try to do it silently and sans heels

I've still got some tweaking to do but this is promising :)

Instead of a tangle or working with M0rt, I decided to do some organizing. I went through stacks of paper and have organized them by color and print. Previously, I'd peruse a stack and have to pull pages out to see how I was going to combine them. Well, not any more (well, not entirely. There are still a few more that need to be organized but my wrist was starting to hurt).

Speaking of, I had a wicked case of the dropsies today and it freaked me out somewhat. Hopefully it's just a one off kind of day.

I finally remembered what I wanted to talk about yesterday:Shoes. And screaming. We watched Olympus Has Fallen (which was really not as bad as I had expected) and there were so many ladies screaming. And having to run barefoot through shards of glass and smoldering debris because they had to ditch their high heels because they couldn't run/escape in them.

My first thought was (not that I can say how I would act in some sort of shooting/bombing situation - though I can handle my shit in other emergency type situations) "why are you screaming? You are totally going to draw attention to your self." The logical part of me thinks "be quiet. they will aim indiscriminately in your direction if you are making noise."

But then I wonder how I would react to someone shooting at me. I know how I reacted when someone was shooting at someone outside in my neighborhood. I stayed down and didn't move. I didn't scream or start flailing about (or run out into the street from the house to see what was going on like some silly people). Hell, I didn't want to move or make a sound. And I don't think I did until a few hours later. (The one shooting I went to as an emergency responder doesn't count. As much as the "victim" wanted us to believe the shooter was on the loose, it was pretty obviously his lady who was the shooter - nearly taking off his junk.)

As far as the shoe things goes, I think I will be able to flee should I need to. I dropped flip flops (terrible shoes for trying to flee) a while ago (and wouldn't you know, my shins and calves are not all tight any more). I ditched high heels years ago (I still keep a pair for special occasions but in a city where you walk everywhere, I usually end up in flats). I've even ditched rigid soled flats for the most part (you need to get some Merrill Barefoot's. Need them - after the initial break in period which was hell).

My shoes these days are minimal, functional and I could escape almost silently (I've sneaked up on more than a few people while wearing moccasins). That's not to say that some how my overall clumsiness wouldn't give my position away. I'm just covered in the shoe department.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is always be prepared. If real life is anything like the movies, you may need to flee at any time. But try to do it silently and sans heels.

The Mini Figs Have Landed

I did not get around to making my videos this weekend illustrating the issues with M0rt1m3r.

I spent some time in my garden. I made real cupcakes for my husband. I made a spice cake for myself (with eggs and that was NOT the best idea).

I broke down and bought LED light bulbs for the kitchen ceiling fan (and of course, the hardware store had 2 standard and 2 candelabra bulbs on the same rack - Get home and only 2 will work for our fixture.   BLAH). I have to say even having just the 2 is great (though we have only had 1 of 4 bulbs working for lord knows how long).

Put up some shelves yesterday:

And organized our Lego Minifigs today:

I also organized the bookcase. We finally have books on most of our bookcase instead of stuffs. 

I totally had something I wanted to write about earlier but for the life of me can't remember what it was. 

For now, enjoy the assortment of mini figs. Items to note:Gnome, Spongebob (x2), Sandy Cheeks, The Flying Dutchman, some robots, skeletons, and a hippie. 

Golden........

I threw in some silver AND gold tonight.

I can't say I'm thrilled with the time change though. I don't like walking home in the dark. Or walking the dog in the dark when I get home. Point being, I like it when it's light out. The early darkness makes me feel like I should be in bed.

Made the awesome Puerto Rican Pulled Pork recipe that I found in a Costco Magazine of all places (I totally put it in my llama recipe journal). Speaking of Costco, I picked up meat there last week and have been good to go all week!  Yay me. I made a pork roast last Saturday and another today. Did some meals with ground beef (burgers and sauteed veggies with an avocado are my quick go to meal on school nights).

I accidentally over cooked my cauliflower yesterday (it was pretty brown, not quite blackened though) and it was delicious!

I'm settling into a better routine when it comes to cooking and working and making art. While I didn't keep doing a tangle EVERY day after the initial 36 days, I come home and work on SOMETHING just about every day. And I don't beat myself up if I want to go to bed early or read a book.

So I finally heard back from Craftwell yesterday and the conclusion they came up with is "you have your pressure settings too high" so it's your fault your paper is snagging. My pressure was set at 4. My paper was a very heavyweight card stock. I've tried going lower than 4 and it barely even presses in to the paper and does not cut. So it looks like I will be preparing more videos outlining the outcome of EVERY pressure setting, starting at 1.

It's pretty weak when a company makes excuses for their product. The eCraft should be able to cut 40 circles on a single page. It should also have some sort of speed control, be it on the machine itself or a speed control in the software. Everything shouldn't be blamed on the user. I have photos of paper snagging back when I first got it and it was doing it even when I was attempting to cut 5*7 rounded rectangles (I definitely would NOT call that a complex cut!).

Making things for fun..... and profit?

I'm continuing my Day of the Dead project. I have some great ideas and I am going to try a few new materials added into the mix.

One of which is wire. I'm using a Thing-a-Ma-JIG to do a bit of wire design. I really like the effect, but it is not going to work completely with the current layout (I only have copper wire on hand and it wasn't really creating enough contrast to be visible.

But it allowed me to see how it would work and inspired me to try something different.

Up next PLA. We'll see how that works out!

The paper stack I'm using for this project is ridiculously cute:

It's 70% post consumer recycled material (which we here at LaserGnomes love) and features some cute animals (I'm not one for some of the super cutesy or way girly stuff that a lot of scrapbookers are using but I love a cute owl, bear or skunk). 

I'm also using cardboard scrap that I have laying about for these projects as well. I'm sure I have some great found objects I could add to the mix. 

My problem is finding a good source for shadowbox frames at the moment. I found some amazingly cute paper at Oriental Trading Post's site, but no wholesale frames. The search continues. 

I still haven't received a response from Craftwell regarding M0rt's problems after sending video. I should run another test and use their preselected shapes from the SD card that came with it. I'll try that this week and see if I have the same results. They're always super responsive with canned answers but now that I challenged them with video, I haven't heard a peep. 

We had dinner with Justin's mom and Mark tonight at Lulu, which is fantastic. I think I really love the place because of their open flame rotisserie and pizza oven. It makes it so homey. And the food is delicious. Seriously. Had the prime rib and brussels sprouts. SO GOOD. 

My MIL gave me a book, I Just Like to Make Things by Lilla Rogers. 

It's got some good advice about making things and making a profit as well as some good ideas for stimulating creativity and setting goals. 

When it comes down to it, is there anyone that doesn't like to make things?  It doesn't matter if it's art, craft, food, etc., I think most people have the desire to "make" something, even if they don't act on it. 

Photo time!

I worked on a photo project today (I bought 2 photo collage frames on super discount at Blick for like $11 each. They were clearance and the cashier still applied a 40% off coupon). Scissors and the xacto knife are hell on my arm. I wasn't even using either for very long, but now I'm in pain. 

I was going through photos looking for stuff to print and place in the frames. Really though, I think I spent more time reading today. I went to the bookstore. God I miss bookstores. (and coffee houses. Not a flipping starbucks or peet's. Actual coffee houses.)

I also had a moment of thinking to myself that I hate music. I never thought those thoughts would enter my mind, but between all of the noise coming from all sides of me at all times, I think I hate bass. I almost think the relentless beat that sounds the same for hours on end is what has driven me to listen to short, fast and loud punk songs again. 3 minutes tops. on to the next. (oh and probably Jess's Joey Ramona Quimby costume on New Girl). When I listen to music while working it is largely bass free but then I'm faced with the constant ripping noise of packing tape. I've recorded audio because no one seems to realize how annoying that sound is. 

Here are some of the photos I'm going to use. (and a few that I'm not going to use - but I like them anyway. 

The very olden times. 2007

Blah blah blah so mad (at eCraft)

Okay, I'm still working on M0rt issues. While it seems that MTC is a bit more stable using Win7 64bit v 32bit, there are some issues with M0rt himself (or it could be eCraftshop Pro. In fact, give me a minute and I will check that.)

Okay, I'm back. There was still some slight snagging using MTC, but nothing to compared to the amount using eCraftshop Pro. While I can't entirely confirm based upon 2 quick tests to create a video to show a CS rep that I'm NOT talking about paper getting caught in the rollers, it does seem there are some flaws in eCraftshop Pro.


The first thing I notice is that MTC slows the cuts WAY down. It also seems to prioritize cuts in a different manner and cuts closer to a row formation than jumping back and forth between front and back of paper. For the life of me, I can't figure out how eCraftshop Pro prioritizes cuts. It doesn't make a difference if you select the prioritize cuts check box or not.

You may have noticed that I haven't posted anything awesome in a few days. Well, that is in part due to the issues I'm trying to resolve. You can't do work if your shit isn't straight.

 I don't want to get all snippy with the CS person because that doesn't really make things better. But to tell me that I have way too many objects in my file (40 circles with a line half way through) is ridiculous. If there are object limitations, please be honest with it. Don't allow your software to work on anything over ___ number of cuts. I certainly wouldn't have purchase it if that were the case and they were honest about it.

In fact, here's the email I got:

"I can see why it snags. There are over 40 images on this one file!

The machine most likely will snag on already cut portions of the page when repositioning and moving the paper / trolly around, not when it is making the actual cut.

Realistically, there is no real solution to this other than to decrease the amount of circles your are cutting.

If you have multiple images already cut and they run across the trolly enough times, its gonna snag them. It's simply physics.

I would recommend just putting your tab settings to the highest possible before starting the cut.

The tabs should help keep the already cut circles in place (for the most part) and help your cutting.

Or re-create the .svg so that the eCraft cuts in order from left to right, top to bottom. "

I was pretty specific that the snagging occurs when the blade enters the paper in my initial email. It snags the paper on the first cut. You can't say that's "physics".

This would all be absolved if I had a laser. Then I would just risk burning the paper edges (which could be a really cool effect).

I did make cookies tonight. I was going to dress as Retro Kitchen for work tomorrow (we're supposed to dress as our favorite collection), but I think I'm going as Artists Den instead.

Zentangle.......

But I'm really not sure what day to call it. I think it would be #38 based upon the sequence from when I was doing it daily. While I haven't been doing a tangle daily, I have been "making" daily. "Time Goes By" took quite a few days of work and layout to get it all assembled and framed.

We also went to the Elder Gnome's home to do some metal casting. That was pretty rad and a few more crucibles have been obtained. Which means more metal types. Which means brass. I need to figure out some modeling software and make something for my gramps. Every time I see brass, I think of him. Before his hands (and head) started bothering him a lot, he spent a lot of time buffing brass. Every time we include antique brass items in a collection at work, I think of my gramps! He should have been buying up used brass and selling it on Etsy! We sell so much brass (and throw pillows, which I still don't get the point of).

I did tangle today. I went in to work late so I could help Justin with some additional rack installation and got home around 8. I did some yoga (I highly recommend myyogaworks.com for home practice - there's a lot of variety and it costs less than drop in at a single class!).

I had a thought recently about homeless people. Perhaps they are so fried in part due to dehydration (it can make you pretty weird). They are often wearing 5-6 layers of clothes, they drink mostly alcohol (I've never seen a bum drink a bottle of water) and they are exposed to the elements all the time. Something to think about.

Time for bed.

Passing Time

I'm watching you

I distressed the frame

I couldn't find my pop up photo booth for this, so still not the greatest photos. I'm sad to say that the only thing my V3 seems to be good for anymore is Macro photography. It takes amazing macros but the second you try to photograph anything else with it, it's super grainy. 

Justin got me this rad journal today. He saw my sad little notebook from Goodwill that I have been working on recipes in and thought he'd give me some place nice to put the final versions!  

The first recipe to go in there will be avocado zucchini hummus. 

I swear I haven't been slacking off!

I haven't been the best about the blog for the last few days  but we've been busy!

Saturday we did some experimental metal casting. I haven't had a ton of time to model anything (my modeling skillz are lacking anyhow) and the stuff I have modeled is too large for the current casting set up.

Tiny Lazard heads were printed and cast in silver! Behold!

I then stayed home and diligently worked all day yesterday. I drowned more ants in my plot (though all this talk about casting sort of makes me want to cast an aluminium ant hill.

I tested out Ebay Now for myself yesterday. In less time than it would take for me to walk to target, get stuff (and get distracted by other stuff) and walk home, my paper goods were delivered to the house. Seriously like 37 minutes from order to delivery. I made lunch and ate it and watched part of Parenthood.

But then I got down to business.

I plan to photograph the final product with my actual camera, not my phone. I swear. Frames are on the way.

I have to say that M0rt was giving me some troubles though. Not sure if it was the paper type (heavy cardstock with glitter and slick surfaces) or what, but he was stabbing the paper instead of gently cutting it. Then there were software issues. As in love as I was with Makes the Cut 3 on Saturday, Sunday was a whole different experience. It kept losing communication with M0rt about 1/3 of the way into a cut. I wasn't having  that issue with eCraftshop Pro but there are some things I am not a huge fan of with that software as well.

I took to doing some of the cutting by hands (for the rolled rosettes in #2) but it's nice when M0rt is working smoothly to work while he does the cutting.

Ah projects

So, I've obviously missed a few days of my zentangles. But I'm okay with that.

After a lengthy discussion with Justin, it feels more important to create in general every day rather than be tied to a specific project.

I was stressing over not getting tangles done. I was going to bed too late because I had to make dinner, walk the dog, go to the store, actually spend time with my husband etc., and lo and behold it's almost midnight and my tangle wasn't done.

Life happens. And it was staring to feel like I was sacrificing other projects I wanted to do so I could get the tangle done.

Like this one:

I have had this project on my radar for ever. Seriously. From the day I got M0rt I wanted to do this. It's not working out exactly as planned (M0rt is choosing to be difficult), but I'm trying a variety of ways to work through this project.

It's really time consuming. I have to make sure the files are appropriately layered for cutting. I've spent countless hours working on the AI file itself over the last how ever many months. But the zentangle project was basically relegating things like this to the weekend. If I am home and not busy with other stuff.

M0rt doesn't seem to take kindly to really intricate scroll work (neither does the Cricut). He chews the paper. He gets his blade stuck and cuts over the same area twice. So that sort of put a damper on my idea intricately cut paper scroll work for this project.

So my next inclination was to cut a template and ink the scroll work using that. I figured if M0rt didn't want to work with cardstock on this, perhaps he'd cooperate with some Bristol. Nope. Not having it. He threw a fit. He didn't want to cut through most of the time (I started at a 6 pressure and went up to 8). When I increased the pressure, he stabbed the paper with his blade and snagged the edges. I wasted a few pieces of bristol in this process.

I got frustrated and was like "fine. be that way M0rt. See if I use you as much for stuff" (maybe he doesn't want to do work and this is all a part of his plan). I decided to hand ink after all. But then Justin reminded me of the Grafix Rub-onz sheets. So I inked the rub onz sheets and am attempting to transfer that way. The only issue I have with that is that there is a slight sheen around the placement because it would be really difficult to remove all of the non inked adhesive.

Ultimately I plan to put this in a 12x12 scrapbook/shadowbox style frame, so the glass will have all sorts of glare that will likely obscure the sheen of the adhesive. I'll let you know how that turns out.

My skipping tangles started on Tuesday with good reason. We went to Sacramento to go to the annual Bristol Hospice Remembrance. I have to say I was really glad I postponed my midterm (first time in all of college I've ever asked to reschedule a test). It was awesome to be somewhere with people who were so highly impacted by my brother. Sometimes it feels like people don't remember he ever existed, but even almost 3 years later the hospice staff tears up when they talk about Jesse. It was also really great to see some of the people who have inspired my desire to provide art as therapy for hospice patients and their families.