Sweet Stamp Memories

6/18
Jo Knowles
Monday Writing Warm-up

"For today's prompt, share a memory of working on a project with someone you love. What was the project? Why were you working on it? Why was it important, or why did it become important? What did you talk about while you worked? What did the materials feel like in your hands? Smell like? Were you physically exhausted? Emotionally? Show us why this memory is important to you."

Stamping Sisters

"Can you hand me the corner rounder?" Rounded corners often make the card or picture; it softens it to blend in with the colors surrounding it for a more finished card or scrapbook page.

My two daughters-in-law and their friends once met monthly to create personalized cards and family scrapbooks for our loved ones. Life happens, and we aren't as connected any more, but Stacy and I plan to get together again this summer for a stamping marathon.

Stacy and Autumn often provided the place, opening up their homes for our Stamp Club.  They rearranged things for plenty of space for people, stamps, and kids, and their homes became our hobby shop.

The kitchen and dining room tables and sometimes a card table held all of our stamps, ink, paper, tools, and accessories, spread out to share.

We had our favorite flavors: The vibrant colors of summer in watermelon, clover meadow, and star-spangled blue, the subdued flavors of fall in pansy purple, sunflower, and outdoor denim, the holiday joy colors in cranberry, ponderosa pine, and moonstruck, or the soft spring delights of orchid bouquet, kiwi, and sunkiss yellow.

We carefully cut the colored cardstock into pages, cards, backgrounds, and highlights. We stamped the perfect words and designs to match the personality of the recipient and the thought of the celebration. We pushed through complementary colored brads and wired beads for just the write touch.

The grandkids joined us with their own stamping pads, markers, and paper, creating along side us. In and out to play and stamp, they chattered and scampered and created.

We sipped water, pop, and tea, and took time for shared food: cheese dips, dill dips, lazagne, spinach salads, rice and ham salads. Yum.

We continued the marathon stamping, breathing in the sweet aroma of chocolate brownies baking in the oven. Brownies, our staple.

We talked about kids and kids' games and kids' teeth and, yeah: Moms and Grandmas talk about kids. We gabbed about TV shows and movie stars. We planned recipes. We shared funny stories and sad stories. We laughed at our mistakes. We hugged the kids and oohed over their creations, truly proud they would join us.

Our stamp club mentor taught us new tricks, and we bought more, gladly adding and sharing our collections, and adding to each other's ideas.

Sometimes these days were the calm in the chaos of our lives, and we treasured the time together, time for ourselves, and yet time to create memories and celebrations for friends and family.

We rounded the corners of our lives on these special days. Our cards and scrapbooks let us "scatter seeds of kindness" to those we love.

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Your turn: What project sticks with you? Re-read Jo's prompt and live the project again, sharing the time in detail.

Character Warm Up

Monday Morning Warm-Up by Jo Knowles

June 11, 2012

The Prompt:

Think of someone you know well, someone you care about, or someone you love (or detest, that can be fun too!) and make a list poem like the one above, describing all of the traits that made that person special, unique, memorable, frightening (you get the picture). Try to avoid clichés. Instead, give us specific tidbits that show how the person's eyes sparkled rather than say they did--don't fail at it like me! :-) Once you have your list, circle your favorites. Think about why you like those the best. Now try to use similar ones to describe the characters in your works in progress. Give them their own particularities that might reveal something deeper about their personalities. But mostly, as I said last week, try to have FUN!

My Writing:

Decidedly Determined

Long, sleek black hair, falling straight to the middle of her back

Flowing like a cape around

her shoulders

Steele brown eyes, penetrating when disagrees, 

eyebrows straight to finish the staredown

Waits

Waits

Questions calmly

Eyes soft and sparklling 

like dark amber shining,

laughing, 

eyebrows relaxed

Waits

Waits

Comments softly

Almost always serious in class

eyes questioning,

smile flattened,

attending

Quiet

Focused

Finished

Ask questions

to create and add

to assignments

Tallest kid in class

Taller than the teacher

Stocky and strong, 

Grace with legs long,

a family trait;

Powerful discus thrower

Endurance basketballer

Formidable

Fierce

A force 

opponents

move away

Long strides in the hall

Surrounded by friends

Less shy

Voice soft yet strong

Encouraging and teasing

Flicks her head back

to adjust her hair

Brushes hair quickly

away from her face

Serious again

Always prepared

Always willing

to learn and revise

Steady thinking

thinking

thinking

then

working

working

a question

working

finishing

Always loving

Always helping

Grandmother

Guides her walk

Sits and talks

Waits for meetings

Entertains herself

Til needed again

Patient

Devoted

Decidedly Distinguished

Kitchen Cares

"Sheri-Rae! Close the back door!"

Splat! I swatted at the mosquito as I pulled the white, wooden, screen door closed. It never latched properly.

I had smelled the chocolate as I ran home down the alley from Jean's house. The street lights had popped on, and that was my curfew. I heard the night train whistle in the distance.

I turned toward the counter and hoped for cookies. Standing on my tiptoes, I lifted the porcelain owl's head, it's "eyebrows" and lower feathers painted red with bright nail polish. I imagine the original had peeled off, and Mom's solution was a quick and easy one.

MMMmmmm! Yes, chocolate chip cookies. I pushed the pine chair over to the edge of the cupboard to stand on. I pulled a white tupperware glass and a corning plate from the cupboard, placed them in front of the owl. I bent over the cookie jar and topped my plate with six cookies.

Hopping off the chair, I stepped to the refrigerator on the other side of the back door. I pulled the handle of the door and grabbed a bottle of milk, readjusting the bottom crisper drawer filled with minnows for tomorrow night's fishing. I poured a full glass and set the bottle on the counter.

"Put the milk away!" Mom called from the living room. I heard the start of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" on the TV.

After putting away the milk, I looked up to the clock -- it's background painted teal to match the kitchen walls. Nine-thirty said the white numbers.

I grabbed my plate and glass and walked around to my spot at the table. I closed the pantry door, and pulled out my chair.

Wouldn't it be nice if every kid could have home-made chocolate chip cookies made by Mom?

And in my kitchen today is the same table, with the leg of my side of the table rubbed off from the constant shoving of the chair, in and out, to get into the one-person pantry or to open the oven door.

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Prompt Source:
Monday Morning by Jo Knowles

Describe your childhood kitchen memory.
Describe: detail, senses, story


Take a snapshot of the memory.
Describe the room, the sights, sounds, smells.
How will you describe it -- spacial? around? through?


What's the focus? Who's there? How will we "see" it through your words? 
What happened before the snapshot? In the snapshot? After the snapshot?
Zoom in on the focus. Who? What? Sights, sounds, smells...


Be there now and write!