Archive | November 20, 2013

DIY Dragonfly Charm

Nov20

Diary of a Mad Crafter

Now that Christmas is over, I can finally post the gifts I’ve made!!! This project got me SOOO excited when it all came together. I know it seems like it’s complicated, but it was actually really easy (and fun!) I made one for my momma and my friend Tracy, both who love dragonflies 🙂

For the wings, I used Mod Podge’s Dimensional Magic (love this stuff)!dimensionalmagic

 

For each set of wings, I made two loops. I placed them on parchment paper, flattening them out if needed. Then, I sprinkled some glitter on the bottom, applied the Dimensional Magic, and finished them off with some more glitter. If the Dimensional Magic bleeds under the wire a little, that’s totally fine! You can just trim that away once it’s dried. They usually take a few hours to dry, so don’t try peeling them off until they’re completely clear! (P.S–you could…

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24,000-Year-Old Body Shows Kinship to Europeans and American Indians – NYTimes.com

Nov20

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/11/21/science/two-surprises-in-dna-of-boy-found-buried-in-siberia.html?h=_AQHN7R7X&enc=AZNX5X1jQILkoogxHZOUA5UoYRfhS38Zb-U6YYf7ybCWbMmmH_lhwG3qBBSl2LRfGG0Y9oKeSnasirOXzBigdvsn3uZzlaRLIPRGeLNl__3y3SFklp9BPei97fLh2Fq3EFNxTGMZaIXH4syAm4JDeuVh&s=1&hp=&_r=2

50 years ago on Friday

Nov20

50 years ago on November 22, 1963, my school was excited to get close circuit tv to watch news. I remember by teacher rolling the huge tv on a stand and other classrooms coming in to sit with our 4th grade class.

I remember being told by our very excited teacher, Mrs Mann that we were going to watch President Kennedy. I remember watching the black and white footage and I remember Mrs Mann and Mrs Camp watching run out of the room in tears after switching off the tv. I remember sitting bewildered with my classmates because we didn’t have a clue what had happened. I remember the Principal coming in and sending us out to recess early with no explanation. I remember when we allowed back in being told to go to the library and find a book to read.

I remember being fearful with the rest of my class because no one was telling us anything but something obviously terrible and big had happened. These were the days of air raid drills in case of atom bombs, These were the days of fearing the USSR. These were the days where the air raid siren went off on the last Friday of the month. These were the days when some of the neighbors had built air raid shelters. These were the days when the polio vaccine was brand new and given at school and we knew kids with polio. These were the days after the Cuban Missile Crisis. Those were days of fear.

I remember not finding out what had happened until I got home that night and my parents telling me that the President had been shot. I remember finally relaxing that nothing had happened to anyone I knew.

I remember watching the little boy at the funeral when the horse drawn carriage went by and learning new words like catafalque, caisson, caparison horse. I remember my dad explaining all the military parts and that for the first time my parents weren’t saying something bad about a President they really didn’t like. I remember the riderless horse.

I remember feeling sad for Caroline and JohnJohn.

I remember all the scary things on tv afterward but not understanding what Lee Harvey Oswald or Jack Ruby did. I remember being 9 and wishing I could understand why things happened and why anyone would want to do such horrible things. I still wonder why people do such terrible things.

List of skills that are fairly obsolete

Nov20

Use a type writer

Write in cursive, much as I hate doing it

Change a typewriter ribbon

Use a rotary dial phone

Use a mimeograph

Make a mimeograph stencil

Use a party line phone

Be a PBX operator

Make change the correct way

Use carbon paper

Do camera ready graphic design using blue graph board and exacto knife cut designs and fonts

Format camera ready art

Write cursive

Do calligraphy

Write a check correctly

Read a map and orienteer

Use a compass

Use hair pins (not bobby pins!)

Use an ink dip pen

Use a fountain pen

Develop Black and & white film

Wind my own film

Print my own film

Enlarge film

Use an actual cash register (not an electronic one)

Fold a cloth diaper 2 different ways

Load a dot matrix printer with continuous load paper

Tie a square knot, bowline, clove hitch, slip knot, granny knot, friendship knot, etc and know when to use each.

Use a light meter

Use a dutch oven to bake over a campfire

Build 4 kinds of fires and use them correctly

Use a basket corn popper over an open flame

Start a 63 Ford Galaxie station wagon with a screw driver

Use a phone book to make a Christmas tree, seat a child at a table, press flowers and look up a number or find a business or any of the other useful information that was in the phonebook.

Cut a pattern and sew clothes, fix a hem, sew a button on correctly (yes there is a correct way)

Embroider and design the pattern

Use a DOS based program

Use a T square

Make a pompom

Use a nut grinder (not a food processor)

Use a percolator for coffee (although it would be pretty bad.)

Change a phonograph needle

Use a phonograph

Use a card catalogue

Use reel to reel tape or record on

Use or record on a cassette player

Use a floppy disc

Use a punch card

I guess that makes me ready for the zombie apocalypse if you need all those old skills.