Bubble Marble Magnets

I've added a few more bubble marble magnets to my ArtFire shop. I've been making these bubble marble magnets using postmarked mailing stamps (for the most part) from letters we receive in the mail. I think I'm going to have to take the Silver Surfer off the market, because the little pirae seems to think its his. And afterall, I suppose he's not entirely wrong, since I took the stamp from a letter he got in the mail from Oma and Opa. It just so happened that I assumed the torn up envelope I found thrown under the table was no longer wanted and anybody could claim it.

I like the ones I made using a postmarked stamp from Germany.

Spending More Time Outside

A Magnet Collection and Refrigerator Magnet To-Do List

I think I will dedicate this blog post to A Collection A Day, 2010. I came across it through some other site. I collect a lot of stuff, too. Not like Lisac, but...it's still collecting. I'm sure a lot of you do, too. I think collecting is healthy...and that we should help our children to find something they want to collect. Anyway...my collection to be featured here is a small selection of the many magnets I nab from various locations and events.

I like lists...a lot! So, I took some of my ordinary/daily to-do list items, typed them up and glued them to some of my collected magnets.

Next step, cut the list items out and put them on the fridge for daily use and hourly rearranging sessions (because that's what dawdlers do).

Baby Booties!

I love making these!

(Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson)

 

About a year ago I joined a knitters club in West Virginia (where I use to live). One of the clubbers was a women hoping to soon add the label of "Mommy" to her list of titles. I was currently working on a pair of these for a college friend who just had a baby. I promised her a pair if her dreams came true. Through a friend on Facebook I saw that she was blessed with a little girl! Dreams do come true. Welcome to Mommy-hood, Jane!

Recycled Project: Color Box

One of my favorite things to do growing up was going through our pen drawer and throwing out or fixing all the pens that didn't work. It bothered me a lot (and still does) to grab a writing utensil that doesn't work.  So...I reconnected with my youth today, going through my kids' marker/crayon/color pencil/sticker/pen/pencil box! Coincidentally, at the time I was doing this one of my good friends told me I needed to get a job.

The markers, crayons, colored pencils, stickers, pencils and pens were all thrown into a large shoe box. But, that all changed! Before taking the recycling goods to the center, I yoinked some cardboard from there and glued it into the shoe box making compartments. And I found a use for all those toilet paper rolls piling up in my office closet (I'm quite certain my husband is weirded out by my fetish to keep toilet paper rolls...especially for the fact that with a 2-year old...they end up all over the house...and rarely leave the sink counter in the bathrooms since it isn't worthy of being put in the bathroom trash).

And the only reason all of this was done in the first place is because I was cleaning off a table in order to get ready for a Waffle Playdate later this week. See! Dawdling...I really could have just thrown that back in the cupboard like I had all along...but this is fresh and satisfying!

Blood Donor Month Bracelet

I've decided to create, feature and sell a Dawdler 101 bracelet of the month. This month is National Blood Donor Month. 

I donated blood once when attending university. And...I ought to do it again. I figure if I wear this bracelet, it will help remind me to go do so sometime this month. (You can buy one at my artfire shop to help remind yourself, to encourage a friend who has thought about doing so, or...maybe you just like how the bracelet looks and it's in the colors suitable for V-day which happens to be right around the corner...shop link at the top right of this blog...)

Become a part of a select group. As of recent, statistics show that only 3 out of every 100 people in America donate blood.

People need blood minutely (yes, minutely...as in every minute of every day). The only way they can get it is if somebody volunteers to give their blood. I challenge you to do the same this month, if possible...and comment about your experience here. I think it'd be great if you even commented about your experience and gratitude of being on the receiving end of getting blood. I'll keep you updated on my experience in donated. Find a blood drive near you. 

(Funny story: So...after I donated blood while attending university, the blood drives kept calling and asking for my blood saying that not a lot of people have it. My now husband, then boyfriend, and I got in a heated argument in the general direction of whose blood they wanted more. We both swore it was our own. So...anyway...when we got pregnant, the doctor mentioned that because of my blood type, for health reasons or whatever, she needed to know my husband's blood type...to make a long story short...we have the exact same blood type.)

Give blood!

Bubble Marble Magnets

I took a week off for vacation. I feel refreshed, but have been busy with getting materials ready for my company's students in South Korea. However...it seriously didn't take long for me to jump right back into the habit of dawdling around.

This is a vital step in the process of cleaning up my desk...

...stopping to make some magnets to post as my first items to sell on my new artfire account (although, at the time of making them, I had no intention of selling...I was just having some fun cleaning my desk). The link to my shop is over there on the top right of my blog...check it out if you are so bold and daring. Unfortunately the bottle cap magnet in the top image didn't make it (I was highly disappointed, because I wanted to send that to the couple in the photo as a small surprise gift, but failed to try the process out on worthless materials first). I once noticed these little bubble magnet goobers on a super good friend's refrigerator (you know who you are)...a gift given to my friend by an at-the-time very super good friend of my friend. Then, when roaming the isles in Target, I came across something similar...and it seems these silly things are now all the craze (we even got some really awesome handmade ones from a relative for Christmas). I really doubt mine will sell...but what the heck...it's free to post the item and if I don't sell them, I can always give them away as gifts...or use them on my own refrigerator to display my little pirate's artwork (he likes to draw).

I must admit...it was really exciting to do a search of "bubble magnet" on artfire and see one of my items pull up at number 20. :)

Hope you're new year is off to a great start!