Make Me

Quick note: I haven't forgotten about the calendar templates. Only I've sent them to the printer and they said the quality was too poor. I'll have to find the spare moment to clean them up before releasing. Sorry!

DIY Holiday - Calendars

Okay, okay. Calendars are fast going the way of the dinosaur, what with everyone (me included) carrying their calendar in their phone. But I still like a paper calendar. A pretty paper calendar. Or a funny one. Or one with quotes. Or ones that fold into books.

Last year I made little calendar cards. I think they came out nicely considering I couldn't source the little tear-off calendars I used to find all over the place - office supplies, stationers, those little promo pieces left on your door by realtors and funeral homes. I found a site where I could print the right sized calendars which I had to cut and assemble.  I still think they came out well, even though it was more fiddly work than I wanted to do.

Decor8 has a nice calendar round-up (parts 1-5) that I've been drooling over for some time. It's inpsired me to put together another Handmade Holiday post.

Earlier this year I ventured in to Paper Source and caught these cool little calendar cards that sit on an easel.

Then I got the brilliant idea to make these. Of course I searched for the easy way out first. Looked and looked and couldn't find a template. Ended up making mine on photoshop elements. They're in the raw state, pretty much, but I'll include the file. This way you can customize them for your own purposes. Since they're in the .psd format, I'm not sure if you will see them in the same font I've used, and so the formatting may be a bit off. Still, most of the fiddly work is done.  (I will attach the file at a later date. I printed my copy at home and it's not very nice looking. The text needs to be sharper.)

I'm going to make a few up for the upcoming craft shows. I've been wanting to offer more paper items and this fills the bill just right.

Here are links to calendar templates I found during my search.

• Calendars or items made from old calendars are here on Totally Tutorials. And excellent site for all things craft-related.
• This is a calendar that is stored in a CD case which also acts as an easel. The template link still works, but the link site has a different name. It goes to a pay site, so you have to pay to have your calendar made. But it's still a great idea for making quick use of your photos.
• Shutter Sisters has photoshop templates for use. Easy to download and use.
• Here is a Photoshop Elements blog that has great ideas and a link to a few calendar templates.
• A number of calendar templates here(but not the CD case card size.) that have great uses.

I've also found some lovely calendars on Etsy that would make a nice gift for that last minute rush or gift swap. 

'What Day is It? Year?' by Hilari

Beautiful calendars for 2011

SALE - 2011 Fine Art Ph... RetrospectPhot... $19.00	Polaroid 2011 Calendar ... jerseymaids $30.00	2011 Eco Calendar threesquare $24.00	Black and White 2011 4x... cisforcute $8.00
2011 Mini Calendar Flow... mandreacarreir... $5.00	Vintage Carnival themed... TheVintageEye $25.00	2011 Art Calendar Print... valeriatelier $19.00	Calendar 2011 Nature (p... LilyCards $5.00
18 month French Ink Pen... JosStudio $15.00	2011 Desk Calendar - Wh... sworleybird $18.00	pastel memories 2011 mi... lesleysico $30.00	2011 Calendar. Butterf... ColetteJohnson $14.00
SMALL 2011 CALENDAR jessgonacha $20.00	2011 Farm to Fork Wall ... TheHerbalGourm... $25.00	Nature - Year 2011 - Fi... mariakallin $24.90	2011 Calendar Magnet wi... antdesign $7.00

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Product Review: Fiskars Circle Punches

I bought two circle punches at Joann's when they were on sale last week. I'm planning to make some tags for one of my craft sales in December. I bought a 2-inch and a 2.5-inch. The smaller is the the scissor-type punch with handles. The larger is the push type.

Let's talk about the small one first. It's supposed to be ergonomic, easier to punch and release. What I found is that, while easier to punch, you really need to use the thicker papers. I initially tried it with text weight paper and all my circles came out with really rough edges. Some circles didn't even cut all the way through.  I tried again with a double thickness of text weight paper - that worked worse. The paper wouldn't release most times and ripped at a couple of points. Very frustrating. If I'd paid full price, this sucker would've gone back to the store that day.

I gave Fiskars a second chance. I used it on the thicker weight scrapbook papers and it worked like a charm. It punches easily and the circles are crisp and perfect.  I especially like that you can flip it over and punch bottom up - that way you don't waste a lot of paper. I punched about 80 circles in one night and the last circle was as good as the first.

I seem to have really bad luck with circle punches. I got a couple a few years ago and they worked for about one day. They stuck like glue, one punch I was never able to get apart! I've been using a circle cutter ever since, but that is a little more work than I want to do when I need a large number of circles.

The other punch is a lever punch. It's huge! It punches the 2.5" circle. The lever is large and fits well in your hand and gives you a nice surface for leverage. The circles are caught underneath - you just flip the lid of the catcher out and pluck your circles out. The circles are sharp and perfectly round.

The bad part is this a painful punch to use when you're making a lot of circles. I used this on Monday and my hands have been sore all week. I cut about 200 circles.

Most of the problems I had with this punch came after continued use. However, two design features make this not a great product for me. One is you can't really punch upside down because it's harder to work the lever. Therefore, when trying to conserve the paper ( I needed 10 punches out of each large sheet), I was constantly flipping the paper over to line it up then flipping again to push the lever.

The second thing I didn't like was the "confetti catcher". It would be nice if this was a detachable feature, because it would make the above task much easier. As it is now, I have to remove the punch out then set it up to punch again. And after about 50 punches, it was harder to make the punch go all the way through the thicker paper.

I guess neither of these products are made for repeated use. My final verdict is this is good enough for now, until something better comes along. If you're not planning on punching 200 circles a night, this is a good product. But for my production line, it is just as, if not more difficult than the circle cutter.  At a half-off price, it's okay.

 

 

Better Photographs = Better Etsy

Taking good photos and using good tags on Etsy is key. I think I finally got a good photo of this lacey cable scarf.

 

I used the one on the left for the primary photo. I listed this in the evening. When I checked in the morning, this one scarf was in 3 treasuries!

I was very unsure about the photo. . I thought it was too off angle and weird. But what I typically do is take the photos I think are best, use them in the listing and wait a few days to see if they should be replaced.  I wonder how long it takes to get a photographic eye.

Here's one of the fabulous treasuries by Holly Gatto:

'roy g. biv' by hollygatto

PaperDemonJewe... $40.00	leapinggazelle $12.00	ZenAndCoffee $22.00	shanineal $20.00
NuevaEspana $8.99	Hilari $35.00	Sinami1 $4.50	HipChicksDesig... $5.00
TwoReasons $21.50	GriffithGarden... $	gourdsbydesign $25.00	lulubugjewelry $54.00
EclecticWhatno... $35.00	UnderGlass $15.00	BabyEtte $42.00	Lilley $22.80

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

Too Hot to Sleep

If I don't set the timer on my air conditioner before I leave in the morning, I'm in for a bit of torture when I get home. I also have to shut the bathroom and bedroom doors. But it's the end of September. And we've had a very, very mild summer. In fact, just last week I was donning wool socks and layers because near the beach where I work it has been in the 60s and 70s.

Yesterday it was 90-something. I almost passed out at church. An amazing number of buildings in southern California are not air conditioned. It rarely gets unpleasantly hot. In fact, when I first moved in to the apartment I'm currently in I put furniture in front of the A/C because I so rarely used it.

So after chilly temps last week, I was understandably lazy about temperature control here at the Casa de Make Me. I walked in to a 91° living room. Turned on the A/C and walked right back out. Entertained myself for 2 hours at Starbucks.

But here it is nearly midnight and it's 83° in my living room. Hardly a temp to cozy up and get a good night's rest in. We've lost power in the neighborhood and the A/C is not operating at capacity. So I thought I'd type a blog post while waiting for sleep to overtake me. Unfortunately, all I can think of is just how hot it is. And you've already noticed, the topic doesn't make for an exciting blog post.

So instead I will post photos of my latest attempts in improving my photography skills.

My favorite subjects are the sky, clouds and the horizon. Probably terribly cliche, but no matter. I like what I like. This is the view from a friend's house. The back yard is canyon that stretches out to the ocean. I like how the orange sun splays out its color across the horizon. I was trying to catch the green flash, which I may have seen once (hard to tell, margaritas were involved).

I've mostly been leaving my camera setting on Auto, but I've still yet to try all the scene modes. This one is actually using sunset mode. It makes the color richer and accents the gradation, I think.

Here's the Ocean Beach Pier. It's one of my favorite beaches here in San Diego largely because of the pier. On this day OB was hosting a surf contest, which is really fun to watch. As you can see, the surf was pretty good. Experienced surfers can shoot the pier, but I've  never seen it done.

This was taken on the auto setting, I believe. I remember experimenting with the settings and trying several things to get the best clear shot. It's difficult to remember what everything means and I'm always fiddling around trying to figure if I need to adjust the ISO or whatever. So what I end up doing is changing a lot of things and taking a bunch of photos and hoping for the best. Still, I have to say that I am improving. I'm definitely better at framing up my shots and I'm developing my own style.

I like photographing ordinary things at odd angles and sometimes putting the item of primary interest almost out of the frame.  It makes me notice other things in the photo. I have the first photo in this series and I was busy trying to capture the surfers, but with my point-and-shoot, the close-ups just weren't very good.  Then I noticed the people on the pier looking down on the contest and how close the waves were sometimes getting. I was lucky to catch the ocean spray, I think.

I plan on playing with this photo using some photo software (once I get some!) and maybe making some cards for my Etsy shop. We'll see. Until then, I will continue to practice and improve. One site I've found helpful is Greenpix. There are loads of great tips in an easy-to-understand format.

Simplify

I've been scanning old photos and it occurred to me to do that with all bits of paper I'm "saving" for records.  Currently I have these two file boxes that I keep my tax records, warranties and all that kind of crap in. If I scanned everything and kept it on flash drives, that would help simplify my life.

Zen Habits has a great list of ideas simplifying your life. I'm going to give some of the ideas a try. Miss Minimalist also has a good list. I know my life works better when it's simpler, so why is it so hard to make it so?