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My Journey As A Creative Designer - Woodworking and Beyond

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7M views 13K replies 477 participants last post by  teaklight12 
#1 ·
Beginning this Blog

I recently was referred to this site by Steve Good, who has a wonderful, comprehensive scroll saw forum and blog page. Although I have been doing woodworking for almost fifteen years, I have finally reached a point in my life where I am able to make it the main focus of my activities. Since my life revolves around my woodworking and business, I believe that this blog will reflect that very clearly, although it will also be somewhat personal. But I think that woodworking is very personal anyway.

It has been a long journey to get to this point. There have been many good times and some not-so-good ones, but I appreciate every single step because I think that if even one thing was different, I would not be where I am today or who I am inside. It isn't only the positive events in our lives that make us what we are. Many times it is the negative things that mold and shape us and teach us to look at things in a certain way. I try to remember that when things are tough and move ahead.

I have learned that there is only one thing we can be certain of in life: change. Whether things are good or bad, we need to hold on and appreciate the moment, as we can be certain that things will be different before long. This helps us to not only appreciate the good days and things we have now, but also hang on when things are not so good, as we know that they will be different soon. I like this philosophy.

I liked reading about the new contest offered by this site in the newsletter. Fluidity. It is a perfect theme for projects because our existence itself is fluid. I am anxious to see what interpretations are going to be, as I am sure everyone else is. It will be an adventure for all of us for sure.

So why am I starting this blog? The other day I received a call from a customer who had a question for me. He kept saying how surprised he was that I answered my own phone. I have worked as a Contributing Editor for Creative Woodworks and Crafts Magazine for the past 13+ years and I guess in the scroll saw community, many people have heard of me. It seemed so odd to me that he would think I would have a secretary or staff. We kind of laughed about it, but it really got me thinking about his interpretation of my life. We all tend to form opinions of others from very limited information. We see the outside of a person as they are presented to us and many times are very quick to categorize that person in our minds. I do it myself.

But in my years of talking with and dealing with many people from many different places, I have come to realize that people are like icebergs. We only see the tip of them and below the surface is a vast, complex side of them that is the basis of their actions and thinking.

Everyone has a story. Everyone has traveled a journey. No two people have traveled identical paths. Thus, we are all unique in our thoughts, actions and creative processes. I enjoy hearing others stories. I think that listening to others and hearing their experiences helps us to understand each other. With that understanding, we learn.

I have used the phrase "Knowledge Is Power" in my signature since I have been on the web. Once someone told me that they thought it was quite arrogant of me to say that. He thought that I was implying that I knew more than anyone else and he found that offensive. I told him he couldn't be more wrong. My interpretation of the phrase is that our QUEST for knowledge EMPOWERS us to make better decisions about things in our lives. We are never finished learning. I learn every single day from my friends, colleagues, fellow woodworkers and students. We never know when we will learn something new. Sometimes you can learn from even a seemingly insignificant event. I feel the key is that we need to be open to learning.

Everyone has a story.

So I will close today with those thoughts. I don't know how often I will post here, but I hope to make it a habit. I don't know if anyone will even read this, but somehow it doesn't matter. Writing is a key in self-awareness. By writing things down we categorize our actions and it helps (me anyway) to keep my life organized. Organization leads to peace as far as I am concerned.

I am quite overwhelmed with the scope of the site here. I am still getting my footings and lurking around. I think for the first several days or maybe even weeks I will be more of a passive observer while I find my comfortable position among the others here. I want to upload the new things I am working on here. Like everyone else, I am anxious to see the response they get. I love seeing others projects and could spend my days just looking.

Although it is quite intimidating, the forum looks like it is full of friendly, knowledgeable and wonderfully creative people.

I think I am going to like it here.
 
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#7,459 ·
Somewhat of a Rant

I'm going to start today with somewhat of a rant. Those of you who know me and read here from time to time know that I try to stay on the positive side of things and that I try to look at things in a positive way. I kiddingly call it my "pink cloud" way of living. But even "pink clouds" turn grey from time to time.

Yesterday it was brought to my attention from one of my "Buddies" here on Lumberjocks that he was approached about one of his projects that was made from one of my patterns. The fellow Lumberjock asked him if he would share the pattern with him. Being ethical and also a friend, he told the person "no", to which the person replied

"That's OK. I'll just make a pattern off of the pictures she puts up on her blog."

Nice.

Apparently, this person is also a "Buddy" of mine here on Lumberjocks.com. If you are reading this now, you know who you are (or maybe there are more than one of you with this attitude - I guess I will never know!) All I have to say to you is "Thanks." (< - - sarcasm)

If after seeing how hard Keith and I work to make nice patterns for people to use and how much we put into our business, you still want to take the time to trace screenshots and steal patterns from pictures that I post on my blog, which is also meant to help people learn and be more creative (yes - and to help my business) then there is something in your own personality and conscience that won't even register what I am saying here. Yet in all probability, you will probably be the one complaining the loudest about how there aren't any "decent" patterns on the market and the high cost of the ones that are.

Soon there won't be any more decent designers left because it is impossible to make a living from doing something that others regard with no respect and they feel free to share their stolen patterns with their friends, clubs and fellow woodworkers. These will be the people that will be oblivious of the part they played in the situation and probably the first to gripe about "the way things are."

So, unfortunately, I am going to have to start posting lower resolution, skewed or crappy pictures here. I realize that this isn't really going to do a lot, as it only takes one customer to post a full on shot of one of my finished designs on any forum, social site, or selling page such as Etsy or Ebay to help these types of thieves. But at least it will not be me who hands things to them on a platter.

So I apologize in advance for the forthcoming crappy pictures. Thanks to my "Buddy" here on Lumberjocks (and I am sure there are others like him) I have to think a little harder before showing you something. What a shame.

And a sincere "thank you" to my Buddy who came to me and told me. While I knew it happens, I suppose it reminded me that it is closer than I realized and that I do have to watch more closely.

On a good note, I had another Buddy come to me a couple of days ago and ask me some questions. His wife was just starting to scroll saw and he needed advice on some beginner patterns, etc. I steered them to my class here and sent some information on starting her out. I also offered to send her a free pattern to start her off that I thought would be a nice appropriate pattern for a beginner.

Yesterday, not an hour after I found out about the other guy, I received an order for a pattern, along with a thank you note from the second Lumberjock. I wrote back that I would have sent the pattern for free, but he told me that because of all the time I take and how I contribute to this forum and scroll sawing in general, he wanted to buy it from me.

His timing couldn't have been better.

I really felt down about things yesterday. While stealing designs and patterns in this way are common online, it hurt to know that it was done by someone who asked me for friendship and became my "Buddy" here. While I don't personally know everyone on my buddy list, I always try to support them and comment on their things in positive ways and encourage them. Now I wonder which of these people has no regard for me or how hard I work. It is bad.

But I also realize that there are more people like the second Buddy that I talked about in my life. The good kind of person that makes me want to work harder and take more time to really teach people so that they have fun being creative.

I have made many, many friends here through Lumberjocks and also through my Facebook friends, and just because there are a few who are ignorant and disregard decency, it shouldn't poison me about everyone who is kind and caring and who I consider true friends.

And that's all I am going to say about that . . .

I had intended to write my blog today about the rhinestones that I ordered from Rhinestone Canada last Friday. I received my order yesterday and they are absolutely awesome! I will do my blog tomorrow on them, and show you how cool they are. I got back from picking them up last evening and I just HAD to play with them. And the results is amazing!

I'll show you one picture of what I did with them to start off:

Head Arm Human body Body jewelry Art


This is just to get you started. You need to come back tomorrow and see just how cool these are and how EASY they are to apply and how economical they are.

I can see a very "sparkly" future here! (And I'll end on that good note!)

Have a great Friday! :)
 

Attachments

#7,460 ·
Somewhat of a Rant

I'm going to start today with somewhat of a rant. Those of you who know me and read here from time to time know that I try to stay on the positive side of things and that I try to look at things in a positive way. I kiddingly call it my "pink cloud" way of living. But even "pink clouds" turn grey from time to time.

Yesterday it was brought to my attention from one of my "Buddies" here on Lumberjocks that he was approached about one of his projects that was made from one of my patterns. The fellow Lumberjock asked him if he would share the pattern with him. Being ethical and also a friend, he told the person "no", to which the person replied

"That's OK. I'll just make a pattern off of the pictures she puts up on her blog."

Nice.

Apparently, this person is also a "Buddy" of mine here on Lumberjocks.com. If you are reading this now, you know who you are (or maybe there are more than one of you with this attitude - I guess I will never know!) All I have to say to you is "Thanks." (< - - sarcasm)

If after seeing how hard Keith and I work to make nice patterns for people to use and how much we put into our business, you still want to take the time to trace screenshots and steal patterns from pictures that I post on my blog, which is also meant to help people learn and be more creative (yes - and to help my business) then there is something in your own personality and conscience that won't even register what I am saying here. Yet in all probability, you will probably be the one complaining the loudest about how there aren't any "decent" patterns on the market and the high cost of the ones that are.

Soon there won't be any more decent designers left because it is impossible to make a living from doing something that others regard with no respect and they feel free to share their stolen patterns with their friends, clubs and fellow woodworkers. These will be the people that will be oblivious of the part they played in the situation and probably the first to gripe about "the way things are."

So, unfortunately, I am going to have to start posting lower resolution, skewed or crappy pictures here. I realize that this isn't really going to do a lot, as it only takes one customer to post a full on shot of one of my finished designs on any forum, social site, or selling page such as Etsy or Ebay to help these types of thieves. But at least it will not be me who hands things to them on a platter.

So I apologize in advance for the forthcoming crappy pictures. Thanks to my "Buddy" here on Lumberjocks (and I am sure there are others like him) I have to think a little harder before showing you something. What a shame.

And a sincere "thank you" to my Buddy who came to me and told me. While I knew it happens, I suppose it reminded me that it is closer than I realized and that I do have to watch more closely.

On a good note, I had another Buddy come to me a couple of days ago and ask me some questions. His wife was just starting to scroll saw and he needed advice on some beginner patterns, etc. I steered them to my class here and sent some information on starting her out. I also offered to send her a free pattern to start her off that I thought would be a nice appropriate pattern for a beginner.

Yesterday, not an hour after I found out about the other guy, I received an order for a pattern, along with a thank you note from the second Lumberjock. I wrote back that I would have sent the pattern for free, but he told me that because of all the time I take and how I contribute to this forum and scroll sawing in general, he wanted to buy it from me.

His timing couldn't have been better.

I really felt down about things yesterday. While stealing designs and patterns in this way are common online, it hurt to know that it was done by someone who asked me for friendship and became my "Buddy" here. While I don't personally know everyone on my buddy list, I always try to support them and comment on their things in positive ways and encourage them. Now I wonder which of these people has no regard for me or how hard I work. It is bad.

But I also realize that there are more people like the second Buddy that I talked about in my life. The good kind of person that makes me want to work harder and take more time to really teach people so that they have fun being creative.

I have made many, many friends here through Lumberjocks and also through my Facebook friends, and just because there are a few who are ignorant and disregard decency, it shouldn't poison me about everyone who is kind and caring and who I consider true friends.

And that's all I am going to say about that . . .

I had intended to write my blog today about the rhinestones that I ordered from Rhinestone Canada last Friday. I received my order yesterday and they are absolutely awesome! I will do my blog tomorrow on them, and show you how cool they are. I got back from picking them up last evening and I just HAD to play with them. And the results is amazing!

I'll show you one picture of what I did with them to start off:

Head Arm Human body Body jewelry Art


This is just to get you started. You need to come back tomorrow and see just how cool these are and how EASY they are to apply and how economical they are.

I can see a very "sparkly" future here! (And I'll end on that good note!)

Have a great Friday! :)
Sheila,

It is a shame to hear about this, but it isn't a surprise I suppose. This type of person exists in all realms of life.

However, I hope that these types are very far and few between so don't let it get you down - we still appreciate everything you do for the community and will continue to purchase your wonderful patterns!

Although I'm not quite the target audience for rhinestones, I think they look perfect on that mask!

Cheers!

-bob
 

Attachments

#7,486 ·
Time to Shine!

First of all I want to start by thanking everyone for the kind words of support we received yesterday. After a trying day on Thursday, it felt good to hear from so many of you and know that we have so many followers and friends that do care and appreciate all that we do. I am not going to allow a couple of people to change the way I do things. We will just move forward from here and what will be, will be.

Now lets change gears and talk about some fun and positive things . . .

On Thursday, I received my rhinestone order from Rhinestone Canada. For me, it was like Christmas came all over again!

I had placed a pretty large order the previous Friday, and I was pleased that it shipped out that same day. I even got a tracking number so I could watch it and see where it was in transit. Since it was coming all the way from British Columbia (the complete other side of the country) the transit time stated it would take nine days. But you can imagine how happy I was when it came after only five business days. It was a nice surprise.

My first order of business was to sort through everything and organize what I had purchased. Last year or so, I had bought a nice organizer from Canadian Tire. It had four separate pull out plastic part organizers that were held together in one unit, which made it easy to stack and store everything in one place. Over the past year, I have been gradually filling it up with small beads and embellishments that I have been using for my designing, I still had one full unit empty though and I thought it would be a great way to store the rhinestones:

Shelving Rectangle Plastic Eyewear Transparency


Everything fit just perfectly. Since you are able to take out the dividers and make the spaces custom sized, I even had room for the hot fix wand that I got with the stones. Cool.

I had purchased several sizes of each color of stones. The cost of them was really quite inexpensive (About $1 - $2 per gross in the sizes I chose, and even cheaper if I got 5 gross of a certain type) I had an absolute field day choosing which colors I thought I would use most. While a gross (144 pcs) sounds like a lot, in my one ornament pattern alone, I used 120 beads to make all 12 ornaments. It isn't as much as it seems.

For most of the colors, I tried to get samples in the 2, 3 and 4mm sizes. Since most of the projects that I will be doing are smaller ornaments and such, these small sizes would do fine to start.

Electric blue Plastic Font Electronic component Electronics accessory


As you could see, they come in small bags that fit well into the compartments of the organizer. I decided to divide them by color rather than size and that pretty much filled up the container.

In past projects, and even last week when I applied rhinestones to the painted masks, I found that applying the glue to the tiny pieces was quite tedious. I put a puddle of glue on a palette and then picked up the stone with the tweezers and dipped it into the glue and then placed it on my piece. However, the glue quickly became sticky and as a result it was difficult to dip it into the puddle without getting too much on or having long, thin strings coming from it. Even after the glue dried, I had trouble pulling these strings from the piece and I could see them in the pictures that I took of the items. I also worried because as the glue dried while being on the palette, I wondered how strong the bond would be. I worked as quickly as I could, but I still had to abandon one puddle after a while and make a new one, wasting a great deal of glue in the process. As I said, it was quite tedious.

When I was at the website for buying these rhinestones, I noticed on the "Accessory" page, that they offered a Hot-Fix Applicator Wand to apply the rhinestones that they sold. This intrigued me.

Apparently, all the rhinestones and studs that they sold came pre-glued, and by applying heat to the top of the stone, the heat transferred through the stone to the glue and melted it in place. In asking, I was assured that this glue was quite strong and would even hold these stones to most fabrics such as T-shirts and so forth. I couldn't wait to see how it worked on gluing them to wood (and painted wood).

The cost of the applicator was only $15.75 and came with 8 interchangeable tips to fit whatever size stone you were working with. I thought that was a good deal and if it worked like it was supposed to, it would save a lot of time and make things much neater and easier.

Each of the tips was marked for easy identification:

Finger Wood Household hardware Font Metal


You simply screwed the tip in (BEFORE heating the wand!) and after 2 minutes it was hot enough to work.

Finger Thumb Tints and shades Nail Metal


For the larger stones (the 4mm ones) the curved tips worked great. I simply put the stone where I wanted and placed the tip over the top it. I counted to about 5-8 and I could 'feel' the glue melting and the stone would gently slide around if I wanted.

Food Brown Wood Baked goods Cuisine


There is a small slit on the side of the tips so that if you have a smaller stone and the glue oozes up, it may stick slightly to the hot tip. You could easily take a pin and slide it through the slit to help the stone release from the end and place it. I found though that when using the right sized tip, this didn't happen at all and I had no problems whatsoever with excess glue.

I did find that with the 2mm (very tiny) stones, they did want to stick a bit to the 2mm tip, but Linda (the owner of the company) had told me that for the 2mm stones it was easier to use the flat tip and I found absolutely no problem whatsoever doing it that way.

As far as the glue sticking, I am really impressed with the strength of the bond. I had oiled these pieces the night before in mineral oil and after allowing them to set overnight, I sprayed them with 2 coats of spray lacquer. They had been drying for about 3-4 hours before applying the stones here and I was worried that I would be able to 'pick' them off.

After applying a few, I tried to pick them off with my nail and I couldn't do so without a great deal of difficulty and actually damaging my nail a little bit. For tiny stones, the glue is really, really strong.

I am so impressed by applying them this way. There is absolutely no mess and it makes the process quick and FUN! I don't know how long this method of doing this has been around, but it is new to me and for myself, it opens a whole new way of embellishing my projects.

Head Body jewelry Headgear Art Jewellery


While natural wood is beautiful, you can't help but think that on projects such as this, these beautiful crystal stones add to it. You don't have to go all out crazy like I did (I was having too much fun to stop!) but even if you add a stone or two here or there to some of your ornaments or projects, it will be something different and unique that will bring attention to your pieces and set them apart from the masses.

The cost for doing this is so minimal, too. I probably used about 60 stones on this piece (which was a lot) and they only cost me about 50-60 cents total. They aren't the cheap plastic stones you fine in Wal-mart, and are all high quality leaded crystal. (They do say wash your hands after handling) I wish you could see just how sparkly and beautiful they look in person!

I am not one to recommend just any product, as you know. But I am so impressed with this company on all sides. The service was incredible. The prices were great. And the products themselves are top-notch. I highly recommend them if you are looking for a place to get these. They ship all over the world, and since the stones are so tiny, the shipping costs are minimal.

Yesterday I placed another rather large order. This time I am trying the Stud Nailheads and Rhinestuds, which are metal studs that are shaped like rhinestones. All of them have this same gluing system and I think they will also have some great applications with my designing.

It is going to be a lot of fun!

It is good to be excited about things again. It was a rough week with my back and all and I am feeling quite a bit better and looking forward to finishing the painted masks that I was supposed to do last weekend.

In the meantime, we did a full site update yesterday and not only is the scrolled mask pattern available, but also some other new patterns from Keith and myself. Keith also did some rearranging and changed some of the colors and layout of the site to make it nicer and easier to navigate. We hope everyone likes it.

I hope you all enjoyed this little review. Whether you decide you want to add some "sparkle" to your projects or not, it is nice to know that there are still great companies around that take care of customers and offer great products and excellent service at fair prices. There is hope yet!

Have a wonderfully creative Saturday! :D
 

Attachments

#7,487 ·
Time to Shine!

First of all I want to start by thanking everyone for the kind words of support we received yesterday. After a trying day on Thursday, it felt good to hear from so many of you and know that we have so many followers and friends that do care and appreciate all that we do. I am not going to allow a couple of people to change the way I do things. We will just move forward from here and what will be, will be.

Now lets change gears and talk about some fun and positive things . . .

On Thursday, I received my rhinestone order from Rhinestone Canada. For me, it was like Christmas came all over again!

I had placed a pretty large order the previous Friday, and I was pleased that it shipped out that same day. I even got a tracking number so I could watch it and see where it was in transit. Since it was coming all the way from British Columbia (the complete other side of the country) the transit time stated it would take nine days. But you can imagine how happy I was when it came after only five business days. It was a nice surprise.

My first order of business was to sort through everything and organize what I had purchased. Last year or so, I had bought a nice organizer from Canadian Tire. It had four separate pull out plastic part organizers that were held together in one unit, which made it easy to stack and store everything in one place. Over the past year, I have been gradually filling it up with small beads and embellishments that I have been using for my designing, I still had one full unit empty though and I thought it would be a great way to store the rhinestones:



Everything fit just perfectly. Since you are able to take out the dividers and make the spaces custom sized, I even had room for the hot fix wand that I got with the stones. Cool.

I had purchased several sizes of each color of stones. The cost of them was really quite inexpensive (About $1 - $2 per gross in the sizes I chose, and even cheaper if I got 5 gross of a certain type) I had an absolute field day choosing which colors I thought I would use most. While a gross (144 pcs) sounds like a lot, in my one ornament pattern alone, I used 120 beads to make all 12 ornaments. It isn't as much as it seems.

For most of the colors, I tried to get samples in the 2, 3 and 4mm sizes. Since most of the projects that I will be doing are smaller ornaments and such, these small sizes would do fine to start.



As you could see, they come in small bags that fit well into the compartments of the organizer. I decided to divide them by color rather than size and that pretty much filled up the container.

In past projects, and even last week when I applied rhinestones to the painted masks, I found that applying the glue to the tiny pieces was quite tedious. I put a puddle of glue on a palette and then picked up the stone with the tweezers and dipped it into the glue and then placed it on my piece. However, the glue quickly became sticky and as a result it was difficult to dip it into the puddle without getting too much on or having long, thin strings coming from it. Even after the glue dried, I had trouble pulling these strings from the piece and I could see them in the pictures that I took of the items. I also worried because as the glue dried while being on the palette, I wondered how strong the bond would be. I worked as quickly as I could, but I still had to abandon one puddle after a while and make a new one, wasting a great deal of glue in the process. As I said, it was quite tedious.

When I was at the website for buying these rhinestones, I noticed on the "Accessory" page, that they offered a Hot-Fix Applicator Wand to apply the rhinestones that they sold. This intrigued me.

Apparently, all the rhinestones and studs that they sold came pre-glued, and by applying heat to the top of the stone, the heat transferred through the stone to the glue and melted it in place. In asking, I was assured that this glue was quite strong and would even hold these stones to most fabrics such as T-shirts and so forth. I couldn't wait to see how it worked on gluing them to wood (and painted wood).

The cost of the applicator was only $15.75 and came with 8 interchangeable tips to fit whatever size stone you were working with. I thought that was a good deal and if it worked like it was supposed to, it would save a lot of time and make things much neater and easier.

Each of the tips was marked for easy identification:



You simply screwed the tip in (BEFORE heating the wand!) and after 2 minutes it was hot enough to work.



For the larger stones (the 4mm ones) the curved tips worked great. I simply put the stone where I wanted and placed the tip over the top it. I counted to about 5-8 and I could 'feel' the glue melting and the stone would gently slide around if I wanted.



There is a small slit on the side of the tips so that if you have a smaller stone and the glue oozes up, it may stick slightly to the hot tip. You could easily take a pin and slide it through the slit to help the stone release from the end and place it. I found though that when using the right sized tip, this didn't happen at all and I had no problems whatsoever with excess glue.

I did find that with the 2mm (very tiny) stones, they did want to stick a bit to the 2mm tip, but Linda (the owner of the company) had told me that for the 2mm stones it was easier to use the flat tip and I found absolutely no problem whatsoever doing it that way.

As far as the glue sticking, I am really impressed with the strength of the bond. I had oiled these pieces the night before in mineral oil and after allowing them to set overnight, I sprayed them with 2 coats of spray lacquer. They had been drying for about 3-4 hours before applying the stones here and I was worried that I would be able to 'pick' them off.

After applying a few, I tried to pick them off with my nail and I couldn't do so without a great deal of difficulty and actually damaging my nail a little bit. For tiny stones, the glue is really, really strong.

I am so impressed by applying them this way. There is absolutely no mess and it makes the process quick and FUN! I don't know how long this method of doing this has been around, but it is new to me and for myself, it opens a whole new way of embellishing my projects.



While natural wood is beautiful, you can't help but think that on projects such as this, these beautiful crystal stones add to it. You don't have to go all out crazy like I did (I was having too much fun to stop!) but even if you add a stone or two here or there to some of your ornaments or projects, it will be something different and unique that will bring attention to your pieces and set them apart from the masses.

The cost for doing this is so minimal, too. I probably used about 60 stones on this piece (which was a lot) and they only cost me about 50-60 cents total. They aren't the cheap plastic stones you fine in Wal-mart, and are all high quality leaded crystal. (They do say wash your hands after handling) I wish you could see just how sparkly and beautiful they look in person!

I am not one to recommend just any product, as you know. But I am so impressed with this company on all sides. The service was incredible. The prices were great. And the products themselves are top-notch. I highly recommend them if you are looking for a place to get these. They ship all over the world, and since the stones are so tiny, the shipping costs are minimal.

Yesterday I placed another rather large order. This time I am trying the Stud Nailheads and Rhinestuds, which are metal studs that are shaped like rhinestones. All of them have this same gluing system and I think they will also have some great applications with my designing.

It is going to be a lot of fun!

It is good to be excited about things again. It was a rough week with my back and all and I am feeling quite a bit better and looking forward to finishing the painted masks that I was supposed to do last weekend.

In the meantime, we did a full site update yesterday and not only is the scrolled mask pattern available, but also some other new patterns from Keith and myself. Keith also did some rearranging and changed some of the colors and layout of the site to make it nicer and easier to navigate. We hope everyone likes it.

I hope you all enjoyed this little review. Whether you decide you want to add some "sparkle" to your projects or not, it is nice to know that there are still great companies around that take care of customers and offer great products and excellent service at fair prices. There is hope yet!

Have a wonderfully creative Saturday! :D
Good morning Sheila. Thanks for reviewing this product and showing us how it works. When you first introduced this product I was wondering how the stones would adhere to wood especially after the finish has been applied to the wood. Great to know it works well and they can be applied so easily.
Have a great day.
 

Attachments

#7,498 ·
The "Dud"

I suppose I could blame it on the previous week. My back was still sore. I was feeling poopie about some of the things with my job in general. The cats got me up early and I was kind of tired.

Whatever the reason, I would think it is pretty safe to describe Saturday as a "less-than-inspiring" day.

We all have them I suppose. But most people don't put their creative lives out here on the internet every day for all to see. After almost three years of doing so, and nearly 950 posts under my belt, you would think I would be used to not only showing off my triumphs, but also my tragedies. But I don't know if I will ever get used to that.

I hid out yesterday and couldn't bring myself to post. I felt so crummy about the piece (yes - only one piece!) that took me ALL of Saturday to produce and I couldn't even think of posting it here for all the world to see. Perhaps if I were still in 5th grade I would have had the right to be proud of it, but as a "professional designer" (and I use that term mockingly!) it just didn't make the cut.

Perhaps it was due in part as to how well the scroll sawn masks came out. After hurting my back, it was much easier for me to draw on the computer and cut at the scroll saw than to paint. When my injury occurred, I was in the middle of making a set of Halloween masks (painted) for my painting customers and to hopefully offer to wholesale kits and add to that side of the site. The way I sit when I paint though proved to be painful and I was easier (for now) to switch to doing the scroll sawn version of the pattern for the scrollers and put the painting on the side for the time being.

But now I was feeling better, and unfortunately I lost that rhythm and wave of thought that I had regarding the painted pieces. I felt bland about the project in general, and the inspiration just wasn't there. But I needed to push the pile forward, so I spent most of Saturday attempting to do so. The results I thought were somewhat of a disaster.

One of the first indications was how long it took me to get started. I milled around the house doing every chore I could think of from cleaning out the microwave to cleaning the cat box. I find that when I am unsure of my direction, I 'notice' things around the house that need attending. This busy work buys me a temporary reprieve from actually doing the task at hand and is a very effective (and somewhat justifiable) way to waste a day. After all, these things NEED to be done, don't they?

I am almost ashamed to admit how long it took me to achieve the unimpressive result. Let's just say it took much longer than normal. The amount of struggling with each stroke from my paintbrush only seemed to make that time longer, but I forged ahead.

When I was finished, I turned to Keith who was sitting across the couch from me drawing another remarkable design and asked what he thought.

The look on his face spoke volumes.

If your best friend can't be honest with you, then they really aren't your friend. I tried to remember that as I watched his face as he saw the piece. While we don't always agree on what we like and dislike (opposites attract after all) there was no doubt in my mind that he was not impressed at all by this and that my first inclination was confirmed.

It was indeed ugly.

He was kind in his rejection. But I could see him searching for something positive to say about it and having difficulty. As a teacher, we are ourselves taught to always try to find some good in your student's piece, no matter how hideous. For this piece, it was a particularly difficult challenge to do so. Finally, he muttered something like "Well, every hit can't be a home run!" or something of that nature, and at that moment, while I was bitterly disappointed at the confirmation of the monstrosity, I truly admired and loved him for his honesty. For it is honesty that I needed from him, not appeasement. And I knew in my own heart that this piece wouldn't even pass the "looks good if you are traveling past it at 20 miles per hour" standard that my painting girls used to use for substandard results. Even if you looked at it while flying by on the Concord, it would still look like crap.

So I put away my paints. And I sulked. And I played some games on my computer for the rest of the night. And I skipped writing yesterday because if I began typing, it may have been a sort of resignation from designing. (Not really, but I felt like it!)

But I am not a quitter. I have been through too much in my life to let a little thing like this defeat me. After all, it was a small 4 inch piece of plywood. And a couple of bottles of paint. And I like color. And I like pushing color around with a brush to make things look cool. So I wasn't going to let this hiccup in my thought process stop me.

I got back on the proverbial horse and started over. And things got better.

It wasn't easy to keep going, but I had to stop thinking of the past and move ahead to something completely different. I began with trepidation, but soon I began to feel that dread lifting and I began enjoying what I was doing again. I had a couple of scary moments, but I was able to push through them and in the end, I felt much better about what I painted.

After the first piece was done yesterday, I once again held it up for Keith to see, and this time his reaction was one of encouragement and approval. "Now that's better!" he said. My heart soared. Not because I needed his approval, but because I knew within myself that it WAS better and more along the lines of what I was thinking.

I went on to paint two additional designs yesterday. All the while, I was planning the next several pieces. The floodgates were opening once again and things were moving in a positive direction. I finished the day with half of the set of 12 pieces done, but with ideas for the subsequent pieces pretty clear in my head.

Outerwear Product Textile Neck Sleeve


I realize that everyone has different tastes, and I also realize that you may or may not like these designs. That's OK. It is what makes the world so wonderfully diverse and beautiful. But as a designer, I think it is important to like our own work and what we are doing, or we will never be able to convince others that our work is good. It is difficult enough trying to 'sell' work that we like. Doing so with pieces we think are not up to our standards is pretty much impossible, no matter what others tell us.

I am glad Keith told me when he didn't like the piece. It strengthens my trust in him and I know that he wasn't trying to be cruel, but trying to help me do my best work. And that is the best kind of partner anyone could have.

As for the "dud" - I think I will keep it around, only to remind me that everything that I do isn't always easy. Some things take a bit more work to make my vision become a reality. But 'settling' isn't an option and when I fail, I need to get right back at it and try again. It is essential to grow and progress.

Brown Pollinator Insect Arthropod Butterfly


"The Dud"

Have a great Monday!

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
 

Attachments

#7,499 ·
The "Dud"

I suppose I could blame it on the previous week. My back was still sore. I was feeling poopie about some of the things with my job in general. The cats got me up early and I was kind of tired.

Whatever the reason, I would think it is pretty safe to describe Saturday as a "less-than-inspiring" day.

We all have them I suppose. But most people don't put their creative lives out here on the internet every day for all to see. After almost three years of doing so, and nearly 950 posts under my belt, you would think I would be used to not only showing off my triumphs, but also my tragedies. But I don't know if I will ever get used to that.

I hid out yesterday and couldn't bring myself to post. I felt so crummy about the piece (yes - only one piece!) that took me ALL of Saturday to produce and I couldn't even think of posting it here for all the world to see. Perhaps if I were still in 5th grade I would have had the right to be proud of it, but as a "professional designer" (and I use that term mockingly!) it just didn't make the cut.

Perhaps it was due in part as to how well the scroll sawn masks came out. After hurting my back, it was much easier for me to draw on the computer and cut at the scroll saw than to paint. When my injury occurred, I was in the middle of making a set of Halloween masks (painted) for my painting customers and to hopefully offer to wholesale kits and add to that side of the site. The way I sit when I paint though proved to be painful and I was easier (for now) to switch to doing the scroll sawn version of the pattern for the scrollers and put the painting on the side for the time being.

But now I was feeling better, and unfortunately I lost that rhythm and wave of thought that I had regarding the painted pieces. I felt bland about the project in general, and the inspiration just wasn't there. But I needed to push the pile forward, so I spent most of Saturday attempting to do so. The results I thought were somewhat of a disaster.

One of the first indications was how long it took me to get started. I milled around the house doing every chore I could think of from cleaning out the microwave to cleaning the cat box. I find that when I am unsure of my direction, I 'notice' things around the house that need attending. This busy work buys me a temporary reprieve from actually doing the task at hand and is a very effective (and somewhat justifiable) way to waste a day. After all, these things NEED to be done, don't they?

I am almost ashamed to admit how long it took me to achieve the unimpressive result. Let's just say it took much longer than normal. The amount of struggling with each stroke from my paintbrush only seemed to make that time longer, but I forged ahead.

When I was finished, I turned to Keith who was sitting across the couch from me drawing another remarkable design and asked what he thought.

The look on his face spoke volumes.

If your best friend can't be honest with you, then they really aren't your friend. I tried to remember that as I watched his face as he saw the piece. While we don't always agree on what we like and dislike (opposites attract after all) there was no doubt in my mind that he was not impressed at all by this and that my first inclination was confirmed.

It was indeed ugly.

He was kind in his rejection. But I could see him searching for something positive to say about it and having difficulty. As a teacher, we are ourselves taught to always try to find some good in your student's piece, no matter how hideous. For this piece, it was a particularly difficult challenge to do so. Finally, he muttered something like "Well, every hit can't be a home run!" or something of that nature, and at that moment, while I was bitterly disappointed at the confirmation of the monstrosity, I truly admired and loved him for his honesty. For it is honesty that I needed from him, not appeasement. And I knew in my own heart that this piece wouldn't even pass the "looks good if you are traveling past it at 20 miles per hour" standard that my painting girls used to use for substandard results. Even if you looked at it while flying by on the Concord, it would still look like crap.

So I put away my paints. And I sulked. And I played some games on my computer for the rest of the night. And I skipped writing yesterday because if I began typing, it may have been a sort of resignation from designing. (Not really, but I felt like it!)

But I am not a quitter. I have been through too much in my life to let a little thing like this defeat me. After all, it was a small 4 inch piece of plywood. And a couple of bottles of paint. And I like color. And I like pushing color around with a brush to make things look cool. So I wasn't going to let this hiccup in my thought process stop me.

I got back on the proverbial horse and started over. And things got better.

It wasn't easy to keep going, but I had to stop thinking of the past and move ahead to something completely different. I began with trepidation, but soon I began to feel that dread lifting and I began enjoying what I was doing again. I had a couple of scary moments, but I was able to push through them and in the end, I felt much better about what I painted.

After the first piece was done yesterday, I once again held it up for Keith to see, and this time his reaction was one of encouragement and approval. "Now that's better!" he said. My heart soared. Not because I needed his approval, but because I knew within myself that it WAS better and more along the lines of what I was thinking.

I went on to paint two additional designs yesterday. All the while, I was planning the next several pieces. The floodgates were opening once again and things were moving in a positive direction. I finished the day with half of the set of 12 pieces done, but with ideas for the subsequent pieces pretty clear in my head.

Outerwear Product Textile Neck Sleeve


I realize that everyone has different tastes, and I also realize that you may or may not like these designs. That's OK. It is what makes the world so wonderfully diverse and beautiful. But as a designer, I think it is important to like our own work and what we are doing, or we will never be able to convince others that our work is good. It is difficult enough trying to 'sell' work that we like. Doing so with pieces we think are not up to our standards is pretty much impossible, no matter what others tell us.

I am glad Keith told me when he didn't like the piece. It strengthens my trust in him and I know that he wasn't trying to be cruel, but trying to help me do my best work. And that is the best kind of partner anyone could have.

As for the "dud" - I think I will keep it around, only to remind me that everything that I do isn't always easy. Some things take a bit more work to make my vision become a reality. But 'settling' isn't an option and when I fail, I need to get right back at it and try again. It is essential to grow and progress.

Brown Pollinator Insect Arthropod Butterfly


"The Dud"

Have a great Monday!

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
your blogs always hold such Wisdom … not only about the business and perseverance but about what it means to be a good friend AND how to listen to feedback.

and what is it that you don't like about the dud?
 

Attachments

#7,510 ·
Pushing to a Higher Level

Yesterday I got a little bit side tracked. Not really too far off the path I was heading, but just enough to change gears for a day and try something new. So it was for a good cause.

I often receive many comments from people that I call 'regulars' here on the Lumberjock site. Even though this site is quite large at over 50,000 members, as with any place, we seem to fall into a niche or corner of the site where we feel accepted and comfortable. I am not different, as when I write here each morning it is as if I am writing to my friends over my morning coffee. It makes what would otherwise be a difficult task easy, as I have found a huge amount of support and inspiration from these friends who live in all corners of the world. (England, Denmark, Australia, Scotland to name a few, as well as the USA and Canada.)

The other day, when I posted my scroll sawn masks, I received a comment from my buddy Bert Flores from the Philippines. Bert has been a long time buddy of mine, almost from when I first joined the forum, and over time has offered much support and advice, as well as been an incredible inspiration for me to do better.

In his comment, Bert suggested I make my masks into a smaller brooch and enter it into the Lumberjocks Winter 2013 Woodworking Awards contest that is being held on the site.

I am not one for contest myself. I seldom have time to do my own work, let alone take the time to enter a contest. But after Bert suggested that I do so with the masks, it got me to thinking. Cutting those masks was already a bit of a challenge. The masks I showed the other day measure 4.5" across. Would I be able to make them even smaller and still be able to accomplish cutting them? I had to find out.

I didn't want to do this for the contest as much as I wanted to challenge myself. I have a friend that I have known for nearly 15 years named Rick Hutchenson, who cuts more accurate than anyone I have ever known. He is known as "the animal" for his expert cutting ability and besides being incredibly prolific, he owns literally hundreds of scroll saws and has the ability to cut a set of Noah's Ark figures that fit on a dime.

Font Circle Art Drawing Fashion accessory


His site shows his incredible versatility and he shares a wealth of information not only about scroll sawing, but also wood turning and other aspects of woodworking. (Visit it at www.scrollsaws.com)

While I don't ever see myself getting as good as Rick at cutting, making these masks smaller would be quite a challenge for me, and I felt up for the task.

I first reduced the pattern from 4.5" in diameter to 3". I thought that would make a nice sized brooch that would be wearable on a sweater or winter coat. When I printed out the pattern, I had my doubts as to if I would even be able to accomplish cutting it. The mask I chose was my favorite, the one I called "Harlequin", and it had many thin lines to show a diamond pattern. One slight mis-cut and it would be garbage.

But things aren't a challenge if they are easy, are they?

I picked three types of hardwood that I thought would not only look good, but hold up well to the tiny details. I had a nice piece of walnut, a beautiful piece of maple and an awesome piece of black ebony that were all planed to 1/8" thick and ready to use. They would be perfect and offer a nice variety of colors.

I used Olson 3/0 blades. My usual small blade is a 2/0, and the 3/0 is even smaller than that. Even though I was cutting through three thicknesses (I stack cut the pieces) of dense wood, the blades still worked fine. It took only one blade to accomplish the task, and while it was naturally slow going, I had the pinpoint control that I needed.

Hand Gesture Finger Font Material property


I finished the masks without error or incident. And when I looked at them, I felt pretty proud. These were certainly the most difficult pieces that I have cut to date, and I felt rather accomplished. (63 inside cuts in each piece!) I remembered that only last week when I cut the original set, I felt proud of my work. Now I was even more so.

I finished them with my usual mineral oil followed by spray shellac. The exotic woods took the finish beautifully and they look pretty cool. Now the question - to add sparkles or not?

I really fought back and forth about this issue for quite a while (while the oil was absorbing). I knew that on the previous piece, I went kind of crazy playing with my new rhinestones and setter. While I wanted a bit of shine on these, I didn't want the rhinestones to overshadow the beautiful wood that I used to make them, or the minute details of cutting that I accomplished.

I went with two tiny 2mm rhinestones on each. Just in the corner of the eyes to add a little glimmer. I finished off each piece with two small feathers to give them a festive look, and they are ready to go.

The walnut one, with red leaded crystal rhinestones:

Pollinator Insect Arthropod Moths and butterflies Finger


The maple mask with aurora borealis leaded crystal rhinestones:

Natural material Headgear Finger Body jewelry Jewellery


And finally, the ebony mask, with clear leaded crystal rhinestones:

Pollinator Arthropod Wing Insect Body jewelry


And here are all three with the penny for scale:

Hand Body jewelry Pollinator Headgear Insect


I am taking some better project pictures today and I will post the project later on. I am debating on whether to add a very thin veneer backing over just the back of the masks so that the pin backs don't show through the fretwork to the front. I think that will be what I need to do to keep the focus on the cutting and not the shiny pin bar on the back.

I am happy that I took this challenge. It isn't really of consequence whether I win the contest or not (although I would love to have that honor!) What is really important to me is that by preparing this entry, it pushed me to a new level of scrolling and personally I felt that I grew a bit as an artist.

Thank you Bert for your encouragement and thanks to Rick and my other mentors who set such a great example for us all and who teach us to try harder. You are an inspiration to us all.

Have a great Tuesday!
 

Attachments

#7,511 ·
Pushing to a Higher Level

Yesterday I got a little bit side tracked. Not really too far off the path I was heading, but just enough to change gears for a day and try something new. So it was for a good cause.

I often receive many comments from people that I call 'regulars' here on the Lumberjock site. Even though this site is quite large at over 50,000 members, as with any place, we seem to fall into a niche or corner of the site where we feel accepted and comfortable. I am not different, as when I write here each morning it is as if I am writing to my friends over my morning coffee. It makes what would otherwise be a difficult task easy, as I have found a huge amount of support and inspiration from these friends who live in all corners of the world. (England, Denmark, Australia, Scotland to name a few, as well as the USA and Canada.)

The other day, when I posted my scroll sawn masks, I received a comment from my buddy Bert Flores from the Philippines. Bert has been a long time buddy of mine, almost from when I first joined the forum, and over time has offered much support and advice, as well as been an incredible inspiration for me to do better.

In his comment, Bert suggested I make my masks into a smaller brooch and enter it into the Lumberjocks Winter 2013 Woodworking Awards contest that is being held on the site.

I am not one for contest myself. I seldom have time to do my own work, let alone take the time to enter a contest. But after Bert suggested that I do so with the masks, it got me to thinking. Cutting those masks was already a bit of a challenge. The masks I showed the other day measure 4.5" across. Would I be able to make them even smaller and still be able to accomplish cutting them? I had to find out.

I didn't want to do this for the contest as much as I wanted to challenge myself. I have a friend that I have known for nearly 15 years named Rick Hutchenson, who cuts more accurate than anyone I have ever known. He is known as "the animal" for his expert cutting ability and besides being incredibly prolific, he owns literally hundreds of scroll saws and has the ability to cut a set of Noah's Ark figures that fit on a dime.

Font Circle Art Drawing Fashion accessory


His site shows his incredible versatility and he shares a wealth of information not only about scroll sawing, but also wood turning and other aspects of woodworking. (Visit it at www.scrollsaws.com)

While I don't ever see myself getting as good as Rick at cutting, making these masks smaller would be quite a challenge for me, and I felt up for the task.

I first reduced the pattern from 4.5" in diameter to 3". I thought that would make a nice sized brooch that would be wearable on a sweater or winter coat. When I printed out the pattern, I had my doubts as to if I would even be able to accomplish cutting it. The mask I chose was my favorite, the one I called "Harlequin", and it had many thin lines to show a diamond pattern. One slight mis-cut and it would be garbage.

But things aren't a challenge if they are easy, are they?

I picked three types of hardwood that I thought would not only look good, but hold up well to the tiny details. I had a nice piece of walnut, a beautiful piece of maple and an awesome piece of black ebony that were all planed to 1/8" thick and ready to use. They would be perfect and offer a nice variety of colors.

I used Olson 3/0 blades. My usual small blade is a 2/0, and the 3/0 is even smaller than that. Even though I was cutting through three thicknesses (I stack cut the pieces) of dense wood, the blades still worked fine. It took only one blade to accomplish the task, and while it was naturally slow going, I had the pinpoint control that I needed.

Hand Gesture Finger Font Material property


I finished the masks without error or incident. And when I looked at them, I felt pretty proud. These were certainly the most difficult pieces that I have cut to date, and I felt rather accomplished. (63 inside cuts in each piece!) I remembered that only last week when I cut the original set, I felt proud of my work. Now I was even more so.

I finished them with my usual mineral oil followed by spray shellac. The exotic woods took the finish beautifully and they look pretty cool. Now the question - to add sparkles or not?

I really fought back and forth about this issue for quite a while (while the oil was absorbing). I knew that on the previous piece, I went kind of crazy playing with my new rhinestones and setter. While I wanted a bit of shine on these, I didn't want the rhinestones to overshadow the beautiful wood that I used to make them, or the minute details of cutting that I accomplished.

I went with two tiny 2mm rhinestones on each. Just in the corner of the eyes to add a little glimmer. I finished off each piece with two small feathers to give them a festive look, and they are ready to go.

The walnut one, with red leaded crystal rhinestones:

Pollinator Insect Arthropod Moths and butterflies Finger


The maple mask with aurora borealis leaded crystal rhinestones:

Natural material Headgear Finger Body jewelry Jewellery


And finally, the ebony mask, with clear leaded crystal rhinestones:

Pollinator Arthropod Wing Insect Body jewelry


And here are all three with the penny for scale:

Hand Body jewelry Pollinator Headgear Insect


I am taking some better project pictures today and I will post the project later on. I am debating on whether to add a very thin veneer backing over just the back of the masks so that the pin backs don't show through the fretwork to the front. I think that will be what I need to do to keep the focus on the cutting and not the shiny pin bar on the back.

I am happy that I took this challenge. It isn't really of consequence whether I win the contest or not (although I would love to have that honor!) What is really important to me is that by preparing this entry, it pushed me to a new level of scrolling and personally I felt that I grew a bit as an artist.

Thank you Bert for your encouragement and thanks to Rick and my other mentors who set such a great example for us all and who teach us to try harder. You are an inspiration to us all.

Have a great Tuesday!
these are amazing. Absolutely adorable and … perfect
(love that walnut one!!)

Definitely needs to be entered in the Awards event. (It's not about winning, it's about participating, right??) Nudge nudge.
deadline to enter is Jan. 31st at 3pm Central time… hint hint
 

Attachments

#7,526 ·
Show and Tell

From time to time I have customers send me photos of the things that they have made from my patterns. They also send pictures of their own projects and designs. I love to see these things because it is always inspiring not only to see how they may have changed or modified my designs, but their own creations too.

Since I am still finishing up painting on my mask project, I thought today would be a good opportunity to share some of these pictures with you. Maybe it will give you an idea or two for how you can apply them to your own projects that you are working on and make your own variations.

The first picture is from Lyman Hannah:

Badge Electric blue Symbol Emblem Metal


Lyman did a beautiful job on my SLD407 Elegant Slotted Ornaments

Edward Orr made this plaque that Keith designed:

Rectangle Wood Font Emblem Terrestrial animal


I really like the blue he used for the Gone Fishing plaque!

Jeffery Oliver sent a picture of the Seashell Candle Tray that he made.

Tableware Dishware Serveware Art Creative arts


I loved that he put a rhinestone in each of the shells! Just a little bit of sparkle really makes this project look great!

Barbara Raymond sent her version of Keith's Let it Snow overlay plaque:

Snowman Wood Font Hat Costume hat


I love it and I think she did a great job with the painting, too!

And Kevin Colf sent this picture of how he modified Keiths' SLDK147 Heart Votive and Candle Tray pattern.

Human body Wood Ornament Heart Font


He redesigned the pattern to make one heart and bevel cut the center to make it into a really nice candy dish. What a great idea for Valentine's day or an anniversary!

And finally, last week I received these beautiful earrings from Jerry Mc Guire:

Human body Wood Red Font Carmine


They are not from my designs, but Jerry designed them himself. I LOVE the beautiful natural colors of the wood and they are very small and intricately done and not at all heavy. I thought it was so thoughtful for Jerry to send me these sets and I really appreciate it a lot!

I hope you enjoy seeing these. I know I am bad and don't always get to posting the pictures that are sent to me, but I am going to make more of an effort to do so. I love seeing how creative people are with my designs and it really inspires me knowing that what I am doing is appreciated.

Thank you so much to all of you who take the time to send me pictures of your work. I really love seeing your projects and not only does it make me feel like people appreciate the designs I make, but it inspires me to make more. I have the best customers ever! :)

Have a wonderful Wednesday!
 

Attachments

#7,527 ·
Show and Tell

From time to time I have customers send me photos of the things that they have made from my patterns. They also send pictures of their own projects and designs. I love to see these things because it is always inspiring not only to see how they may have changed or modified my designs, but their own creations too.

Since I am still finishing up painting on my mask project, I thought today would be a good opportunity to share some of these pictures with you. Maybe it will give you an idea or two for how you can apply them to your own projects that you are working on and make your own variations.

The first picture is from Lyman Hannah:

Badge Electric blue Symbol Emblem Metal


Lyman did a beautiful job on my SLD407 Elegant Slotted Ornaments

Edward Orr made this plaque that Keith designed:

Rectangle Wood Font Emblem Terrestrial animal


I really like the blue he used for the Gone Fishing plaque!

Jeffery Oliver sent a picture of the Seashell Candle Tray that he made.

Tableware Dishware Serveware Art Creative arts


I loved that he put a rhinestone in each of the shells! Just a little bit of sparkle really makes this project look great!

Barbara Raymond sent her version of Keith's Let it Snow overlay plaque:

Snowman Wood Font Hat Costume hat


I love it and I think she did a great job with the painting, too!

And Kevin Colf sent this picture of how he modified Keiths' SLDK147 Heart Votive and Candle Tray pattern.

Human body Wood Ornament Heart Font


He redesigned the pattern to make one heart and bevel cut the center to make it into a really nice candy dish. What a great idea for Valentine's day or an anniversary!

And finally, last week I received these beautiful earrings from Jerry Mc Guire:

Human body Wood Red Font Carmine


They are not from my designs, but Jerry designed them himself. I LOVE the beautiful natural colors of the wood and they are very small and intricately done and not at all heavy. I thought it was so thoughtful for Jerry to send me these sets and I really appreciate it a lot!

I hope you enjoy seeing these. I know I am bad and don't always get to posting the pictures that are sent to me, but I am going to make more of an effort to do so. I love seeing how creative people are with my designs and it really inspires me knowing that what I am doing is appreciated.

Thank you so much to all of you who take the time to send me pictures of your work. I really love seeing your projects and not only does it make me feel like people appreciate the designs I make, but it inspires me to make more. I have the best customers ever! :)

Have a wonderful Wednesday!
Hi Sheila those are really good they must make you proud
I hope Jerry is going to enter the competition?
Like having puppies you feel soo proud
Your stack cutting sounds an idea as I'm finding the saw just
wants to cut fast.

Have a Sublime day
Jamie
 

Attachments

#7,532 ·
Carnival of Animals

What a crazy night!

In the eight years that I lived here in Nova Scotia, I don't remember ever experiencing winds like we had last night. As I read the status' of my friends that are to the west of us in both Canada and the United States, apparently it is just our turn. And while we are currently experiencing 11 degree temperatures (Celsius), it is supposed to go down below freezing by nightfall and we are to have up to 10 cm of snow. Crazy.

I only mention this because I spent the night in somewhat of a carnival atmosphere. This wasn't your usual run of the mill carnival, it was an official "I'm-a-cat-and-the-weather-is-crazy-so-I'll-be-crazy-too!" carnival. I am sure that all of you pet owners have full understanding as to what I am talking about.

Even though we are safely inside, the weather outside has the effect of rocket fuel on them. They torpedo through the house, scrape at the window and howl. They are on high alert, as if they need to be on top of things in case of a disaster.

It began around 8pm. We heard the winds picking up and one of the two plastic recycle bins we keep on the side of our porch lost its lid. This was quite frustrating because without lids they are useless. This occurred last year, and since then I purchased the type with locking handles, after a lengthy search of the neighborhood, including the woods behind us. Nothing was found, to I invested in the more expensive bins to insure that it wouldn't happen again.

But the winds were brutal last night, and we heard the loud "clunk" of the bins against the steps (even though they were half full) and when Keith checked them out, he reported that we once again were missing a lid. It was a small thing, but aggravating.

Then our landlord for some reason decided we needed full blast heat. The way the furnace is set up, when it gets too warm, it overrides the thermostat and the heat is delivered whether or not we want it. As a result of that, we tried to crack the windows open just a small bit, which allowed cooler air, but amplified the noise of the gusts and got the cats even more revved up.

It was a no win.

Eventually, I went to spend the night on the couch. Sometimes when they are wild like that, having their human near by tends to calm them down. But between the clunking of the bins in the wind ever couple of minutes, Richard yowling, Pancakes scratching at the window, Coco getting sick, and all three of them taking turns snacking their "crunchies" like a tag team from World Wide Wrestling, there was little sleep to be had by me.

Finally, after 4:30 or so I was able to fall asleep. The cats had performed well and their carnival had ended. When the sun arose around 7:30 I was grateful to see the lost lid of the bin on the front lawn. How it didn't sail into the river across the road, I will never understand, but I am grateful.

Point being - my post is late and I am in slow motion today. I reserve the right to nap later on. I am sure the trio of performers will be happy to join me. Perhaps that was their plan all along.

On the work front, it was a pretty good day yesterday. I nearly finished the last six of the dozen Halloween masks that I am designing for my painting customers, and submitting to Artist's Club. While there is some 'tweaking' that I need to do on them, they are for the most part finished.

Below is a picture of the final six:

Brown Art Font Pattern Circle


The pictures aren't great, but I do promise that I will take better shots for tomorrow. Besides the metallic paint accents being very reflective, I did use the crackle on some of them to give them interest. This looks really cool in person. In this shot you can see it a bit better:

Creative arts Art Artifact Electric blue Pattern


I'll end this here today with just those pictures. It is already nearly nine and I need to get moving. I will be finishing these up and taking better pictures later on. I will then start repainting them so that I can step-by-step pictures for the patterns. That is something that I don't just do as I go along, unless I really know what direction I am heading in with the pieces, which I usually don't. I have some other things that I want to do with these masks too, for my own enjoyment, so having two sets of them will be good. But that will come later on.

I hope all my friends west of me are safe. I know that weather has played havoc with many all over the USA and Canada and I wish you all the best.

Take care and have a great day today.
 

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#7,533 ·
Carnival of Animals

What a crazy night!

In the eight years that I lived here in Nova Scotia, I don't remember ever experiencing winds like we had last night. As I read the status' of my friends that are to the west of us in both Canada and the United States, apparently it is just our turn. And while we are currently experiencing 11 degree temperatures (Celsius), it is supposed to go down below freezing by nightfall and we are to have up to 10 cm of snow. Crazy.

I only mention this because I spent the night in somewhat of a carnival atmosphere. This wasn't your usual run of the mill carnival, it was an official "I'm-a-cat-and-the-weather-is-crazy-so-I'll-be-crazy-too!" carnival. I am sure that all of you pet owners have full understanding as to what I am talking about.

Even though we are safely inside, the weather outside has the effect of rocket fuel on them. They torpedo through the house, scrape at the window and howl. They are on high alert, as if they need to be on top of things in case of a disaster.

It began around 8pm. We heard the winds picking up and one of the two plastic recycle bins we keep on the side of our porch lost its lid. This was quite frustrating because without lids they are useless. This occurred last year, and since then I purchased the type with locking handles, after a lengthy search of the neighborhood, including the woods behind us. Nothing was found, to I invested in the more expensive bins to insure that it wouldn't happen again.

But the winds were brutal last night, and we heard the loud "clunk" of the bins against the steps (even though they were half full) and when Keith checked them out, he reported that we once again were missing a lid. It was a small thing, but aggravating.

Then our landlord for some reason decided we needed full blast heat. The way the furnace is set up, when it gets too warm, it overrides the thermostat and the heat is delivered whether or not we want it. As a result of that, we tried to crack the windows open just a small bit, which allowed cooler air, but amplified the noise of the gusts and got the cats even more revved up.

It was a no win.

Eventually, I went to spend the night on the couch. Sometimes when they are wild like that, having their human near by tends to calm them down. But between the clunking of the bins in the wind ever couple of minutes, Richard yowling, Pancakes scratching at the window, Coco getting sick, and all three of them taking turns snacking their "crunchies" like a tag team from World Wide Wrestling, there was little sleep to be had by me.

Finally, after 4:30 or so I was able to fall asleep. The cats had performed well and their carnival had ended. When the sun arose around 7:30 I was grateful to see the lost lid of the bin on the front lawn. How it didn't sail into the river across the road, I will never understand, but I am grateful.

Point being - my post is late and I am in slow motion today. I reserve the right to nap later on. I am sure the trio of performers will be happy to join me. Perhaps that was their plan all along.

On the work front, it was a pretty good day yesterday. I nearly finished the last six of the dozen Halloween masks that I am designing for my painting customers, and submitting to Artist's Club. While there is some 'tweaking' that I need to do on them, they are for the most part finished.

Below is a picture of the final six:

Brown Art Font Pattern Circle


The pictures aren't great, but I do promise that I will take better shots for tomorrow. Besides the metallic paint accents being very reflective, I did use the crackle on some of them to give them interest. This looks really cool in person. In this shot you can see it a bit better:

Creative arts Art Artifact Electric blue Pattern


I'll end this here today with just those pictures. It is already nearly nine and I need to get moving. I will be finishing these up and taking better pictures later on. I will then start repainting them so that I can step-by-step pictures for the patterns. That is something that I don't just do as I go along, unless I really know what direction I am heading in with the pieces, which I usually don't. I have some other things that I want to do with these masks too, for my own enjoyment, so having two sets of them will be good. But that will come later on.

I hope all my friends west of me are safe. I know that weather has played havoc with many all over the USA and Canada and I wish you all the best.

Take care and have a great day today.
Sheila we also had bad winds. Tharchin the Tibetan Monk
lives in a horse box with his power cable through our letter box
Well his wee hoose was rocking so much that he thought it was
going to roll and it is on the back of a 5t Ford truck.
Me I slept through it all surrounded by my big brave boxers.
In South Africa they call the wind in the Cape The Cape Doctor as
they reckons it clears out all the cobwebs. :)
Those masks are all soo great last one being my favourite the harlequin
or maybe it's the spiders web, but I also like the black and gold, Hell I like
them all
Have a stupendous day
Jamie
 

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#7,536 ·
Back on the Grid

I have to watch what I hope for.

Yesterday, I spoke of the wild winds we were having and how I was up most of the night because of them. In my blog post I casually mentioned that I hoped that there would be time for a short nap during the day so I could catch up on some sleep.

Keith had some errands to run in Digby. I would have gone with, but I really wanted to finish my pictures of the mask ornaments that I designed, as well as start painting another set of them so I could accurately write down the instructions and create the pattern packet. I felt my time was better spent here.

He got some cutting done and it was early afternoon when he left. I was to have the house to myself and I really planned on accomplishing a lot. I spent the morning tidying up and doing the small distracting things so that I could use every minute that I was by myself to work, without distraction.

I had settled in and taken all the pictures. I was very pleased with how they came out using the light box, as the metallic paints that I used on these sometimes give trouble when trying to photograph pieces. I was about half an hour into my work of editing the photos when in an instant, we lost power.

At first I was quite surprised, as the weather had looked a bit better than it had all morning. Things were starting to brighten up and clear. I thought it would be only for a moment, so I sipped my cup of coffee and waited.

But after a time, I began to get tired. I thought it would be a great opportunity for the short nap that I needed. Perhaps it was a sign. I laid down for a while, joined by three cats who were happy to have a daytime sleeping companion.

I slept for a while, but the wind outside still kept me from a deep sleep. When I awoke, dusk was beginning and there was still no power. No power for us means not only no computer, but also no phone (our phone is run through our computers), no cooking and even no water, as our pump does not function. And worst of all - no coffee! :(

Keith arrived home around six PM. He had spent his time doing errands and he stopped over at Bernie's to plane some wood. They weren't affected at all there so he was surprised to see there was no power.

By now it was getting dark. I was hungry and wanted a hot meal. We decided to go out for a bite to eat, as surely by the time we returned things would be once again normal.

As we drove through downtown Meteghan, it became evident how widespread the problem was. Everything was dark but for a few places that had their own generators. None of the restaurants were open, and even the pharmacy was closed. We thought we would keep driving to St. Alphonse where Keith's parents lived to see how they fared.

But it was dark there too, and upon arriving we found out that they were also without power (although they did have a land line telephone and a gas stove.) Keith's mom made me a can of soup (Keith had already eaten in Digby) and even though they also were without water, at least their stove worked.

Word had it that the estimated time for restoring the power was 10pm. We stayed there and visited by lamp light until just before that.

As we were driving home, we began to see flickers of the street lights. Before long we realized that things were indeed getting back to normal and power was again restored. By the time we arrived home, everything was back to normal.

It sure made me thing about how much we depend on power. While I did read for a bit when things were out, it was hard to relax and do so with so much that I wanted to do.

I came home to several emails, many which I still need to respond, and found myself being a bit behind instead of ahead how I thought I would be. But I had my rest.

So with that said, I have nothing new to post. If you emailed me, I will get back to you as soon as I am able. Hopefully today will be a productive day. I am well-rested.

Flash photography Tints and shades Trunk Chest Wood


Have a great Friday!
 

Attachments

#7,537 ·
Back on the Grid

I have to watch what I hope for.

Yesterday, I spoke of the wild winds we were having and how I was up most of the night because of them. In my blog post I casually mentioned that I hoped that there would be time for a short nap during the day so I could catch up on some sleep.

Keith had some errands to run in Digby. I would have gone with, but I really wanted to finish my pictures of the mask ornaments that I designed, as well as start painting another set of them so I could accurately write down the instructions and create the pattern packet. I felt my time was better spent here.

He got some cutting done and it was early afternoon when he left. I was to have the house to myself and I really planned on accomplishing a lot. I spent the morning tidying up and doing the small distracting things so that I could use every minute that I was by myself to work, without distraction.

I had settled in and taken all the pictures. I was very pleased with how they came out using the light box, as the metallic paints that I used on these sometimes give trouble when trying to photograph pieces. I was about half an hour into my work of editing the photos when in an instant, we lost power.

At first I was quite surprised, as the weather had looked a bit better than it had all morning. Things were starting to brighten up and clear. I thought it would be only for a moment, so I sipped my cup of coffee and waited.

But after a time, I began to get tired. I thought it would be a great opportunity for the short nap that I needed. Perhaps it was a sign. I laid down for a while, joined by three cats who were happy to have a daytime sleeping companion.

I slept for a while, but the wind outside still kept me from a deep sleep. When I awoke, dusk was beginning and there was still no power. No power for us means not only no computer, but also no phone (our phone is run through our computers), no cooking and even no water, as our pump does not function. And worst of all - no coffee! :(

Keith arrived home around six PM. He had spent his time doing errands and he stopped over at Bernie's to plane some wood. They weren't affected at all there so he was surprised to see there was no power.

By now it was getting dark. I was hungry and wanted a hot meal. We decided to go out for a bite to eat, as surely by the time we returned things would be once again normal.

As we drove through downtown Meteghan, it became evident how widespread the problem was. Everything was dark but for a few places that had their own generators. None of the restaurants were open, and even the pharmacy was closed. We thought we would keep driving to St. Alphonse where Keith's parents lived to see how they fared.

But it was dark there too, and upon arriving we found out that they were also without power (although they did have a land line telephone and a gas stove.) Keith's mom made me a can of soup (Keith had already eaten in Digby) and even though they also were without water, at least their stove worked.

Word had it that the estimated time for restoring the power was 10pm. We stayed there and visited by lamp light until just before that.

As we were driving home, we began to see flickers of the street lights. Before long we realized that things were indeed getting back to normal and power was again restored. By the time we arrived home, everything was back to normal.

It sure made me thing about how much we depend on power. While I did read for a bit when things were out, it was hard to relax and do so with so much that I wanted to do.

I came home to several emails, many which I still need to respond, and found myself being a bit behind instead of ahead how I thought I would be. But I had my rest.

So with that said, I have nothing new to post. If you emailed me, I will get back to you as soon as I am able. Hopefully today will be a productive day. I am well-rested.

Flash photography Tints and shades Trunk Chest Wood


Have a great Friday!
Glad you're feeling better. Have a good Friday, and gr8 weekend.
 

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#7,543 ·
Hitting the Books

Seeing that we are moving into February, it is time to do one of the most "un-fun" parts of the job - the book work. Although I must say that I am much better prepared than I have been in previous years, as I have pretty much been keeping track of things all along.

As the business keeps growing, this is an important part of it that needs to be attended to on a regular basis. This was the first year that I set up a spread sheet on the computer and have been posting all of my expenses and income throughout the year. Prior to that, I had just clumped everything in one folder, saving the sorting and tallying for one massive session or sessions before I headed to my accountant.

I have been (pretty) good about things this past year, having kept up with the posting until the last month or so of the year. That means the task at hand is much smaller and will go by rather quickly and with much less anxiety. And less things, such as expenses and deductions will be missed. It is all very advantageous to me.

Besides getting the rest of the receipts posted, I am in the process of repainting the mask ornaments and creating the pattern packets for them.

For myself, I find it necessary to paint them a second time in order to refine things and take step-by-step photographs for the instruction packets. When I am in the "design mode" of painting, it is very much a trial and error process. I am pretty much working out of my own thoughts and not sure where the pieces will wind up. After the first batch is 'finished', I like to paint them again, this time writing down colors and taking step-by-step photographs during the process. I also change anything I feel necessary to make the piece better. I know this lengthens the process of making these patterns considerably, but I do think the results is far better. I began doing this yesterday and I already see a great improvement over the original pieces. It is just the way I like to do things, and will also familiarize me more with the process.

So that is what my weekend plans are to be. I don't know if I will be writing tomorrow or not. We will see how things go and if I think of anything that may be of interest to you all.

It is back to snow here this morning, and we are supposed to have some cold temperatures for the next few days. But that is OK. All of my errands are done and the cupboards are full and it will be a good chance to really concentrate on the tasks at hand.

Cat Comfort Tartan Fawn Felidae


I wish you all a great weekend!
 

Attachments

#7,544 ·
Hitting the Books

Seeing that we are moving into February, it is time to do one of the most "un-fun" parts of the job - the book work. Although I must say that I am much better prepared than I have been in previous years, as I have pretty much been keeping track of things all along.

As the business keeps growing, this is an important part of it that needs to be attended to on a regular basis. This was the first year that I set up a spread sheet on the computer and have been posting all of my expenses and income throughout the year. Prior to that, I had just clumped everything in one folder, saving the sorting and tallying for one massive session or sessions before I headed to my accountant.

I have been (pretty) good about things this past year, having kept up with the posting until the last month or so of the year. That means the task at hand is much smaller and will go by rather quickly and with much less anxiety. And less things, such as expenses and deductions will be missed. It is all very advantageous to me.

Besides getting the rest of the receipts posted, I am in the process of repainting the mask ornaments and creating the pattern packets for them.

For myself, I find it necessary to paint them a second time in order to refine things and take step-by-step photographs for the instruction packets. When I am in the "design mode" of painting, it is very much a trial and error process. I am pretty much working out of my own thoughts and not sure where the pieces will wind up. After the first batch is 'finished', I like to paint them again, this time writing down colors and taking step-by-step photographs during the process. I also change anything I feel necessary to make the piece better. I know this lengthens the process of making these patterns considerably, but I do think the results is far better. I began doing this yesterday and I already see a great improvement over the original pieces. It is just the way I like to do things, and will also familiarize me more with the process.

So that is what my weekend plans are to be. I don't know if I will be writing tomorrow or not. We will see how things go and if I think of anything that may be of interest to you all.

It is back to snow here this morning, and we are supposed to have some cold temperatures for the next few days. But that is OK. All of my errands are done and the cupboards are full and it will be a good chance to really concentrate on the tasks at hand.

Cat Comfort Tartan Fawn Felidae


I wish you all a great weekend!
The cats are always there to help. Have a gr8 weekend.
 

Attachments

#7,547 ·
Hitting the Books

Seeing that we are moving into February, it is time to do one of the most "un-fun" parts of the job - the book work. Although I must say that I am much better prepared than I have been in previous years, as I have pretty much been keeping track of things all along.

As the business keeps growing, this is an important part of it that needs to be attended to on a regular basis. This was the first year that I set up a spread sheet on the computer and have been posting all of my expenses and income throughout the year. Prior to that, I had just clumped everything in one folder, saving the sorting and tallying for one massive session or sessions before I headed to my accountant.

I have been (pretty) good about things this past year, having kept up with the posting until the last month or so of the year. That means the task at hand is much smaller and will go by rather quickly and with much less anxiety. And less things, such as expenses and deductions will be missed. It is all very advantageous to me.

Besides getting the rest of the receipts posted, I am in the process of repainting the mask ornaments and creating the pattern packets for them.

For myself, I find it necessary to paint them a second time in order to refine things and take step-by-step photographs for the instruction packets. When I am in the "design mode" of painting, it is very much a trial and error process. I am pretty much working out of my own thoughts and not sure where the pieces will wind up. After the first batch is 'finished', I like to paint them again, this time writing down colors and taking step-by-step photographs during the process. I also change anything I feel necessary to make the piece better. I know this lengthens the process of making these patterns considerably, but I do think the results is far better. I began doing this yesterday and I already see a great improvement over the original pieces. It is just the way I like to do things, and will also familiarize me more with the process.

So that is what my weekend plans are to be. I don't know if I will be writing tomorrow or not. We will see how things go and if I think of anything that may be of interest to you all.

It is back to snow here this morning, and we are supposed to have some cold temperatures for the next few days. But that is OK. All of my errands are done and the cupboards are full and it will be a good chance to really concentrate on the tasks at hand.

Cat Comfort Tartan Fawn Felidae


I wish you all a great weekend!
Hi, Dennis! I hope you guys are having a good winter. Yes, everyone loves spring, but with spring comes time to pay our annual taxes. :) Well, it is expected and planned for so that softens the blow a bit. I have been pretty good with keeping things up to date. Not perfect, but better than usual. Small steps at least.

I hope you have a great day!

Sheila
 

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#7,548 ·
Getting it Right

I often sit here and wonder if I take too long to do things. As a designer, I find that one of the most difficult things for me is accurately measuring the amount of time it takes me to do a project. You would think that after all the years I spent doing what I am doing, I would have a better handle on how long something will take me to complete. But as I accomplish each new project, I find that I am no closer to correctly estimating the time it will take to finish it than I was years ago when I started out as a designer. For me, it just doesn't work that way.

I had a very productive weekend. I spent pretty much two solid days repainting the painted versions of the Halloween masks that I designed and photographing them along the way so that I can have step-by-step photographs in the pattern packet. I believe that I began this phase of work on Friday, and that I had fool-heartedly convinced myself that I would be able to button things up by Saturday, leaving me Sunday to write the actual instructions and take the rest of the day "off."

But once again, things didn't work out that way. It wasn't that I didn't focus on the task at hand of really put myself into it, it was just that damn clock laughing at me once again and mocking my optimistic view of how long it takes me to accomplish things. And as usual, when battling head-to-head against time, I lost.

But in looking at what I have accomplished so far, I don't feel like a loser. In fact, quite the opposite.

Unlike woodworking patterns, painting patterns are much more involved to develop (for me, anyway.) When I am designing wood items, I simply draw them on the computer and cut them out. It is pretty much a basic process. I draw the lines and follow them on the saw, and there is little change between the computer line work and the actual cutting. It all works out very nicely.

In developing painting patterns however, there is a myriad of things that can be changed and adjusted from the time I first think up and actually paint my first prototype until the final pattern is finished. It isn't only picking colors, but shading and intensity and several other things that leave room for improvement after a first attempt. This is what tends to slow me down the most.

When I first was with Keith, he wondered why I painted my new designs several times over in the creation of the pattern packets. Like many, he suggested I just take pictures along the way the first time around and I would save myself a lot of work and time. But for me, it just doesn't work that way.

When I have an idea, it is as if I can see the pieces in my head. They are finished, but perhaps not completely to the point where I would call them "done". Many times I would begin in one direction when painting the piece and for one reason or another I decide to go in another to improve the overall look of the piece. This happens often enough for it to be impractical for me to try to do step-by-step instructions and photos the first time around. More often than not, I wind up changing things here or there and by the time I would be finished, the piece would look quite different than what I had initially envisioned.

Here's an example.

One of the first masks that I painted, was one that I wanted to have a certain look. I liked the black and white theme, but in order to give it a Halloween feeling, I used a metallic bronze paint to shade the white diamonds. When I did so, the black looked "flat" and I brushed the tops of the black diamonds with a black metallic finish. The results was acceptable but in looking at it again, it definitely looked 'muddy' to me.

Hand Arm Pollinator Insect Human body


It was nice though, and good enough to move on to the next. But I still needed to think about it a bit.

When it came time to repaint it for the instruction packet, I had some ideas. I really looked at it and thought about what made me feel uncomfortable about it. While I did like the overall look, I knew there would be some ways to improve on it.

What bothered me the most was that in the process of making it shimmer was that I lost the contrast. While I wanted the mask to appear to be made of satin, by painting both the black and white diamonds with the same pearlescent paint, they lost a great deal of their contrast and the piece appeared to be muddy.

I liked the way the white sections looked with the copper shading, so I left them the same. However, for the black diamonds, I decided to paint them in a very dark grey first (Graphite) and then shade them in pure black. This made each diamond look crisp and sharp and made a much better impact than the black metallic paint.

However, the matte finish of the regular paint next to the shimmer of the metallic white sections wasn't the look I was thinking of. But brushing the tops of the black diamonds with the Black Pearl Metallic would bring me right back to where I started. And I didn't want that.

So I decided to brush the tops of the black sections with some Black Ice Glamour Dust paint. The Glamour Dust is very finely ground glitter suspended in a transparent base. This would allow my shading of the black diamonds to show through, and add some very subtle glitter to the sections.

I thought the result was greatly improved.

Shoe Leg Human body Undergarment Lingerie


Since the black was much darker on the second version, I decided to go with some black shading around the eyes to make them stand out better. I am much happier with the second mask than I was with the first one.

I suppose that I could have settled on the first group of masks if I wanted to do so. When I look at them separately from the second set, they are nice. But when I compare them to the second time around, I realize that these extra days that I am spending on this design is not wasted time at all.

It would be easy for me to create many more patterns if I didn't do them this way. However, I would have a great deal of difficulty promoting them and selling them, knowing that they weren't my best work. With over 400 patterns under my belt, I have to realize that it isn't the number of patterns that I have, but rather the quality of them that is important.

If getting it right means painting things a second time (or even a third!) than that is what I need to do. By doing so, I know that I am truly giving the best of myself and offering the best quality of work that I can to my customers, and also to myself. And to me that is the most important thing that I can accomplish.

I would never be able to sell and market my work if I didn't provide the best that I possibly could do. If that means that it takes a week to create instead of a couple of days, then so be it. Taking the time to do things right gives me confidence in knowing that I am selling the very best patterns that I can. How long they took to get to that point is not important.

So today I will finish the last three masks that I didn't complete this weekend. And then I will work on the pictures and the packet. While I had some hopes of finishing it up this weekend, it just wasn't meant to be. But it wasn't because I didn't devote time and energy into things. It is because getting things right isn't something that just happens. And I hope that shows in the final products.

Have a wonderful Monday.

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. - Albert Einstein
 

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#7,549 ·
Getting it Right

I often sit here and wonder if I take too long to do things. As a designer, I find that one of the most difficult things for me is accurately measuring the amount of time it takes me to do a project. You would think that after all the years I spent doing what I am doing, I would have a better handle on how long something will take me to complete. But as I accomplish each new project, I find that I am no closer to correctly estimating the time it will take to finish it than I was years ago when I started out as a designer. For me, it just doesn't work that way.

I had a very productive weekend. I spent pretty much two solid days repainting the painted versions of the Halloween masks that I designed and photographing them along the way so that I can have step-by-step photographs in the pattern packet. I believe that I began this phase of work on Friday, and that I had fool-heartedly convinced myself that I would be able to button things up by Saturday, leaving me Sunday to write the actual instructions and take the rest of the day "off."

But once again, things didn't work out that way. It wasn't that I didn't focus on the task at hand of really put myself into it, it was just that damn clock laughing at me once again and mocking my optimistic view of how long it takes me to accomplish things. And as usual, when battling head-to-head against time, I lost.

But in looking at what I have accomplished so far, I don't feel like a loser. In fact, quite the opposite.

Unlike woodworking patterns, painting patterns are much more involved to develop (for me, anyway.) When I am designing wood items, I simply draw them on the computer and cut them out. It is pretty much a basic process. I draw the lines and follow them on the saw, and there is little change between the computer line work and the actual cutting. It all works out very nicely.

In developing painting patterns however, there is a myriad of things that can be changed and adjusted from the time I first think up and actually paint my first prototype until the final pattern is finished. It isn't only picking colors, but shading and intensity and several other things that leave room for improvement after a first attempt. This is what tends to slow me down the most.

When I first was with Keith, he wondered why I painted my new designs several times over in the creation of the pattern packets. Like many, he suggested I just take pictures along the way the first time around and I would save myself a lot of work and time. But for me, it just doesn't work that way.

When I have an idea, it is as if I can see the pieces in my head. They are finished, but perhaps not completely to the point where I would call them "done". Many times I would begin in one direction when painting the piece and for one reason or another I decide to go in another to improve the overall look of the piece. This happens often enough for it to be impractical for me to try to do step-by-step instructions and photos the first time around. More often than not, I wind up changing things here or there and by the time I would be finished, the piece would look quite different than what I had initially envisioned.

Here's an example.

One of the first masks that I painted, was one that I wanted to have a certain look. I liked the black and white theme, but in order to give it a Halloween feeling, I used a metallic bronze paint to shade the white diamonds. When I did so, the black looked "flat" and I brushed the tops of the black diamonds with a black metallic finish. The results was acceptable but in looking at it again, it definitely looked 'muddy' to me.

Hand Arm Pollinator Insect Human body


It was nice though, and good enough to move on to the next. But I still needed to think about it a bit.

When it came time to repaint it for the instruction packet, I had some ideas. I really looked at it and thought about what made me feel uncomfortable about it. While I did like the overall look, I knew there would be some ways to improve on it.

What bothered me the most was that in the process of making it shimmer was that I lost the contrast. While I wanted the mask to appear to be made of satin, by painting both the black and white diamonds with the same pearlescent paint, they lost a great deal of their contrast and the piece appeared to be muddy.

I liked the way the white sections looked with the copper shading, so I left them the same. However, for the black diamonds, I decided to paint them in a very dark grey first (Graphite) and then shade them in pure black. This made each diamond look crisp and sharp and made a much better impact than the black metallic paint.

However, the matte finish of the regular paint next to the shimmer of the metallic white sections wasn't the look I was thinking of. But brushing the tops of the black diamonds with the Black Pearl Metallic would bring me right back to where I started. And I didn't want that.

So I decided to brush the tops of the black sections with some Black Ice Glamour Dust paint. The Glamour Dust is very finely ground glitter suspended in a transparent base. This would allow my shading of the black diamonds to show through, and add some very subtle glitter to the sections.

I thought the result was greatly improved.

Shoe Leg Human body Undergarment Lingerie


Since the black was much darker on the second version, I decided to go with some black shading around the eyes to make them stand out better. I am much happier with the second mask than I was with the first one.

I suppose that I could have settled on the first group of masks if I wanted to do so. When I look at them separately from the second set, they are nice. But when I compare them to the second time around, I realize that these extra days that I am spending on this design is not wasted time at all.

It would be easy for me to create many more patterns if I didn't do them this way. However, I would have a great deal of difficulty promoting them and selling them, knowing that they weren't my best work. With over 400 patterns under my belt, I have to realize that it isn't the number of patterns that I have, but rather the quality of them that is important.

If getting it right means painting things a second time (or even a third!) than that is what I need to do. By doing so, I know that I am truly giving the best of myself and offering the best quality of work that I can to my customers, and also to myself. And to me that is the most important thing that I can accomplish.

I would never be able to sell and market my work if I didn't provide the best that I possibly could do. If that means that it takes a week to create instead of a couple of days, then so be it. Taking the time to do things right gives me confidence in knowing that I am selling the very best patterns that I can. How long they took to get to that point is not important.

So today I will finish the last three masks that I didn't complete this weekend. And then I will work on the pictures and the packet. While I had some hopes of finishing it up this weekend, it just wasn't meant to be. But it wasn't because I didn't devote time and energy into things. It is because getting things right isn't something that just happens. And I hope that shows in the final products.

Have a wonderful Monday.

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. - Albert Einstein
I like em both, but, I think I like the 2nd one a wee bit more also.
 

Attachments

#7,558 ·
Update on Selling and Advertising

Since I am doing mostly writing and pattern work, I thought that this morning I would update you all on how our other avenues of sales and advertising have been working out for us. Even though it has only been a little over a month since we started looking into these ways to get our name out and sell our products, we are already seeing some trends and getting a clearer ideas as to which venues will bring us the best results.

Lately, I have had a lot of questions from customers who wish to sell their finished projects and it is very difficult for me to advise them. While we are not selling finished products and only patterns to make projects, we understand that things may be a bit different for those of you who are selling actual items, so you can't really go by our own results. Your target audience will be quite different than that of ours.

So far though, we have done OK on Ebay. This was a bit of a surprise to me, as I didn't really think that the type of people that shopped on Ebay would be looking for patterns. I would have thought that they would want finished items. However, we have sold several patterns through them and while we certainly couldn't retire on what we sold, each sale helps the cause. Besides, we hope that once they buy one of our designs, they will follow the contact information and visit our site and become regular customers. So in a way, it is also like advertising.

Etsy on the other hand, has not worked out as well. After over a month online there, I don't think that we sold even a single pattern. Again that baffles me, as I would have thought that there were more 'crafters' scouting Etsy and that seeing the patterns there would bring some more sales. But so far for us, there haven't been any returns at all. We will probably stick with it for another month or so, as the investment is quite small, but if the trend continues, it wouldn't be worth our time and effort to even list the items. So we will have to see.

Amazon has proven to be a massive headache of red tape and we have altogether abandoned the idea of selling our patterns there. Not only do you need UPC codes for each item sold (we do not have them) but it appears that once you list your items on their site, you grant them specific rights to your intellectual property and things can quickly get out of your control. We tried to apply for a waiver to the UPC code issue, but were rejected because our image sizes didn't meet the criteria that Amazon had set. We were invited to reapply after adjusting our image sizes (on OUR SITE!) but by the time we received that, we had done additional research and decided that we didn't want to be involved with them. On top of that, the cost to do business with them was more than we were willing to pay.

As far as advertising goes, we are finding that both Facebook and Google has done well for us. Both of these venues have proven to bring additional traffic to our site, which is really positive. Keith has been in charge of organizing that whole aspect of advertising, as he did a bit of research and has been experimenting with different bids and keywords and audiences that would target the people who would be most interested in our products. Since both of those ad types are pay-per-click, we want to be certain that those who click on our ads are truly interested in our products. It wouldn't do us well to have more clicks from people who are looking for something other than scroll sawing pattern. We want those who click on our ads to really be looking for what we have to offer in order and become lasting customers. This takes a lot of time and trial and error to make it pay off for you.

I am also working on different ways to get our name out there. I have been involved in several painting forums and recently I have been purchasing small ads with them so that they know that I exist. In the future, I plan to donate some patterns to different painting sites - as I do with scrolling patterns - so that people can sample the type of instructions that we provide and hopefully like not only our designs, but our ways of teaching them and will come to our site looking for more. I also am working hard, as you know, on expanding the painting side of my business too. I found that by doing the few painting patterns that I did last year, I opened our work up to an entirely new audience, and since I also love to paint and teach painting, I think that following in that direction too is a good thing.

All this takes a great deal of time and research.

There are some days when we feel we don't accomplish a great deal. Sometimes there are weeks that can go by when we don't produce new patterns for the site. While it may appear that we are 'slacking' usually the opposite is true. Marketing and advertising takes a great deal of time and effort. I often have people ask me the question of 'what is the best way to sell your patterns' as if I can answer it in one easy sentence.

To be honest, there is no one cut and dry answer. Depending on what you are actually selling, there is no one "magic formula" that works for everyone.

Cat Purple Carnivore Felidae Organism


Black Cat Crystal Ball painting by Anne Marsh

So that is where we stand at this point. As with most things in life, there is no one easy way to market your products - be it finished products or instructions to make projects. It takes a lot of time and effort and trial and error before you find what may work for your own company or small business. It doesn't just "happen."

With that said, one of my favorite sayings comes to mind:

"I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more of it I seem to have. ~Coleman Cox, 1922"

Have a "lucky" day! ;)
 

Attachments

#7,559 ·
Update on Selling and Advertising

Since I am doing mostly writing and pattern work, I thought that this morning I would update you all on how our other avenues of sales and advertising have been working out for us. Even though it has only been a little over a month since we started looking into these ways to get our name out and sell our products, we are already seeing some trends and getting a clearer ideas as to which venues will bring us the best results.

Lately, I have had a lot of questions from customers who wish to sell their finished projects and it is very difficult for me to advise them. While we are not selling finished products and only patterns to make projects, we understand that things may be a bit different for those of you who are selling actual items, so you can't really go by our own results. Your target audience will be quite different than that of ours.

So far though, we have done OK on Ebay. This was a bit of a surprise to me, as I didn't really think that the type of people that shopped on Ebay would be looking for patterns. I would have thought that they would want finished items. However, we have sold several patterns through them and while we certainly couldn't retire on what we sold, each sale helps the cause. Besides, we hope that once they buy one of our designs, they will follow the contact information and visit our site and become regular customers. So in a way, it is also like advertising.

Etsy on the other hand, has not worked out as well. After over a month online there, I don't think that we sold even a single pattern. Again that baffles me, as I would have thought that there were more 'crafters' scouting Etsy and that seeing the patterns there would bring some more sales. But so far for us, there haven't been any returns at all. We will probably stick with it for another month or so, as the investment is quite small, but if the trend continues, it wouldn't be worth our time and effort to even list the items. So we will have to see.

Amazon has proven to be a massive headache of red tape and we have altogether abandoned the idea of selling our patterns there. Not only do you need UPC codes for each item sold (we do not have them) but it appears that once you list your items on their site, you grant them specific rights to your intellectual property and things can quickly get out of your control. We tried to apply for a waiver to the UPC code issue, but were rejected because our image sizes didn't meet the criteria that Amazon had set. We were invited to reapply after adjusting our image sizes (on OUR SITE!) but by the time we received that, we had done additional research and decided that we didn't want to be involved with them. On top of that, the cost to do business with them was more than we were willing to pay.

As far as advertising goes, we are finding that both Facebook and Google has done well for us. Both of these venues have proven to bring additional traffic to our site, which is really positive. Keith has been in charge of organizing that whole aspect of advertising, as he did a bit of research and has been experimenting with different bids and keywords and audiences that would target the people who would be most interested in our products. Since both of those ad types are pay-per-click, we want to be certain that those who click on our ads are truly interested in our products. It wouldn't do us well to have more clicks from people who are looking for something other than scroll sawing pattern. We want those who click on our ads to really be looking for what we have to offer in order and become lasting customers. This takes a lot of time and trial and error to make it pay off for you.

I am also working on different ways to get our name out there. I have been involved in several painting forums and recently I have been purchasing small ads with them so that they know that I exist. In the future, I plan to donate some patterns to different painting sites - as I do with scrolling patterns - so that people can sample the type of instructions that we provide and hopefully like not only our designs, but our ways of teaching them and will come to our site looking for more. I also am working hard, as you know, on expanding the painting side of my business too. I found that by doing the few painting patterns that I did last year, I opened our work up to an entirely new audience, and since I also love to paint and teach painting, I think that following in that direction too is a good thing.

All this takes a great deal of time and research.

There are some days when we feel we don't accomplish a great deal. Sometimes there are weeks that can go by when we don't produce new patterns for the site. While it may appear that we are 'slacking' usually the opposite is true. Marketing and advertising takes a great deal of time and effort. I often have people ask me the question of 'what is the best way to sell your patterns' as if I can answer it in one easy sentence.

To be honest, there is no one cut and dry answer. Depending on what you are actually selling, there is no one "magic formula" that works for everyone.

Cat Purple Carnivore Felidae Organism


Black Cat Crystal Ball painting by Anne Marsh

So that is where we stand at this point. As with most things in life, there is no one easy way to market your products - be it finished products or instructions to make projects. It takes a lot of time and effort and trial and error before you find what may work for your own company or small business. It doesn't just "happen."

With that said, one of my favorite sayings comes to mind:

"I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more of it I seem to have. ~Coleman Cox, 1922"

Have a "lucky" day! ;)
Great information and very true words.
Thank you!
Chris Mobley
www.cmobleydesigns.com
 

Attachments

#7,571 ·
A (bit of a) Day Off

I spent yesterday finishing up repainting the mask ornaments for the pattern packet. I am really happy with them and while it seemed that they took a bit of time, I feel that they are much better than the first batch. I am now in the process of putting together the pattern packet and instructions for making them, and hopefully that should be finished shortly.

There is so much I want to do!

As I look at the calendar and realize that we are already well into February, I find myself thinking of how I sometimes fast-forward through my life. For some reason, when doing this project, I had the feeling that I should be moving quicker on it or accomplishing more each day that what I did - even though I have spent the majority of my waking hours working on it. This isn't necessarily a good thing.

What programs us to think this way?

I know that I am not alone, because I read it every day in the statuses of my friends and acquaintances on Facebook. I hear it when talking to my friends in person, too. So many of them are in essence apologizing for not accomplishing enough, when in reality they accomplish a great deal.

I try to be conscious of what I am doing. I don't want to be one of those people who gets so wrapped up in work and my job that I forget to look at the other things in life that are good. I want to be able to keep doing what I am doing for many, many years to follow and I don't want to run the risk of burning myself out.

My friend Cari told me a story once of how she loved cherries jubilee. It was her all time favorite dessert and was truly a treat for her to have it. Once though, she was out to dinner and even though she was full with her meal, she ordered cherries jubilee for dessert, as it wasn't always available. She ate it, and wound up feeling quite ill from overindulging. She said that it ruined it for her and she was never able to eat it again.

I think of that story sometimes when I feel overwhelmed by my work. Usually when that is the case, I realize that the reason that I am feeling that way isn't because of what I am doing, but because I am not allowing myself to enjoy any of the other aspects of life. And that I believe will lead to burning out.

This week I was able to return to the gym after my quirky back injury a couple of weeks ago. While I am sometimes annoyed at the time it takes to go to the gym (there is always work to do!) once I am there, I am happy that I made the decision to go. It is a chance for me to get out and face people and actually do something good for myself. We usually only spend an hour or so there, and while we are out we accomplish our errands such as going to the post office and grocery shopping, so it isn't as if we wouldn't have spent at least part of the time doing these things anyway.

I had missed two weeks of going because of my back, and during that time, I felt a great deal 'older'. Not necessarily because of my back hurting, but because everything else hurt too. I think my body needs the regular exercise to feel its best. With all the sitting I do on a daily basis with work, it is absolutely necessary for me to get up and move around. In any case - I am glad I am back at it.

Today I will spend the morning writing a bit and working on that packet. I doubt I will finish it today, but I have a goal of perhaps doing so tomorrow.

This afternoon though we plan to have a nice luncheon with our dear friend Bernie, his wife Ellen and their daughter Cindy. Friday was Bernie's birthday and Cindy's (Bernie and Ellen's daughter) is this upcoming weekend. We usually have a celebratory dinner for them both at their place, but this year we decided to do something a little different. A new restaurant opened nearby that is supposed to have great home-cooked Acadian food. Rappie pie, scallops, fish chowder are a few of their specialties. Nothing is fried and everything is home made. We have reservations for a nice lunch there and then we are coming here for some birthday cake and a short visit. I made the cake last night and am ready.

It is in essence my 'weekend', as I worked right through the past several days. It is time off to enjoy our friends and celebrate a nice time with friends who are considered family.

I look forward to my day off. Even though I have a lot to do, the work will always be there and it will get done eventually. Today however, is a day to celebrate my dear friends.

Smile Sleeve Iris Fun Curtain


Have a great Wednesday!
 

Attachments

#7,572 ·
A (bit of a) Day Off

I spent yesterday finishing up repainting the mask ornaments for the pattern packet. I am really happy with them and while it seemed that they took a bit of time, I feel that they are much better than the first batch. I am now in the process of putting together the pattern packet and instructions for making them, and hopefully that should be finished shortly.

There is so much I want to do!

As I look at the calendar and realize that we are already well into February, I find myself thinking of how I sometimes fast-forward through my life. For some reason, when doing this project, I had the feeling that I should be moving quicker on it or accomplishing more each day that what I did - even though I have spent the majority of my waking hours working on it. This isn't necessarily a good thing.

What programs us to think this way?

I know that I am not alone, because I read it every day in the statuses of my friends and acquaintances on Facebook. I hear it when talking to my friends in person, too. So many of them are in essence apologizing for not accomplishing enough, when in reality they accomplish a great deal.

I try to be conscious of what I am doing. I don't want to be one of those people who gets so wrapped up in work and my job that I forget to look at the other things in life that are good. I want to be able to keep doing what I am doing for many, many years to follow and I don't want to run the risk of burning myself out.

My friend Cari told me a story once of how she loved cherries jubilee. It was her all time favorite dessert and was truly a treat for her to have it. Once though, she was out to dinner and even though she was full with her meal, she ordered cherries jubilee for dessert, as it wasn't always available. She ate it, and wound up feeling quite ill from overindulging. She said that it ruined it for her and she was never able to eat it again.

I think of that story sometimes when I feel overwhelmed by my work. Usually when that is the case, I realize that the reason that I am feeling that way isn't because of what I am doing, but because I am not allowing myself to enjoy any of the other aspects of life. And that I believe will lead to burning out.

This week I was able to return to the gym after my quirky back injury a couple of weeks ago. While I am sometimes annoyed at the time it takes to go to the gym (there is always work to do!) once I am there, I am happy that I made the decision to go. It is a chance for me to get out and face people and actually do something good for myself. We usually only spend an hour or so there, and while we are out we accomplish our errands such as going to the post office and grocery shopping, so it isn't as if we wouldn't have spent at least part of the time doing these things anyway.

I had missed two weeks of going because of my back, and during that time, I felt a great deal 'older'. Not necessarily because of my back hurting, but because everything else hurt too. I think my body needs the regular exercise to feel its best. With all the sitting I do on a daily basis with work, it is absolutely necessary for me to get up and move around. In any case - I am glad I am back at it.

Today I will spend the morning writing a bit and working on that packet. I doubt I will finish it today, but I have a goal of perhaps doing so tomorrow.

This afternoon though we plan to have a nice luncheon with our dear friend Bernie, his wife Ellen and their daughter Cindy. Friday was Bernie's birthday and Cindy's (Bernie and Ellen's daughter) is this upcoming weekend. We usually have a celebratory dinner for them both at their place, but this year we decided to do something a little different. A new restaurant opened nearby that is supposed to have great home-cooked Acadian food. Rappie pie, scallops, fish chowder are a few of their specialties. Nothing is fried and everything is home made. We have reservations for a nice lunch there and then we are coming here for some birthday cake and a short visit. I made the cake last night and am ready.

It is in essence my 'weekend', as I worked right through the past several days. It is time off to enjoy our friends and celebrate a nice time with friends who are considered family.

I look forward to my day off. Even though I have a lot to do, the work will always be there and it will get done eventually. Today however, is a day to celebrate my dear friends.

Smile Sleeve Iris Fun Curtain


Have a great Wednesday!
Good morning Sheila. Have a wonderful time with your friends and enjoy your day off. Balance is the key between work, play and spending time with those important to us.
Enjoy.
 

Attachments

#7,576 ·
A Great Day with our Dear Friends

We had a wonderful day yesterday!

After doing some work in the morning and going to the gym, we met up with our dear friends Bernie and Ellen and their daughter Cindy at a new restaurant that just opened near us to celebrate both Bernie's and Cindy's birthday.

The restaurant had opened a month or so ago. To us here on the French shore of Nova Scotia, it was kind of a big deal because we have few choices for eating out here. The only 'franchised' places nearby are Subway and Pizza Delight, which are good if you are in the mood for that. There are also a couple of small, privately owned places which have mostly burgers and sandwiches. This place is called "La Cuisine Robicheau" and has a very limited menu of native Acadian food.

We arrived there around 1pm. We had made reservations because it seemed that every day the lot was quite crowded, and we were happy that we did, as nearly every table was full. The restaurant was a renovated large old house, with several smaller dining rooms that held anywhere from 3-5 tables of various size in them. Everything looked clean and fresh, and there were lovely pictures on the wall of things that were native to the area. Our room had a pretty built-in China cabinet that was back lit and filled with lovely antique serving pieces. There was oak trim all around the doorways and windows and the small chandelier in our room had beautifully shaped light covers that looked like seashells. Everything was original and it gave the place a beautiful, charming and cozy feel to it.

Our afternoon was off to a bit of a rocky start, as Keith and I sat waiting for nearly an hour for our friends to arrive. We were just wondering if we had mis-communicated the time when we saw everyone walk in. Apparently, they were waiting for us outside in the parking lot, expecting to see my red Mustang. Since it is winter though, we have the Mustang parked and take Keith's car everywhere.

We laughed at the mistake and got down to the business of ordering our food. The menu was indeed limited, having only about 8-10 items on it, but I still had trouble deciding on what to try. There was fresh pan-fried haddock, seafood lasagna, fricot (an acadian soup with chicken and potato dumplings) and a few other seafood dishes on the menu. Not only did they have chicken Rappie Pie, but also one made with clams.

I chose the tiger shrimp dish, as I hadn't had shrimp in a while and I like it a great deal. Ellen chose the fish chowder, which came with a fresh baked roll. Bernie had fish cakes, of which he could have ordered two or three. Cindy and Keith both had the chicken Rappie Pie.

When our meals arrived we were really pleased. It was a good thing Bernie ordered only two fish cakes, because each one was huge - probably about 1/2 lb. each. They were thick and crispy on the outside and he thought they were great. He was only able to finish one though and took the other home.

Ellen's soup was amazing. You could see the chunks of haddock and lobster in the large, wide bowl and it really was a nice portion of it. She said it was delicious.

Cindy and Keith both were in awe of the large servings of Rappie Pie. For each of them, it completely filled their plates and had a nice crusty top to it. They both said they really liked it, (but of course, Keith's mom's was better!)

As for my shrimp - I expected maybe 4-5 large shrimp and I got a plate of about 15 of them on a bed of rice. They were garlicky and absolutely yummy and I was only able to finish half of them.

We saw several desserts go by and they really looked good, but since I had made a cake for when we returned home, we passed on that.

Overall it was a great meal, and very reasonably priced too. We will definitely be heading back there again soon. They say they are planning to build a beautiful deck for in the summer so guests could eat outside overlooking the ocean. How nice that will be!

After lunch, we came back to our place. We had a great visit and Bernie had fun teasing and playing with the cats. He always likes to stir them up, and I think that they really enjoy the change of routine to have other people around.

We visited a while, and then had our cake. I made a pistachio cake with chocolate pudding frosting that was pretty good. We had fun visiting and singing and thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon.

Table Food Tableware Candle Sharing


Tableware Table Cake decorating Cake Sharing


After cake, it was beginning to snow and it was time for them to go. They had a 45 minute drive ahead, and the roads here get icy quite fast. The temperatures were dropping and it was going to be getting dark soon, so it was time to call it a day.

We truly enjoyed our visit and it was wonderful to have time off and time to spend with our friends. It has been just about four years since I moved here from Digby and I miss the day to day time that I spent at Bernie's shop and with them all. Bernie always had a place for me in his shop. I had my own little work station in the back corner that he kept clear for me to do my work and I spent many days there with him. Ellen always fed us well and it was an extra bonus on the days when I was working to have a wonderful lunch break. She always took such good care of me.

I have learned a great deal from Bernie too in the time I worked with him. If ever I was stuck with a problem or had a question how to do something, he would always come up with an idea or make a jig that would solve the problem. There were a couple of times that I helped him out too, and it made me feel great.

Bernie was always a great teacher - allowing me to work on my own enough to learn, but always making himself available to help if I needed it. He always made me feel proud when I accomplished something, even if I made boo boos along the way.

"Anyone who says they never make a mistake is a liar." was one of his favorite sayings.

Shoe Comfort Leg Couch Grey


I really have a lot of respect for that.

All in all, it was a truly wonderful day!

Have a great Thursday.

"Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things." ~Author Unknown
 

Attachments

#7,577 ·
A Great Day with our Dear Friends

We had a wonderful day yesterday!

After doing some work in the morning and going to the gym, we met up with our dear friends Bernie and Ellen and their daughter Cindy at a new restaurant that just opened near us to celebrate both Bernie's and Cindy's birthday.

The restaurant had opened a month or so ago. To us here on the French shore of Nova Scotia, it was kind of a big deal because we have few choices for eating out here. The only 'franchised' places nearby are Subway and Pizza Delight, which are good if you are in the mood for that. There are also a couple of small, privately owned places which have mostly burgers and sandwiches. This place is called "La Cuisine Robicheau" and has a very limited menu of native Acadian food.

We arrived there around 1pm. We had made reservations because it seemed that every day the lot was quite crowded, and we were happy that we did, as nearly every table was full. The restaurant was a renovated large old house, with several smaller dining rooms that held anywhere from 3-5 tables of various size in them. Everything looked clean and fresh, and there were lovely pictures on the wall of things that were native to the area. Our room had a pretty built-in China cabinet that was back lit and filled with lovely antique serving pieces. There was oak trim all around the doorways and windows and the small chandelier in our room had beautifully shaped light covers that looked like seashells. Everything was original and it gave the place a beautiful, charming and cozy feel to it.

Our afternoon was off to a bit of a rocky start, as Keith and I sat waiting for nearly an hour for our friends to arrive. We were just wondering if we had mis-communicated the time when we saw everyone walk in. Apparently, they were waiting for us outside in the parking lot, expecting to see my red Mustang. Since it is winter though, we have the Mustang parked and take Keith's car everywhere.

We laughed at the mistake and got down to the business of ordering our food. The menu was indeed limited, having only about 8-10 items on it, but I still had trouble deciding on what to try. There was fresh pan-fried haddock, seafood lasagna, fricot (an acadian soup with chicken and potato dumplings) and a few other seafood dishes on the menu. Not only did they have chicken Rappie Pie, but also one made with clams.

I chose the tiger shrimp dish, as I hadn't had shrimp in a while and I like it a great deal. Ellen chose the fish chowder, which came with a fresh baked roll. Bernie had fish cakes, of which he could have ordered two or three. Cindy and Keith both had the chicken Rappie Pie.

When our meals arrived we were really pleased. It was a good thing Bernie ordered only two fish cakes, because each one was huge - probably about 1/2 lb. each. They were thick and crispy on the outside and he thought they were great. He was only able to finish one though and took the other home.

Ellen's soup was amazing. You could see the chunks of haddock and lobster in the large, wide bowl and it really was a nice portion of it. She said it was delicious.

Cindy and Keith both were in awe of the large servings of Rappie Pie. For each of them, it completely filled their plates and had a nice crusty top to it. They both said they really liked it, (but of course, Keith's mom's was better!)

As for my shrimp - I expected maybe 4-5 large shrimp and I got a plate of about 15 of them on a bed of rice. They were garlicky and absolutely yummy and I was only able to finish half of them.

We saw several desserts go by and they really looked good, but since I had made a cake for when we returned home, we passed on that.

Overall it was a great meal, and very reasonably priced too. We will definitely be heading back there again soon. They say they are planning to build a beautiful deck for in the summer so guests could eat outside overlooking the ocean. How nice that will be!

After lunch, we came back to our place. We had a great visit and Bernie had fun teasing and playing with the cats. He always likes to stir them up, and I think that they really enjoy the change of routine to have other people around.

We visited a while, and then had our cake. I made a pistachio cake with chocolate pudding frosting that was pretty good. We had fun visiting and singing and thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon.

Table Food Tableware Candle Sharing


Tableware Table Cake decorating Cake Sharing


After cake, it was beginning to snow and it was time for them to go. They had a 45 minute drive ahead, and the roads here get icy quite fast. The temperatures were dropping and it was going to be getting dark soon, so it was time to call it a day.

We truly enjoyed our visit and it was wonderful to have time off and time to spend with our friends. It has been just about four years since I moved here from Digby and I miss the day to day time that I spent at Bernie's shop and with them all. Bernie always had a place for me in his shop. I had my own little work station in the back corner that he kept clear for me to do my work and I spent many days there with him. Ellen always fed us well and it was an extra bonus on the days when I was working to have a wonderful lunch break. She always took such good care of me.

I have learned a great deal from Bernie too in the time I worked with him. If ever I was stuck with a problem or had a question how to do something, he would always come up with an idea or make a jig that would solve the problem. There were a couple of times that I helped him out too, and it made me feel great.

Bernie was always a great teacher - allowing me to work on my own enough to learn, but always making himself available to help if I needed it. He always made me feel proud when I accomplished something, even if I made boo boos along the way.

"Anyone who says they never make a mistake is a liar." was one of his favorite sayings.

Shoe Comfort Leg Couch Grey


I really have a lot of respect for that.

All in all, it was a truly wonderful day!

Have a great Thursday.

"Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things." ~Author Unknown
Very glad to hear that you had a great day!
 

Attachments

#7,585 ·
A Story for Silke

Even though I stayed pretty focused and worked all day yesterday, I still didn't complete the pattern that I was working on for the painted Halloween masks.

I was a little disappointed in myself, but what I have so far is looking good, and I know that the small things that I am doing for the pattern are going to be what makes it the best it can be. I suppose I just need to take my own advice and be patient.

I don't make as many painting patterns as I do scroll saw patterns, and because of that, I forget just how involved they need to be. Not to mention that I try to make the packets as attractive as possible, finding cute fonts and having very clear photographs that are properly color corrected so that they can accurately show the step-by-step process. I somehow forget how much time this takes. This pattern has 43 photos in it and it took most of yesterday to work on them all and get them all consistent and accurate, and that ate up most of the day.

I am able to show you the cover though, and I think it looks nice.

Guitar accessory Font Jewellery Body jewelry Pattern


I am quite happy with the outcome and while it may not matter what the pattern itself looks like to others, I certainly does to me.

So (hopefully) today, I will be able to finish up adjusting the line work and the actual writing of the instructions. That is actually the easier part of things and not quite as time consuming. Then I can finish another site update and move on to other things.

In the mean time, I wanted to post something here for my friend Silke. Those of you from Lumberjocks will know Silke as Dennisgrosen's pretty daughter. Silke has recently had some surgery that she is now recovering from. I was happy to hear she is doing well, but I know she said she was a bit bored, as she had to take some time off of school. I wanted to send her something, but it takes so long for things to get all the way to Denmark and by the time I got something posted, she would probably be back out playing with her friends. So I decided to post something here for her that you all can also enjoy.

It is no secret that I love cats. For as long as I remember, we had one or more cats in our lives. We used to dress them up and put them in our doll buggy and parade them up an down the block where I loved in Chicago. One day, I was on one of these 'walks' with my beautiful black cat "Cindy" (whom we named because she was black as cinders!) While passing a neighbor lady, she stopped me and said "May I see your little baby?" thinking that she would be peeking in on a doll.

I opened the hood of the buggy and out peered Cindy, dressed in a pink flannel night dress complete with a matching granny cap. The neighbor gasped! I think it surprised the heck out of her! I can only imagine that the jet black face and big golden eyes were the last thing she expected to see looking back at her! To this day I remember her reaction and smile!

My grandmother used to read us a story called "Whiskers" when I was young. It was a wonderfully delightful story about a naughty cat named Whiskers and all the trouble he got himself into. The best part about it was that the photographs throughout the story were those of real cats, dressed in various outfits. Needless to say it was (and still is!) my favorite book of all time!

Several years ago, while creeping Ebay for something or another, I saw that book listed. I immediately purchased it and now have an almost perfect copy of it for myself. It still remains one of my all time favorites and I want to share it with Silke today to help her pass the time. Of course you can all read through it too.

I scanned in the entire book into one of my Picasa photo albums. The pictures are large enough and you can easily read it and follow along the story. The link to it is here:


I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do, and it brings some joy to you as it does to me. And I hope that it makes dear Silke smile just a little bit today.

Have a great Friday.
 

Attachments

#7,586 ·
A Story for Silke

Even though I stayed pretty focused and worked all day yesterday, I still didn't complete the pattern that I was working on for the painted Halloween masks.

I was a little disappointed in myself, but what I have so far is looking good, and I know that the small things that I am doing for the pattern are going to be what makes it the best it can be. I suppose I just need to take my own advice and be patient.

I don't make as many painting patterns as I do scroll saw patterns, and because of that, I forget just how involved they need to be. Not to mention that I try to make the packets as attractive as possible, finding cute fonts and having very clear photographs that are properly color corrected so that they can accurately show the step-by-step process. I somehow forget how much time this takes. This pattern has 43 photos in it and it took most of yesterday to work on them all and get them all consistent and accurate, and that ate up most of the day.

I am able to show you the cover though, and I think it looks nice.

Guitar accessory Font Jewellery Body jewelry Pattern


I am quite happy with the outcome and while it may not matter what the pattern itself looks like to others, I certainly does to me.

So (hopefully) today, I will be able to finish up adjusting the line work and the actual writing of the instructions. That is actually the easier part of things and not quite as time consuming. Then I can finish another site update and move on to other things.

In the mean time, I wanted to post something here for my friend Silke. Those of you from Lumberjocks will know Silke as Dennisgrosen's pretty daughter. Silke has recently had some surgery that she is now recovering from. I was happy to hear she is doing well, but I know she said she was a bit bored, as she had to take some time off of school. I wanted to send her something, but it takes so long for things to get all the way to Denmark and by the time I got something posted, she would probably be back out playing with her friends. So I decided to post something here for her that you all can also enjoy.

It is no secret that I love cats. For as long as I remember, we had one or more cats in our lives. We used to dress them up and put them in our doll buggy and parade them up an down the block where I loved in Chicago. One day, I was on one of these 'walks' with my beautiful black cat "Cindy" (whom we named because she was black as cinders!) While passing a neighbor lady, she stopped me and said "May I see your little baby?" thinking that she would be peeking in on a doll.

I opened the hood of the buggy and out peered Cindy, dressed in a pink flannel night dress complete with a matching granny cap. The neighbor gasped! I think it surprised the heck out of her! I can only imagine that the jet black face and big golden eyes were the last thing she expected to see looking back at her! To this day I remember her reaction and smile!

My grandmother used to read us a story called "Whiskers" when I was young. It was a wonderfully delightful story about a naughty cat named Whiskers and all the trouble he got himself into. The best part about it was that the photographs throughout the story were those of real cats, dressed in various outfits. Needless to say it was (and still is!) my favorite book of all time!

Several years ago, while creeping Ebay for something or another, I saw that book listed. I immediately purchased it and now have an almost perfect copy of it for myself. It still remains one of my all time favorites and I want to share it with Silke today to help her pass the time. Of course you can all read through it too.

I scanned in the entire book into one of my Picasa photo albums. The pictures are large enough and you can easily read it and follow along the story. The link to it is here:


I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do, and it brings some joy to you as it does to me. And I hope that it makes dear Silke smile just a little bit today.

Have a great Friday.
I love your cover, its not even slightly crowded looking, even though you might think, that
that many masks might be but its not at all.Very nice selection.

I have a psychotic cat, he is my first cat. I have always had dogs, Clar was a near death wild stray,
kitten. Larry said we bring him in or he dies…..well the animal lovers we are there was no choice. :)
But my Abby our (cocker spaniel).. had other ideas, yummy lunch.... (shaking head) so 3 years later, we
still have a segregated home. Clar lives on the back porch and in our bedroom, and Abby has the run
of the rest of the house. When Clar wants to eat or go potty (back porch) then the kids (Turner and Abby)
go to the laundry room. Its a real musical chairs. Turner loves Clar though they are buddy's, he is my
other Cocker. I'm getting way off track, sorry. The thing is I didn't even know how cats act, so Clar was trained just like all my dogs. He comes when called, and does what hes told to do, in other words he acts
just like a dog.
Except when he goes nutts psyco,crazy….. or so I thought. Until I was informed…... oh, that's how cats act. lol
 

Attachments

#7,595 ·
Riding the Storm Out

So far, we are making it through the snowstorm without incident. I suppose that being prepared is one of the reasons why. It always seems that if you spend the time to get ready for things like this, more often than not you sail through the event unscathed. If you are lucky that is.

I woke up this morning to much less snow than I anticipated. While we did get our share, I am quite sure we still have more in store for the day. But it seems like the worst part of the storm is already north of us and hopefully we may be spared power outages and such.

There is quite a bit of snow to move, as the high gusts of winds and cold temperatures have caused extreme drifts. As I look outside, I see that there are piles of snow behind each car up to the license plates, while places on the front lawn only a few feet away you can actually see the dry brown grass peeking through.

All in all though, I think we did well. I spent yesterday cooking some soup and a dinner that would be able to be heated on the grill if necessary. We made sure that we had propane for the grill, as we were out of it since the warmer summer months. I also purchased a small oil lamp, as I had lost the one I had in my last move. I had found out last week when we were without power that the candles that I had didn't adequately light the room for me to at least read in an outage, so I wanted something not only brighter, but a bit more stable than a candle. We are all set.

I didn't get a chance to begin working until later in the afternoon. I had intended on buttoning up the pattern yesterday, but these things needed to come first. I wound up working until nearly 9pm and I reached a point where I needed to call it a day, as I still had emails to respond to and other things to do.

Today, I am going to work as much as I can. One good thing about getting everything ready is that it frees me up for the entire weekend to make progress on my work. I want to use this time to my advantage and get caught up a bit.

One other thing that I wanted to mention today is that I wanted to thank everyone who voted for my Harlequin Mask Brooches for the jewelry contest here on Lumberjocks. I am very proud to have come in third place among the wonderful entries. It was a fun contest and it was great to see how creative others could be too! Thanks to everyone who made it possible for us to participate in this event. I look forward to others in the future.

Well, that's it for today. I hope all of you in North America who got hit with storms stay safe and warm. It appears that we still have some winter left after all, even though it got a late start.

Have a great day and have fun!

Atmosphere Snow Natural landscape Branch Twig


"Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air. They are where they should be. Now put the foundations under them." - Henry David Thoreau
 

Attachments

#7,596 ·
Riding the Storm Out

So far, we are making it through the snowstorm without incident. I suppose that being prepared is one of the reasons why. It always seems that if you spend the time to get ready for things like this, more often than not you sail through the event unscathed. If you are lucky that is.

I woke up this morning to much less snow than I anticipated. While we did get our share, I am quite sure we still have more in store for the day. But it seems like the worst part of the storm is already north of us and hopefully we may be spared power outages and such.

There is quite a bit of snow to move, as the high gusts of winds and cold temperatures have caused extreme drifts. As I look outside, I see that there are piles of snow behind each car up to the license plates, while places on the front lawn only a few feet away you can actually see the dry brown grass peeking through.

All in all though, I think we did well. I spent yesterday cooking some soup and a dinner that would be able to be heated on the grill if necessary. We made sure that we had propane for the grill, as we were out of it since the warmer summer months. I also purchased a small oil lamp, as I had lost the one I had in my last move. I had found out last week when we were without power that the candles that I had didn't adequately light the room for me to at least read in an outage, so I wanted something not only brighter, but a bit more stable than a candle. We are all set.

I didn't get a chance to begin working until later in the afternoon. I had intended on buttoning up the pattern yesterday, but these things needed to come first. I wound up working until nearly 9pm and I reached a point where I needed to call it a day, as I still had emails to respond to and other things to do.

Today, I am going to work as much as I can. One good thing about getting everything ready is that it frees me up for the entire weekend to make progress on my work. I want to use this time to my advantage and get caught up a bit.

One other thing that I wanted to mention today is that I wanted to thank everyone who voted for my Harlequin Mask Brooches for the jewelry contest here on Lumberjocks. I am very proud to have come in third place among the wonderful entries. It was a fun contest and it was great to see how creative others could be too! Thanks to everyone who made it possible for us to participate in this event. I look forward to others in the future.

Well, that's it for today. I hope all of you in North America who got hit with storms stay safe and warm. It appears that we still have some winter left after all, even though it got a late start.

Have a great day and have fun!

Atmosphere Snow Natural landscape Branch Twig


"Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air. They are where they should be. Now put the foundations under them." - Henry David Thoreau
Glad to hear you made out okay in the Storm Sheila!
We're still getting snow here in Concord, but it has slowed down a little in the last half hour…IMG_20130209_075210.jpg
That shapeless blob in the yard is our Rav4!! It, and all the ground around it, were completely clear yesterday when I came home from Work at about 1:30 PM…
I'm headed out (shovel and broom in hand) in a a few minutes to clean it and our stairs off, and to see how much we actually got… By the wiper blades, it looks like about a foot, but the roof looks like about 18"...
 

Attachments

#7,609 ·
More Ebay Selling

Well, the winter storm has passed and we fared well. We did get a good deal of snow, but we were spared much of the destructive winds that many others experienced. We were fortunate that we never lost power, which was our main concern as losing electricity means to water, heat or phone. Unlike most people, we don't have cell phones as we have little use for one. Last year, when Keith accidentally washed and dried his phone, we never saw a need to replace it. Perhaps one day we will get a 'pay-as-you-go' phone, for the one to two times per year when we need one, we just don't feel that it is worth the extra cost.

I spent the weekend working on the painting pattern packet for the mask ornaments, and I really think it is ready to go. We should be doing a site update later on today, as all I have to do is finish the newsletter for that. Hopefully, I will be able to get that out today, and then start on the next projects.

Keith spent a great deal of the weekend working on our Ebay products again. Working on that site made us appreciate the software that we have for our site. The Ebay software has a mind of its own it seems, and it really became quite frustrating to work with and have it function properly.

Our main obstacle was calculating the shipping charges. Since Ebay frowns on selling PDF products, we find it necessary to sell 'hard copies' of our patterns, which means that there need to be shipping charges involved. However, if a customer were to buy more than one pattern from us, we felt it was unfair and just not right to charge them the base cost of shipping on each. But programming that into the Ebay site was no small task. It fought every step of the way.

We had a couple of orders too yesterday that were from customers that bought more than one pattern. Since the patterns certainly fit into one envelope, it would naturally be foolish and wasteful for us to package them separately and charge twice for shipping. We had one customer even order three patterns and he was charged shipping three times.

Naturally, we sent him Paypal refunds for the duplicate shipping costs, but we were still charged fees on the totals of those transactions and they were not considered in the refunds. It was not a good thing.

But when we checked our settings on Ebay, for some reason, the shipping rules we set wouldn't stick. It kept going back to the default settings which charged shipping on each individual transaction. It was quite frustrating.

Finally, after several hours of fiddling with it, it decided to work. Keith still does not know what changed or why it began working, but it does seem like it is working properly now and everything is set. We are able to have only one shipping fee if customers wait to pay their Paypal invoice until all of their items are ordered. Then they will receive the discount for shipping multiple patterns. Otherwise, each transaction is treated individually and shipping is charged on each.

I am not fond of this way of doing things, and neither is Keith, but we are getting sales from there and hopefully it will bring in some new customers that will visit our site and buy from us directly in the future. We wonder though because we are concerned that we are not putting forth a great first impression when all this goes awry.

It's all a learning process I suppose.

Our experiences on Ebay so far have been positive, but not without obstacles. Finding new ways of selling your products takes a bit of time and energy, no matter what you are selling. There is no easy way around trying new venues, which involve learning new setups and new programs and investing a great deal of time into it. Sometimes you come out good, and other times you just figure you are better off not using that resource. It is all a trial error process.

Cat Carnivore Organism Felidae Font


I get lots of emails from customers asking how to market their products. I suppose my best answer to them would be that they need to take the time to try different places, as we are doing, and then they can judge which places pay off the best. Not every venue is going to have the same results for everyone. The only way you will be able to tell is to give it a try. You may have a pleasant surprise.

Have a great Monday! :)
 

Attachments

#7,610 ·
More Ebay Selling

Well, the winter storm has passed and we fared well. We did get a good deal of snow, but we were spared much of the destructive winds that many others experienced. We were fortunate that we never lost power, which was our main concern as losing electricity means to water, heat or phone. Unlike most people, we don't have cell phones as we have little use for one. Last year, when Keith accidentally washed and dried his phone, we never saw a need to replace it. Perhaps one day we will get a 'pay-as-you-go' phone, for the one to two times per year when we need one, we just don't feel that it is worth the extra cost.

I spent the weekend working on the painting pattern packet for the mask ornaments, and I really think it is ready to go. We should be doing a site update later on today, as all I have to do is finish the newsletter for that. Hopefully, I will be able to get that out today, and then start on the next projects.

Keith spent a great deal of the weekend working on our Ebay products again. Working on that site made us appreciate the software that we have for our site. The Ebay software has a mind of its own it seems, and it really became quite frustrating to work with and have it function properly.

Our main obstacle was calculating the shipping charges. Since Ebay frowns on selling PDF products, we find it necessary to sell 'hard copies' of our patterns, which means that there need to be shipping charges involved. However, if a customer were to buy more than one pattern from us, we felt it was unfair and just not right to charge them the base cost of shipping on each. But programming that into the Ebay site was no small task. It fought every step of the way.

We had a couple of orders too yesterday that were from customers that bought more than one pattern. Since the patterns certainly fit into one envelope, it would naturally be foolish and wasteful for us to package them separately and charge twice for shipping. We had one customer even order three patterns and he was charged shipping three times.

Naturally, we sent him Paypal refunds for the duplicate shipping costs, but we were still charged fees on the totals of those transactions and they were not considered in the refunds. It was not a good thing.

But when we checked our settings on Ebay, for some reason, the shipping rules we set wouldn't stick. It kept going back to the default settings which charged shipping on each individual transaction. It was quite frustrating.

Finally, after several hours of fiddling with it, it decided to work. Keith still does not know what changed or why it began working, but it does seem like it is working properly now and everything is set. We are able to have only one shipping fee if customers wait to pay their Paypal invoice until all of their items are ordered. Then they will receive the discount for shipping multiple patterns. Otherwise, each transaction is treated individually and shipping is charged on each.

I am not fond of this way of doing things, and neither is Keith, but we are getting sales from there and hopefully it will bring in some new customers that will visit our site and buy from us directly in the future. We wonder though because we are concerned that we are not putting forth a great first impression when all this goes awry.

It's all a learning process I suppose.

Our experiences on Ebay so far have been positive, but not without obstacles. Finding new ways of selling your products takes a bit of time and energy, no matter what you are selling. There is no easy way around trying new venues, which involve learning new setups and new programs and investing a great deal of time into it. Sometimes you come out good, and other times you just figure you are better off not using that resource. It is all a trial error process.

Cat Carnivore Organism Felidae Font


I get lots of emails from customers asking how to market their products. I suppose my best answer to them would be that they need to take the time to try different places, as we are doing, and then they can judge which places pay off the best. Not every venue is going to have the same results for everyone. The only way you will be able to tell is to give it a try. You may have a pleasant surprise.

Have a great Monday! :)
Sheila E Bay is easy, I get Shirley to do it and so far no problems :)
Well the sun is shining good buddies on the net plenty of customers
life don't get much better, I also get asked this question from newbies I just say

Find something that is difficult to make and gives a good return (Is there a need)
Practice until you get the perfect finish and done in a reasonable time now you can
see if it would be a profitable product. Sometimes it is the boring or monotonousness
work that puts the bread on the table.
Whats more Stick with it, it may take months or years. dont chase new ideas from what
everyone else is selling.
Some folk listen others dont. I can only wish them luck with their venture both ways

Jamie
 

Attachments

#7,622 ·
Website Updates

Yesterday I had a good day. I spent the majority of the day catching up with emails and communicating with customers, as well as working on the site update. I had hopes of finishing my newsletter and sending it out, but I just ran out of time and plan to get that done today.

I also was able to talk to my editor from Creative Woodworks and Crafts magazine and we mapped out the next couple of projects. I really like how open she is to trying some new ideas and designs, as well as new ideas for articles. I like contributing not only projects to the magazine, but also articles that help teach new techniques and methods of creating. You may have already guessed that I enjoy writing, so these articles are a lot of fun to put together, and the response to them so far has been very positive. It makes the job a lot of fun.

I was happy to see the mask ornaments finally up on the site too. After spending nearly two weeks on them, I am happy with how they came out. I played around with some of the photographs too and posted some pictures which showed the painting detail a bit better. Overall I think the project came out nice.

Font Wood Art Pattern Twig


SLDP210 Haunted Masquerade Ornaments

Keith had some nice new projects to add also. Among his new items is this beautiful self-framing butterfly plaque:

Brown Leaf Wood Rectangle Creative arts


SLDK230 Self-Framing Leaf Bordered Monarch Butterfly

Keith still doesn't add his projects in the gallery here on Lumberjocks, so I thought I would show it here. I suppose that I am just as guilty as he is though, as I frequently forget to add my new things.

All in all, we are still growing and producing a good variety of work. But there is always more that I want to do, and it is fun to think of what lies ahead for us.

With that said, I am going to keep things short today. I want to get started on the newsletter and get that out in the email today. Again, if you are interested in joining our mailing list, you can do so here:

Sheila Landry Designs Mailing List

We send out approximately two newsletters per month to let you know what is new and what we are up to, and we never share your email with anyone.

I hope you all have a good day today. I hope my friends who were hit by the storm are thawing out too. As I look outside, it is hard to believe that only two days ago was a blizzard. Besides the mounted drifts, most of our lawn is visible and much of the snow is gone.

Spring is definitely on its way.

Have a wonderful Tuesday.
 

Attachments

#7,623 ·
Website Updates

Yesterday I had a good day. I spent the majority of the day catching up with emails and communicating with customers, as well as working on the site update. I had hopes of finishing my newsletter and sending it out, but I just ran out of time and plan to get that done today.

I also was able to talk to my editor from Creative Woodworks and Crafts magazine and we mapped out the next couple of projects. I really like how open she is to trying some new ideas and designs, as well as new ideas for articles. I like contributing not only projects to the magazine, but also articles that help teach new techniques and methods of creating. You may have already guessed that I enjoy writing, so these articles are a lot of fun to put together, and the response to them so far has been very positive. It makes the job a lot of fun.

I was happy to see the mask ornaments finally up on the site too. After spending nearly two weeks on them, I am happy with how they came out. I played around with some of the photographs too and posted some pictures which showed the painting detail a bit better. Overall I think the project came out nice.

Font Wood Art Pattern Twig


SLDP210 Haunted Masquerade Ornaments

Keith had some nice new projects to add also. Among his new items is this beautiful self-framing butterfly plaque:

Brown Leaf Wood Rectangle Creative arts


SLDK230 Self-Framing Leaf Bordered Monarch Butterfly

Keith still doesn't add his projects in the gallery here on Lumberjocks, so I thought I would show it here. I suppose that I am just as guilty as he is though, as I frequently forget to add my new things.

All in all, we are still growing and producing a good variety of work. But there is always more that I want to do, and it is fun to think of what lies ahead for us.

With that said, I am going to keep things short today. I want to get started on the newsletter and get that out in the email today. Again, if you are interested in joining our mailing list, you can do so here:

Sheila Landry Designs Mailing List

We send out approximately two newsletters per month to let you know what is new and what we are up to, and we never share your email with anyone.

I hope you all have a good day today. I hope my friends who were hit by the storm are thawing out too. As I look outside, it is hard to believe that only two days ago was a blizzard. Besides the mounted drifts, most of our lawn is visible and much of the snow is gone.

Spring is definitely on its way.

Have a wonderful Tuesday.
Looks like you had fun with that mask Sheila.

Keith, nice one mate, a very neat piece.

Have a stupendous day.

Jamie
 

Attachments

#7,629 ·
Organizing

It is going to be a short post here today, as I don't feel that I have anything particularly interesting to share with you all today. It's one of those times when I am finishing up the loose ends on one project and moving on to the next. I have several different directions which I want to head and I need to just take one at a time and move forward. But in between, I need to tidy things up and sort, backup and reorganize some things to keep everything running smoothly.

Cat Vertebrate White Blue Carnivore


Days like this don't make for very exciting reading I am afraid. But I wanted to stop in and say 'hi' anyway.

Cat Felidae Carnivore Calculator Fawn


I plan to spend the day today getting stuff in order again. I have some paperwork to do and I need to map out the next couple of projects. And I still have some work to do to get ready for tax time.

I could go on, about nothing, but we all have better things to do. With that said, I hope you all have a good day.

Happy Wednesday! :)

The most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they know and then stop. - Mark Twain
 

Attachments

#7,630 ·
Organizing

It is going to be a short post here today, as I don't feel that I have anything particularly interesting to share with you all today. It's one of those times when I am finishing up the loose ends on one project and moving on to the next. I have several different directions which I want to head and I need to just take one at a time and move forward. But in between, I need to tidy things up and sort, backup and reorganize some things to keep everything running smoothly.

Cat Vertebrate White Blue Carnivore


Days like this don't make for very exciting reading I am afraid. But I wanted to stop in and say 'hi' anyway.

Cat Felidae Carnivore Calculator Fawn


I plan to spend the day today getting stuff in order again. I have some paperwork to do and I need to map out the next couple of projects. And I still have some work to do to get ready for tax time.

I could go on, about nothing, but we all have better things to do. With that said, I hope you all have a good day.

Happy Wednesday! :)

The most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they know and then stop. - Mark Twain
Thanks for the post and, always, for the cute cat photos. This is what I have been doing lately. I am already thinking about fall projects and craft fairs. Any planning and organization is worth while.
 

Attachments

#7,637 ·
Having some Fun!

I did a lot of odds and ends yesterday. You know - all those little things that we have been putting off for a while. I think I made great progress in getting things organized, and that made me feel good.

I also got the chance to play with the rhinestones that I had recently purchased. Even though I did finish up one of my maple scroll sawn masks with them, I wanted to do the other ones too and make them look a bit more appealing.

I know I didn't really have to do this, but I think that sometimes people like to see variations and that they help them think up of even more ways to have fun with their projects and make them stand out. And that is what creativity is all about.

While I was in the midst of doing that, my friend and customer from here on Lumberjocks (Anna) sent me a picture of what she had done with my mask pattern. I thought it fit in perfectly with what I was doing and she graciously allowed me to show her picture here in the blog, just to give you more ideas.

Anna took my mask pattern and layered some card stock between the wood layers. (You can do with with many layers of paper and achieve great results, as you see here!) She made an intricate cut out piece that she used for a card she created by hand. Then she took it a step further and added some of the rhinestones from Rhinestones Canada and made it look even more awesome. What do you think?

Brown Product Textile Beige Rectangle


I think it is really cool! With all the scrap booking and card making that people are doing, this is a great way to use your scroll saw for even more projects! Plus the fact that it is really FUN! :)

Here are some snapshots of the masks I did:

Ornament Wood Font Art Jewellery


Head Table Insect Arthropod Pollinator


Human body Plant Terrestrial plant Moths and butterflies Pollinator


Head Pollinator Butterfly Arthropod Wood


Pollinator Insect Gold Font Moths and butterflies


Font Jewellery Headpiece Art Symmetry


As you can see, I didn't use quite as many stones as with the first one that I did (the last picture, which I had shown you previously.)

I don't think it requires many to really make these look awesome. Sometimes a bit less is really more desirable.

I hope you liked seeing these. I also did some decorating on the painted versions of the masks that I will show tomorrow.

This is really the fun part of my job! I love playing around with things and making them look unique by using different things to embellish them. A little "extra" can sometimes really make your projects stand out.

There are so many different ways we can be creative. I think that is what crafting and creating is all about.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Cat Eye Felidae Carnivore Small to medium-sized cats
 

Attachments

#7,638 ·
Having some Fun!

I did a lot of odds and ends yesterday. You know - all those little things that we have been putting off for a while. I think I made great progress in getting things organized, and that made me feel good.

I also got the chance to play with the rhinestones that I had recently purchased. Even though I did finish up one of my maple scroll sawn masks with them, I wanted to do the other ones too and make them look a bit more appealing.

I know I didn't really have to do this, but I think that sometimes people like to see variations and that they help them think up of even more ways to have fun with their projects and make them stand out. And that is what creativity is all about.

While I was in the midst of doing that, my friend and customer from here on Lumberjocks (Anna) sent me a picture of what she had done with my mask pattern. I thought it fit in perfectly with what I was doing and she graciously allowed me to show her picture here in the blog, just to give you more ideas.

Anna took my mask pattern and layered some card stock between the wood layers. (You can do with with many layers of paper and achieve great results, as you see here!) She made an intricate cut out piece that she used for a card she created by hand. Then she took it a step further and added some of the rhinestones from Rhinestones Canada and made it look even more awesome. What do you think?

Brown Product Textile Beige Rectangle


I think it is really cool! With all the scrap booking and card making that people are doing, this is a great way to use your scroll saw for even more projects! Plus the fact that it is really FUN! :)

Here are some snapshots of the masks I did:

Ornament Wood Font Art Jewellery


Head Table Insect Arthropod Pollinator


Human body Plant Terrestrial plant Moths and butterflies Pollinator


Head Pollinator Butterfly Arthropod Wood


Pollinator Insect Gold Font Moths and butterflies


Font Jewellery Headpiece Art Symmetry


As you can see, I didn't use quite as many stones as with the first one that I did (the last picture, which I had shown you previously.)

I don't think it requires many to really make these look awesome. Sometimes a bit less is really more desirable.

I hope you liked seeing these. I also did some decorating on the painted versions of the masks that I will show tomorrow.

This is really the fun part of my job! I love playing around with things and making them look unique by using different things to embellish them. A little "extra" can sometimes really make your projects stand out.

There are so many different ways we can be creative. I think that is what crafting and creating is all about.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Cat Eye Felidae Carnivore Small to medium-sized cats
Anna very nice & creative

Sheila those are wonderful, mine is still on going. :)

Have a great day

jamie
 

Attachments

#7,645 ·
Too Busy to Blog??

Well, guys and girls - I am sorry to say that I have been typing away since the moment I got up, but just have been too busy to write a blog today. I suppose that is good news though, as the business keeps growing and thriving and that is part of what goes with it.

I just stopped in so you all don't worry about me being sick or anything like that (I always have people worrying when I don't post - thank you!) and I will be back tomorrow.

Cat Eye Carnivore Felidae Organism


Have a great Friday and do something wonderfully creative.

And of course . . . Keep Smiling!!

Nose Cheek Smile Organ Cat


Happy Friday!
 

Attachments

#7,646 ·
Too Busy to Blog??

Well, guys and girls - I am sorry to say that I have been typing away since the moment I got up, but just have been too busy to write a blog today. I suppose that is good news though, as the business keeps growing and thriving and that is part of what goes with it.

I just stopped in so you all don't worry about me being sick or anything like that (I always have people worrying when I don't post - thank you!) and I will be back tomorrow.

Cat Eye Carnivore Felidae Organism


Have a great Friday and do something wonderfully creative.

And of course . . . Keep Smiling!!

Nose Cheek Smile Organ Cat


Happy Friday!
Thanks for the update Sheila. Always gl ad to hear from you and the cats.
 

Attachments

#7,652 ·
More Bling

I have been quite busy this past week, doing many things to organize and also tying up some loose ends. I finally had some time to 'play' with some of the rhinestones that I received and try them out on one of the sets of painted masks. I had talked to my editor, and she was happy to allow me to write an article on embellishing projects. I am excited about doing this because I receive many requests from customers who wish to make their projects stand out from others when they sell them at craft fairs and shows.

I think that even though people know there are options available for decorating their pieces and going that extra step, they really like to see examples in front of them. Many times, I have explained some of my ideas to others, but only when I actually have shown the finished pieces did they really understand what I was talking about. I think that is my fault, as I must be a better 'thinker' than an 'explainer'. (I made up that word)

Adding some sparkle to the painted masks really made them go up another level. While they were pretty before, that extra bit of "bling" really made them stand out and look festive. I found myself having a great time designing and playing around with different color families and sizes of stones to add just the right touch.

I took pictures of each, but they still look better in person. But the pictures aren't bad and they do give at least an idea of the possibilities.

Art Personal protective equipment Circle Bicycle chain Metal


Art Font Pattern Circle Motif


Pollinator Insect Moths and butterflies Headgear Art


Art Creative arts Snout Fashion accessory Paint


Purple Finger Creative arts Pattern Woolen


Font Art Fashion accessory Oval Circle


I think that they really look pretty nice. They look finished and professional and I am sure that I will use these for future projects. In the life of a designer, my holidays projects are right around the corner and I can think of many instances that I want things to shave a little bit of sparkle.

Today I hope to begin drawing some new designs. It feels as if I haven't been at the drawing board in quite a while, even though every day has been filled form sun up to sun down. I suppose that all the behind the scenes work that both Keith and I have been doing hasn't made really exciting blog material. So much of the time we spend is on marketing, computer work, book work and customer service that some days it leaves very little time for being creative. But that is a good part of the business and we are very happy that it is growing.

So many times I receive emails from people who want to start their own business and say to me "it must be nice just to cut on the scroll saw (or paint) all day!" Those of you who read on a regular basis know that idea of how we spend our days is quite far from the reality of how it really is. I truly look forward to just about every part of the business. But the actual cutting of the designs or painting them is just a very small part of the big pictures.

But to me, that is what makes it so fun and exciting. You never know what kind of day you are going to have and you never know who you may 'meet'. So many of our customers become our friends and It is truly wonderful to get to know them and see what they make and share our creativity with them. There truly isn't a day that goes by where I am not grateful for the job I have chosen - even on those days when I have to do paperwork!

With that said, I am going to sign off for today. I plan to spend the day planning and working again on some of my paperwork for taxes. I need to make an appointment next week with my accountant so I can button things up for 2012 and look ahead to 2012. The good news is that we definitely had a great deal of growth last year, even though the economy was hurting. So we must be doing something right.

We want to thank you all very much for your continued support and advice and suggestions. Whether you are friends or customers or advisers, you help make our business as good as it can be and we truly appreciate you all.

Have a great Saturday and do something that you enjoy to do. Doing something you love makes life so much better. I can tell you that from first hand experience.

Happy Saturday!
 

Attachments

#7,653 ·
More Bling

I have been quite busy this past week, doing many things to organize and also tying up some loose ends. I finally had some time to 'play' with some of the rhinestones that I received and try them out on one of the sets of painted masks. I had talked to my editor, and she was happy to allow me to write an article on embellishing projects. I am excited about doing this because I receive many requests from customers who wish to make their projects stand out from others when they sell them at craft fairs and shows.

I think that even though people know there are options available for decorating their pieces and going that extra step, they really like to see examples in front of them. Many times, I have explained some of my ideas to others, but only when I actually have shown the finished pieces did they really understand what I was talking about. I think that is my fault, as I must be a better 'thinker' than an 'explainer'. (I made up that word)

Adding some sparkle to the painted masks really made them go up another level. While they were pretty before, that extra bit of "bling" really made them stand out and look festive. I found myself having a great time designing and playing around with different color families and sizes of stones to add just the right touch.

I took pictures of each, but they still look better in person. But the pictures aren't bad and they do give at least an idea of the possibilities.

Art Personal protective equipment Circle Bicycle chain Metal


Art Font Pattern Circle Motif


Pollinator Insect Moths and butterflies Headgear Art


Art Creative arts Snout Fashion accessory Paint


Purple Finger Creative arts Pattern Woolen


Font Art Fashion accessory Oval Circle


I think that they really look pretty nice. They look finished and professional and I am sure that I will use these for future projects. In the life of a designer, my holidays projects are right around the corner and I can think of many instances that I want things to shave a little bit of sparkle.

Today I hope to begin drawing some new designs. It feels as if I haven't been at the drawing board in quite a while, even though every day has been filled form sun up to sun down. I suppose that all the behind the scenes work that both Keith and I have been doing hasn't made really exciting blog material. So much of the time we spend is on marketing, computer work, book work and customer service that some days it leaves very little time for being creative. But that is a good part of the business and we are very happy that it is growing.

So many times I receive emails from people who want to start their own business and say to me "it must be nice just to cut on the scroll saw (or paint) all day!" Those of you who read on a regular basis know that idea of how we spend our days is quite far from the reality of how it really is. I truly look forward to just about every part of the business. But the actual cutting of the designs or painting them is just a very small part of the big pictures.

But to me, that is what makes it so fun and exciting. You never know what kind of day you are going to have and you never know who you may 'meet'. So many of our customers become our friends and It is truly wonderful to get to know them and see what they make and share our creativity with them. There truly isn't a day that goes by where I am not grateful for the job I have chosen - even on those days when I have to do paperwork!

With that said, I am going to sign off for today. I plan to spend the day planning and working again on some of my paperwork for taxes. I need to make an appointment next week with my accountant so I can button things up for 2012 and look ahead to 2012. The good news is that we definitely had a great deal of growth last year, even though the economy was hurting. So we must be doing something right.

We want to thank you all very much for your continued support and advice and suggestions. Whether you are friends or customers or advisers, you help make our business as good as it can be and we truly appreciate you all.

Have a great Saturday and do something that you enjoy to do. Doing something you love makes life so much better. I can tell you that from first hand experience.

Happy Saturday!
Sheila I'm glad your looking forward to 2012 LoL
The "Minds Eye" I thought every one could visualize the finished
item in there head, even from a drawing. Not everyone can
Shirley can only see the final product when it is 95% complete.

Have a great day Sheila

Jamie
 

Attachments

#7,661 ·
Winter Isn't Quite Over Yet!

Well, it was a productive weekend to say the least. And it ended with a rather big bang from Mother nature. All in all I really accomplished a great deal including getting all the drawing done for my next project for the magazine. I am happy.

I spent the majority of the day Saturday moving files on my computer. One wouldn't think that would take very long, but I had recently purchased a 3TB hard drive for my computer to meet my growing storage needs. Prices on hard drives have been amazingly inexpensive as technology advances are being made. I was able to get my drive from NCIX for a mere $120 prior to shipping and taxes. That's a pretty good deal. (It is a Western Digital Caviar Green SATA drive) While that may not mean a great deal to some of you, for me it means I have oodles of storage space so everything will keep running smoothly as my files keep growing.

I have a couple of drives already, but some of them (including my C partition) were beginning to get to the point where they were filing up and I knew it was time for me to expand. I wanted my computer to continue to run at optimal speed and I thought this reorganization was necessary for it to do so. The drive arrived on Thursday so after doing an initial backup and installing it, I needed to clear out one of the smaller drives that I am not going to use anymore and remove it and I then spent Saturday rearranging things to fit in their new places.

It literally took me all day, from around 9 in the morning when I finished my blog here until approximately 8:30 in the evening. While it certainly wasn't the most exciting way to spend the day, I am really happy with the results, as my computer is just like brand new and every file is neatly stored just where I want it. The system is efficient and logical (for me) and I can find just about anything I want in a snap. The best part about it is that there is plenty of room for growth and everything of any importance is backed up on an external drive that we keep disconnected and safe in a cabinet should a disaster occur. We even burn our final PDF pattern files to disk and keep them at a different location in case something like a fire would occur and everything here would be destroyed. That way we would at least have the final copies of our patterns and be able to function. Our customer data is on a server with our store front, so that is safe too. Hopefully all the bases are covered.

So now that everything was in order on my computer, it was time to work. I am due to begin working on my next project for the magazine and I had some nice ideas that I wanted to pursue. The issue we are working on now is the July issue, which comes out in June. The issue following that will be the Holiday issue (already!) and we need to start thinking about Christmas and Holidays already. But first, I wanted to do a project with a somewhat patriotic theme for the July issue. I decided to do some word art pieces that I can make a couple of versions of. Since Canada Day is July 1st and Independence Day is July 4th, I felt that two versions of the project would be appropriate.

I am still thinking about how I am going to decorate them, but they should be a lot of fun to make. I spent much of the day yesterday drawing them up and today they are ready to cut. I am happy because once again it seems that I haven't been able to spend much time at the saw, and it will be fun to see them come to life.

Below is a sample of what I have drawn:

Font Slope Circle Symbol Symmetry


I promise that it will be a fun and simple project.

For the early part of the day yesterday, we experienced what I would call "chunky rain." It was doing something outside between snow and rain but it couldn't seem to decide on what it wanted to be. By afternoon, it turned to snow. It was the wet, heavy kind with the large flakes that seemed to accumulate quickly. By early evening the wind kicked up and we were in what most would call "Blizzard Conditions." We lost our power several times, but for only a few seconds. Just enough to interrupt our computers and shut them down.

While I wasn't very worried because I had just finished backing everything up, I didn't want to risk having anything go wrong. We naturally have some good surge protectors that we have on our systems, but things still happen and it isn't good for the computers when the power keeps flickering as it was. So I decided to unplug everything and play it safe and spent the rest of the night reading.

It felt strange to not have the computer going, and it made me realize just how much I depended on it. As I watched Keith install my new drive the other day, I was thinking that my entire world was held in that little box and it was the heart of my communication with my friends, family, customers and business. It is funny how dependent we are on technology and communication. Somewhat scary even.

When I awoke this morning it was still dark outside. But looking out on our deck, I could see that we have probably a good foot of snow on the ground, and much higher in areas where it has drifted. The wind is still blowing and I can't tell if it is still snowing lightly or if it is just the wind pushing around what is already here. In any case, it is deep and there is far more snow than we had last week with the "Big Storm" that came. This is the most snow I have seen in quite a while. Winter isn't done just yet.

I noticed our neighbor's car is still here, so I expect that his work is closed for the day. I am sure that most things are going to be closed or at least slow in opening. It will be a good day to stay in and scroll saw, as long as we still keep our power.

But we are ready. I have extra water in my large stock pot on the stove and we have enough groceries and I even bought an oil lamp last week before the storm that I can use if necessary. It is good to be prepared and I can rest easy knowing I am ready for almost anything.

With that said, I will get to work.

Happy Monday to you all! I hope you have a great week!

Cat Food Carnivore Felidae Small to medium-sized cats
 

Attachments

#7,662 ·
Winter Isn't Quite Over Yet!

Well, it was a productive weekend to say the least. And it ended with a rather big bang from Mother nature. All in all I really accomplished a great deal including getting all the drawing done for my next project for the magazine. I am happy.

I spent the majority of the day Saturday moving files on my computer. One wouldn't think that would take very long, but I had recently purchased a 3TB hard drive for my computer to meet my growing storage needs. Prices on hard drives have been amazingly inexpensive as technology advances are being made. I was able to get my drive from NCIX for a mere $120 prior to shipping and taxes. That's a pretty good deal. (It is a Western Digital Caviar Green SATA drive) While that may not mean a great deal to some of you, for me it means I have oodles of storage space so everything will keep running smoothly as my files keep growing.

I have a couple of drives already, but some of them (including my C partition) were beginning to get to the point where they were filing up and I knew it was time for me to expand. I wanted my computer to continue to run at optimal speed and I thought this reorganization was necessary for it to do so. The drive arrived on Thursday so after doing an initial backup and installing it, I needed to clear out one of the smaller drives that I am not going to use anymore and remove it and I then spent Saturday rearranging things to fit in their new places.

It literally took me all day, from around 9 in the morning when I finished my blog here until approximately 8:30 in the evening. While it certainly wasn't the most exciting way to spend the day, I am really happy with the results, as my computer is just like brand new and every file is neatly stored just where I want it. The system is efficient and logical (for me) and I can find just about anything I want in a snap. The best part about it is that there is plenty of room for growth and everything of any importance is backed up on an external drive that we keep disconnected and safe in a cabinet should a disaster occur. We even burn our final PDF pattern files to disk and keep them at a different location in case something like a fire would occur and everything here would be destroyed. That way we would at least have the final copies of our patterns and be able to function. Our customer data is on a server with our store front, so that is safe too. Hopefully all the bases are covered.

So now that everything was in order on my computer, it was time to work. I am due to begin working on my next project for the magazine and I had some nice ideas that I wanted to pursue. The issue we are working on now is the July issue, which comes out in June. The issue following that will be the Holiday issue (already!) and we need to start thinking about Christmas and Holidays already. But first, I wanted to do a project with a somewhat patriotic theme for the July issue. I decided to do some word art pieces that I can make a couple of versions of. Since Canada Day is July 1st and Independence Day is July 4th, I felt that two versions of the project would be appropriate.

I am still thinking about how I am going to decorate them, but they should be a lot of fun to make. I spent much of the day yesterday drawing them up and today they are ready to cut. I am happy because once again it seems that I haven't been able to spend much time at the saw, and it will be fun to see them come to life.

Below is a sample of what I have drawn:

Font Slope Circle Symbol Symmetry


I promise that it will be a fun and simple project.

For the early part of the day yesterday, we experienced what I would call "chunky rain." It was doing something outside between snow and rain but it couldn't seem to decide on what it wanted to be. By afternoon, it turned to snow. It was the wet, heavy kind with the large flakes that seemed to accumulate quickly. By early evening the wind kicked up and we were in what most would call "Blizzard Conditions." We lost our power several times, but for only a few seconds. Just enough to interrupt our computers and shut them down.

While I wasn't very worried because I had just finished backing everything up, I didn't want to risk having anything go wrong. We naturally have some good surge protectors that we have on our systems, but things still happen and it isn't good for the computers when the power keeps flickering as it was. So I decided to unplug everything and play it safe and spent the rest of the night reading.

It felt strange to not have the computer going, and it made me realize just how much I depended on it. As I watched Keith install my new drive the other day, I was thinking that my entire world was held in that little box and it was the heart of my communication with my friends, family, customers and business. It is funny how dependent we are on technology and communication. Somewhat scary even.

When I awoke this morning it was still dark outside. But looking out on our deck, I could see that we have probably a good foot of snow on the ground, and much higher in areas where it has drifted. The wind is still blowing and I can't tell if it is still snowing lightly or if it is just the wind pushing around what is already here. In any case, it is deep and there is far more snow than we had last week with the "Big Storm" that came. This is the most snow I have seen in quite a while. Winter isn't done just yet.

I noticed our neighbor's car is still here, so I expect that his work is closed for the day. I am sure that most things are going to be closed or at least slow in opening. It will be a good day to stay in and scroll saw, as long as we still keep our power.

But we are ready. I have extra water in my large stock pot on the stove and we have enough groceries and I even bought an oil lamp last week before the storm that I can use if necessary. It is good to be prepared and I can rest easy knowing I am ready for almost anything.

With that said, I will get to work.

Happy Monday to you all! I hope you have a great week!

Cat Food Carnivore Felidae Small to medium-sized cats
Love the cat pic! You mentioned good surge protectors…Carole works from home and we, like you, are quite dependent upon the income the computer helps generate. From my network building days, I am big on redundancy, backup and alternate power supply. So we have installed a large UPS (uninterpretable power supply) that supports the computer and router. This allows Carole about 30 minutes of time to work uninterrupted when the power goes out. 90% of the time this covers the gap. If I were to go all out, I would set up a miniature hospital situation where a tiny generator kicks in automatically through an automatic transfer switch when the power goes out. This would be in addition to the UPS which smooths out all the spikes created by the transfers.
Is your 3TB a solid state deal or a spinning platter? I've grown intrigued with the solid state stuff as it matures and prices fall. There is no reason for them to fail short of total, unsurvivable disaster!
Just a thought.
DanK
 

Attachments

#7,669 ·
Some Patriotic Word Art

I had a lot of fun yesterday. While everyone was shoveling out and dealing with the snow, I was able to work on the scroll saw cutting out my new design. I was happy because I was having fun and doing something that I loved to do. What could be better?

I had found a nice piece of poplar to cut my design from. While I may have preferred something a little harder, like maple, since I was planning to 'decorate' these pieces I decided that poplar would do fine and it would be a good chance to use it for something where it was better to have little or no grain pattern. Besides, this piece was light in color (with no greenish hue at all) and would look nice either left natural with an oiled finished or painted. So poplar it was.

Since I have been receiving many requests for more "word art" patterns, I thought that making pieces for both the Independence Day holiday in the States and Canada Day here in Canada would be appropriate. Not only would these pieces be appropriate for those particular holidays, but they would also be a great decoration to leave out all year long. They would look nice sitting on a shelf, cut from thin 1/8" stock and placed on a wreath, or even hung on a wall. As with any designs of this type, the possibilities are just about endless.

I started with Canada.

I wanted not only the name of the country, but something that would be immediately recognized as being associated with Canada. Of course the most obvious object was the maple leaf. So I made their word art piece decorated with a simple maple leaf design.

Art Wood Font Event Flooring


I decided to put the "O" in front of Canada because I wanted something that was fun and festive and patriotic. (Besides . . . I just thought it looked cool!) I did the letter cutouts in the same shape of the maple leaf and also included a couple of maple leaf pieces to scatter about, giving the whole project a happy and casual look. I was quite pleased with the outcome.

For the USA piece, I decided to use the word "America" and the natural accent for that would definitely be stars. I debated whether to use a stars and stripes motif on the letters, but since they are all attached together and the main piece a bit long, I wanted to keep it simpler and around the same amount of difficulty as the Canada piece, so I left it as you see:

Wood Font Hardwood Auto part Metal


Another reason that I kept these simple was because today I am going to "decorate" them and add some wonderful colors and embellishments to the pieces. I didn't want them too busy. Starting simple is really better. Besides, I think these are nice enough and if different wood was used for them, it would also give a completely different look.

So all in all it was a good day. :)

I did need to adjust the pattern in a couple of places, which is why I like to cut each piece out myself. While it looked great on paper, when actually cutting things out, I found some places that were a bit weak and needed beefing up. While for the most part I was able to compensate right there as I cut, there was one place on the America piece that did need a change that I had already cut through. I had debated on whether it would cause me to re-cut the entire piece, but I don't think that I will. It does hold together nicely "as is" and the change is strictly for reinforcement purposes. I doubt that anyone will notice the small change from the photograph to the actual pattern they will be receiving. I may wind up cutting another one for myself anyway, and in that case I will just send in the second one when I ship the piece to the magazine.

I found that cutting the Canada piece was a bit more difficult than the America piece. While cutting stars could be seen as tedious, I found them quite easy. The maple leaves, however were a bit more of a challenge - especially on an 16" long piece. But with some time and patience, these got done fine and I really like how they came out.

So today will be another fun day as I see the pieces come to life with a bit of color (and maybe a sparkle or two!) As I said before, I love to offer options on my patterns so that people can make them as they see fit.

I will take photographs of these before I decorate them, and then I will be able to send them off to the magazine for the article. All in all it was a good day.

Today is sunny and beautiful out. There is still about a foot of snow on the ground everywhere, but the roads are clear and it is quite calm. The temperature is hovering near freezing, so it is just the perfect winter day. I've only been up a short while and already it is great day. I am sure it will get better, too.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!
 

Attachments

#7,670 ·
Some Patriotic Word Art

I had a lot of fun yesterday. While everyone was shoveling out and dealing with the snow, I was able to work on the scroll saw cutting out my new design. I was happy because I was having fun and doing something that I loved to do. What could be better?

I had found a nice piece of poplar to cut my design from. While I may have preferred something a little harder, like maple, since I was planning to 'decorate' these pieces I decided that poplar would do fine and it would be a good chance to use it for something where it was better to have little or no grain pattern. Besides, this piece was light in color (with no greenish hue at all) and would look nice either left natural with an oiled finished or painted. So poplar it was.

Since I have been receiving many requests for more "word art" patterns, I thought that making pieces for both the Independence Day holiday in the States and Canada Day here in Canada would be appropriate. Not only would these pieces be appropriate for those particular holidays, but they would also be a great decoration to leave out all year long. They would look nice sitting on a shelf, cut from thin 1/8" stock and placed on a wreath, or even hung on a wall. As with any designs of this type, the possibilities are just about endless.

I started with Canada.

I wanted not only the name of the country, but something that would be immediately recognized as being associated with Canada. Of course the most obvious object was the maple leaf. So I made their word art piece decorated with a simple maple leaf design.

Art Wood Font Event Flooring


I decided to put the "O" in front of Canada because I wanted something that was fun and festive and patriotic. (Besides . . . I just thought it looked cool!) I did the letter cutouts in the same shape of the maple leaf and also included a couple of maple leaf pieces to scatter about, giving the whole project a happy and casual look. I was quite pleased with the outcome.

For the USA piece, I decided to use the word "America" and the natural accent for that would definitely be stars. I debated whether to use a stars and stripes motif on the letters, but since they are all attached together and the main piece a bit long, I wanted to keep it simpler and around the same amount of difficulty as the Canada piece, so I left it as you see:

Wood Font Hardwood Auto part Metal


Another reason that I kept these simple was because today I am going to "decorate" them and add some wonderful colors and embellishments to the pieces. I didn't want them too busy. Starting simple is really better. Besides, I think these are nice enough and if different wood was used for them, it would also give a completely different look.

So all in all it was a good day. :)

I did need to adjust the pattern in a couple of places, which is why I like to cut each piece out myself. While it looked great on paper, when actually cutting things out, I found some places that were a bit weak and needed beefing up. While for the most part I was able to compensate right there as I cut, there was one place on the America piece that did need a change that I had already cut through. I had debated on whether it would cause me to re-cut the entire piece, but I don't think that I will. It does hold together nicely "as is" and the change is strictly for reinforcement purposes. I doubt that anyone will notice the small change from the photograph to the actual pattern they will be receiving. I may wind up cutting another one for myself anyway, and in that case I will just send in the second one when I ship the piece to the magazine.

I found that cutting the Canada piece was a bit more difficult than the America piece. While cutting stars could be seen as tedious, I found them quite easy. The maple leaves, however were a bit more of a challenge - especially on an 16" long piece. But with some time and patience, these got done fine and I really like how they came out.

So today will be another fun day as I see the pieces come to life with a bit of color (and maybe a sparkle or two!) As I said before, I love to offer options on my patterns so that people can make them as they see fit.

I will take photographs of these before I decorate them, and then I will be able to send them off to the magazine for the article. All in all it was a good day.

Today is sunny and beautiful out. There is still about a foot of snow on the ground everywhere, but the roads are clear and it is quite calm. The temperature is hovering near freezing, so it is just the perfect winter day. I've only been up a short while and already it is great day. I am sure it will get better, too.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!
I like your designs, I can't wait to see how you decorate them.
 

Attachments

#7,675 ·
More Word Art

Well, we went from over a foot of snow two days ago to pouring rain today. Everything is a melting mess. I suppose that is part of spring.

I spent the day working on my two word art projects. After some consideration, I decided to re-cut the America! project because I just wasn't confident about the strength of the piece. As I stated yesterday, there was one area of weakness that I missed when drawing it up on the computer and I didn't realize it until I cut it out. The piece didn't break, but it was held together precariously by some material that was about 1/8 inch thick. This was near the center, so there would be stress from both sides any time it was moved and I just didn't feel right about using it, even for the picture. (I had changed the pattern so that the problem was fixed, and probably could have gotten away with sending my version and no one would have noticed in the photograph, but I just didn't feel right doing so.)

So it was back to the saw for me.

It was a minor setback, and it only took a couple of hours to have the piece cut and sanded. However, I needed to allow the oil to penetrate the piece before applying the spray lacquer and continuing on. I didn't want to wait all day, so I decided to forge onward and use the first piece as somewhat of a practice piece. (I also wanted to mention that I figured out what I did use was indeed pine, and not poplar. Once it was oiled, it looked a lot more like pine. It was quite even and tight grain though so it would still do well for this project.)

I spent the afternoon and early evening finishing the two pieces. For the "America" project, I decided to use a red and blue base for the letters and use the crackle medium and off-white paint on top. I then float shaded the base colors (red or blue) to bring out the original colors. The stars were done in metallic gold and then I added some sparkles to them. I really liked the results:

Font Wood Jewellery Handwriting Art


I had 'discovered' a new (to me, anyway) method to paint the tops of the letters without going over the edge at all, which left the letters looking wonderfully clean and crisp. I did have a little setback when I did a practice sample on a scrap of wood (as I ALWAYS suggest in my instructions) and much to my chagrin, the paint didn't crackle at all! In looking into things further, I realized that I mistakenly grabbed the bottle of Staining and Antiquing Medium instead of Weathered Wood and used it instead. (Doh!) I tell you this because it just goes to show that you should ALWAYS test stuff like this on a scrap first. I would have been pretty upset if I would have applied the other to the real piece and would have had to start over again (not to mention sanding everything off or re-cutting the piece a third time!!) So please heed my warnings and when instructions tell you to try on a sample first - do so! :)

After that things went pretty smoothly. Here is a close up of the America! piece:

Wood Font Symbol Metal Number


You can see that I cut an additional star overlay and placed it over the weak part of the piece, so now it is as strong as ever and there is no danger of it breaking. I think I will give that piece away, as it came out rather nice.

The O Canada! plaque came out just as nice:

Font Wood Symbol Fashion accessory Number


Since it was all done with red undercoating, it went pretty quickly. I did find however that the shading around the letters using the red paint over the white turned out to have a rather pinkish cast to them. I think this is the nature of the beast, as the shading is semi-transparent in order to make a nice transition. After finishing it up, I decided to use a deeper red with a brownish cast to it and went over the shading once more. This seemed to solve the problem nicely.

Wood Red Font Pattern Symbol


I think I may do a video on this process, because as I said, I learned some valuable techniques that make it really super-easy to paint this. This is a great project for those who are just starting to play with color and painting.

After I was all finished and things were cleaned up, Keith looked at the pieces and informed me that he thought that it should have been written "Oh Canada!."

My heart just about stopped. After working on these pieces for the last couple of days, the LAST think I wanted to do was to have to re-do the Canada piece! I though "How could I be so stupid?" (Big DOH!)

But no!

I looked it up on Google and on the official Canada site and it is indeed "O Canada!" (Score one for the American!)

I chided Kieth because he was born here and lived here all his life and he really thought that it was "Oh Canada!" Shame on him! ;)

So for today I will be re-painting the "good" America! project and writing the instructions for the magazine. I still want to add some rhinestones on them - maybe in the stars - to give them that extra twinkle, but I wanted to make sure that the paint was absolutely completely dry before I proceeded. I think just a couple maybe on the stars and the maple leaves will give it that extra little punch.

Of course, some will prefer to leave it plain. Some may do the painting and leave it as I have them now. And still others will like it full blown decorated as it will be. The nice part about it is that I offer the options that each can take to whatever level they wish.

Did I mention I love my job?

I wish you all a great Wednesday!
 

Attachments

#7,676 ·
More Word Art

Well, we went from over a foot of snow two days ago to pouring rain today. Everything is a melting mess. I suppose that is part of spring.

I spent the day working on my two word art projects. After some consideration, I decided to re-cut the America! project because I just wasn't confident about the strength of the piece. As I stated yesterday, there was one area of weakness that I missed when drawing it up on the computer and I didn't realize it until I cut it out. The piece didn't break, but it was held together precariously by some material that was about 1/8 inch thick. This was near the center, so there would be stress from both sides any time it was moved and I just didn't feel right about using it, even for the picture. (I had changed the pattern so that the problem was fixed, and probably could have gotten away with sending my version and no one would have noticed in the photograph, but I just didn't feel right doing so.)

So it was back to the saw for me.

It was a minor setback, and it only took a couple of hours to have the piece cut and sanded. However, I needed to allow the oil to penetrate the piece before applying the spray lacquer and continuing on. I didn't want to wait all day, so I decided to forge onward and use the first piece as somewhat of a practice piece. (I also wanted to mention that I figured out what I did use was indeed pine, and not poplar. Once it was oiled, it looked a lot more like pine. It was quite even and tight grain though so it would still do well for this project.)

I spent the afternoon and early evening finishing the two pieces. For the "America" project, I decided to use a red and blue base for the letters and use the crackle medium and off-white paint on top. I then float shaded the base colors (red or blue) to bring out the original colors. The stars were done in metallic gold and then I added some sparkles to them. I really liked the results:

Font Wood Jewellery Handwriting Art


I had 'discovered' a new (to me, anyway) method to paint the tops of the letters without going over the edge at all, which left the letters looking wonderfully clean and crisp. I did have a little setback when I did a practice sample on a scrap of wood (as I ALWAYS suggest in my instructions) and much to my chagrin, the paint didn't crackle at all! In looking into things further, I realized that I mistakenly grabbed the bottle of Staining and Antiquing Medium instead of Weathered Wood and used it instead. (Doh!) I tell you this because it just goes to show that you should ALWAYS test stuff like this on a scrap first. I would have been pretty upset if I would have applied the other to the real piece and would have had to start over again (not to mention sanding everything off or re-cutting the piece a third time!!) So please heed my warnings and when instructions tell you to try on a sample first - do so! :)

After that things went pretty smoothly. Here is a close up of the America! piece:

Wood Font Symbol Metal Number


You can see that I cut an additional star overlay and placed it over the weak part of the piece, so now it is as strong as ever and there is no danger of it breaking. I think I will give that piece away, as it came out rather nice.

The O Canada! plaque came out just as nice:

Font Wood Symbol Fashion accessory Number


Since it was all done with red undercoating, it went pretty quickly. I did find however that the shading around the letters using the red paint over the white turned out to have a rather pinkish cast to them. I think this is the nature of the beast, as the shading is semi-transparent in order to make a nice transition. After finishing it up, I decided to use a deeper red with a brownish cast to it and went over the shading once more. This seemed to solve the problem nicely.

Wood Red Font Pattern Symbol


I think I may do a video on this process, because as I said, I learned some valuable techniques that make it really super-easy to paint this. This is a great project for those who are just starting to play with color and painting.

After I was all finished and things were cleaned up, Keith looked at the pieces and informed me that he thought that it should have been written "Oh Canada!."

My heart just about stopped. After working on these pieces for the last couple of days, the LAST think I wanted to do was to have to re-do the Canada piece! I though "How could I be so stupid?" (Big DOH!)

But no!

I looked it up on Google and on the official Canada site and it is indeed "O Canada!" (Score one for the American!)

I chided Kieth because he was born here and lived here all his life and he really thought that it was "Oh Canada!" Shame on him! ;)

So for today I will be re-painting the "good" America! project and writing the instructions for the magazine. I still want to add some rhinestones on them - maybe in the stars - to give them that extra twinkle, but I wanted to make sure that the paint was absolutely completely dry before I proceeded. I think just a couple maybe on the stars and the maple leaves will give it that extra little punch.

Of course, some will prefer to leave it plain. Some may do the painting and leave it as I have them now. And still others will like it full blown decorated as it will be. The nice part about it is that I offer the options that each can take to whatever level they wish.

Did I mention I love my job?

I wish you all a great Wednesday!
Sheila the great thing is that you had fun doing it
In your home it is Canada America
We have Scotland, England South Africa and France
All Rugby nations, well some of us think so. :) I got a new
design of Foot Raiser for meditation completed, prototype
sample and the appropriate jigs. Today I need to turn into a
production mode.
I love my job too

Have a great day
Jamie
 

Attachments

#7,684 ·
The Death of a Printer

Well, it finally happened. My trusty little Canon IP4600 printer died.

This came to no surprise to us, as we saw signs of its failure. Recently, the print quality had declined even though we thoroughly cleaned and soaked the print head. Lately we found we needed to print on high quality if we wanted acceptable copies.

Every time we said to each other "just one more ink fill" it was as if the printer had ears and heard us and it would kick back into action and print beautifully again - for a while. It certainly gave a valiant effort!

But after about two years of service, and several thousand sheets beyond its life expectancy, I believe we just wore it out. I have nothing whatsoever to say that is negative about this printer though, as it served us well and since it only cost us under $100, it was a fine investment and had a wonderfully productive life. It was just time to lay it to rest, and we did so with respect.

I have blogged about these little Canon Pixma printers before. You can read about it here.

Nearly a year ago, I purchased two similar printers, as well as another continuous flow ink system. This model is the Canon IP4920, which is a newer model but actually looks identical to the IP4600. Even the driver software appears exactly the same. Those crafty Canon people did manage to change the cartridges that you need for it though, and I was able to get another continuous flow ink system for it. (I blogged about that here)

Liquid Fluid Cosmetics Solvent Drink


As you can see by the blog date, that was nearly a year ago. There is nothing like being ready for things - especially when you are running a business.

While setting up the printer to use the continuous flow system isn't the easiest thing to do, it is well worth the time and effort. Once in place, it is only a matter of keeping the ink tanks filled and you can watch your printing costs plummet. The quality of these Canon Pixma printers is excellent, and when the ink system is in place, you get full color prints for about 2 cents a sheet. That's cheaper than anything that I know of.

Instead of paying anywhere from $20 to $30 per cartridge or set of cartridges which have about a teaspoon of ink in them, we order the set of FIVE 100ml bottles of ink (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and two Black) for about $30 shipped. This ink lasts quite a long time and will fill the tanks up several times per set. It is a truly sweet deal.

I have been purchasing ink and systems from this Ebay seller for over six years now and he has never let me down on price, quality of product, or service. His record of 98% positive feedback with over 1700 transactions is a testament to that. The link to his Ebay store is here.

There are many, many different brands and models of printers that he has these systems for, so if you are interested in looking into it, you may find one that is suitable for your own.

I know I have written about this before, but it has been almost a year since I have done so and since I have new people reading here every day, I want to get word out.

Whether you do woodworking, painting, or any type of computer work that involves printing, this type of system can save you a lot of money. The initial investment for the (filled) system costs about the price of 2 sets of cartridges, and the 5-100 ml bottle set is only $25! That's less than ONE cartridge! You could easily get the printer, the ink system and another set of refill bottles for under $200, and that will give you several thousands of color copies. It can really help lower your business expenses and for us, it allows us to offer beautiful full-color printed patterns to our customers at the same cost of emailing PDF files. This is especially important for the painting patterns, which have anywhere from 20-40 step-by-step color pictures.

So I say a fond farewell to my Canon IP4700 printer. Like your predecessor the IP4600, you served us well. May you rest in peace. We have loaded up and primed our IP4920 and are off and running with that. (We actually bought two of these printers because they were so cheap, so there is still another one waiting in the wings!) Hopefully, we will have many thousands of beautiful clear copies to come from it in the future.

If you are finding that printing is costing you a lot more than you want to pay, I suggest you look into a system such as this. I don't think you will regret it.

As for today, back on track with the latest pattern. I have some hopes of making a video today of some of the painting techniques I used on the word art pieces. I never know though what the day will bring and for shooting videos, I need it quiet here. So I will try.

It is somewhat gloomy here today, but the sun is just coming up. It is amazing how much snow is melted already from the large amount we had this weekend. Spring is definitely on its way.

I wish you all a wonderfully productive day!
 

Attachments

#7,685 ·
The Death of a Printer

Well, it finally happened. My trusty little Canon IP4600 printer died.

This came to no surprise to us, as we saw signs of its failure. Recently, the print quality had declined even though we thoroughly cleaned and soaked the print head. Lately we found we needed to print on high quality if we wanted acceptable copies.

Every time we said to each other "just one more ink fill" it was as if the printer had ears and heard us and it would kick back into action and print beautifully again - for a while. It certainly gave a valiant effort!

But after about two years of service, and several thousand sheets beyond its life expectancy, I believe we just wore it out. I have nothing whatsoever to say that is negative about this printer though, as it served us well and since it only cost us under $100, it was a fine investment and had a wonderfully productive life. It was just time to lay it to rest, and we did so with respect.

I have blogged about these little Canon Pixma printers before. You can read about it here.

Nearly a year ago, I purchased two similar printers, as well as another continuous flow ink system. This model is the Canon IP4920, which is a newer model but actually looks identical to the IP4600. Even the driver software appears exactly the same. Those crafty Canon people did manage to change the cartridges that you need for it though, and I was able to get another continuous flow ink system for it. (I blogged about that here)

Liquid Fluid Cosmetics Solvent Drink


As you can see by the blog date, that was nearly a year ago. There is nothing like being ready for things - especially when you are running a business.

While setting up the printer to use the continuous flow system isn't the easiest thing to do, it is well worth the time and effort. Once in place, it is only a matter of keeping the ink tanks filled and you can watch your printing costs plummet. The quality of these Canon Pixma printers is excellent, and when the ink system is in place, you get full color prints for about 2 cents a sheet. That's cheaper than anything that I know of.

Instead of paying anywhere from $20 to $30 per cartridge or set of cartridges which have about a teaspoon of ink in them, we order the set of FIVE 100ml bottles of ink (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and two Black) for about $30 shipped. This ink lasts quite a long time and will fill the tanks up several times per set. It is a truly sweet deal.

I have been purchasing ink and systems from this Ebay seller for over six years now and he has never let me down on price, quality of product, or service. His record of 98% positive feedback with over 1700 transactions is a testament to that. The link to his Ebay store is here.

There are many, many different brands and models of printers that he has these systems for, so if you are interested in looking into it, you may find one that is suitable for your own.

I know I have written about this before, but it has been almost a year since I have done so and since I have new people reading here every day, I want to get word out.

Whether you do woodworking, painting, or any type of computer work that involves printing, this type of system can save you a lot of money. The initial investment for the (filled) system costs about the price of 2 sets of cartridges, and the 5-100 ml bottle set is only $25! That's less than ONE cartridge! You could easily get the printer, the ink system and another set of refill bottles for under $200, and that will give you several thousands of color copies. It can really help lower your business expenses and for us, it allows us to offer beautiful full-color printed patterns to our customers at the same cost of emailing PDF files. This is especially important for the painting patterns, which have anywhere from 20-40 step-by-step color pictures.

So I say a fond farewell to my Canon IP4700 printer. Like your predecessor the IP4600, you served us well. May you rest in peace. We have loaded up and primed our IP4920 and are off and running with that. (We actually bought two of these printers because they were so cheap, so there is still another one waiting in the wings!) Hopefully, we will have many thousands of beautiful clear copies to come from it in the future.

If you are finding that printing is costing you a lot more than you want to pay, I suggest you look into a system such as this. I don't think you will regret it.

As for today, back on track with the latest pattern. I have some hopes of making a video today of some of the painting techniques I used on the word art pieces. I never know though what the day will bring and for shooting videos, I need it quiet here. So I will try.

It is somewhat gloomy here today, but the sun is just coming up. It is amazing how much snow is melted already from the large amount we had this weekend. Spring is definitely on its way.

I wish you all a wonderfully productive day!
Sheila,

Thanks for the information. I have the opposite problem, I use my color ink jet so little I find that the ink has dried up and I have to replace cartridges that are not yet empty. Do you have any idea how the continuous ink system would work with too little use?
 

Attachments

#7,687 ·
Christmas Came in February for me! (Off Topic!)

This post is totally off the topic of woodworking and painting, although I still think it applies to appreciating art and craftsmanship, and I wanted to share this with you.

About a year and a half ago, in my never ending hunt for fun and exciting "cat" pictures to entertain you all with here in the blog, I came across some pictures from a site called Coffee Cats. Those of you who know me at all know that not only do I have an obsession with cats, but I love my morning coffee too, as well as my evening tea. They are every bit a part of my daily life as breathing.

So you can imagine my excitement when I saw these lovely pieces of pottery that were all hand made by artist April Gadler. They were fun and whimsical and so wonderfully different from anything that I had ever seen. And one of the best parts about them was that they were not mass-manufactured somewhere in China, but each piece was hand made by April herself.

I just HAD to have them.

But things being as they were, and not being a wealthy woman, I had to do some planning. I am doing alright here, but we all know that the economy is troubled and buying patterns isn't really high on everyone's list. I try my best to live within my means and not buy anything that I can't afford and don't have the money for because it alleviates all the stress of being in debt. I had lived in some debt for much of my adult live and if I have learned anything, I have learned that part of what allows me to live my life as I do is not overextending myself and separating the "needs" from the "wants." And this definitely was a "want."

So I tucked the thought of them away (for the moment) and I began saving.

Well, finally around this Christmas I felt that I had nearly enough set aside to order a set. It helped a great deal that I received some money for Christmas, which I had designated to go for the cause. With that money in addition to what I had already earmarked for the pieces, I was able to order the entire set with a clear conscience. And I did just that.

I ordered them just after the holidays, as April had taken a bit of time off for Christmas as many designers do. She was wonderful with letting me pick my pieces and since each piece was hand made, I was able to choose exactly how I wanted them. I even put in a request for her to create some small cookie plates to go with the cups, using the paw print motif that I chose as well as a larger platter for cake or cookies. She graciously agreed to make them for me.

A couple of weeks later, I received an email that they were completed. I was a bit worried about the pieces being shipped without breaking, but April assured me that her husband Larry did a great job of packaging them for shipping and they thought they would be OK.

Well, I received my pieces yesterday and she was right. Everything arrived in "Purrrrrfect" condition! I couldn't stop smiling as I unpacked each beautiful piece! They were pretty awesome!

The main part of the set was the teapot and the creamer and sugar:

Tableware Drinkware Dishware Cup Table


Since I have one black cat and two orange tabbies, I chose to make my all-black Coco the teapot and Richard and Pancakes for the creamer and sugar bowl. Although you can see the sugar bowl has a cat on the back, which I decided to also make black.

The top of the teapot and the sugar bowl have an adorable hand shaped mouse as a knob:

Sculpture Toy Wood Serveware Art


Here is a picture of my coffee today with a few cookies on the cookie plate:

Food Tableware Drinkware Dishware Coffee cup


What an absolutely FUN way to wake up in the morning!

Of course my favorite cups are the black cat and the orange tabby:

Food Tableware Drinkware Dishware Cup


Initially I was going to order maybe three or four of each, but the other cats were so cute that I decided to have a "mix and match" set and I ordered all 8 different breeds of cat cups that April made. Besides - who knows what cats I will have here in the future! ;)

While getting this set was totally frivolous and unnecessary, it certainly is something that I love. I am not really what you would call a "collector" (unless it is paint or painting books or wood or tools!) but I know that I will keep this set forever and enjoy it every single day. I believe that nice things should be used, and I can't help but smile every time I look at my cool "Coffee Cats!"

I want to really give a call of thanks to April and her husband Larry for working with me on this. They don't normally ship to Canada because of all the red tape and customs stuff, as well as the ways the packages are handled, but they made an exception and were very nice to work with. It was quite a relief for all of us that everything arrived intact and nothing was damaged.

I showed the pictures of my set to my daughter last night, who also loves cats and she loved it. I think I know what I am going to get her for her birthday this year! It will be a great way to buy her something that she will have as a keepsake, and support a very talented artist too. It is a win/win for everyone!

So "Merry Christmas" to me! And thank you again to April and Larry for making such wonderful, quality products and being so easy to work with. I will cherish my pieces for the rest of my days!

Head Eye White Cat Felidae


"Everything in creation has its appointed painter or poet and remains in bondage like the princess in the fairy tale 'til its appropriate liberator comes to set it free." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
 

Attachments

#7,688 ·
Christmas Came in February for me! (Off Topic!)

This post is totally off the topic of woodworking and painting, although I still think it applies to appreciating art and craftsmanship, and I wanted to share this with you.

About a year and a half ago, in my never ending hunt for fun and exciting "cat" pictures to entertain you all with here in the blog, I came across some pictures from a site called Coffee Cats. Those of you who know me at all know that not only do I have an obsession with cats, but I love my morning coffee too, as well as my evening tea. They are every bit a part of my daily life as breathing.

So you can imagine my excitement when I saw these lovely pieces of pottery that were all hand made by artist April Gadler. They were fun and whimsical and so wonderfully different from anything that I had ever seen. And one of the best parts about them was that they were not mass-manufactured somewhere in China, but each piece was hand made by April herself.

I just HAD to have them.

But things being as they were, and not being a wealthy woman, I had to do some planning. I am doing alright here, but we all know that the economy is troubled and buying patterns isn't really high on everyone's list. I try my best to live within my means and not buy anything that I can't afford and don't have the money for because it alleviates all the stress of being in debt. I had lived in some debt for much of my adult live and if I have learned anything, I have learned that part of what allows me to live my life as I do is not overextending myself and separating the "needs" from the "wants." And this definitely was a "want."

So I tucked the thought of them away (for the moment) and I began saving.

Well, finally around this Christmas I felt that I had nearly enough set aside to order a set. It helped a great deal that I received some money for Christmas, which I had designated to go for the cause. With that money in addition to what I had already earmarked for the pieces, I was able to order the entire set with a clear conscience. And I did just that.

I ordered them just after the holidays, as April had taken a bit of time off for Christmas as many designers do. She was wonderful with letting me pick my pieces and since each piece was hand made, I was able to choose exactly how I wanted them. I even put in a request for her to create some small cookie plates to go with the cups, using the paw print motif that I chose as well as a larger platter for cake or cookies. She graciously agreed to make them for me.

A couple of weeks later, I received an email that they were completed. I was a bit worried about the pieces being shipped without breaking, but April assured me that her husband Larry did a great job of packaging them for shipping and they thought they would be OK.

Well, I received my pieces yesterday and she was right. Everything arrived in "Purrrrrfect" condition! I couldn't stop smiling as I unpacked each beautiful piece! They were pretty awesome!

The main part of the set was the teapot and the creamer and sugar:

Tableware Drinkware Dishware Cup Table


Since I have one black cat and two orange tabbies, I chose to make my all-black Coco the teapot and Richard and Pancakes for the creamer and sugar bowl. Although you can see the sugar bowl has a cat on the back, which I decided to also make black.

The top of the teapot and the sugar bowl have an adorable hand shaped mouse as a knob:

Sculpture Toy Wood Serveware Art


Here is a picture of my coffee today with a few cookies on the cookie plate:

Food Tableware Drinkware Dishware Coffee cup


What an absolutely FUN way to wake up in the morning!

Of course my favorite cups are the black cat and the orange tabby:

Food Tableware Drinkware Dishware Cup


Initially I was going to order maybe three or four of each, but the other cats were so cute that I decided to have a "mix and match" set and I ordered all 8 different breeds of cat cups that April made. Besides - who knows what cats I will have here in the future! ;)

While getting this set was totally frivolous and unnecessary, it certainly is something that I love. I am not really what you would call a "collector" (unless it is paint or painting books or wood or tools!) but I know that I will keep this set forever and enjoy it every single day. I believe that nice things should be used, and I can't help but smile every time I look at my cool "Coffee Cats!"

I want to really give a call of thanks to April and her husband Larry for working with me on this. They don't normally ship to Canada because of all the red tape and customs stuff, as well as the ways the packages are handled, but they made an exception and were very nice to work with. It was quite a relief for all of us that everything arrived intact and nothing was damaged.

I showed the pictures of my set to my daughter last night, who also loves cats and she loved it. I think I know what I am going to get her for her birthday this year! It will be a great way to buy her something that she will have as a keepsake, and support a very talented artist too. It is a win/win for everyone!

So "Merry Christmas" to me! And thank you again to April and Larry for making such wonderful, quality products and being so easy to work with. I will cherish my pieces for the rest of my days!

Head Eye White Cat Felidae


"Everything in creation has its appointed painter or poet and remains in bondage like the princess in the fairy tale 'til its appropriate liberator comes to set it free." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Aww! These are so cute and I can see why you love them!
 

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