joybucket

Like Multicolored Christmas Lights

A string of variousnessimous:

• My studio is a mess. Someone should do something about that.
• I have recently become acquainted with Johnny Paycheck's son John Paycheck. He is delightful and looks a lot like his Dad from what I can see from the internet.
• I'm thinking of switching from Etsy to Big Cartel. Done. I thought of it.  Now I need to do it.
• I did a ton of yard work yesterday. Thrilling for you isn't it?
• I signed us up for the pool for the summer. Tootie has official guppy status.
• I laughed aloud at the ridiculousness that we as a society would embrace Twitter and that people actually use it as well as read it.
• I signed up for Twitter.
• I am a slacker at tagging my posts with a category. Must go back and tag. fun fun.
• I went to the library today to see the archives of the book club I am in. My book club was founded in 1900. really. It is an extraordinary group. They pick one subject for the year and each person reads a book on that subject, writes a paper then presents that paper to the group on her assigned night. Papers are to be 30 minutes in length. Next year our subject is African Literature. Some of the papers are in the archives. Each year the group prints up a booklet that lists the subject matter, various quotes and facts of subject, the presenters and books as well as the by laws, club flower, colors and song. The library has all the booklets except the first year 1900-1901. I didn't have near enough time to pour over the wealth of information. I plan on returning with my digital camera.
• Das ist genug. Gute Nacht meine Freunde!

Quamut revisited

After my last post I have discovered a couple things about the website Quamut. I have been in touch with their people who actually contacted me first to apologize for not informing me sooner about the use of my tutorial on their site. They explained that they are currently in the process of contacting all the designers, that I was to be contacted within the next couple weeks and that I would be compensated. So, yay! and kudos to them for apologizing. That's not something that is experienced very often anymore*.   Here's a quote from their About page,

"Quamut (loosely derived from the Latin for how-to and pronounced "kwa-mut") publishes expert-written how-to guides known as on topics ranging from to and estate planning to embroidery. Quamut.com features more than 1,000 topic-specific Quamuts and is adding hundreds of new Quamuts daily."

Thanks to those who commented on my last post. They are owned by B&N which in turn also Lark Books and Sterling Press -- one big happy. Anyway, they do have permission and are following copyright laws.

I'm going to file it in my bookmarks along with Craftzine.com, WhipUp and Craftster. I wonder if it will gain popularity. I'm also curious to see the actual printed tutorials they have on display in the B&N stores. It'll be fun to see mine in print form. I do like how they've designed them. Hmmmm, I wonder if I can strike a deal with my wrappa*dappa*do* tutorial?

*This American Life just did an episode titled "Mistakes Were Made" about non-apology apologies. That Sarah Vowell... I love her and TAL. I wish I had Showtime to see their TV show.

Hither and yon - an expression that's due for a comeback.

Hey, I found my work here! I had never heard of quamutbefore. Apparently, it's owned by Barnes & Noble. I wrote this tutorial up for a book called Pretty Little Pincushions by Lark Books and got paid a one time fee which was great at the time. I don't think Guamut is breaking any copyright laws, it's just weird for me to stumble across something I created and see it for sale.

Emmaline

I placed Emmaline up on Ebay.

I named her after the poem by A. A. Milne called "Before Tea". It's one of my favorite poems and tells of a little girl that has disappeared and her friends have been looking for her. When she returns they ask where she's been. They think they ran her off because her hands weren't clean. She responds, "Sillies, I went and saw the Queen. She says my hands are purfickly clean!"

 

wrappa*dappa*do

Super Secret Tutorial Revealed!! My Wrappa*Dappa*Do reusable giftwrap!!! Ta Da!

I got the idea for this about a week before Christmas. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them. Did I want to make a bunch up and sell them? no. That would last about 5 minutes of excitement then it'd be a chore to try and do. ugh.

I thought it would be more fun if you got to play along. Plus it's more economical for you, me, everyone. So I wrote up a super simple tutorial that shows step by step what to do. If you can sew in a fairly straight line and use pinking shears than you can do this.

For $2.50 (that's less than one can of Red Bull!!) you can have your own pdf copy of this tutorial by clicking on the little widget over on the right side-bar.  This is a pdf e-pattern, so there are no shipping charges. Once I receive confirmation of payment, the pdf e-pattern will be sent to you via e-mail as an attachment. You will then be able to download the pattern from your computer. Please note download requires Adobe Reader software. If you do not have this software installed on your computer, go to Adobe.com and download the software for free. The pattern will be sent ASAP within 24 hours after payment has been received.

All patterns and designs copyright 2008 Susan Mentrak :: joybucket. This pdf pattern is copyright protected and no part of it may be reproduced in any media format to be sold. This is for personal use only.

Make lots of them and give them away as gifts. Last Christmas I gave one as a gift. I used the reusable gift-wrap as the gift-wrap. Inside was an empty box with a little note explaining everything. I should have designed and printed a mini-tutorial and stuck it in there so she could keep one and make one to give. Kind of like friendship yeast bread. It's the gift the keeps on giving.

I can't wait to see what you guys do with this. I created a flickr group so you can share your creations. Please join!