Product Love & More

It's been a long time since I've served up any product love - but I saw this stamp on a blog and just knew I was back in business.  Which at this moment, I can't remember for the life of me where it was.  I look at way too many blogs each day to remember.  Gotta love summer.  Anyhoo - I saw the doily stamped on the cardstock of a layout and immediately thought of Hero Arts.  They had a few doily images in their winter catalog.  I hadn't really taken to any of them - but I immediately wanted this stamp.  Imagine my surprise when I found out it was an October Afternoon stamp not Hero Arts.  Upon finding this out, a light bulb went off in my empty little head.  Of course I love this doily - I love (and own) the paper with this image from October Afternoon - check it out here and here.  To be honest - I love the entire Thrift Shop line from October Afternoon.  I am often taken by the products from this company.  I love this stamp set.  Love the doily (to itty bitty pieces).  Love the typewriter.  Love the music and the words that go with it.  Love it so much.  So that's it - a new product to love.  I'm so happy.  To be honest - I thought I had lost my mojo when it came to product posts - but I didn't.  I just needed the perfect little thing to get me motivated.  On another note - I think this shows my changing perspective and style when it comes to papercrafting.  This stamp is in the same grain as the Prima papers I raved about much earlier in the year.  Love how things are evolving for me.

In other news - I wanted to share the mixed-media piece I was trying to make for the new Etsy Inspired Challenge blog.  I was inspired by this necklace at White Birch Designs.  If you look really close at the canvas - you might see a little of the pattern from the necklace in the petals.  I stamped 32 petals from this stamp set from Technique Tuesday in the hopes of recreating the pattern.  It didn't go how I planned.  Not one bit.  But - I had fun.  I had fun making the background.  I had fun stamping the images.  And - I'm going to have fun covering it all up.  It's a lesson and a breakthrough of sorts.  The lesson - I'm finally starting to enjoy the process without kicking my tail about the outcome.  It's a mess - but it's going somewhere new.  The idea of that gives me hope.  The breakthrough - I was having FUN.  So many times when I'm crafting I focus on the end result without appreciating the process.  Because when it comes down to it - I do this for the process just as much as the end result, if not more.  So even though this is a failure of sorts - I'm happy with it.  I loved doing it.  I can't wait to see the next evolution and that's really the point, right?  So that's it for now.  I hope you're having a nice Monday.  Until then...