A Little Name Change, A Cute Card and Some Cute Pics of the Studio Assistants

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Hey Y'all! Well there's one day left till turkey day. Do you have your shopping done yet? No? Me either. Luckily, I'm going to my friend Sharon's house, so I have just have to bring a few things, and I'll get them tonight and cook. I'm going to bake some Pumpkin Cheescake tonight. Whoo! It's sooo good, it'll make you want to smack your momma. What? Not really! You've never heard that? It's a real saying! Trust me, Go South! I imagine I'm going to have to double up on the P90X next week! Actually, everything will probably be so rich, I'll only be able to have a little of everything so it won't be too bad. Don't wait too long tonight or those stores will look like they do before a snow storm hits! LOL!!!!

So, I made a little name change to my blog this morning. Did you notice? If you've been following me for a while, you've heard me make reference to the fact that I'm a little OCD when it comes to stamping. Well, actually I'm a lot LOT, is what my team-mates would tell you. In fact, last Friday night at our special team meeting for people that had promoted, I walked in to "Were your ears burning?" LOL!

"OCD" is my nickname. It's okay, I own it, and I'm the first one to tell you about it.

We had a new team member there, (I'm so bad with names and I can't remember hers, so if you're reading this please hit me up and let me know it) and we were talking about blogging and how I had started this one for myself, to get out of my comfort zone, to stretch myself, because stamping "Stressed Me Out SOOOO Much!" and bless her heart, she just looked like someone had poleaxed her! It wasn't until a couple of my team members confirmed for her that "Yes it really does.", which of course was to her surprise accompanied by a great deal of laughter. Now don't get me wrong. I love stamping! I love designing, and creating and coming up with new things, It's just the not being perfect, not being just right, what ifs, that drives me bonkers!

This was also the source of a great many inside jokes at the Remarkables Team meeting on Saturday as well. Can I just say how nice it was to finally get to meet Jan! What a phenom!

How bout a quick pic of my studio assistant Bitty at work? She loves to help make sure SU sends me everything they're supposed to...

Here's one of Duecey too, because you know he can't be outdone right?

How about a card and then I'll tell you  a little about why stamping stresses me out so much.

I have this card on my desk at work and it makes me smile every time I look at. No, seriously. Everytime, I look at it. It's from the Eat Chocolate stamp set I got when I joined Stampin Up last year. It's just a little 3 x 3 card, but the thought of eating chocolate makes me happy.

Here's the inside-

Same stamp set. I used my Stampin' Write Markers to ink up  the stamp, and then added a little Bling. I love the saying too. I'm no quitter. That goes for chocolate and it goes for stamping too.

I've been stamping off and on for about 5 years now under Robin (my upline). Bless her heart for hanging in there with me this long! When she first told me "Don't worry, there's another side to that piece of paper", You have no idea how happy that made me!

I'm that person that has to have the edge of the grid paper aligned with the edge of the table, and the edge of my card aligned with one of the lines on the grid. Truly. No, Seriously! Ask anyone who has ever stamped with me. I don't know how I ever survived before I understood the Stamp-a-ma-jig. When I saw it on You-Tube, I fell in love LOVE. No, Honestly! I wanted to marry it and then become a bigamist and marry the person who invented it! If I could tell you one thing you need to, no must have, it's that.

I won't even get into ripping and tearing and crumbling, oh my! Suffice it to say they are distressing and there will be a blog post, probably next week.

Hey Maaam you know it's just paper right?

You know how people say just randomly stamp this. I know I say it sometimes too. But when I say it, it's usually followed by an (AUGH!) or an (UGH!). Why? Because it stressed me out! Nothing's really random. It's planned! What if it looks too random, what if it looks planned? What if they're too close, too far, too much, too little? Heck, even after I planned my placement on my DIY embossing sheets to look "Random" they still came out in a line! AUGH! See Stress!

Well, I started doing some challenges to try and stretch myself a little farther as well. Part of my problem is I'm a very visual, very linear thinker. When I see something, That's how I see it. It's often hard for me to see other things, substitute other things, until I see that too. For example a sketch like this-



This would be hard for me, and truthfully, won't be entered because I can't visualize anything other than a square and a scallop square.



When I saw this challenge, I almost didn't enter it because I didn't have a scalloped flower punch. That's what I saw for the the focal point, a scalloped flower punch. Are you seeing where I'm going? Luckily, the scalloped edge of the Scalloped Border Circle Punch hit with me and it worked.
Do you play BINGO? I love to play. But I can only win if it's one of the regular ones or the easy kinds. Make it one of those 2 on one cards and I might as well just sit it out. Same thing here. I just don't see things the way other people do, and then I get frustrated.
But back to the sketch. After I figured out the focal point then the panels were an issue! Would you believe I printed the picture out and actually measured panels in the picture and then mathematically figured out what size they needed to be on my card?!? I kid you not!!!! I can barely balance my checkbook but I have to geometrically plan out my cards. This is a problem. This is stressful! This is why I like the Stampin 411 challenges because they give you dimensions to work with, so I don't have to calculate and plan.

I also often have to print out the challenges and physically turn them around, because I just can't visualize them laid out differently otherwise. See, not so easy being me. Sometimes it's easy to just be a Scaredy Cat! But, I can't be the only one out there that wants to do more, so I stamp, and I try a little more and Yes, Robin, and Jan, and Michelle,  I will even vow to just "Eyeball it" and just "Tear it", and just go ahead and "Crumple it up" a little more often.

Here's a few last images of my studio assistants. Helping to keep me in line and on-task, as you've learned is hard work.

I can't wait to get in Maams way again tomorrow and flop down on her  grid paper,  I mean hold it down for her!

Keeping Maam in line is such hard work, but someone has to do it.

So, I hope some of my, posts make a little more sense now.

Here's the thing I'm learning as I go on... Stamping is a lot like life. It doesn't have to be Perfect. If I make a mistake, chances are I can correct it or change it by adding some ribbon, a brad, a darker ink, maybe some glitter or if all else fails, stamp another image on another piece of cardstock and cover it completely and no-one will ever be the wiser. And at the end of the day, if I'm happy with my card, project, gift and someone else doesn't recognize the value in the gift I am giving them, then they don't deserve the gift of me that they have been offered. My time if precious. I am precious. I may not be Perfect. I will never be Perfect, but I am working on be ok with being me.

I hope you all have a great day and an Amazing Thanksgiving. I wish you all a Safe Holiday. Please be Safe if you are traveling.

If you liked today's card, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

I hope to see you all back here real soon.

Till next time,

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It