Night Owl Cards

Slowly unpacking and working my way back to speed. Let's start with some cards I received on my recent trip. As I mentioned before there were no cards under the tree for Christmas. That's not a problem, except for a bit of hurt feelings. There was cash under the tree and we all know what to do with that. The results of that cash are still to come. But meanwhile my sister-in-law bestowed upon me one of those glorious Target gift cards (I hear people get ridiculous things like wicker baskets and pillows with that bit of plastic. Just mind-boggling). And, for good measure, she wasn't scared to give me actual cards, too. But let's start with what I bought with the gift card. I grabbed a box of this year's Stadium Club and a discounted box of last year's Archives. Yes, yes, I know, last year's Archives. I'm powerless in the face of a green $12.99 sticker. As you know, those were the four designs chosen last year. Not great decision-making by Top...

I always feel guilty about my blog at this time of year. Sure, I like Night Owl Cards to be more about cards than "look what I got," but we all know that one of the basic, underlying definitions of a card blog is "look what I got." It's at least part of the reason card blogs exist. But it's been a month since I've purchased any cards and after awhile I think "how long is this ruse going to go on? When are they going to discover that these are just plain old cards from my collection?" Even though I have a pretty good imagination when it comes to cards and have all sorts of ideas floating around in my brain (in fact, I'm working on one now), when you don't show new stuff when everyone else is, you start to feel a little inadequate. So -- yay -- today, I finally could do what others do. I went down to the store and bought some cards. You know, I became a sucker again! Because ripping wax is for suckers. But I don't mind. I'm...

November is a terrible time for buying cards. It's even worse than December because in December you've either already purchased all your holiday gifts and are ready to treat yourself with the leftover final pennies, or you've given up hope and are waving the credit card at every checkout clerk who even glances your way. But in November, there is A Plan. You're going to focus on buying for other people. You have lists and a budget and are a Very Careful Shopper. This is important for someone like me with a job like mine. Cards enter my head only fleetingly and then are dismissed as sinful. Be gone, card thoughts! I'm shopping for OTHERS. This is also the time that I stop looking on ebay or COMC or anywhere else for cards. Collecting goals are on hold until the day after December 25th. When I do pick up some cards, it's always from a retail store, it's always during a trip when I'm Christmas shopping, and it's always something cheap. Thus, t...