Blog Crushes on Strangers

I am terrible at e-mail.  If you've ever written to me you know this to be true.  There is just so much of it and sometimes I think about deleting my entire inbox (2,062 unread messages as of this posting) and starting over.  That said, my favorite kind of e-mails to read are the generous and heartfelt messages from people I've never met who tell me how much they enjoy reading my blog and seeing my art.  Makes me mushy and gushy and giggly and happy every single time.  And drives me to keep blogging every day.

So in the vein of spreading the love, I thought I'd publicly shout out my girl-crushes on a few bloggers that I've never met, but think are just awesome! 

Mandi from Making Nice in the Midwest

I've always loved Mandi's quirky scrapbooking style.  She rarely scrapbooks these days, but I still dig all of her DIY ideas.  I've noticed that she has started dabbling in art journaling, as seen in the photo above.  Plus her photos (and fashion statements) are super fun to peek at.  She seems like the kind of cool chick you'd love to be friends with -- creative, down-to-earth, and very self aware!  Plus her recent grace-under-pressure in her battle with cancer has been über inspring.

Pam Garrison

I love Pam because she's a dabbler.  She does it all -- stitching, art journaling, lettering, crocheting, painting...a woman after my own heart.  And she has fallen in love with Project Life and that's just awesome to see!  She's also super prolific, offering lots of wonderful eye candy on her blog.  Oh, and lest I forget, she's an enthusiastic art experimenter!  I dream of taking a class with Pam one day!

Stephanie Howell from
Just Me, My Soldier, And Our 4 Little Chicks

Stephanie is Mom to four little girls and currently living on an American military base along with her soldier husband in Italy.  She is a wonderful storyteller and her photos make me want to live in Italy too!  She seems like the best Mom, a truly "real" person, incredibly genuine, and lots of fun!  Her scrapbooking style is a million miles away from mine, but she writes wonderful posts about competitive creativity and memory keeping, like this one, that make me swoon!  She smart and insanely positive and I always enjoy a visit to her blog!  (ETA: I have to confess that I now realize I once met Stephanie for about 30 seconds at the Craft & Hobby Association Show a year or two ago, but I'm going to still call her a stranger, okay?)

Mary Ann Moss from Dispatch from L.A.

I want to dive into Mary Ann's beautiful sketchbooks that embrace imperfection and the hand drawn line!  Her blog is filled with lovely artful adventures and she's very funny.  Definitely seems like the kind of sarcastic and fun woman I would love to hang around with.  She also has a serious case of wanderlust and takes exciting trips to far off place and shares lots of photos.  Love that!  She's currently on a gouache kick and it makes me want to try it too!

So, there you go.  My crushes on strangers professed.  It's amazing how you can feel like you know someone from reading their blog, isn't it?

Thanks for stopping by!