Scraps of Life, Friendship Bread and Relationship

Today I started out thinking about my new project that came from my sister Kathi. Perhaps you've heard of it,  Amish Friendship Bread. Today it is time to feed the starter some flour, milk and sugar. This starter came in the form of a gift for Christmas...(we celebrate in January to accommodate Christmas travel etc.). My sister Kathi started the bread starter and we are now on day 6 for this starter. Time to feed the starter...ha-ha! It kinda sounds like "time to bake the donuts!" It is now busy bubbling and fed.

Earlier I wrote about some other thoughts on my blog dedicated to my Nana called Nanas inspiration. Of the life she shared, it often it took place in the kitchen and started while making food, eating or cleaning up. As I reflected on what this bread represents I thought about how simple things like bread, sharing our workload, our interests and our energy in life build relationships and that can influence one life so powerfully. I also shared about a friend who had a heart for being there to help in life and what it meant for so many. That friend and his sweet wife are two amazing people who know how to share life with others. They have built relationship in life simply by sharing their life...all of it with those around them. Sometimes it is food at the table, sometimes it is time and other times it has been in asking others to help them with a moment in life. What did it all add up to when we said goodbye to our sweet friend in April his year? Lives forever changed in powerful ways...So today was just about feeding the starter and by day 10 it will be about baking bread but is it really? Does it have to be just that? Maybe it is about a life you can touch, or about that moment where we gift our time and heart to someone. Today may be your day to reach out...and if you haven't taken a moment today to share your life whether in sharing a "friendship bread starter, calling a friend, connecting in person or just a simple text or comment on social media. Remember, "Friendship isn't a big thing, it is a million little things." 

QR Code and How I am Using Them

The QR Code has been used in so many ways. QR stands for "Quick Response.While they may look simple, QR codes are capable of storing lots of data. But no matter how much they contain, when scanned, the QR code should allow the user to access information instantly – hence why it’s called a Quick Response code. My recent jump into the QR Code scene has been fun, creative and useful. These are codes I created and what I am using them for but in the future I plan to expand its use to other areas helpful around my home like labeling the contents of a bin. I am currently researching how to best do that.

My newest code in 2022 is QR Code with the company logo takes you directly to my personal health and wellness website. I printed these on labels to attach to our newest catalog.

When we head out to into the business world I sometimes need a method of product or services payment and there are some great apps for that which use QR Codes so on can simply pay sellers by scanning a thier displayed QR code. 

Radical Assets, our business website uses this QR Code with a logo in the center takes a person to the site.

Our health and wellness company has a website for its products and information about how to use them. This cute one with the dinosaur in the center leads to it.

As with so many things in our world today hackers have found a way to do their thing and we must be our own advocate to safely use them. I found this article about QR Code and security on the Kapersky.com site to be valuable for identifying hazards and also how to safely use this technology.  

 

One Word: Thoughts Going in to the New Year in 2022

Last night I found myself saying it aloud to our business team... "39 days until the New Year. " Wow this year has been a lot of things. I began it with hope; my dreams, desire, intention all focused on being resilient. I had selected my One Word for 2021 as resilient with my focus on overcoming, standing strong, holding out and holding on. I did not know it then but for so many areas of life it would be painful, hard, reflective and in many areas it related to beginning again. I'm looking and longing for better days. 

Here we are just 38 days until this year ends...just like that roll of toilet paper analogy.

Reflecting on that thought above, just 38 days left in this year brought me back to refocusing on not just finishing strong but what my one word will be in this new upcoming year. It reminded me I had placed a note in my phone back at the beginning of the month for a word I was pondering. Perhaps it would be my choice for 2022...ABUNDANCE. I liked this quote from Eckhart Tolle.

This concept of selecting One Word that I had begun many years back...perhaps you too may have also heard of this idea...selecting one word to focus on in the new year rather than writing out resolutions I select a single word. 

I really like how this author explained it

... Hm-mmm that word I mentioned topped her list.

The practice of choosing a “Word of the Year” is that, instead of setting a lot of different New Years resolutions, you select one single word to be your focus for the year.

You can use that word to set goals or intentions for each area of your life but have them all tie back to the single word. For example, if your word of the year was “abundance” you might have sub-goals of investing in an abundant number of friendships, or hitting an income goal, or spending more quality time with the people you love without your phone. “Discipline” could entail going to the gym, sticking to an evening routine, and no longer being late to meetings. 

By tying all of your goals back to your overarching word, it is easy to keep them front-of-mind. 

2022 Word of the Year Ideas

1. Abundance
2. Adventure
3. Align
4. Authentic
5. Available
6. Aware
7. Balance
8. Become
9. Better
10. Bless
11. Bold
12. Breathe
13. Bright
14. Calm
15. Celebrate
16. Centered
17. Challenge
18. Change
19. Commitment
20. Compassion
21. Confidence
22. Connect
23. Creativity
24. Cultivate
25. Daring
26. Dedicated
27. Delight
28. Devotion
29. Discipline
30. Distance
31. Dream
32. Embrace
33. Emerge
34. Empower
35. Expansion
36. Express
37. Faith
38. Feast
39. Fit
40. Focus
41. Forgiveness
42. Foster
43. Free
44. Friendship
45. Glow
46. Giving
47. Grace
48. Gratitude
49. Grounded
50. Honesty
51. Hope
52. Humility
53. Integrity
54. Intentional
55. Intuition
56. Journey
57. Joy
58. Kind
59. Learn
60. Listen
61. Love
62. Magnify
63. Meek
64. Mindful
65. Motion
66. Nourish
67. Nurture
68. Organize
69. Passion
70. Peace
71. Permission
72. Persistance
73. Play
74. Polish
75. Power
76. Present
77. Progress
78. Radiant
79. Recovery
80. Relationships
81. Release
82. Reset
83. Resilient ** (I added this word...my word for 2021)
84. Resolute
85. Rise
86. Risk
87. Savvy
88. Service
89. Simplicity
90. Slow
91. Smile
92. Space
93. Sparkle
94. Strong
95. Teach
96. Thrive
97. Tranquil
98. Whole
99. Yes
100. Zen
101. Zest

Have you picked a word for the year? I’d love to hear it!

Do You Remember

 

Yesterday we celebrated my sweet husband's birthday. Reflecting on life took my thoughts down many paths. Celebrating his 69th revolution around this planet, we together have experienced so many moments. Life has changed in so many ways... Sometimes we think about those Seriously? and Yeah Right moments. And how about those that Make you wanna to go hmmmm moments. But today my thoughts were on humorous  remembrances,  those Oh-hhh and Ah-hhh moments, those Oops! and even Double Oops moments.

Do you remember when you got that way COOL shiny AOL CD in the mail and thinking "That is WAAAY too much to spend (but the 100 free hours sucked you in)"?

Do You Remember excitedly running when you heard the words "You've Got Mail" ? That quote became iconically paired to the movie Sleepless In Seattle with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

I remember a conversation with my friend Mary when she was talking about staying in contact with another friend then living in Switzerland and using her computer to send email. I was like, WHAT is email? What? She can get email in seconds? How can I get email? Funny because that was before I even HAD a computer or even know how to turn one on. It is strange how a conversation like that can launch you down a pathway you had never thought of before.  

Do you remember the friend in Switzerland I mentioned? I was so excited to finally get a computer and so very excited at the amazing possibility of emailing my friend. 

My  friend Mary told me about a service called Juno Mail, a free service that opened a gateway to send and receive email. Their tagline at the time was Email Should Be Free. I love FREE!

...That is when I entered into the world of emailing.

   

I learned how to compose my email and how to send it out but I guessed I missed something...

I was so excited and I wanted to share things going on in my life during that time so I included in my email some fun pictures and links to my new favorite world wide web places and lots more...that's when I learned about something called email etiquette. 

1. DO NOT TYPE IN CAPS:Its considered yelling. Oh-hhh!  
2.  VERY IMPORTANT:During that time in the history of the world wide web pictures took a very long time to download and when you were paying by the minute to see a silly, unimportant and non pertinent thing it might make people frustrated or mad at you...Oops! My bad! Also it was her husband's work Compuserve account... Double Oops! 

Who'd have thought there was a new etiquette in town? I guess I should have taken that class.

I did learn a new lesson that I'm pretty sure my mom told me long before that moment... "Nothing in this world is really FREE!" It all comes with a price. 

Enjoy the ride.

A paraphrase my sister Kathi shared pertaining to a Las Vegas trip and the slots...

It is entertainment. Don't plan to get a boatload of money out of the machine, maybe you will maybe you won't...enjoy the ride. With the internet the same is true, sometimes you will, sometimes you won't but along the way enjoy the ride.

Oh and getting back to my sweetheart and remembering; Do You Remember the first time that special person said "I love you"? I had dozed off with my head in his lap-It had been a long and busy day...It was my birthday in fact.We had left the party my friend had put together for me and went back to my place. We were relaxing on the couch with the TV playing in the background and just as I was beginning to wake I swear I heard him say, "I think I'm in love with you". Oh-hhhhh, H-mmm, Uh-hhh... I was thinking as I quietly pretended I was still asleep. 😊

Cricut And My Creative Side

When Cricut first came out I just had to play with this new amazing tool! I purchased the original machine. My friend Vivian hosted a scrapbook retreat in Arizona...what a perfect time to gather and hang out with so many like-minded and lovely women. Vivian sweet friend you really know how to party! 

Creativity and The Art of DIY

For some, the simple act of opening a cake mix and making a "homemade" cake is creative, stimulating, exciting and downright enjoyable, but for me that is not my cup of tea. 

Don't get me wrong...I keep a couple ready to go items in my pantry -sometimes my own "scratch" recipe like a favorite dessert topping to turn into a quick cobbler but the real reason for this post was about the art of DIY and creating so let me get back on track.

Creating for me has always been about variety, experimentation, DIY and expression. 

Early in my stamping journey I discovered swapping.  It enabled me to experiment and experience so much more than if I would have been limited to my personal stamping knowledge, supplies or current level of knowledge. Those swaps brought new ideas, shared supplies, wonderful hand-crafted art and comradery from like-minded soulmates.  I still swap occasionally with some local crafters and I am always delighted and inspired. 

In this season of my creative journey I have been getting familiar with my Cricut machine, I have an Explore Air2. My sweet friend Melanie picked it up for me last year at a warehouse sale she learned about from another of our crafting friends. I had an older Cricut that I had used mostly in my scrapbooking days but with this machine it brought together my graphic design interests with that DIY spirit. I’m sure you’re thinking wha-aaat isn’t that opposite of DIY in fact a bit of an oxymoron? Don’t you just use an electronic machine to cut, engrave, foil or whatever a pattern? Yup but in that it brings me back to creativity. How so? Well let me share how this happened. 

Let's use the example of a recipe say lemonade. I began with the basics. My recipe called for lemons, sugar, and water in specific proportions.

I desired a beverage result for a special tea. I wanted something to compliment a favorite recipe for Lavender Cookies. I started with that basic recipe then began to add and take away elements until I was happy with the end result. First I decided to reduce the sugar for a less sweet taste. Next I decided to add a step and make a "simple syrup". While I had the water boiling I decided to throw in some lavender flowers from my garden, the flowers added an amazing smell, it was perfect! I used the lavender simple syrup with the lemon juice to finish off the lemonade recipe and…viola! Carol's Lovely Lavender Lemonade. 

How does that look when I am using my Cricut skills you wonder? Have you ever had an idea but sadly you couldn’t bring it to fruition… yeah me too! I wanted to create a special gift for a friend who is a Svengoolie fan. H-mmm so I search the Cricut Access database and I cannot find anything. Ms. Google is far more helpful but nothing I desired. I finally found a few clipart images and I began to design MY Svengoolie. Thanks to many other Cricuteers on the internet I have learned how to create the svg from jpg and png files. Here is the final design I came up with for the thermal coffee mug I made.  

I forgot to take a picture of my finished mug :(  I mentioned earlier that swapping helped me experiment and experience so much more than if I would have been limited to my personal knowledge, supplies or current level of knowledge. Youtube and an amazing group of makers were the bridge that helped me grow ideas and creativity.They share so generously of their knowledge and art to help others and I have learned so much. 

The list I started of what I want to learn and the projects I want to accomplish gets longer and longer, <sigh>. Does this mean my friends and family may be seeing more HANDMADE? Probably! Good news is I am enjoying the process! 

Should MAKERS Make Resolutions for 2021?

In 2011 I posted a list of My 2011 Crafting Resolutions. It's almost 2021 and I wonder, "Should MAKERS even Make Resolutions for 2021? Hmmmm... 

Well one thing has not changed through this past year is the deep desire to create.  Making, crafting is simply an integral key, a part of my life, who I am. Interestingly my grown son shared with me that a memory from his Christmas growing up was "making/creating" It seems that creating as part of our gifting brings fond memories of what Christmas means to him. 

One thing about having so many creative ideas is that it often leaves in its wake unfinished projects, which in the past had led to crafting resolutions. Unfortunately like resolutions for the New Year in general, those lists of resolutions rarely make it past the first few weeks. Oh dear, what to do, what to do?

After all my thinking, ruminating and mixed feelings I come back to the concept of "One Word" and as it applies to Makers. 

In preparation for this NEW YEAR my word in LIFE will be "Transformation" 

How will that play out as a "Maker"? 

I want to focus on enjoying the process, letting the moments I spend creating/making bring transformation to my soul. Instead of list making and checking off boxes I prefer to experience that moment where there is a quiet shift into that right-brained 

zone where time slips away and creativity just happens. 

As for all those unfinished projects...perhaps it is time to just "Let it go, Let it go!"

Inspiration is a mysterious thing, sometimes the decision to just let it go sparks the flame to completion.