Shallow as a puddle...

Y'all know by now that I make cards as well as being a scrapbooker, and stamping is really my habit/hobby of choice. But I'm totally and completely over the need to give hand-made cards to everyone, all the time. In the early years of my addiction, I would rather have posted/delivered the hand-made greeting late than buy a card and celebrate the actual occasion on time! Daft. I also am frequently found lurking in card shops trying to suck in a few ideas. Especially Paperchase and Marks Expensive...they have lovely 'hand finished' numbers that are sooo easy to imitate. Anyway, that's a bit of a digression. Today, I had an hour to kill in Salisbury city centre. A lovely city in which to wander for sure, but I'm a frequent visitor and tend to take it all a bit for granted. So I found myself in a discount card shop. I have LOADS of birthdays, anniversaries and events coming over the next 3 weeks - truly. And to relieve some of these people I'm sending some bought cards - after a year's break, my stuff won't look 'same-old, same-old' - good theory, huh! Anyway, come with me if you will to the Female/Friends/Sisters/Aunts rack of cards. It took a few minutes to realise that the majority of them are based around images of jewellery, shoes and other lovelies. Very few florals or views or (clean) funny cards. Are we so shallow? No mate, I tell myself. Look in another shop. So I did. Lots of those cards with silly texts added to knitting pattern type pictures, but these were worse really - images from a time warp era that just allow for jokes about modern women's lack of domesticity and preference to shop. Lordy, are we really so shallow? Apparently. Some of the cards are downright funny, but by now, I was feeling a bit put out, so I stopped looking. I stamp images of lipstick, shoes, blah blah and use these on cards for particular personalities in my life, and I'm the first to dig out the text stamps - 'When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping' etc etc...so why am I suddenly so affronted? I don't know. Maybe, in those two card shops - a totally non-scientific survey reveals nothing more than the fact that the buyer is a bloke who thinks he knows what women find funny or (brace yourself) thinks he knows women. Or maybe it was just the sheer number of similar cards that made the thought pop into my head. I dunno. But to make myself feel less shallow, I rushed into Lakeland and bought a silicone muffin tin. Shopping, and Suzy Homemaker type purchases at that. Shallow and blindingly transparent I think!

Oh, and something for the weekend (!)

My friend Sally-Ann, a welcome and frequent commenter here has a ridiculous amount of blog candy to give away. Love to Doodle is where to find her. Even if you don't want the Candy, visit her, .....what Sally-Ann calls doodle is what lesser mortals call art. No wonder I'm excited about the news that some of her images are going to be made into stamps!