This week Stasha over at the
Monday Listicles almost stumped me. I'm avowed to write a blog post every day this month (thank you,
NaBloPoMo), so of course I mean to hang with the Listicles as much as possible. But 10 Trappings of a Modern Life?
How to wrap my mind around such a topic...I am a total lover of easy technology, yet I cling to my glass mason jars all across my kitchen. We own a huge flat screen TV, but forgo cable in favor of Netflix and Hulu+. I'm unable to be away from my iPhone for .02 seconds, but my three year old is probably better at programming it. But up in my craft room, bastion of all things paper, scissors, and glue...am I modern? Turns out I just might be...at least, none of these items were hanging out in my craft room five years ago, but are indispensable to my crafting now.
10 Things Modern, Craft Style
1. Pinterest - The first and foremost place I head for inspiration now is Pinterest. It broke my heart when the scrapbook mags started going down, and I'm going to miss Paper Crafts something fierce, but I'm not going digital with them. I've got something more Pinteresting to do!
2. Cricut Machine - I distinctly remember a conversation in my stamp room oh-so-many -years-ago about how I'm fine with my heavy duty red Sizzix machine. Who needs to expense and hassle of this new fangled Cricut Machine? Turns out, I do. Almost every day now. Poor sad dust covered Sizzix.
3. Laptop - I recently moved my computer workstation upstairs. My CTMH team came over to help me build the new desk and rearrange the room. Now my computer and printer are right here ready to print out journaling, google a technique, or search Pinterest for some Pinspiration. It's heavenly.
4. Digital Camera - There was a time when just making a card was enough. Now I can't wait to whip out my white backdrop and digitize my artwork to send it off to the blog-o-sphere. Now when my family heads out for activities it's my iPhone that takes the pics. My big digital camera with the zoom lens? Hanging out in my stamp room ready to capture some more artwork, of course!
5.
Instagram - words cannot express how much I love Instagram. I post to
my feed much more consistently than I blog, as though it's the journal where I can go back to fill in my scrapbooks. I love that the pics don't have to be perfect (Thank you filters), and that I get to capture and share my little boys' personalities with my friends and family.
6. Printstagram - Finding this service really kicked up my love of Instagram a few notches. Now instead of printing the little square photos onto a 4x6 and trimming them down I can get a shipment of perfectly square, sturdy little matted photos in my choice of sizes. It's easy, affordable, and I love having little stacks of Printstagrams around the Stamp Pad.
7.
Instaport - My other favorite Instagram tool is
Instaport, which can go in a grab everything from your feed and download it to your computer. Then I can add my Instagrams to the regular photos I take at events and it's just so handy!
8.
Blog Challenge - I love blogging, and I love crafting. Best of all is someone in the blog world telling me some ground rules...ready, set, CRAFT! One of my favs is
Paper Issues, where you have a month to ponder and play with the theme of the month. I also love
Moxie Fab World, because they are so trendy and, well, moxie fab. There's something so satisfying about completing a crafty blog challenge.
9.
Glitter Glitz Gel - Ok, Ok! I've been super heavy on the tech stuff (told ya I love that stuff), but this simple gel revolutionized my crafting. Whether you use the
CTMH stuff, or stickles or whatever your preferred medium, glitter gel is totally awesome. Pre-gel we had prisma glitter. Awesome sparkle, but it got on everything, everywhere and never, ever went away. Once at a workshop one of the gals dumped an entire tupperware of prisma glitter over...they are probably STILL scrubbing glitter out of that cafeteria floor 10 years later. Not to mention she was a-shinin' like a disco ball from head to toe. Now if you knock of the glitter glitz...so what! Just stand it back up and keep on crafting!
10. These three kiddos - For a gal who didn't think she could have kiddos, I've been so very blessed to call these three hooligans mine. I love scrapbooking LONG before I met these dudes, but it's so necessary and more fun now that I'm scrapping their sweet faces. Scrapping their pages reminds me of all the fun we've had and the silly things they've done...and makes the crazy tantrums and icky boy talk fade away. Do I want to remember that on this particular walk Ben sat in the middle of the trail and cried because Gabe wasn't letting him be the leader? Or that the reason he has no glasses is because he ATE the noseguard off of them? No, I'll take the sweet memory of three boys entranced by the pond (once we finally got there) and thrilled to sit on a rock wall (living la vida loca to small boys). They might be new to my scrap room, but I'm so glad they are here!
