christine-murphy dot net

I just came up with this idea, and I talked about it a little on my baseball blog.  Mike and I had gotten our picture taken with both the 2004 and 2007 World Series trophies, and I really like the way the photo came out…

So I came up with the idea of making a pendant from this photo.  My first thought was to use UTEE somehow, and as I thought of it, I remembered that it was on someone’s DVD…was it Tim Holtz or Suze Weinberg?  Or both?

I found what I was looking for on Tim’s first DVD, An Altered Journey.  It’s the “Faux Soldering” technique.  In it, he makes a collage of paper, sandwiches it between two microscope slides along with a length of wire, then dips just the edges in UTEE which, of course, has been melted in Suze’s Melting Pot.  Tim mixed a little platinum UTEE in with the clear, and that looked really nice.  And then he added beads and charms to the wire that was sticking out, embellished it further with a rub-on and a metallic pen, and he had a really nice piece.

This can be done using a photograph, too.  The dimensions of microscope slides would not work here, so I’d probably go for the 2″ square Memory Glass instead.  I’d then digitally crop the photo and reduce it to a 2 x 2 square, print it out in photo paper, and I’m good to go!

I actually already have most of the supplies called for.  What I DON’T have is the platinum UTEE, the jewelry wire, and the glass.  I have some beads that might work, but I think I’ll look and see if I can find anything I like better.  A baseball charm would be nice if I can find one locally.

I gotta go to Michaels today anyway, to get frames for the larger prints I had made up of this photo.  So I can look and see how much of this stuff I can find there.  I’m not holding out much hope for finding the platinum UTEE and the Memory Glass, but you never know.  Michaels has improved its selection of Ranger products, I see a lot more there now than I used to.  Time to take a closer look.

I won’t have any trouble finding beads and charms and such there, though, they have tons of that stuff.  But if I can’t find the platinum UTEE and Memory Glass locally, I’ll have to order online and this project will have to wait until the stuff arrives.

First we’ll see what I can find today!

I ranted yesterday about endless emailings from House-Mouse Designs, and that I finally got fed up and asked to be removed form their list. Well, now there’s another place spamming me to death…this time, it’s the Sturbridge Scrapping Corner. They have sent me the Same. Damned. Newsletter. almost every day this week…yesterday and today, I got it TWICE.

What’s the deal here? Are these people paying attention? Are they drunk or high? Maybe they are in serious need of some alcohol rehab.

Seriously, it’s probably some sort of glitch in their system.  But still I’d think that someone would have noticed it by now, and maybe turned off the mailing list software until they could figure out what’s wrong with it?  Can they do that?  I don’t know.

What I do know is that I unsubscribed from that one, too.  I’ll still shop at their store when I’m in Sturbridge, but I don’t need to get the newsletter a hundred times a week!

So, if you are looking for a great gift idea, skip the flowers that die and the candy that gets eaten, and give your mom, wife, or grandma something that will last forever…a mother’s ring.

This Family Fun ring is nice, because you can put not only each child’s birthstone on it, but their names, as well.  There’s also another Family Fun ring, same idea.

The gemstones used in these rings are all 100% genuine.  Since the diamond, April’s REAL birthstone, is so expensive, they will use white topaz instead, unless you really want to pay extra for a real diamond.

If you don’t care for the Family Fun rings, that’s cool…LifetimeMothers.com has plenty of other styles; you’ll surely find one that your mom (or wife or grandma) would like.  Most of the rings come in either yellow or white gold.

Right now, they are guaranteeing shipping in time for Mother’s Day.  So why kill yourself trudging the malls, where they usually sell nothing but overpriced junk?  Order one of these beautiful rings online, and have it delivered right to your door!

While you’re there, get a jump start on Father’s Day by checking out these watches for men.  These are also engravable, and some have a place to also put a picture.

This is all very nice stuff, so go on over and check it out!

No, not the lunch meat…none of that crap will EVER cross our threshold. That is some NASTY stuff, what is in it, anyway?

Nope, I’m talking about the email variety. Even if you sign up for someone’s mailing list, how much is too much? I’ve signed up for some lists at companies I do business with. Some only send out newsletters and promos once or twice a week, or less, but some are ridiculous. As in: Almost. Every. Damned. Day.

I love the rubber stamps from House-Mouse Designs. But they’ve been getting more and more aggressive with sending out emails, that today I finally asked to be removed form the list. They are forever trying to sell me some new promotional products and such.

Anyhoo, I’ve decided that when I want to see what’s new, I will just go to the site and look. I’m just tired of the daily (and sometimes twice-daily) emails.

And how the hell did I get on a Reader’s Digest list?  Someone must have sold my info, because I have never subscribed to that magazine.  Even more annoying…I tried to remove myself from the list months ago.  On the *remove* page, they have a LONG list of newsletters.  You tick off the ones you want, untick those you don’t.  So I unticked ALL of them, and I thought that was the end of it.

Nope…they put me back on one list, against my wishes.  I went to unsubscribe again, and they’d ticked off the same lists I’d removed myself from!

If people say they wished to me removed from lists, it is REQUIRED that they be removed.  Or at least it SHOULD be.

Now let’s see if I hear from House-Mouse again…

…hopefully, sometime in the coming year. So many places have the free Wi-Fi now, it would be good to take on trips.

Still, I’d want to be able to use this old desktop as well. I saw that you can get something called a KVM switch…this would enable me to access the laptop from the desktop keyboard, mouse and monitor.  I don’t much like the *mouse* thing and keyboards on laptops, would be nice not to have to use them, at least at home.

Anyhoo, I need to get the laptop, first.  Maybe I can get Mike to buy me one for Christmas!