Not so Rolling Blackouts

Well today we learned that Texas has no idea how to manage energy.

Yeah, it's cold. Really cold. We have twenties and wind gusts up to 60 mph and it will get worse tonight.

But it's three days of cold. For which, apparently, we don't have enough juice. Actually we don't have enough for today. Good to know. They started rolling blackouts this morning, which weren't rolling, because some neighborhoods had three one hour blackouts in a row and some neighborhoods had none.

I could see if we had months of 18 degrees that we might have a grid problem. But really? One day? Even Maddie could manage things a bit better than that, I'm fairly certain - one solution has already been proposed by a LOLcat.So there you go.

It's just a blog in the dark. :) Heh heh.

One thing that does not require power or heat is stamping, so I decided I'd give today's Faux Pressed Flower Tutorial a shot.

I got out some new toys for this venture, and this is what I did. First, I attached some Sweet Stitches Fabric to a Big Shot Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet. This is like a Xyron for your Big Shot. Very fun. Then I die cut some flowers with my Fun Flowers die by running this fabric on the sheet through the Big Shot.

Next, I peeled the backing off the adhesive sheets on the flowers and stuck them down on some white cardstock. Then I took that piece and embossed it with the square lattice folder. See how it smooshes the fabric into the paper? So pretty!
The rest is so easy! I put a piece of Sticky Strip down, scooched up some Pear Pizazz Seam binding on it, and on the other side, added a Sweet Stitches button, and added the "for you" from Clearly For you on a 1 3/8" circle of Whisper White.In the center of the flowers, I added glimmer brads, and the card base is Tempting Turquoise.

The center of the button sports some orange ribbon I got from an MFT VIP Kit,in honor of a momentous moment in my crafting life.

I've saved up this new for when I could show you a sewing themed card with my new toys.

It's totally okay if you get all verklempt and start crying and making a speech when I tell you this too. So here goes....

Fiskars has been the Coca-Cola of crafting my whole life. Those orange scissors in my mom's sewing room - yes, the ones we weren't supposed to touch, but we snuck them out and pulled nails with them anyway or cut sheet metal and snuck them back in - were the sole icon of crafts in all of my decades of crafting - as recognizable as the Apple apple or the Nike swoosh. There just weren't any other scissors.

Even if there were, they wouldn't have been as cool. Everyone knew THESE scissors on sight. They took a tool that was necessary and unremarkable and made it a sassy, ubiquitous brand.

They are the pinnacle of all things snippy and sewy and I'm pretty sure Home Depot stole their colors. #justsayin.

So when I opened a box I got in the mail, an orange light shone out, unicorns pranced and mermaids sang as I beheld....


MY FISKATEERS SCISSORS! NEVER TO BE TOUCHED BY A SOUL OTHER THAN MYSELF! UNDER PENALTY OF DEATH!

Ahh, engraved with my Fiskateer #7030, no less. I feel like Ralphie when he opened the Red Ryder BB gun.

The best there ever was, Fiskars. The. Best. There. Ever. Was.

The rest of you can now commence calling me by my proper Fiskateer title! :)

Loveyameanitbye

Stamping in the 3rd Dimension

Okay - maybe it's not as dramatic as it sounds... I wanted you to imagine some Star Trekkie stamping fusion that altered the space-time continuum.

BUT - it's cool.

I love doing altered items, but I don't enjoy:

• Trying to line things up straight, as that is not one of my spiritual gifts
• Wrapping paper around round tins because it always gets a little off and then the adhesive is already eternal and you rip it off, cuss, throw everything away and decide that people don't really need presents anyway

So, imagine how thrilled I was to successfully master the stamp-space continuum with the help of a Fiskars Easy stamp press and some so-much-easier-than-paper Sticky Back Canvas!

Now if you're like me, you sometimes buy new toys and neglect them, which is what I did with all these things. But then, when I found them all in a little pile together - VOILA - a stampy epiphany occurs! In this case, I altered a tea can and filled it with crafty goodies.

Stamps: Technique Tuesday (Provence alphabet and Fall on me) Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa Brown Paper: Claudine Hellmuth Sticky Back Canvas Accessories: Golden Fluid Acrylics (Pthalo Blue, Green Gold), Fiskars Easy Stamp Press, blank tea can

It was so cool I had to get it on film. I know - two tutorials in a row - pigs are probably flying around outside right now. Don't get used to it!! :)

But here's the video PROOF that I have actually played with some of the things I've bought. Click here if you don't see the player. And after you watch it - create art! :)