I love you doggy

So, um, yeah.  Here I am back at Blogger.  My fancy hosted Wordpress blog was more trouble than it was worth, and I posted less than 10 times since switching over.

In an effort to save some money, I’m coming back to Blogger, and ditching the custom domain name.  I’m still keeping anandilab.com so maybe I’ll find a way to link this blog to that domain.  Or something.

I’ve spent the past two days redoing this blog and papercraftlab.  I’ve got some design work to do still (or need to buy graphics somewhere), but it’s well enough along that I’ve transferred the domain names from my sketchy host to one who is hopefully more reputable and not blocked by my company’s firewall.  Grrr. 

Life is good.  Busy, but good.  BabyT is nearly two, which blows my mind.  She speaks in sentences.  She can count to 10 sometimes.  She WALKS!  It took her 19.75 months, but now she’s unstoppable.  Well, except for the fact that she’s super cautious like her mama, so she never moves THAT fast.  We are having SO much fun. 

This photo is from the day we played our first board game.  It’s an alphabet game, and has complicated rules with a spinner, and animal/letter cards.  Creath Family rules are just to pick a card, and move your piece to the right letter.  BabyT is great with capital letters, and is learning lowercase ones now.  She LOVES her ‘abcd game’, in that endearingly obsessive toddler way.

I’m still working part-time and started a new job within the same company in June.  It’s the kind of job I love – project management, and some internal processes to wrangle.  But it is SO much work to ramp up in a new role when I had been doing the same job for 3 years before that.  I’m still working out the schedule and time management.

I’m hoping to get more time to blog.  I realize that it’s been great for capturing the small moments – stuff I’d ordinarily forget, but when I go back and read it, I’m transported to that time.  I’ve had this blog for 6 years, just a little longer than TJ and I have been married.  Now THAT is just crazy talk.

So, is anyone still out there?

Birthday Card for a Musician - Experiment 5

Yep, I know it's been a looong time since the last post.  Months, in fact.  But I haven't been idle.  I've been chasing around a toddler, starting a new job, and squeezing in a crafty moment wherever I can.  Mostly that's come in the form of supply shopping, but I've made several cards, too.

Back in February, my friend Jenna had a birthday.  We had been lamenting about the fact that we rarely even had time to get a haircut because of the aforementioned toddler-chasing, so I figured the perfect present would be a gift card to a local swanky salon chain.  She just used it a month ago!

I knew I had to make a card with a pocket, similar to the New Mama card I had made.  What I love about making cards individually by hand is that I can personalize each one for the recipient.

Stuff:

I couldn't find all the exact supplies I had used, but these are similar.
Marvy Uchida lever craft punch - 1.25" star
Stampin Up' Curry dye ink pad
A2-sized DCWV textured yellow card base & white envelope
American Crafts Mini-Marks Rub-On Transfers-Celebration Book 2, Color
EK Success Inkadinkado Music Sheet Wood Stamp
Yellow 6X12 Alphabet Stickers (Studio Calico)

How:

1.  I had a new rubber stamp that was a bunch of jumbled sheet music scores, perfect for backgrounds and perfect for my musical friend.  I wanted a subtle tone on tone look, so I used a mustard colored dye ink from Stampin' Up on a pre-cut A2 sized dark yellow card base and stamped randomly to cover the card, re-inking each time.  I let this dry for about 10 minutes.

2.  Using the star punch, I made 5 stars from brown shimmer cardstock from my scrap pile.  I used lowercase cardstock letter stickers in a sparkly yellow that matched the card base for her name.

3.  I arranged the stars in a sort of constellation pattern and stuck them on the card with pop-dots to give them a 3-D look.

4.  My beloved Minimarks rub-ons in a dainty 'happy birthday' make up a border for the bottom of the card.

5.  I cut out a small strip of dark yellow cardstock for the pocket and stuck the sides and bottom down with double sided tape.  I used the same pack of rub ons to add the word "wish" in a corner of the pocket.  I also cut down a border sticker to add a bit of color inside the card, to match the gift card a little better and make it look less plain on the inside.

Tips:

• Figure out a color scheme first.  That'll narrow down your choices of "stuff" to put on the card.
• Lay out all the pieces before sticking anything.  Or use reusable adhesive, similar to the stuff that Post-It Notes use.
• Heat-set the stamped background with a heat gun to be sure the ink is dry and doesn't smear.  Dye (water-based) inks dry pretty quickly, but pigment inks can take a lot longer to dry, and the stamping will smear if it's not completely dry.
• Every now and then, put the card down and sit back and look at it.  Does it look "right" to you?  Is there a big empty space somewhere?  Does it need *something* more?
• I like to add a couple of embellishments inside the card so it doesn't look too plain compared to the elaborate work I've done on the front.
• When making pockets for gift cards or other thin items, remember to only tape or staple three sides of the pocket so that one side is open to slip the item in.  This is a total "duh" tip, but I can't be the only one who pasted the whole thing down and realized my mistake, right?

This was another fun project that just took a couple of hours from start to finish.  I spent most of my time trying to figure out *what* to do, and actually assembling this simple card was pretty quick.  More to come, so stay tuned!

I am gonna stand my ground

I actually miss blogging. I guess there is some part of me that needs to write something other than an email imploring someone for the 36th time to update their compliance data in the database I manage for work.
So it’s nearly the end of April and no sign of spring yet in Seattle. For some reason, I hadn’t really noticed until other people started complaining about it. That must mean I’m getting used to the dreary greyness. We have had a few sunny days, or at least partially sunny/dry days so I’ve been able to take T out for a walk. She really likes being outside and watching the world from her stroller, so she’ll often ask for “walk? park?”. Which is good motivation for me. Gotta model those healthy habits, right?

And speaking of healthy habits, gaah. We got the photos back from Trillian’s 18 month photo shoot at Seattle Art Museum with our favorite photographer. They’re gorgeous. Except for the handful which accent exactly how out of shape I am. It’s always a photo that does that, right?

When I signed up (again) for Weight Watchers online in December, I made a promise to myself that I would keep paying for it until I got into the habit of actually using it, and following it. Not necessarily to perfection, but just enough to track what I’m eating and you know, try to give a damn. As usual, I do really well the first couple of weeks, and then there’s one day where I get really busy and forget to track, and the next thing I know, it’s 3 weeks later and I’m back to eating bread pudding from Whole Foods because there isn’t anything else around that I want to eat for dinner. T’s picky-toddler food of sausage, soybeans, and sushi rice just doesn’t appeal to me, oddly enough.

It’s all about the planning. If I make sure that I have reasonably healthy choices, and actually do the shopping, and make it a point to eat before I’m ravenous, it’s a piece of cake (hehe, pun intended). Like today, for example. T has been sick and we can’t really leave the house, so I planned ahead last night and ordered groceries from Amazon Fresh to be delivered at the crack of dawn. I actually thought about what we were going to eat and got some good stuff for both of us. I channeled my 50s American housewife and made meatloaf today. (Note to self: Progresso breadcrumbs and frozen ground beef != good meatloaf). I drank 6 cups of water and ate a bunch of fruit. I tracked everything I ate. And honestly, I’m not hungry or feeling deprived. It was actually EASY.

And I know it’s easy. I know what I need to do, but I just can’t seem to make the time to Just.Do.It. I always seem to be waiting for that huge block of free time which never comes. I’ve also spent an inordinately large amount of free time working on Etsy orders, so I’ve really decided not to take any more custom work. It’s really hard not to obsess over my sales numbers, but I was spending enough time on it that it was like a 2nd (3rd?) job.

So yeah, here’s to one day of doing the right thing, and working hard to have that happen more often than not. Once it gets nicer out and T kicks this virus, we’re going to get out and do some walking. Maybe even at the Park! with Boogle!

Watch the rest go up in smoke

I guess if I’m going to deliberately take a break, I should post something to that effect. I got dropped from my ad network for inactivity, but I think it’s ok. The overachiever in me wants to try and monetize my two blogs, and live that “Four Hour Workweek” life, but that’s in addition to being a wife and mama, my “real” job at the Empire, and my Etsy shop. Plus any miscellaneous crafting I might try to squeeze in.


It was just *too* much. So I stopped doing a lot of things. Part of the crazy was trying to have too many backup plans; specifically backup plans in case things didn’t work out with my job. Part of it is that T is older, and more active so we try to go out and do lots of things – meet people, take classes, experience life. It’s not unlike socializing a puppy


My baby girl is 18 months old now, which is truly astonishing. I remember thinking that sounded so *old* when we were measuring her age in weeks. And those toddlers we saw out and about seemed so HUGE. And crazy.


We’re lucky to have a pretty mellow girl, still. We do get the occasional meltdown when she is tired or hungry, and ‘no’ is her favorite word, but overall, she is a bundle of awesome. I can almost have a real conversation with her. She used four words together today, for the first time, which floored me – “all done warm milk”. That’s almost a sentence. Holy crap!


She knows the words ‘astronaut’, ‘rocket’, and ’octopus’. She can recognize most of the alphabet, colors in a Crayola 8-box plus pink, and can sometimes count to 8-ish. Where does this come from?? We don’t drill her on flashcards, and I know they’re pretty low key at daycare, but she does ask “wakawa?” about everything she sees. (That means “What’s that?” in T-speak.) I love it. Everything is interesting to her, so hanging out with her is super fun.


I’m ready for her to start walking, though. I know in my heart that she’ll walk when she’s good and ready, but it’s hard to cross that 18-month line with no sign of independent walking. But she, like her mama, is NOT a risk-taker, and she needs a lot of “study time” before she’s willing to do something. So now I just get to hear about how big girls and big boys walk, everytime we see other kids. She’s paying attention, that one.


So I’m focusing on her, and our little family for now. All the other stuff can wait.

Experiment 4 - New Baby Girl Card

A friend from work had a baby in January, and I found the perfect (totally impractical) gift for her. These shoes from pink2blue on Etsy are breathtakingly gorgeous in person.

I saw them long after BabyT was too big for them, so I was glad to have another person to buy them for. Those gorgeous shoes could only be presented with an equally cute card, so I worked hard on this one. It was a great project because I just sat down one evening and decided I was going to make it, and finished it in one sitting. That's what I love about making cards - they can be completed in a short time.

MATERIALS

• Blank A2 ivory card and envelope


• Coordinating shades of pink cardstock, plain and patterned


• Cardstock letter stickers


• Adhesive metal faux brads - Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft


• Burgundy/gold embossing powder


• Tsukineko Brilliance Ink Pad, Coffee Bean


• Martha Stewart Adhesive / Art and Craft Glue

TOOLS

• Stampin' Up Welcome Baby rubber stamp


• Fiskars Alpine pattern decorative scissors


• Fiskars paper trimmer


• Martha Stewart Hydrangea Punch


• Uchida Jumbo Craft Punch, 1.5" Circle


• Fiskars 1/4-Inch Corner Squeeze Paper Punch


• Ranger Heat It Craft Tool


• Scotch ATG714 Adhesive Applicator for 1/4-Inch Tape

METHOD
1. I cut strips of patterned and plain pink cardstock to fit the width of the card, in different heights, and used the decorative scissors on the piece at the bottom.

2. I stamped 'Welcome Baby' in brown pigment ink onto plain pink cardstock cut in a circle, then quickly poured on embossing powder and tapped to remove excess. I used a paintbrush to get rid of the stray bits (as well as I could), then hit it with the heat tool for a few minutes until the powder melted and became shiny.  It's a pretty dramatic change, so keep going if you don't see it happen.

3.  I mounted the embossed circle onto a dark pink patterned circle, and then mounted that onto a square of textured cardstock with 3 of the 4 corners rounded (I didn't want to be too symmetric!).

4.  Using the double-sided tape, I attached all of the paper strips to the front of the card, then the embossed piece.  I spelled out 'ELLA' using the cardstock stickers, and then used craft glue to stick the hydrangea cutouts to the card.

5.  The card didn't quite look "complete" so I added a row of faux brads along the top strip of paper.
SUMMARY

I'm quite pleased with how this turned out.  I had to restrain myself from using a ton of different pink patterned papers (I've got quite a stash) and stuck with the very cool crown print from my friend Jenn's scrap pile, and then a very subtle dark pink floral for one of the circles under the 'Welcome Baby' stamp.

I obviously can use some practice embossing - there were still stray bits of powder that wouldn't come off, making the design look a little "fuzzy" after embossing.  I tried using a plastic tray to easily recover the leftover powder, but it was very sticky plastic so I ended up just throwing out a bunch of it.  Next time, a plain piece of paper might work better.

The inside of the card was too plain - I probably should have used a bit of the patterned paper to tie it together a bit more.  Also, I cut out all the pieces first so I could move them around to find the best layout.  It's hard for me, because I get anxious to just finish it, but it's really better to save the tape and glue for the last step so I can make last-minute design changes.

My friend J liked the card and the shoes, so it's all good.  Thoughts from the Peanut Gallery?  Was this too traditionally girly?