I HEART RUBBER STAMPS...

I am a rubber stamper. I make greeting cards and other gift items. I love stamping. LOVE. IT.
I could stamp all day and all night. Although I always feel like I should hang my head in shame when I add "um...no...I don't scrapbook. It's not that I don't think scrapbooks are perfectly lovely. Some of my best friends are scrapbookers. And I certainly don't think there's anything wrong with scrapbooking. It's a wonderful creative outlet. Really. I totally respect scrapbookers. It's just that I...well...I...I just don't have the patience or the discipline to sort all my photos from the shoeboxes they are in and then put them in a book. I mean, where would I start? It's just not for me, but I'm glad YOU enjoy it. Where would we be without scrapbookers?
Um..no...I am not a scrapbooker. But I hope we can still be friends."

Anyway, when we finished our basement a couple years ago my husband built me a stamp room. And yes, that's what we call it.

"Where's Mom?" "In the stamp room." "I'll be in the stamp room kids." "Um, boys, you can't use the stamp room as part of your X-box party..." I love my stamp room. LOVE. IT. Other stampers envy me my stamp room.

No brag. Just fact.

And I am ever so grateful to my husband. So much so that every now and then, I sneak up behind him, while I'm on a break from stamping, throw my arms around his waist and whisper seductively in his ear "Thank you for my stamp room." Gets his motor running every time.

One of my favorite parts of the stamp room is the extra desk we put in. On the wall of cabinets, we put in two desk tops, so I could have a friend stamp with me or, more importantly, my daughter. And every now and then, when she can fit me into her busy schedule, she sits at her desk and does a project. And, tonight being Thursday, she might just fit me in tonight, so we can watch CELEBRITY APPRENTICE while we stamp.

Anyway, I just finished my first major stamp project. I made 53 Valentine cards for the kids at the children's home where my mom works.

For a long time I've really wanted to start doing something meaningful with my stamping supplies and, if I have any, talent. Finally it dawned on me that I could start with the kids at this
children's home.

And I had so much fun. At first I worried I wouldn't be able to come up with enough "boy" looking Valentine cards, then I decided not to fret over that and just go with the ideas that came to me. You know, freely accept the creative energy that floated into my brain.

Yeah, that's it. Creative energy floating into my brain.

So if you notice my hands are stained with purple ink, or red, or pink. That's what it is.

Creative energy.