Challenging Myself to the Funny Farm

It was irresistible: Kendra challenged us to make something once a week so that at the end of 2011, we have a book or something with 52 items. It would force us to think, to use our supplies, to do what we love. She suggested tags.

I, of course, HAD to go a step further. No tags for me, no I had to decide to finally start using our copious amounts of studio portraits; and since there are more than one copy of most of each photo, I just had to decide to make multiple layouts. It would challenge my brain and in the process, use up some of my stash of paper. (Question: what is bigger than a stash of paper? My friends who have seen it in person refer to it as my store, but that can't be right, can it?)

Oh, my brain is challenged all right: challenged to stay sane. I am getting grandiose ideas and then attempting to make them come to life. It is not a good idea to be around if my brain and my layout do not match. I know nasty words in two languages. My last layout tortured me for a week, before I gave up and did something else, which is creative, but now what I wanted. Luckily, the one on my desk now, perhaps mindful of the previous one's fate thanks to the now-useless embellishments, is behaving itself and may just be finished in a couple of days.

That is, of course, if I can get the Sil to work with my new Mac, but that is another post. Another Scrapklutz post. Seems my 'abilities' extend to the digital world now...

Cleaning=Trouble

It's all QKMary's fault. She organized and found things. Bloo organized too, but didn't brag about finding stuff. I need to find stuff, and clean my desk so DH can replace my desktop. That's what I did yesterday. I cleaned, I organized. I tossed. I moved.

Then I asked DH to bring up the vacuum cleaner.

BUSTED.

The boxes of Xyron adhesive (11 for the X, 4 for the 250) were bad.

Several albums (mainly empty) scattered on the floor were worse.

The over 2-foot stack of paper packs behind the papers in a box, and next to the overflowing paper holder were the straw that broke the camel's back.

I CANNOT BUY PAPER FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR!!!

Darn you Bloo and QKMary!

Mica Gloss - My New Frenemy

Last summer at GASC, Sandy and I discovered Judikins Mica Gloss, and as I previously mentioned in another post, we both forgot how to use it. After Grapevine, I felt brave enough to try, so that's how I spent my birthday - playing with Mica Gloss and my new Ranger Melting Pot.

Mica Gloss comes in gorgeous colors and you can do amazing things with it on a variety of surfaces. The caveat is that you need to heat set it or it will smear if you use it on a glossy surface, and it is best if you mix some Diamond Glaze with it. I decided to play with my MG on a pair of Heidi Swapp mirrored books I picked up at Remember When last year.

I forgot about the Diamond Glaze part, so even though I heat set it several times, it just wouldn't dry. In fact, I had to redo one of the covers four times, before I got the colors right because I kept smearing the edges and retouching the spots caused the removal of the MG. Rather frustrating - and messy. Luckily, the MG washes off your hands with little effort. One neat thing with the longer drying time is that I was able to use a chunky foam stamp to remove some of the thicker ink, which gave it a lovely two-tone effect. I had to be careful, though, so that I did not remove down to the mirrored surface and have to start all over again.

I gave up trying to dry the covers, although the papers I decorated dried rather quickly. I left them out to dry, checking them everyday.

This afternoon, a week later, I went to move them - and they WERE DRY!!! Now I can begin to work with them, and it needs to be something important.

Seriously, Silhouette???

Okay, I know I asked for more variety in the Silhouette Store, something more than flowers, but Mr.Men and the Little Miss Collection?!? Seriously?!? I cannot imagine that there are THAT many MM & LM fans that own Sils. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

Thus, once again, my subscription is not being used to its full advantage. I have more than enough flowers and hearts, and don't get me started on the frames.

I begged and begged for something martial arts-oriented and they published one figure who just as easily could have been a kid jumping on his bed. The kanji they offered were things like 'love', 'peace', 'harmony' - things I would NEVER put on a martial arts page. Might use them if Ariana or Alex have a martial arts-themed wedding, but not for the everyday stuff of kicking, punching and headlocks.

If this keeps up, I will most definitely go to the lowest subscription when renewal time arrives.

Stamping Convention in Grapevine

Sandy and I decided that it would be a good idea to attend this convention this past week when I discovered Judykins would be there. We both LOVE Judykins stuff, especially the Mica Gloss, but neither of us really remembered how to use it. Luckily, their booth and ongoing demos were right where you entered the hall.

First thing: the gloss needs to be heat set or you will be waiting a long time or making a huge mess. Yeah, the latter sounds like me! Also, it takes several small drops of different colors to get those gorgeous results. Must remember that clear embossing powder works well with the gloss.

Then we moved onto stencils. I found four I really liked, unfortunately, one of those belonged to someone else - and she got the last one. Bummer. Then, I ran into Frank Vento! He was surprised to see me. I guess that is to be understood since I really love my QK and Sil. I just really suck at stamping. I need to get better because I really would love to broaden my horizons. I do my best with Tattered Angels and Texana Stamps, but there are so many out there I want to try!

Frank and I commiserated about the plethora of flowers on the Sil. I swear there is a new dozen or two every week, usually more. Frank says that Sil claims that flowers are their best sellers, but if they offered more stuff, they might sell more of the others. Makes sense to me. Forgot to tell him that the Mormon Temples must sell well, too!

I found great stamps at AfterMidnight Stamps, which is where I spent most of my money. I found Egyptian stamps for Ariana,as well as a longhorn stamp, postage stamp stamps from Ecuador, Chile and Peru, and a really cool stamp of the coast of China. Now I really have NO EXCUSE for not working on Alex's Indiana Jones scrapbook.

It was a lot of fun and very quick, we were done in about 2.5 hours, but left full of ideas and some great items. Now I need to put some mojo to work!

What Insanity Hit Me?

What on Earth was I thinking??? What makes me think that it is a good idea to cut out numbers for the calendars I make?

Yes, the QK Calendar set from 2009 is awesome, but gluing those numbers down is monotonous and mind-numbing. It is also sticky-fingering. I had to wash my hands after every two weeks or so. Two weeks on the calendar, not two real weeks! Those numbers are tiny and the Xyron 150 doesn't get each back covered, so I need to use my adhesive pen, which of course I cannot control.

Xyron boogers and wet adhesive make a nasty mess.

Well, the numbers are all done, now I need to put the days of the week (letters) and the names of the month, in addition to mats for the photos.

Breaking my hand really was a bad idea - not that I thought about it. If I had, I sure as h#$l would have done something to my foot. You can scrap without your feet.

I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!

Okay, I used to be really good about posting, but 2010 has been a bust. Not goody as DH would say.

I have also been bad about creating, but I have lots of excuses: my Nook DH bought me, the illness that led to the removal of my gall bladder, and last, but not least, my broken hand. That really sucked. Royally sucked. Paying for it was just as bad.

So, right now I have Xmas cards that need to be sent out. Black Belt Pages that need to be finished. A luminary house that is half done (a gift for DS's teacher) and the list goes on and on. Need to work and not read too much.

Oh, and before I forget, DH bought me a new subscription for the Sil...