6 O'Clock Card - Life

Monday Finds

Three more new undiscovered Etsy shops for today.

sweetisobella Pink House Painting

treeformjewelry silver paerla ring

jwtdesigns Carnelian and Peridot Cluster Earrings

6 O'Clock Card - Fun

Not as productive today as I had hoped

I had wanted to get into making something with my new Zutter supplies but I never really got the chance. Well let's say I didn't really make the time for it. We ended up watching some Dr Who episodes. I gave hubby a few seasons of it for Christmas. I didn't think I would ever be interested in Dr Who but I am finding myself becoming quite enthralled. I love him! He's so cute and quirky and funny and the writing is phenomenal. Ah to be young and British. :) On the other hand, I did get a few 3x3 mini Valentines done today on behalf of my little apprentice. She didn't participate this time. She was busy entertaining her boyfri.... err I mean best friend. They played Wii all afternoon and then had a supper of homemade burger and fries, and then they watched an episode of Dr Who with us. Poor boy had never seen Dr Who before so we sent him home with one of our DVDs. Apparently his father is very excited as he hasn't seen Dr Who since he was a child. Hopefully I will get more crafting done this week instead.

6 O'Clock Card - Love

I love these pretty colourful papers. They are part of a photo matting stack and so are just the perfect size for making cards from.

6 O'Clock Card - Holographic Sailboats

I love these little holographic stickers. The sailboat seems to move along the waves as you tilt and move the card. The design on the paper mimics the waves of a perfect storm as well.

A trip to the hospital today

I received a call from the school of my young apprentice today. It seems she had hurt her arm and the school thought it might be broken. She was playing on the ice in the school yard and had a collision of sorts with a classmate. Playing on the ice was an activity that I had previously forbidden earlier this week due to her already having two very bruised elbows, a very bruised knee and a bump on the back of the head, all from playing on the ice. Apparently 10 year old apprentices don't believe their mothers when we say that it's for their own good. But what can you do?

So up to the hospital we went for x-rays and fortunately for her it turned out to be only a very good bang-up on the elbow. She's in a sling for a few days, on Tylenol and an ice pack. Swimming at the Aquatic Center is out for this weekend but she can still attend Art Class in the morning. I am just SO glad for her that she is not in a cast. Hopefully for her sake and my sanity, she has learned a lesson. We'll see.

An Eclectic Confession

What is your favourite meal? Colour? Type of music? Gold or silver? I have a very difficult time expressing favourites. There are just too many things that I love. How does one decide that Italian is their favourite kind of food? What about quesadillas? Chicken stir fry? A great curry? A juicy burger? A flaky spanakopita or a sweet Cuban flan (mmm... with fresh grated coconut)? I love them all! Don't make me pick a favourite.

When I was in high school, I wanted to be an interior designer/decorator. I read design and decor magazines voraciously. I even read books with house plan blue prints and would imagine how to decorate each one. Even in earlier years, I built little houses from Lego, complete with walls and furniture inside. The outside didn't matter as much as what I could do to decorate the inside of my Lego houses. I yearned for my very own doll house, which I never did get, but only so I could re-arrange the furniture to my heart's content. Even in more recent years I played Sims just so I could decorate my Sim house.

In my own house, the walls are rather bare. The style is hard to pin down. I have a bit of this, a bit of that. I attribute it to a combination of inadequate funding (I need a Sugar Daddy) and being paralized by indecision. I remember when I first heard the word "eclectic" and learned that it meant a mixture of styles, a little bit of everything. I immediately identified with eclectic as a way to describe my likes and interests. I am all over the map. I don't just like one particular style of house or decor. I like Victorian, modern, Scandinavian, southwest, country, mission/prairie/arts and crafts... I can't possibly choose just one style for my little split bungalow. If I have to choose one, then I lose out on all the others that I love too.

And so my house and my crafting have become an eclectic mix of my preferred styles, with no real defining point to tie it all together. My interests come and go, with some being more enduring than others. Paper crafting and card-making have been a passion for at least 8 years. My word for 2009 is "focus", which lends itself well to my eclectic nature. I will attempt to choose a path, to define a style, to "focus" on what I want to realize with my paper crafting. I hope you enjoy the trip. :)

6 O'Clock Card - Thank You

Made with another pretty stamp that my friend Candace picked up for me while she was on vacation.

Zutter Love

Yesterday I received an order of Zutter album covers and filler pages from craftyjam on Etsy. In addition to the Zutter loveliness was an album kit with Infuse papers from Basic Grey, as well as a 12x12 Infuse paper pack. I don't know what it is about the weathered look of Basic Grey papers but they took hold of my heart the very first moment I saw them.

Now back to the Zutter, also known as the Bind-it-All. This is an ingenious little device that allows you to make and bind handmade albums and notebooks very professionally with an o-ring coil. The Zutter machine will both punch the required holes into your paper and your covers and will allow you to clamp on the o-ring binding, for a beautifully finished album which you can decorate to your heart's content.

I am looking forward to spending a free Sunday afternoon at my crafting table to really play with my Zutter. If you want to share some of your own Zutter projects, please leave a link in the comments section.

6 O'Clock Card - Remember and Cherish

A friend of mine lost her life-long friend to breast cancer just around Christmas. She is devastated and I am so very sad for her. She will be receiving this card from me.

On calendars, lampshades and lessons learned

Within the pile of old calendars I had amassed, there was one which particularly appealed to my 10 year old apprentice. It was full of flowers, butterflies, twinkles and a little fairy with attitude, called Tinkerbell. What to do with these nice big images full of Tink-a-tude? My apprentice and I decided to cover her old lampshade with Tink. So we set about tearing off the old fabric from the shade and stripped it down to a tacky, sticky, plastic shell. We chose 4 pages from the calendar that we thought wouldn't be too dark to have on a lampshade. Then we measured the shade and cut the paper into lampshade shaped panels. We got two foam brushes and proceeded to paint some ModPodge onto a section of the shade. Having quickly covered an area with glue, we pressed on one of the cut pages. We smoothed it and and admired the first stage of our project taking shape. As soon as our smiles had formed, they quickly faded as Tink became covered in puckers and wrinkles that no amount of smoothing would remove. So we made the decision to peel the page off the lamp. This wasn't working...

So we thought and thought and finally we agreed to try a different glue, our Perfect Paper Adhesive, which my apprentice fetched, along with two new foam brushes. We squeezed the glue onto the lampshade and proceeded to spread a nice thin coat then we slapped on a pic of Tink again. This time Tink was lifting off, curling up around the edges. She wasn't sticking at all! It seems that this time the glue was drying quicker than we could apply the image. Back to the drawing board again as we peeled Tink off for the second time. Tink was getting ticked.

I didn't want to use a glue stick because it tends to become loose after a while. Finally my apprentice suggested the Xyron. That just might work. It took a bit of trimming on the paper panels but we got them down to just the right size to fit through the adhesive rollers. She cranked Tink through, we peeled, applied and voila! A Tinkerbell lamp! We cut out a few extra flowers and butterflies from the calendar and stuck them here and there on the newly covered shade. We also punched holes in some of the twinkles in the images to let extra light through. The apprentice was very happy with our project.

Lessons learned? Well besides the glue issues, when the lamp is on, you can't see Tink at all. What you see instead is the calendar dates and writing on the back side of the paper. But that doesn't really matter in the end. Our purpose was to re-use something that was bound for the garbage, and we made a lamp prettier than it was before, and I know a 10 year old apprentice who is very pleased with that.

6 O'Clock Card - Mr and Mrs

More Calendars and 14 Years

I think I officially now have more calendars than I know what to do with. The great folks that my husband works with have managed to dig up approximately 30 more expired calendars for me to craft with. They also gave me another bundle of used Christmas cards. I'm open to all ideas of what I can make with these. Feel free to offer your suggestions. I just know I'm going to have great fun at it.

Today I received a webgram from a work friend, congratulating me on 14 with the company. He's so thoughtful. He never forgets an occasion and I think that's a remarkable trait. You're a rare breed my friend! Thanks for the webgram.

6 O'Clock Card - So Very Beautiful

Just a little bit of sewing on this one.

Monday Finds

Here are a few undiscovered Etsy shops, waiting for their first sale.

Terry Signs Raku Pot

tsukatta Devil's Reject tartan outfit

three cows lily photograph

Check them out and see if you can give them some love.

6 O'Clock Card - Happy Birthday You Old Bird

6 O'Clock Card - 100% Girl

This simple little card is inspired by my daughter. She's 10 and is all about pink, glitter, crowns and fairy wings. This is for you my little apprentice!

Recycling and Re-using

I am the very happy recipient of a stack of expired calendars and Christmas cards this morning. I put the call out to a group of people who clean a local office building and they really delivered! I have 63 beautiful cards and 21 calendars. Oh the fun I can have with all of these. Off to the crafting table now. Stay tuned for what will become of these little paper treasures.

The Man-Made Card

I thought you might all enjoy this. It's pretty funny.