(Parental Discretion Advised)
Friday, December 31, 2010
Challanges
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Best Song EVER!
BEST SONG EVER!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
winner!
Monday, December 27, 2010
catching up!
I am having trouble sitting in the beadroom since my procedure on the 23rd, so I will be putting off the challenges until I can do so comfortably. I did make a card today tho, for a friend, and will post it later in the week... so she has a chance to get it first, tho I doubt anyone is left reading my blog. :)
I got a few new things recently that I am eager to try! Hopefully I will be sitting in the beadroom again soon.
Meanwhile, here is a card I sent for Christmas. I forgot the santa hat on this one tho...lol.
Inside it says "Feliz Navi-dog!" I sent it to my nephew who called to wish me Merry Christmas in Spanish.
For the rest of my cards, I will see if I can find any samples to take pictures of this week.
Have a great week,
Anne
Monday, September 20, 2010
hats and thank yous
The first hat I made was a size 2-3 and a bit too big. ( I wondered why I kept feeling like using pink, then Loy reminded me of her pink fake fur winter coat....) I love the tulle on top!
For the second hat I mixed a jacquard type yarn and some eyelash yarn. The pattern of the pink/white yarn is all from the one yarn!
Here is the second tulle hat- size 1-2 this time!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Fat people on Tv
One of my fave shows is Say Yes to the Dress! This show is set in one of two high end bridal stores, either in New York or Atlanta. They carry THOUSANDS of dresses, yet for the vast majority they only have a "sample" size to try on- which is a 0 or a 2, I am not sure which. How many people can try on these dresses? Rarely do you see an overweight bride, yet in America, sixty percent of people are overweight. (note- on Bridezillas, another fave show, I would guess 99% of the brides are overweight- from chubby to quite heavy. Yet on Say Yes to the Dress, 99% of the brides are thin. Wonder where the Bridezilla ladies get their dresses??)
If you do see an overweight bride, she has a compelling "story"- an excuse to show her. There are three possible outcomes to her dress hunt at these stores, where a bride can easily spend over ten thousand dollars for a dress-
1. She picks one of the few (and cheap) dresses that have a dress to try on in "plus size".
2. She walks out without a dress because all the dress pictures she brings in are only available to try in the "sample" size, and she can't fit in them.
3. She buys a dress WITHOUT ever trying it on, just by looking at the sample size dress. This does freak me out a bit- would you put down thousands of non-refundable dollars for a dress you have never even tried on???
Pry the next time I see a slightly chubby lady walk out without a dress it will put me over the edge and I will quit watching.
It seems to me that any business would kill to double the clientele. If these stores carried sample dresses to try on in normal sizes, say maybe an 8 and a 16 or so, just think- they would over double the clientele! Hellooooo.....
This has been bugging me for a while, so why did I decide to write this today? Well, I watched another fave show last night, Project Runway. (The Thursday night showing is opposite Real Housewives, so I watch it on Saturday night!)
The challenge was to make over a bridesmaid dress for a "regular" woman. The ladies came out, and all were thin/normal weight except for one kinda chubby girl. The first designer to pick a model ADMITTED he chose based on the lady's figure, not the bridesmaid dress. Naturally, the chubby girl was chosen last. I was okay so far, but disappointed in the attitudes of the designers.
As they worked on their projects, OVER AND OVER they commented on how the guy with the chubby girl had such a "hard" challenge. Ohh, he had a tough job. Oh, good luck with that girl. On and on. The girl was beautiful!!! Why is it harder to make her a dress than the usual stick thin/no boobs models they have every week? Are you a designer for WOMEN or for little girls???? Hello!!!! All the whining and saying sorry for his challenging job was very very irritating. I bet when the girl watched the episode she died- he was so nice to her in person, and moaned away about her size behind her back. Jerks. Now I don't want ANY of them to win.
Off to eat some cake now,
Anne
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Tuna's Hoodie
She seems pleased, anyways! I love the color, I picked it out just for her, and worried by the note by the yarn at Wally St. Cloud, I bought 3 skeins. I only used one plus a tiny bit of the second, so perhaps Greggie would look good in this color?? :)
I have been noticing some of the symptoms I had before when the Lupus was in my brain, so if my posts start not making any sense, please let me know. I know my emails were really... crazy right before I had chemo last time. Misspellings, wrong words, etc.
Have a good week!
Anne
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
creative stamping kit of the month
I joined the Creative Stamping Kit of the Month club a few months back, and I love the projects, love the colors, love looking forward to getting a kit every month, but I finally realize it is not worth the hassle of crappy, poor quality stamps!!
Here is the email I sent them today:
****
Hello,
I want so badly to love your kits, but the stamp quality is definitely lacking. My first kit, the layered flower, had two defective stamps. You sent me a replacement that was fine. The second kit, the classic cars, was okay, tho the stamps are quite thin, seem easy to rip and are a bit hard to get straight on the block.
Today I received my third kit- the acetate flowers. I adore the projects, the colors, the glitter- yet once again the stamps are defective. I stamped the large flower with the stem, only to realize that about a half inch of the outer flower petal adjacent to the stem is missing. It looks almost cut off. Now, the look is actually artistic, but it doesn’t work when you need solid outside lines to do the glitter technique!!!
While I appreciate your willingness to send replacement stamps, I think
two out of three defective sets, with the third not the highest quality
itself, is just too much.
Please send me a replacement stamp set for the acetate flower set,
cancel my membership, and please notify me if you decide to go with
a better stamp quality, because I would love to be a member of your
club.
****
Sigh. I really really wanted to be a member of this club.
Anne
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Olli's Turtle
The turtle lays eggs.
Here she is- two eggs haven't hatched yet!
Close up of hatchlings, on still partly in the eggshell.
All the eggs and turtles fit back into Mom Turtle, which is great for cleaning up!
Card Class
We did all birthday cards this month. This the mower card, the inside says "And many mower!"
This set was from my monthly card kit club. The inside says "You're a classic!"
I wanted something different, so I did a center open card, using the new Aviary set from SU! Somehow even tho we stamped the silver cage first, then the bird, the bars stayed "on top". I think the silver ink took longer to dry, so it transferred to the bird stamp instead of the blue ink to the silver ink.
This was the most complicated, from the first monthly club kit. Not everyone had the patience to cut out the flowers, but those who did ended up with a beautiful card.
This is a gift card holder. I chose an ice cream theme so it could be used for anyone.
The inside. I did suggest everyone else make it turned so it opens the other way, with the gift card on the top as you open it. I just didn't think of it at the time. I had the card bases all put together before class started.
Hope you like the cards!
Have a great week,
Anne
Sunday, August 15, 2010
beard hats
Here they are together:
Doug's Hat: Dad's hat:
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
knitting vs. crocheting
This made me consider- which is better? Knit or Crochet?
I learned to knit a few years back, maybe five or so. I did hats, gloves, an afghan or two, and many pairs of socks. I tried to learn crochet a few times and had no luck until maybe six months back when I finally got it. Since then, I have made scarves, a million little animals, and just finished a great baby blanket.
When I was almost finished with the blanket, I needed a tooth shaped pillow for a gift. After searching online for crochet tooth, I couldn't find any. Then I realized I could also KNIT the project, I had just done so many little animals and such crochet seemed perfect for it. After a quick knitting search, I came up with a great pattern.
All that being said, tho, knitting gives a much smoother finished project. I would never crochet socks, unless they were slipper socks. Also, I adore ribbing- and you only can do that with knitting, so I pry won't be crocheting any hats too soon.
I guess it is best to do both. That way you have way more projects and patterns! I remember when I first started knitting I was frustrated with the larger number of crochet books available.... tho knitting seems to be catching up now. :)
Lego Update
Second, I did hear back from Lego today regarding the sticker. I got two emails, actually. The first was from "Steve". He said the sticker was designed for a woman with a husband or boyfriend who works in construction, to make scrapbook pages for him. I almost died laughing. Do you know any woman who would make a Lego page for her husband? Much less use that sticker??? HA! He did apologize and say that he was sending a lego.com ten dollar gift card. I will pass it on to Ethan I am sure.
However, a few emails later, there was another email saying that production was stopped for the sticker! This was great, the first email was a bit... condescending, but the second made up for it.
Power to the people!
lololol.
Have a great week,
Anne
Friday, August 6, 2010
Lego- offensive? Heck yeah!
Legos are made for kids. The stickers are either going to be used BY kids or FOR kids. Right?
I don't understand why this sticker was even considered, much less made and sold.
I did end up cutting it apart and using the top in a card for Ethie. Here is the card:
Then when I realized how mad I was, I scanned in the parts and reassembled the sticker to show you:
Is there ANY reason a child would need this sticker? It is stupid and offensive.
Anne
Edited to add:
I was so crabby I sent a letter to the maker (they didn't have any email contact info online) and emailed both Crafts Direct (where I bought the stickers) and Lego this morning. I am pleased to report that Crafts Direct has already responded, agreeing with me, and they are complaining to Creative Imaginations AND pulling the rest of the stickers off the sales floor. WOW! I am so impressed with the fast response! Way to go Crafts Direct! They already were my fave craft store! The email explained that they often buy complete product lines without seeing each individual item, so they were not aware of the sticker. Yay Crafts Direct!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Creative Stamping Kit of the Month Club.
This is a picture of the projects included in the first kit I received:
I loved the colors, loved the projects, hated the stamps. Out of the sheet of 7 or 8 stamps, TWO were defective. I did manage to complete the big project tho, a magnet board to put of the fridge. Mom thinks it is too pretty to cover up, so it was a success.
Here is a close-up. The kit projects feature cutting and layering the stamped image to give it a 3-d effect.
***
Kit Two- distinctly classic
Now, my only complaint about this kit was, again, the stamps. They weren't defective, but they were super thin clear stamps. They are so thin I am nervous about them tearing, plus it is near impossible to get the phrases lined up straight- the stamp bends and curves all over the place and you just have to keep adjusting and adjusting on the block. You definitely need a block with lines to have a hope of getting it straight. Plus, the thinness of the stamps made them harder to stamp with- you have to press very very carefully, both when inking and when stamping. Press too hard when inking, and the areas not meant to stamp get ink on them, and then when you stamp, they are so thin that those areas do end up touching the paper. So it is harder to get a good image.
I am anxious to see what kind of stamps are in the next kit! I am guessing they will have some problem I haven't thought of yet.. but hopefully will be usable! Otherwise... cancelling I will be....
more critters
So, here are the projects I have made so far. First, a bunny for Ethan. He picked the neon green, I picked the aqua hat. The pattern actually did NOT include a tail, but of course a bunny needs a fluffy tail, so I added a pompom.
I was dying to make these chicks- complete with shells, so I did a few for Greggie. I love how the shell opens and there is a chick inside!