Of camera chargers, misspellings, and pins

A mixed bag of nothing today.  Until about the 5th, when I should have all the UKS stuff sorted, and when DS leaves <quiet sob> back to Uni, crafting time will be thin on the ground.  But there are a couple of things rolling around in my head.

The best news is DH managed to locate a new plug so I can charge my camera!  YAY!  I felt like there must be one in those cable boxes and there was. Although with nothing on my desk, really, it won’t get much use this week anyway. I do have some progress on the Z-fold album from YONKS ago.  I had thought I might give it to DDs escort as a gift, but in conversation with her it seemed she might appreciate smellies or yummies rather than handmade so I kept it for me, shelved it for a year, and am now finishing it off with some photos I hope someone will enjoy.  I’ll say no more here.

and the inside so far:

Still work to be done, but I’m happy with it so far.

The worst news is someone commented on my Christmas printables (the word strips) pointing out the natives were restless, because of the jungle bells. DOH!  What can I say?  That I am mortified that I added a download that had a misspelling in it?  I am.  That I promise never to let it happen again?  Well, I can try.  The thing is, I looked at that 100 times.  I spell checked it,  I showed it to people.  I posted it.  No one commented on it. Is it a case of your eyes seeing what they expect to see? Or the oddness of the font?   In any case, I corrected and reloaded the PDF so if you want it again, feel free (it’s in the Printables menu at the top) to grab that.

Lastly, not news at all but a musing on Pinterest.  I do love it, but I wish there was some sort of thing that at least alerted you to the fact the thing you are pinning, that you thought was unique, because YOU hadn’t seen it before, had been pinned 1000 times before.  I pinned a denim quilt, because I was hunting for a good pattern to use up the jeans that don’t fit anymore (oddly, he lost weight at Uni – I always heard you gained 10 lbs freshman year!) and then looked at the More From: strip to see that had been pinned 100s of times by others.  Who knew?  Not me!

Ditto the Handmade Ryan Gosling site – hysterical, BTW, and I’ll add one here to amuse you:

I’ve seen the problem with a couple of my things that got pinned by others. The brayer glitter glue over embossing has been pinned close to 20 times.  Ditto the Faux Bakers twine post and video (although The Frugal Crafter’s post about it and her re-do of it may have been pinned MORE often.)

In some ways I like the idea of Pinterest identifying a pin as one that is ALREADY on the site and only allowing re-pins of the original.  I suppose that robs you of the momentary feeling that you found something cool (before you are crushed by the fact you have come very late to the party LOL!) and probably only helps those who get pinned to really see what has captured people’s interest in their blog stats for example.

And about blog stats – yesterday I was pretty stunned to see I had my busiest day ever, about 1500 hits, all from SCS and a post about that glitter glue technique.  It’s quite interesting to me that the two things that people really seem to like, the faux baker’s twine and the glue technique, were both things that I thought of and executed in 10 minutes and I considered pretty throw-away posts, gap fillers, not WOW! posts at all. Stuff I worked for AGES on, that I thought was really cool, gets ignored.  Go figure.

I may find the time to pop in again between now and next week, and I have two different minis that I am anxious to perfect and share so at leatst I know there is crafting in my future, if not today!

Have a good one.

Thank You notes – a quick round up

It’ll still be a few more days before I can get back to my own crafting, as I want to make the most of our little family being all together once again, but I suspect you will need these as much as we do. Just a handful of cute printable Thank-You notes.  Some are foldable, some are cut-able as toppers, some are holiday themed, some not.  Hopefully you will find something you can use here. Click the image to go to the blog for download info.

First, cute ones by Junelily.  From About.com (just click PREVIOUS or NEXT to see 20 choices):

I think these are sweet and work for adults as well as kids.

Pretty and colourful, from mom&wife:

I always seem to come back to How About Orange… Simple and sweet, by Squirrel in the Attic for HAO:

Last one – very very adorable, by mmmcrafts – templates for download.  Not printable, but maybe worth it for a special thank you? Take some time to explore this site, because there is a ton of fun stuff there.

And also from mmmcrafts – when I DO get time to have a play, I am TOTALLY doing these:

Last Minute Christmas fun

I meant to add this earlier in the week but with everything going on I forgot.  But there is still time to:

Record a video message from Santa – took minutes, is very customizable, and free.  DD thought it was cute.  You can do a Naughty kid or a Nice one, add your own photos, and if you want to, buy a copy in HD.

 

Track Santa – you can do this in GoogleEarth by clicking the link on the Norad page.

 

“Catch” Santa on film – Add a Santa, in various poses to fit almost any setting, to a photo of YOUR tree. Alternatively, there is Santa was in My House.

 

Elf Yourself – I think this promotion, sponsored by Office Max, is still free. and amusing!

And lastly, a couple of funny trees, from a blog post that made me smile:

I think this would by amusing paired with a Santa-at-my-house photo.

Check out the post to see them all (the Nerd tree and the Sushi one are both great)  My fave?

Again, Happy Holidays!

 

Mary Anne

Thank you note printables

Is this jumping the gun a little?  Maybe, but try as we might we never seem to get those notes out like we should.  Is sending a Thank You card passe?  I know my parents hounded us kids the whole of the holidays to get them done.  Now, DH usually sits with a note pad, jotting down who got what from who on Christmas morning, and we do tend to send out Thank You EMAILS (given everyone who gives us gifts is far, far away) but actual posted cards?  Gosh, not so much.

So I thought I would knock up a few that would be quick and easy.  The set with envelopes should work fine for actual mail. Two PDFs, for a total of three cards and three envelopes.  (  two cards/one envelope and one card/two envelopes )

Cut and fold, and stick the tabs on the envelope – seal with a sticker maybe?

This is more the red/aqua of the tags I did last week.

The foldable, interlocking one may be best for hand delivering. This is more a true red.  The design could easily be the inside of the card, so the thank you is revealed when it’s opened, OR you could fold it with the thank you on the outside, and put the little punched circle inside, along with your hand written thanks. The red border can be cut straight then the corners rounded.

I just stuck the punched circle with one small strip of adhesive so it can be unfolded easily

That’s possibly it for me for the holidays.  Between Christmas and New Year it’s all about UKS so all that remains is for me to say have the happiest of holidays and see you soon!

 

Mary Anne

Last minute fun stuff for you

Just a fe quick things that I have been hoarding, not all that I will get to in the next day or two, but you might find the time so I’ll share.

Has to be one of my all time faves ideas – marvelous. How About Orange? took the woven paper ball tutorial by The Cheese Thief and made a paper garland that looks like popcorn garlands but won’t attract pests, and will last from year to year.  I adore this.

Very retro tags, from My Girl Thursday, and if you edit out the TO/FROM you could use them as card toppers as well.

 

Cute printables for handmade items from A Fanciful Twist – and more cute tags that I may have shared last year.

Simply Modern Mom hosts Creature Comforts’ fab, printable bows.  What a cute idea!  You could easily print the colour your own version on Christmas cardstock and make them festive!

Now, off to make pumpkin pie!

WOYWW 133 – beginnings of a project

Aaahh WOYWW – how I’ve missed your inspiration….

After spending the past week so painfully prone, resting my back, I have been ultra careful in all things.  Moving gingerly, not sitting too long in one position, absolutely NO LIFTING or PULLING of anything,  I really cannot risk re-injury.

Most years, I do the wrapping on the floor, and get up in pain from being all twisted and reaching out for stuff.  This year I sat nicely on the sofa and worked on a proper-height table. At the end of a marathon wrapping session (I mean HOURS) I didn’t hurt at all. Huh.  Maybe I should have done that all among.

The turkey is ordered, other ordered stuff is arriving – like pumpkin puree, and Bordens Egg Nog – and things are in process for the big 3-days (eve, day, and day after) and I am looking forward to a fairly laid-back weekend.  No guests due, no place to be, no pressure over the meal, just our little family unit all together.  Bliss.

And I am dithering over adding a new recipe to the mix.  I so want to make this:

Brownie Peppermint Trifle.  An adapted recipe from one by Martha (and if the comments are true, better than the original) but not 100% sure what to use for Cool Whip.  Whipped Cream may not have the same airiness-that-stays, like Cool Whip, and Angel Delight is just foul.  I’ll dither on.

I am working on the construction of a mini-book – actually a 2 volume book, The A to Z of Me, for…wait for it…. ME!  Yes a book about me, by me, for me.  Shocking during this time of giving, but there you go.

I managed to squeeze out one more photo before the battery totally died.  Must make sure DH sorts that charger or I won’t even have the usual rubbish photos of Christmas this year LOL! An interesting spine, I think, but still some refining.  It’s now probably get shelved till after the first of the year, because there is lots of UKS work to be getting on with next week and in to early January.  Then DS turns 19 (!) and heads back to Uni, DD back to school, DH back to work, and I may just get a little crafting time.  Till then…..

Happy Holidays!

Christmas printables!

Usually I do a Sunday-someplace-else, as you may know, where I highlight ..someplace else {grin} But as I have been pretty much AWOL for a week with my back, I thought I would share a printable that I made for some last minute cards.

Back a few months, I mentioned that  Shimelle had used one of my favourite colour combos, red and aqua, for a colour challenge on her blog.  I  planned then and there for that to be my Christmas colour inspiration.  But it seems I was not the only one!  Red, and teal/aqua/turquoise seems to be very on trend this year.  I am seeing it EVERYWHERE.  Don’t get me wrong, I do love it, but seeing it all over as a Christmas theme made it feel unoriginal and made me less inclined to use it.

Well. darn it, I still like it. and Just cause it’s popular I am not going to let that stop ME from using it.  Truth be told I did another version of this wreath in more the colours I’ve used on other printables and it just lacked the PUNCH that I wanted.

I need a few quick cards (how is it that happens?  You think you are done then all of a sudden you need a handful more?) so I wanted these to be QUICK.  The PDF has six images – three bigger and three smaller.  As usual, I tested them and the cutting info is:

Large motif – cut with the largest Nestie in Standard Circles Small

Mat for large motif – largest Nestie in Standard Circles Large

Small motif – 4th one up in Standard Circles Small OR 3″ punch

I haven’t tried the Neste Scallops and Pinked edge circles, but based on past cutting I feel pretty confident the same sizes will work for those versions as well.

And of course you can always resize them in Photoshop or some similar program.

If you use the Nestie, you can punch thru the red-centred circle as shown on the right.  with the scallop punch you have room to punch outside the wreath.

And I made one quick card to show you:

The centre band of red hides the join where the embossing folder doesn’t match up.  And the wreath is popped on dots.

You may recall I mentioned visitors.  One of them I met in London, as he was only here for about 48 hours.  He works at a movie studio and was in town for a party promotion.  We had just enough time to see a matinée of The Pitman Painters (excellent) before he had to dash.  Why am I telling you this?  Because he asked if I had a converter for his boyfriend’s clippers, so he could give himself a quick haircut before the party.  Stupidly, I listened to DH when he said The one for your camera should work… I thought the haircut would happen BEFORE we had to hightail it from the Excel Centre to the theatre and I would be coming home with my charger.  Nope.  He’s coming back in January so I suppose I’ll get it then, but in the meantime, my camera is flashing red and the photos I have may be the last I can take till I get that sorted.  I’m hoping DH has another converter in the oh, maybe 15 boxes of cables, plugs, converters, transformers, etc between the garage and the office!  If I can’t take photos of Christmas because I am a numpty, I have no one to blame but myself!

I’m very happy to say DS is home from Scotland and Uni, and my back is MUCH better, finally, so I can move to the OTC painkillers  rather than the industrial strength ones.  That keeps me aware of when I am overdoing it, so I don’t re-injure it, a def. worry with so much to do still before the BIG DAY.

I’m blithering.  Best get on with it.

Sitting! but only for a bit

I had hoped that my back would be so much better by today that I would be more or less back to normal.  Silly me.  I have been scaling back the painkillers but I still need them to do…well much of anything really.  So I thought I would blog to say thanks for all the lovely comments of sympathy and well wishes, and by way of a thank you I would do another little collection of printables from around the web.  I don’t need to be at my desk to do that, as I don’t have to upload any photos.  That ain’t going to happen till next week for sure.

So enjoy and I hope I’ve found a few you may not have seen. Clicking the image should take you to the site where you can download it.

This set is perfect for anyone that needs reminding that Christmas is the 25th and presents really shouldn’t be opened any earlier.  I am reminded of a mate of my brother’s, who opened a gift early (a coat) wore it to a party and came home with a burn hole and wine stain.  Cheekily he wrapped it up again and acted very surprised when he re-opened it on Christmas morning and displayed the damage!

Simple gift tags here, but also a lovely recipe. In the UK I’ve heard you can use Golden Syrup instead of corn syrup, just FYI.

Always a wealth of goodies at Tip Junkie but I just found these from way back in 2008 and had not seen them before.  They made me smile! Lots more on the page.

Loads on here too, all in bright Christmas colours.

Our own lovely Kate Hadfield, UKS digital sponsor and digi designer with a cute and whimsical style, offers these freebies.  Bag toppers for Snowman Soup and Reindeer Treats.

http://www.katehadfielddesigns.com/blog/?p=898

My favourite from last year – I used this one A LOT. I just thought it bore re-posting in case you missed it.

And finally, for this post, in any case, I go back every year to Orangeyoulucky for the quirky gift tags.  You can see the 2010 set here and the 2009 Holiday labels here.  These are just some the 2011 ones.

Happy printing!

Stupidity

I am currently lying flat on my back, dopey on painkillers, due to the supreme stupidity of thinking I am still fit enough to move heavy furniture and drag boxes in from the garage.  DH has been swamped at work and I thought I would lighten the load, rather than leave the whole tree thing till he had time.  Stupid.

So while I have a mini to share, from my Saturday crop, I can’t manage to sit at my desk (or indeed at all) to organise it.  Right now my full focus is healing up so I can at least make one of DDs ice shows this week.

No one to blame but myself, but that doesn’t stop me from weeping with frustration.  With so much still to do, I need this like a hole in the head.

And one-finger typing while laying flat is not easy, or fast.

So no crafty bits from me for a bit.  Now, I wonder if this post from my iPad will even work….

 

Sunday Someplace Else – Yulia Brodskaya

OMG.  This artist does the most stunning work.  I really love it ALL, but I’ll just highlight a couple here to tempt you to visit her site, because you will sit with dropped jaw in awe of her talent.

This wreath is gorgeous.  I’ve seen quilling designs before, but nothing like this.

And can you imagine getting this for Valentines Day?

There are a few Christmas-themed items, all so fabulous I simply am lost for words. Two of my favourites are the tree and JOY.

Seriously – click the link.  Take a moment to be amazed.  The quote by Picasso, Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life is appropriate. Sometimes, it’s not only in the making of art but even in the seeing of art that washes away the dust.