Yippie for my Big Shot!

Thanks to the wonderful information imparted by my new favorite blog, LollyChops, I recently discovered I could use my Sizzix Big Shot to cut felt. This opened up a whole new world of crafty goodness for me, since I had been mulling over the possibility of doing so, but was not yet sufficiently inspired to actually Google it to find out. I took her word for it, sandwiched a piece of regular ole craft felt (I am not yet cool enough to have actual wool felt, but give me time) between my cutting plates and the die, and off I went…

er, off I went…

Ahem, I said: Off I went!!!

Ok, so it didn’t go. I could not for the life of me get the machine to “grab” on to the sandwich formed by the felt and the die. (If you’ve ever used a hand cranked die cut machine, you’ll probably know what I mean).

Just when I was starting to be crestfallen that my pathetic second class felt wouldn’t work because it was some weird thickness or something, and I would have to shell out mucho bucks for real wool felt, I wondered, “what will happen if I turn the ’sandwich’ around and feed it through the other way?”. Sure enough, It Went!

So, the lesson here is: Linda is not the brightest light bulb in the chandelier. Although in my defense, I only started die cutting very recently, and so it is not yet second nature to me like it is to some people.

Linda’s intelligence level aside, I managed to cut some lovely “top notes” felt with my Stampin’ Up! Top Notes die. I cut orange, black and purple for a halloween themed pin cushion and then got really adventurous and decided to feed the red and white felt through together for my Christmas pin cushion. Lo and behold, it worked! I have not yet gotten up enough nerve to feed through 3 thicknesses of felt at once, even though Lolly says it will work, because I only have one set of the clear cutting thingies and with the creaking and cracking noises that I got from just two thicknesses I am afraid that three may be too much for it. Maybe once I have a standby pair of plates to fall back on I’ll give it a go.

So, what am I planning to do with my lovely “top note” shaped pieces of felt you ask? Well, as I mentioned ever so subtly (not) earlier, I am going to make pin cushions. I know that’s nothing too spectacular, but when you (foolishly) signed yourself up to make 12 Christmas-y handmade goodness thingies and 13 Halloween-y handmade goodness thingies and you only have a limited time to make them and you are not by any stretch of the imagination Martha Stewart, you can’t possibly make every single item so fabulous that the recipient immediately starts drooling upon receipt of the items. So, my Halloween-y partner will be getting as one of their 13 days of halloween a lovely black and orange and purple pin cushion. And my Christmas-y partner will be getting a red and white one.

Anyway, the whole purpose of this post was to mention how thrilled I was about learning I could cut felt with my big shot, and that has long sense been conveyed, so I’ll cut it off here.

Until next time!

My new (current) favorite blog

So, I have been working on some craftiness lately in between my three, yes, three, jobs. I am doing (er, hosting) several swaps on swap-bot for Halloween and Christmas, and so whenever I have a spare moment, I try to get in some great craftiness. Well, in the course of looking through all the cool swaps on swap-bot (it’s an awesome site; really it is. You should just go on over there and check it out. But after you finish reading my post, of course), I discovered a fabulous blog called Lolly Chops. Now, I have only read a few of her posts so far, but that was just enough to make me realize that I of course had to go back and read her entire blog. She’s quite a prolific writer (and crafter–I honestly don’t know how she gets it all done) so it will probably take me a while to catch up, but everything I’ve read so far has been fabulous. She has awesome crafty ideas, always provides great resources and links, and is a great writer. (read, it’s actually fun to read her blog). So, if you are looking for a great new blog to become your current favorite, go over and check her out.

Oh, and I’ll try to be sure and take pictures of all the cool Christmasy and Halloweeny crafty goodness I’ve been generating, but no promises. I mad the cutest felt stuffed pumpkin today. Honestly it wasn’t all that fancy, but since I only recently learned to sew , I’m pretty darn proud of it…

Meeting bloggy friends and life in general

I recently found out that one of the bloggy ladies who I follow has a shop very near where I live. So last Saturday I headed over to check out her shop. Lo and behold, I lucked into her actually being there that day, and so I got to meet The Graphics Fairy in person. She’s a very sweet lady with a wonderful vintage-ish, French-ish shop called, appropriately, Fleurish. I didn’t have time to shop that day, but I definitely plan to head back out that way with some free time and spare cash to sort through all the lovely things in her shop.

Since I last blogged, many things have changed in my life. I have found a new church here in Leesburg, and sing in the choir. I now work nearly exclusively from home. I went through a non-arty stage and have recently rediscovered the joys of creating beautiful things. I got a lot of walls painted in my no-longer-new place. I got a new boss. I got another new boss. And just in general went about living life.

I can’t guarantee that I will blog with any sort of consistency. But since I have been thinking about blogging for several months now, and have been putting it off because of the dreaded “first post after the loooonnnnggg break syndrome”, it is possible that I may do so somewhat regularly. We’ll see.

Haven’t Written in Ages

I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t written in way too long. And yes, I fully realize that since I’m “blogging without obligation” that I don’t have to say that, but even with the protection of that umbrella, it’s been too long.

I’ve done absolutely no art except for my Christmas cards since I last posted. Oh, well, I also made a handmade book thanks to the guidance of my friend Candice. I met her at a crop for Goldens Hill Paper Crafts, a wonderful shop in Fairfax Station Virginia. The owner is such a wonderful sweet lady. She always has great projects planned for the participants. Anyway, I met Candice at one of these crops, and she is really good at making handmade journals, so she helped me make my first successful one. I had made another one previously from a kit from Club Scrap, but it was a disaster cause I didn’t know what I was doing. But Candice sweetly brought all the supplies and tools for me to make a whole new one, and we worked on it together. It was a smashing success. That was the only other artistic project I’ve done in ages.

I did recently find out about SoulCollage(R) which is sort of artistic, but is much more about your inner voice, etc. I only just got the book, but I’m really enjoying learning about this. I have not really started my deck  yet, but I will keep you updated as things change.

I’m being recruited by a government contracting firm as a Senior Technical Writer; the position also has a supervisory component. It sounds like a really challenging position, and would obviously be a good move for my career and my finances (it comes with about  a 20% raise) but it’s contingent on my security clearance, and so far that hasn’t been a fun process. I’m supposed to meet with their security person yet again next week to fix some errors on my form; maybe then it will finally get submitted.

In the meantime, my current boss is great. He submitted me as a candidate for working from home full time, and is letting me work from home occasionally while that’s being considered. With the horrible drive from Leesburg, it sure is helpful to be able to work from home, even just occasionally.

Things at church are going well. We’re starting a church wide study in a couple weeks to determine the direction our church should be going in, especially with regards to missions. I’m really looking forward to participating in that. Handbells are also going well, but we’re playing a crazy hard song and everyone is a little stressed out about that. But stressed in a good way, of course.

I also joined a supper club and we have our first meeting on Februray 10. I can’t wait to meet everyone. I’m a little nervous though, since it’s been quite a while since I’ve participated in one of these. but all the girls were really sweet in their email introductions, so I think it’s going to be a blast.

I joined a book group meetup as well. The book for February is Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez. I just got it from the library yesterday, and I literally read it in one night. I stayed up until almost 2:00 AM. I really enjoyed it a lot. Of course, since i have a lot of Afghan friends, there were parts of the book that spoke to me that other people may not find very compelling, but it’s a good book no matter where you’re coming from.

My roommate, Sohrab, introduced me to one of his friends, Hamid. He works as a contractor, mostly doing flooring, etc. but is also really good at general handyman stuff. He has really been a life saver. He fixed several doors that I had a problem with, he took out that stupid sliding door thing in the shower (who actually likes those things?!?!?), he fixed my extremely wobbly table, and lots of other stuff.  I was feeling bad because I didn’t really have the money to pay him, but then he asked for my help with some computer stuff, so we’re going to do a sort of trade. It’s so nice to know that there are really good people left in the world.

 Oh, I’m getting Dish Network installed next Saturday. For the first time in 3 years, I’ll have a TV. Well, I don’t actually have a TV yet; I’m still working on that. I’m hoping my new roommate will bring his TV by then so they can test the signal using his TV. I’m going to have a connection installed in my room as well, but I’m not all that keen on actually getting a TV. And there is definitely no room for a TV in the living room, so it makes more sense to just get both connections installed in the bedrooms upstairs. That way if I ever get back around to doing workout videos, I can do them in my room.

 One last thing…I’m learning Farsi again. But for real this time. I discovered something called the Pimsleur method that puts the Rosetta Stone to shame. I’ve been taking a 30 minute lesson once per day for 7 days now, and I can already carry on a fairly complicated conversation. I invested in the full 30 day course instead of the quick course, cause I really want to get good. I also have the quick course in Arabic that I’m going to do once I get really comfortable in Farsi. That way I can learn simple things in Arabic like how are you, thank you, you’re welcome, etc. I don’t care about having a complicated conversation in Arabic at this point in my life. Thus the simple version.

Well, that’s about all folks. Those are the highlights of whatever has been happening in my life since the last time I updated.

Ebay Feedback Changes

(yes I’m well aware that I haven’t posted in ages, and here I am with an “I told you so”. I’ll get to the other stuff later, but this was just too good to pass up!)

So, for all those people who responded to my extortion on Ebay post with responses indicating that I was being unreasonable, etc., I  just wanted to point out that evidently I’m not the only one who felt that way. Ebay just announced several changes, some of which apply to their feedback structure. The very first change they list on their article for feedback? “Buyers will only be able to receive positive Feedback. “

They haven’t provided much detail yet, but it appears that sellers now have only two options when it comes to leaving their buyers feedback: either leave them positive feedback or none at all.  I don’t know about you, but I personally think this is a great change, as it will no longer benefit sellers to try and extort positive ratings from their buyers…since the only kind of feedback they will be able to leave is positive, they can’t threaten to give us a negative rating if we’re honest with their ratings.

 Whoohoo to Ebay for finally doing something right!

Rant: ACEOs etc.

Most people who participate in altered art have probably heard of ATCs, even if you do not make them yourself. As such, you probably know that they are called trading cards for a reason–they are to be traded, never sold. I even wrote an entire document as an introduction to ATCs for new altered artists that was used in my newbie group for quite a while, so this subject is near and dear to my heart. So you can probably imagine that the development of ACEOs was a bit annoying to me (as well as several other prominent altered artists; Lisa Vollrath is furious at people who sell them and refuses to allow the use of any of the materials she sells in their creation…go Lisa!). However, I can’t stop people from trying to make a buck, even when they are doing so by taking something beautiful and turning it into something commercial. As long as they are clearly indicating that the cards they are selling are ACEOs and not ATCs then all I can do is cringe whenever I see one, but I can’t really say much about it.

Jump forward to a post that came through my Google reader for a blog that I subscribe to. I originally subscribed to this person’s blog because I liked the look of her art. I did not realize that her blog was basically one big commercial and she would hardly ever actually muse over anything (which is kind of ironic since the subtitle includes the word “musings of …”). Once I realized this, I had two choices: keep subscribing or unsubscribe. I’m too lazy to unsubscribe, and plus her artwork is nice even if it’s not my cup of tea to constantly promote my money making endeavors, so I decided to continue subscribing. Thus it was that I received a post in my reader today letting all her loyal readers know that she had updated her Ebay shop with additional items. This is pretty common for her (in fact it seems to be all she ever posts on her blog) so I didn’t immediately think much of it. Until I noticed what it is that she’s selling…

This person, who calls herself an altered artist even though she flagrantly disregards the sacredness of one of the sacred institutions of our field (i.e. ATCs), is now selling “prints of my favorite ACEOs & ATCs“. Once can only assume that the ATCs she is making prints of are at least her own to distribute as she sees fit because the alternative is too shocking to even consider. But regardless of whether they are her own artwork or not, the sheer audacity of her actually admitting that she is selling ATCs is what is getting me hot. She’s not even bothering to pretend that she is honoring the spirit of ATCs any longer.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I personally think people like this are not fit to truly call themselves altered artists, because it’s clear that their focus is not on art at all, but rather on money. Please join me in boycotting the items of all such “artists”, and perhaps posting comments on their blogs that explain the true meaning of ATCs.

Update: The writer whose blog originally prompted this rant contacted me letting me know that she had removed all mention of ATCs from her listings.  I admire her integrity in this, and only hope that she, along with all other “artists” who sell ATCs in the guise of “ACEOs” will eventually realize that calling them ACEOs is not changing what they truly are, and is not acceptable.  I challenge all altered artists out there to rise up against this practice and let our peers know that they are violating a very sacred rule by selling these.

It just occurred to me…

…that perhaps I should give y’all, my, ahem, loyal readers, a bit more information about the place I purchased. Although I’m sure it will bore some of you to tears (or perhaps not, since if you’re really that uninterested, you’ll probably just stop reading), some of you have expressed quite an interest in it.

So here goes: It’s a 3BR, 1.5 BA townhouse style condo. It’s located in Leesburg VA, which is a very pretty town that reminds me of a slightly more sophisticated version of the place where I  grew up. Since it’s townhouse style, it’s two levels. I have a small fenced yard with two trees in the front and a private bricked patio with flower planters on the side/back. It has a fireplace (painted, which I know lots of people hate, but I actually like) and tile all through the downstairs. It also has a tile counter-top on the breakfast bar area. There’s carpet all through the upstairs (well except for the bathroom, obviously). The only room with two windows is my bedroom, and they are so big they practically go floor to ceiling! (or maybe the ceiling is just that short; I hadn’t thought of that) I have attic access for storage, which I probably won’t use, but it’s nice to know it’s there just the same. I also have a small utility/storage/access room outside that looks like a second door to make things nice and symmetrical.

All in all, it’s very cute, very practical, and has lots of room for storage (hmmm…kind of like me, come to think of it, except I need lots of room for storage. LMAO)

So, that’s the gist of it; I’ll try to get some pics soon, but at least give me a chance to unpack first. Otherwise, y’all think I didn’t learn anything at all and that I’m going to be a crazy messy person–totally not the case.

Yippie! I’m a homeowner

Well, it’s official–I am now a homeowner! Ok, so technically, my status became official as of October 15, and come to think of it, I’m a homeowner in name only as classified by the United States Census Bureau. Because as anyone who is a homeowner knows, you aren’t really a home “owner” until you own the home and for me that will be 30 years if I stay in the same place and pay according to my current amortization table.

But still! I’m a “homeowner.” I’m now classified as “owns home” rather than “rents” on all official (and unofficial for that matter) documents. And now that I’m actually moved in, it really feels official. For instance, I actually made my bed the last two mornings in a row! I haven’t made my bed since I was a kid and was forced to! But there’s just something about living in a place that you own instead of rent that makes you want to act like a grownup. I guess it’s because I’ve now passed all official rites of passage of adulthood that are not involved with starting a family:

• I turned 18 (and could vote, buy lottery tickets, cigarettes, and porn–er, if I was so inclined);
• I turned 21 (and could drink);
• I turned 25 (and got lower rates on my car insurance without having to call Geico);
• I turned 30 (and panicked at the thought of my impending old age); and finally
• I bought my own place.

If you ask me, there aren’t any milestones left for me to tackle except getting married and having kids (which I’ll get to just as soon as I have time, thank you very much). So, since I’m now officially an adult, I figured it’s time to start acting like one.

I do hereby swear (or affirm) that I will do my best effort to keep my room nice and neat (including, but not limited to, making my bed as often as possible); I will do housework and laundry on a timely manner; and I will clean the bathrooms at least every other week if not more often (I do live with two guys). And as such, any of y’all can come visit me any time you want to, and can even crash in my room without me having a panic attack at the thought of someone seeing it.

It’s a good thing I’m blogging without obligation…

….cause it’s been several weeks since I’ve written a darn thing, and even longer since I’ve written about anything arty. As those of you who’ve ever bought a house (or condo) can well imagine, it’s for a very good reason…that reason is that my life is consumed with condo thoughts. All I worry about from waking to sleeping is “will the deal go through” with a bit of “what paint colors should I use” thrown in to keep it interesting. Of course, I’m hesitant to get too excited about picking out paint colors before we close, but since the estimated closing date is only two short weeks before the last day of my lease, I have no choice but to at least start packing, etc. in anticipation that it will indeed go through as planned.

As if that wasn’t enough to keep me busy, I recently started dating. I’m not going to go into details because we’re sort of in a holding pattern right now, but I will say that he’s a wonderful man who I’ve known for nearly a year and had never thought about romantically before. But about two weeks ago, we spent an evening talking and getting to know each other and I realized that he is someone I could connect with. Things started moving a bit fast, and (as men are wont to do) he got scared and pulled back…thus the current holding pattern status. But I’m not worried; I know that things will work out for the best…the only thing I don’t know is whether the best is for us to continue dating or for us to not continue dating. But that’s the fun of putting everything in God’s hands….I never know what will happen, but I do know that whatever it is will be for the best in the long run.

So, the condo adventure, and my attempts at dating, are the things that are keeping me away from doing any art and more importantly (at least as far as this blog is concerned) keeping me from blogging about the small amounts of art I actually have done. But since I have no obligation to anyone but myself I’m not worried about it. I’m in a very exciting part of my life and I am enjoying it too much to worry about little things like how long it’s been since last I updated my blog.

Update on Condo

Well, most of my friends have come to terms with the fact that I’ve sort of fallen off the face of the earth for a while due to all the craziness involved in this condo hunt, etc. But I did promise some of you that I’d keep you updated, which I have not been doing a very good job of. I tend to be more than a little long winded, even in emails, so if I try to email everyone who needs emailing and tell them the status, it’ll take me forever. In lieu of that, I’m just going to write a long-winded post here and hope that everyone can forgive me for being bad about my personal keeping in touch at the moment.

First, I switched realtors. The lovely Christian realtor guy was wonderful, but it just wasn’t working out. Besides, I had originally talked to my friend Hussain ages ago, and should have used him anyway. The only reason I didn’t was because he was out of the country for a while, and then after he got back he had a lot going on, so I wasn’t sure if he had the time to take me on. Turns out he did, so the logical solution was for me to switch over and use him as my realtor since Marc wasn’t working out for me anyway.

Next, we went to Leesburg on Tuesday and looked at several properties. It was quite an adventure, involving lots of rain, lots of laughs, and surprisingly, lots of fun (see why it’s a good thing to have your friend be your realtor?) and ultimately we found three places that I both loved and he also thought would be good decisions (again, see why it’s a good thing to have your friend be your realtor?).

The three places are as follows:

• a very nice, completely renovated 3 BR 1.5 BA condo where everything is brand new inside.
• a very nice, less recently renovated 3BR 1.5 BA condo where things weren’t as new, including several features to make up for the less newness (a fireplace, a private brick patio, tile throughout, etc.)
• an ok, somewhat updated 2BR 1.5 BA condo that I would be satisfied with but would not love as much as either of the other two unless we got it for a much lower price than they were currently asking.

The current status is that Hussain is talking with the owners of my favorite of the three properties (obviously one of the 3BR places, but I’m not telling which one….gotta have some surprises for blog updates) and is trying to negotiate a better price plus closing costs. Since all three properties have been on the market for well over 90 days, and there are tons of other properties in the same complex for sale, I’m optimistic that it will be successful. But please everyone be sending lots of positive, condo-friendly, thoughts my way, cause I’m too excited now to be happy if this falls through.

Oh, P.S. I’ve decided to switch back to having a roommate. Otherwise my life would be not very pleasant for at least the next couple of years.  More on that to come later.