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Tuesday, November 29, 2016

(S)he Who Has the Standards Does the Task

I explained a philosophy to a friend of mine recently and she loved it and professed that she would adopt it.

This philosophy is a way of life for me - sort of like Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying has become for many of us. It governs behavior in many areas of my life, most weightily - the area of housekeeping.

I call it (S)he who has the standards does the task.

Here's an example.

Let's say you consider your job finished when the spices and cans in your pantry are in your pantry - that's it. They're just in there. Whatever.

But what if you are married to a person whose eyeballs will shoot out of their head in a dramatic fashion and roll down the street if the cans are not all facing the same direction and in size, color and alphabetical order, in that order?

In my world, person B is not allowed to shriek and rend garments if a can is turned sideways, because that person is the person with the higher standard. That person is the one who will suffer mental injury if the cans are not as he/she psychically NEEDS them to be. So that person, instead, is the person solely in charge of that task. They have full, free reign over the pantry and its contents and are responsible for putting all the things in there in that way that they find fulfilling. Everyone else is absolved from pantry responsibility.

In my house - I have a strange need to have clothing and T-shirts (not that I don't consider T-shirts clothing, but you know what I mean) hung in rainbow order in the closet. This means I'm the person in charge of hanging up the clothes.

I am 100% immune to ironed clothing though, and have not used an iron for anything other than encaustic in about 30 years, and so that task does not fall to me.

If you ever find yourself saying "YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG" - just became the owner of that task and you shall do it henceforth, and enjoy peace and harmony for ever and ever, amen.

It also works with people who live with people who are chronically late or early. The key to peace here is never get in a car with a person of the opposite persuasion. Early people go early and late people go late. Problem solved.

You're welcome.

#thelifechangingmagicofnotcaringaboutsomethingsandcaringaboutothersbutowningyourthings

It was nice to have the long Thanksgiving weekend, and for once, I actually took a break from work. Most weekends, or holidays, just to preserve my sanity, I check in and do some things so that I'm not overwhelmed when I get back.

But I love Thanksgiving the most, and I just cut the cord and enjoyed myself. I had two art sessions with my sister - one where I did about 120 of the main "arty" portion of my Christmas cards, and one where I did the cards I'm showing you today.

My teammate Bev made cards with this technique at my October retreat and I was so wowed I had to give it a try. It's so easy to make a ton of gorgeous cards really fast, and preserve just a moment in the universe at the same time. Really super fun. So here is one of the cards, for a friend who just lost her kitty. :(


Duoprinting with plants by Understand Blue
links to supplies used



And here is a quick video of the process.



This was so much fun - no two were the same but I love that I got two card fronts with each pass, and that it's a way to preserve a specific moment of the year - like a small, ephemeral art journal.

Very fun and very relaxing.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving as well.

I'm off to work on my DSP online class that you'll see soon, and my team event on Sunday - where we will get to make a project together online - in our PJs! The joys of the internet.

Hope you can find some pretty plants to make cards with.

Loveyameanitbye.

31 comments:

  1. I love this technique! Thanks for sharing it, and thanks to Bev for sharing it with you!

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  2. Love your thoughts, dear Lydia! :) Thank you (and Bev!) for sharing this wonderful technique. Your cards are just gorgeous! It might be fun to make note of the name of each plant on the inside or back of each card, too. Today will be an unseasonably warm day here in Chicagoland. So, I'm headed out to the garden to gather some foliage. Can't wait to try your Duoprinting technique! ♡

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  3. I love this! And the card is great, too. 😄

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  4. Well you have done it again!!!!! I am soooo excited, I can not wait to make cards like yours��. It looks like so much fun and quick too. Do not have much greenery left but I will do my best with whatever I can get. You just wait until spring I am ready!! Thanks for all you do you are so special!!

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  5. WOW these are gorgeous cards and I have invasive species that I keep pulling up. What a fantastic idea to make cards with them. Will be making a batch very soon and thanks so much for the video!

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  6. IGH! So since I'm very "set" in ways of things I do ALL THE THINGS???!!! I just want HELP!!!! ;) but I CAN just ignore it being wrong as I've learned to say "Thank you" because at least it's done!

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  7. I love the part of owning the task - my cautionary statement is - don't marry someone who has no standards or you will get stuck doing all the work! My parents are both type A people - thankfully about different things so their 52 almost 53 years of marriage have been mostly harmonious because of the aforementioned discussion - and the best part is they trained my brothers and me in both of their idiosyncratic ways so the neurotic circle is complete and fulfilled. I can soooo totally relate to both the pantry and the rainbow closet. It is nice to know I am not alone in the universe!

    I love the leaf pressing! Unfortunately the best time for us in my neck of the woods was about two weeks ago - the trees had started to change but they hadn't gone all crunchy yet and I am sure that all the lovely reds and yellows and greens together would be beautiful on the cards too! I will have to see what might be available to try this technique next year - most of the plants in my yard are too wet so a trip to the botanical garden may be in order! Thank you so much for sharing!

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  8. These are really beautiful Lydia and so unique to each place of origin. I love that!

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  9. Awwwwww ... I am so honored that you like this technique, my darling friend! And even doubly-honored that you mentioned it. After all of those cards, I didn't even stop to take pics! LOL Make-em, pack-em, give-em was the order of retreat business! hahaha

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  10. This is genius (the chlorophyll printing)! So...when we are all waiting around for my hubby on Sunday mornings to go to church, we should just all leave without telling him....lol...and then he can drive himself to church :D

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  11. Absolutely amazing Lydia! I'm pretty sure it's too late for me (Province of Ontario, Canada) but I'm going out to take a look around anyway. Your cards are so organically beautiful...thanks so much to you and Bev for sharing!

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  12. do the plants have to be green or could i have done this with autumn leaves? SOOOOOO cool!

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  13. How many prints did you have to throw away or heavily embellish because there were tiny bugs hiding in your leaf sandwich?

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    1. LOLOL none - it's somewhat cool here now and our bugs are sissies at 76 degrees :)

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  14. A set of cards using this technique would make nice sets of cards. I'm going to try it if I can find leaves around my house. Thanks.

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  15. This is magical - I love all of your gorgeous prints!

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  16. So beautiful, Lydia. I can't wait to try this when springtime hits Colorado. Also, I agree 100% with your philosophy. I came to the same conclusion the first week I lived with my husband and, again, when I had children. I attest to the fact that it works as I have been married 34 years and my children visit home often! Thanks for sharing.

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  17. I did this with geraniums in the summer and loved the look, but I did not get the negative, did not know how to do that, so thank you for showing it in your video. I love how all your cards turned out. They are beautiful for thank you notes as well. And I did chuckle over the spices ... you have been to my house I see ... alpha order and all containers the same size is a must for my spices.

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  18. Awesome, I only have deadish leaves BUT it still works!!! Having sooo much fun. Thanks

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  19. So cool, Lydia! Thanks for sharing, can't wait to try this!

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  20. I smiled all the way through this post. Thanks for the smiles. I'm also sharing this on my professional organizing page. Sage advice to go with your beautiful cards.

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  21. I love how you shared about the tasks. So refreshing! I'm going to have to pin this. :)

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  22. Inspiring!! I wonder what I might find here north of the border now that it's winter :)

    And I so love your thoughts on ways to live at peace with others!!

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  23. Your cards are gorgeous - can't wait to try this technique! Not sure what I'll find in December in NH but I'm sure going to look and give this a whirl! Thanks so much!!!

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  24. This is so awesome, thank you so much for sharing the video!! Can't wait to give it a try :)

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  25. You know that I will be scurrying around and selecting my varietals for their center stage appearances! Awesome technique! Thank you Lydia and Bev!

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  26. I love this philosophy! So freeing and not difficult to follow! Thanks for the refreshing post -- and I love your card -- off to try this new (to me) technique!

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