Ginger in Sunshine, originally uploaded by gingerblue.

Every morning Ginger finds the warm "sun spots" on the living room floor. She's so serene sometimes. I just wanted to capture that.

I'm not a good photographer at all. I don't really have a huge desire to learn photography (way too technical) but I do have a desire to capture "the moment" accurately. Does that make any sense?

The back story on Ginger:
Tom and I volunteer at a local cat shelter. Every so often the shelter will have a little bit of space, so the owners go to the pound and adopt a cat or kitten that is about to be euthanized.

Ginger was someone's cat, thrown out most likely because she was pregnant. When animal control got her, she was incredibly ill, as were her kittens. She was set to be euthanized immediately, but it just so happened that space opened in our shelter that same day, so she was brought to us.

She came to our shelter and her health improved immediately. She lost of her kittens, but the others flourished and grew. After Ginger's kittens found homes, Ginger went on to nurse almost all of the kittens in the shelter for months and months. She was the ultimate "mama" cat.

She came home with us in July 2006.

It's funny because I was looking back at my journal entries and the day that Ginger came to the shelter, I wrote an entry about her. I have met so many amazing cats at the shelter, but there aren't many I journal about.

We're so happy and lucky to have her as part of our family.

Now if only Chester (our male tabby, also a rescue) would give her a break (he always sneaks up on her and scares the crap out of her!)

Usually I just skim it, because, quite frankly, it makes me feel guilty. It contains things such as "use more renewable energy", "eat more whole grains" , "go for a long hike..." etc.

But I found a list in May's issue (yes, I'm barely getting to the May issues in my stack of magazines...) that REALLY resonated. Here it is...

1. When you commit your dreams to paper, you give them a place to take root.

2. Be mindful of where you put your attention. The shape of your life will follow.

3. When you view your health as nonnegotiable, your priorities naturally shift.

4. Positive change starts with truth, and no one knows it better than you.

5. You're more than just what you do for others.

6. Before you react to an emotion, first consider its source.

7. Learning to let go begins with understanding why you've been hanging on.

8. Do more than understand stress reduction; put it into practice.

9. There's no way to grow without taking a few risks.

10. Setting boundaries doesn't keep others out. It defines where your life begins.

Gracie, who is now 2 and a half, started a toddler program at a local learning center. As a result, our family is cycling through many, many, many colds and viruses as our immune systems catch up to speed.

There's a detailed update of Miss Gracie on my LiveJournal.

I'm working hard on jewelry- new spring and summer collections.

I haven't painted or collaged or scrapbooked in ages. I really want to get back to those things. I miss them so much. I'm still just trying to figure out how to find balance between being a mom and being an artist.

This is so very, very clever. I have a binder I keep all my stickers, ephemera, and journaling things in (for collage and scrapbooking), but I am so tempted to make one of these now because just being able to see it all easily would encourage me to us it more.

This would also be great great for unmounted stamps, of which I have so very many.

Yes, I will be making this!

This is SO inspiring, I think. A reminder that sometimes good things don't have "GOOD THINGS" written all over them.

I really need to take Gracie to the local museum. But they don't allow cameras, which stinks, IMO, because I want to be able to capture some of her expressions when she sees some of the big installations.

I so wish we had a local science museum. Not one of those one-room things, but a serious science museum.

Happy Saturday!

-- Sir William Osler (1849-1919) Canadian Physician

Right now I am obsessing over the Medallion stamps by Holly Berry. The images are like mandalas- and would be perfect to stamp and paint. I was just interested in the details, but apparently the idea of the stamp is to cut them apart and layer them, each "zone" becoming another layer.An example is here. It all sounds beautiful.

They have a zillion different designs, and they are HUGE stamps, anywhere from 3.75 inches square to 6 inches square, which is big for a stamp. They are also expensive- about $15 each.

Maybe after we finish dealing paying off the Christmas bills.

Yes, they are twins.

They make me want to be 19 and cool again.

-- T.S. Eliot

HOVERCAT

- William Durant

A few of my favorites:

- A snowglobe ring (for only $6!!) If I lived near the museum, I would buy one for every single girl I know. I love this kind of stuff. Glitter. Snowglobes. Sparkles.

- An amazing modern dollhouse with cool furniture.

- Beautiful colorful ornaments...

- Intricate pop-up cards I wish *I* had sent out. I am definitely getting my cards from MoMa next year.

- Beautiful note paper with 3-d butterflies that fold out when you open each sheet.

- Super cool finger-tip crayons in really great colors. All kids stuff is always in the primary colors- I love to see secondary and tertiary blends, too. (These are meant for kids, but I want them for *me*!)

- And finally, a really pretty lamp/lampshade that I can't really figure out, but it looks cool.

Seriously, go buy someone something. I can guarantee even if it's not what they *thought* they wanted, they will find it incredibly unique, thoughtful, and won't forget it.

I gotta admit, I was tempted to buy these stamps. $30 for the kit. Well designed. Clear backs. HUGE.

But the downside is they are foam, and I NEVER use my foam stamps, much less my REAL (red rubber and clear acrylic) stamps. I am trying to use stamps more and more, but I know for a fact these guys won't get used on my scrapbook pages or my cards. They are *too* big and I have too much patterned paper- I need to be using what I have, not making my own.

I just like the tidiness and detail of regular rubber stamps better. Plus, I love the wood blocks- after going nuts on clear stamps I am back to obsessing over the ones with the wood backings. The fact that JoAnn now carries the almost complete line of Inkadinkado is dangerous... *lust* I haven't bought any stamps in a while, but the last one I got was an awesome stamp of a coffee ring (see below- by Inkadinkado- great background sort of stamp...)

One thing that these foam stamps would be good for is painting/mixed media collage. So that's what tempted me again. But I have beautiful sets of foam stamps from Making Memories and they are more appropriate for what I use them for.

But if you are a fan of stamps, and don't care about the foam aspect, this is great deal. A great gift, too.

BTW, if you haven't sent me your address for a card, SEND IT- I have a big batch ready to go and a bunch more cards, so let's swap!