What are your interests or crafts?

**rejoice** · 04-21-2009, 10:47 PM

Some examples. My younger daughter baby's pic song is "Isn't she wonderful"
My Boy's is "Bad To The Bone" There growing up yrs are songs about growing up. Songs that mean something to them. I would have to go get my DVD'S to tell you. I also have done my wedding and my years of dating my husband. The dating my husband is Alan Jackson song-"Remember When" I call these my project. You have to have good photo editing and software to make your pics move. I make them fade it and out. Make the pics dance etc. I done my children graduation,now I am doing my grandchildren. I am giving each child a copy and keeping the others in a fireproof box.
The song and music finding is real hard work. So is the editing of the pics.

I have so many pictures and want them to come alive on screen.
My children love them and every anniversay, me and my husband of 30 years get out DVD of "Remember When"

**Caesarea** · 04-21-2009, 11:20 PM

Originally Posted by nicowolf

I solve life's problems. Explanation follows.

I had a futon that was horribly uncomfortable. I couldn't afford to buy a sofa just yet. A decent futon mattress at that time costed $300 to $400 (almost a cheap sofa). The wooden arms were part of the discomfort. Solution: I got online and researched and sourced. I built my own futon mattress, and padded and upholstered the arms, and sewed my own cover for it. I have since bought a sofa and Mom is loving the futon because I made it and it makes a very firm bed (she doesn't like her bed much).

I bought a canopy bed but couldn't find the right canopy for it. I also fell in love with purple and grey as colors (not easy to find in textiles). Solution: I made my own draperies, bedskirt, and coordinating canopy.

I had surgery on my hand and was off work for 6 weeks (twice) and needed to exercise my hand during that time. Solution: I learned some crocheting basics and made two "lesbian hug blankies" for two friends who I thought needed extra hugs at the time. (lesbian hug blankies are made with consumers color preferences in mind, love and adoration in every stitch, and are long enough to be a blanket instead of just a throw).

I had foot problems from getting older and spending too much time on my feet to earn a living. I bought LOTS of shoe inserts at the drugstore. I went to the podiatrist and got custom orthotics. Those horribly expensive custom orthotics were like standing barefoot on concrete (not enough padding). Sending them back to the company costed me 4 weeks of taping my feet (tedious and hard on your skin and can create more future problems) and only got minimal padding added and the padding created a whole new set of problems. Solution: I made my own using crafting foam.

I bought an electronic cigarette. I was blissful for a minute. It really does help me to say no to analogs. The batteries didn't last long enough between charges. The switches in the batteries kept getting stuck. Several batteries died way too soon. Solution: I learned how to wire a battery pack for an e-cig and how to solder. I now make my own e-cig batteries and will not go back to the ones that cost a fortune and don't last.

From the outside, it looks like I follow something obsessively for a while, then move on to something else with just as much interest as the last one. Actually, once the problem is solved, I find a new problem to focus on (I don't look for one, it happens naturally). These little projects of mine are more than a pasttime for me. They are the only thing that catches my interest. I am bored and irritable when I cannot be focused on my pet project.

Hey, a born problem-solver, Nicowolf! You're much more practical than I am. I will end up mending a lock or a chair, eventually, but I ignore the darn thing as long as I can get away with it, then irritation takes over!

'Scuse the popping in and out of the room, folks. I've got loads of catching up with work to do now the vacation is over.

Catch you all tomorrow.

**nicowolf** · 04-21-2009, 11:56 PM

Originally Posted by Caesarea

Hey, a born problem-solver, Nicowolf! You're much more practical than I am. I will end up mending a lock or a chair, eventually, but I ignore the darn thing as long as I can get away with it, then irritation takes over!

'Scuse the popping in and out of the room, folks. I've got loads of catching up with work to do now the vacation is over.

Catch you all tomorrow.

There are many problems that I am able to ignore like that (disorganization is the worst of them right now). Some problems just irritate and fester and I cannot get them out of my head until I fix it. The futon was the only place to lounge and I couldn't lounge anymore. My poor feet were killing me morning noon and night. The bedroom looked soooooo odd with this canopy bed and no fabric at the windows, and only minimal dressing on the mattress, just stark surroundings and a bed meant for lush, romantic surroundings. The e-cigs are expensive and I insist that they should be more reliable than they are. To me these problems are like having a sore thumb, I am reminded constantly that they exist and that they are problems and that they are not going away. The problems that I can let go tend to be the ones that cause me intermittent grief.

**Menolly** · 04-22-2009, 01:09 AM

I am the "rotating hobby" type. I'll jump into a hobby obsessively, have some fun, and move on to the next thing that strikes my fancy. Sometimes it takes months, sometimes days. Generally the hobby will cycle back around, so I keep all of my supplies. It drives my fiancé CRAZY. He believes I'll do the same thing with the e-cigs, but he doesn't understand that this is an alteration to my lifestyle and not a hobby.

Hobbies that cycle back around with frequency include: Knitting, Spinning yarn, Dyeing yarn/things to be turned into yarn, crochet, painting, cooking, baking, cake decorating, reading, video games, and beading. Yarn and spinning supplies take up a lot of space! I'm on Ravelry as Menolly, but I haven't logged on in a while. Currently I'm on a SciFi TV show kick. (Watching through Star Trek Deep Space Nine and Red Dwarf with my Fiancé)

**bmacva** · 04-22-2009, 02:40 AM

Wow, you all are sooo creative!! I used to do crafts, crocheting and cross stitch, but have no time for anything anymore. Or maybe it's no patience.

Like Rejoice, I do pics and videos with music on DVD. I've done weddings and family reunions for my big time stuff, then just smaller things for my family, including my children (2 cats and a dog).

And I hang out on the computer way too much. LOL

**bmacva** · 04-22-2009, 02:44 AM

Originally Posted by rejoice

You have to have good photo editing and software to make your pics move.

Rejoice, what are you using? I use Pinnacle Studio Ultimate but I'd give anything for an iMac.

Oh, maybe with the money I save by not buying analogs I could get one!

**Mary Kay** · 04-22-2009, 04:44 AM

I love to decorate with photo's. New old whatever! Above my computer I have shelves with about a hunderd photos of family and friends. I would rather look at them daily then have to dig out the album once in a while. I have most of them on a disc but not done artfully or with music. That would be something great to learn!

Hmmm Caesarea, songs for bad men:
Hit the Road Jack
Bad to the bone
Bad Boys

NicoWolf, I love a problem solver! It takes a special kind of person to see a problem, walk all around it and "see" the solution. Most people just call someone like you when there is a problem.
Around my house I do the fixing, do all the workarounds and make most of the holes in the wall! lol Mike was in the Air Force and gone alot. It was me or call a "He-man". I chose me.

There is an old WWII saying Grandma taught me:
Use it up
Wear it out
Make it do
Or do without.
Menolly, I know that name! Dragonriders of Pern..maybe? I was a huge fan.
I have one whole closet dedicated to my "as soon as I get around to it" stuff, Fabric, paints, Cross stitch ect.
Mary

**spike** · 04-22-2009, 04:37 PM

I've been making quilts for years, and have six large boxes of assorted fabrics. So why is it when I have a specific colour or fabric in mind I cannot find anything remotely suitable and have to buy yet more..........