Suse Ink

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Day to send your love and well-wishes to friends and family.  Actually, every day is a great day to do that.  Seems like we need days every so often to remind us to do that.  Oh, I know, I know.  The skeptics tell us that these special days are the inventions of the card manufacturers to increase sales.  Maybe.  But ... it still seems like we need reminders every so often.

My Valentine's Day gift to you includes the following:

• some really awesome art!
• a place to make your own art! and,
• a suggestion you return sometime in the coming week to find a tutorial on things-to-do-with-that-heart-shaped-box-you-got-now-that-all-the-chocolates-are-gone.  I have lots of ideas for this project and am trying to decide which one to share first.  :-)    Well, I DO have to eat all the chocolates in my box first, don't I, before I make the sample to share with you?  LOL

And, I've been visiting You Tube again.  It can be addicting, so i try to avoid it.  However, my dear wonderful hubby wanted me to look up something there for him and then I went off following links.  So many fun videos are posted there.  Here's a few I would like to share with you;  the first is Classical Gas played by Mason Williams, the second is Mason Williams playing music about his days with the Smothers Brothers program;  the third is Gilbert and Sullivan's Modern Major General and the fourth is a take off of that called The Elements Song.  ENJOY!!

Classical Gas:

Smothers Brothers:

Modern Major General:

The Elements Song:

Handmade

While traveling the One World One Heart blog hop caravan, I encountered a couple of Badges on a variety of blogs that caught my interest. The first is "I took the Handmade Pledge." The second is "Help Save Handmade."

Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act

I want to comment on the "Help Save Handmade" issue. Remember the problems with toys from China that were laced with lead? Food from China containing melamine? And other such consumer safety issues that came to light in the last few years?

In response, Congress passed legistlation called "Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act." This legistlation, from what I have found during my research on the Net, requires testing of all products meant for use primarily by persons under the age of 12, to prove that it is "safe."

The law went into effect February 10, 2009. Enforcement, however, will be delayed one year. According to web sites I have visited, the law requires every finished product to be tested. This means the end of handmade items because each is unique, can't be tested and still sold afterward.

For more information about this law and how artists and crafters are responding, click on the badge in the side panel.

Here is how I intend to respond: 1) I will contact my legistlators; and,
2) I will request MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) from every supplier of products I use for every product I use in the creation of everything from Birthday Cards to gifts. It should be the responsibility of these corporations to take on the responsibility they already have under OSHA rules to tell whether their products contain dangerous materials.

Natural products -- wood or plant materials -- should be exempt form such testing unless other products are used such as paints, stains, glues, etc. in the process of making it into something else. These products need to be tested and be proven to be "safe." Under OSHA rules, these tests are supposed to be performed; an MSDS is then supposed to be made available to all consumers of the product.

To me, this means, if I plan to use a product that the manufacturer has made from materials from other sources -- their source should provide safety data to them that can then be incorporated into safety data supplied to their consumer and so on down the line until it gets to the final consumer. For instance, an epoxy sticker will use the components of the epoxy, the image and the adhesive. Each component supplier should provide safety data to that manufacturer who then provides safety data (revealing their sources of information) to the next consumer in the supply chain.

Or, in the field of pottery (another of my favorite pursuits but not done recently), every ingredient in a clay, slip, underglaze, or glaze has an MSDS available for it. Then from there many manufactures of commercial glazes, for instance, can provide an MSDS for their product. The user who plans to resell items using these products should have on file all of the relevant MSDS forms to "prove" the safety of their product." These are procedures that should already be in place by all craftspersons; and are required by OSHA for all "teachers" to have available in the "classroom."

The CPSIA should be amended to take this into account.

The Handmade Pledge

This one is interesting. I "took" it ... but here are some of my thoughts on what it will mean for me. :-)

I "suffer" from Martha-Stewart-itis. This means that if I get a birthday card in the mail, it is LATE! Why?

1) I have a good memory but a bad one at the same time. I remember the day before, day of or a week after a birthday that I needed to send a card. 2) Then -- because I can make cards, enjoy making cards, and think most of them turn out okay or better -- I feel that most any card I send out MUST be handmade. 3) That means searching for the right color cardstocks, the correct inks, the best stamps, the perfect embellishments in my unorganized stash of craft supplies. And hope that the blade that keeps falling out of my Fiskars paper cutter hasn't gotten lost again.

**sigh**

So these things often just overwhelm me to the point where the card never gets sent. If I had any sense, I would make up a set of cards ahead of time to use as I needed them. But that takes sense. LOL!

Deciding that gifts need to be handmade -- by me or someone else -- might lead to the same problem. In fact, even before I "took the pledge," the desire to make things and have an excuse to do it, meant that I determined to make most of the Christmas gifts for 2008 ... And I am STILL making them! LOL!

So, as soon as I get the Valentine's Day Fabric Postcards finished and mailed (believe me, they are far closer to finished than the Christmas gifts -- need the address side finished and then ready to go to the Post Office! Amazing!!), and then the Christmas gifts get finished and mailed -- then I will begin working on that Cards and Gifts Ahead of Time collection.

Work on the CAGAT should start some time before next Christmas. LOL!!

Happy Handcrafting!!!

Drum Roll, Please ... OWOH Winners are ...

Ah, what a fabulous trip has been as part of the caravan.  So much inspiration out there!  I'm going to enjoy returning to all of the blogs that were part of the OWOH Caravan at a more leisurely pace and spend some time at each of them.  :-)

When I opened up my email today, there were 129 files in the Spam folder.  Six told me I had won the Irish Lottery.  Another five were full of sorrow as they wanted to tell me all about a loved one who died but had left a fabulous amount of money in a bank somewhere and could I help them make the withdrawal and the sender would gladly give me 40% of the money as a thank you.  Three actually wanted to sell me a product that guaranteed to make me a millionaire within a year.

Yeah yeah!

If the email provider hadn't already stuffed these into the spam folder (and they missed a few that snuck into the Inbox), I would have shredded them all without looking at them even once.  So any email with "You have Won!" in the subject line can be in "big trouble" in my inbox ...

But today I made sure I inspected (not opened but checked them out as best I could) emails in the spam folder before deleting them forever.  And I hope the following people check their mail carefully, too:

Our Grand Prize Winner of the stamping kit is Rosa of CozyRosy.blogspot.com!

WOO HOO!

Then there are six winners of the Add-On Prizes.  Since I wasn't sure how many entries there would be, I wasn't sure how many add-on winners there would be (at least 4 but maybe more ...)  These prize packs are still being assembled and are a smaller stamping, card making, or scrapbooking kit than the Grand Prize.  These six winners are:

Patricia of Vintage Linen Treasures
Sue (no URL)
Dottie of Gardens and Crafts
Cheryl of From the Pines
Claudia
and
Heidi of My Hiding Place In Cyberspace

A big round of applause for all the winners!  And thanks to everyone who visited during the blog hop!  Stop back again and I will start posting more frequently soon.  Cards, scrapbook pages, and other creative endeavors ... some are sitting on the work table here just begging me to get them photographed and posted ...

In the meantime, Be Inspired!  Be Creative!  Be ... Be Yourself!

One World One Heart Blog Event - Update!

Okay, the comments are in!  Well, they are "in" the queue to be printed out so they can go "in" the hat.

I am in the middle of recording something and cannot allow the printer to set up a noisy background ... once the recording is finished (about 30 minutes) and the printing completes and the scissors get to work chopping apart the long long long list of comments and the fingers get folding up those bits of paper and a hand other than my own shows up to draw out the five winners ... then I will post the winners and email out announcements "You Have Won!  Send me your address immediately or you will lose out on your opportunity to collect the 27 zillion Woozles I have stashed away in a secret Swiss bank (the northern bank of Brienzersee perhaps) ..."  No, this one is not that yucky product in a can (that my hubby threatened "If you ever even buy it, that's grounds for divorce!!  so ... I bought one and hid it away to see if he ever finds it LOL) ...

Check back later this evening to find out who won and what they have won ...

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Wasn't the OWOH Caravan FUN?  It was so inspiring!  I'm overwhelmed with the amount of talent, the generousness of participants, the fun and interesting people sharing themselves, their lives, their work through their blogs.  If I somehow missed visiting your blog, I hope to get back to the list and visit everyone all over again to really get a chance to visit your blog more thoroughly!

One World One Heart Blog Event - Happening Here too :-)

Welcome to 2009!

It's been very cold here in western Wisconsin -- a perfect time to make things and to surf the Net.  The One World One Heart blog event is a great way to visit blogs from around the world, and an exceptional opportunity to "enter to win" giveaways from bloggers all around the world.  (This is definitely a PB&J event!)

I'm giving away --

• a copy of the current Inspiration Book & Catalogue from TheAngelCompany(tm)
• a copy of the premiere issue of "Serendipity" from TheAngelCompany(tm) -- part catalogue of gorgeous new stamp sets and part magazine of ideas and projects to tempt your fingers to get busy making delightful projects
• a stamping kit including a selection of rubber stamps, acrylic handle, ink spots, ten cards and envelopes with a selection of a papers and embellishments to complete your cards.

Would you like to win this?  It's easy to enter!  Please leave a comment below -- be sure to include your email address so I can let you know if you win!  Also, if you want to participate in the One World One Heart blog event -- please click on the Globe in the side panel.  If you are participating, please feel free to leave a link to your OWOH blog entry in your comment.

One World One Heart bloggers' event ends February 12.  The winner of the TAC Stamping Kit will be announced here on February 14.

EDITED 02/01/09 --

I just finished visiting all 810 participants (so far) and their blogs!  I discovered a number of wonderful blogs I intend to go visit again!!  I tried to bookmark each and every one to go back to to visit again and really spend some time visiting and looking around -- this is going to be so much fun the second time through the list. 

There are so many generous and very talented people out there sharing themselves, their lives, their opinions and their arts with us.  It has been very inspiring.  :-)

However ... To make the bookmarking easier and to try to not miss any, I used the Tab function of Internet Explorer -- and opened 10 or 12 at a time.

When I surf the net or do anything actually, I have my own music or audiobook playing.  And opening more than one blog at time has often resulted in "dueling players" as each blog with an mp3 player automatically began to sing at me.  So, I decided to offer extra chances to win my giveaway to anyone who does NOT have an mp3 player on their blog that automatically plays.  (I found only one blog that had a player that did not start automatically;  I found only one of the sites with players that was kind enough to put it at the TOP of their blog so I could easily find it and turn it off if I wanted.) 

If you do not have an MP3 player on your site, or if you have one and it does NOT play automatically, or if you have one at the TOP of your site, you can get three extra entries.  Just mention that in your comment below (i probably will check it) :-)

And lastly, after being so darn inspired by all of the blogs I've visited, I decided to add more giveaways but I'm not 100% sure what they will be.  But I will add 3 more (smaller) giveaways here ...

Also, I discovered I had made a mistake in my dates -- the comments need to be left here by 12 Midnight (whatever is the last time zone) of Feb 11.  I will pick the winners around 12:01 AM Feb 13 Central Time (so everyone has a chance to enter by the deadline), email the winners and post them here.

GOOD LUCK!

edited 2/5

Just wanted to let you know that I just checked out the page where you can find all the links to participating blogs (click on world image in side column to get there from here) -- the final total is nine hundred and eleven!!  WOW!  Go forth and Explore, be inspired and have a lot of fun meeting new people all around the world.  :-)