Updates...

...summer is flying by! Can't believe it is almost the Fourth of July...and another "holiday" on the 5th as well: my birthday! Am I brave enough to confess my age? You bet: this year is number 36. I admit, I would love to be younger. But of course I can't, so I must learn to love being 36. A good friend of mine, whose birthday is three days after mine, forwarded an article about the beauty of "Age 36" that she read in Allure magazine recently. Among other things, the article reports that 36 is the age when "you're old enough to know yourself but still young enough to be considered of interest to everyone else." It then goes on to identify some well-known fellow 36-year-olds, like Heidi Klum, Victoria Beckham, and Kate Beckinsale. I know I always feel better when I compare myself to these gals, right? Well....I do like the idea that I know myself and am still "interesting" to others. I hope that I always know myself.
Birthdays are worth celebrating, no matter the number attached to the day. This year I will be treating myself to the new binding machine by We R Memory Makers: the Cinch. I am super-excited to start working with this baby! I'm going to keep my handy-dandy Zutter Bind-It-All, but I think the Cinch is going to make putting my handmade journals together even quicker and easier. It is Competitor Coupon day at Memory Bound Scrapbook Store in Ankeny, so I'm going to save my husband a few dollars (he's buying me the Cinch for my birthday! Isn't that nice of me to save him all the trouble of having to pick out a gift for me?).
This means that I will have plenty of new journals on my table to offer at the next Market Day that I will be part of. I am foregoing July's Market Day so I can attend the awesome Altered Art Retreat at Sweetwater Studio, hosted by the fabulous Kay Sperry. I will be back at Market Day on August 28. I just picked up some sweet new papers from Pure Paper, and can't wait to use them on some upcycled journals and handmade books. And I've already started to make an inventory of small bingo books--they seem to be the best-seller!
I'll sign off for now and get ready to enjoy some traditional midwestern Fourth of July fun: grilling burgers, watching the parade in my hometown, and seeing some old friends. And then treating myself to celebrate 36!
Happy Independence Day!