Social Media and other Changes

Bear with me as I make several slow changes around here!
Ive finally got a facebook page! Ive been putting it off because I dislike most social situations. I would prefer to stay home and quietly create things and sale the anonymously over the internet. It's not that I don't like people, but I find too much social interaction very distracting to my creativity. I end up chatting and friending people instead of working and making new things. My ADD nature makes it hard enough for me to be organized and focused. Now I have to find out how to customize it :(
I'm also on Twitter! Lol, I still don't know what to do with it.
Lastly Ive opened stores on Meylah, Spoonflower, and Society6, and another store on Etsy just for clipart. It will be some time before I have anything for sale on Spoonflower. I need to proof my patterns first. But please go have a look at all three! Links are provided.

As I get around to it......Some things are going to change on this blog too. Be patient though I'm a very disorganized person.

Ive been diligently making clip-art in PhotoShop. I found some wonderful images from Bibliodyssey showing the covers for Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. I'm recreating some of the art work to sell in my etsy shop. Here are a few examples........

I'm bundling it as a set of 50 images that can be combined into something similar to the original image and many variations. The images I'm making will be much larger and of a higher quality then the examples shown. They will be available in JPG and Transparent PNG formats.

Scanning and cleaning antique images

I'm scanning some images from antique magazines and cleaning them up in Photoshop. I choose 100 of my favorites from some magazines my mother gave me. I decided to start with the above banner. As you can see I'm still in the process of cleaning it. Only a few lines, the 'u' and the 'r' have been cleaned up (click on it to see original size and some of the 'fixed' areas better). It took me all day yesterday to pick them out and scan the ones I wanted. I'm going to to separate the banner from the words, make a few additional letters (to make more spelling options) and separate that wonderful capital 'O'. This will give me the original cleaned image to play with, in addition to some other images with the same vintage look that I can use in conjunction with the original.
My mother gave me the magazines.   Thanks Mom!

BTW I finally got my camera back! I made individual pizza crusts today and will post a picture and recipe tomorrow.

Camera frustrations

DH lost the camera at a friends house. It was the last place they had it so he if fairly certain it's there somewhere. The question is where! I'm not happy about it missing at this particular friends house. The last time some expensive piece of tech went missing over there it was actually stolen by someone who was visiting him. The item was eventually recovered, but not before a month of worrying over it and then confronting the thief to get it back. Since then I get very worried every time my DH takes the camera, laptop, or other expensive tech items over there.
So until it's recovered or replaced you will all have to tolerate my horrible cell phone photos.

Make your own Stress Ball

My DH loves having a stress ball on his desk at work and I like them because they are great toys for fidgety people (I should know ;D). It also makes a good father's day present or stocking stuffer.
When my fingers are bored I destroy small objects, tap annoyingly on the table, subconsciously doodle on things that should not be drawn upon, or use them to eat despite not being hungry (If only I could subconsciously type this blog!).
Commercially produced stress balls are ridiculously expensive so I found a few easy tutorials on making your own. All you need to do to make this project truly crafty is knit, felt, or sew your own cover for it!

Before proceeding to the tutorial links below I have a few notes on my own experience with creating stress balls.

• Use balloons at least 12 inches in size or larger. I tried 9" balloons first and they broke every time.
• When layering dough stress balls use cooking oil to slick the inside of your balloons. This makes inserting your ball into each balloon layer easier.
• Making dough stress balls is a 2 person job! You need one person to hold the balloons open while another stuffs them with dough or stuffs one balloon layer into the next.
• This is, thankfully a short project! Your fingers will be tired after making just a couple of balls.
• The recipe for dough stress balls in the first link makes enough dough for 2-3 balls.
  Here is a good YouTube video on the subject from tikigod1974. I like how they use the empty water bottle to fill the balloons with powder.
•  CURIOUS ANIMAL WARNING!!: Some pets find balls of any kind fun to play with. Unless you want flour and corn starch all over your home, keep your homemade stress balls away from curious animals (as well as small children)! Once destroyed the remaining parts can also pose a choking hazard.

Here is a simple explanation on How To Make a Stress Ball; without pictures. It's so simple you don't need them.

Here is a neat video I found on YouTube showing how to use a water bottle to fill a stress ball.


Lastly, if you are good at crochet or knitting you may want to make a wide mesh cover for your ball. This will make the balloon bulge out of the mesh in interesting ways; or you could recycle some wide netting of some sort.