State of Being Obsessed

Do you ever go into an insane phase when your thoughts and feelings are dominated by this persistent desire to obtain something? And you know that you will not have another good night sleep until you have whatever that is in your hands or have the entire set in your shelf? I have an aunt who can answer yes to this question as I have witnessed her go through many obsessions such as: beanie babies, furbies, Precious Moments figurines, Starbucks mugs from different cities and Dooney and Coach purses. The beanie babies craze was by far the biggest of hers I've seen. She would travel to different states to obtain "limited edition" beanie babies. She had a case for each beanie baby and tag protectors, because without them they will not be worth much. I remember how they were all proudly displayed all over their house. Fast forward 15 years, I don't know what happened to them or if they are still projected to be worth a lot. 

I remember my son as a little boy completely absorbed into the whole Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh cards claiming that they will appreciate in value someday. After he left for college I found all those "collectible" cards in a shoe box and boy, I cannot part with them. They remind me of those many times when I would catch my son with his cards spread out on his bed room floor just admiring them, being a child. He would tell me how powerful each card was and what it could do. My daughter is the princess of obsessions. I remember the Iwako erasers phase...ah the joys of collecting.

I have been known to have a few obsessions of my own such as: makeup, paper crafting tools, pretty papers and pens. My current selection to obsess over are Copic markers. I have heard of Copic markers for many years, but I have not really focused on learning to use them in my card making and other paper crafting projects until recently. I must confess that for the past couple of months or so I have been just completely gung-ho over obtaining enough (however much that is) Copic markers that during my lunch time I would go to all three local craft stores and purchase one marker from each store using my 50% off coupon. They are not your regular Crayola markers mind you, they are $7.99 each. I will (fingers crossed) stop at 160 because there are almost 400 in its color chart. I have also been watching youtube a lot and learning from people who are so generous in sharing their knowledge and expertise with copics. I am still learning, but I truly love how these markers blend and how smoothly they apply on the images. I love that you can control how intense or subtle you want your colors to mix. I used them on the two greeting cards below. The photos do not do them justice, but they truly are more distinct up close and personal.

My Copic markers collection

Greetings Cards Kids stamp set (Wood 119887 Clear 120633)

Well, that's all for now. I have been very busy because my mom moved in town and we have been spending a lot of time in her house. She drove her Toyota Prius 2,900 miles from Alabama all by herself. She is exhausted but very happy in her new house. Isn't it wonderful that in spite of life's unavoidable challenges and tribulations, we cannot ignore the fact that life is always full of new beginnings?