That's me in the corner...

That's me in the spotlight, making my Thanksgiving - uh, cards... Okay, so I'm not a lyricist - and I don't have a purple truck, but if I did, well, that would be me. I love pumpkins, don't you? I love the little ones in the market - and I hate when people draw faces on them! They are so perfect all on their own, plump and orange. Oh no, I've said too much - I haven't said enough...

I'd better stop singing while I'm ahead. I do, however, want to sing the praises of my Crop-A-Dile! I can finally set eyelets that look like they're meant to be there, instead of a crumpled, mangled mess. When I first attempted to make my own cards, I spent an inordinate amount of time watching Martha Stewart in all her crafty perfection. No wonder I felt so crappy about my piddling projects! Anyhow, if you ever looked at a Martha by Mail catalog, you were probably as enthralled as I was with all her little, uber-organized, turquoise-labeled kits, guaranteed to make you a domestic diva, just like Martha. I spent $29 on her cute silver-cased eyelet kit, complete with little glass top containers of eyelets, a protective mat for my work surface and its own miniature hammer. Veni, vidi, VISA... Well, too bad there really was no guarantee, because I could never even master punching a hole with the dang thing, let alone set an eyelet. After what seemed like months of experimentation (I'm sure it was really only about a week), I gave up completely and switched to a hole punch and brads. That didn't mean that I stopped looking longingly at cards with eyelets - I had just resigned myself to the fact that I would never be able to produce anything remotely as cute. But then - my Crop-A-Dile arrived and life hasn't been the same!