Tag Archives: ModPodge

Who knew craft blogging could be so anxiety producing?

Who knew craft blogging could be so anxiety producing?
Who knew craft blogging could be so anxiety producing?

Ok, guys, this is just a quick post because I have to do one of those actual money making things.

Please get your mind out of the gutter. It’s not that. I must write some copy for a grant application. Oops, that’s my old professional writer voice talking. Now, as a blogger II should say: I have to go fill out some paper thingy. Hmmm….Just go ahead and put your mind back in the gutter. It will be more entertaining.

So earlier today, I was thinking about Paper Calliope and came up with at least a dozen things that were making me anxious–most of them centering around the I-am-not-good-enough theme. However, another anxiety popped up that just pissed me off. And honestly, I hate that phrase. I mean, really? Piss me off? How disgusting. Yet, it’s a pretty apt description of how it made me feel.  Read the rest of this entry

Make a spring planter with this Target Dollar Spot hack

Make a spring planter with this Target Dollar Spot hack
Make a spring planter with this Target Dollar Spot hack

The moms in my life have had a tough winter. Advanced age, more than one life-threatening surgery and a far-below-sub- zero polar vortex have taken a toll on them.

Unfortunately, they won’t be enjoying the warm sun of spring anytime soon. Even though it’s April, that other maternal figure–Mother-insert-expletive-here-Nature–dumped more than a foot of snow on us last night. That’s why a walk by the Target Dollar Spot inspired me to create inexpensive springtime gifts for my mom and step-mom.

Pssst this would be a perfect Mother’s Day gift

Paper Calliope Spring Planter Box

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Making my First Artist Trading Block (ATB)

Making my First Artist Trading Block (ATB)
Making my First Artist Trading Block (ATB)

In the last few months I’ve been fascinated with the up and coming trend of Artist Trading Blocks (ATBs). Basically, the ATB take the Artist Trading Card (ATC) into three dimensions. While I have always loved seeing the amazing ATCs that my instafriends created, I never jumped on the bandwagon. However, something about the added dimension of the ATB. has made this trend irresistable.

One night during a typical netflix-while-crafting-binge, I watched the 1996 Jane Austen movie Emma, starring Gywneth Paltrow. A delightful quote captured my heart so much so that I was compelled to use it for my first forray into the ATB world.

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And by swimmingly, I meant

And by swimmingly, I meant
And by swimmingly, I meant

So my last post extolled how wonderfully my lastest project was going. That remains true. In fairness, swimmingly is a relative concept. For what I perceive as going swimmingly, others might consider a nightmare.

Really this all comes down to the fact that I need to title my next book*, “The Anal Artist.” I can’t seem to let anything go that I don’t consider perfect. A smudge of glue, a smear of paint–all must be fixed. Read the rest of this entry

Duct taping the mean girl

Duct taping the mean girl

Every creator painfully experiences the chasm
between his inner vision and its ultimate expression.
–Isaac Bashevis Singer

 

I came across this quote the other day. Somehow, I thought this only happened to me. There have been so many times when I had a specific idea in mind and the end result was disappointing. Sometimes a project was even an all-out failure.

More often than not, a project turned out “ok”, but a great rift still separated it from my inner vision Read the rest of this entry