Card With an Adventurous Life

This card has led quite an interesting life so far.  It began in June when I made the polymer clay piece.  See I got this brainy idea to make a kimono pendant.  I even put holes in the top to suspend it from a piece of bamboo.  Well, I just didn't like it well enough to make jewelry out of. My skills with clay haven't yet caught up with the imagination in my head. So I set it aside.  The poor little clay piece has been sitting on the corner of my desk ever since, getting lonelier by the minute.  Saturday I decided to work with dye inks.  I happily played, made quite a mess, and used up all my glossy paper:( Not having prepared or planned ahead of time, with ink all over the place and sticky gloves on my hand I decided I needed some rock salt.  Instead of taking of the gloves (cause that would have made sense) I attempted to open the cabinet door with my elbow, and hit myself in the forehead with the door, leaving a nice little mark behind. I continued following my creative muse merrily sprinkling the salt over wet ink and anticipating the wonderful outcomes. When I looked over where the cardstock pile should have been and realized it was all gone, I sadly began cleaning up.  Naturally, the ink somehow mangaged to find its way under the plastic I'd put on the counter to protect it from stains. Not able to find any bleach, I reached for an SOS pad to try to scratch the ink off the laminate. In doing so, I knocked the plastic on the floor spilling some of the salt. Now this is where the story takes a turn towards the Lucy-ness that I'm known for.  I get the bright idea to take the sheet of plastic outside to shake off the rest of the salt. Did I think this through?  Of course not. Because if I had, I would have known what waited outside for me, following my every move, always trying to get as close to me as possible and STAY THERE - my Australian Shepherd, Cricket. Otherwise known as "hurricane Cricket." She just knows that anything in my hand must be food, and it must be for her. So, while I'm busy shaking all the rock salt off the large unwieldy sheet of  plastic, Cricket decides to help herself to the food and busily begins to scarf up the dye-soaked salt.  NO Cricket!  "That's not food, it bad for you!" While I'm trying to keep her from eating what I think could be disastrous for her digestive system, she thinks we're playing some new game. (Did I mention how mischievous Aussies are?) She grabs the plastic sheet and takes off running. Yes, now I realize that running barefoot chasing the dog all over 20 acres is not one of the smartest things I've done.  At the time I thought I had to save my darling dog from ingesting rock salt laden with dye ink.  I finally got the sheet, rinsed out Cricket's mouth with the hose, covered my cuts with bandaids and removed the splinters from my foot. (Don't worry Cricket is fine.) I returned to my creations in the kitchen and was oohing and ahhing over the results, when in walks my darling husband.  "Gee honey, I didn't know cooking was such hard work, you're all out of breath and covered with cuts and bruises.  What's for dinner?"  Dinner?  He wanted to eat?  Is that what he thinks I do in the kitchen?  Didn't he realize I'd been risking life and limb chasing a crazed dog all over 20 acres?  After ordering take-out for my clueless husband, I latched on to this one piece of inked perfection, thinking the colors are just right for that lonely clay kimono!  I grabbed a stamp containing the perfect lines of Japanese poetry and prepared to create a masterpiece.  What was the poem you say?  I have no idea, I just chose it because I liked the shape.  Hey, at least I knew which way was right-side up! I pondered endlessly about the correct placement of the Japanese characters and the kimono, then inked up the stamp and...... forgot this stamp didn't need so much pressure and got a big icky blog of ink on my gorgeous paper!!! ahhhhh!  "Dont' panic," I tell myself, "I can fix this." That's why you see the little piece of additional characters below the kimono.  What do they say?  I have no idea.  Are they Japanese like the poem?  Haven't got a clue. My friends on the Oriental Stamp Art forum would gasp!  Maybe they won't notice?  Anyway just to make it look like I planned this whole thing out, and knew exactly what I was doing, I put a piece of the same line of characters on the envelope. There, now doesn't that look like a well-planned brilliant piece of work?  Don't worry, you won't hurt my feelings if you don't just love it.  Like any good mother, I love it anyway, this poor card's been though a lot.