When we first moved to Norfolk, I joined a stamp club with some of the moms from Morgan’s play group.  Once a month, we would get together with our craft supplies, rubber stamps, ink pads and assorted photos to try out new stamp techniques and tricks.  I can chart the improvement in my skill level by comparing Morgan’s first year scrapbook to Coever’s.  It’s amazing how some glue dots, a paper cutter and a rubber stamp can transform a page into something visually interesting.

The playgroup and the stamp group dissolved over time, but not before I had accumulated a rolling suitcase and several totes of stamping and scrapping gear.  There are times when I feel like making something — I know, me, who loathes arts and crafts — but the thought of hauling all of that stuff out is really unappealing.  Over the summer, I told myself I needed to get back into it, maybe even make my own Christmas cards this year.  I went onto eBay and order up some pre-folded card stock.  Once it arrived, I tucked it into my paper cache and promptly forgot about it.

The other day, I reached into my desk for a nice card to jot off a thank-you and came up empty-handed.  I checked in my pile of office supplies in the closet.  Nada.  In the back of my mind, I knew I had some blank cardstock, just waiting to be transformed into lovingly stamped assorted notecards.  The thought of stamping, gluing and running interference between the girls and my collection of craft scissors was a real turn off.  The note went unwritten.

Today, day 2 of the great blizzard thaw, we aren’t up to much. The girls have a little friend over, DH is working on whatever DH is working on and I thought I would bang out that note once and for all.  Then I remembered, I still didn’t have any notes.  I started to clean up a bit in the kitchen and came across some of Morgan’s artwork.  Talk about an “aha!” moment.

The hardest part was trying to decide which of her pictures I could sacrifice for my cause.  It turn out, you can get quite a card fronts out of one 8.5 X 11 drawing.  After my first few cards,  I started to get fancy and added a backing before mounting.  I threw in a few clever titles, Morgan’s name and the date. Ta-da!

How easy was that?  I could kick myself because throughout the year when I had to send notes in to school, I would just fold a piece of the girls’ scribbles in half and write my message on the clean side.  I think the cabin fever had slowed my brain function to an all time low.

Anyway, I got my thank you notes done and have few extra ones ready for when the need arises.  I may have to have Morgan create several series of cards. Maybe a 5 pack of her interpretation of storybook characters or a series of her own self-portraits.  I wonder how long it takes to get an Etsy shop set-up. . .