Good-Bye Dear Annette - I'll Remember You Forever

I feel like I've just lost a piece of my childhood !

 

Annette Funicello just passed away.  The darling of the Mouseketters.  She was the one that I and my sixth grade girl friends could relate to; more like a good friend than an idol.  All the boys had a crush on her because she was cute, sweet and smart - she was more like "the girl next door" than a teenage sex-pot, making her not as frightening as . . . oh let's say Bridget Bardot. 

I feel as though I've just lost a friend, though I've never met her.  I remember when she told the world that she had Multiple Sclerosis. It was heart breaking news but she smiled through it and fought her battle with MS with courage and valor, never wishing to be pampered or wanting to wallow in self-pity. 

Annette Funicello was a girl and then a woman with honor, integrity and class.  She will long be remember with love.  Good-by dear Annette - we 'll always love you.

A Lot of Good Ideas and some wonderful Bloggers

Blogger is being bitchy today it has taken me over two hours to get this simple copy and paste post together. A task that normally should have been done in 15 minutes. Thank you Blogger for reminding me how fallible life, the internet and the universe in general can be.

I am at the moment typing this in my Word program as Blogger is constantly hiccupping and freezing for several moments  every couple of seconds. Once complete I will attempt to paste it into the body of my blog post (wish me luck).

 

I received a number of wonderful comments regarding old Business Cards and possible ways that one could use them up, so I decided it would be neat to post these comments and also allow others the opportunity to visit some really great blogs. I thank you all and can not begin to express how much I appreciate your visiting my humble blog and leaving your kind thoughts. I love you all. :)

comments:

JoJo

I made the mistake of ordering 500 biz cards when I lived in San Francisco and never used them. The next time I needed any, I just bought the biz cardstock at Office Depot and did my own on the computer.

http://tahomabeadworks.blogspot.com/

Meeling 
How fun! The little boxes are cute, but I'm afraid I'm at a loss as to what to do with them.

As for the sticker over the old information, I've seen it done well and then I don't think it looks tacky as long as the typestyle matches etc...

What a shame you have so many, but I guess that's just how it goes sometimes. :-)

http://thehairypeachblog.blogspot.com/
 

 

A Half-Baked Notion

Ah, yes, the business card, necessary evil of modern commerce. Wouldn't it be fun to mail them back to those suppliers who so glibly offered "quantity discounts"? I think the only green solution is that shredded packaging suggestion. (But contain it in a sealed pouch, or the likelihood of a repeat customer... not so much LOL.)

http://ahalfbakednotion.blogspot.com/

 

 

Annette

The boxes are kind of cool, but I have no idea what to do with them. I don't know what to do with the cards either. I have about 100 of them that I can't use because I closed the Etsy shop. I'll be interested to see if anyone has ideas.

http://sewcrazed.blogspot.com/

What to do with Old Business Cards ?

 Things change; we move, change jobs, change our cable provider, email address etc.  So what do we do with old, outdated business cards ? This is a dilemma I am now faced with.

You see, not long ago I ordered a box of 500 business cards for my etsy shop, AlmostPrecious. (The box of cards in the left of photo below)

Then I opened a second shop, DellaMessina handcrafted jewelry, and had to order another box of 500 cards for that endeavor. 

Since I also place my jewelry into local boutiques and galleries I have a box of cards for those establishments that make no reference to my online shops, the owners of shops and galleries prefer it that way  (wouldn't want to have their customers contact me privately about purchasing a piece and skipping over the middleman's 40% commission).

 

As I said; things change.  Not long after I received all these cards we had a change in our cable provider which resulted in a change of email addresses and now I have hundreds of outdated business cards.  Sure I could paste a sticker over the old information but that looks tacky and  unprofessional, therefore I went online to see what ingenious ideas others had come up with to utilize these tiny bits of card-stock and ink.  Truthfully there weren't many novel ideas. 

One could use them to jot down an address or phone number.
Keep them to list what pantry supplies or craft supplies you're running low on. 
Use them to shim up a wobbly restaurant table (we've all experienced one of those teeter-totter tables and had to resort to using paper table napkins, packets of sugar or sugar substitutes to even out the imbalance). 
Some suggested using them to make your own set of playing cards.
Donate them to a local school's art teacher.
Use them for bookmarks.
Wallpaper a room with them. ( Uh - don't think so !)
Clip them to one's bicycle so the card would hit the spokes of the wheel, making a noise. (We're all pretty familiar with that one.)

Okay so there's a lot of . . . well , a lot of suggestions . . . but was there something truly useful that one could do with old business cards? 
If one made handcrafted paper, maybe the cards could be shredded, soaked and transformed into some type of paper . . . can that be done with glossy cards ? 
Someone suggested shredding them to use as packing filler in packaging. 
Also one could make teeny, tiny little paper airplanes.  Not sure that they would fly very far and I doubt that I need a fleet of close to a 1,000 of them !

However I did run across an interesting idea . . .  constructing little boxes with them.

 

 

Though it is a bit novel, I have no inkling at all as to what I would do with a hundred or so of these little boxes.  I'd love to hear your suggestions on how to use old business cards . . . or even what one could do with these little business card cubes. 

To learn how to make your own little business card cubes (if you're so inclined) you may visit : Ned Batchelder

Since I posted the photo of this little fellow I thought I should follow through and give some information about him or her.

It was back in December and my daughter was here enjoying time away from New York city and absorbing some of our warmer weather.  We spotted the little creature meandering across our driveway and naturally (being the annoying paparazzi that we are) we ran to get our cameras.

Little turtle was trying to find it way back to the sanctuary of our neighbor's pond.

 

Of course in the photo above the level of the pond was down because it had been awhile since we had a good, hard rain.  Naturally the water level fluctuates and below is a photo of how the pond looked when Tropical Storm Issac can roaring through.

 

You can tell that the pond's center island has shrunk considerably, what you can not see is that somewhere along the fence line is a shallow gully where Little Turtle can slip in and out of.  Unfortunately Little Turtle often has trouble remembering just where that shallow gully is and that's what happened on this bright and sunny day in December.

Little Turtle had lost its way and was wandering further from the safety of its pond.

We let it roam around a bit, hoping  that eventually it would find the entrance back to our neighbors pond but in the end my daughter took pity on the moss covered little creature, she carried it over to the fence line and directed it to the gully where it could return to its home.  Wish I had taken some photo of Little Turtles rescue but, alas, I did not.

Fe - Fi - Fo - Fum

 

Yeah I admit it, I've been grumpy lately. Grumpy might be putting it mildly, perhaps more like Oscar the Grouch on steroids.

 

Recently I realized it is more than just being grumpy. I find that I don't want to go anywhere, do anything, see anyone or talk with anyone. Nothing seems to make me happy and even things I normally enjoy doing aren't giving me pleasure. If I were a turtle I'd swim to the bottom of the deepest pond, settle down into its soft, muddy bed, tuck my head inside my shell and remain there for as long as possible.

 

Also the fact that my hubby was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer has definitely contributed to my lackluster spirit. So yes, grumpy is now beginning to look a lot like depression. Fortunately my hubby is basically in good health and the cancer is in its first stage. According to the urologist it is a very slow growing cancer, so John is a prime candidate for low dose chemo therapy, which minimizes the side affects and damage to nearby healthy tissue. He will begin treatment in March and will have to have low dose radiation treatments daily for nine weeks.

 

Hopefully my mood will improve soon - if not I guess I'll need to see my doctor or a therapist . . . or both! Until then please do be patient with me and forgive me for my "downer" blog postings. I realize that 99.9% of blog readers want a happy, chirpy post, full of motivation and inspiration and though I must admit I have never been a constantly perky, perpetually cheery individual, I have never been this down for this long.

Wishing you all well and wishing you happiness.

Clicking My Needles

 

Photo above - my handmade felt "Welcome Bear" goes up on my front door ever Christmas.

Okay, blogger is going to give me headaches so guess I'll just have to work around it until they find and fix the problem (or until I pick up a new browser such as Firefox).   I have uploaded photos from my PC to Picasa Web Albums and then I've uploaded them from there to here. Sort of like going around the block twice to get to your next door neighbor's house. :D

Christmas was an enjoyable time at our house as Wendi, our daughter in New York, came down and spent a couple of weeks with us. It was wonderful to have her here and I hated to see her go. I also did not have to worry about filling Christmas orders from my etsy shop Almost Precious as for the months of Nov - Dec  I only had one order for each month, both were for a pair of my Christmas earrings.

Photo of Candy Cane beaded earrings sold on Nov. 11th 2012

 

Can't say as I was swamped with business, LOL, but at least it allowed me to enjoy time with Wendi. 

Photo above of Holly Berries earrings sold the week before Christmas 2012

Also on a joyful note, the person who purchased the lovely Christmas "Holly Berries" earrings emailed me to let me know that the earrings arrived safely and were everything she hoped they would be. Her only down side she said, was that she would not be able to wear them all year long. :)

 

Over the past couple of months I've done more knitting and crochet work than making jewelry. This fuzzy scarf is so soft and warm that it almost makes me wish I lived in a cold climate . . . almost ! Wendi loved it and thinks it is adorable and as soft as a baby kitten.  Now I need to make one for her as this one is going into my etsy shop - guess if it doesn't sell then Wendi will have two "Lulu" scarves to keep her warm during NY winters.

Lulu?  Yes I named this scarf  Lulu.  How did I come up with the name "Lulu" ? Well most of you are far too young to remember a comic book character, of many ages gone by, called Lulu and the comic books were titled "Little Lulu". Little Lulu had her dark hair fixed in springy, coils and it was the spiraling fringe on this scarf that reminded me of Lulu's  hair-do.

Wendi and I think this fringe is both cute and novel. Hope others do too and that some sweet soul will purchase the scarf.   I have it listed on etsy but etsy has rapidly been getting a reputation of cheaply priced items - I've even heard people refer to it as "Etsy Yardsale" - "etsy-bay" and that etsy is just another version of Craig's List -  now I'm wondering if maybe my stuff is too expensive for those who shop on etsy?

I was recently on another site that had posted suggestions on where one could go online to sell their creations - the first site mentioned was, of course, etsy. It was eye opening to read so many comments that denigrated etsy. Several said that etsy was getting old; others said there were too many resellers and too many tacky craft items on etsy; a few bemoaned that etsy allowed venders to copy the creations of other venders and sell them as their own. I suppose when a site becomes as big as etsy is, it become hard, if not impossible to police things (though that never seemed to slow them down when it came to the forums and shutting down threads - LOL).

What is your opinion about etsy and do you think there are any other sites that are as good or even better than etsy ?

Oh Blogger why do you do this ?

Would love to do a blog post but cannot access my PC photo files as blogger will not give me the browse window that I require.  Below are my list of options (none of which pertain to photo files on my computer) and when I click on UPLOAD nothing happens !!!

Upload 

From this blog 

From Picasa Web

Albums 

From your phone

From your webcam

From a URL

 

Also Blogger is hiccuping today and about every 5 to 10 seconds my cursor freezes up for several moments before it allows me to continue typing.

 

So many times I find myself wondering if maybe there could be something out there a whole lot better than Blogger Blogspot? 

Oh Blogger why do you do this ?

2013 Wishes

2012 teeters on the brink of its last day, holding tenaciously to its last few hours before the dawn of a whole new year. We, the inhabitants of this wondrous little blue planet, have miraculously survived the prophesied End-of-the-World Mayan calendar event. I suppose someday our world will end - but not just yet. :)

For the up coming year I wish for humanity to become more compassionate of those who are different than us, whether those differences are physical, cultural,  religious or simply difference in opinions, please let us be more understanding.  

May we all be kinder, gentler,  more giving and forgiving. 

Our Earth is a finite space that we share with a great many people, may we all be more mindful of and more courteous to the comfort and the feelings of others.

For all my lovely readers I wish you a New Year blessed with good health, may your lives be filled with happiness and the love of family and dear friends and may your endeavors be successful and prosperous. This I wish with all my heart.

Happy New Year to each and everyone !

LAST OF THE CHALK ART

Photo above is a lovely example of the 3D artist's ability to create realism and the perception of depth.  The birds actually seem to be flying out of the painting.

Please note to view a bigger and better picture just click on any of the photos.

 

Today I have an appointment with my ophthalmologist for a yearly eye exam.  Though the procedure is painless it has that annoying aftermath of leaving me with owl eyes from having had my eyes dilated and of course things like sunlight and any bright light is intolerable.  Therefore I decided to post my last photos of the Sarasota annual Chalk Festival, before my appointment and while my eyes are not super sensitive to light.

 

Photos above and below are truly whimsical. I loved the juxtaposition of having the lion being the psychoanalyst listening intently to his animal tamer patient.

The photo below was an interactive piece where a person can sit within the painting and look  as though they are a part of it.  Unfortunately there was no one volunteering for the seat of honor when I snapped this picture and just as unfortunately there was a large  tripod, with a profession camera mounted to it, that blocked the "sweet spot" for my taking photos.  Even from this slightly off center viewing position, one can see how the troup of acrobats appear to stand up and out of an otherwise flat  painting

 

Lastly my favortie, not because it was more creative or bigger, brighter or even better than any of the other works of street chalk art but simply because the bright red nose on the circus clown stood out proud and loud . . .  even if I stood slightly off center. 

 

 

Don't know about you but I'm now in the mood to go see a circus.  :D 

A Matter of Perspectives

 photo above is a portion of one of The Sarasota Chalk Frestival's paintings.  I look forward to seeing the profession photographer's photos to see the depth and dimensions of this piece.

(First of all I wish to say that I had intentions of posting this yesterday but that didn't happen. My hubby had to go in for another surgery to remove some rather deep precancerous skin cells. So I had to be available to drive him home after the surgery and to care for and keep an eye on him afterwards. Believe me, keeping an eye on him was no easy task, he wanted to run to the store and other places and did not want to just sit and rest. It was only when his surgical incision began bleeding that he agreed to sit still awhile and not to run around town doing errands.)

 This batch of photos is a hodge podge of 2D and 3D  chalk art.  In many cases the paintings were too large for me to fit within my camera's viewing field and had I stood farther back the perspective would have been completely lost.  In case anyone doesn't know, you can click on the photos to view larger images of them, which helps to see the detail and perspectives of the paintings (of course with my not so adept photography skills, sometimes even the largest of pictures doesn't improve the viewing. lol)

 

Photo above. Though I can see the cleverness of this painting I'm sure it would have been better viewed from above rather than on an angle.

 

 

Photo above shows a bright and colorful piece rich in whimsy, I have a feeling the little girl's bunch of balloons would really have stood out had I been able to stand just a few feet more to my left, unfortunately there were people standing a few feet more to my left.

Photo below is unusual as it is basically black and white, but it is rich in realistic details.  I am fairly sure that when viewed from above it would have had some 3D definition.

 

Photos above and below.  I thought this particular piece was unique.  You can easily see how the marquee stands proud from the pavement, giving it an undeniable 3D illusion.  But alas, again the piece was too immense to capture completely within my camera view finder.

 

Blogger is behaving petulantly this morning and tends to freeze up every few words and my cursor disappears as it goes through its, far to frequent, "save" procedure.  I will however muddle through this. :D  The photo below is of a local building that has been painted by an artist depicting a scene from a time long ago.  The paint is in tones of black and white giving authenticity to its vintage quality. 

 

 

Blogger is being incredibly annoying so I will stop for now and save the rest of my photos for yet another posting.  I hope that I'm not boring anyone with what may seem like a very repetitive series of the same event.

A Stroll Down Chalk Boulevard

As I begin to type up the next installment of the Sarasota Chalk Festival, I look out upon a gray, dark and rainy day.  Today is the last day of the festival and hopefully this bit of rain is very localized and doesn't carry southward to the city of Sarasota where it could render the chalk paintings a murky mess.

The chalk festival featured both 2D and 3D art work and I soon learned that perspective (where the viewer was actually standing) made all the difference.  Unfortunately, due to the crowd, the most desirable perspective was not always readily available.  I truly envied the event photographers who had unlimited access to ladders, scaffolding and "straight-on-frontseat-center" viewing advantages.  I am looking forward to viewing their professional photographs.

The photo at the top of this post is (I think) a 2D painting.  It is an imaginative one, as were most, featuring a circus performer atop the arena, her foot disappearing through a hole in the top of the  roof . . . and then reappearing at the bottom of the painting through a hole that the blue-chalk "artist" is busy sketching.

 

Below is whimsical work of 3D chalk art.

 

 

 

And below is what I think could be called 2D art.

 

Wish I could have been able to take advantage of the ladder used by the event's professional photographer  . . . or that I was another foot or two taller.   But anyway the above photo is my ground-level perspective . . . all 4 ft. 11 inches of me.  :D

Below is a nice example of the 3D art.  The toys are all rather shabby and are laying at the bottom of what appears to be one of those "Grab a Prize" machines that you see at carnivals and amusement parks.

 

Bottom photo shows how the "grabber" really pops and stands upright in clear 3D definition . . . especially visible with the people in the background.

 

There are more photos of this year's festival in my photo files but as I mentioned in another posting, I don't want to flood you with a bunch of my mediocre pictures.   If any of you are interested in reading more about the Annual Sarasota Chalk Festival their website is : http://www.chalkfestival.org/