The Color Purple? + Wax Ornaments!

Purple, Lavender, Violet........ whatever the shade, it's apparently going to be very trendy (or is already), and, if we follow our European cousins, we'll see it paired with turquoise.  Love it, love it!  Purple and turquoise are two of my favorite fashion colors - for clothing that is, but, sorry, I just can't see myself buying purple Christmas ornaments.  I have to admit, purple did not jump out as being a "hot" color when I walked the Dallas Gift market in January and July this year.  The first time I really saw it as being a possible trend, was in the Christmas aisle at my local Michaels store.  Michaels buyers are very savvy about trends, but I'm going to reserve judgment on this one until I see that it "sold out".  The "proof is in the pudding", as my mum used to say, so we'll see how much purple is left for the after Christmas sales.

My favorite colors for the holidays are red, green, silver and gold.  I'm a die hard traditionalist when it comes to Christmas.  I still love my wooden ornaments from Germany and the old fashioned, colorful glass ornments.  My favorite is a small coffee pot.  It's just like the one my dad bought for me about 55 years ago - yup.... it's all about the memories.  This weekend I'll be unpacking Christmas decorations.  It's a chore getting all the boxes down, but I just love unpacking the boxes of ornaments for the tree.  I usually do this on the 2nd Sunday in Advent.  We decorate outside first, then inside with the tree being the last decoration we put up.  It's not just the wood and glass ornaments, but things we've made over the years that are full of memories - sand dollars sprinkled with clear glitter, clothespin reindeer, oh and RECYCLED candle ornaments!  They're the best.  I had a whole tree full one year.  I melted old red candle wax in a double boiler. Let it cool until it just coats a metal spoon, then used a gravy ladel to pour it into plastic cookie cutters set out on wax paper on a cold surface.  Let the wax harden then pop the cookie cutter away from the wax.  Voilá, you have a perfect wax heart.  The real beauty is seen when they're hung on the tree and the lights from the tree shine thru the wax.  Hangers are easy.  Light a candle, then thread gold thread onto a needle.  Heat the tip of the needle in then candle flame then push thru the top of the was ornament.  Thread a whole bunch at once then tie them off one at a time. I made hearts, stars, moons, and small gingerbread boys and girls.  Oh, and if the wax was perfumed, your ornaments will be too.  Just a word of warning.  Store them in a cool place after Christmas.......  an attic in Texas was not the best idea.  Of course you can always melt them down and re-make them........

Happy Thanksgiving "ya'll"

Yours truly,
Julie :)

Shoebox Crafts - "Card-Ecologist"

Okay, I promised some old, timeless projects from my Shoebox Crafts column, so here 'tis:
(This is a page from Craftworks©/November 1998 magazine, published by All American Crafts.)

"Recycle, reuse, remember and rejoice - it's almost Christmas!"  Sound familiar?  This was 11 years ago. BTW:  Christmas Day is 6 weeks from today.  I digress.......  not sure you can read the text.  I'll check once it's posted then if it's not legible I'll post instructions on my website: www.juliemcguffee.com on the "Projects" page.  Give me a day or two though.............

Hmmm... interesting photo - oh to be 50 again!!

Happy Friday the Thirteenth!  Enjoy.

Yours truly,
Julie :)

Shoebox Crafts

In 1996 I started to write a feature column in Craftworks magazine entitled, "Julie's Shoebox Crafts".  They were all very basic craft projects with a chatty little story, of course, featuring....drum roll please..... things that most people have around the house.  We have a saying in England - "I'm not as GREEN as I'm cabbage looking", but apparently I was already being very "green" by featuring projects that reused, repurposed and recycled. I always was ahead of my time, at least that's what my dad thought.  Craftworks evolved into Create and Decorate a few years ago and the column changed to "Home Remedies" (Home Dec projects), but life got in the way and I had to stop writing the column a couple of years ago.  Some of the projects were pretty timeless, so maybe I'll feature some of them again here and on my website.  I'll have to pull out my old computer for the files though, or maybe I can scan the project photo from the magazine.  I'll have a think and see what I can do.

In the meantime here's one of my favourite photos - taken on my way to the grocery store.  Enjoy!

STEER CLEAR

Isn't he - not exactly cute...   how about "Typically Texan"....  I told you I lived in the country. 

Yours truly,

Julie :)

Scrapbooking - Alive & Well

In 2003 Leisure Arts published "Alphabet Doodles", a book I had written about creating fun and simple alphabets for scrapbookers by combining a variety of markers.  Here's a condensed version of the forward I wrote for the book:

    "Over the past six years or so, photograph albums, scrapbooks, and even diaries have combined and the word "scrapbook" has evolved from a noun to a verb.  Without doubt, scrapbooking has become one of the most popular creative pastimes for the new millennium."

So popular, in fact that capital investment companies took note as they started to see small family businesses grow into multi million dollar enterprises seemingly overnight and decided that buying and consolidating these liitle companies was going to be BIG business.  Now, another six years later the scrapbooking industry has a completely different face.  But, we still scrapbook.  Influenced by digital cameras and online products,  we don't necessarily scrapbook the way we did in 1997 for example, or even 2000, or 2003, but scrapbookers still create scrapbooks

    "showcasing the very essence of our lives".  A scrapbook becomes a perpetual record and helps us to remember those special moments we might otherwise forget."  Whatever your style, scrapbooks are important.  Years from now they will make you laugh, smile and maybe even shed a tear or two, but, most importantly, they will be worth every second you took to put them together."

There are so many industry polls about whether scrapbooking is on the rise, or decline.  Independent scrapbooks stores are now few and far between, each one vying for customers, trying to hold on to their niche in spite of competition from the chain stores and more recently from online stores.  There is constant discussion about why this is happening and who's to blame and there are polls that show this, and polls that show that and "no, you can't borrow my axe because I'm making soup".

Things change.  People change.  The baby in the photos that were painstakingly scrapbooked in 1997 is now 12 years old and we are scrapbooking in different way - sometimes, sometimes not.  We are taking more photographs now than we ever did because we have digital cameras and our biggest challenge today, is to print them!  I, for one, admit to having over 6,500 in iPhoto on my desktop.  Now that's different for a start.  But, I still scrapbook.  I chronicle the important events in our lives because whatever the polls say, it's still all about me and I will always take photos and, even though some of my scrapbooks are a mere iPhoto library on my desktop, they are there for all of us to see and enjoy and are just as important.

Yours truly,
Julie :)

Don't Quote Me!

I LOVE quotes!  I saw one in my "Cheeky Quotes" today that reminded me of one of my all time favorites:

Winston Churchill was at a dinner that was also being attended by Lady Astor.  At one point during the conversation she turned to Winston and said, "Winston.  If you were my husband I'd put poison in your drink".  Without missing a beat Winston turned to her and replied, "and if you were my wife madam, I'd drink it". Brilliant!

Have a happy day!  Only 7 weeks and 2 days till Christmas  :)

Yours truly,
Julie :)

Unsung Heroes

Our business was audited this week - thankfully not by the IRS, but by the state Workforce Commission.  One of the questions we were asked was, "what exactly is it that you do?"  Not an uncommon question and not an easy one to answer to someone who has no idea that there even is an Arts & Crafts industry. I'd just finished working on some kits for a manufacturer and had about a dozen projects in a box waiting to be packed up and shipped out.  I also had a box full of the manufacturer's product that I had been sent to work with.  Using these to illustrate, I explained my job as a designer as follows: 
        The majority of companies provide consumers with a finished item that they can buy then display, or use in a certain way.  In the Arts & Crafts industry, companies manufacture components that the consumer can use to create an item themselves.  Fabric is an easy example.  The consumer can buy a dress, or buy the components and tools to make a dress, i.e. fabric, thread, scissors, pins, needles and a pattern featuring fabric.  The designer's job for manufacturers is to create an item (project) featuring their component (product) to inspire the consumer to buy their product and make the item.   Finished projects with instructions on how to make them, appear in craft magazines, books, on TV, project sheets, websites, or, as in this case, the projects were designed specifically for the manufacturer to create kits.  So why my "unsung heroes" title?  Any time you see projects on packaging, or a header/poster in a store that promote a particular product, they were created by a designer who you may, or may not know.  And, of course,  the products being sold whether they are finished pieces or raw components, were designed by someone. You'll be seeing the kits I designed in a major chain store next year.  Like many other things I work on, there'll be no name attached.  My wish is, that I hope you enjoy making the projects as much as I enjoyed designing and creating them.

Yours truly,
Julie  :)
BTW:  We passed the audit with "no errors"..........

New Series of Scrapbook Memories Airing this Fall!

I wish I could tell you that it'll start on such & such a date and at what time, but.....  here's the kicker.  We produce a series of 13 shows which then go to a distributor for all public television stations.  Public TV stations are independently owned, so each program manager chooses which shows to air and when, so, unlike commercial channels, the shows air at different times and on different days throughout the US.   There is no cost to TV stations who choose to air the show - public television at work.  These are stations that anyone can see anywhere at any time whether they have cable, satellite service or not, so we love the fact that we're on PBS.  If the station in your particular area doesn't air the show (and there are a few), contact the program manager and ask your friends to do the same.  "Squeaky Wheels" do help, especially if they're looking for your support.

For those of you who do have cable, etc.  Scrapbook Memories airs Mon-Fri at 2pm EST and Noon on Saturdays on the BYU (Brigham Young University) channel.  Since there are only 13 shows in a series, it takes just 2 weeks and 1 day to air a complete series, so, like PBS, they keep repeating old shows until they have a new series.  We produce 26, half shows per year and have done for over 12 years now.  That's more than 312 half hour shows making the show one of the longest running of its kind.

KS Productions now has DVD sets available of complete series.  You can check out which ones at: www.scrapbookmemoriestv.com  Enjoy!

Yours truly,
Julie :)

Home Sweet Home

I'm asked all the time if I miss "home". The answer is definitely "no" since I'm a firm believer that "home is where you hang your hat" even if most of us don't wear hats any more. I say "most" because there's a whole lot of folks who wear cowboy hats around where I live.

Of course I know they're asking if I miss England. I haven't lived in England since the late 60's and things have changed a lot in the past 40+ years. I definitely miss things like the best Fish & Chips and Yorkshire pudding in the world, but more than anything, I miss the England I used to know. The only constant in life is "change" and, like everywhere else, life there is very different now. We don't even have British passports any more now that the UK is part of the EEC. I do try to go back "home" whenever I can. There are still a lot of places that have stayed the same for hundreds of years and I enjoy being there.   It's "comfort food" for the soul.

Being born and growing up in England however, couldn't help but leave an indelible imprint on my life. It's the early years that have a great influence on who we are and what we become. I've been around quite a while now and even remember when my dad brought home our first TV set. It was black & white, of course, and I remember shows like "Watch with Mother" and not being bothered a bit that Andy Pandy and Looby Loo slept in the same toy box. I remember entertaining myself by reading a lot, writing stories, drawing, painting and making things out of anything and everything that I could find around the house like pipe cleaners, nut shells and even leaves. My favourite supplies were shells and to this day I still have boxes upon boxes of shells I've collected from the past 50 years. It's no wonder that I've become the "itinerant crafter".

So, in answer to the question "do I miss home", I have to say "yes" and "no". On the one hand I am home, but "yes" I do miss the home of my childhood and treasure those memories dearly.

Yours truly,
Julie

Christmas is Coming!

In less than 100 days!!!! I am never ready for Christmas, but, guess what, it comes whether I'm ready or not. Each year I think I'll be more prepared - ha - it's the thought that counts! This year I got a head start. I've been working with a fun product called Smoothfoam. It's a dense, lightweight material with a nice smooth surface that can be painted without prep, glued and, if you don't want to glue stuff to it, you can pin things to it! It's great for topiaries, kissing balls and a whole lot of other projects. I LOVE the lightweight part - at last I can make photo cubes that don't break my tree branches and store them in a box that doesn't break my back when I lift it. Here are a couple of photos to get you in the spirit and whet your appetite. There's a few more on my website, www.juliemcguffee.com/projects, but you can see them all - and the supplies used to make them at Michaels. There's a Christmas endcap in the general crafts section with a free - yes FREE - booklet. Enjoy!

Yours truly,
Julie :)

09 09 09

What a cool date! Just think, after 12.12.12, we'll have to wait 988 years before being able to write dates like that again. The mind positively boggles! I wonder what kind of a world this will be then. Hmmm.... that is way too deep for a gray and rainy day.........

Speaking, or rather writing, of rainy days, makes me realize how much expectations affect the way we feel. I hosted an engagement party for my son this past Saturday and, don't you know it, it poured down. It didn't just rain, it POURED. I think we had 4" that day. I was SO disappointed. Obviously I wanted it to be one of the best celebrations ever. I had big plans - for outside. We had Tiki torches, lanterns to hang in the trees and we even dragged our white fairy lights out of the Christmas decorations stash to hang on fences, etc. Not only was it pouring rain, the bakery called that morning to say they couldn't make the cake I'd ordered, because the storms had knocked out their power! Aaaaargh! The party was still wonderful however, and I was so pleased that all their friends braved the driving rain to join us. Between you and me, I would not have ventured out on a night like that! Did I say we kinda live out in the boonies - roads tend to flood out here. The thing was, I had had everything planned out in my head for a few weeks, but it certainly didn't turn out the way. Expectations vs. Reality.... my expectations for the party were totally different, so I was SO disappointed, but everyone else just enjoyed the reality of how it was. It's still raining today - a week later. Hopefully this will alleviate some of the drought and next time we party, the grass will be lush and green.

Have a wonderful day!

Yours truly,
Julie :)

What Inspires Me

Betsy Edwards asked me this question on my Facebook page. "What inspires you?" I have to admit that the first thing that came to mind was - a paycheck. Then came the self imposed guilt trip. I really, really, really love what I do and I would still do it even there wasn't a paycheck - some of it anyway. I've always been a crafter and no doubt, always will be. It's just part of who I am and I feel so blessed that I'm involved in industry where I've been able to develop a business around what I love to do. It wasn't easy, like most designers I gave away more than I was ever paid for, but I always believed that if "you cast bread your bread onto the waters, it will come back buttered" and sometimes it will even have jam on it! I never really understood the "bread on water" analogy, since bread sinks and gets soggy in water, but let's not split hairs at this point..............

I've been giving Betsy's question a lot of thought. Creating professionally (meaning getting paid for projects), does affect creativity. Now I create to sell a product. "Sell" may be a four-letter word, but let's face it, buying and selling is what makes the world go round. Nothing happens unless someone, somewhere, sells something. That's reality. Before I designed "professionally" I created things for fun, now it's for fun and profit. I don't mean to sound mercernary, but that's the fact of the matter. The fun part is still the most important however. Now I see creativity as a challenge to create a project other people will want to make, but....... it has to use product A, B & C and sometimes even D. And there are rules - well, not so much any more, so, for example, when scrapbooking first became popular I used all kinds of things on my pages, only to find out that this was even more than a "no, no". Was it acid free? No. Was it archival? No, then how could I do such a thing.......... Thanks goodness that - albeit 10 years later - new designers have changed "the rules" and we're now allowed to be creative. So I can pull out my paints and old supplies and re-discover what inspires me! Thanks Betsy!

Yours truly,
Julie :)

Life in the Craft Lane

If you checked my blog earlier, you'll notice I've changed the title. Not really sure why, except that I started to write a book about 15 years ago, entitled - you guessed it - "Life in the Craft Lane" by Designing Women. Designers had so many funny stories to share, I had thought it would be fun to write them all down and create a book for SCD members. For those of you, who may be new to the Arts & Crafts industry, SCD was the Society of Craft Designers. We got together once a year to learn, share, network and generally have a great time. The industry has changed a lot since then but the influence SCD members had on the industry is still apparent today. Anyway, I originally thought "The Creative Sides of Life" sounded kinda trendy especially since creativity can be so many things - gardening, cooking, decorating, etc and I love doing it all, but.......... when all said and done, I'm a crafter first and foremost and I think the new title reflects that. For a while anyway - who knows what it will be next month!!

Yours truly,
Julie :)