Ode to Leslie...

Greetings all.

As you know, with heavy hearts we learned last week of Leslie's passing.

As the design team, we struggled briefly to figure out where this left Shopping Our Stash. 

What would Leslie want us to do?

Although it will never be the same without her, with the blessing of Leslie's children, we have decided to carry on. 

We think it's what Leslie would want...so although some things might look or feel a bit different at times, please know that we have decided to keep going in tribute our friend. Our throughtful, lovely, kind, funny, snarky, witty, pink-hating, eye rolling friend.

The design team picked a favourite card of Leslie's and wanted to share them with you.

Thanks for taking this journey with us.

Lauren:

Ok, this was *tough* because despite the fact that we had waaaaay different styles... (or maybe because we did?!) ...I loved almost everything Leslie made. I loved her snarky cards, I loved her CAS vibe, and I especially loooooved the way she constantly experimented, and kept working on ideas that didn't necessarily pan out right away; and then she'd write about the whole process in blog posts that made me totally snort coffee up my nose. :) :) :)  But I chose this one from July of last year, because it was made for one of our Jingle Belles challenges, where the assignment was to make a card inspired by what was then our JB blog header:  a (gah!) pink-n-purple, sparkly, flowery, glittery-letter-bedecked collage extravaganza that was very VERY my style and not at all Leslie's style... and yet... SHE ROCKED IT!  And then she wrote about it in this post that was as touching as it was hilarious.  And which I confess made me cry as I re-read it.  I'll miss those posts.  I'll miss her comments.  I'll miss the little flurries of 2-line emails we'd exchange whenever I was home in the morning and doing comments at the same time she was.  I'd've liked a few more years of all of that, but I'm grateful for the years I was lucky enough to get, and I know if there's a crafty afterlife, Leslie is already organizing the supplies and thinking up challenges!  Farewell, my friend, I hope you're next adventure is all you could wish for!

♥♥♥

Barbara:

This was my favourite Leslie card and it was made for the Sisterhood of Snarky stampers The original post was August 27, 2015 and I always enjoyed her wit when explaining on what went wrong, many times I have been so glad I wasn't drinking when I read her blog.  I so want to case this card. Here  is the link to her original post.

Chris:

I had such a hard time trying to decide which card of Leslie's stood out the most to me. She loved to try new techniques and styles. To me, she was a master of CAS, and man, did she have some wicked awesome snarky cards! But this card really made my jaw drop when I first saw it, and did again as I looked back over her blog. This was yet another experimentation in trying new things for her. She blogged about this back in February this year and you can read her post here. I loved her witty thought process and how she explained how her mind worked. I am glad I figured out that you should not drink anything whilst reading her hilarious blog posts. She was one of a kind and I will miss her much. ♥

Donna:

Like everyone else, I had a really really really really hard time picking my favourite card of Leslie's. But I do admit I did enjoy going back through her blog to admire her awesome creations.

Initially I wanted to pick the "It's a Christmas Cod" card, because frig...that made me laugh.

I chose this one because I love the colours, the plaid background she made, the grumpy little groundhog(??) and I did indeed kind of think this is what Leslie would be telling us if she thought we were moping around being sad.

I love Leslie's blog posts as much as her cards. It's like you are right there with her in her craft room giggling with her at all the funny mistakes that we all make while crafting.

Ugh, sorry, I am back to sad...somewhere Leslie just rolled her eyes I am sure.

Chana:

There is no way for me to choose a favorite Leslie creation.  Leslie was my "Queen of Clean" and her sentiments were always spot on! She was witty and had an almost "British," very dry sense of humor.  I think this card captures her sense of snark!   She found my project "way to much to do"  and her last comment to me was " I don't know how you can put all these things on a project and still have it work, but it does."  I didn't know her as long as others on the team, but she helped me become a better designer with her crazy out of the box challenges. And then, as I wrote on my Facebook page when I learned of her death, Leslie, funny, snarky, lovely Leslie is gone...just like that! I still can't take it in.  I know I will stop crying...in a minute. I will go back to her blog and look at her work and I will remember and the tears will come again. It will take a long minute.  It still does not feel real."

Jessi:

It was so very hard to choose a favourite - just reading through Leslie's blog had me in tears again. The sentiment on this card - how I feel about Leslie. The post that she wrote to go with it? Pure Leslie. Mistakes, self-deprecation, asking us to pretend she'd done something once she noticed the mistake.... Leslie inspired me to include my own AUGH moments when I blog. She left the funniest comments - the most supportive comments - and was one of my first "OMG I cannot BELIEVE that SHE COMMENTED ON MY BLOG!!!!" famous bloggy people. (You know what I mean, the people who you admire from afar and then holy crap, now you're friends!) In between bouts of tears I keep laughing thinking of the terrifically snarky things she'd be saying to us - and I'm planning on using a heck of a lot of (gah!) pink just for her. 

Alica:

Can't pick one favorite, so I picked this one, because I just received this exact same card from Leslie on Christmas Eve - and I was thinking - hey I've seen it on her blog. It's her typical style - simple and fun.

Deena:

Before reading this post, I had picked the same card as Carla - only in green, as that was the first time I "met" Leslie...we often had the same snark and sense of humour and there was more than one occasion on this blog that I had to go back and "re-make" my project of the week as we often came up with the same idea - even using the same stamp sets...I guess we were kind of kindred spirits that way, without even meeting in real life.  It is hard to write this as her Christmas card arrived at my house this morning...may still change that to my favorite card as I possess it in real life...

Carla:

I had to go back to the beginning of SOS as Leslie was the first person I approached about creating the SOS blog. I had always admired her style and was thrilled when she said yes. I picked this ribbon wreath because it was one of the first projects she shared on the SOS blog and because it has lots of PINK (gah!) and it seems a fitting way to honor her memory and all she shared with us. Leslie will be missed by so many and I will treasure the memories I have of her wit and camaraderie.
 

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