I FEEL LIKE A BI MONTHLY MAGAZINE!

I can't figure out why it is so hard for me to post on a regular basis. I think it is a character flaw,or, more likely, a memory deficiency. I get so distracted by life in general, that I don't take the time to get up here like I should. So much has been going on, that when I think to get up here with a few words today, they won't matter tomorrow (which is probably the point...)

Lately I have been helping a close friend of mine who owns Clear Dollar Stamps, a clear photopolymer stamp company. This company puts out a variety of clear stamps, from whimsical to Alphabets, but with a special emphasis on Christian stamps. If you are looking for some really nice Christian stamps, CDS has them! www.cdstamps.com She also sells the largest selection of rollograph stamps and we are now designing for that as well. She has never advertised, but you'll see a lot of her stamps in the gallery at SCS (SplitCoastStampers.com). Look for our ads there in the next few months.

I do some stamp designing and all around moral and technical support for CDS. I don't know which of us leans on the other most, we're both married to accountants, let me tell you ladies, hiding the stash has reached an art form in my house! If I could get my cats to hide brads or glitter in their mouths, I would have my own mule system to get my embellies down and out of sight. I'm thinking of buying some fatigues to run my missions with...it would only take me five minutes to look like another cat in the house, just go around and rub on everything and PRESTO, I've furred up another cat!

I am "the Geek Behind the Curtain" who is otherwise known as Cathouse on the SCS board. Designing stamps sets is new to me, although graphic arts are not, I've been doing that as long as I can remember, right before the Mac came out. That may even be farther back than I remember... That's why I am a true Macavist. I've dabbled in the dark side and it hurt my brain. I retreated to the ease of use, no virus worries of my Mac and only go to the PC when I teach Photoshop Elements classes. You can read about those on my Fix That Picture blog. I'm going to start offering some free seminars on Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 at the Hobby Lobby stores and off-site and talk about hybrid scrapbooking. If you're in to that, or would like to try it, or get advice on hardware, software, digital cameras, etc., we will have it (even for PC users!). Start looking for my flyers at the end of this month. I've also got some AWESOME classes coming up for Mother's Day, Graduation and Father's Day, so be watching for those! (Heavens, I should be posting this on my Conquest Keepsakes blog...sell, sell, sell!) There will be more information about those things, and the Children's Miracle Network crop, next week. We're going to be there!

If you want to read some more totally innane stuff about Macs, our cats, and us, you can check out my archives. Be prepared... to see lots of cat pictures and goof ball stories and my rants about why the Mac is a superlative platform compared to the PC. I can war on subjects better than Rome (sports reference there). The best pics and stories are the ones about me in the hospital for two weeks in June of 2006. Whacked out on morphine and blogging! I couldn't eat, but I played the air keyboard a lot, only to wake up mad that all that work I done was just a druggy dream. With pantomime. Much to my chagrin. I'm sure I was the patient entertainer of the month that year.

I need to take a new pic of my slightly dented MacBook Pro 17" that my cat dumped on the floor a couple of weeks ago. We almost had flapcats for breakfast instead of flapjacks. Two big old scratches on the top, it literally did a half pike, flipped over on its back and landed right on the feet of my table. I swear I saw three of my cats holding up signs, 9.1, 9.3 and 8.5 (I think the last judge was bribed to low-ball his vote). I think I instantly killed three flies, and retarded a fourth cat from oxygen deprivation with the large, sucking noise my throat made trying to breathe (the other three voters were already retarded). And it was ON when it happened (I'm SURE there were bonus points for that). All I could think of was ripping up the house to make it look like a tornado hit (it would fly I'm sure) and I could cry to the bean counter about what it did to my laptop and how lucky it was that almost all of us escaped (I think I would have flattened a cat just to make the story stick). Lucky for me, when I picked it up, I got mail! heh heh heh OK, maybe not, but it was still running and so far no hick-ups yet. I dodged a shovel (we don't have guns).

Well, I am getting back to my creative roots. Creating stamp sets for Clear Dollar Stamps has been an awesome experience and has resulted in tendinitis of my middle finger. I've been offending people left and right. My DH says I have "bird" finger. Anyway, I especially like working on the new line (that I can't say much more about) that is having it's first few sets introduced this month. Most of my designs focus on vintage or classic styling, or bolder Christian themes. I'm not a "whimsy" person. At least a cat set is in the works! And I am obligated to do a dog set. Sigh.

Our first set in the Clearly Christian Line, Set Apart, was released this month along with an Antique Seals set. Appropriately called "Set Apart" and "Antique Seals." The Set Apart set is going to be different than any other line of Christian stamps you have ever seen, and the guys are going to love some of these stamps (judging by all the tats I see on those March Madness basketball games). I even put a set of flames on there! You can view all of Lori's stamps by clicking the link on the right-hand side of this page, and view samples of all the stamps in her Idea Gallery.

We are working on a restructuring of her site, trying to tackle one thing at a time. She's a stay-at-home mom and runs her business out of her house. She's an amazing person and I feel privileged to work with her and her other design team members. They are some of the most talented people I have seen, and I've spent twenty years plus in the graphics industry. One of our card designers is Kristi VanDoren; who has had her articles and works published multiple times in Scrap-N-Stamp magazine, among others. The upcoming July issue will have an article from her talking about that fabulous Princess Mirah self-adhesive Batikit fabric paper and stamps from Clear Dollar Stamps and Prickly Pear. She is a 30-year veteran of stamping. Sorry about the "Veteran" word. You know I'm as old as you are, if not older. BIG sigh.

CDS also sells other stamping supplies, and if you don't have a Zutter Bind-It-All or Round-it-All, or, heaven forbid, you don't have a Cuttlebug, then you need to pick up that phone (or keyboard) NOW and get them! At the moment, we are the only company stocking them (BIA and RIAs) in southwest Missouri (that we know of) and CDS also ships internationally (yep, that means you Canadians). We're keeping them in stock, along with all the coils, covers and accessories. We've also started stocking the Copic markers all the stampers love and we are trying to get some Nestabilities so we can play some more! :-) Evidently, the whole crew aboard the slow ship from China is playing with them at the moment.

BACK TO THE STAMPS
If there are any of these stamps sets that you would like to have, drop me an email and I'll arrange to get them out to you. I stock them so I can sell them at classes to make it convenient for all of our Hobby Lobby friends who want more clear stamps than they carry! So here they are (in order I hope...). I should preface this with some info on the first stamp collection. It is called, collectively, the Perpetual Planner set. This set is made specifically for use with 6 x 6 binders, whether you ring bind or coil bind with the Bind-It-all. It stamps beautifully and all the sets coordinate not only to it, but to my other vintage stamp lines. I will post samples of these sets tomorrow after I recover from this gargantuan post. You can start it at any month and put in as many or little as you want. A perfect gift for mom!

And the order is:
Vintage Flourish Perpetual Planner Collection (there is a discount if you buy whole set)
Vintage Flourish Script Alpha upper and lower $22.99 (108 stamps)
Vintage Flourish Months $7.99 (30 stamps)
Vintage Flourishes $14.99 (18 stamps)
Vintage Flourish Calendar (includes individual numbers and phases) $14.99 (37 stamps)
Gothic Alphabet Upper Case $29.99 (38 stamps, about 1 1/4" tall each)
Gothic Alphabet Lower Case to coordinate with the large letters $17.99 (43 stamps)
Cherish Valentine Set (works for weddings and anniversaries too!) $14.99 (28 stamps)
Antique Seals Set (great for stationery!) $14.99 (15 stamps)
Set Apart Set (first in our new Clearly Christian Line) $14.99 (19 stamps)
Family Heritage Set (great for scrapbooking family history) $14.99 (17 stamps)
Old Time Christmas $14.99 (20 stamps)

Keep in mind, these are just the ones I have worked on. There are tons of other really cute stamps that rival any other stamp companies' products or designs. We use high quality photopolymer, which makes for non-yellowing stamps. Buy some now! My cats have to eat...