Day three of finding structure

Yesterday started out well enough. My organization plan calls for me to attend to online posting and responding and I did take care of that. Next, I communicated with my card class leader Launie to see if she had found a particular item we need for one of our planned cards.
I then contacted another class member, Patty who has been visiting with me to use my Cricut Easy Press to make iron on vinyl projects, to let her know that I located a design she needed to complete her latest project. Since she was not able to visit she requested that I cut the design for her. We got to talking about the t-shirts I designed for our class and mentioned that while making one of the shirts I totally forgot how to weed the design in preparation for ironing it on. We had a good laugh about that and then she (STRONGLY) suggested that I start a book with helpful hints and reminders. (She is now officially my Documentation Manager.) Then my daughter and I worked on advertising the Cricut Expressions I found while cleaning the basement the other day. So I guess you are getting the idea by now that my plans for consistent productivity are not moving in a straight line.

Looking for bedlinens changed the course of my day

Yesterday, before my plans to start developing a business routine, I went to the basement to find the winter bedspread and pillows I put away at the beginning of spring. Retrieving them caused an avalanche of boxes and other stored items. The avalanche also exposed the whereabouts of one of my favorite craft tools which is a ScrapRack by Totally Tiffany. But the ScrapRack was still inaccessible and could not be retrieved without a lot of reorganization. So, needless to say, I spent the rest of the day cleaning and reorganizing that section of the basement. The rest of the day was spent reorganizing the ScrapRack which had to be disassembled in order to get it upstairs to the craft area.
So, although I didn't make a lot of headway towards my original agenda of developing an effective agenda, I am well pleased with my efforts of yesterday and hope to make more headway today.

Becomming More Productive Self Challenge

When I retired I made a commitment to make a business of crafting. The first part of my plan was to have a designated craft spot. Whether that would take the form of a storefront, a room in my house or a shared space with someone was yet to be decided. Today my craft space is in my living room.
I have three commitments. I lead a cardmaking group, I teach Cricut classes at two Joann stores, and I want to have an independent business that I can run from my home.
I started with a vague plan of what I would accomplish each day. While I generally do accomplish at least one crafting task every day I am not nearly as productive as I planned. Part of the reason for my failure is that I either can't think of what I would like to do or I can't remember what I was planning to do.
My faith that what I need will come to me was rewarded yesterday when I received a project planning tool in an e-mail. Although I have tried, in the past, to utilize such forms I have not been successful because the forms required too much work. The current form is simple and can be used for specific tasks or as a running log.
So today is the first day of a challenge I have made for myself that I will accomplish two things. I will track projects for supply and time use and to help me with a daily plan for time use.
Stay tuned for progress reports.

Cricut Glitter Iron on Shirt w/ Silly Selfie

A crafty friend came to visit and make a reverse canvas iron on. I really liked the image she used and just knew I wanted it for a T-shirt. I went out and bought the glitter and finally got around to making the shirt today.
Talk about craft fails! Not once, but twice I cut the gold glitter incorrectly. I had to go buy more because once started, I HAD to finish.
So here I am posting the finished product. Since I had tried it on to see how it looked I decided to take a selfie. Try as I might to use a selfie stick I could not get the shot I wanted. Nor could I get the selfie stick to stay in one position. So my selfie is a shot of me in the mirror with the iPhone covering my face.

Learning to make a flat image into an SVG in Cricut Design Space

I am SUPER excited today because my crafting guru Melody Lane taught her minions to use Design Space to turn a flat image into an SVG. This was a double treat because she also told us how to create a bitmoji. So now I have a very cute bitmoji and was able to turn that into an SVG. I love learning new skills, but this one is going to change my life !!! I have so often wanted to use something as an SVG but struggled with every technique I tried to use and was seldom successful.

What is your morning routine?

Of course, at my age, the first thing is to hit the bathroom. Then I make an 18oz coffee in my YETI mug. I get right back in bed and turn on a news show on my laptop. While listening to the news I play a round of my favorite online solitaire games. Then check my e-mail and facebook. Then I spend HOURS watching Youtubes trying to learn how to be a better blogger, youtuber, and crafter. As I am writing this I am noticing that it is nearly 11am and I woke up at 6:30. So that gives you an idea of how much of my morning is spent on the computer. (Just a side note to say I also cleaned the bathroom. So I am not a complete sloth).
I would love to know how others' organize, or not, their mornings. Not just being nosy, although I am, I am looking for a better routine that might be more productive. There is so much I want to accomplish.
My thought is that I need a partner in crime to challenge me to try new things and remind of the things that I have said I wanted to accomplish.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave comments.

Cricut vs Cutting Dies

I believe I have mentioned how much I love Cricut Cutting Machines. And if not, let me say it now. One of the most useful ways I use my Cricut is to make layering cuts for card layers. Especially when I have to make multiple cuts for my card class. I also make frequent use of embellishments from the weekly freebies and cartridges that I own. And even single embellishments that I buy to perfectly complete a design. And since I don't have an abundance of sentiments I love, love, love the writing feature.
Having said all of that, I find it extremely hard to resist cutting dies! I was reminded of this when perusing offers from Paper Wishes, which is a company I frequently purchase from and seeing several dies I REALLY REALLY wanted. Although they are no longer producing weekly videos they have a large archive online of previous Webisodes. And it was these webisodes that increased my love of the ornate style of card making. Which brings me to the cutting dies dilemma.
As a retiree, I find myself quite limited in how much I spend on my crafting. So every purchase must be weighed carefully for need and usefulness. But I must admit that the one product that I find it hardest to resist is cutting dies.
So when I saw some dies that I found enticing I had to ask myself what draws me to them when I have a wonderful machine that can make similar cuts.
My first conclusion is that dies, especially the ornate dies, are frequently dimensional rather than flat. But on further reflection, I realized that I also like the immediacy of results when you can grab a die and a piece of cardstock and within seconds have an embellishment. In addition, you can use small and oddly shaped scraps to make the cuts. And lastly, even though the Cricut has been vastly improved to be able to make even the most intricate cuts cleanly and accurately, I still have visceral memories of ruined cuts and wasted paper trying to do these kinds of designs.
I would love to know what your relationship is with cutting dies. So please leave your thoughts in the comments.

The Most Hated Task in Crafting

Just a short blog to give myself credit for doing the most hated task in crafting.

           CLEANING UP THE MESS

 I spent the past two days preparing cards for my UMC Card Making Class. One card used forty (40) sheets of cardstock.

Got it cut into manageable pieces and organized by color 

in less time than I expected and 

was able to do the cutting sitting down.

Proud of myself for getting it done today instead of putting it off!

Follow Up to Live Presentation

Let me start by saying I will be deleting the video from the live presentation. Not so much because of the quality of the content but because there was a considerable lag between the video and the sound. But I'm so glad that I tried it.
The good news that comes out of it, however, is not just good but GREAT!
I had been preparing for several days to get the set up correct. When I went to sleep last night I was confident that everything was ready to go. Not to leave anything to chance I started preparing at 8am. for a 1o'clock start. By 10 I was a wreck and panicking. My only hope was to call on my neighbor who is a computer programmer and beg for help. He was hugely accommodating and went so far as to lend me cameras and speakers. He spent more than an hour getting me set up so that I could point and click to bring up my three scenes.
As if that was not enough, he came back later to see how it went. When I told him about the lag he, again,  started looking for solutions.
Bottom line he has offered extended help to create a professional set up for me.
Since I believe that I am meant to be a crafting presence online as well as in person I believe that Harry was put in my life to move me along this path.
So bad Live Event but GREAT consequences.
Thanks also to those that participated in my first attempt and hope that you will not be so put off by it that you won't give me another chance.

Wreath Making Stencil Live on Youtube

I am preparing to have my first ever live presentation and will go live on Youtube at 1pm. I will be showing a set of stencils I made in Cricut Design Space. Have to run now to get ready. Hope to see you there.

Planning My First Live Event

My plan for growing a crafting presence has always included making Youtube videos. (I refer to them as the worlds most boring videos.) So I'm particularly anxious about the recent movement within my crafting community to move towards live presentations. This venture is truly a struggle for me. I have been attempting for the past two years to learn how to manage video editing and am so intimidated by the programming involved in this. Melody Lane, who I have followed for years, has been teaching her patreons to use a program for producing live presentations and I have spent weeks trying to get the hang of that. So, pushing through my anxiety, I am planning a live presentation on Wednesday, October 10th to show a set of Wreath Making Stencils I designed in Cricut Design Space. I haven't decided yet on the time but will send out a notice as soon as that is finalized. I hope that anyone reading this will sign in to the live event and give me constructive criticism on how I can improve. I hope to see you there.

Melody Lane and Crafts by two took me to Cricut Expert

I'm not sure any longer how I came to learn of Melody Lane but I'm so grateful that I did. She is the most generous and knowledgeable facebook person I know of. She offers information and free Cricut training to everyone who wants it. At the time I found her she was also a consultant with Close To My Heart. She never pushed their products but posted the monthly offerings. I fell in love with their teal and white wheeled tote and signed on as a consultant under Melody Lane.
That was right around the time that Melody started creating digital paper and CTMH made her make the difficult choice of staying with them or creating her papers. I never understood their need to do that as her digital papers are nothing like anything that they sell. I missed her soooo much as the consultant that I was then assigned to was not at all like Melody and wanted her team to pay for her tutoring and never offered any insight into growing your own business. The good thing that came out of that, however, was that I found an eager group of cardmakers that were willing to pay me to teach them card making. We are still together.
Melody Lane was and still is, closely associated with George and Ken of Crafts by Two and they, like Melody, are not only knowledgeable they are as generous with their knowledge as Melody Lane. The three of them inspired me to go beyond my comfort zone. I soon began making three-dimensional cards and other 3D items and learned how to use Inkscape to make original designs. I cried my way through much of this learning process the same way that I am now crying over how to learn OBS and Gimp.
 So the struggle continues. But I have faith that this journey will be as successful as the others if I just stick with it.