Progress

I made great progress yesterday at both the cleaning out and the creativity.

First, after thoroughly caffeinating myself I headed in to the smallest bedroom in my house to work on cleaning out junk. That room has no bedroom furniture in it and it's become the drop site for anything that doesn't have a place to go. It's also where I store all my craft show stuff. I've been working on it for several days doing just a little bit at a time. Yesterday I filled an entire garbage bag plus I have a box filled with stuff to give away (if I can get my daughter to take it)

Feeling accomplished I rewarded myself with a little craft time.

I bought these seriously cheap but cute Valentines

and I used them to make these Valentine treat bags

Then when I finished those I made some little crochet hearts to attach to the mini clothespins for bag clips

 It's a shame I have to go to work today. I could have so much fun staying home and doing more of the same

Because of the snow

Since it was snowing outside I thought I would go pick some flowers inside. The easiest way to do this was to go through some old photo folders and find some flower pictures.

This one looked pretty summery

 Then I thought I would see how it would look a few different ways.

First I turned it black and white with just the flower centers in color

Next two I don't know what I did to them

Duplicated the picture and played with blending modes.

Do you have a favorite ?

Just for fun

I had downloaded a photo editing app on my tablet called Photo Director. I hadn't played around with it much so yesterday I thought I would see what it had.

First I took a closeup picture of this snowman sitting on my dining room table

Then I played around with a few edits  It doesn't look that much different and I liked the original better. There are tons of options for things you can do to your pictures and I did very few to this picture.

Lastly I went in to the category labeled scenes and put the picture in this one.

I may download this app on to my phone as well since I take more pictures with my phone than I do with the tablet. Although I believe I mentioned in a previous post that I need to start using my good camera more often. Oh well this was fun to play with

So busy

My post is going up later than normal today because last night after dinner I was just too busy to schedule a post. First I had to take a nap then another and another and before I knew it, it was time for me to go to bed.

So today I bring you the master at work. Here is Gibbs working on his nose art masterpiece

This was taken yesterday, so yes, we have snow again. It's not a lot but it's enough to remind us that winter is still here.

It's how he rolls

When I've got nothing to use for a blog post I attempt to get help from my little furry friend. He isn't much on being helpful in a blogging kind of way. He's more than happy to lend a paw at cleaning up snacks or taking me for a walk but picture taking just isn't his thing.

I can occasionally catch him off guard but more often than not when he sees the camera he lays down and rolls on his back. Not an attractive pose.

We cut this one off since this is a G rated blog.

Tickled pink

With the dreary winter months wearing down on us, I think we can use a little color. I envy those of you who don't have to put up with a Pennsylvania type winter.

I found a picture in a file that I forgot about.

Pretty pink, glorious green and a few water droplets to add to the mix.

Efficiency

Since I took over the bakery department in the store I work at, I've done a lot of work organizing it and making my day more efficient. Even after all these years I still find ways to tweak my system and make it better.

I have a thing about making forms. I do them on my own time at home. I've been called a brown noser for doing it. I fail to see how it's brown nosing when I'm doing it for myself. One example of how my forms have helped is my freezer count sheet. I used to have to go in the freezer twice a week to count what I had so I could do my order. Now with the form I created I can keep track of what goes in and comes out making ordering much easier. I still need to do a physical count but twice a month as opposed to twice a week makes me very happy.

The point of all of this is that Monday on my day off I made another new form to add to the collection. This one will make it way easier to do price checking on my products.

Creative play

I know you're all just dying to know what I did with my day off. But first I have a note about dying. I originally typed in dieing but got the little red squiggly line under the word. I had to go in search of what the correct spelling was. Dieing is when you are cutting something with a die. When referring to death the correct spelling is dying. I've been spelling it wrong for years.

OK enough about that. So yesterday I decided to try something that I've been dying (had to use it again) to try. I read about printing on fabric and thought it sounded interesting.

You start by ironing Heat n Bond (iron on adhesive) to the back of the fabric you want to print on. Then you choose a picture on your computer and print. The paper backing on the Heat n Bond makes the fabric stiff enough to run through the printer without a problem.

My first attempt I used a picture that I edited and lowered the opacity, then added the words.

 After I printed it I used my sewing machine to sew the picture to background fabric using a blanket stitch. If I were to use this picture again I would keep it full color so it's more obvious what it is. I also need to be more careful putting it in a frame. This is seriously crooked.

Attempt two I went in to the computer and found some scrapbook elements that I had downloaded ages ago from a blog called Cen's loft. She's no longer blogging but she used to give away a lot of free scrapbooking stuff.

I used a Micron pen to go around a few things to define them a bit more. Again I used a blanket stitch to attach it to a background fabric. I need some practice on the blanket stitch. This is actually the first time I've used it.

This was fun and I can see doing more of it.

Random thoughts

I don't know if I mentioned it or not but I got a tablet for Christmas. I've been using it instead of my laptop. This is the first post I've done using the tablet. I'll still need to go to the desktop for pictures because thats where I resize them all for posting. If my posts have more typos than normal, it will be safe to assume I did it on the tablet.

When I was in Walmart the other day I noticed a new m&m flavor on the shelf. Have you seen these? More importantly, have you tried them? And if so, what do they taste like?

Today is my day off and I just can't decide what I want to do. Should I make a mess in my craft room? Maybe do some more cleaning out? Maybe I could go out shopping. Lounging with a book is another option. So many choices. I also have some things I could do on the computer.

That I am

Yesterday was a great day. When I was leaving Walmart I thought to myself "I'm a happy camper". No sooner had I said it than there in the next row over was a camper.

Anyway, the switch over went off without a hitch and now we have cable for our tv and internet. Holy smokes is the internet faster. We don't have all the channels that we had with Dish network but I think we'll live.

On top of the successful change over, the weather yesterday was wonderful. It was up to 63 degrees.

They say....

....change is going to do you good. Well lets hope so because there is another change coming today. It looks like "change" is my word for the year.

First there was the change of less clutter (not done yet but still working away at it)

Second was the change in cell phone companies. (so far happy with this change)

Third is coming today between 8 and 9 this morning. We are changing our tv/internet provider. We're saying goodbye to Dish network who's prices are going up and making the switch to our local cable company.

If for some reason the switch does not go smoothly and I don't show up for a day or so you'll know it's nothing serious just working out the glitches. (I'm hoping for the best and preparing for the worst)

Gibbs is keeping an eye out for the technicians arrival.

I think the next change should be changing back to using my good camera for blog pictures and stop using the phone.

Something different

I've been working on the scarf a little bit every night for several days so I thought I would change it up a bit and try something different.

I pulled out some fabric, glitter foam and little clothespins and made some Valentine bag clips

I only made 2 so far but I may have a few people to give a little Valentine treat to so I'll have to do a few more. I thought maybe I would put some crocheted hearts on some too

Well that's a fine how do you do

I had an idea for a blog post that involved using something I got in an email. When I sat down to write to the post I discovered I apparently deleted that email in a most permanent way. Well fiddle sticks.

So I begged and pleaded with Gibbs to let me take his picture and he consented, sort of.

He told me to hurry up and take the shot. He said no one would care if it was a bad picture, they just care about seeing him. So that's what I did.

For a little something extra, I have to post this picture I saw on facebook.

Yep, I'm pretty sure that's what Gibbs is saying too.

Bye Bye 55

Yesterday the temperature was all the way up to 55 when I left work. Today we're expecting a high of 38.
When I left work I was stuck behind a school bus. I pulled out the phone and decided to take pictures at the stops.

At the first stop I took one to the right

The next stop I looked to the left

Then the bus turned and I went on my merry way.

Out with the old in with the new

Old on the left, new on the right

Same brand just different phone. I've had several LG phones and I like them so I stuck with that.

So who was our carrier? That would be Verizon.
Who is our new carrier? That would be Metro PCS

Cost:
Verizon-roughly $150 a month
MetroPCS- This first month with switching and the new phones it was $110. After the first month we can switch to a different plan that will cost us $80 a month.

What we get
Verizon- shared minutes (can't remember how many), 250 texts each, 2 gigs of data each. Anything over 2 gigs and we get an additional charge.
Metro PCS= unlimited talk, text and data. For this first month everything is totally unlimited. When we switch to the other plan we'll have 3 gigs of data each and after that unlimited at a lower speed with no additional charge.

When I would try and use my phone at work, depending on what part of the store I was in I couldn't always get a signal. It wasn't always real fast either. I tried the new phone out at work on Sunday in different parts of the store and not only could I connect to the internet no matter where I was, it was so fast it was unbelievable. Another amazing thing was a video. On the old I could watch a video but it was slow to load and then it would start and stop throughout. On the new, it played right through without a single glitch.

I could be wrong but I think we made a good switch.

32 inches

Thankfully that's not a measurement of snow accumulation. As a matter of fact, we have no snow at all right now and the temperatures are supposed to be a bit higher than they have been.

I told you I pulled out the knifty knitter. I did a bit of a refresher since it's been so long since I used it. I messed up a few times and had to pull everything out and start over. Finally Saturday morning I got the hang of it again. I was up early and while I was waiting for the sun to come up I sat down with the loom and a cup of coffee. I managed to get a total of 32 inches on it throughout the day.

The plan is to make this extra long then connect the ends for an infinity scarf. Last night I only added a few extra rows but at least I did work on it a bit.

Saturday was a busy day. I did my weekly shopping then a little bit of cleaning. In the afternoon Wade and I went out for an early dinner and then made a stop to look in to switching over our cell phone plan. We came home with new cell phones and a bill that is much less than what he's been paying. I tell you more about the phone in another post.

Taking the day off

Be back tomorrow

A craft from the past

This poor guy has seen better days.

 I made him a very long time ago. I don't know exactly how long ago but it was more than 10 years ago. I found him in the bottom of a box when I pulled out the Christmas decorations. The poor guy has no arms. They were in the box but no longer attached. When I packed all the decorations up I left him out thinking maybe I'll fix him. As of yet the poor guy is still standing around with no arms.

It could be worse. I could have made him stand outside in the cold.

In case you're wondering, this is not a current picture. Right now we have no snow on the ground at all. It's been raining the past couple days so all our snow is gone.

Knifty

This was supposed to publish at 12:30 a.m. and somehow the time got changed on it. Since I'm posting it so late I think I'll just skip tomorrow. Unless of course I get ambitions between now and bed time and come up with something else.


It's been a long time since I've used my Knifty Knitter loom so I pulled it out and gave myself a little refresher course.

I made several scarves with it when I first bought it. I thought this would be a good thing to do at night when I'm sitting in front of the tv. 

We'll see how far I get before I get bored with it.

The end for now

First I want to thank everyone for all your well wishes yesterday.  It seems everyone around here recently has been having sinus issues and that's what my problem is. It's not a cold or the flu. This is all sinus related. I had to laugh at one person who was blaming one of the other girls for giving her a sinus infection. Um, sinus infections aren't contagious. I kept the giggles to myself though and didn't make fun.

So the index cards are on break for now. I have two more to show you today and that's the end of them for a bit. I sort of lost my momentum with them

This one is from Jan 6th

And this one is from the 7th

My daily creativity has been lacking. On the 8th all I did was the bit in my calendar and on the 9th I attempted a drawing for an upcoming project. The 10th was prep work for something else I want to start.
Operation clean up is going well. I've managed to do at least a little bit every single day. I'm one cupboard away from having my kitchen done. I'm probably going to run in to trouble when I get to my craft room. That's why I'm saving it for last.

Have a happy hump day

Instead of skipping it

I considered skipping a post for today. I spent most of my day off yesterday dragging myself around. I've got nasal congestion, sinus pressure, headache, runny itchy eyes, sore throat and probably a few other symptoms that I forgot to mention.

Card trick.

Nothing up my sleeve just a short post with another card.

I hope you have plenty of happy today

Glamour shot

Maybe you should call that macho shot since glamour might be a bit too sissy sounding for Gibbs.

This is a portrait of a dog who does not want his picture taken

Another day

Am I boring you with index cards  yet? If so then you may not want to go any further with my post. If you can handle another one then continue on.

This card was from January 4th. I've been digging in to my stash of stickers. I buy them and then for some reason can't bring myself to use them because then I wouldn't have them any more. Is that not the silliest thing you have ever heard? I thought it was so I decided to stop the insanity and use them.

Wade gave me a pocket calendar that he picked up somewhere and I decided I would creatively keep track of my goal progress as well as anything else that may happen during the year. This way if I fail to do anything else creative at least I will have noted it creatively on my calendar. 

OK so maybe this is stretching it a bit for creativity but I've used colored pencils and stickers so it counts as far as I'm concerned.

Every day this year.

So far every day this year

• I have posted on my blog
• have cleaned out at least one thing in my house
• have done something creative

I would say I am off to a really good start. So what if it's only 6 days in to the year.

Here is the index card from January 3rd

I'm loving all the green in this one since all I see when I look out my window is white. The forecast for the next several days is snow, snow and more snow.

Oh the weather outside is frightful

Our so so weather has taken a turn for the worse. It started snowing yesterday afternoon and the wind really kicked up last night. From what I hear it's supposed to snow right through till Saturday. I'm hoping it's just in very small doses though. How many more days till spring?

The weather didn't deter me from doing a little more cleaning out. I tackled two more kitchen cupboards after dinner last night. It's amazing how much junk I have in my cupboards that I never use.

The creativity streak is still going as well. Of course it's only been index cards but that's better than no creativity at all. This is the one from January 2nd

I need to get back in to the snarky ones. Those were always my favorite.

First of the year

I mentioned (I think) the other day that a goal for the year is to try and do something creative every day. So far on the 1st I made an index card and on the 2nd I made another index card. For the 3rd as of right now while I'm writing this post to schedule it to publish on the 4th I have not done anything. I have time though.

This is the first card of the year

Since I'm rather short on blog material I'll wait till tomorrow to show you the second card.

Starting the year off good

Gibbs is certainly starting the new year off on the right paw. He went to see Vicky, his groomer yesterday.

Now he's...

I've got an empty feeling

And I'm loving it.

The year is off to a good start. I have the decorations all down, packed up and put away. It feels a bit empty but a lot less cluttered

I also started working on reducing the amount of stuff in my house. I haven't done much yet but I managed to get through the bedroom, the linen closet and the bathroom cupboard. The goal for the year is to get through my entire house and pitch anything that I don't love or find useful.

I think Gibbs was worried  I wouldn't find him useful. Even if I didn't it wouldn't matter because he's too loved to get rid of.

Another goal for the year is to try and do something creative every day. Even if it's sitting down and doodling in a notebook. I started the new year off with index card art. Sorry no picture of that today. I'll save it for another post.

Today Gibbs is off to the groomers. There's something else for another post. I know you'll all want to see him all spiffed up.

Happy New Year

Prosperity throughout the coming year

When old times give place to the new, I send fondest wishes to you.