Wednesday, February 29, 2012

The quality of Handmades

I have been thinking a lot lately about the quality of handmade items. Often, in our world of fast-paced internet and mass machinery production, it seems that people lose sight of these treasures. Have you ever mentioned that you make hand made items, sew, craft, etc... only to earn a raised brow or scoff from some people? These are usually the same people who expect you to hand make an item for a cheap price as well. Somehow, hand crafting has become associated with "lower financial and social classes." My question is: why? A hand made item requires much time as well as skill. Many of these items are also one-of-a-kind. It puzzles me how a person will special-order an auto or clothing from a mass-producer [usually a well-known company or label] and not argue the price. yet, that same person wants you to hand craft but for a cheap price. Is this not an oxymoron of sorts? It is certainly ridiculous, isn't it? Kudos to all hand crafters, who do deserve respect as well as a fair payment for your goods.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

This gal stays busy ♥

Hello again. Yes, I am always doing something, ha ha :) Since I mentioned in an earlier post that I did open a blog on Wordpress, I will give that url here. I will never leave Blogger, and my Blogger blog will continue to be my top priority. Since those blogs are open y'all are welcome to check them out. The Following is by email. I'll make sure this blog isn't just repeats of my Blogger blogs. Y'all can find it here:
Danice's Eclectic Blog

Friday, February 24, 2012

Our Daddy

This is a photo is of my twin sister's and my Daddy. He was away in college in Memphis, TN and Mother was in Mississippi in 1945, when this photo was made. Daddy was 23 years old. We do lovingly remember our Daddy today, as he would have been 90 years old.

~Daddy: 24 February 1922-08 May 1989~

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Thank you, Wendy!

Wow! I just now learned that Wendy from Ravenwood Whimzies listed me as a Versatile Blogger! I am so happy, and thankful to you Wendy. This is really a great honor that is greatly appreciated.

Now, on to 7 Things About Me (actually 10):

1. I have a fraternal twin sister named Janice. Of course the names rhyme: it was the '60's.

2. I was one of the first female graduates from Heritage Christian University way back in December 1985. My daughter was then 18 months old.

3. I graduated from the University of Mississippi in 2008 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre/Design.

4. I was married for 10 years, and we have one daughter, Amanda, who is soon to be 28 years old.

5. I was blessed with my first grand child last June, Macey Elizabeth.

6. My father was my inspiration to graduate from college. He lost a leg at the age of 16, and still managed to graduate college and own his own business. He fitted and built orthopedic supplies.

7. My mother inspired me to become a mother. She gave birth to our then only hospital's first set of twins for the year 1964, Janice and myself. Mother gave natural childbirth.

8. You all know how I love crafting and sewing. Guess what: I also love those older TV shows, especially Little House On The Prairie.

9. I am one of the biggest fans of Johnny Depp there is, and have been since way before the first Pirates film. That was ,after all, about his 30th film appearance.

10. As an undergrad, I let my hair grow for 5 years. By graduation, it was much longer. I also still wear bell-bottoms and tye-dye. And, yes, this nearly-black really is my natural hair color, along with the grey streaks.

So, hopefully I haven't bored you all. Thanks again for making my blogs successful. Hey, am I supposed to pass this award on to 9 other bloggers?

Blogger and Wordpress weighed


image: southernfried|Morguefile

Late last year, I decided to open a Wordpress.com free blog just to see if that platform really is better than Blogger. I actually opened two blogs. Let me say, it has nearly driven me crazy!!! This is not their fault, but I am just saying that if you are used to Blogger and are not super tech-savvy you will likely have headaches like I did. I have only begun to learn more about templates, html, and css, etc... in the last few years. I am certainly no expert. Disadvantages and advantages are present. Let's look at some of them:

There are two Wordpress accounts available. I have compared their free Wordpress.com to Blogger.com, to be fair. (Wordpress.org is their paid service). Even though I have been known to whine about GFC, Blogger is still by far the more user-friendly, especially for those who are new to tech stuff like blogging. Below is my comparison. I'd love to hear your opinions

Blogger is easier to post on and add a favicon. Blogger and Wordpress may soon lose the Followers gadget we are accustomed to: the little thumbnail images of our followers. Good news is that Linky Followers has a special code for Wordpress and other platforms that do not allow javascript. Blogger and Wordpress both update a bit slow. Wordpress' free account won't allow editing the template CSS or Html like we can do in Blogger, so adding those templates with a Html gadget in Design is not possible. Blogger and Wordpress both have issues with displaying properly in different browsers, namely IE and Firefox, two of the most popular browsers. But, since Blogger and Wordpress.com are free blog platforms, I guess I should stop whining about that (ha).

Most of us like a prim or country, shabby or romantic look to our templates. Wordpress.com seems to be designed with a techy business look instead. It's really a matter of what look you want and how much you are willing to learn. Wordpress is very search engine optimized (SEO), and they do provide and image library even on their free accounts. While Blogger provides no image library, they do not limit our use of images that we host somewhere else or add with a Picture gadget. Wordpress has many free templates to choose from, as does Blogger. Wordpress .com does not allow any ads or selling, ie "selling blogs" not allowed. Of course, we are all entitled to our own opinions... Happy blogging which ever platform(s) you choose to blog on, as both Wordpress and Blogger are good choices.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

I did it!

I decided to turn off Word Verification for this blog. We'll see how this works. I definitely want you all to feel welcome to comment, and to be able to do so easily. In fact, until I read some of your recent posts, I hadn't even noticed that the words had gotten so difficult to read. I wonder why they were made so difficult to read... who knows. Hopefully, having this feature turned off will make blog life easier for us all.

Word Verification, etc...

Wow, that Word Verification has really gotten super difficult to read. I am thinking about removing it from my blogs. Several of you have said that you feel the same way. As far as turning off Comment Moderation, well, no can do because several of my blogs have been targeted by the same spammer. With Comment Moderation, their "comments" never got published on my blogs. Plus, since I have Email Notification turned on, their spam never reached my email inbox. Thank goodness for that. Had I been offline asleep, their spam would have been published and would have reached my email if Comment Moderation were turned off. (Yes, if you have Comment Moderation turned off and Email Notification turned on, all will go to your inbox, spam and non-spam, viruses and all that bad stuff along with the good stuff).

Some have told me that I am a no reply email. I do this not to be unfriendly, but for the same reason as above: spam and hackers. While you blogger friends are certainly not spammers and hackers, making an email address public also makes it easily available to spammers and hackers. This is a risk that is too risky. Creating a special email account for this also does no good, as that email address would be checked on with my computer, which still would leave my computer open to viruses and the such. This is why, on most of my blogs, I have a sidebar Email Me image that goes to a free email form. I can be contacted through these free forms, and yes they do have word verification but it is easy to read. These forms do not reveal my email address, and I can choose from my email to not open emails that look suspicious. Only if I reply does the sender get my email address. This system works very well for me, and I check the email account that they go to on a daily basis. This is the link for the free email forms: Email Me Form.com

The reason I do not have Comments embedded below my posts is simply because when there are several comments, that makes the blog page very long. People usually do not like to have to scroll until their wrist is nearly strained. I am still debating on whether to change that back from my current pop-up window.

Back to the Word Verification. 'Still thinking of turning that off. The Comment Moderation will still help stop spamming and hacking. I agree with you all that having to try 3 or 4 times to read those characters and getting told you entered the wrong ones is a major pain. What are your thoughts on these things?

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to you all. I hope everyone's day is filled with love and caring. Wishing the best to all of you. Without you, none of my blogs would be successful. Love and appreciation to you all for your friendship, following and adding all of the great comments ♥
image: ©Scrappin

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Ticking pillow

Hello again, friends. A couple of weeks ago, Mother hurt her neck. Every Friday she goes to the beauty shop to have her hair done, and since she is only 5' tall, it kinda strains her to lean back into the hair washing basin. She could not even turn her head and was in great pain, so I drove her to the doctor. He prescribed medicine and gave her a muscle relaxer shot. Then I got to thinking that if she had a small pillow to place between her neck and the basin, that may prevent strain. So, I made this red ticking pillow for her. She skipped the beauty shop last Friday, and is returning tomorrow. Let's hope this neck pillow helps Mother.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Historical clothing

'Back again! Research is something I have always loved doing, and was one of my strong points in college days. Recently, I have added some more info to this blog's page about the: Frontier Era.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Craft boxes ideas?

These 6 craft boxes have been around for over a year, and are still not decorated. There are two small ones, two medium, and two large boxes. Any ideas of scenes that could be painted on them? Simple designs would be best, since arthritis often limits me. How about a sheep, saltbox house, and maybe a prim star? What are some of your ideas? It will likely take me a while to complete these, but as soon as they are done photos will be posted.