Random Saturday - Feeling like a Queen

The time was the late 70s. My best friend and I were on a mission to shop. We came packed with money, well, what we considered packed. After all we were teenagers and on a rather tight budget, so we had to choose wisely, think twice. We couldn't afford to regret.

Don't get fooled by the title of this post. We didn't go to a jewelry shop, we were at the local office supply store. Not one of the department stores, but the place where they had the good stuff, the special stuff. Beautiful pens, stationery in all colors of the rainbow, and what you needed for the latest hype at that time. Seals and wax.
The seals were easy to pick, our initials, a U for her, a C for me. The wax was not so easy, though. I can still see the display before my inner eye, all the beautiful colors lined up, but we knew we couldn't have them all.
A classic choice was the red of course, and if my memory doesn't fail me, that's what I picked in the end.

Those were the times when we still had pen pals. I wrote letters, between five and ten pages long. EVERY day. Today my wrist starts hurting after one page, but as a teenager I had pen pals in Belgium, Australia, Ireland, England, Germany and for a very short time a fellow in the USA who became a foreign exchange student very quickly after we started writing, came to Germany and sent me a letter every day - on a differently colored stationery for each letter.
Today I still feel the excitement when I get one of those elusive hand written letters, maybe even more because it is such a rare event.
And now I could send my own letters in royal style. Here you go, that's the title explained. I stole it from a friend of mine, by the way, who mentioned feeling that way when using her own seal in the old days.

I don't know where I first got the idea to have my logo as a seal, but it has been a while. Then I forgot it again, browsed a little more, forgot it again, and that went on for some time until I got my tax return and thought that now was the right moment to just get one.
This week it arrived, and wow, within seconds I turned back into 13 year old me and had to try it out immediately although part of me said nooo, it's too pretty to use!

Actually this is a rich, dark color, but the flash and the fact that purple likes to turn bluish in pictures didn't help here. Isn't my little cat cute, though, playing with her wire and beads like that?
Now where did all my pen pals go? ;-)

Have you had yourself ...

... a merry little Christmas? Yes, I know I am late. I'm giving up on explanations or excuses why my blog is neglected. Sure I am hoping it will be better next year, but who knows?
Anyway, I hope you had a great time and most of all I hope you got a bit of peace and rest, on the outside and the inside.

What I want to show you today, doesn't have to do with Christmas, though. It's just another one of those posts that are sadly overdue.
There is this friend of mine, you know. She's crazy, she's lovable, she's funny, and she made something for me that made me freak out when I had to pick it up at customs.
Sharon is a bead loomer, too. Actually that's how we first met. Not in person (yet?). I'm not even sure if the planet would be able to survive us meeting in person. The way it is she's in California and I'm still in good ole Germany.

I don't want to keep up the suspense any longer. Meet Denis, my Cat's Wire logo loomed from Delicas in a beautiful and very personal tapestry. Can you imagine my gasp at the office customs when I pulled it out of its envelope? Can you imagine me telling the clerk more than once that this was my logo? From beads? Made by my friend? For me? My shop logo?

Thank you again, Sharon! You really made my day with this!

To remind you, this is the original logo that my dear friend Denis (hence the kitty's name ;-)) designed for me.
 

Sharon does not have a shop at the moment (if/when she does, you'll be sure to find an interview with her here), but if you want her to make a tapestry or anything else for you, you can contact her via e-mail sjkrauss@gmail.com
You won't be disappointed!