Society of Stampaholics

Kevin Blog Bacon - Episode 1

I was going to post this later in the week because I already have posts for today and tomorrow, but I can't wait. This discovery can't wait!

I'm starting a new category here: Blog Treasures.

I'm starting it because I love how you see a link that will show you how to make something, and then you go there and you get the info, but then there's something else cool on that site, so you look at it, and then there's another link to yet another person's blog, so you check that out, and then THAT person's got a link to something else really cool, and before you know it, you're ten sites removed from where you started.

(Faulkner would be so proud of that run-on sentence. Oh, merciful heavens - can you just imagine what his blog would have been like? I'm getting a headache just thinking about it.)

Actually, given the "related" nature of these links, maybe I should call this category Kevin Blog Bacon or X Degrees of Separation.

I like Kevin Blog Bacon best, so Kevin Blog Bacon it is!

And now that I've got all that 'splainin' stuff out of the way, let me share the blog that got my attention! (Although there were many blogs, I'm saving some for later posts.)

Uppercase.

Oh. My. Word.

Unbelievable.

Do NOT go here without a beverage, a snack, and many hours at your disposal. (And make sure you go to the bathroom first!)

The site is for the creative, the curious, those who would be inspired, those who appreciate beauty in the unexpected, those who need a good visual fix.... And if the content doesn't rock your world, the links will send you into orbit! There are links and links and links - ALL to sites that are each tastier than the last.

They have a quarterly magazine that is a little pricey at $20/pop. I don't even care. It's Mac & Cheese for me for the next month. Whatever it takes. I. Don't. Care. I've subscribed and can't wait until the first one shows up. (This is the magazine that some other magazines wish they could be, if you get my drift.)

For your sake, I really, really hope you didn't just read this post at the end of your lunch hour....

Yeah.

It's that good.

Birth Announcement

Diana Foster has given birth to

a beautiful, bouncing, baby blog!

Designs by Diana

Both designer and blog are doing well.

Visitation hours are 24/7.

Comments are optional.


Congratulations, Diana, on your successful delivery!

I Have an Idea

This is going to be a short post. (Yes, Deborah can show self-restraint.)

I have had it. This mess in India has just pushed me over The Edge.

I am sick and tired of looking at the news every day and seeing headlines that tell me of all the horrible, rotten things people do to one another and all the horrible, rotten disasters, failures, and problems that we've got on this planet. Not that it's not important to know these things. It is. But I truly believe that an emphasis on the negative never did anybody any good. Too much of it can become overwhelming and, before you know it, nobody has the energy or the will or the strength to work on making things better.

So I came up with this idea about five minutes ago. Literally. It's a good idea, maybe even a great idea. But I need some help with it, I think. I'm going to either add a second page to this blog or look into starting a second blog (this is where I'll need some help in the beginning, especially).

I'll reveal more as time allows.

And now, just so you won't be too annoyed with my leaving you hanging, here is a very small story for your amusement.

As you may know, I have a six-year-old daughter named Gigi. (Actually, her name is Grace Gabrielle, but I call her Gigi.) You may also know that I sing in our church choir. And this is all the exposition you really need to have to enjoy this story.

The Christmas season is upon us and that means the Christmas Cantata is in the works. Our director gave us a CD with our individual parts to speed us along, (this is a brand new suite of music for us) and I have been dutifully listening and singing along with said CD in the car for about three weeks now. Luckily for me, Gigi likes these songs. (Otherwise I'd be subjected to an endless stream of whining for "real" music - which, for my daughter, means anything with a percussive emphasis  or classic rock'n'roll. She is fond of "Back in Black" for example, but she also likes the Beach Boys and Lynyrd Skynyrd. She's getting sick of Led Zeppelin, however, because they're getting waaaaay too much airplay on the station we listen to the most.)

So there's this one song in the cantata - swingy and upbeat and catchy - and at one point the music climaxes with the lyrics:

See, shepherds, hear, shepherds, rise above your fear, shepherds!

Listen to the song the angels sing!  

The other day, I hear my child singing this song while she's playing in her room. Of course, the words are patchy, but that's part of the fun of listening to a six-year-old sing. Now usually this is not that memorable, but I FELL OUT when I heard the following:

See, shepherds, hear, shepherds, blow it out your ear, shepherds!

Listen to the song the angels sing!  

And I'll leave you with that thought....

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Common 'Taters

Eeeaka-freeeaka! I've been so distracted that I've not seen a lot of comments people have been making! After reading them, I am now swollen from a surfeit of praise and well-wishes.

So inquiring minds want to know who's been writing and who are these people anyway?

Let's just check out these Common 'Taters, shall we?

Let's start with Suzanne, as she is always leaving comments and is a very gifted artist. First of all, here's her blog address: Suzanne's Stamping Spot. You will learn good things there. In fact, she did something with waxed paper that's got me itching to stop blogging and run upstairs and have at it. In her non-crafting life, Suzanne is a project manager (what I wish I was!) and has three lovely children. Suzanne likes eating tamales in her hot tub and plays the accordion in a German Polka Band called Suzy and the Polka Dots.

Another regular poster is Anne. Another gifted artist, Anne is a shutterbug. Her photos are so cool, they're going to be making their jewelry debut in the near future. To see Anne's work, visit her blog at Gaal Creative. (She does a lot more than take photos, by the way, so go look at her stuff!) When she's not creating art, Anne can be found skydiving with her pet Yorkie, Max, another adventurous spirit. Anne also enjoys clog dancing, reading ancient drama in the original Sanskrit and collecting spoons from theme parks.

Then we have the lovely Lysa, who I mentioned last week. If you didn't have the sense (or the time) to visit her blog then, get over there now, you Big Silly! Lysa is married and lives in Arizona. She's also addicted to watching Lawrence Welk re-runs. Someday she wants to get her picture taken in front of the World's Largest Ball of String. (You can stop laughing - this is a real place.) 

Lisa C. is a self-professed Rocky Mountain Mama who writes and designs for Scrapbook News and Review. Lisa's work is obviously pretty Hot, and you can see for yourself at her blog, My Little Ink Spot. Lisa is a multi-talented individual with a sparkling wit and a love of orthography. She relaxes by knitting sweaters for rescued daschunds, and she's a fool for candied Lutefisk.

Arlene is a longtime crafter who has actually done pottery. (I mention this because pottery intimidates me and anybody who can do it borders on Demi-Goddess status.) Arlene shares her lovely creations at the Hero Arts Flickr Group and at her blog, A Bit of This and That. A little known fact about Arlene is that she once rode horses bareback in a Wild West show. Despite this early nomadic existence, she's a real homebody. She holds the world record for the largest structure ever built entirely out of sugar cubes (her garage)... this was before the Unbelievably Big Rain of '97. 

Julie Dudley hails from Perth, West Australia. She's a Shabby Chic maven and a total scrap nut. She has an impressive scrap-booking resume, and is currently a DT member for Scrap Therapy. In addition, Shari Carroll chose her to be a guest blogger at the Hero Arts blog in the near future. Julie is active in her local Hokey Pokey Society, enjoys the music of Zamphir (that guy with the pan flute), and is learning how to sing Pop Goes the Weasel in German. 

And speaking of international Common Taters, how cool is it that Inge in Belgium and Doris in Poland have come here and left a few words in English and then I went back to their blogs and left a few words in ... English? (I had to - it's the only language I know.) If you would like to read a foreign-language blog, go to this translator site and it'll translate everything for you. Frankly, it blows my mind that somebody across the world has visited my attic. I mean, is that amazing or what?!

Let's not forget Jenn Biedermann! She's seriously talented - check out her stuff at Created by JB.  And if my recommendation isn't enough, Jenn is also on the DT for Purple Onion Designs. She has created some very cool shadow box scenes that I want to scrap lift for Christmas presents. When Jenn isn't creating stamp masterpieces, you're likely to find her tenderly caring for her crop of pole beans and lettuces. Her most suppressed desire is to grow the Perfect Leek. She also has a fear of banana peels.

Judy Jung doesn't have a blog, but she's a sweet woman of Faith and very gracious, to boot. She makes lovely cards, and if the card she made for the most recent challenge doesn't win something, I will be disappointed. It's a stunner! Judy is a scrappy little thing - and not just on paper! She's rides a Hogg and has attained black-belt status in three different martial art disciplines. When she's not breaking boards with a flick of her eyebrow, (yeah, she's that good) Judy raises social awareness for the plight of the dandelion - a misunderstood flower that Judy aims to bring to the forefront of western gardening.

Last of all, there is Heidi from Simon Says Stamp. Order your stuff from her - it's a great deal, and she's a great person. Heidi is an active spelunker, enjoys collecting eggplant recipes and is a former World Champion Watermelon Seed Spitter (27' using seeds from a Crimson Sweet - her ammunition of choice.)  

There have been other Common Taters, but the ones listed here are the most regular. If you got Left Out and are Miffed, let me know and an outrageous mini-bio will be yours for the taking!

(Okay, the statements in italics could be false, but until I hear otherwise, I'm not ruling anything out! At least one of the statements is TRUE. Can you guess which one? There will be a small, albeit CHARMING, prize for the first person who gets it right. There will also be an identical prize for the person who KNOWS from personal experience which statement is true. The best way to find out which statement is true is to visit the blogs above.  Hee-hee-hee! ENJOY!!!)

Later, 'Taters!

Oh, Never Mind!

The font size problem has apparently righted itself.

Sheesh....!

I am now going to watch some political speeches because I enjoy that sort of thing.

Yes, I have a dark side....

Technical Difficulties

I am now experiencing font SIZE issues. (And heaven only knows what else will come up!)

Ha-HA!!!

I fixed the problem!

I am feeling very smug and full of myself right now.

Here's what happened:

When I added the "I Heart Your Blog" graphic on the side bar, I had to do it through TypeList as a Note, and every Note has to have a title - which is annoying when you're trying to do a graphic. So you have to make your title invisible, and you do this by putting your title within pairs of these babies: <>.

If you are unfamiliar with writing HTML code, those little brackets hold the instructions you're giving to the program. <i> means "italicize the following words". When you want to stop italicizing, you type </i>.

So if writing in code, you would write (in an HTML format) "Gee whiz, but I <i>hate</i> that technology stuff!" and to your readers, it would look like this:

Gee whiz, but I hate that technology stuff!

If you didn't remember to end the command, it would look like this:

Gee whiz, but I hate that technology stuff!

(And all text following would be italicized until you gave it the </i> instruction.

For some bizarre reason, the program interpreted the "<I" part of "<I Heart Your Blog>" as a command to start italicizing. Although I can accept this, what defies logic is that the HTML "instruction" was not limited to its own field (the Note title).

For whatever reason, it was a simple enough fix. Now its invisible title is <Heart Your Blog> and my blog is no longer in italics.