Therapy....and a Challenge!

Yesterday was a great day....retail therapy and "coffee with the girls" therapy! Janine, Kelly, Beverley and I went to the coolest wee shop, S'Wonderful in Brooklyn (they're moving soon though!) Filled to the brim with cool, retro stuff - I spotted this.....
and just had to have it! I'd read about these posters a few weeks ago, I think I blog hopped starting from Kristina's site - and I was really intrigued by the story behind them. They are all over the design world at the moment (so much so I think it might now be UNCOOL to have one - I'm always too late to make the cool stage!)

The basic story is, during WWII there were a bunch of posters made to convey messages to the public. They used an entirely new font, one designed to be "special and handsome" - making it hard to counterfeit the posters! The first two posters ('Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution will Bring Us Victory' and 'Freedom is in Peril') were used but the third ('Keep Calm and Carry On') which was to be used in the event of an invasion, was never distributed (despite over 2 million copies being printed) You can find more info here.

Fast forward a bit, the poster was found in an attic....hung in a secondhand bookstore in London, and eventually drew so many comments that the owners started reproducing the poster. A quick Google search shows you can now buy it on everything from mugs to t-shirts - in every colour under the sun. My version is screen printed by hand, I love the way it's framed....showing the raw edge of the paper rather than covering it with a mat.

I love it. I love the back story, I love the typeface, I love the juxtaposition of a bold, modern design....that was created in 1939! Most of all, I love the message. As someone prone to anxiety and moments of terrified paralysis (yup, I have a flair for the dramatic!) the message is really important to me.

So here it hangs....above my computer workstation to remind me everyday - Keep Calm and Carry On! (taking this photo was weird....my camera has that auto focus on a face feature....it loved that mask!)

Now, one of the most fun things about going out is.....every time Kelly drops me home, I have a parcel waiting! Yesterday I had two - some Basic Grey (Eva - yum!) paper and Glimmer mist...and my new Verve! Wooohoo! Even better, Kelly got her first Verve parcel too - yippee!

Now, it's just as well I got some new goodies...cos it'll be the last time for awhile!

On the road to SENZ (kinda like CHA - the NZ version) I NEED to save some money. It'll be a huge shopping weekend, but not if my credit card is maxed out! lol

So in moments of pure genius or utter madness, Janine and I hatched what she has dubbed the Spend or Save (SOS) Challenge! The rules are pretty simple....no more craft spending, at all, until SENZ weekend - 10th-12th of October.

There are some exceptions - we both have some pre-ordered goodies coming, so they are allowed. Janine has her exemptions here, mine are:

Some trademe primas and paper arriving soon

A Stampin' Up! parcel which just arrived as I was typing this, yay! (if I'd known I would have done more than stock up on envies, dimensionals and card stock! Oh well, there are two new sets in there at least lol)

and I was allowed to buy my SENZ ticket, which I did this morning.

Janine has set herself the extra challenge of not using some of the goodies she has coming - which is just masochistic! lol

So that's the challenge, and I have to say, I'm kinda excited! I have a TON of unplayed with stuff at the moment, I've been so busy reorganising that I just haven't had time to get inky. I also found a bunch of stuff I forgot I had - so it'll be great to use what I have! and hopefully, come SENZ - I will have saved enough to go hogwild shopping!