Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, or volcanic ash …

… stays these couriers from the (not so) swift completion of their appointed rounds.” OK. So I changed up Herodotus’ quote a bit. It was rephrased to become the unofficial mantra of the USPS, too. My version involves the work of the USPS and Royal Mail, the national postal system of the United Kingdom.

Now, for the story. I saw this stamp on a card on a blog last fall. I don’t know what it is about me and images of kids looking out windows, but after nothing more than a casual glance, this sweet image had apparently burned itself into my brain. By December, I knew I had to find it – without knowing the name of the stamp, the artist, the company that makes it. Nadda. I searched with Google, using every combination of words I could think of. No luck (no surprise). The only thing that was left for me to do was search the blogs to which I subscribe, which is no small feat when one’s subscription list tops 200.

And so, starting at the top of the alphabetical list, I searched a few blogs each night. Not recalling when I had seen it, I scrolled back a couple of months. While I don’t remember now how long it took or how much time I spent looking, I finally found it after what I know was a considerable amount of scrolling. The stamp, “Day Dreamer,” is by Leanne Ellis Designs for the Sugar Nellie line sold exclusively by Funky Kits in the UK. All was well until I learned the coveted Day Dreamer was out of stock. Bummer. I signed up for Funky Kits to email me when it was back in stock. While my need was not urgent, I waited and waited and waited until April 15 when the message arrived. I hopped right on it, ordering Day Dreamer and one more stamp to make the postage (reasonable enough) “worthwhile.”

To make a long story short, it was “dispatched” April 16 but didn’t arrive until yesterday. Previously, my experiences with Royal Mail have been waits of 7 to 10 days. And it wasn’t until I was at work writing a statement about package delays due to the volcanic ash from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano for our European websites that I realized my little package had most likely been delayed as well.

Finally, about my card. It’s simple, partially because I colored the image before figuring out what paper I was going to use and then not finding the “right” one and otherwise due to the fact that simple is pretty much what I do. The horizontal scoring is intended to emulate siding. The image was colored with Prismacolor pencils and OMS. I wish I had 1,000 buttons like the one I used, its holes big enough to easily thread the ribbon through. Plain and simple. I love Day Dreamer. She was worth the wait.

Materials & Tools: White Daisy, Dutch Blue, and Black cardstock; Black ink pad; Funky Kits Day Dreamer stamp; Say it in Style stamp set; Ribbon from Wal-Mart; Button from my stash; Prismacolor colored pencils; Gamsol odorless mineral spirits; Blending stumps; Scor-Pal; Sanding block.

After the long stamp story, you will be relieved to know I don’t have a whole lot more to say. Hump Day today already. Another week is flying by. I have a mountain of laundry to address this evening. As they say, I’d better get to getting. I hope your Wednesday was wonderful. Take care, and thanks for stopping by!