Month: March 2020

Musings

On By celestelindIn CraftingLeave a comment

I was browsing through Pinterest the other day, looking for tutorials on how to make something when I realized that hey!  I not only know how how to do that, but I actually taught myself that technique years ago. . . .meaning, I figured it out on my own.  Then, I took a step back, looked at my own efforts and then compared them to the one on-line, and I actually fared better than I thought I would.

I think we all have a tendency to compare ourselves to others, usually unfavorably.  Ok, so some people think they are all that, but for the most part, people are looking for validation of their worth, and hoping we measure up to the “competition” (if you will).  Psychologists will tell you this is unhealthy, and to stop doing that!!  Personally I think it is instinctual to compare yourself to others, but unfortunately we usually sell ourselves short.  I see the following on the internet all the time:

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Here is another one:

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This is our (unfortunate) expectation of our efforts.  We look at what we can do, create or whatever, and come up selling ourselves short.  Trick is to see yourself in a more positive light.  Realize that we’re better than we thought we were, and to give ourselves a little credit.

 

 

Easter Card (#1 for 2020)

On By celestelindIn CraftingLeave a comment

My first Easter card this year. Literally had to resort to leftover scraps! need to order some more Heartfelt Creations Dogwood paper!

And here is the inside

This card measures 4” across and is 5-1/2”. The background is actually one of my less favorite images from the collection, but has lovely color for the background, then I placed a die from HFC called Diamonds and Lace, over the background, used some dimensional dots to raise up the paper with the doves on it, and surrounded the lower left corner with handmade dogwoods. The inside is leftover scraps and a sticker from my stash. Took me about an hour to do, and that includes making the dogwoods!

Mini-Album Madness

On By celestelindIn ContemplationLeave a comment

I’ve been busy. Really busy! My work as a Nurse Practitioner takes me an hour from home – in order to get my workouts in (for one of my other passions: swimming) I have to get up at 4:45 am, and I sometimes don’t get home until 7pm, and so I’m kinda tired, and not really able to do much more than vegetate on the couch. Add in Thanksgiving, Christmas, eight grandchildren, and just, well, life, and I’m a little behind.

I haven’t done much with cakes, but I will, not this week, but next week, as I am currently finishing a not-so-mini album right now. (I only have about 75 more photo mats to cut and create.). So, I thought I would jump back into the blogging world, and show you a mini I made last year, I’m only about 6 behind, as far as sharing goes. For this album, I used the Wildwood Cottage paper from Heartfelt Creations, as well as the flip fold album they offer. I gifted this to my grand daughter last year, and hopefully she enjoys it.

And you can watch a video of the whole album here:

The Catharsis of Crafts

On By celestelindIn ContemplationLeave a comment

So, in my quest to waste all free time playing with paper (or sugar) I had the “opportunity ” to make my first Sympathy card last night. I only had scraps and left overs, but it has me now on a new mission to create more of these to have on hand. It’s been a rough week, three funerals, and a spat with one of my kids has left me in tears most of the week. Believe it or not, swimming and working out at the gym did not provide the catharsis that I needed. But working with paper did. (Thank you Heartfelt Creations and Spellbinders!) I’m not sure if working with sugar paste will have the same effect, but we will soon find out, as it is a rainy day (which is perfect, as I sit in the Chapel awaiting the third funeral of the week to start) and I intend to go home after this, and make not just a few cards, but several gumpaste flowers as well. I’ve been needing to rebuild my stash anyway.

Lush Lilacs gatefold card

On By celestelindIn ContemplationLeave a comment

Another card using Heartfelt Creations materials: the card base and the paper. There are some circle “window dies”, handmade lilacs and a magnet to hold the card closed – fairly flat, so making the envelope for mailing shouldn’t be too hard.

The base was prepared by the Heartfelt Creations people, which is good because I don’t have access to white card stock that measures 18” long! Your magnets go beneath the background paper on the inside and beneath the white lacy circle (and then you can cover this with another thin white circle of paper sans lace).

Here’s the inside

Purple & White Wedding Cake

On By celestelindIn cake decorating, CraftingLeave a comment

It’s been a little while since I’ve posted on this site, and I promise, I’m going to do better. It’s not that I haven’t been crafting, I just haven’t been blogging!

One of my more recent projects was my son’s wedding! It was a sad testament to that old adage: if you don’t use it, you lose it!. But we did our best, and remembered a few things along the way.

The first thing: I don’t like working with marshmallow fondant. Say what you will, taste wise I suppose it is superior to traditional fondant, but it doesn’t stretch easily, and you have to roll it too thick for my taste. I believe I’m going to experiment with “Buttercream Fondant” next – it seems like a logical next step, for those who want the beautiful pristine surface of fondant, but don’t want the thick overlay. However, fondant can’t be beat for preserving moisture in a cake when you have to work on it for a couple of days. Also, it allows any wedding cake that needs to be frozen for a year, to come out of the freezer unscathed!

Generally, I tell people that fondant covered cakes are kind of like Easter Eggs; you really don’t want to eat the shell! So peel the fondant off your frosting, and enjoy your cake (you don’t really need all that sugar now, anyway!).

Our grooms cake was designed to resemble a chess game in progress – if you look carefully, the Queen, has taken the King!

A Renaissance Woman?

On By celestelindIn Contemplation1 Comment

I got a lovely compliment the other day, when I was told that I was a Renaissance Woman.  She said, you bake and decorate, you are an artist, a mother, even a scientist!  I laughed it off, but after thinking about it for a minute, I realized that there are a lot of things I can do fairly well.  I’m not sure if being a nurse, even a nurse practitioner qualifies me as a scientist, but I think for today, we’ll role with it.

It’s actually not very funny when you realize that society and family demands require us to be “Renaissance Women”.  Think about it, how many different incarnations of you are there?  As for myself, my very minor list of accomplishments includes making my own wedding dress (ok, so it didn’t have seed pearls, but it did have embroidery and lace) all the way up to making my children’s wedding cakes.  I’ve been a life guard, taught swim lessons, acted as swim coach, played secretary for a few years, full time chief cook & bottle washer, La Leche League Leader, Booster Club president, Cake Decorator supreme, a labor & delivery nurse and now I work as a nurse practitioner. In this day and age, it’s almost a requirement that we do it all. I certainly can’t afford to hire someone to do everything that needs to be done, so I have to do it myself, whether that’s painting the front room, planting strawberries, nursing the baby, or helping dress and bathe my elderly, forgetful older relatives.

Time to pat myself on the back and realize all the things I can do well, and try to focus less on my imperfections.