I went to a stamp show today in the hopes of seeing something new, learning something new, or finding something new.

I am in desperate need of inspiration. I didn’t really find any.

I did see one new techniques (new to me at least) for making backgrounds, but it will cost me a fortune to get the new supplies. There is a poor man’s way to do the technique, but I will not be happy to do it that way. I always want the best and all the bells and whistles. There is a specific kind of marker that is needed for this and they are very very expensive. I’ve wanted them for a long time, but haven’t wanted to indulge.

I may have to now.

I didn’t buy too many stamps. I found a couple of them that were new and different, but I seem to own so many that there are few that make me want to gasp in pleasure. I did find one stamp of an American flag that I’ve wanted for a while.

I have hopes of actually making some cards for the 4th of July.

Maybe that will inspire me to try other things too.

I keep looking through magazines to try to find ways to organize more efficiently. I think that is one of my problems. I can’t find things easily, I forget what I have and then get crazed when I decide I need something specific.

I also hate that I don’t seem to be able to centrally locate anything. I’ve got supplies in four different places and in storage boxes under every chair. I someone need to figure out a way to make things both visible and accessible , while at the same time keeping my living room and dining area.

I’m not sure this is going to be possible!

I made a small dent in getting the living room squared away. I’ve started going through the stacks of magazines and deciding what needs to be kept and what can be tossed. The stamping magazines will be kept, and I’ve started putting them in magazine file boxes. I am actually tossing out a fairly large stack of other magazines, fashion, New Yorker etc., but I have to go through them and pull out anything that I might want to use in a collage at some point.

I think that Oprah’s new magazine is one of the loveliest I’ve seen in a long time. It has a wide array of interesting articles, lovely pictures, and interesting things that are meant to be torn out and saved.

Lots of visual appeal.

I finally finished all my planting and threw the seeds I had hanging around into the pots that still had nothing in them.

Unfortunately it doesn't look as if it's going to rain tonight. The weather pattern has been great, giving us rain every night, meaning I don't have to do all that hauling of water to the balconies.

It's been so hot today that I'll be hauing for a while tonight. Things are looking mighty wilted.

It’ll be interesting to see if anything grows!