basket of cards and scraps

For those of you who don't know me well, I started to sell my cards at a local coffee & tea shop 4 months ago. I have a little 6"x6" basket at the register. So far birthday cards sell better than thank you, get well, thinking of you, or friends cards. It seems everyone has a birthday. (LOL) Anyway, about 5 days before a holiday (e.g. Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Mother's Day, etc.) the holiday cards sell really fast. I took my 14 Father's Day cards over on May 31st. I figured a few may sell in the first 10 days of June, but when I went to check yesterday morning (June 5th), there were only two cards left! A good problem to have, right?

Yesterday I had a million things to take care of and I would not have time to make more cards. (I collapsed into bed at 9pm last night. I could not have made a card if I'd tried.) I knew today I had to take my cat to the vet in the early a.m. and I needed to prepare my class kits for a scrapbook class I am teaching on June 16th. I am a very organized person. My husband says I am a little "Monkish" (for those of you who watch the tv show "Monk", you know what he means.)

So what happens to me when I feel overwhelmed? I wake up at 3:30a.m. thinking that I need to make more cards for my basket. I got up at 4a.m., pulled out my rub-ons, chipboard letters, and the scraps from the 14 Father's Day cards I'd already made. Believe me, I was worried what cards made at 4a.m. would look like! By 6:30 a.m. I had created these 6 cards. I started with the chipboard letters I had originally purchased these alphabets in 4 colors for a project I made 18 months ago, then never used them...until now! (See top middle card and bottom 3 cards.)

The top left card has a Basic Grey rub-on "D is for DAD". The top right card has an alphabet I purchased at the Great American Scrapbook convention 2 years ago, but had never opened. I also had some Magenta square cards that were a very dark gray color that matched the polka dot paper perfectly. I've had those two cards for years and never thought I would ever use them (Magenta sold them in a multicolor pack, and I'd used up all the other colors.)

I get so excited when I use things that have just been sitting in my craft room and when I make cards completely from scraps. It gives me a "high". Is there a scrapbooking term for this? I'll have to think on that one.

I need to get to bed now. Tomorrow is another big day. Tomorrow my twin girls turn 5 years old!