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Sneak Peek

PDX Paperie



PDX Paperie

I love all the new ink colors from Stampin’ Up!, but these two – Pretty Peacock and Rococo Rose are my favorite. I used them this morning in the hour before my kids woke up to finish a thank you card, using a mix of current stamps and a flower from a set from the upcoming catalog. One of my goals this year is to send more thank you cards, and not just the perfunctory “thank you for the birthday gift” type. Expressing gratitude can be so much more.

Journalist A.J. Jacobs recently wrote ‘Thanks a Thousand: A Gratitude Journey’, a book about his quest to thank everyone involved in the process that led to his morning cup of coffee. This resulted in A.J. traveling the world, thanking a thousand people, all of whom played a part in that cup of coffee! In his description of the idea of the book, he said that now that his quest was completed,

“I’ve been pestering my friends to go on these Trails of Gratitude themselves.

It doesn’t have to be coffee. It could be anything: a light bulb, a pair of socks, your toothpaste. And you don’t have to spend six months travelling around the world. It could just be a small gesture, like looking a cashier in the eye.

Or sending a note to the designer of a logo you love.

Mostly, it’s a mindset. It’s about refusing to take things for granted.”

A different approach to expressing gratitude is explained by Seth Godin. In an interview with Tim Ferriss, Seth ended the discussion by with the advice “Send someone a thank-you note tomorrow.” This apparently resulted in many listeners sending him a thank you note (myself included) which he later explained was not his point at all. In this interview, Seth elaborates that he said “send someone a thank-you note, because it is really uncomfortable. It leads to a connection that opens a door that most people are afraid to walk through…if you write to your peer, if you write to your sister who you have never once said thank-you to, that is hard. That is scary. That is what I am looking for. Juiciness.”

Whichever approach you take – sending someone a quick thank you note because you appreciate the small contribution they have made to your life, or expressing gratitude to someone in a way that requires great vulnerability and courage, there is no better time to start than now.

One thing I am grateful for is the community of crafters who provide me with support and inspiration, including my partners on this blog hop. Check out how they are using the new colors in Stampin’ Up!

Anna Pickering

Jenny Schütz

Leonie Stuart

And thank YOU for checking out our blog hop!

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