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Sunday, April 6, 2014

1/7th of The Deadly Sins

I saw something on Splitcoast the other day that has been rolling around in my head (the rock tumbler, as I call it.)

A friend posted that one time she had spent a lot of time on a beautiful handmade gift for someone, given it to them, and their response to this gift was the dreaded phrase all of us arty types have heard at least once:

"Some people have too much time on their hands."

Everyone who has ever said this deserves a smack, in my opinion. A firm, well placed smack. Perhaps an eye poke as well.

It really hurt her feelings, which makes me sad. My response to her was this, after observing this behavior for many decades.

What people are REALLY saying when they say this is actually:  

"I feel an immense amount of envy that you manage to do all the fun things you do in addition work/home/kids/yard etc. - I'm not as organized as you are and/or I don't have a fulfilling hobby that I look forward to immersing myself in every spare moment I have, and I should probably go to church now because envy is a sin."


And in reality, it's a lie. People who spend every spare moment in hobbies they love are the ones with NO time on their hands. The people with time on their hands are the ones not making/doing/seeing things in every waking moment.

We all have the same amount of time. And we all decide what to do with it. And if any portion of that time is spent being envious of other people's choices, then hopefully a smack or a visit to church will set that person on the right track. Perhaps there's a church somewhere that smacks people, which would really bring it all together. Maybe I'll start the Holy Order of the Smack. Or Our Lady of the Eye Poke. Now accepting applications for smackers and pokers.

So instead of folding laundry or doing any number of other things I COULD be doing on this rainy Sunday, I chose to make a card for the Challenge Chicks April challenge which is an I miss you card.

At work, we use heat maps to look at what people are clicking on on the website so that we can make the content more relevant and make the site easier to use.

The heat maps are beautiful little informational rainbows and I love them. Here's what one looks like - the red or "hot" areas are the ones people click the most:


 So, so pretty.

So I thought I'd turn that into a card. A bright, happy card to combat the grey outside.


Step one was to use washi tape to mask off all the vases from Vivid Vases except the middle one.



Then I inked that one up in black and carefully removed the tape and stamped it.

Pin It

Hard to see here, but the colored vases are actually cut out and glued onto the card. I inked the edges of them with a black marker after cutting them out so that no white showed.

Then I used a marker to ink up the greeting from Just Sayin so that I didn't get the talk bubble around it and I stamped that under the vases, which are colored very quickly with dry Derwent Inktense pencils.

Love all that color.

So now I'm off to use my time however the heck I want to. I hope you are too.

Loveyameanitbye.

19 comments:

  1. I LOVE this! I get the looks all the time that say " wow all of your kids are in school ALL day, whatever do you do?" I think you nailed it when you say those people are envious of we creative types and really they don't deserve the thought we put into their hurtful words ( easier said than done I know). I had my heart broken a time or 2 by a well meaning family member so I stopped making stuff for her. Oddly enough she asked me about it . When I was honest with her and said I thought she just didn't either A) like what I made or B) didn't like hand made she couldn't believe I felt that way. I still don't make anything for her though. Words have consequences just as much as actions.

    Also, a poke in the eye is good too! LOL

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  2. Amen. And in the past I have said, " you are just jealous! "

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  3. You are so right -- it's all about the choices people make and also about guilt -- some people feel guilty for taking time to just do something enjoyable and relaxing -- we have become such a world of work a holics and tech a holics that to sit down and draw and paint or make card may seem like a violation of some work ethic. Too sad for those people -- right now I am loving every minute of my choice to respond to you and do some coloring!

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  4. You totally hit it on the nail with this one!! it is SO SO true! I love your card with those colors!

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  5. Thanks so much for your beautiful post, it made me feel better. I've had a few of these doozy comments directed my way and I'm never sure how to respond. I usually think of a snappy comeback hours later!
    Love your heat map card, the colors make me happy!

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  6. My sister always tells me I got too much time on my hands. Maybe. I am not giving a nanosecond of it up. This was great.

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  7. I love your heat map vases. So, so pretty! When someone gives me that line "you've got too much time on your hands" I've learned to make a mental note that they no longer deserve my time and will no longer get something handmade from me. I've also told them that I have the same amount of hours in my day as everyone else, I just choose to use mine differently. And now, I'll be mentally imaging them being smacked in the head and poked in the eye!!!

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  8. Wise words...and a beautiful card!

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  9. Wise words...and a beautiful card! Now, time to step away from the laptop and make something pretty!

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  10. Love your heat map vases, cant wait to try that look, its beautiful. I also volunteer to be smacker and eyepocker. If anyone I knewsaid that to me I would not only give then a biff over the head but I would take my crd back and give to someone who really deserved it.

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  11. As usual you make me laugh!

    Ha, I have deleted 3 responses so far.....some people might not agree with my humor...so I will just go on to a observation I have regarding your taping of the stamp.

    I always do it the opposite way. I stamp my image first then tape over what I don't want. I have been pondering your way (as I deleted my 3 responses) I think maybe it wouldn't be as messy as my way! Leave it to me to make things harder than they need to be!

    Great card and heat map!

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  12. I would be an excellent eye poker, just saying.

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  13. Amen and Amen. You're going to need a very large church to house all us smack and poke applicants. This was very well said - we should make copies and distribute.

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  14. You say it sister...Some just need a smack or a quick poke...Love your card and you are AMAZING...
    I look forward to what you post everyday,,,Boy would I have fun with you stamping and coloring together.One day it is on my wish list:)XO

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  15. This is the first time I have visited your blog (after seeing you around the SCS community for years) and I laughed OUT LOUD!!! Oh, Honey, If I had a dime for every time someone said that to me!! "How do you have time to MAKE anything!!" (I work full time NIGHT shift as an RN and I have 4 kids whom I am full time involved with sports, school auction, volunteering, etc) I don't spend time watching TV, quite frankly I HATE TV!! And I have been blessed with WAY too much energy!! Great post!! I poked around your blog for 1/2 hr!! LOTS of great Posts!!

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  16. I love your sense of humor. You have a wonderful way of saying things that need to be said. Along with the folks who need a poke are those that never say thank you when they receive a personalized, embellished and expensive to send card. It costs me 70 cents to send my cards because they don't fit down that slit that the PO uses to determine which cards are machinable. I keep saying that I won't send those ingrates cards, but I relent and do it anyway. I think I need a poke and a smack.

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  17. I just love your way of thinking. I hope you are going to Salt Lake again this year. I'm all set and ready to go. Hope to see you there. Julie from Alberta Canada

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