Resolve

I'm resolving to be a Good Blogger in 09.

Art of the Blog

I rarely jump into something without researching it online. So I have been reading blogs and trying to figure out what works best. #1.... actually blogging definitely works best. I guess if you skip a few months, people won't check back in to your blog. So here's wishing me patience and follow through!

Ten Days until Christmas, and my goal this year is to make homemade Christmas cards and homemade gifts. Have I started any of them? No. So I'm not setting a good precedent for follow through. But my excuse is the research.... I like reading magazines, looking at websites and other blogs for inspiration, ideas and know-how. Here are some links to really great sites for alternative crafts. Again, I remind you I don't know how to sew, crochet, knit, cross stitch.... I call that mainstream. If you have a brain that thinks like mine.... where the status quo just isn't your thing... then check these out.

http://craftzine.com/projects/


http://www.instructables.com/

http://www.creativememories.com/ (actually this in is more mainstream, but there's great ideas to copy)

http://www.pagemaps.com/ (good ideas for layouts for scrapbooking, but you can also steal ideas for cards or other alternative crafting)

So as the under-rated but still appreciated band Europe said... it's the final countdown. Tick tock to December 2-5..... need to get to work today. I'm making brag books for the grandparents, goofy ornaments from recycled jar lids, and pencil holders from recycled veggie cans. Wish me luck. Posting pictures later today.

Oh, Christmas Tree...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in theMcIrvin household. This year, we waited until Cainin and Ian were here to put the tree up, and we spent the afternoon making Christmas crafts around the kitchen table. I was so excited to get them here because I'd been buying craft supplies week. I have the staples... pipecleaners, felt, glitter... GLITTER! If you are looking for a little spark in your life, get some Elmers Glue and glitter and have some fun. It's good for the soul.

I'm unemployed... let go at the end of September, and Wayne and I decided I would stay home with Jack for awhile. Not sure how long this will last.. probably until just after the holidays. In the meantime, Jack and I are trying to stick to a schedule, I'm cleaning and organizing the house every day, and I'm starting a hobby I've put off for too long... crafting. When I had Jack, I wanted to be one of those mom's who scrapbooks everything. Well, I bought all the supplies... stickers, paper, scissors, glue and the albums. And I took thousands of pictures. It's safe to say almost every day of Jack's life has been documented on my digital camera. But most of those pictures sit on a hard-drive on our computer. I need to get them developed! For now, I'm working the pictures I have. But I'm not scrapbooking. I'm making "funky" crafts. I put "funky" in quotes, because I don't really like the word, but it's the best way to describe when I'm doing. I recycle almost everything we have. Cans of peas and pineapple become works of art with a little paint, ribbon, trinkets and a hot glue gun.

I have found one thing that's very important when starting to craft... allow yourself to experiment and learn. Don't worry about being perfect. I used to procrastinate a project because I didn't think I could do it perfectly or finish it in the time I had. Now I just create.. and don't worry about the rules. I took a lot of art classes in high school, and considered going to school for art or graphic design. Everything Mr. Schroeder taught me at WHS is coming back... part of me wants to call him to let him know what an influence he's been on me all these years later.

Here are some things you might have at home right now you could turn into a work of art:

1. Soup cans ... look for a variety of sizes. You could decorate a few in the same theme and give them as a gift for storying odds and ends.
2. Lids to glass jars ... they make great magnets. Just stick a magnet on the back after you decorate the inside.
3. Glass jars. You can buy glass paint, or just hot glue things on the side. Sharpies work on almost everything, too. And you always have ribbon, buttons, stickers, etc... and jars can be used for almost anything.
4. Baskets.... paint them, embelish them.... use them to give gifts, or as the gift themselves. Or paint them the color of one of your rooms and use it to hold magazines.
5. Old jewelry. You can tear a lot of it apart and recycle into a new piece of jewelry, or use the beads to embelish your other projects.
6. Blue jeans, t-shirts, socks.... you can cut up the denim and use it in your scrapbooking... or wrap it around a pillow and Velcro it together... make pillows out of t-shirts... sew one together and stuff it. Socks make great puppets!
7. Oat meal canisters... paint the sides and use it for little toys, or a change receptacle... you'll be able to save a lot of coins in a big oat meal box. Use it for a vacation, or to pay your car insurance.
8. Cards, old wrapping paper... there's always good pictures or print you can cut out for a new card or in your scrap booking.

That's it for now. I will keep adding to this blog as I continue venturing into the crafting world. I'll also post some links to alternative/punk craft sites. Pretty cool stuff.

Love to hear your comments about what you want to know or read when it comes to this stuff....

What's going on?

It was a chilly night, Jack went to bed surprisingly easy, and I was bundled up on the brown recliner, looking for something to keep me entertained. Then I stumbled upon Blogger. I guess I had signed up for an account 2 years ago, and never came back.

Then, coincidentally, Arianna Huffington from the Huffingtonpost.com guested on The Daily Show, talking about a book on blogging, and how easy it is to do. So here I go... giving it a shot.

I read the Huffingtonpost.com every day. As a liberal, it's my duty, plus it's full of juicy political dirt. Celebrities regularly post at Huff, including John Cusack, Alec Baldwin, Drew Barrymore, and even Barack Obama. I doubt my blogs will ever measure up to theirs, but I might give it a shot.

I also check Facebook on a daily basis, sometimes much more often. That site is addictive, and I don't know why. Reconnecting with old high school classmates is unsettling. I haven't seen them in 20 years, and now I know exactly what they're feeling, what they're doing, and who they're friends with every single day. Jeff Jones has been married for 15 years, and has 3 kids. Amy Bice has a daughter in college, and Dan Gates owns an aviation company. Too bizarre. It's like I got the ending to a book through a spoiler instead of the good ol' fasion way... reunions. Speaking of which, my 20 year reunion is next summer, June 2009. Should be interesting to see if the Yahoo Groups, Facebook, Myspace, or emails makes the reunion any less awkward.