I do spend waaaaaay too much time online - but one site just leads me to another and I get lost or actually "found" - in websites and/or blogs - finding some interesting information, helpful sites, useful tips, craft ideas, etc. etc. I have lots, and lots, and lots, of bookmarks, but tend to just wander off of a link in a newsletter, or on a blog or in an article and explore what's out there in cyberspace.
Here's todays bookmarks or places I placed my breadcrumbs at so I can find my way back if I "need" to:
A Fun place to visit and link around on is over at:
Chica and Jo’s
http://www.chicaandjo.com/
Some links I found useful or fun to consider
Magic Folding wooden photo cubes
http://www.chicaandjo.com/2008/05/08/magic-folding-wooden-photo-cubes/
order the kit to make one - $16
http://www.chicaandjo.com/ourstore/
Paper crafting projects
http://www.chicaandjo.com/category/paper-crafts/
Make your own custom note pads
http://www.chicaandjo.com/2008/10/22/make-your-own-custom-notepads/
Make an airline carry on travel kit
http://www.chicaandjo.com/2008/06/04/make-your-flight-easier-with-an-airline-travel-kit/
Recycle old crayons into fun new shapes
http://www.chicaandjo.com/2008/04/16/recycle-old-broken-crayons-into-fun-new-shapes/
Under their organizing section
http://www.chicaandjo.com/category/organizing/
find the Free Downloadable babysitter’s information guide
http://www.chicaandjo.com/2008/07/23/downloadable-babysitters-guide/
Wedding photographer worksheet and checklist
http://www.chicaandjo.com/2008/07/08/wedding-photographer-worksheet-and-checklist/
Hotel Baskets for out of town guests
http://www.chicaandjo.com/2008/04/17/hotel-baskets-for-out-of-town-guests/
other sites I visited and took note of the website addy
Found the link to the following from this site: http://www.onecraftyplace.com/
how to make a skirt from dish towels
http://www.graceviolet.com/2009/02/how-to-make-skirt-from-dish-towels.html
See all of GraceViolets crafty ideas
http://www.graceviolet.com/
Visit too for crafty inspiration : The Crafty Nest
http://www.craftynest.com/
other interesting things I surfed up on
If you use GMAIL
read this article:
http://lifehacker.com/5145605/ten-gmail-labs-features-you-should-enable
The Happiness Project
http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/
Simply Stated – Blog from Real Simple
http://simplystated.realsimple.com/home/
Happy Surfing!
Feb 26, 2009
Good times, good days
Some days are better than others for me. I still miss my sweet Paul soooo much. The grief process is a long one, but I know I'm on the right path and that Paul is forever watching over me.
Living here in Florida for the winter, with my daughter and family has been absolutely very good for me. Watching my beautiful grand kids experience life and being able to share parts of their lives with them has been quite enjoyable. Monday night was the Boy Scouts Blue & Gold Awards Dinner. Laura is Josh's Den Mother. It was a terrific evening. Laura's troop won the Spirit Award Trophy for best themed table decor and Laura herself won the "Spark Plug" award.
Here's a photo of Laura with her "guys"
Being able to share in such moments is a True Blessing that I'm not taking for granted.
All in all - Life is Good and I am savoring the smallest and largest moments in each day.
Living here in Florida for the winter, with my daughter and family has been absolutely very good for me. Watching my beautiful grand kids experience life and being able to share parts of their lives with them has been quite enjoyable. Monday night was the Boy Scouts Blue & Gold Awards Dinner. Laura is Josh's Den Mother. It was a terrific evening. Laura's troop won the Spirit Award Trophy for best themed table decor and Laura herself won the "Spark Plug" award.
Here's a photo of Laura with her "guys"
Being able to share in such moments is a True Blessing that I'm not taking for granted.
All in all - Life is Good and I am savoring the smallest and largest moments in each day.
Feb 25, 2009
Wonderful SPRING Freebie from D.A.I.S.I.E. Company
Hi,
Over at the Graphics/Printables website store of DAISIE Company (a.k.a. Across the Street) - Gina Jane Blair (formerly Johnson) the owner, an artist and designer of D.A.I.S.I.E. - is offering for a "Limited" time her own beautiful Honeyville "SPRING" set of Graphics for FREE!. A marvelous 72 piece graphic set.
When DAISIE Company first came to be online in the spring of 2006,
I actually had a small job with the Company - I had my own "Ask Mary" forum. I helped with product support for using the Graphics with graphic/photo editing software questions. Sadly the community forums are all gone from DAISIE now, and all of my help pages and information that went along with them are gone too. DAISIE Company over the past 3 years has had growing pains and its own share of ups and downs, as had Gina Jane herself, the sites owner.
BUT the Good News is that there are still some AMAZING Artists and Designers working at DAISIE offering some absolutely wonderful products for your Crafting pleasure.
http://www.daisiecompany.com/store/
I love, love, love all the graphics available to purchase by the late artist Sandi Gore Evans.
If you like Printables and assembling terrific paper crafts - then you'll enjoy the many options offered by the amazing Sandy Osborn.
Another favorite artist of mine is Bev Luedecke - I've tried to purchase everything she does - its so whimsical and just too cute - see the graphics/artwork collections of Bev Luedecke at DAISIE
There are lots of wonderful artists and designers at DAISIE - if you haven't ever visited, Please Check the web site out : Discover Club DAISIE - The Graphics/Printables Febuary edition will only be available a few more days!!! see its extraordinary value in all you get, see too the February Gift Basket Club edition of "printables"
And be sure to sign up for their email news, so you'll know about new freebie offers and new product announcements.
Happy Shopping! and Happy Freebie!!!
Please note too: DAISIE has a generous Angel Policy for professional crafters - here is a quoted excerpt from the latest community news email Feb 25, 2009
Remember, DAISIE Company offers an Angel Policy. This means that you can create and sell up to 200 of the same item, per year, using our digital scrapbook kits, printables, clip art and graphics. You can make items for craft fairs, sell things on ebay and your own website.
Please read all information on this page:
http://www.daisiecompany.com/store/index.php?main_page=conditions
P/S
Thank YOU Gina Jane for your generous offering to us all who love and appreciate your artistry.
Feb 20, 2009
What do you do when one of your favorite sites
Is DOWN for maintenance or is having computer hiccups (a.k.a. Server issues)!!
Do you phone or email or private message a friend?
Do you call your Internet Provider?
Do you re-boot your computer?
Do you think your Computer has a virus and attacked your favorites?
Do you keep clicking back again and refreshing the website?
Do you think you've lost contact with your best friend?
Or do you just panic and run for the nearest comfort food like CHOCOLATE!!
Last night Feb. 19th, one of my favorites - the Community Forums over at pcCrafter was down for a few hours, as was their main website pcCrafter.com where you can purchase the most wonderful Clipart collections.
I've been around the internet and computers for a few years and understand that sites do go down with "issues" from time to time and that they "will return" eventually. But its always a "jolt" to your "systems" when you spend so much time online and "frequent" some sites more than others and you just "expect" them to ALWAYS be there.
Then of course there's those times when some websites - completely vanish and are never heard from again..just lost in cyberspace!. We lost the community forums a few times over at DAISIE Company (a.k.a. "Across the Street" )- and now D.C. has decided to just abandon the whole idea of "forums". There were some Computer Crafting "groups" that also disbanded. Other sites that crafters loved - made annoucements about closing or changes in their sites - and word went out and of course "panic" set in. The loss of places we come to enjoy and find friends at is something that the internet has made a way of life for some of us "cybernauts" who just find such places - "comforting".
My "connection" to the forums at pcCrafter - is very important to me!! And also "comforting" - the gals there have been very very good to me! Praying for me during my very difficult times this past year - has meant more to me than many of them may ever know. Being able to "connect" with them, vent, share, care, and be there - is a part of my life that - I cherish and really miss when "it's not available" to me.
BTW - Do you know about the Internet Archive over at http://www.archive.org/ - it has a thing called the "Wayback Machine". The site has been archiving websites for years now. It captures popular pages (well they have to have been "fairly" popular or gotton lots of hits over their time online) and archives them on specific dates. ( Read a bit about it >> on wikipedia ) So for example if you had a favorite bookmarked and didn't visit it in a long time and you go back and its GONE!! - you can "try" putting in the exact URL or webaddress you had bookmarked in the WayBack Machine line and it will retrieve that site and all the pages it archived over the years. Sometimes you can view/read the past information you want, and or even see some of the pictures etc that were included. Sometimes data or pictures are missing or links to "internal" pages of the website don't come up - because they didn't make it into the archives.
Also Google has "cached" pages - so when you do a search on Google - if the site link doesn't come up - go back to the search results and click on the Cached version to see if you can find past information.
for example - Today Feb 20th I received an email from someone (?) that told me that the site "digibydesigns.com" had been taken down with no explanation by Andy (I don't know who "Andy " is) and that I should sign up for an email group to find out more -
this is excerpt quoted from that email:
" I hate to be the bearer of bad news but Andy has shut down DXD
on us without an explation, notice or anything else".
So I looked at the most recent Google "Cached" version of the site
Google Cached Link : It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on Feb 15, 2009 23:49:46 GMT – note site says on Feb 15 2009
"Please bear with us as we are undergoing site changes!"
http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:BB3ce6OxzxwJ:www.digibydesign.com/+digi+by+design&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
Now I don't have any idea if the website is truly gone or if it is undergoing site changes and is in for repairs. Only time will tell. Hopefully the website owner of DigiByDesign will respond to email contact with further information about the website.
Update: February 26th - DigiByDesign's store seems to be up and running just fine...see - sometimes ya just gotta remember don't believe everything you get in emails - do some research - find out the real story.
http://digibydesign.com/cart/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I always preach - that if you come across information online or see a project or anything you think you may want or may ever find useful at a later date - PRINT IT OUT - or Copy and Paste into a Word document - RIGHT THEN!!! Don't trust bookmarks, or your memory that you'll find it again later on. Websites come and go everyday, photos or pictures posted online - may be removed or "moved" in an online album, making them "unavailable" in the original posts or sites. So if you think information is important or may be in the future - SAVE IT when You SEE IT!! Print it, file it, organize it.
Well, I'm off for my comfort food, my Girl Scout cookie order is HERE!
Do you phone or email or private message a friend?
Do you call your Internet Provider?
Do you re-boot your computer?
Do you think your Computer has a virus and attacked your favorites?
Do you keep clicking back again and refreshing the website?
Do you think you've lost contact with your best friend?
Or do you just panic and run for the nearest comfort food like CHOCOLATE!!
Last night Feb. 19th, one of my favorites - the Community Forums over at pcCrafter was down for a few hours, as was their main website pcCrafter.com where you can purchase the most wonderful Clipart collections.
I've been around the internet and computers for a few years and understand that sites do go down with "issues" from time to time and that they "will return" eventually. But its always a "jolt" to your "systems" when you spend so much time online and "frequent" some sites more than others and you just "expect" them to ALWAYS be there.
Then of course there's those times when some websites - completely vanish and are never heard from again..just lost in cyberspace!. We lost the community forums a few times over at DAISIE Company (a.k.a. "Across the Street" )- and now D.C. has decided to just abandon the whole idea of "forums". There were some Computer Crafting "groups" that also disbanded. Other sites that crafters loved - made annoucements about closing or changes in their sites - and word went out and of course "panic" set in. The loss of places we come to enjoy and find friends at is something that the internet has made a way of life for some of us "cybernauts" who just find such places - "comforting".
My "connection" to the forums at pcCrafter - is very important to me!! And also "comforting" - the gals there have been very very good to me! Praying for me during my very difficult times this past year - has meant more to me than many of them may ever know. Being able to "connect" with them, vent, share, care, and be there - is a part of my life that - I cherish and really miss when "it's not available" to me.
BTW - Do you know about the Internet Archive over at http://www.archive.org/ - it has a thing called the "Wayback Machine". The site has been archiving websites for years now. It captures popular pages (well they have to have been "fairly" popular or gotton lots of hits over their time online) and archives them on specific dates. ( Read a bit about it >> on wikipedia ) So for example if you had a favorite bookmarked and didn't visit it in a long time and you go back and its GONE!! - you can "try" putting in the exact URL or webaddress you had bookmarked in the WayBack Machine line and it will retrieve that site and all the pages it archived over the years. Sometimes you can view/read the past information you want, and or even see some of the pictures etc that were included. Sometimes data or pictures are missing or links to "internal" pages of the website don't come up - because they didn't make it into the archives.
Also Google has "cached" pages - so when you do a search on Google - if the site link doesn't come up - go back to the search results and click on the Cached version to see if you can find past information.
for example - Today Feb 20th I received an email from someone (?) that told me that the site "digibydesigns.com" had been taken down with no explanation by Andy (I don't know who "Andy " is) and that I should sign up for an email group to find out more -
this is excerpt quoted from that email:
" I hate to be the bearer of bad news but Andy has shut down DXD
on us without an explation, notice or anything else".
So I looked at the most recent Google "Cached" version of the site
Google Cached Link : It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on Feb 15, 2009 23:49:46 GMT – note site says on Feb 15 2009
"Please bear with us as we are undergoing site changes!"
http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:BB3ce6OxzxwJ:www.digibydesign.com/+digi+by+design&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
Now I don't have any idea if the website is truly gone or if it is undergoing site changes and is in for repairs. Only time will tell. Hopefully the website owner of DigiByDesign will respond to email contact with further information about the website.
Update: February 26th - DigiByDesign's store seems to be up and running just fine...see - sometimes ya just gotta remember don't believe everything you get in emails - do some research - find out the real story.
http://digibydesign.com/cart/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I always preach - that if you come across information online or see a project or anything you think you may want or may ever find useful at a later date - PRINT IT OUT - or Copy and Paste into a Word document - RIGHT THEN!!! Don't trust bookmarks, or your memory that you'll find it again later on. Websites come and go everyday, photos or pictures posted online - may be removed or "moved" in an online album, making them "unavailable" in the original posts or sites. So if you think information is important or may be in the future - SAVE IT when You SEE IT!! Print it, file it, organize it.
Well, I'm off for my comfort food, my Girl Scout cookie order is HERE!
Feb 15, 2009
My thoughts and prayers for those affected..
by the crash of Continental flight 3407.
I am wintering in Florida, but am a life long resident of Buffalo NY. I am deeply saddened by the crash of the plane in Clarence, NY.
see related news story
http://www.buffalonews.com/515/story/580013.html
My prayers and thoughts are for everyone involved and affected by this tragedy.
For the latest news view the Buffalo News website:
http://www.buffalonews.com
I am wintering in Florida, but am a life long resident of Buffalo NY. I am deeply saddened by the crash of the plane in Clarence, NY.
see related news story
http://www.buffalonews.com/515/story/580013.html
My prayers and thoughts are for everyone involved and affected by this tragedy.
For the latest news view the Buffalo News website:
http://www.buffalonews.com
Feb 12, 2009
Raggedy Kids new Laurie Furnell "Creatable"
New Creatable by one of my favorite Artists at pcCrafter:
Laurie Furnell. Visit also her BLOG
Raggedy Kids
Posted using ShareThis
Happy Shopping!
Hugs,
Mary a.k.a. LibMary
Laurie Furnell. Visit also her BLOG
Raggedy Kids
Posted using ShareThis
Happy Shopping!
Hugs,
Mary a.k.a. LibMary
Feb 4, 2009
Sometimes you can get lots for nothing
I do my share of shopping online for graphics, and digital kits - and have spent hundreds of dollars in the process. But I also enjoy the many, many Freebies offered up by amazingly talented digital designers and artists. Today I was going through my ritual of browsing IkeaGoddess's blog and found some really nice kits - but one set really caught my eye - a kit of 3 ribbon frames by Fanette
that you can find on her blog:
http://ledigiscrapdefanette.blogspot.com/
I made up this digital layout below kinda fast - took me awhile to find a photo to use - I only have a limited amount of photos on this laptop, I have with me in Florida. Most of my digital pics are on an external drive or cds - back home in Buffalo.
The photo is of me and my sweet Paul - oh I do miss him - I thought the ribbon tied up our love nicely and the drops coming down from the cloud are our tears for "each other".
He is my Guardian Angel.
Other nice FREEBIES I found surfing online today :
Visit The Daily Digi daily!- they've got lots of news, ideas, and things to share
like this:
Paper bag album how to with free graphics downloads
http://thedailydigi.com/happy-valentines-day-from-us/
**Related: over at the pcCrafter Forums - I have a thread in the
Instruction Junction Forum with resource links to making
Paper Bag Albums
"What Katie Scrapped" freebies *there are lots of places for Digital Freebies
but this was a new site for me found today.
http://digiscrappingqueen.com/blog/?page_id=119
Nice FREE Fonts **there are lots of places for FREE Fonts
But these are whimsical and nice for journaling
http://kevinandamanda.com/fonts/fontsforpeas/
and
http://www.kevinandamanda.com/scrapbook/fonts/freescrapbookfonts/
For software users of Photoshop Elements or Paint Shop Pro
Photoshop Elements Short Cuts keys **PDF document
http://darksideofthelens.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/elements-shortcuts.pdf
Paint Shop Pro Short cut keys
http://www.hypergurl.com/shortcuts.html
that you can find on her blog:
http://ledigiscrapdefanette.blogspot.com/
I made up this digital layout below kinda fast - took me awhile to find a photo to use - I only have a limited amount of photos on this laptop, I have with me in Florida. Most of my digital pics are on an external drive or cds - back home in Buffalo.
The photo is of me and my sweet Paul - oh I do miss him - I thought the ribbon tied up our love nicely and the drops coming down from the cloud are our tears for "each other".
He is my Guardian Angel.
Other nice FREEBIES I found surfing online today :
Visit The Daily Digi daily!- they've got lots of news, ideas, and things to share
like this:
Paper bag album how to with free graphics downloads
http://thedailydigi.com/happy-valentines-day-from-us/
**Related: over at the pcCrafter Forums - I have a thread in the
Instruction Junction Forum with resource links to making
Paper Bag Albums
"What Katie Scrapped" freebies *there are lots of places for Digital Freebies
but this was a new site for me found today.
http://digiscrappingqueen.com/blog/?page_id=119
Nice FREE Fonts **there are lots of places for FREE Fonts
But these are whimsical and nice for journaling
http://kevinandamanda.com/fonts/fontsforpeas/
and
http://www.kevinandamanda.com/scrapbook/fonts/freescrapbookfonts/
For software users of Photoshop Elements or Paint Shop Pro
Photoshop Elements Short Cuts keys **PDF document
http://darksideofthelens.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/elements-shortcuts.pdf
Paint Shop Pro Short cut keys
http://www.hypergurl.com/shortcuts.html
Feb 3, 2009
Talk about a FULL HOUSE
The House if Full!
That's what my late dear husband always used to say. And he was correct!!
Every nook and cranny of our home is filled to the gills with STUFF!!
Both he and I were/are packrats, and collectors of many things.
We subscribe to at least 10 publications, kept lots of our junk mail too.
I print out tons of paper - with information on how to do things, like crafts I'm going to make - (but rarely if ever do - LOL) and recipes, and other assorted items I deem to be "printable".
I have stacks and stacks of this STUFF.
Well this madness has got to stop at some point - and the stopping and the starting some action time for me will be this April - when I return from my Snowbirding vacation in Florida - and get back in gear in my home in Buffalo NY.
I have decided that it's time for me to make the house
ready for SALE.
That means getting rid of, sorting of, dreading of, dealing with
- the "STUFF".
I did however find some helpful information online -
and websites that will "help" me
>> insert pause here << while I print these pages out and file on top of the Pile
of STUFF right next to me
Find:
100 Reasons to Get Rid of It
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/100-reasons-to-get-rid-of-it
here's the complete article to print out
http://tinyurl.com/atunmz
First Published: March/April 2007
Copyright 2008 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. All rights reserved.
If quitters never win, and winners never quit, than who is the fool who said,
"Quit while you're ahead"?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wish me luck.
It certainly doesn't help much that I am a Procrastinator Extraordinaire!
“In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do. The worst thing you can do is nothing.”
Theodore Roosevelt
"The greatest amount of wasted time is the time not getting started."
Dawson Trotman
That's what my late dear husband always used to say. And he was correct!!
Every nook and cranny of our home is filled to the gills with STUFF!!
Both he and I were/are packrats, and collectors of many things.
We subscribe to at least 10 publications, kept lots of our junk mail too.
I print out tons of paper - with information on how to do things, like crafts I'm going to make - (but rarely if ever do - LOL) and recipes, and other assorted items I deem to be "printable".
I have stacks and stacks of this STUFF.
Well this madness has got to stop at some point - and the stopping and the starting some action time for me will be this April - when I return from my Snowbirding vacation in Florida - and get back in gear in my home in Buffalo NY.
I have decided that it's time for me to make the house
ready for SALE.
That means getting rid of, sorting of, dreading of, dealing with
- the "STUFF".
I did however find some helpful information online -
and websites that will "help" me
>> insert pause here << while I print these pages out and file on top of the Pile
of STUFF right next to me
Find:
100 Reasons to Get Rid of It
http://www.marthastewart.com/article/100-reasons-to-get-rid-of-it
here's the complete article to print out
http://tinyurl.com/atunmz
First Published: March/April 2007
Copyright 2008 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. All rights reserved.
If quitters never win, and winners never quit, than who is the fool who said,
"Quit while you're ahead"?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wish me luck.
It certainly doesn't help much that I am a Procrastinator Extraordinaire!
“In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do. The worst thing you can do is nothing.”
Theodore Roosevelt
"The greatest amount of wasted time is the time not getting started."
Dawson Trotman
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