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      Wednesday, December 02, 2015

otherstuff 10:06 AM - 12/02/2015 The topic: Update ---------------------------------------------- I'm here! It's really weird, you know how sometimes when you have a headache or a muscle ache you can take a med and it kicks that pain's ass? And other times that same med doesn't do diddly squat? And you're stuck with the pain? Well, I have that problem with benedryl type meds for my allergies. Except it's not that they don't take care of that infernal "gee, I really need to pop, but I just can't do it" feeling in your ear, they do great on that. It's that you can't keep your eyes open. And other times, no problem at all, you can do all sorts of things.... Allergies this past week were bad, sinuses were blocked, even using the nose cleaning thing (like a neti pot, it shoots a warm solution up the nose, head tilted over the sink to flush the crud from one side, then the other), which kind of helped, but not all the way, had me running for the benedryl. The non-popping ear, the grinding of the teeth, was unbearable. And this week, the benedryl knocked me on my butt. I hope that's all done. I've got too much to do to be sidelined. | Permalink

craftstuff 10:16 AM - 12/02/2015 The topic: Starting work on the holiday cards ---------------------------------------------- I've made my list and am going to make an extra five cards. At least, that's the plan at this point. I pulled the paper yesterday and looked at the pictures of the sample cards. Go through the paper I've picked out. Hmmm....need different patterns than I've got. Instead of buying premade cardstock, I figured I'd head over to Etsy and buy some digital paper packs. People design graphics to be printed at home on cardstock. I found some really nice ones, I hope they'll work. I've been waiting for Lorelei to get off of my printer so I can start figuring out the best settings for the designs. Just noticed she's gone. Woohoo! Off to feed Miss E (she rubs her head on her soft food bowl and that makes a really annoying noise when it keeps hitting the floor), then start printing... I love this stuff. | Permalink

      Thursday, December 03, 2015

geekstuff 11:28 AM - 12/03/2015 The topic: After at least a year of problems ---------------------------------------------- With the Epson R1900 printer, I finally fixed it yesterday. I don't know how long the fix will last, but I'm happy for now. I did order new parts yesterday, I went to the website where I got my continous ink system (CIS) and they've changed what they send. My printer uses eight different inks. Cartridges get expensive. For less than fifty-five dollars I was able to pick up a system that uses bottles of ink instead of cartridges. Not all printers can do this, but luckily, this one can. The ink travels through a ribbon of tubes. This ribbon is an inch wide. It goes from the individual ink containers over the top of the printer and connects to the special ink dispersement setup. There is a little thing that attaches to the printer that holds the ribbon in place. This had become loose and the ink system was slamming to the left and leaving me with ghosted, blurry images. It was noisy and I thought my printer was going to break. Yesterday, I dislodged the little plastic thing that holds the ribbon in place, used some goo gone to get most of the adhesive off, washed it thourougly, dried it, then used some heavy duty two sided tape that Brian had. Then I added more tape over it so that all of the plastic that's attached to the printer is firmly in place. Over that, I put a couple of pieces of clear packing tape. I let it set overnight and this morning, it's still working like a dream. I had to tape part of the ribbon to the printer because it kept pulling. Now, they supply a little piece that attaches to the computer and holds the ribbon in place. And the black piece that I worked on yesterday is now a T-bar piece, giving more area to attach to the printer. I'm sure this makes it a lot more stable than what I got. But it is in the kit I ordered so I'll be able to remove the tape from that. And if and when the black plastic piece loosens up again, I'll have the replacement, heavier duty piece ready to go. But it was sure nice printing out paper without the noise. Now, if I can just figure out why I get the message that the paper isn't loaded properly (it is) or why sometimes it only prints a half of a page and shoots it out (something to do with being set up to the router and not the computer, maybe?) I'll be set. | Permalink

      Saturday, December 05, 2015

craftstuff 11:51 AM - 12/05/2015 I'm watching The Equalizer The current weather is gorgeous The topic: Finally getting serious about the cards ---------------------------------------------- Getting the printer working right was a start. And I've got this huge stack of both cardstock stacks (collections of complimentary cardstock patterns and colors, usually cheaper to buy than individual sheets; some of the cardstock in the pads I really, really like, others I'll never use - but that's the only way to get the cool paper) and the stuff I printed out from digital paper patterns I bought on Etsy. The stuff I printed out isn't as professional as the preprinted stuff, but it's mine. I've looked for different paper to print it on, the paper was affordable, but the shipping killed it. So, I'll just wait until we have more disposable income. I've pulled most of the stock for one set of cards (I have four new bundles for Christmas/Holiday cards) and will be cutting those out today. I hope to get the rest pulled today as well. I've changed out the blade on the Silhouette (replaced the vinyl) and added all of the cut files, organizing them as I added them to the Silhouette library. So, I'm pretty much ready to start. Only one trip up. We want to change life insurance companies and they'll be here to draw blood Monday morning. Unfortunately, for me, they'll be here at nine and I have to get the floors cleaned and the furniture dusted. Tomorrow.... I'd rather be cutting.   | Permalink

      Sunday, December 06, 2015

craftstuff 10:35 AM - 12/06/2015 The topic: I really like Die Cuts With a View cardstock ---------------------------------------------- But the white core annoys me. Right now I'm using a marker to cover the white that shows around the intricate cuts on the paper. It's slow going and my fingers are all blue from wiping the paper when the marker slips. You know, probably nobody would even notice, but it bothers me, so here I am. Using time I could be using to cut or clean. My life, my choice. | Permalink

      Friday, December 11, 2015

craftstuff 08:20 AM - 12/11/2015 The topic: Just finished watching a tutorial ---------------------------------------------- On one of the card sets I want to make. It looks super easy and shouldn't take long to cut out. I may make more of these than I'd planned. I have cut out paper for ten cards so far, I want at least another ten. If I can get this done today, I'll be a happy camper.  This won't be it, though, there are some others I want to make, too. Maybe this won't be a making cookies year. :D Anyway, I'm excited right now, ready to go work. | Permalink

otherstuff 08:25 AM - 12/11/2015 The topic: Before I forget ---------------------------------------------- Wednesday night I was in the bedroom and wondering what the hell that noise was outside. I kind of thought it sounded like one type of animal, but we haven't had those around here as long as I've lived here (almost thirty years) so I discounted that. It sounded like a weird dog sound, but there as another odd noise after. I got to thinking maybe there was a human outside being funny. Bobby came running into the bedroom growling and jumped up into the window. So, I went outside. And the neighbor across the street was out of her house, too. We had an owl in one of our trees. A real, live owl! Couldn't see it because it was too dark, but I did see it fly away. It went into one of the trees on the street behind us. It was pretty neat. | Permalink

      Saturday, December 12, 2015

craftstuff 06:58 AM - 12/12/2015 The topic: Learning from my mistakes ---------------------------------------------- Well, not that it was an actual mistake, but I noticed I've had to replace my cutting blade often this go round. More than usual. And I realized what may be at the root of this. Cutting heavy glittered cardstock. So, I'm going to do my best to leave the glittered cardstock cutting until I'm done with everything else. Which I'll try today. I didn't get any cutting done yesterday (we had to go shopping), but I did get the paper for three more card designs picked out. I'm not sure how much of the heavy paper I'll be using (I need to get the cut pattern onto the virtual mat to see how many pieces I can cut on a 12" x 12" area). And this will entail me jumping from one project to another before doing the heavy stuff. When I first started doing this (thanks, Allyson B), I bought Zipper Reclosable Storage Bags that are large enough to hold the paper easily, so each project has its own bag. This makes it a lot easier to keep everything organized. So, advice columnists read, news perused, I'm ready to close this puppy down and start my cutting. A lot to do.   | Permalink

craftstuff 07:13 AM - 12/12/2015 The topic: Learning from my mistakes ---------------------------------------------- Well, not that it was an actual mistake, but I noticed I've had to replace my cutting blade often this go round. More than usual. And I realized what may be at the root of this. Cutting heavy glittered cardstock. So, I'm going to do my best to leave the glittered cardstock cutting until I'm done with everything else. Which I'll try today. I didn't get any cutting done yesterday (we had to go shopping), but I did get the paper for three more card designs picked out. I'm not sure how much of the heavy paper I'll be using (I need to get the cut pattern onto the virtual mat to see how many pieces I can cut on a 12" x 12" area). And this will entail me jumping from one project to another before doing the heavy stuff. When I first started doing this (thanks, Allyson B), I bought reclosable storage bags that are large enough to hold the paper easily, so each project has its own bag. This makes it a lot easier to keep everything organized. So, advice columnists read, news perused, I'm ready to close this puppy down and start my cutting. A lot to do.       | Permalink

      Sunday, December 13, 2015

geekstuff 12:51 PM - 12/13/2015 The topic: Yesterday was nearly as productive as I’d hoped ---------------------------------------------- I thought it would be. It started out nicely. First two sheets of cardstock cut perfectly. Then, the third, not so much. I changed the blade and still had problems. Ah, I hadn't completely seated the blade holder. So, I put that in properly and still, the cardstock wasn't cutting right. I changed out the blade. Still no luck. I ended up getting two usable pieces out of ten. And that was all I had of that pattern. Luckily, it was one I printed out here, so I went back to the office. O. M. G. The printer ran out of cyan. Well, having the continous ink system, it hasn't run out, but the printer thinks it has until I kind of pull out that particular color, then push it back in. Then the printer does its cleaning cylcle or whatever. It takes time and uses ink. It took me over an hour and a half to get it to print out cleanly. Lots of cleaning cycles had to be run to get the streaks out. One thing I took care of (that took more time than I liked, at one point I had to do system restore) was removing that printer from the router (so I could use it from any computer). Since I'd done that a couple of months ago, the printer would stop responding and spit out whatever had been printing, After I got this resolved, I didn't have any more problems like that. Then it was back to the cards. I did some work on what I'd cut out yesterday and am finally started the next set. I'd hoped to get twelve done yesterday, but only got four. Let's hope the rest of the day goes more smoothly than yesterday. | Permalink

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lisaviolet is seventy something, married with no kids, takes care of lots of cats, likes taking photographs, loves Southern California weather and spends altogether too much time avoiding her responsibilities. In her spare time, she makes pretty things to sell in her store.

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