Noodle Soup

Handmade holidays and beyond

Did you give or receive handmade holiday gifts this year?

I appreciated blogs like this one and this one for offering encouragement and inspiration to crafty elves and their supporters. I implemented a few of the ideas, and squirreled others away for next year.

I did a bit of my holiday shopping at Etsy, and made skirts and matching appliquéd tees for my nieces. My husband received a little photo album from me, with pictures of our dog who passed away over the summer, and it was his favorite gift. For teachers, I assembled “movie buckets” that sort of fell into the handmade category – thanks to my good friend Tami V. for that brilliant idea! They included bottles of Jones soda in holiday flavors, a bag of microwave popcorn, 2 Netflix rentals, and a handmade movie journal, all cello-wrapped in a festive plastic popcorn bowl and tied with a big red and white polka dot bow. I barely finished them in time, so I didn’t get any photos. You’ll have to take my word for it that they were super cute, and looked like a lot of bang for 10 bucks.

I was on the receiving end of some lovely handmade gifts as well – handwritten notes and drawings from my kids, the requisite school projects, and an IOU for a scarf my sister is still working on. The fact I have managed to convert my sister into someone who would even consider MAKING a gift will go down as one of my proudest achievements. It warms the cockles of my heart and gives me hope for world peace, or at least the continued success of the craft industry. If she can be transformed into a crafter, anyone can.

The New York Times ran an interesting article on handmade gifts and how current economic trends caused an unexpected boon in holiday sales for craft stores. It sounds like my sister was probably not the only novice dipping her toe in the crafting pool this season.

And now I need to hop up on my soapbox for just a minute to let you know that amongst the handmade holiday hoopla, there is a disturbing law looming that threatens to put many artisans of children’s toys and clothing out of business. If you haven't heard about it, you can click on the teddy bear to find out more about the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act & learn what you can do to help.

I think it’s important for everyone who enjoys buying or selling handmade children’s items to be aware of this legislation and speak up about it. I have to believe it was an error of omission, and that if we make our voices heard, the lawmakers will amend it to help keep the "little guys" in business. With the booming popularity of indie crafts and the success of sites like Etsy, I cannot imagine they would turn a deaf ear to independent crafters and small manufacturers of quality children’s products.

Hopping off my soapbox now to call my sister and see if she finished that scarf yet...

Leading friends to scrapbook pages and making them stick

Sorry to leave you hanging mid-thought yesterday, but the fam was beckoning.

The good news for my maybe-scrapbooker friends is that there are some fantastic resources out there to calm their fears about scrapbooking. I want them to know that scrapbooking doesn’t have to mean an arsenal of supplies to create a masterpiece of fine art on every page, or an overwhelming commitment to scrap every picture they take for the rest of their lives.

For the friend who has dutifully kept journals from her pregnancies onward, lost her mojo because she felt like combining photos and stories wasn’t enough, and feels like she has now fallen impossibly far behind, I am going to recommend Library of Memories. Anyone who knows me will not find that surprising. I am a former student & huge proponent of this system, and one of the 13 students whose testimonial was featured in Photo Freedom.

I will be returning to class this year for my second stint as an alumni coach, answering questions and providing support on the message board. I know I sometimes sound like a commercial where this class is concerned, but it comes from a place of passion for the principles. I really do believe that Library of Memories can revolutionize one’s approach to scrapbooking, alleviate the guilt of staying “caught up”, put things into perspective, and make fitting scrapbooking into a busy lifestyle very doable.

For the friend who loves photography, but is wary of becoming “a scrapbooker”, I am going to suggest Becky Higgins’ January Kit of the Month, “Project 365”. I think it’s a great introductory project for someone whose primary focus is the photos, and who might just need a little nudge to add some journaling to them.

Personally, my first thought when I saw this kit was, “Holy OCD, there is no way I could keep that up for a whole year!” It seemed like a huge obligation with enormous guilt potential. But once I started thinking about it, I realized the time commitment is probably only about 15 minutes a day. Take a photo (which I do just about every day anyway), print or upload for online processing, and write a few sentences – that doesn’t sound so hard. It could even be done without a photo…a piece of memorabilia could easily be substituted. And it looks like there are plenty of little “filler” cards included to skip a day here and there as needed.

I think the key is MAKING the time – developing that daily habit of setting aside a regular interlude for reflection and journaling at the end of each day. When I look at it that way, I think this kit could be a great tool for forming (or reinforcing) a behavior pattern that would enhance awareness and appreciation of everyday life.

And that, to me, is what it’s really about…and what I wish for my friends on the fence.

Parking lot ponderings

A few weeks ago I was chatting with some friends in the preschool parking lot after dropping our kids off. We were talking about trying to get together for a craft evening before the holidays, and the topic of scrapbooking came up. It always amazes me how that word strikes terror in the hearts of so many.

These are creative ladies who enjoy crafting, and who are totally down with learning how to sew a skirt with no prior knowledge, but they cringe at the thought of scrapbooking. One of them is an avid photographer, but wary of even opening that Pandora’s Box of scrapbooking supplies. The other has tried scrapbooking and feels like her pages don’t measure up. Apparently she went to a crop and realized there are women with whole rooms full of supplies (ahem),

 

who design their pages rather than just combining photos with writing. Not that there’s anything wrong with a dedicated scrapping space or scrapbooking as an artistic outlet, of course. It’s just that as a novice, the wind was knocked out of her sails because she felt intimidated.

Needless to say, I am setting these ladies straight. But how many others are not recording the important memories of their lives because they are hung up on feeling overwhelmed by the product choices, or the amount of photos they have, or whether or not their pages are “good enough”?

As someone who is admittedly guilty of perfectionist tendencies, I totally get wanting to rock those supplies in the most awesome way possible. But I have also come to realize that while the way the page looks gives me creative satisfaction, it’s what the page captures that really matters. I would rather have a mediocre page with a great memory than a magazine-worthy page that doesn’t really mean anything. Okay, okay…of course the best of both worlds would be ideal. But you know what I mean. I have some pretty fugly old pages that hold some fantastic memories, and I wouldn’t trade them.

What this hobby needs in a declining economy is new scrapbookers. And what potential new scrapbookers need, in my humble opinion, is a welcome wagon. Joining the world of scrapbooking is like moving into a new neighborhood, and a friendly ambassador who knows their way around might be just the ticket to getting new scrappers to jump in – and stay – regardless of their style or preconceived notions. I think online communities have the potential to serve this purpose well, but public forums don’t fit into everyone’s time or comfort zone, and feedback I have gotten is that many of the message board communities are clique-ish, and/or preoccupied with publication. I think local scrapbook stores could really capitalize on the notion. Our orthodontist has a board that welcomes kids who have started treatment in the last month...wouldn't it be fun to recognize new scrapbookers in a similar way? Maybe local stores could even work in conjunction with internet resources to help newbies find mentors online and in their area. Those are just some random ponderings that have bubbled to the top of my “noodle soup” as I’ve reflected on that conversation over the past weeks.

There are two other things I plan to propose to my friends that I think can help them see scrapbooking as rewarding rather than intimidating, but this post has already gotten too long, and my family is waiting to go on a hike. I’ll be back tomorrow to share those recommendations.

Yule never guess what I got for Christmas

What would you rather get for Christmas – this? (Amy Butler fabric not included.)

Or this?

With surprisingly little deliberation, I picked the first one. They were about the same price, but the former came with this little guy sticking around for a while longer.

 

Since he and my youngest are joined at the hip, and I’m actually kind of fond of him myself, I got a shiny new exploratory cat surgery for Christmas, to find out what Hobie swallowed, and to remove it. The answer to that question, it turns out, is a sequin and a string from a Christmas tree ornament (in case you were wondering). 

Hobie is pretty much back to his old self, except for a row of staples in his belly that have to come out next week, and I am still blogging and computing from my crappy old HP. A 98 year old woman could cross the street faster than I can open an email, but it’s a small price to pay for HobieCat to be well again. Or so I keep telling myself.

Don’t feel too sorry for me. I still had a wonderful holiday, filled with much merriment. There were cookies

and visits with Santa

and gingerbread houses

and handmade gifts for my nieces

and Christmas wishes coming true

and ribbons

and wrappings

and time to enjoy the gifts, both material and intangible, with family.

And of course, there are always a few laughs where my family is concerned.

My favorite gift this year was a Wonder Woman mug filled with rolled up notes from my kids.

Priceless. I couldn’t ask for anything more than that. Kendra gets the credit for thinking of it.

And speaking of credit, I hear Apple has a decent payment plan...

Christmas, full speed ahead

My studio is a blur of creative activity. The teacher gifts were successfully completed and delivered, and I’ve moved onto the skirt sets I need to finish for my nieces. In between all of that, I’ve been wrapping, shuttling kids to performances, helping backstage, working on a super fun little something I hope to be able to reveal VERY soon, and fighting the losing battle of trying to keep the house tidy enough for Santa to avoid tripping over something and breaking his neck on Christmas Eve.

I hope to post some photos of my holiday craftiness over the next couple of days, but meanwhile, enjoy this completely unrelated Twilight parody starring Kendra. It was a recent segment from her school TV show, Diablo Heat, which is written and produced twice a month by the six students in the cast and the video production class.

Weapons of mass production

The only things not yet checked off my holiday gift list are handmade items, so it’s time to pull out the weapons of mass production and get busy.

I’m heading into the trenches. If you don’t hear from me in the next few days, send a search party armed with UnDu and a fistful of emergency Target gift cards.

Bringing new meaning to “hair color”

I’m not entirely ashamed to admit that there are a few items from the Pottery Barn Teen catalog that made my Christmas list this year.

Here is one of them:

 

How cute are these?? I am convinced that a certain non-morning person (ahem) would have at least a 20% easier time starting the day with an adorable, vibrant green polka dotted hair dryer.

And the color combo above? Totally inspiring, especially on a gray day like today. I’m going to use it as a jumping off point for a scrapbook page. Anyone wanna join me? If you do, be sure to share a link to your page!

Christmastime in Londontown

The “family drama” continues – Reece has been rockin’ the crutch as Tiny Tim in a local musical production of Scrooge.

Little sis had to get in on a photo op, too. True to our typical holiday season schedule, she came straight from a show choir performance of her own, and didn’t have time to change first. I love the contrast of his 1800s costume with her snazzy, modern little performance uniform. It sort of epitomizes the range of goings-on around here, and the transitions I have to make from one activity to the next.

The Scrooge pic will probably wind up on a montage layout of Reece’s theatre experiences (after living in a category drawer for a while), but the pic of the two of them is sitting on my table, waiting for me to spill about the challenges and joys of our busy lifestyle during the holidays.

We interrupt the tagging of gifts…

…to bring you a tag of a different sort. While I was gift wrapping like a crazed elf, my good friend Chris tagged me to share the 4^th photo from my 4^th photo file. Easy enough, and fun to discover what my surprise memory would be.

So here it is, from a trip to the beach in April of this year, taken while waiting for Matt to get the car. I love those bright magenta flowers against the gray-blue of the ocean…and also those cute kids, obviously. Who taught my son to do finger guns a la 70s lounge singer?? What a goofball.

 

So now I get to tag four people, which always totally stresses me out because while I enjoy being tagged, I never know if other people feel excitement or dread over it. So here goes…

Lain

Stephanie

Nicole

and Stacy (because if there’s one person who can instantly find that 4^th photo in the 4^th folder, it is Ms. Photo Freedom herself).

A holiday tale

‘Twas not long before Christmas when all through our home
Not a creature was stirring, nor answering the phone.
There were errands to run and shopping to do;
Activities galore for the Morrison crew.

The children were starring in programs and plays
So the Morrison nights were as busy as days.

And I in my Mazda and Matt in his Honda
Were wearing a path along the highway down yonder.
The tree was decked out in its holiday splendor,
The camera was clicking on moments to remember –

Gingerbread houses and cocoa and lights
All of our favorite holiday delights.
It’s true things were hectic, but in the very best way –
Celebrating the season each and every day
And I heard them exclaim as they left again on the run
We might be awfully busy, but we’re sure having fun!

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