AMANDA'S BASKETS: Soapbox Time

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Soapbox Time

PICTURE OF THE DAY:

Don't you love the way they park cars in NYC???

TV and the INTERNET:

I'm going to get up on my soapbox for a few minutes. I hope you don't mind. And what is my soapbox rant about? Well, it's about what has happened to the craft shows.

I like to watch all sorts of craft shows from painting to scrapbooking to knitting/crocheting to quilting to general crafts. They get my mojo going with all sorts of new applications to play around with. And it seems to me that for the most part a lot of those shows are missing from my tv.

The Carol Duvall Show practically invented HGTV and now I can't even find a craft show unless it runs at three in the morning. And DIY? Forget it. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy some of the home improvement shows, but I also like my craft shows.

And yes I know that I can watch segments of the craft shows on HGTV.com. But what I would like to know is why can't there be a dedicated place for crafters?

CREATE TV and PBS still run several craft shows along with cooking and gardening and home improvement and travel. But neither place is solely for crafts.

And now there are two cooking channels on cable with lots more cooking on other channels. I just don't understand why we can't have a general craft channel. And if we can't do it on tv, why not on the internet?

There are two very well done quilting shows on the internet. And one location has lots and lots of other quilting shows that you can watch. And yes, they do have a membership cost associated with them, but both are well worth it.

So where is the channel dedicated to not only general craft shows only like the Carol Duvall Show, or Aleene's but also to specific crafts like painting and quilting and sewing, etc? Am I alone on this or do some of you feel the same way?

Okay, I'm done now.

TUESDAY'S PROMPT:

Last prompt for butterflies. So, we have done things all around butterflies, but have we actually done butterflies. Lots and lots of butterflies. Why not create a page full of all sorts of butterflies. Some cut out of magazines, some stickers, some made of fabric, some drawn, some painted... Make a page just of butterflies thanking them for all the beauty they bring to the world.

Well, I missed the deadline to complete the curriculum last week, but this week's deadline looks like a winner. I am down to finishing up one session which is almost done and that leaves only one more session to go. Have to write some general comments after that and I am done! Wish me luck. Scenery comes next...

Thanks for visiting...

CRAFTING IDEAS

I am always looking for a small piece of paper to write down something which will later be disposed of. I decided to use some of the scrap paper of which I have a ton. I mostly use the paper for glueing projects. I decided to cut the paper into a small size. (Six pieces from a piece of copy paper.). But just having them sitting on my desk would get messy without a container. So, using a cardboard box, I cut it down to size and using a hot glue gun I glued the ends together. Using a picture from a magazine cut into pieces and stick craft glue, I glued the pieces to the box inside and out. I also used some decorative tape for the outside edges. And to finish the top corners which were not covered, I used straight pins with colorful tops. Looks nice and works well.

MAGAZINE IDEAS

(New) One article in the Farmer's Almanac 2024 is a list of trends. One I knew about is the trend to downsize in just about every area. Another trend that I was surprised about was called ''The Human Library' which offers people on loan to talk about specific subjects. Finally, more folks are adding pets to their family and as a result, stores are adding more pet food, toys and medication to their offerings. There's also a nice garden article which suggests mixing vegetables and flowers together for success.

RECIPE IDEAS

Have you every made Cherry Dump Cake. It calls for 2 cans of Cherry Pie Filling (21 ounces), a white cake mix, 1/4 -1/2 cup butter, melted & 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans. In a 9 by 13 pan, spread both cans of cherry pie filling. Add the melted butter to the cake mix and break apart the resulting mixture and crumble it evenly over the pie filling. Sprinkle the pecans evenly over the mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 - 45 minutes until the topping is golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Fast, easy and very delicious.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

What if you want to establish better habits, then decide what habit you want to work on. Again, try an easier one first for that good feeling of success. Let's consider more exercise. Start small. Don't try to run a marathon right away. Set the amount of time, the type of exercise and when to do it to begin making sure that it is within your reach. If it works for you each week add a bit more. Walking is one of the best ways to get good overall movement but there are many exercise videos on YouTube of varying lengths and difficulty to check out. Change your exercise routines to eliminate getting bored. For hardcore exercise with weights, give yourself a day in-between to recover. Even on days you would rather not exercise, do it and see if you feel better. It takes an average of 66 days to establish a habit. Just think 66 days to establish a good habit for a lifetime. Sounds like a good thing to me...how about you?