The RedMolly Picayune-Democrat

Jingle brains

So Rachel found some swell Christmas ornamental type stuff which she is digging, and that sort of inspired me to go on a quest of my own, and one thing led to another, and I ended up Googling "zombie Christmas decor," and now here I am wishing I had $20 to spend on this mo-fo:

Created by lilchicken and available in her Etsy shop, if you were wondering. Although honestly I'm sort of tempted to make a variation myself. Because a zombie, snow- or otherwise, shuffling around with a giant bullet hole in its head just violates every relevant statute of the canon.

Nowell, Nowell

First things first: a very happy birthday to my belovedest brother! 28... man, that's getting up there.

Second things second: at the suggestion of my genius sister, the Schardt/Newman clan is going Handmade for the Holidays. Yep, break out the soy candle kits and the popsicle-stick looms... we're giving each other presents this year that are full of Love and Good Wishes, not so much of Expensiveness. Hooray!

I saw this blog carnival of holiday paper craft projects announced a couple of weeks back; in fact, before the death of the magazine, I was planning on working up a project to include in it. But best laid plans and tra la, and here we are looking at all the other cool projects that other people came up with. How awesome, for example, is this Pop-Up Doll House Scene?

Now if I could just get off my tuchus, and maybe finish up those art canvases I've been playing with intermittently (the ones to send to people who commented on the 3000 comments post), then I could get started on crafting some serious holiday cheer. Which would be a most welcome commodity around here.

And third things third: I had a job interview yesterday which went well enough that I'm having a second interview tomorrow. Cross your fingers hard and think of me at 3 p.m. Pacific time... I really really want this job and think I would do a swell, er, job of it.

Holiday cheer

My first stab at a Christmas photo card design, featuring the gorgeous children (and photo talents) of April Anderton and the exquisitely cool "Festive Song" papers & elements by Anna Aspnes. (That's a lotta As.) It is admittedly hard to see at this size, so click on the image to see it in all its full-sized glory.

So whaddya think? Better than a Costco template, right? That's what I'm hoping people will think, anyway...

Feedback totally welcome. Think tomorrow I'm going to start posting on Craigslist & e-mailing people who might have friends who might need cards.

Monster thank-yous to Anna and April for so generously sharing your talents with me! You guys are the greatest (sniff)!

$20.79

That's how much I spent at the grocery store today. I wanted to keep it under $20, but we were out of both conditioner and toothpaste.

Here's what that buys you:

• 5 pounds of potatoes
• 2 pounds of flour
• 2 pounds of navy beans
• a pound of pinto beans
• a 90-pack (I know!) of corn tortillas
• 2.5 pounds of rice
• 4 cans of diced tomatoes
• ketchup
• 0.75 pounds of coffee (yes, it's an addiction; no, we won't be quitting it; we already gave up wine)
• a dozen eggs
• aforementioned conditioner (the 97-cent kind... mmm, delicious)
• aforementioned toothpaste (a splurge at 98 cents)

Here's what it doesn't buy you:

• milk
• cheese
• meat
• bread
• fresh veggies
• fresh fruit

Fortunately, I've got most of a two-pound bag of carrots, about a pound of celery, a couple pounds of broccoli and a pound of green beans left over from last week. Just under a half-gallon of milk; just under half a pound of cheese; four or five apples; two pears; plenty of onions. Frozen peas, frozen corn, frozen chicken breasts & thighs, frozen pork chops, a couple pounds of frozen ground beef. Dried pasta. Two-thirds of a jar of salsa. Cornmeal; yeast; two cans of Italian Wedding soup; a little less than half a container of Better than Bouillon. Canned tuna, canned tomato paste, canned beans. And, thank goodness, plenty of Frank's Red Hot Sauce.

Oh yes, and a chuck roast from the Used Meat bin at Fred Meyer's. That is going in the Crock-Pot tomorrow, and we'll stretch it to three meals if it kills me.

Tonight I think I'll make refritos and we'll have them with corn tortillas and salsa. Maybe a little cheese if I'm feeling flush. Chicken with white beans on Saturday. Lentil soup and corn muffins on Sunday. Sounds downright delicious, doesn't it?

I am gladder than glad that I asked my LDS friends nosy questions about their food storage systems and tried to build up a pantry over the last several months. We certainly don't have enough to last a year--we've been eating out of the pantry a lot lately and some of the shelves are already looking a little bare, but we're in so much better shape than we would have been if this had happened to us a year ago. Bright side, baby, bright side.

And I would be totally remiss if I did not mention this amazing sale for a very good cause. Royanna Fritschmann (Studio RA Designs) had a major financial setback this week--her family discovered that the house they've been renting is being foreclosed on, and they have three days to move. So she's selling everything in her store... yes, one of every lovely digital design... for both commercial and personal use for only $29. Seriously, if you digi-scrap even a little, or even if you don't but think you might like to try it, you should check this out. Help a nice lady! Get cool stuff! And if you have any questions about getting started digi-scrapping, I might know a couple of people who know a thing or two about it and suddenly seem to have a wee bit of time on their hands...

An unexpected obstacle

So I want to design cute holiday cards for other people and maybe make it so we can have a wee bit of a Christmas this year.

But in order to do so, I need some good sample photos. And while Jim does a fine job of documenting Portland's assortment of bars, heavily graffitied walls, scowling children and suchlike, his main body of work is perhaps not exactly suited to the average cheery photo card:

So, ah, you see the problem we have here.

(Seriously, though, he's perfectly capable of taking nice-looking pictures of people. He just doesn't usually seem to feel inclined to do so unless there's a deadline and a paycheck attached.)

Art! Art and CDs for everyone it shall be!

The boys and I made some swell art today, and I'm just longing to send it to one of you.

Everyone who leaves a comment on the previous post by midnight on Sunday will get some art, also a CD, also maybe some of those swell paper clips or somesuch thing.

Thank you all for playing. Thanks, especially, for giving me some sort of a deadline-y impulse to make more artsy stuff.

That's a lotta comments

So I noticed about a week ago that we were nearing 3000 total comments... not too bad for a blog with a readership just slightly above that of the fine print at the end of cell phone contracts. And I was going to have some kind of a cool prize or giveaway or public laudification or something of our 3000th commenteer.

But, as is my wont, I spent my time doing... oh, something else instead. And right now we are not just close, but DAMN close to 3000 comments. See?

So rather than giving something away to the next commenteer (no, I do not mean commenter), how about if I give something away to someone who comments on this post instead? To at least one "someone?" Multiple someones? A randomly chosen someone?

Fair warning: I don't have any money, so your giveaway is likely to consist of such valuable things as

...a pen with a star on it...

...some paper clips, joined together into a chain by my children*...

...or a piece of marginal "art" I created myself.

Plus, probably, a mixed CD and/or some stuff out of my e'er-expanding Craft Crap Stash.

So, happy, er, um, commenting. Yeah.

* They made this chain out of a box of 150 paper clips over a year ago. The clips are sorted by color, and the clever chain design neatly foils my attempt to quickly grab a paper clip every single time I need one. But I also thought it was very cute when they first did it, and in the midst of my annoyance at being inconvenienced, I am able to remember that I think my children are cute. And that's a good thing.

Mail art

It has been an exciting week here in the great state of Oregon, package-wise. Also for the arts, which is something I know Americans care about a lot here in America. (Yes, I watched the Biden-Palin debate last night. Why do you ask?)

First I got this amazing box of artsy delights from Stephanie:

A book of wisdom gleaned from the writings of Antoine de St-Exupery, a collection of lovely art cards (the colors are absolutely scrumptious!), and, best of all... a handmade chipboard art book created by the amazing Stephanie herself!

Some interior shots:

 

Thank you so much, Stephanie! This book is beautiful--and I have got to find out the papers you used for that second page spread. The patterns are just gorgeous.

Then, just a couple days later, a package arrived from fair Olympia, home of the fabulous Mimi and her similarly fabulous "Favorite Quotes" ATC swap:

Featuring, once again, the work of the talented Stephanie (the orange card), plus Mimi's sweet and beautiful creation (the turquoise/pink card at lower left) and a nice surprise: Janelle's card (with the teacup)--I didn't know she was part of the swap! Everyone's work was really high-caliber and nicely done, and I was so glad to be able to participate.

(If you're wondering, mine's the one with the bridge. And those are Elvish runes poking out through the transparency, really they are.)

Thanks to both of you wonderful ladies for brightening my mailbox this week.

Word up

Hey, look what I made:

If you have a blog or anything else with an RSS feed, you can generate a "collage" of words found on that page at wordle.net. It's free and it's fun, and you can adjust the color and font and all kinds of things. (I used a color palette found at Kuler, my favorite artsy online time-waster..)

Note: you'll need to screen-capture it (I recommend the very swell SnagIt) if you want to post it on your blog as a full-size image. Blah. (Of course, you can use Print Screen too, but SnagIt is seriously better & easier to use.)

It's like making art, but without all the tedious messiness and trial & error...

Craft 3.0, and then I swear I'll give it a rest

 So you know how good bloggers give away stuff every now and again?

Well, because I'm cheap, broke and not a good blogger, I never have anything to give away. But this time is different! This time is special!

Digital Scrapbooking's sister magazine Simple Scrapbooks just published a special issue called "Mini Albums in an Evening," and it's damned cute, if I do say so myself. And as part of the promotional blitz, the book is going on a blog tour. Like a book tour, but, y'know, free. So in my other persona, as associate editor of Digital Scrapbooking, I've blogged about the book and have two (2) (Two!) copies of it to give away. All you have to do is leave a comment (at the other blog) with your name and something you'd like to make a mini-album about. (Sam... restrain yourself.)

Check it out! I'll be doing the drawing next Monday morning.