One of My Nicest Thoughts

This is one of the handmade cards I made for Operation Write Home.  I folded an origami heart from a book page and then used a stamp set for the sentiment.

I Have Returned

I’m back!

Sorta.

Kinda…

Maybe!

I’ll explain… sorta… kinda… maybe!

Okay, I’m done with the sorta, kindas, and maybes (kinda… sorta… maybe… nooo stop it fingers!  Y u no type right?)  …See?  Reason #73 I should never write when I’m tired, hungry, or hopped up on sugar.  And I’m not even tired or hyper right now, just really hungry.

ANYWAYS.  To the point.  I’m back.  Just not in the same way was before!

I’ve been in some scary places the past few months.  To the State of Waiting for Some Exciting Things To Happen.  To the Land of Creating a New Blog and a journey to Discovering a New Blog Does Not Mean One Automatically Creates Brilliant Posts.  I’ve been to Infinity!  And Beyond!

Yes, I did create a new blog.  One of the reasons was because this one was connected to my Etsy store.  Not only was my Etsy site failing miserably, I hate selling things (I mean, apart from souls… kidding, kidding – I’m a ginger, I don’t have one.)  I guess one of the reasons I hate selling things is because I hate having things sold to me.  If I want to buy something, I’ll buy it, if not, well, I hardly doubt you can convince me.  It was really hard for me to try to recruit people to buy things from my shop, and I felt like all my posts here had to relate to what I was trying to sell, you know, to build a fan base or something like that... and somehow I didn't think book reviews and life rants fit into that.

Of course, when I got my new blog I discovered a few things.  1) A new name does not necessarily mean I got new (more regular, witty, and interesting) posting habits. 2) I really love the custom template I’ve made here (what?  I like pretty things!)  3)  I still need a reason to post.  And the reason for having a blog is everything.

Recently I had an epiphany while writing (a whole ‘nother post there), but the basic premise was this: I have to write because I love to write.  I decided the same was true for blogging.  I have to blog because I love to do it.  I can’t blog to sell things (goes against my personality), I can’t blog to inform other people (because, then I’m just another informative blog in a sea of millions), and I can’t blog to aid my future career (because, well, I don’t exactly know what that will be.  And I’m sure this is nowhere near professional enough.  I mean, just look at that introduction!)  All those things could be side benefits – but they can’t be the main reason!

So, yes, I’m back!  What does this mean?  When I have something to post, I will.  I love writing book reviews, so you’ll get some of those.  I love making handmade cards and writing letters to heroes, so you’ll get some posts about that.  I love being nonsensical and writing about random things that happen to me.  I’m going to be very busy in the next few weeks, months, and years, as I am starting a new chapter of my life.  That means I can’t promise to have weekly posts on a certain theme or host bloghops or do anything that a professional, real blogger would do.  It just means that when I have something to say, I will!

I have a few book reviews in reserve, so I will try to set those to post automatically (since I’m sure I’ll forget.  Hey, I may be back, but that doesn’t mean I suddenly have great memory retrieval tricks.)  I also have some Word documents with rants about writing, Doctor Who, internet memes, and glitter-phobia (intrigued?)

I will end this post not with goodbye, but with a hello!  And an allons-y!

P.S. Rereading this (and going all Grammar Nazi on it and stuff) I realize that I've used a lot of exclamation points.  This bothers me grammatically, but the perpetually cheerful side of me can't bear to delete a single one.  So I'm keeping them!  Just thought I would apologize for those that were also bothered.  Feel free to post a long exclamation point free comment to counter the excess of them in this post.

Stars and Stamps Our Daily Bread February Challenge

My first challenge!  This card was made for the Stars and Stamps ODBD challenge and we were supposed to use "yummy ribbon."  I don't know how "yummy" this ribbon is, but I am really happy I learned to tie such a neat looking bow, courtesy of this video here.  It also features an origami dress folded from a 3x3inch piece of origami paper.  I don't usually do such pastel colors, nor three patterned papers together, but I was happy at how this card turned out!

This was my first challenge for OWH and... it was really fun!  I don't know if I can do them regularly, I'm sorta strapped for time and do cards sporadically whenever I have a free day, but I certainly hope I can participate in more!

Thanks for visiting!

Spirelli and spirelli and spirelli... oh my!

I've been having more fun with Spirelli cards!  These are all made for OperationWriteHome.org.

One tip for making Spirelli cards is to remember that dark thread shows up well on light paper, but light thread doesn't "pop" when wound around dark paper.  My solution?  Use thicker strands of light colored threads.

Using thick embroidery thread makes this a bold fun card.  Now, see how it contrasts with a card made with single strands of dark embroidery thread on a light background.



These are two totally different looks, using the same colors - just reversed!

I also made a rather patriotic card... perfect for our military! 

I have also made a flower with Spirelli.  I didn't have any stamps with flower stems, so I had to improvise and draw one of my own.  I'm not sure what this means as far as sending it to OWH, I know that crafters can't include handwritten sentiments, so it might be the same rules for hand-drawn.



I hope you enjoyed these Spirelli cards!  I hope to post a tutorial on how to make them one of these days.

Paper 3D Snowflakes

I'm doing a service project at an assisted living home and we need centerpieces for the party we're hosting.  Here is the snowflake I made with instructions found HERE

I might post a tutorial at some point, with the tips and tricks I discovered while making it!

The snowflake was made out of six sheets of 8.5x8.5 inch copy paper.  It measures nearly 22 inches across!

Metallic Spirelli Cards

Remember making Spirelli as a kid?  It's still fun years later!

I have wound metallic thread around a flower shape cut from a Cricut.  

These are cards I am donating to Operation Write Home (an organization that sends handmade cards to our heroes overseas so they have something nice on which to write home!)  Since this was made for a soldier to write home on, the inside of the card is not black because I mounted the black square onto a white cardstock base.

Have you noticed my background?  I have several hardback books that are the same color and I simply stood them upright to block out the (very) messy background.