topic of nit-picking (two posts today)

front of the card

a couple days ago i had the post about being all nit-picky about your work. that same day i ran across this mother's day card and envelope. i made it out of the scraps that were on my desk that day. and it is to my mother and we all know that mothers love whatever you do, so, that makes this one a little suspect. but there are times that i do just send crazy scraps with scribbles to respected artists. i'll try to find some other examples. (the silly cat that i sent to nancy hills is a good example - and if i dig, i can find some scrap stuff that i mailed to jackie that ended up back at my house. - or for fun, i can have *scrap week* and make some new stuff along these lines)

i had completely forgotten about making this. but it made me smile because i like the sentiment. i am always impressed with hallmark because they come up with some cards that capture the essence of me...but, they would never go this far. at least i don't think so. maybe i should send them my portfolio of oddities.

the point of this is to reinforce the point of mail. to say hi. don't stress over it. even if it is an important 40th birthday and you want to make 40 masterpieces. a couple of them can be very silly. it will almost be like *contrast* or visual relief...to have some that are quite different. we can use the word *naive.* just because we spend time honing our skills doesn't mean we have to adhere to the rules every minute. like ballet dancers who maybe go to a party and get drunk and do the hokey-pokey. maybe not my best comparison. how about this one....like julia child eating a big mac. no, that's too far-fetched.

anyhow...if you are busy today, ignore the rest of the post. it is off topic and you know i try to stay on topic all the time, but, i feel like i should explain some of the stuff.

inside of the card and the envelope,
also made out of scratch paper

this was hand delivered because my mom lives two doors from me. she is going to move to a senior citizen apartment, 3 blocks away. i'm thinking i should start sending her some snail mail so that when everyone is checking their mail boxes, she can whip out some really fun stuff... and it will be conversation starters. that happened to my daughter when she was in college. she was at a very urban, impersonal university where nobody talked to each other in the elevators. she said the only time people would spontaneously talk to her was when they saw her holding her fabulous mail.

for newcomers who have not read every single post, way back in the archives, is the story about how my whole obsession with decorated envelopes started. it was when i had a niece and then a daughter who were away at college, and i discovered how much they LOVED getting pretty envelopes.

the labels [ellen series] and [christy series] will take you to the ones i sent in the very beginning.

the markers on this one are the galaxy markers that i just love. you may order them from john neal.

and yes, i call my mother by her first name. people think that is very strange. it works for us. i have some very old greeting cards that i made for her when i was a kid and i used her first name on them, too. i think i had an early fascination or something with names....which is now my current obsession with making art out of names. i'll get around to scanning them some day.