Embossing obsession…

If you are crafty, like me (no, not wily, crafty…) you know that craft obsessions come and go.  I’ve had my beaded flowers period, my cross stitch period, and I’m still convinced that I’m going to make a basket out of buttons one of these years. 

Not made by me - but I have the buttons and the instructions!

But my enduring obsession has been rubber stamps, and making greeting cards.

The world of rubber stamping has changed so much in the short amount of time I’ve been playing along.  Finding the right stamps that fit my tastes was and is a challenge, but as mail order catalogues have given way to internet shopping, that challenge has shifted, but not disappeared.  More on that in another post.

One of the biggest changes to this very small world is due to the rise of the scrapbooking movement – taking all of your photos and mounting them artfully with text and/or other ephemera and souvenirs.  The scrapbooking craze made papercraft materials more varied, plentiful, and widely available than ever.  Machines and papers that were only in stationers and copy shops were suddenly on the shelves at big box craft stores and smaller specialty stores around the country.  I was mostly oblivious to this as it was happening.

In my rubber stamping haze, I was slow to focus on paper.  I’ve almost always started with a white card stock base, layering images, color, other paper elements, but always with a rubber stamp focus. 

Birthday card - 2006

Then there was my amazing discovery of duplex paper – cardstock that was colored on one side and white on the other – it is still a must have in my craft room.  But now, it’s not color that’s got me hooked, it’s texture.

At some point along the road I realized that crafters had these manual machines that do magical things and allow you to crank out die-cut images, but also add texture to your paper.  It’s simple, it’s amazing, and I can’t get enough of it.  It’s not even electronic!  I now look for embossing folders everywhere I go.  Like the quest for the perfect rubber stamps in my earlier crafting years, now I make lists of companies and the designs they have and wonder why I can’t ever find them locally or easily. 

The conundrum for me is making the texture fit in with my stamping style, which remains mostly two-dimensional.  What I commonly see in online photo galleries are cards that feature textured panels with little to no stamped images or sentiments, or cards that use textured papers as backgrounds where the embossed image is largely obscured.  I’m looking for ideas somewhere in the middle.

Image made from embossed brass stencil in 2010 - note - NO rubber stamps!

I have a beginning…

Moose Day 2011

2013

…but ideas are welcome.  Send me thoughts, links to images, or better yet, come over for a craft night!  I’ll supply the texture…

Cards for sale...

So this month I did something I'd been thinking about doing for a long time, but hadn't quite gotten around to:  I made all-occasion card sets to sell at camp.

I don't consider myself an artist.  I just like to play with paper and rubber stamps and ink and double-face tape.  The idea of selling cards seems like a simple, enchanting way to make money, but it's, of course, more complicated than that.

-Many rubber stamp images are under copyright, which means you can't sell anything with that image without specific permission or a monetary arrangement with the copyright holder.  But the good news is that many stamp manufacturers will allow you to sell small numbers of works with their images as long as it is hand-stamped and not reproduced via a copier or printer, and sold in informal venues.  Like at a dance camp.  I had to choose my images carefully to make sure they were under these "angel" policies.  But as many of you know, I have plenty of stamps, so this was not really an issue.

-Trying to make money from small-time crafts is tricky because you have to try and figure out what the public wants.  The more you cater to public whims and desires, and the more you reproduce a simple image, or work with one single theme, the less fun it can be to create.  But luckily for me, I don't think that selling cards will ever really be a money-maker for me, so I stuck with a few guidelines for this first endeavour:

• A single, simple design for all of the cards
• Sets of six cards and envelopes, each with 1-3 images
• White base for all cards with a single color accent
• Object images that were not cute, but fun 

I'm also used to making large numbers of cards that are easy to replicate in small amounts of time.  It was fun to finally decide I was going to do this in mid-July, and then have 14 sets to sell by the time I left for camp on 8/3.

Results:  I sold 9 of the 14 sets!  Success!!!

The take away:

-I'm glad I went into this venture with the attitude that if the cards didn't sell, I would have my own thank you/all-occasion cards for the whole year.  (I still might - see leftovers above.)  I'm still glad that over half of my inventory sold.
-Will I do it again?  Probably.  But likely not often.  Selling at camp is easy.  Selling at other gigs maybe okay, but I'll have to see if it's worth it.
-Tools make all the difference.  One of the reasons I was able to make these cards so quickly is because I purchased a paper cutter last year, and then a scoring board this summer so I could fold the cards perfectly and easily every time.
-I really like the A2 size (okay, what they seem to call A2 in the US...) of 4.25' x 5.5".  It's easy to create those from standard size paper with minimal fuss.  
-I suspect that every time I decide to sell, I'll probably want to make new cards, as well as try to sell off the older ones.  I will always keep the designs simple so it's easy to make a bunch of them, but that the designs will be different each time.  For instance, this first group were all object images:  kitchen implements, yarn, clocks, shoes, etc., mounted on color, mounted on white.  The next set maybe very colorful by comparison, use texture, feature vellum, etc.

Wish me luck!  Send me card ideas!  And if you're interested in a lovely set of cards with clocks, yarn, shoes, or radishes on them, let me know...

Lightening the load, Part 2...

So, my solution to the notebook/calendar issue is in no way revolutionary.  And of course, it was all due to an impulse buy...

The day I went into Staples to buy my 2014 calendar pages for the Day Runner, I was heading to the check-out when I felt the lure of the Martha Stewart office supplies.  Staples, and office supply stores in general are dangerous for me in the way the Container Store is.  Somehow the prospect of paper clips and post-it notes and just the right size container for anything are the promise of an organized, de-cluttered, chaos-free life.  I can just run into the store for something simple - a new ink cartridge, let's say, and easily spend an extra ten or fifteen minutes gazing at gel pens or D-ring binders, imagining the papers already corralled, sorted, and filed, and the top of my office bookcase clean and clear.  It's almost heady.  Add Martha Stewart and her robin's egg blue and neutral-colored office products to the mix and clearly the beautiful life is at hand.  Here's what grabbed me:

Yes, it's a notebook.  Isn't it beautiful???

But it's just another spiral notebook, I hear you cry.  Martha has eaten your brain, Joanna, it is clear.

Well, yes.  Sort of.  It's a discbound notebook, also known as roll-a-bind, or Circa, as per Levenger.  It's a binder and a spiral-bound book merged into one, complete with removable pages, but without the heavy weight of a metal loose-leaf binder.  The size is the same as my usual notebook, but to this I can add and remove pages, including calendar pages.  I bought dividers to go with it so I can have sections for calendar, notes, to-do lists, address pages, etc.

And if I want to add pages I've created or printed myself, no problem.  Someone has already thought of this.  Behold, a special hole punch!

Now there's only one problem with my shiny new notebook/calendar that already has its lovely 2014 calendar pages ready to go:  where do I put my pen?   But Levenger has thought of this too...

Guess what's next on the shopping list...

Lightening the load, Part 1...

In addition to paying attention to the amount of paper I carry, my first task in reducing the weight of the bag I take to and from work was to identify the heaviest items and figure out how to reduce or eliminate them.

Along with library books, which are variable in weight, the two heaviest constants in my bag are my notebook and my calendar.  The notebook is key to my life.  It has lists of everything:  to-do lists, books to read, packing lists, lists of dances for dance programs, presents to buy, and on and on.  I used to have a new notebook for each (academic) year, but over time I've started using all of the pages, and simply rolling over to a new one whenever I need to.  My standard notebook has been Mead 5x7 spiral bound - easy to fit in bag or purse, enough pages to last for a year or more, with a handy, dandy spiral to hold my pen.

The heaviest item in my bag is my calendar, which is a Day Runner refillable binder holding 2-3 years of monthly calendar pages, address book, folders and pouches of loose items, note pages, and more.  I'm on my second binder, with who knows how many years of calendar pages behind me.

My version of this calendar is about 7"x9".  The binder rings and multiple years of calendar pages keep it weighty.  I actually still use the address book feature and can get to about June of one year before I must have the next year's pages.  I recently took out 2012 so I could put in 2014.

I know that I can't live without a notebook of some sort.  And while I keep somethings on Google Calendar, I need a paper version I can access all the time without relying on electronic devices I may or may not posses.  As my current notebook has only about 10 blank pages left the moment seemed rip to combine the two.  On a recent trip to Staples, I hit upon a solution...

Hmmmm....  Last post, early April.  Almost as if someone had a large event, or even a series of events going on that spanned from April through the end of June.  Right.  Moving on...

One of the items on my never-ending to-do list is to reduce the load I carry to and from work.  Over a year ago - probably closer to two - I started getting huge pains in my shoulder.  These seemingly came out of nowhere, and especially when I was calling dances.  Stress-related, almost certainly.  But more than stress, it's become increasingly clear that the amount that I carry is partially, and even mostly to blame.

I'm left-handed, and so I always carry bags on my left shoulder.  My right feels weak by comparison.  I carry a lot to and from work, but I only feel that weight for small amounts of time on the walk between home and the train station, and then from the train station to my office, and not at all during the day.  But when I'm teaching at a weekend or at camp, I carry this big bag with at least one full binder, one notebook, dance shoes, (full) water bottle, and whatever else between buildings, to every meal, and all the time.  That's when my shoulder starts talking to me, and saying things like, "I hate you."
After thinking about this for a while, I decided that the solution to all of my problems was an I-Pad.  In theory, this would replace the library books, calender/date book, CDSS directory, dance database printouts, endless lists of everything, etc. I carry everyday and consider essential to my life.  At gigs, this would have all of my dance programs, instructions, etc., and with tools that are no doubt available somewhere, I could mark up PDFs electronically to prepare for teaching, and then erase those marks so I could repeat the procedure as often as needed.  The I-Pad would also replace my now really slow (really, really, really slow) laptop.  Perfect, no?

But then, there's reality.  Financial reality.  First there was house repair.  Then there was the wedding.  And the honeymoon.  And the wedding dance.  Oh, and the new car, complete with doubled insurance and monthly payments.  And a new roof in the offing.  And let's not forget the astronomical heating bills coming soon.  And the need to replenish savings after all of the above.  Read, no room for new technology.

But I'm still tired of my shoulder aching, so it's clearly time for a new solution.  My first goal is to reduce the daily load on my shoulder.  I have some ideas for that which I'm starting to implement.  Stay tuned...

Five plants, and counting...

Last week, my office moved to a new location.  Same job, same colleagues, but everything else has changed.  Including my view...

 Looking east toward the Delaware River.  You can see the Ben Franklin Bridge and the spire of Christ Church.

Looking south.  That's the Bourse building on the right side.  In the distance on the right you can see one of the squares of Independence Park, and then the spire of St. Peter's beyond.

And it being me, I had to decorate my new cubicle right away.  My style is so consistent...  The photos take you CW around the cube from the south window.

But best of all, we are free from the one plant rule (which I always thwarted by having two!).  There are currently five on one of my window ledges, a few still recovering from their cold, winter existence in my house.  I think I need more.

Okay, you can only see four of the five in this image, but I think that five is only the beginning.   I have a whole other window ledge to fill....

Where am I?

I found this bank of tiles when I was out and about this weekend.  I love the combination of the clear glass, the frosted glass and the picture tiles.

Any guesses where this was? 

I once was lost...

I hate losing things.  I know that this is not uncommon.

I categorize lost items into two types:  things lost in the mire of my house, AKA eventually findable things, and things lost on the outside, AKA things that are most likely gone.

It seems like there has been a rash of lost items in my life lately:

1.  The toothbrush that I was sure I packed and took to St. Croix

2.  A pair of black pants I wear to work

3.  The metal rulers I use constantly for crafts

4.  Craig’s name badge with the really good magnet from St. Croix

5.  My house key

The first three items fall into category one - lost in the house.  The last is in the latter category.  The fourth is in the murky in-between area.

1.  When I travel, I always pack my toothbrush last thing in the morning.  I know I pulled out the toothbrush holder the night before, and then the morning we left for St. Croix, put the toothbrush in another holder and packed it.  Maybe.  But when we got to St. Croix, I had no toothbrush, and had to buy another one.  But I’m still convinced that if I comb through my bedroom one more time, and check in that suitcase again, I will find it!  I know it!

2.  My black pants were hiding.  I wash them at home, so they weren’t at the dry cleaners.  They weren’t in the closet, the hamper, or hanging up in the laundry room.  They were gone.  Until I remembered that I took them to DC in January in case I needed pants that weren’t jeans, and finally looked under the dress in that bag of clothes on the closet door.  FOUND!

3.  As a result of last month’s craft room cleaning and partial re-organization (more on that, and the January Cure anon), my 12” metal rulers have gone astray.  They have to be in there somewhere, but when it came time to make my valentines, and I finally remembered where all of the rulers ended up, they were not to be seen.  Still looking.  So frustrating.  I know they are in there!!!!!

4.  In St. Croix we were given the usual pin-on badges, along with very powerful, rectangular magnets.  These were fantastic.  We could avoid putting holes in our clothes, but the shape of the magnet kept the badges on, and not spinning around on an axis point like the small circular magnets do.  We wore them daily, and on the last day, I packed mine in a carry-on bag.  I have a memory of pointing out to Craig at some point that he could stop wearing his button, and he took it off and either handed it to me, or stuck in in one of our luggage pieces.  We can’t remember which one.  And now it is gone.  Just gone.  We’ve searched everywhere.  Even though I think this one is in the category of lost in the house, and will be found at some point, I suppose there is a small chance that it was in our checked luggage and removed by airport authorities because of its strong magnetic powers.  Unlikely, maybe, but possible…

5.  Last Friday, as is my usual habit, I left myself just enough time to get to my morning train into work.  I’m always trying to do one more thing before leaving the house.  Usually that one more thing is finishing my breakfast.  Last Friday the one more thing was add a couple more items to the recycling on my way to the train.  I remember picking up my bag, finding my house key and grabbing the empty cereal box to toss into the can as I passed it.  Sometime between that moment and when I arrived at the office, my key went missing.

I am an optimist about the Category 2 missing items.  I almost always think I will magically find things.  And I have!  Earrings have turned up on sidewalks.  My dropped wallet was mailed back to me.  My MAC card left on the supermarket check-out counter was waiting for me when I went back to claim it.  Thin Mints and a water bottle that I left at a dance were still there months later!!!!  I felt sure that my key would resurface.

I turned out every bag and pocket I could think of, kept looking in the train station, asked at the place where I get my coffee.  No key.  I was slowly coming to the conclusion that I most likely dropped the key into the recycling can with the cereal box, and both were hauled away.  But I still kept looking.

It snowed last Friday.  Yesterday morning (Wednesday), as I hurried to the train (now leaving 3 minutes earlier, yet still arriving at the same time, i.e., late, go Septa), on the ground next to sidewalk leading up to the train platform was my key!  Hurrah!  Once the snow melted, it was revealed, probably right where I dropped it...

Valentine's past...

Last February, I was very much looking forward to Valentine’s Day with my sweetie.  We were newly engaged, and this would be our first February 14^th together.  But on February 13^th, I had jury duty…

I’m called for jury duty regular as clockwork in Philadelphia County.  And this time I went in hoping for a quiet day and a nice lunch at Reading Terminal.  But no.  After sitting for most of the morning, I got called up for a panel.  And after more sitting, maybe interspersed with lunch, I got picked for a jury.  I was so angry.  Not dismayed, but actively furious.  I was on a jury once, and I hated it.  I felt that I was the one being held prisoner and forced to serve against my will.  I grumbled a lot and was extremely, stupidly resentful.

The next day, Valentine’s Day, I reported at the appointed hour and proceeded to wait with only a couple of others while supposedly, jury selection continued.  I sat, prepared for a long, horrid day, with only worse days to come.  And then…

Miracles!!!  Someone official came in and said that one of the attorneys was ill and they had to postpone the case.  We were released.  Free!!!  On Valentine’s Day! 

The fairy tale had a happy ending.  Home I flew, and shortly after came my sweetie, who had the afternoon off!!!  Instead of being cooped up in a jury room, I took a walk with the man I love and sat eating ice cream in the February sun.  Perfect.

This year we will cook and share a nice dinner, go to bed early, and read to each other with a fuzzy kitty cat at our feet.  Likewise perfect.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Staying on task??

It becomes increasingly challenging to stay on task with the AT January cure as life intervenes and other priorities assert themselves, but the idea is still a good one, so onward with the progress report...

Last weekend's task:  Deep clean the kitchen, buy flowers, plan and cook a meal

Since I'm a big list-maker, I'd mapped out the entire weekend's to-do items, including all of the above.  I somehow neglected to include the getting sick part that kicked in Saturday afternoon and killed most of Sunday, but welcome to life.

On Friday night I moved a loose Ikea cabinet out of the craft room and into the kitchen.  I was still convinced it could be useful, but it never found its home upstairs.  I cleaned off the stool the cabinet displaced, and mopped under and around all of the shelves and appliances and the radiator in that half of the kitchen.

The cabinet is narrow and shallow and just fits next to the radiator.  It now holds plastic wrap and foil in the cubbies meant for wine, and cookie cutters in the two drawers, now freeing up more pantry shelf space.  And best of all there's this empty space in the middle to hold cookbooks, and telephone books (I know, I am the only person in the world to still keep, and even sometimes use telephone books).  I did some other cleaning in and around the kitchen, but as Sunday was destined to be the big day, and I spent most of it in bed, it's still on the list.  But I did buy flowers on our grocery trip, and I cooked quinoa for the first time for a warm quinoa-arugula-pear-sausage-roasted Brussels sprouts salad.  Yum!

Here are this week's tasks and my progress so far...

Day 9:  Create a Landing Strip

The idea here is to have a place immediately as you enter your home to hang up your coat, put down your purse, keys, work bag, etc., and spaces in which to sort and deal with your mail.  I have long used my front table for all of the mail.  This past weekend, I changed the recycling bin so that it fits under the table, but is still easy to use for immediate junk mail recycling (AKA, most of my mail).  I took old mail I need to save upstairs to be filed (true confessions:  it's not filed yet; office = nightmare), went through the recent catalogs, and generally neatened things up.  I still don't have great solutions for coats, purse, and other bags without using the window seat and newel post, but I'll keep thinking about it.

Day 10:  Work on Your Goal Project

So, I did take a full set of "before" pictures of the craft room, but those are worthy of their own post.  Since then I have put all of the stamps that have a place away, created baskets for the uncatalogued, and catalogued, but needing a home stamps, and generally put some stuff away.  I got back to creating my stamp drawer maps (I've done 16 out of 64 or 1/4 of them), which are also worthy of a separate post, but all in all, there is still too much in there, and not nearly enough days left in the month to tackle it.

Day 11:  Try a Media Fast this Evening

This is by far the easiest task since the vast majority of my evenings are like this.  Because my computer is powered by very old hamsters, I rarely use it at home.  I don't watch TV, only the occasional movie, but since the room with the TV also has the broken radiator and a hole in the ceiling, it's really easy to avoid going in there in the winter.  And after work, my cell phone generally stays in my work bag or my purse.  Last night, I definitely media-fasted.  I went to the dance instead.

Day 12:  Declutter Books and Media

I feel pretty up on this task, because it's ongoing for me.  I love books, but I have been doing myself the favor of getting my reading material almost exclusively from the library for some years now.  And because I'm still out of shelf space for the books I do have, I'm constantly looking for books I can bear to part with.   So the instant a book I own seems less vital to my life, it goes in the outbox.  (And coincidentally, if you have or know a pre-teen or young adult who needs something to read, let me know and I may be able to do something about that...)

But here's the rub:  old cassette tapes.  Realistically, I'm never going to listen to these again.  I keep meaning to make a list of the albums and songs I should buy on CD or download, and then get rid of the tapes, but I haven't done it yet.  Maybe that will be a February project...

Oh, and....

I finally decided what to frame:

Where should I hang it??