PAPERLICIOUS

Bubbles in That Glass

As I was making this card (peace, love, smooches) I was thinking about the discord over some of Papertrey Ink's customer service policies and practices.  And that got me to thinking about how our personalities affect how we view and react so differently to the same set of facts (that's why jury consultants make so much money).

But first, the card --

I cut the peace heart with my Silhouette and stamped a sentiment from Paper Smooches.  The cardstock is a textured white Bazzil and using Distress Ink to stamp on it gave me a smooth finish (just hold the stamp down for a few seconds and the wetter distress ink will fill in the gaps in the cardstock). 

I love this card.  A heart. A peace symbol.  A flower with bling.  A happy card!

But, as I said before, while I was making it I was thinking about the turmoil at Papertrey.  For those of you unfamiliar with PTI's issues, the company has had some problems with its new website, some delayed packages, and has not sent out anniversary sets and prize packages in a timely fashion.  It also has fabulous products and a terrific design team.  (And I know Jenn, an employee of the company, who is a very nice woman put through the wringer over the internet.  Not a good situation and I am sending her good thoughts here.)

Some customers see these facts and are irate, spending (what appears to be) huge amounts of time pounding away at the issue.  Others love the company and are happy to overlook what looks to them as small glitches and are spending (what appears to be) lots of time expressing fury with the folks who are angry.

I have a glass half empty personality.  I see a prize package not delivered and I see all sorts of bad things.  I don't want to have a world view that sees the negative over the positive but I do.   As someone once put it to me "the scale of your reaction is out of proportion to what has happened."  (Cost for that observation $125 an hour...).  In other words, even if you are right, you are paying a high price for how strongly you are reacting.  So, I  try and wait things out until I can shake the glass and see bubbles peeking out over the half way mark or decide that my negative view is warranted. 

I was thinking about this as I viewed and reacted to the Papertrey issues.  None of it makes any sense to me.  The company. The customers.  None of it.  And then I realized that each of these parties brings themselves to the game.   The sunny personality who loves the products and naturally sees only the good in people can overlook what someone else finds fraudulent.   Trying to destroy a company because someone else didn't get a prize package seems a bit much.  Ignoring legitimate customer complaints seems a bit much.  Aacck -- enough to make a normal person run for the hills!! 

So I'm sitting back and hoping that the company resolves its policies and practices that have triggered the concerns.  I hope it does and I think it will.  So, I'm waiting until I can shake the PTI glass and see those bubbles again. 

 

The Real Housewives of Stamping

Lots of us have " crafty homes" on the net.  Mine used to be Gingerwood until I changed computers years ago and lost my password and decided I wanted a site with a gallery.  So

I moved most of my online energy to Splitcoast until someone mentioned there that "I posted all the time".   I became self conscious and feared that I had been outed as someone with no life.  So

I moved to Papertrey's forum until it got angry.  At first, I took guilty pleasure in reading all the drama.  It was like a Real Housewives of Stamping episode, flipped tables and all.  But it didn't take long to feel bad about the whole thing.  I really like a lot of the forum members and I'd like to keep it that way.  And  I started to feel sad over there.  So

I've spent less time on the web and more time watching Law and Order and Dance Moms.  I still visit and occasionlly post on the forums, but it isn't the same.  So

I'm going to my real local stamp store on Sunday with a real live stamper and we will take a class from a live human being.  

I'll try and keep my mouth shut.

EDITED TO ADD:  Oh, thanks for the comments.  Let me clarify my last sentence.  I couldn't keep my mouth shut for long!!  I can just try and not flip any tables!

Scrapbox Update and a Blog Break

I'll be back in September -- taking a few weeks off the blog (just like I did last August).  Have lots of crafty plans so I'll see you in September and hope to have lots to share. I'll be checking your blogs too.

In the meantime -- thought I'd update my thoughts on the Scrapbox and trying to stay neat.  You can find my original post here. 

After watching Mike spend so much time putting it together, and after spending 4 long days cleaning my craft room to the bone and organizing every single thing, my craft room stayed spotless for 5 solid months. 

By "spotless" I mean that after every craft session, there was no sign that a human had set foot in the room.  No scraps, no dimensional liners on the floor, no pieces of ribbon sitting around, no ink pads in a pile.  Amazing. 

Now, the room is getting messy -- however, it never gets more than "10 minutes messy" -- meaning that it only takes me 10 minutes to clean up. That's a far cry from 4 days!  However, the 10 minutes might turn into 20 and then 30, so I'm using the blog break to get back into shape!

In addition to using the Scrapbox (any system with labels will work), here are some things that have helped me change my messy ways:

1.  have a crazy obsessed with neatness neat husband who appreciates a neat craft room;
2.  put away cardstock as I cut it (it's a few steps to the closet with the hanging file folders -- they hold the cardstock and scraps);
3.  don't have that much cardstock (note to non stampers, yes I have a ton of paper, but trust me, compared to most stampers, I am cardstock deprived).  I purposely limit the number of colors of cardstock and ink that I buy. 
4.  rarely buy ribbon or patterned papers;
5.  watch Hoarders: Buried Alive, and
6.  have a crazy obsessed with neatness husband neat husband who appreciates a neat craft room.

Enjoy your August.  And thanks for being such great blog readers. 

Non Stamping Related -- Can I Go To the Club on Tuesdays?

Found an assisted living facility for my Mom.  It is less than a mile from our home, nearly new, and is subsidized by the county.   Toured it, came home, and told my Mom that I wanted her to move there. 

"Can I still go to the club on Tuesdays?"  No, Mom, you won't be going to your senior citizens club on Tuesdays.  I'll be at work and you will be clubbing at the assisted living place every day. 

Happy Mother's Day weekend! 

Even though it is subsidized, it is still too expensive for her, so we will pick up the difference.  I'm writing that so I look good.  

I could make believe that this is about her.  That she would have companionship (she would), be safer (yes).  But this is about me.  I don't mind her living here.  We are used to it.  I would miss seeing her here every day.  A lot. As you may have noticed, we are close.  She's very happy here. 

I could explain why I am doing this, but it doesn't matter why.  The bottom line is that this is just about me. 

Not sure I can do this.  I'll let you know what happens.

Selling and Two Images

I found this series of short blog articles from a couple of women who had an idea and made it work.  I thought you might enjoy this (even if you have no interest in selling anything). 

Maybe We Could Make a Business Out of This

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Just for fun, I'm sharing an image (Lenten Rose from Flourishes) that I ultimately ruined and had to trash.  After I colored it with Copics, I added hightlights with colored pencils.  Then I die cut, sponged and ruined it.  Trust me.  But since I had the pics, I'd thought I'd share.

 

 

Enjoy!  I'm looking forward to a day of chores, crafting, and finishing it off with a wild night of bingo.  Wish me luck!

Project 100: 32/100: Let's Talk Masculine Cards

Stating the Obvious Alert:  masculine cards do not have to be brown and contain a tool or sport.

I have it on good authority that men like flowers.  And bright colors.  And can handle some bling.  They might as well enjoy nature's bounty too.  Nevertheless, I added quite a bit of black to this card because it is going to my son (Project 100 is my project to send 100 cards to my son at college...) and the black tones it down a bit.  See that blue?  It is A Muse Studio's "Ocean" -- declared a beautiful color by none other than my husband. So take that, brown! 

Since the making of this card is pretty obvious, and since I want to stamp more, I'm going straight to the supplies!

Stamps:  A Muse Studio Beautiful Botanticals, Mad for Plaids (I used a tiny portion of the zig zag faux sewing stamp) and sentiment by Hero Arts (name of set unknown)
Ink:  A Muse Studio Ocean and Versafine Onxy
Cardstock:  A Muse Studio Ocean and Sugar (white) and random black
Other:  tiny rhinestones colored with Black Copic (yes rhinestones are fine for men)

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Random Thoughts --

This card couldn't be more different than the apples card I posted below.  I love the versatility of stamping.  I get bored if I try and stick to one style.

The less I worry about blogging, the more stamping I'm doing.  I made this card last week.  There was a time when I felt like I "had" to get it up on the blog right away.  No more.  So I'm blogging more than the once a week I thought I would, but still feeling no pressure. Sweet.

 

Blogging is not Stamping

I enjoying stamping again.  I got back my mojo during my brief stint on the Waltzingmouse design team.

Love walking into the room and playing.  Love thinking about it. Love soaking up inspiration from your blog or gallery or video.  Stamping pushes out the other noise in my life and that is a good thing!

But blogging is not stamping and it takes up too much of my time.  

I'm at the point where I am blogging to share, to be part of the community of online stampers.  I'm not here to enable, or to count my posts or my hits. Just to share.

And I can do that, and save time, by grouping my posts and limiting them to about once a week.  Not a rigid rule or schedule, just a guideline.  At least for now.

So if you prefer blogs that update frequently, with the latest and greatest, my blog might not be for you.  But if you are ok with a weekly (or so) post I would be honored to have you continue to visit.  

Couple of Google Reader Tips

1.  Anxious to see if a blog has been updated?  Go to your list of blogs on google reader.  Click on the one you want to see.  The blog comes up in the window on the right side.  If there is no new post, look at the button above the blog that says "refresh."  Click.  There is often a large gap between the time a blogger posts and the time Google Reader picks up the feed.  Clicking on "refresh" will pick up the feed immediately.  This only works for one blog at a time but is still much quicker than going to every blog's site.  

2.  Tired of trying to figure out if you won a contest?  Go to google reader and click "Search" -- type in your own name.  All blogs that mention your name will be listed and voila! You may be a winner.  

Edited to Add:  Comment by Jessi:  

I'm so excited that I have an additional tip :) If you right-click on any of the blogs in your reader, you can select "refresh all" and they will all update, instead of doing them one-by-one.

 

 

No Stamping for a Few Days

My stamp room is completely torn apart and I'm in the middle of putting it back together.  So I'll be spending my week off from work (yeah...) organizing rather than stamping.  I hope this puts me in better shape to create in the new year.

Mike and my Mom gave me a Scrapbox for Christmas.  Mike spent a couple of days putting most of it together and now I'm putting in each of the shelves,and figuring out what to store in it.

Hopefully, by the end of the week, I'll be reviewing the Scrapbox, including how we got it for far less than the list price, the assembly, and most of all, whether it is worth the time and money. 

We had a fine Christmas.  It's fun to have my son home for college!  See you in a few days...

ISO of Miracle

So I've been thinking about the pull to be free of obligations at a time when they seem to be growing.  The get in the car and keep driving kind of feeling. 

And then I read our fellow stamper Katie Renz' blog yesterday.  What Katie would give to be in the sandwich generation, juggling elderly parents with adult kids, whining about her job being too time consuming, her stamping order not coming fast enough. 

I wish I could do something for Katie.  If you know of anything please let me know and I'll pass it on to others, who I am sure will also want to help.

My deepest wish this Christmas season is that Katie gets her miracle.