I admit it. I have a problem.
It’s a shameful addiction, really. I have to sneak around, hiding my stash, glancing furtively over my shoulder to make sure no one has noticed me slipping things under pillows or onto shelves or into drawers. It’s no way to live.
But I do.
My name is Kate, and I’m a paper addict. I love paper. All sorts of paper. Smooth, tissue-thin copy paper; thick, nubbly watercolour paper; the funny dingy-blue stuff that hippies make out of shredded blue jeans, old newspaper, and bits of plant debris – I love it all. I can’t help it. And I love the things you make out of paper. Stationery. Sticky notes. Books, naturally. And…cards. Oh, cards. Calling cards, especially. How wonderful they are! Little bits of cardstock, embellished in a thousand ways. Embossed, emblazoned, inked all over with colourful graphics or just printed with a simple name and number.
They’re dreamy.
I have a collection of the things. Both my own and other people’s. No, really. I have a collection of my own – I have no fewer than four different business cards, plus a personal calling card.
Yes, I know. It’s a sickness. But it’s also an inspiration.
Because, you see, I think about those little slips of cardstock a lot. And about what I can do with them. And about how I can get my hands on more of them.
And sometimes, those obsessive little thoughts lead to…other obsessive little thoughts. Which take root. And grow. And send little tendrils out, which twine around and start climbing and before you know it, an idea has taken root, and started reaching for the sunlight.
That’s how the Catch & Release Story Project started. With a sordid little addiction, and an idea that wouldn’t stop growing…