Does Creative Juice have calories?

It's here!  Yeah!  I am so happy...  (Despite Google's aggravating habit of turning the picture, no matter how I save it to my computer the CORRECT way...) It is the start of the return of my creative side!  The booklet that I place in two Dr's offices is a small advertisement venture that features my work in paper craft and other original works.  It took about an hour and a half to get the booklet pieced together on the Internet and a week to get here, but it was well worth it!  It has opened my eyes to the fact that I NEED to do those creative things to feel better - A lot like getting outside after our grueling winter months!

I spent just a small amount of time the other day in my card room making a special card for a friend of mine who was having a monstrous day.  I sparked in me the desire to do more!

I have the most wonderful space created...  It is not what some would call "wonderful", but it sparks in me that creative thing - That unnameable thing that makes me tick with joy and verve.  It is in this space that I feel alive and refreshed, useful and original, absolutely adequate!  Drawers filled with rubber stamps, drawers stuffed with papers of every color, boxes of ribbon and bits of little jewels, wire, markers, paper flowers, beads, pens and innumerable other little spots of creative bliss that make me think, "What can I make with that?"

I have always been a card person...  A note here and there, a handwritten letter - They always seem to mean more than a hastily tapped out email.  I know I smile when I get something in the mail that actually comes in an envelope and took the sender at least a quick second to put together... 

When Man and I were newly married, only five years or so, his grandparents passed on.  In the span of 5 months he lost first his grandmother, Nana, and then his grandfather, Pappy.  We were asked to please come to their home and peruse their things to see if there was anything we would like to keep as a remembrance of our years together.  This has always been such an incredibly creepy and difficult thing for me to do, despite the well meaning traditions behind it.  It seems so vulture-like, scavenging through some one's precious things and determining what you will discard of their life and what you will take away.  Yuck.

Despite my misgivings, we went.  It was there that we discovered Nana's desk.  It had been her mother's before her, and it seemed no one had room or wanted to move it into their own home.  I stood before her desk and breathed very quietly to my husband that I would love to have her desk.  It spoke to me...

For whatever reason, my wish was granted and we carted the lovely (if a little worn) desk home.  Upon opening that top drawer, I found cards... 

Stacks and stacks, categorized by event.  Nana had always been the one to send you a card on your birthday, a card to wish you well when you were ill, a card for anniversaries...  That was Nana's knack.  While I was never as organized or as attentive as Nana, I decided to make a feeble attempt at keeping up the hand written note.

I am picky.  I used to spend hours in the card and stationary sections of stores and I used to spend A LOT of money to ensure that I had just the right card for just the right occasion.  Sometimes I couldn't find what I envisioned and it frustrated me.  And so I started making my own.

I cannot say my current card making is spend thrift.  On the contrary, I have thousands of dollars of supplies to make up my card room.  But I can say that when you receive a card from me, I thought about you the entire time I made it.  I smiled about who you are to me.  I made sure that each and every component, from the color and texture of the paper, to the small details I included just for you would make you smile and remember how very special you are...  I like that.  It makes my heart smile!