More Lettering Loving, a fun Breakfast and a Gripe....

It has been a sunny weekend here in Southern New York State. Very windy yesterday and chilly, in the 30's both days, but the sun just streams into my craft room which has big windows and doors facing the south and west. When I work at the desk that faces the windows on days like this I have to wear my sunglasses and baseball cap OR close the blinds. Since I love the warmth of the sun and the view, I look like I should be in the stands cheering on my favorite team rather than stamping and coloring.

LETTERING

I worked a lot on my Loving Journal- the book the class has created out of sheets of watercolor and bristol paper. We had to paint, ink, and faux texturize our papers on both sides and soon we will be handwriting our best lettering into the book like icing on the cake.

Love this page, distress ink & a stamp.

Stencils.

I also practiced my handwriting over and over again with different pens. I really like several. Elegant Writier (www,speedballart.com), Faber Castell's Pitt artist pens, Stampin' Up!'s Stampin' Write, Copic Ciao and Sketch and Multiliner pens are all on the top of my list for various lettering jobs and styles.

Using my SU background stamps.

Feel like I am back in St. Pat's elementary.

Love this fountain pen.

The cover of my book.

The 29th is the last formal day of this class. I will miss the assignments. I can't rave enough about the workshop. The price was right, I was able to work at my own pace. Joanne Sharpe gave us challenges; however, none of them were beyond a beginner and if you you didn't have the recommended supplies, if you read the directions carefully, you could substitute with the supplies you had. No fancy lettering pens... grab the Sharpies you use to write the kids' names on the lunch bags. No fancy note books, rip some pages out of the kids' old composition books. The idea was just to letter in all different shapes, sizes and directions on top of colored pages. And she gave us permission, what fun.

I got to see other participants' work on Flickr and we blogged together on Yahoo. Best part, the class videos and PDFs are available forever. I can go back and review. Great stuff.

BREAKFAST

Our daughter, Heather, the writer, called early this morning and asked us to breakfast. To IHOP. Gary answered the phone- he was up before I was- and Heather spelled the restaurant name. DJ was of course hanging around her (she was on the phone after all) and before the letters were out of her mouth, DJ was shouting, "We're going to IHOP." 7 years old and he knows everything.


Breakfast was delicious. We shared green eggs and ham, chicken florentine crepes, smokehouse something, an ice cream cone with a pancake stuck inside and blueberries on top, pancakes with yogurt and sprinkles. Luckily there were 5 hungry people at our table.

GRIPE

So, here is my gripe. I ordered a few things from Company S on Feb. 6th. The few things included some Memory Box dies that I thought I might use for Valentine cards and an extra pan for my Ranger Melting Pot (Gary wants to try melting some old pieces of candle). Company A notified the Post Office on Feb. 8th about the package. The Post Office registered it on Feb. 9th. I got one of those- you can follow your package routing things online. The next time I see any info on my package, it was in Atlanta, GA on the 16th. Where did it go between the 9th and the 16th? I live in NY state, the package was coming from Ohio. Why did it go to Atlanta? Vacation, Spa treatment? The next thing I know it was in Memphis on the 23rd. Is it walking home to me? Of course I notify Company S and they were very nice but they don't know why my package was singing the blues in Memphis.

I finally got the package on Saturday, the 25th. The wrapping was intact- I thought maybe it was rerouted to GA because it was damaged- nope, the package had its original labeling on it.

When I opened it, I was missing the extra pan for the Melting Pot. It was back ordered which it didn't say on the original confirmation form from Company S. I understand, these things happen between when you order and they pack. A little note inside the package said there would be about a one week delay and they would ship my pan out to me as soon as it was restocked.

I wrote to Company S and said since package #1 was traveling for 16 days, shouldn't package #2 be here already????? Maybe package #2 went to CA to visit my son and daughter-in-law before it comes here. I don't even have a confirmation # so I can't watch the package on its journey.

Now you may wonder why I am making such a detailed fuss over this. I normally shop with
www.oozak. com, located in Michigan. If you order from Rusty before 3 o'clock- he sends out your package priority mail and you get it in 2 days. I order on Tuesday and the box is waiting in the mailbox on Thursday. Every time! Like clockwork- and you only have to buy $50.00 worth to qualify for free shipping. He is the best. I found Rusty's company when I started to buy Copic markers. Really good prices. So, every other month or so, I would order $50.00 worth of markers. And then I noticed he had Memento inks and Annie's Attic books. And then he started to carry Tim Holtz products and I was lost.... Did I mention he has excellent prices AND he is putting more and more products in his store.

Which brings me to Memory Box Dies. If Rusty had had the dies (he is getting them in sometime in March), I would have ordered from him. Silly woman, I didn't do any Valentine cards after all so I could have waited.

The moral  of the story... You can't always get what you want, but if you wait sometimes, you can get what you need from Rusty... to paraphrase the Rolling Stones.

Beautiful Memory Box Dies.

Thanks for stopping by and hope your weekend was CREATIVE.