It’s time to tackle the binding tool.  It’s not that I’m afraid I can’t do it, I’m really afraid I can’t DO it.  I mean, unless this thing is really super sharp, will I be able to punch through layers of card stock and cardboard?  And even if I punch the cardboard one piece at a time, am I going to be able to do it?  These are the mysteries that keep me from taking on new projects and why I love it so much when subscribers ask me to do them.  I like to go outside of my comfort zone, but only when I feel I’m ready. I believe I am ready.  What’s the worst that can happen?  I’ll have to have Rich punch it for me.  No big deal, every day I have to do things differently than others, case in point, using the Misti with my feet.  I really want to accomplish this for myself.  If I can do it, others can too.  If I show them it’s not insurmountable, then maybe they will attempt it as well.  I’m always talking about why I started the channel.  To help others find tools that will work for them and give them tips and techniques that will make crafting possible.  It’s time I put my money where my mouth is.   And now I’m curious about the origin of this phrase.

Here it is:

The origin of this idiom is not very clear, however there are two theories and both of them are related to gambling:

• The first theory states the phrase has its origin in the pubs of Ireland where people used to play gambling games while they drank, and the second theory says that the phrase has its origin in the world of poker playing.
• However, in modern parlance the phrase is used in many different situations to tell someone that if they truly believe in what they are saying, then they should do more than just talk about it.

So I believe I need to do something more than talk about it, but honestly, this is a gamble for me to show that I can actually use this device.  Either way, we’ll know soon enough. Wish me luck!

 

I hate it when I promise to do something and then don’t accomplish it in a timely manner.  I made a commitment in January to do a card that featured a snow globe.  It seemed like time was just passing me by, but I didn’t want to do a traditional snow globe because my snow globes are of cities I love, Boston and New York.  Let me be clear, I do not collect things.  I just happen to love travel and those two cities.  It took me a long time to find the Boston one because I wanted a wood base with no writing on it.  I finally found a vintage one on Ebay that has a few weird things in the water, but was exactly what I pictured.

For New York, Rich and I must have gone into twenty five of those souvenir stores in search of the same look for New York.  We finally found it, so my collection is complete.

One of my most loyal subscribers, Elizabeth, asked for the snow globe card and I just couldn’t do it until I found a stencil of the New York City skyline.  It was destiny.  Today I finally made the card and it really turned out well.  I’m proud that I honored my commitment and that it is a card I can be happy to show the world, or at least my 412 (YAY!) subscribers.  It’s a good day.

Spring has sprung in Northwest Pennsylvania.  It was such a beautiful day today and I started thinking about how to capture spring on cards.  Not just one, but a bunch.  A lot, a bevy, a crap load.  Anyway, more than one.  I watched a really old Christmas craft video courtesy of my friend Linda Edwards.  She said she loved Carol Duvall and got me hooked on watching old videos of her.  One of them was with a very young Tim Holtz.  He was showing how to make a lot of Christmas cards using a very simple technique.  GENIUS, I thought, because I love the four blue birds stamp by Carolyn Shores Wright, but have been using watercolor pencils and painstakingly hand painting every bird.  It takes a while, but it is worth it.  This new idea might make this process so much easier.  Well you will just have to wait and see.  If it’s a huge fail, you’ll never see it, but, in the off-chance that it works, it will be on video within the next couple of days.  I’m really crossing my fingers on this one.  Cross yours too so we can double our luck, or even triple it.

So that’s the plan.  It will be an Easter miracle if it works.  You’ll be the first to know if it does, and the last to know if it doesn’t.

I cleaned, and not just a little, I cleaned my craft room.  I can see some space opening up before my eyes and it’s thrilling.  I also decided I don’t need the computer that is in there.  I usually use my laptop so why take up valuable space that I can clearly use for something else.  I’m so excited by this new found space, I’ll immediately find something to fill it.  It’s only inevitable.

I also did a video on what to do with scrap paper.  Scrap paper can and will take over our lives if we don’t control it.  I’m not one of those people that will keep every small piece of paper, but every page I cut to make a card with, I should just use the other half right then and be done with that scrap.  I need to get serious about this problem because although I’m not buying more 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper, I am seemingly increasing the amount of paper I have there.  It’s time to make more projects that use a lot of scraps.  I saw someone do a video with their gelli plate pictures.  They cut the picture so that some of it became the envelope, and the rest they tacked onto the bottom of a premade card and called it done.  Genius!  I think I’ll start doing that with some of my 12 x 12 paper as well, because let’s face it, I have a lot of that as well.  I need to destash and in a serious manner.  I have so many things that I bought thinking I could use them, but I can’t.  It’s time to get serious about ridding my life of these things.  I’m starting to feel like a plan is forming, although I’ve said that before.  Maybe this time it will stick, or maybe not.

I’m almost ready to start playing with my gelli plate.  I think I have everything I will need to play with it.  Unfortunately, the thing that stands between me and the producing images, is room to work.  I need to seriously clean my work space so that I can either hang the prints once I make them, or find a spot to lay them once I make them.  Herein lies my dilemma.  I need to devote a serious amount of time into arranging, cleaning, moving, you name it, the things in my space. I just don’t seem to have a system that will currently work for me.  I’m not sure why I can’t stay organized, I just can’t.  I clean the room and am really proud of myself, and within a week, it’s back to bedlam.  I even sent a photo of it to a friend and she thought it looked like a hurricane came through.  It is pretty close to the look of a hurricane.  I’m trying to use every available space, but somewhere in the mix, I’m not doing something right, because I just can’t keep it clean.  Maybe clean isn’t the word, maybe the word is organized.  I feel like I am buried.  And frustrated.  In the time it’s taken me to type this, I could have cleaned something.  Motivation is also a problem.  I really lack motivation because the task seem daunting.  I’m going to make a plan and stick to it.  First part of the plan, quit buying anything crafty.  Second part of the plan.  Give away a lot of my accumulated projects.  Third part of the plan, make more projects and videotape them.  Fourth part of the plan, give those things away as well.  I love it when a plan comes together.

I woke up this morning full of ambition.  I know, crazy right?  I had to do something creative as I’ve been feeling completely out of sync, creatively, the last few days.  I had the idea of what I wanted to do and had very little time to accomplish it.  I had to interview students starting at noon and it’s about one-half hour drive to get there.  I wanted to make a prototype of my project, then make one on video, all in under an hour.  It was a really ambition plan, I’ll say that.  The video doesn’t have any fluff in it because of my time constraints, but at least I got it done.  I wanted to make a post it note holder with matching pen, but not the regular post-it-notes, no, the ones they sell at the Dollar Tree.  They are almost double in width and come 100 in a pad.   There are a lot of vibrant colors instead of the normal yellow, and that made me happy as well.  I had to make the holder so that the top flips up, so why not include a pocket inside.  The pens I used were ones that I could screw the back off, so I bent the patterned paper to fit around the tube with the ink in it, and put it back inside the plastic casing.  All in all, the project came out pretty nicely and I’m glad I have a new video up.  I had requests for a post-it-note holder, so I was happy to accommodate the viewer that requested it.

Now. that I’m feeling like I’m back in the saddle, I think I’ll do a video on what to do with scraps tomorrow.  Like every other crafter, that’s one thing you never run out of.   I need to make a couple of Easter cards for friends, but just haven’t had the ambition.  Tomorrow could be a whirlwind of crafting activity.  You never know.

So far it’s been kind of a crazy week as I volunteer to practice interviewing with the college seniors from my alma mater.  I haven’t had much time to think about crafting and I still haven’t made my Easter cards.  I’m thinking of doing an assembly line technique using the Misti and hopefully, it will allow me to get my cards done and sent in a timely fashion. (Timely meaning I actually get them to people before Easter.)  I really love Easter themed cards and hate not taking the time to get several different ones planned and finished.  I think I need to do a much better job of time management going forward.  I’m not sure why, but I just seem to lag when I never did before.  I need to prioritize better and going forward, I’m going to plan better and accomplish more.  That’s the plan anyway.  We’ll just have to wait and see.

In case you’ve missed hearing about Honey and her never ending health concerns, we went to the vet and her heart murmur has disappeared.  Apparently that is common in puppies.  We just can’t get rid of her diarrhea and the last time we went to the vet, they thought she might have something else wrong because her urine was too diluted.  This poor puppy has been to the vet every week since we have had her.  When is she going to get a break?  I would think that all of the things that happened at the breeders, dirty conditions, contaminated water, mites from cats, and fleas, would be treated by now.  She’s had so many different medicines that you’d think everything would have been covered.  Still no signs of stopping.  The AKC don’t want anything to do with bad breeders, they just want the money to call an animal AKC.  If they have no monitoring responsibilities, then who is looking out for these dogs?  I called our local Humane Society and we currently don’t have anyone to handle it.

I apologize if I’ve said all of this before.  But it is really frustrating to have an animal that is ill and you can’t seem to get to the bottom of it.  I guess it’s time for another call to the vet.