WIP (work in progress)

I've been away from the craft area and computer for the past several days, so my project for this week's Designed2Delight digital stamps is still unfinished.

Basically the ATC is done, but I need to figure out some sort of binding. What I did this time was print the digi stamp on fabric, and then colored it with crayon, and heat set the color. I put a backing of batting on it, and then free motion embroidered the outline to quilt it. I had outlined the entire card before printing, forgetting that the quilting would pull in the fabric and shrink the card. So you can see the original lines. This will be covered by the binding.

with minutes to spare...

Last week had been very busy, in a very crazy sort of way. Basically, extra work at work, doctors appointments, and I am without a car, so it meant walking everywhere. (good for the waistline, but not so good for time efficiency.) And Thursday night, when my Designed2Delight challenge was due, I hadn't even started. And I had a long list of phone calls to make.

Digital graphics comes easy to me. And so while talking on the phone, I put together last week's digital ATC. It was no big deal. Just filled the flowers in with the paint bucket tool. And the watering can was metal style Photoshop plug-in from Scrap Girls. Just before the midnight deadline, I got it uploaded.

You can see it here.

Designed2Delight digital stamps

I tried...

I've made several attempts to write this post. From several different perspectives; and each time I just couldn't get my thoughts together in a meaningful manner.

Likewise, I've tried with this week's challenge from Designed2Delight Digi Shop. I've tried to put together what I thought was a cute idea, but in execution, it didn't quite work out the way I intended.

Nevertheless, the conditions of the challenge are to post your creation publicly. So here it is, for better or for worse:

64 crayons

I have a box of Crayola 64 crayons that I had never used. For this project, I finally opened them. I've heard that many people enjoy coloring as it brings them back to their childhood. For me, I found that I enjoy the coloring process, whether it's with paint, pencils or crayons. Copic markers have been a big thing in the crafting world lately. I had the opportunity to try a friend's copic markers and I would one day love to have my own. But crayons did the trick quite nicely, even it they didn't have quite the same effect.

I started with the weekly digi stamp from Designed2Delight digital stamps. I kept thinking back to the crafts we used to make in kindergarten with crayon shavings, where we would iron waxed paper over the crayon shavings and create a design. Or rather, the teacher would do the ironing over the design we had placed on a sheet of paper.

In Photoshop I shrunk it down to ATC size, and printed it out. Then I colored them in with the 64 crayons. Well, some of the 64 crayons. I think the ATC size is too small for shavings, but I might try that at some point. The end result didn't have quite the melted look I was hoping for.

I next took a plastic sandwich baggie, and ironed it onto the card. (The card and baggie were sandwiched between my silicone ironing sheet and a piece of parchment paper.) The result was the colored card with a laminated covering. Ok, but kind of blah. It needed something else.

I noticed a package of blue glitter that I had lying on my desk, and sprinkled some of that on the next card, and then ironed the plastic on. That was the missing touch that it needed. Here is the final result:

"...A Bunch"

The deal with Designed2Delight's digital stamps is that you get one free a the beginning of the month. You are then challenged to create something with that stamp within the week. If you do, you will get the next one. (Designed2Delight digital stamps.)

For the first time, last week I actually achieved her challenge and this week I got her second digi stamp. This time I made a hybrid ATC. (Hybrid crafting takes some elements of digital crafting, and some elements of regular paper crafting and melds them together.)

I took her stamp, and laid it out in Photoshop elements along with a background from Scrap Girls. I then isolated the bear and the flowers from the digistamp and made copies of them. The flowers were overlaid with another digital "paper" from Scrap Girls. I then printed out all the elements. I first cut out the bear, and coated it with a layer of brown flocking. Then I cut out the flowers, and assembled all the elements on to the ATC background. The flower stems are green embroidery thread.


Here is the result as the card is now:

My plan is to finish working on this card. I have since added dots of dimensional paint into the center of the flowers. And the picture makes it clearly obvious how splotchy the flocking is, so I'll be going back and patching that up. Otherwise, this card is available for trade. If you are interested in trading, e-mail me with a picture of what you have available.

Coming along

One of my goals in blogging was to have an arena to share my craft projects with the world. My regular blog reading includes many craft blogs, and although I don't hope to compete, I wanted my small little share. However, I haven't done much crafting to speak of, for many reasons, and so no blogging to go along.

One big obstacle was my old computer. Much of my crafting has its origins in digital form, whether a template or image that I print out, or the entire project in digital graphics. The old computer was not designed to handle graphics. And so it crept along, trying its best, but it was so frustratingly slow that any motivation to do something was quickly dashed.

I came across a blog, Designed2Delight and delightful it is, that is until I had to face the computer. Well that changed a few weeks ago with the purchase of a new computer, and while there are many factors influencing my motivation, slow graphics is no longer a problem.

The e-mail from Delightful Inspiration came only a few days ago. With my schedule, that didn't give me much time to create and get it posted for her deadline. And so I hastily put together something in Photoshop Elements. It's not nearly as creative or inspired as many others, but it is what it is. And for me, at this point, any creation is better than not.

For the record, I've created an ATC in digital form. The background is from Scrap Girls , one of my favorite digital graphics sites.

Purging

In my last post, I had planned to discuss my success with the 52 Missions. Well, I did succeed in the first mission which was to take 30 minutes and fill as many trash bags as you could with the clutter that you no longer need in your life. Things that are broken, and worn out, and just sitting there because you never got rid of them. And of course, throw out those bags.

People who engage in decluttering often find a sense of openness and freedom that comes from no longer having the junk cluttering up their lives. I've had that experience in the past, several times when I've decluttered. This time was different.

Part of it has to do with being in very tight financial circumstances. The 52 Missions letter suggested that you get rid of things that are worn out that should be replaced. But at this juncture, as I can't afford to replace things, I'm not about to toss things that I'm still using. That's fine and good. But them comes the bigger question about those things that I'm not actively using right now, but could conceivably use "someday". Conventional decluttering wisdom says to toss. But that also presumes you could replace them when "someday" finally comes. Right now I'm not so sure that's such a good presumption in my circumstances.

But I did manage to fill a few garbage bags, and in the process also put a few items up on freecycle. I also did clear out enough of an area, that we finally could move an old computer desk that we wanted to get rid of. (That desk went out in last week's trash.) (I had been wanting to get rid of that desk for a while, and in it's place I have a small area where I can do my exercise DVD's. I haven't done those for the longest time for lack of a space, and so that's another dividend of decluttering.)

However, I am also starting to think about how I want to fill that space (leaving room for exercise, of course.) I'm trying to rearrange my crafts supplies & get them more organized, and I may use some of that space for that.

Which brings me to my second thought as to why that sense of openness is eluding me. Decluttering may get rid of all the old and bad, but it also leaves an empty void which must then be filled with the good. And so at this point I'm working on filling up my life, my challenge is to make sure what fills my life is good. Perhaps decluttering is part of that, but only as a process on the path towards something above & beyond decluttering itself.

52 Missions

If you want to become more organized there are many websites that can help you. FlyLady is very well known. I used to belong to FlyLady, but it became quite overwhelming, especially as I started working & was out of the house for long stretches at a time. FlyLady sends you several e-mails a day with different tasks to be completed. With FlyLady, I always felt like I was running behind.

I recently came across another organizing site. There are many options with this system, although most of them cost money. The one part that is free is 52 Missions. Once a week you receive an e-mail with a mission, and you commit to spending 30 minutes at some point during the week to complete the mission.

I received my first mission last Tuesday. So tomorrow is the last day for me to work at it. The task is to take a garbage bag and go around the house collecting items that are hanging around with no purpose and to purge them from your life. Results will be posted tomorrow.

Journaling

I've wanted to journal for many years. In fact, several times I've gone so far as to buy a journaling book of some sort - often a nice fancy one that should inspire you to use it - and have gone as far as writing a few pages. And that would be it.

Why did I give up? Multiple reasons. I tend to write alot, & ramble. So it's hard to to find the time I need to properly journal. Or maybe I'm afraid of making a commitment. Or maybe I'm afraid of what I might reveal to myself. Or it could be sheer laziness. I'm not really sure what it is.

Last summer, someone involved in my life inspired me to yet again start journaling. To simplify it, I dug out an "fill in the blanks" type journaling template that I had found online several years previous. I adapted it to suit my needs, and prettyed it up with digital graphics. I had high hopes of recording my thoughts for posterity, to leave as a legacy for my kids. I printed out a few copies, faithfully filled it in for about a week, and then our printer ran out of ink.

Unfortunately last summer was extremely tight financially. So it took a while to print more out, & meanwhile the project fell to the wayside. I've wanted to pick it up again for quite a while, but something has held me back. As silly as it sounds, I'm angry at myself for not resuming it earlier. My record of my life will only be from now forward; my past is lost. Of course this means that I keep pushing more off, and leaving more unrecorded, but emotions aren't logical.

Tonight will start my journaling.

(For quite a while I've gone to other people's blogs & downloaded creations that they had made & shared. I've wanted to do that myself too. So,here is a link to the journal page that I've created, that you can download use yourself if you'd like. I'm hoping it will work properly since I'm new to this linking & sharing. If you do want it & have problems, please let me know.)

daily journal

Creating a structure in life

I need some sort of structure in my life. I need an outside guide to direct my life, to tell me how to go, or else I sort of flounder around, unsure of what I'm supposed to be doing, & completely lose my way.

I've given quite a bit of thought on how to create the structure, but what I've recently come to realize is that in order to create the structure, I must structure the time to actually plot it out. And so, in the interest of better commitment by public declaration, this is my plan.

I will make a point every night, before going to sleep to plan out the following day, and as far beyond as is necessary. I will also use that time for journaling on the previous day. Every night at 10p, I will plan to stop everything & use that time for reflection. I will post on how it is working.