Etsy Taste Test

You know Etsy.com, right?  It's a wonderful place to buy and sell handmade items.  I've actually neither bought nor sold through Etsy, but I have friends who have done both with great success.  It's a great place to browse.  Imagine walking through the world's biggest craft fair but with absolutely no crowds.  Heavenly.

For awhile I've been hooked on Etsy Taste Test.  When you click the link, it will show you six pictures of different items and it prompts you to select the one that most suits your taste.  If none of them are quite your style, you can click the "Show Different Items" button.  This process continues until you have chosen nine items that you like.  Then, it presents you with hundreds of items you might like.  Here are some that came up on my Taste Test.

I LOVE this campfire toy by Hopewell Creek.  It makes me want to throw a campout-themed party.

I am a sucker for itty-bitty food made with polymer clay.  I love this bracelet and earring set by beadpassion.

And these pancake earrings by MadAristocrat?!  LOVE!

I love fake food in any form, not just polymer clay.  Here's some beautiful cupcake candles by ajsweetsoap.

This bird purse by misala is super cute.  I'm not really into purses, but I love polka dots and cute things.  I think that's why it ended up in my Taste Test recommendations.

This PacMan magnet set by DelightfulEpiphany makes me smile. 

Go give Etsy Taste Test a try!

One Little Word

I had a really positive experience with One Little Word in 2011.  I've been debating between two words for 2012.  As I was cleaning, I found this tiny little metal charm at the bottom of a tub.

And wouldn't you know it... it was one of the two words I was considering.  So 2012 is my year to CELEBRATE.

I'm turning 40 in March, so I want to celebrate that milestone in a memorable way.  But I also want to celebrate smaller things.  I want to take time to appreciate and celebrate everything that makes me happy.  Here's my tag for 2012.

See those balloons?  They were my second draft.  Originally I'd planned a party hat.  It was looking really cute... until I realized it looked more like a slice of pepperoni pizza than a party hat.  See?

So I left it off.  I like the balloons better.  I especially the little strings tied with a cute bow.  Much cuter than the pizza hat!

Here's the 2012 tag with the 2011 tag.  I'll be hanging these up prominently on the scraproom wall.

Have you picked One Little Word for 2012?

My Very First Sketch

I love creating layouts from sketches.  Using a sketch designed by someone else sparks my creativity, challenges me to go beyond my comfort zone, and helps push me to try new things.  They often serve as a jumping-off point for me to make something totally unique.

I've wanted to try making sketches of my own for awhile now.  But I had no idea how to go about translating my pen-on-paper sketches into the 'real' sketches that actual sketch artists make.  So I asked the ladies at Ideas for Scrapbookers what software they use to make their sketches.  I learned that Cathy uses Photoshop CS4.  Dolores uses Photoshop CS5.  Pam and Heather both use Photoshop Elements.  I don't have any of those.  Is it possible, I wondered, to make a sketch using an ordinary program everyone already has?  Fortunately, the answer is yes. 

I started with the OpenOffice version of Word (Writer).  At the bottom left of the screen, there is a nice assortment of shapes.

In a short amount of time, it was fairly easy to translate my pen/paper sketch into something that looked more professional.  I printed out my sketch- it looked good!  But when I went to blog about it, I ran into trouble.  There was no way to export the document into the jpg, gif, or png that Blogger requires.  I tried a variety of things before deciding that the amount of effort I was putting into changing a .doc into a .jpg was exceeding the amount of time I'd spent making the sketch!  Unacceptable.   

So I ditched Writer and tried the OpenOffice version of Paint (Draw).  The control panel looks similar to the one in Writer but with a few extras.

 

I set about recreating the sketch I'd already made in Writer.  It wasn't too difficult.  Best of all, it just took one click to export the file as a .png, which I was then able to upload to Blogger.

And here it is- my very first sketch!

It's nothing fancy, but I like it.  For those of you who don't have Photoshop, you can create a perfectly acceptable sketch using Microsoft Paint or OpenOffice Draw.  I'd encourage you to give it a try!

AKA Hook Drugs

There's an episode of the Paperclipping Roundtable from January 2011 entitled "Hook Drugs."  In it, the panelists discuss what they expect to see at the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) tradeshow.  Stacy Julian mentions one area of the tradeshow floor that she never visits and doesn't really understand- the hooked rug section.  The others misunderstand her, thinking she said 'hook drugs.'  (Say it out loud... they sound the same!)

Like all crafty children of the 70's, I made my share of hooked rugs.  But it's been at least 30 years since the last time I did one.  So it was a fun surprise to open a Christmas gift and find a hooked rug kit.  My inlaws picked it up while traveling through eastern Canada.  The first thing that popped into my mind was 'hook drug!'

I brought the kit along with me during a recent family reunion.  When I opened it, I was surprised.  I was expecting the kind of hooked rug I remembered from my childhood, with short pieces of yarn and a latch hook tool.  This was not a latch hook.  The yarn was long.  Hmm.

I read the instructions, which left me confused at first.  Essentially, you insert the hook in the burlap, hold the yarn behind it, and pull the yarn through, creating a loop.  Then repeat without twisting the yarn or pulling the first loop out.  I practiced on a corner of the burlap.  The latch hook rugs of my childhood were simple enough for a young child to do- this was much more difficult.  It did get easier over time, but it was still very hard to keep the loops the same size and not untwist or hook half of the yarn.  And speaking of time, it took forever to make any visible progress.  It took about 2 hours to get this:

And that's as far as I've gotten!  Now that I'm back to real life and many deadlines, I'm going to be ignoring the hooked rug for awhile- probably until our next vacation.

"Pieces and Parts" Guest Designer

Groovy Deb, from If It's Groovy, was looking for a "Pieces and Parts" Guest Designer.  It sounded like so much fun- receive a box full of her leftover bits and pieces, then use them to make whatever I want.  What a fun challenge!

Here's what Deb sent to me:

As you can see, it is indeed very random!  This was truly her leftovers- no convenient matching product, coordinated sets, or embellishments in threes.  Equally hard for me was the amount of pink.  I almost never use pink!

Deb had a simple rule for me to follow.  I was not to add any of my own paper (besides white cardstock), ribbon, stamps, or other supplies.  I could alter her supplies with ink, paint, or pens. 

Card 1: I decided to start with the "29... and holding" sticker.  I cut the number paper to make a background, then added two of the punched rectangles to make a cake.  I cut a candle and flame from two of the other punched pieces.  I inked the edges- that ink was the only thing I used that wasn't from the box.

Card 2: I cut a background from the school-themed paper, then cut the "You Did It!" sentiment from the scraps.  I used red ink and Stickles to color the light pink ribbon (which actually matches the sentiment in real life).  I mounted the sentiment on the reverse side of one of the printed flowers.  The ink and Stickles were the only supplies not from Deb's box.

Card 3: I used the remainder of the number paper and the hot pink ribbon to start this card.  I cut the number 5 and the candle from the pink piece of patterned paper, then cut the flame from the same piece of paper I used on Card 1.  I mounted the 5 on the back of a punched scalloped oval.  I didn't use any of my own supplies except black ink on the edges.

Card 4: I used the remainder of the pink patterned paper to make the background.  I cut a strip from the school paper, which I mounted upside down on the card.  I added the vellum flower and a rhinestone.  Again, all supplies were from Deb except the black ink on the edges.

Tag 1: I started with the remainder of the hot pink ribbon.  I used my corner rounder on the orange square, then topped it with two layered flowers.  Then I added the orange button in the center.  The brown ink for the edges and the corner rounder were the only extra supplies I used.

Tag 2: I overlapped two corner stickers to form the tree, then cut a trunk from the woodgrain punch.  I added tiny dots of Stickles to trim the tree.  Only the Stickles and the brown ink were from my supplies.

Tag 3:  I cut apart one more of the corner stickers to form leaves, which I placed under the flower.  The flower's center is from the same sticker sheet.  The red "ribbon" with pink dots is one more sticker from the same sheet.  I cut it apart to make the border, then powdered the rest to make the "ribbon" topper.  Everything here was from the box- I didn't even ink any edges! 

What a fun (yet challenging) experience!  Deb- thanks for choosing me!