Once Upon A Time . . .

I understand that some folks start out with an idea and end up creating exactly what they had in mind. Not me! I basically have no idea what I'm doing, so by the time I'm done stamping, my stamp room looks like a tornado swept through. This all started last night when I decided to create a bright, clean, Christmas card. I colored Santa and the children brightly with Prismacolor pencils on nice white paper and set it aside fully intending it to be used on some bright, clear Memory Box paper. Today I picked up the colored image and thought -- Cracked Glass. Never did it before. Think I'll try it. Three hours later, this is the result. Left in this 5 x 6.5" card's wake is an amazing assortment of ink pads, oval cutters, embossing powder, sponging, etc. I literally don't remember all the ink colors I used to turn a simple red and pale yellow Memory Box paper into this background. Here's a pic of the original paper next to the final card! I think it is the small red and yellow tiny windowpane paper from the Homespun collection. It's hard to tell with the wavy effect from the camera, but I think you can see what a trip this paper took! Supplies Used: (as best as I can recall) Stampin Up: A Merry Little Christmas; Season's Greetings stamp sets; assorted earth elements and Real Red and Glorious Green ink pads all used to age the papers and rub onto the Cracked Glass image; Kraft, Ivory Naturals and Ruby Red cardstocks; Copper Hodgepodge brad; and the little paper distressor (used around the oval matting). In addition: assorted Prismacolor pencils; Encore Gold ink; Palette Burnt Umber ink; Ranger clear embossing powder; Creative Memories oval cutter; unknown twill ribbon, Xyron (I covered the image with the sticky side and embossed about 8 times, put it in the freezer and craaack!), and the strip of paper underneath the twill is Basic Grey. Whew! ***** so what's the etiquette here? should I make believe that I don't know that the amazing Nichole Heady picked one of my cards for Honorable Mention on the Papertreyink contest and act all humble like it is an ordinary day in the life of an average stamper or should I just admit that I am stunned?