A year of -isms...Happy Anniversary!

"Hmmm...so by reading that, it SHOULD lead me to the conclusion that a shopping ban would be the prohibition of shopping. I see how the concept can relate to each other, just not how it pertains to me."

...Oh, YAY! Today is here! *LOL* I can't believe how excited I am, it almost feels like a birthday! I wonder if I can convince The Mister to get me a present to celebrate! HAHAHAHA...

When I first started blogging, I pretty much just ran and jumped in head first into everything with me fake-it-'til-you-make-it kind of attitude. I didn't know where to start, so I figured I'd just start from the right then and there and just kept on going! I figure now might be a good time to take a step back and maybe start with an introduction. *LOL*

I think I had originally intended for this blog to be mostly an anonymous rambling of a crazy crafter/shopper. I wanted to be all witty and funny and clever and mysterious and people reading would be all intrigued and be enticed to keep coming back again and again. Yeah, well that didn't happen and with something as personal as crafting, you can't really be apart from it all, can you? So, I'd like to introduce myself...my name is Catherine (I so want to put the "I'm a scrapaholic" part, but I'm pretty sure I already said that before, and let's face it, that was soooo last year!) I often come on here talking about the ways I can trick The Mister into buying things for me, so I thought I ought to introduce him as well. The Mister aka my best friend aka my husband aka the love of my life aka Bart.

Awwww...

...or more realistically...

BWAHAHAHA...okay, we don't look like that all the time...but we sure did on Halloween!

I have no idea how this blogaversary post began to revolve around The Mister - er...Bart, I mean...*LOL* my fingers are just so used to typing The Mister whenever I'm on here! Anywho, like I said, I don't know how this began to be about Bart, but now that I'm on this path, I can see that I'm liking where it's going.

To be completely honest, I am a very big spoiled brat when it comes to Bart. I have been spoiled and have gotten used to it and there's no turning back now. Bart has been the most supportive of me in pretty much everything I do. Not to say that no one else has been, but he's pretty much been my number one fan from the start. I especially notice this AND appreciate this when I hear other ladies talk about how close their husbands are to threatening to take away all their goodies and stuff and all those other husbands who just don't get it. Granted, Bart doesn't reeeally get it (especially when I have another MS edge punch in my hand or when I want to take just one more stop at a different Michael's to see if they have anything different from the OTHER Michael's we were just at), but his whole attitude is that if I think it's worth my time, then he thinks I'll be absolutely awesome at it! He's the one pushing me to go for things, submit things, branch out into things, etc. It's just so humbling and slightly embarrassing to just have someone around who thinks that paper was invented solely for me to create with it.

So I would really like to take this time to shout out a big THANK YOU to Bart for his endless support, encouragement, patience and feigned ignorance at my shopping. For trying to understand how much I enjoy this little hobby of mine and for giving me the space (both figuratively and very literally - I stole the guestroom that also doubles as his closet because I took up all the room from our master bedroom, too) that I need. I'd like to THANK him for not looking at me like I was crazy when I was sitting around in my pyjamas laughing my head off in a room all by myself while reading a post...for taking it in stride when all of a sudden I was telling him all about my friend Marti...for not stumbling in that stride when I told him I was up and going off to California with this friend Marti he'd never heard of or met before...for not giving me dirty looks when I shake him awake late at night to show him the newest thing that I just made...for always having something nice to say about every single thing that I made...etc., etc! Raising my proverbial glass to toast my very fabulous husband whom I am feeling VERY lucky to have!

........so really, I guess all that support and encouragement is to blame for my endless need to shop for my scraproom...I can see now that I don't REALLY have a problem! HAHAHAHA...

I can also see now that this post may pretty much be a long one...I swear I'm not trying to punish you or make you work extra hard for the giveaway by making you read all of this! I really wasn't intending on going that way, but I love that that's where my finger and my tired, wandering mind took me!

Let me see, let me see...what do people normally put in blogaversary posts? I haven't really been to too many, let alone hosted one! I've heard that some bloggers have had a lot of success with their blogs and I can definitely see that a lot of hard work and effort went into that! Although I did disappear off the face of the earth for a few months here and there, I have to say that I am very proud of what I've gotten accomplished so far - especially since I'm usually the type to never see anything through at all! Here's a couple random stats courtesy of Google Analytics:

• As of yesterday when I last checked, there has been a total of 7366 visitors to my blog since March 4, 2008 (Thank You!)
• I have a total of 30 individuals who are subscribed to my blog - one of them being my very own Mom (Thank You!)
• The average time that an individual spends on my blog is 2 minutes and 5 seconds (Thank You!) I know time is precious to everyone!
• 77% of my blog traffic is from referring sites, so THANK YOU to everyone who's added me as a link in their own blog. Please drop me a line to let me know if you have done this so that I can return the favour and add you to my blog list as well!

Can I just say how much I *LOVE* Google Analytics. Yes, my next confession in the new year of my blog is that I stalk all the people who come and visit me using statistics! *LOL* I am also a stat-addict...I just get all high and giddy when the line graph goes up to show my number of visitors...don't pretend that you don't feel the same way...

Over the years I have also learned a number of things...

• No matter how many series Studio G puts out, I'm going to need them all
• Nestabilities are TOTALLY worth it in the end, so you should just stop procrastinating and get them ASAP or else you'll have to wait just that much longer when you finally decide to get them...
• Your crafting soul sister could totally be living in Virginia and she will always understand that your house isn't really messy, it's just that you're busy and a lot of the times, she's really thinking the same thoughts you're thinking (Marti aka my alcohol ink yoda, my PIC, SuperMommy, sister from another mister, etc., etc., thanks so much for an AWESOME and hilarious year! You have been the best DT a girl could ever ask for and I am really excited to see what this year has in store for us!)

...and so much more I can't even get into it now or you'll hate me and wish I never have another blogaversary again!

And with that...and the fact that Bart is already snoring and the room just spun in front of my eyes, I will sign off...

I have had such an amazing time here on this blog and in the whole crafting community and wherever else I may lurk. As much fun as it is to learn and to create, it can only be so much fun because of all the people that I meet and learn from. I am so thankful that you take the time out of your day to drop by and see what I'm up to and to share kind words with me. I am also very thankful that you all understand and get what it is to have this wonderful hobby and that you share all your ideas and creations with the rest of the world - including me! I hope that you continue to do so and I hope you continue to drop in and check up on me once in a while as well! In this next year to come, I can only hope for bigger and better things to come, more wonderful friends to meet and share with...and more things to be released from CHA so I can shooooop! *LOL*

With that, I'll leave you with one more -ism from the past year.

"Seeing how I don’t like anyone enough to have them stay overnight, I moved our spare bed in the guestroom to make more room for me and my stuff. So if we ever have anyone sleep over, I’m sure they’ll find the floor very comfortable. I would say I was joking, but for those who know me, they probably already know that I’m not."

CONTEST DETAILS: To be eligible for the blogaversary giveaway, please enter your comments on THIS post any time before 11:59 PM EST on March 1, 2009. To avoid any confusion or misunderstandings, please include your first and last name or your first name and a screen name so that I may differentiate from same-named individuals. I will choose a winner via a random integer generator on March 2, 2009 and will announce the winner on a post that same day. Please limit your entry to one per person. Thank you so much!

CURRENT MOOD: HAPPY CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: BART SNORING

That's the spirit!

...I LOVE getting mail. I think it's one of my top favourite things next to shopping and scrapping/cardmaking!

Yesterday, after a particularly hairy day at the office, I was raging to get home to have a MAJOR vent session with The Mister.

I'm usually always the first one home so my "job" is to go get the mail, and what do you know, there's something there for ME (besides the ginormous credit card statements that I've been receiving thanks to all YOU ladies on The Board)! I open it up and there are my beautiful spirit ladies from Kris Price! SO nice of her. She was the very first person to offer to RAK me something!

After everyone went crazy over the grab bags and started saying they weren't really like the spirit dancers, I think I commented that I thought they were nice and next thing I know, I've got a PM from someone offering to send me hers!

To be honest, I've only ever heard about RAK's only after I joined The Board, so I'm not used to people sending things to me and not asking me to pay for them. I'm still a bit uncomfortable accepting things, but I did make her a thank you card with the stamps that she sent!

Have a looky-look:

I used these small 1x1 stamp pads that I'd gotten for like, $2 for 6 of them at a surplus store. Kind of went crazy with those and used each colour on my cardstock, inking directly. After that, I opted to stamp my lady with my brown ink and the sentiment as well. I also used some little decorative swirly stamps to fill in the empty spaces. I had bought this really fine glitter from M's (with the Paper Dolls that I bought!) and wanted to experiment with it, to see if I could use glitter without making a glittery mess on everything including myself and I think it worked out fairly well! I used my ZIG pen, sprinkled the glitter on top and fixed everything with hairspray!

So there's my Thank You card from here. Inside, I stamped a Thanks a Bunch message using my Studio G wood-mounted stamp and coloured it in using my Prismas and mineral spirit. Hope she likes it!

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: TEMPERATURE - SEAN PAUL

Thank you...

..."thank you India, thank you terror, thank you disillusionment..."

(Thank You - Alanis Morisette)

Yes, in real life, I also am known to break out into song. And other sounds...actually, I was telling the BFF that a couple weeks ago I had an embarrassing moment at work with the boss. Sometimes the office gets a little bit tense (especially when we're de-registering the students who haven't paid for their tuition). Anyways, someone had sent a picture via E-Mail of this huge wave breaking on in like, Antartica or something. It being so cold, once the wave broke (I'm not even sure this is true as I don't see how it could have gotten warm enough for a wave to even break through the meters or ice, but what do I know) it froze in this huge, massive...well, wave. I was telling my coworkers, wouldn't it be funny if you were looking at the wave and all of a sudden this whale just swims on by? Then I started making orca whale sounds - courtesy of Free Willy - and of course, OF COURSE, even though he hadn't been by the WHOLE day, the boss chooses to meander out of his office and down the hall in time to hear my desperate whale cries of freedom.

Yeah...anyways, as I am now completely off topic, I am racking my brain trying to remember what I was originally going to say.

Ah yes, thank yous! I have been SO slacking in the thank you department from the wedding. I ran out of cards and therefore just pretty much ran out of momentum. But not for long! Check these babies out:

You can't really tell here, but for this card, I outlined most of the fancy details in Diamond Stickles. It's pretty in real life!

I love these cards so much, I can't stop looking at them. And re-arranging them. And putting them in and out of their envelopes (which, as you can see, I have also embossed. You can't see it, but I also used Studio G stamps to put little stamps in the bottom right hand corner...most of them say 'for you'.

I need to make two more cards later on this afternoon, but for the meantime, I've got to get ready to head out to church!

CURRENT MOOD: CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: That Thing You Do - The Wonders