Dear Stuff:

All right everybody.  Listen up.  I’m talking to all of you — fabric, thread, buttons, beads, paints, inks, colored pencils, stickers, paper, ephemera, scraps, trims — this is your only warning.  This is your year.  All of you — I’m not kidding.  It’s time you were used and used well, so get ready.

No more hiding in my drawers and on shelves and in plastic bins.  I’m not saving any of you for "good" anymore, OK?  I’m not afraid to use you, just because I might not be able to get more.  that’s just silly-talking, and I’m over it now.

Consider the colored pencils:

They thought they were pretty safe, but look at how much shorter some of them are than their neighbors.

Yes, buttons, it was hard to use 200+ red buttons on one project, but you know what?  I can get more!  I could probably get 1000s of red buttons without even breaking a sweat if I wanted to.  It didn’t take much effort to order 6 pounds of various colors yesterday, and they really didn’t cost that much.  So quit thinking you are sacred and safe and prepare to be USED!

I’m probably going to find other things to use and use up, too.    There’s a whole world of STUFF out there that I want to try.

I’m sure I’ll make some mistakes, and create some things that don’t need to see the light of day, but that’s OK.  Some of the things I do create with you WILL be good.  And don’t you think it will be more fun to part of something exciting, rather than just sitting in dark drawers not being used?  Isn’t that what you were made for???

Watch out world, here comes Suzanne and her STUFF!