You are all inspirational to me!!!

I'm Baaaaaaack!

Home at last! I am very happy to be back in my own drafty hovel, and I am VERY happy to announce that my attic atelier will be a cozier space because Spouse gave me a space heater for Christmas!!!  

On with my fabulous news!

About nine months ago - STOP RIGHT THERE! - I am not pregnant, so drop the knitting needles and slowly back away from the yarn.

As I was saying, about nine months ago, the Hero Arts stamp company decided to add a blog to the HA website. The HA blog is hosted by their five DT members - all of whom are brimming with talent and ideas and techniques which are shared via examples and demonstration videos. There is a weekly challenge, and winners get free stamps and Bask in Glory at the HA Flickr Group discussion board.

(I've been lucky enough to Bask a few times, and I gotta admit, Basking is pretty darn fun!)

About five months ago, HA offered an opportunity to be a Guest Blog Hostess ("GBH"). The chosen five GBH's and their DT sponsors gave us a fantastic week of eye candy. (See end of post for links to those blog entries.) It was a tremendous success, so almost immediately, HA offered a second chance for five more GBH's.

And that's where I actively join the story.

Of course, I threw my hat into the ring again (I didn't win last time). I seriously doubted I would win a slot - there are just too many amazing stamping artists out there. HA revealed their five picks on the week of December 22 (one per day). Since I was totally overextended that week AND leaving on a road trip to south Florida with a detour to Evansville on Christmas Day, I wasn't exactly in the loop and had no Internet access readily available.

Of course, once we were in Florida, our days were packed with family activities and visiting. It wasn't until December 30th that I sat down at my FIL's computer to email something for work. What happened next is presented below in the email I immediately sent to HA:

I've been traveling for the holidays and got online for the first time today and I was just checking the HA blog to see what cool things were going on this week and my MIL asked to see my stuff and then I went to Flickr to show her and then I saw my Flickr email thingie blinking and then I clicked on it and then I started reading these congratulations and then I went back to the HA blog and scrolled down down down DOWN and then I came across Jennifer's post and then I think I passed out momentarily and then when I came to I started typing this email while shrieking, "IwonIwonIwonIwonIwon... I WOOOOOON!!!!" the whole time.

Obviously what I won was a day as a GBH! And it got better because I was picked by Jennifer McGuire - who is my favorite stamper!! And then it got even better because I found out I get an obscene amount of new stamps!!! And not any old stamps, either - these are the brand new ones in the 2009 catalog AND I get to pick which ones!!!! AND Jennifer's sending me some HA note cards AND some HA embellishments!!!!!

And she wrote these devastatingly nice things about my stuff, too. *blush*

Let me tell ya, I passed "Bask" and went straight to "Radiate." (I think I was literally glowing because the moths keep flitting around my head that night.)

IwonIwonIwonIwonIwon... I WOOOOOON!!!

It's quite possible that I am now radioactive.

I have spent the better part of our drive home flipping through the latest HA catalog trying to pick which stamps I want. I started giggling because I got a comical deja vu experience. Just a month ago, Gigi had the Walmart toy catalog, and she was telling me what she wanted for Christmas.

Everything, more or less.

So I gave her a marker and told her to circle her favorite things - which resulted in pages covered with red ink. I finally had to tell her to pick ONE thing from each page and then we'd start the process of elimination together. This was a somewhat painful task for her, and now I can see why.

This whole elimination thing is really, really hard when each stamp - er, I mean, toy  - is cooler than the last.

Of course, there is the flip-side to euphoria: the realization that I will now have to create five masterpieces to be revealed under a mega-watt spotlight on a global stage. There's been a little emailing betwixt me and my fellow GBH's, and the consensus is that we are all lit up like a Broadway show on Opening Night... and we are all experiencing pre-opening jitters. Which is a little crazy since we haven't even started rehearsals yet. 

Okay, okay - enough with the theatre analogies! (I can't help it - I feel my inner drama queen rising to the fore.)

I have to mention the other four GBH's - talk about keeping impressive company!!! Just go check out their photostreams at Flickr, and you'll have a better appreciation for my performance anxiety. These women are some SERIOUSLY talented artists, and I am honored (not to mention totally humbled) by being in their group. I should also add that they were all on my short list for being a Wednesday Wonder in 2009 - except for the one I already highlighted (kellsterstamps).

So go check out these amazing women: kellsterstamps, kiaraleestudio, sarahjane4Kids, and sugarbuffet!

Also check out each day of the first GHB week: Monday: Ashley Marcu,  Tuesday: Kelly Rassmusen,  Wednesday: Donna Mikasa,  Thursday: Lisa Carroll, Friday: Julie Dudley.  

2009 is certainly starting out auspiciously!

The Arte y Pico Award

Hey, lookit here! Suzanne has chosen to share an award with me! I love getting awards - it's always thrilling to learn that somebody likes your blog. Plus they're just so darned festive! And I like the variety of digital design - it's like jewelry for blogs.

This pretty lady originated at the Arte y Pico blog http://arteypico.blogspot.com/, which states there is no direct translation of this phrase into English but it's something akin to "Wow, that's some great art you got there!"  If you're reading this because I decided to share the award with you, the rules are at the end of this post.

Since awards are made for giving, I'm sharing the love with these five bloggers:

The "rules" for the Arte y Pico award are:

1. If you are an award winner, show the award, the name of the person who gave it to you, and link back to his or her blog. (Check)

2. Pick 5 blogs you think deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and for contributing to the blogging community.

4. Leave a message on the blogs of those you've selected.

5. Link back to the original Arte y Pico blog http://arteypico.blogspot.com/, so all will know the origin of the award. (Check)

Here are 5 blogs that I would like to share this award with:

1. Arlene over at A Bit of This and That. Arlene is very creative and it looks like she's been decorating and adding all sorts of interesting content to her blog, so check it out! 

2. Laura at Laura's Stamp Art Journal. I spotlighted Laura two weeks ago on Wednesday Wonders, so you know she's got some killer content!

3. Jan at Far North Designs. Not only does Jan have some lovely art on her blog, she lives in Alaska, so you regularly get to see cool pictures of - oh, say, a moose walking through the backyard. (Okay, I don't know if it was in her backyard, but who cares?! This is a MOOSE! Up Close and Personal! I've never been close enough to take a moose's picture, that's for sure.)  

4. Well, now this is just plain embarrassing -I don't even know this next woman's real name!!! I know her work at HA Flickr Group, and she goes by Kellerstamps (she also just won First Place for last week's challenge - check out Army Girl). She makes very nice cards. Go check out her blog at Lovin' the Life I Color. (Kellerstamps, if you're reading this, will you leave me your real name so I can stop being embarassed?)

5. Jenn at Created by JB. The girl's definitely got talent, but don't take my word for it! Go see for yourself!!!

Thank you, Suzanne, for thinking of me and sharing this award!