PC or Not PC: That is the Question

Every Monday, Pamela, the designer behind Peppermint Creative, shares an inspirational card that can be used for scrapbooking or for printing. These cards are part of a series called "Mint-spirational Monday." The sayings on the cards are usually uplifting, but sometimes Pamela sneaks in a humorous, tongue-in-cheek saying on these fun cards.

Yesterday's card was this:

Courtesy of Peppermint Creative

For me it's always nice to see these cards on a Monday, since Mondays can be a bit hard to get into, coming off a weekend. I look forward to seeing the weekly release.

Last month, Pamela created a card that I found humorous:

Courtesy of Peppermint Creative

However, someone took offense to the statement, specifically the part about "miserable cow." 

While I don't know Pamela personally, from reading her blog and being in one of her Facebook groups, I know that sentiment was not meant to be cruel to anyone. It was simply a saying that was meant to lift one's spirits a bit. It worked for me. I know I laughed out loud (literally) because the statement is true: good things will happen if YOU choose not to be miserable. 

Based on the fact that Pamela created the card and posted it on her blog, offering it as a free download to anyone who wanted it, I don't think she had to feel any need to apologize to anyone about the statement. It IS her blog and website after all.

The whole "political correctness" sometimes goes a bit too far, in my opinion. In the realm of things, this was one little statement that some might agree with, some might laugh at, or some might just ignore. Personally, if you don't like the offering or take offense, just move along to something else that's more your taste. There are TONS of things on the Internet that I don't necessarily agree with or like to see, but seriously, if I don't like it, I just move on unless it's something that truly needs to be addressed. 

I'm not going to get onto my soapbox or start a whole political debate about right and wrong. However, it's high time that we stop taking EVERY thing so seriously. Laughter can be an incredible healer at times, especially if you're feeling a little down. Mint-spirational Monday is simply that - a little inspiration to infuse into what could be a hard start to your week. 

Thanks, Miss Mint, for bringing a little levity to my week and for these freebies to add to my memory books!

Heather T. Opens Up Shop at Pickleberry Pop!

Designer Heather T. has a new home. She has taken up residency at Pickleberry Pop! If you're not familiar with her designs, take a look at the array of both PU (personal use) and CU (commercial use) products on sale for 30% off through February 2nd during her grand opening:

Courtesy of Heather T.

Courtesy of Heather T.

Courtesy of Heather T.

Courtesy of Heather T.

Courtesy of Heather T.

Heather's brushes are favorites of mine:

Courtesy of Heather T.

Courtesy of Heather T.

Wander on over to Heather T.'s new shop today since the grand opening sale ends tomorrow!

Inspire Your Heart With Art Day

Yesterday, January 31, was Inspire Your Heart With Art Day. Essentially, it's a day to appreciate art and how it affects you. I took it as a day to create art. With that in mind, I did a little bit of creating, warming up by finishing two regular digiscrap layouts, then creating an art journaling page - something I haven't dabbled in for quite awhile. 

Valeria of Little Butterfly Wings holds a monthly template challenge. I hadn't thought about participating until I saw a page from a fellow digiscrapper using January's template. I decided that since I had failed to complete many of the challenges from The Lilypad's Month of Challenges 4 this year, I could at least do the monthly template challenge, especially since I own lots of kits from Little Butterfly Wings. :D

Visiting Santa by cyranoscrap

CREDITS:

All supplies from Little Butterfly Wings unless otherwise noted

Papers: Santa Claus is Coming, My Own Little World

Elements: Santa Claus is Coming

Template: January 2016 Template Challenge

Fonts: Reba (title), My Underwood (date and journaling)

My biggest challenge on this layout was trying to do all the journaling. I haven't written a lot of journaling on my layouts in forever. On this layout, I now have the back story on the little guy's first visit with Santa.

Next up, I finished a layout that I had started on Saturday. This was a two-page template from The Daily Digi as part of their Gratitude Journal, a memory-keeping project. Luckily, I have been keeping track of my daily life in a planner (The Happy Planner from Me & My Big Ideas), so being able to create this spread wasn't too bad. I did change the dates a little to be more in line with how I keep track of the weeks. I'm still not used to the Monday-Sunday layout (that's how the planner is laid out), so I may change this again (the template runs from Friday-Thursday and I'm used to Sunday-Saturday). Good thing it's digital! :D

Project Life 2016 (journal-style): Week 3 by cyranoscrap

CREDITS:

Papers: Get Messy (The Daily Digi - The Digi Files #85)

Elements: Every Day of the Week and XOXO (Pink Reptile Designs); The Little Things, Sweet November, and Scrap Time Mini (Little Butterfly Wings)

Template: Gratitude Journal – Week 3 (The Daily Digi)

Fonts: Facile Sans (week); Pea BMad (journaling)

Finally, after realizing Sunday, January 31st was Inspire Your Heart with Art Day, I was compelled to make an art journaling page. Art journaling doesn't come easy to me, but there are lots of great digiscrapping "tools" available for me to make the process easier. 

What's wonderful about art journaling is being able to just do whatever you want, without any particular rules. I love being able to have spattered and messy backgrounds, elements that can be scattered... For this particular creation, I had no desire to have any frames, and I wanted to try out a mask over a not-so-great quality photo.

Together We Make A Family by cyranoscrap

CREDITS:

All supplies from Crafty Button Designs

Papers: Home

Elements: Home, Love Story, Maskin Momma V6, Colorful Chaos, Cotton Candy, Full Circle

I'm glad that I had "practiced" a little by doing other pages before I created the art journaling page. It's really hard to just put an art journaling page together when you don't scrap on a regular basis, lol. 

Anyway, I'm proud of myself for at least getting a few pages done. It's been a long time coming!