New Paper

.

This is the card I wanted to upload a few days ago to show you. Helen sent this to me with her check for a recent order. She has 3 cats and knows I have 2. This was made by Julia Masseo. I love it's simplicity and colors but what I really love is the way she covered each eye with liquid applique or embossing powder or something to make it shiny. It's a tiny detail that really elevates the card from nice to terrific.

My Bazzill paper order arrived the other day. This is just part of it. I started putting it away but realized that I really need another paper organizer.

I have two. Ideally I would have one shade of paper per compartment but I'm really okay with several shades from the same family in the same slot. But I have so much paper now that I found myself mixing color families and that just doesn't fly.

I bought the two I have at BJ's Wholesale Club. I found them on their website this morning but decided to check the store on my lunch hour since it's near work. As I'm driving there, I thought to myself, "Oh, I should pick up some toilet paper and paper towels for Simon."

No paper organizer to be found, but $200 later . . . I have a cart full of stuff for Simon. Stupid boring stuff they won't think about - garbage bags, dishwasher detergent, soap. With my blessing, I told Simon he should come home to do laundry to save him some money but I know that will get old real fast so I bought him laundry detergent too. Stuff like that.

I'm letting him do this move on his own, I really haven't butted in too much. Being a planner and organizer, that's not exactly easy but I want him to feel the fulfillment of doing it on his own. I don't want to be one of those helicopter parents that sets their kid up in their first apartment with so much stuff that it feels like an extension of home or something. Anything they forget or do without, isn't life-threatening - and their threshold for inconvenience is way higher than mine. They'll be fine.

But let's talk about me some more, okay?

So I went online and found that paper rack for $69.99 - no shipping, no tax! Most places I checked were $70+ plus shipping. It should be here in a few days. I'll have a slight bit of rearranging to do to make room for it but it's sorely needed. I've been making do for a while now, longer than I realized when I tried to squeeze this new paper in the existing racks.

I made a big fat mistake in ordering the paper though - I ordered rusted metallic paper instead of copper metallic. I use copper so much I ordered 2 reams, or so I thought. The company has a $200 minimum order so it will be awhile before I order again. I'll figure something out. And I'll start designing with rusted metallic, apparently.

.