Janet's Smiles

Welcome to the letter B in the A to Z Challenge for 2018.

You may not think of baking when you think of Arts and Crafts but Michaels has quite a baking section.  Wilton is one of our main product lines.

There are all kinds of cake decorating supplies like different tips for applying frosting, decorative cake holders and the containers to carry the finished cake so it doesn’t get wrecked.

My attempt at a castle cake about 15 years ago.

Gingerbread Easter House

Cookies for decorating with frosting included!

So, the next time you need something in the bakery department, check out your local Michaels!  Are you a baker?  Make any fancy cakes lately? 

Make sure to stop by and visit some of the other A to Z-ers!  Coming tomorrow, the letter C. 

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Welcome to Day 1 of the A to Z Challenge for 2018.  Yes, it is April 1 but this is no April Fool’s joke.  This year I’m blogging my way through the alphabet in Michaels Arts and Crafts Store.  I wrote about starting to work there last September and Jacqui Murray from Word Dreams made a comment that it would be a good subject for an A to Z theme and I had to agree.  So, thanks Jacqui!  Here we go.

Since the name of the store is actually Michaels Arts and Crafts, you might have thought I would start with Art but I am using neither Arts nor Crafts as letters in my alphabet!  Instead I am starting with App, as in the Michaels App that you can download for your smartphone or tablet.  This is what it looks like on my screen.

The Anatomy of the App as defined by the handout that Michaels gives.

This is what my home screen looks like.  From it I can navigate to lots of different places.  By tapping on the little scissors on the upper right corner I can get to the latest coupon deals.  I can say that there are usually coupons of some sort EVERY SINGLE DAY so it is to your benefit to access this information from your phone and even more benefit for all concerned if you access it BEFORE you get to the check out counter.  If you have trouble, the cashiers will be more than happy to help.  If you are a Michaels Rewards member (and you should be) your rewards code will be there as well and the cashier can scan that too.     

Also available in the app is a map of the store.  Michaels can be an overwhelming experience, even to a veteran shopper.  This map will show you aisle by aisle where everything is.  True, you may need a magnifying glass to see it, but it is there!  There is a search bar and you can use that to search for something specific.  If you find a product and you want to know how much it costs, you can tap the bar code icon and a scanner will appear so that you can scan the item and find the price.

You can also just shop by category.  Say you are looking for some baking supplies.  You would click on that and it would take you to the things available in the baking section.  Say you wanted to bake 48 muffins.  We have a pan for that!

There are also Holiday and Seasonal crafts to choose from.

You know I am a paper crafter so I chose that category.  From that I saw that there was a craft using Washi Tape.  I am in love with Washi tape so if I choose that, it shows me this craft to make, the  Washi-Embellished Round Box.  Scrolling down shows me what I need to make the project, where to find it in the store and the instructions:

Isn’t that cool?  You can literally spend hours just on the app before you even head for the store.  You can add the things to “your list” and then when you get to the store you can go right to where you need to go.  Also, if you would rather order things online and save yourself a trip, it is possible to order through the app.  It takes you to Michaels website and if the products are available there, you can order them and save yourself a trip.  Be aware though, that some things that are sold in the store may not be online and vice versa.

And so begins the A to Z of Michaels Arts and Crafts.  I hope you have enjoyed the lesson on the App and how valuable it can be as a tool to navigate the store and find the best deals.  If you have any questions, leave me a comment and I’ll try to answer them.  Come with me tomorrow where we will discover what B has in store! 

Make sure to stop by the A to Z Challenge list and see what other participants are offering.  There is always something new and unique going on!

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Here we are at the end of March.  Before we get to the April A to Z I just have a little more meandering to do.

I finished the book “Boys Will Be Boys” about the Dallas Cowboy glory years.  Unbelievable how much goes on that you don’t know about, even when you think you know it all! 

My next book is The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie.  She is my favorite mystery author and when my blogging friend Jay Cudney said he was going to do an Agatha read-a-thon I had to join in.  You can too since we are starting the challenge tomorrow and reading four books through the month of April.  I am hoping I’ll be able to finish them in that amount of time!  You can get all the details here.   

 Talk about zoom huh?

I love getting the shots through the trees.  Almost makes me think they are hands, playing with a ball.

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It is time for the big A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal!

For the last two years I’ve been participating in the A to Z Challenge with several hundred others and I’ve posted about that a few days ago. 

Jacqui Murray of WordDreams actually gave me the idea for this theme when I first started working at Michaels in September last year.  Thanks, Jacqui!

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We are about to embark on the A to Z Challenge for 2018 and I thought I’d take a minute to share the Reflection posts from the two prior years I have participated.  Each year music was the basic theme.

In 2016 I wrote about something to do with music for every letter of the alphabet.   Some of the topics were a little off the beaten track such as Funiculi Funicula for F and Xylorimba for X. 

This was for the letter “C” – Cowboy Jack

I was able to finish the whole challenge on time and I am pretty proud of my first abecedarium.

In 2017 I wanted to incorporate my love of scrapbooking with my love of music and so I went through the alphabet showcasing the concert album I am making of all the bands we have seen.  I did take the liberty of using some song names to cover the letters rather than the names of the bands.

This was from my letter A for Adele

I overestimated my abilities for this challenge and could not finish on time, although I did eventually do all the letters and they are linked in that recap post.

Next Monday, the 19th of March, is the big Theme Reveal for this year’s challenge.  There are already over 300 participants signed up and there will probably be many more.  You can find out all the info and sign up to participate here.

It is a really fun challenge and I have learned so many things and made so many new blogging friends through my participation.  I highly recommend it and even if you don’t want to blog, there are many interesting themes out there to explore.

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Earlier this year I wrote about getting the Sherlock Holmes Tarot cards.

The book notes on this card say:  “You possess clarity and power and from this new ideas arise.  Truth and ethics keeps you focused….”  The “keys” keys of this card are Strength and Power.  Given that we had just returned from our trip to Reno where we did the Big City Hunt and that I had an idea to make mini-scrapbook albums based on those adventures, this seemed very fitting.  I even thought about trying to collaborate with the Big City Hunt people to offer my scrapbooking services to other people who went on the hunts.  Strength and power speak to the weight loss efforts and being more focused on what I’m eating since we came back from vacation.

The next week I pulled the Peeler card from the Suit of Deduction.  This card talks about seeing things through to the end, taking pride, being patient and determined, trustworthy and methodical.  Okay, that fits with where I am wanting to go.  So far I am being methodical and finishing up some other projects and making lists of things that still need to be done.  I’m a great list maker!  I have lost a few of the pounds I gained on our trip and I am being patient and not expecting results overnight. 

Last week I pulled the Hansom Cab.  It’s legend says “Purpose and determination to move ahead in the case.  Mastery of skill or ability brings a successful outcome.  Self-confidence and self-discipline.  Navigate with a clear sense of direction.  Determination and courage.  Leap forward with your hands on the reins.  Success and fame are the rewards.  Victory.  Well, I’m not so sure about the fame part but success would be nice.  Self-confidence and self-discipline are things that I am pretty familiar with so again I’m thinking I’m on the right track.   I’m doing some research and taking some online classes to learn new techniques. 

This week I pulled the Five of Observation.  This was a strange card and talked about theft of identity, slander or loss, thwarted plans, abuse or assault.  A sense of defeat.  Cowardice.  At first I was a little apprehensive.  I checked all our bank accounts and told myself to be really careful when I was using a credit card.  I tried to make sense of this in relation to my goals.  Identity theft is all we need right now!

I’ve started to take daily walks around the neighborhood to help with getting in some exercise and I find it a great way to do some thinking.  On my walk it hit me…the card was talking about ME, not an outside force!  Words like fraud and phony started swirling around in my brain.  Cowardice!  A sense of defeat!  The card was telling me that I need to stop my “list making” and “learning new things” and actually DO some of the things on the list!  Stop talking about the plans and actually start with some action!  Stop being a coward and take the plunge!  Thinking back to last week’s card about taking the reins in my hands and leaping forward made me realize that I’ve been procrastinating on some things.  What am I afraid of?    

So, action steps this week were to add a few blocks to the walk I have been doing.  I walk a bit faster during some of it so it only takes me a little while longer.  I started making some more cards to add to the Etsy site and I am working on a travel mini-album.  That immediately made me feel more in control of the situation.

I’m still going to keep my eye on our bank account and be careful when using credit cards, etc., but I really believe that the card was telling me to stop talking and take action.  How about you?  Ever use a tarot deck?  What do you think of my interpretations?  

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Every year for the last few years I’ve been making Vision Cards, as introduced by the wonderful Jamie Ridler.    Half the year is gone so it’s time for me to check in and see how I’m doing.  Here are the ones I made for this year:

The first has to do with self-care.  I have done pretty well with my Hungry Girl eating program and have lost about 18 pounds since January (44 total since last year).  Not a huge amount but at the same time I don’t feel like I am depriving myself or starving.  We eat out occasionally and I certainly don’t kill myself exercising but for the most part, I am happy with the way things are going.  In the last month I have really stepped up my walking, taking a walk around the neighborhood almost every day.  I have set myself some weight loss goals and so for the next six months I am going to make a more focused effort in that regard. 

Next has to do with my creative life.  My goal is to be able to increase my income by either selling the cards and mini-albums I make and/or earn some money through affiliate programs.  I haven’t really worked very hard in this area yet, although I am now an affiliate for both Blitsy (an online craft store) and Creative Live, an online education resource.  You can see both of those on the right side of this blog (if you are seeing it on Blogspot – I haven’t added them to the WordPress site yet).  I have been taking some of the free courses offered on Creative Live about how to utilize my Etsy site better and be found in search engines.  In the second half of the year I hope to put all the research I’ve been doing into practice.  I do have one craft fair scheduled in November.   

Travel and Adventure is the next card.  I think we really covered that well with the Big City Hunt that we went on last month in Reno.  We have the voucher for one in San Francisco that I want us to do now that the weather is getting nicer.  I’d still like to hit Carmel and Monterey but I’m not sure that will happen this year.  

Finances is something that is a never ending battle it seems.  Just when I think we are getting ahead, something happens to stall us.  I’m not giving up though and will continue to work toward making our retirement less stressful.

Finally, we have our home.  The makeover it got last year did wonders and I wanted to continue the trend.  We used up our financial resources for the most part so the things we do now need to be at minimal cost.  We have made a great start in the last month in two areas.  The backyard, where I have started to detangle the jungle that has grown there and the garage where my husband has really made huge improvements on cleaning out and organizing.  It is a tricky area because I can only offer my opinion when asked as the things in the garage are mostly his.  I wouldn’t want him to come and organize my craft room though, so I totally understand. 

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We have lived in our house for 21 years now as of Flag Day (June 14).  The house was built in 1955 by the original owner and he used redwood to build it so we have been told that it is very well constructed.  We are the second owners.  About a year after we moved in we were able to participate in the Airport Noise Abatement program and got all new double paned windows, sturdy doors throughout the house and insulation in the attic for free.  Living smack dab between the airport and the train, those improvements helped a lot.

Over the course of the last 21 years we admittedly did very little ourselves to the house, inside or out.  We did paint both bathrooms and all three bedrooms (the kids rooms we did a couple of times) but that was years ago.  We had a leak in the kitchen so we patched the roof over that area but other than putting new sheet rock over the bad spot on the ceiling we haven’t done anything there.

In January of 2015 we had to replace the back fence.  You can read about that here.  Last May we took the plunge and gave the outside a face lift.  You can read about that here and here.   Then in November we tackled another major hot spot, the front bathroom and went from this:

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Okay folks, here it is…the last letter in the A to Z Challenge that I skipped.

V is for Van Halen!  We had pretty good seats for this one, on the floor in the first row of the second section.  We were afraid that we weren’t going to get a chance to see them because after the tour started they cancelled a bunch of their shows because they said they overbooked themselves.  Of course there was speculation of fighting between them and/or drugs as per usual.   Fortunately, our show was not one of the ones that was cancelled.  

Kool and the Gang were the opening act and they got the crowd off to a good start.

There was a big screen behind the stage and Van Halen used it extensively.  Having the images on the screen like that makes it easier for me to get some great shots.

Eddie may be getting older but he can still play a mean guitar.

I must admit that although there are a lot of songs I like, I was not a very big Van Halen fan in my younger days.  To be honest, I don’t even know if I can tell the difference between the songs that David Lee Roth sings from the ones that Sammy Hagar sings.  Given that, I thought they put on a pretty good show.  My husband, being a bigger fan, was a little disappointed.  I know that we both were not thrilled with the little tidbits that David Lee Roth put out there about his old girlfriends and his dog.  Sing the songs, don’t give me your personal history.  He did his twirling of the microphone and some leg kicking but I don’t think he was nearly as acrobatic — but he is getting older!

A huge cloud of red and black confetti spread over the crowd and I managed to get a few pieces to include here.  I included a shot of the area seating and marked where our seats were in this layout.  

There were also two reviews of the show in the local papers and I have included those with the scrapbook as well.

So, there it is.  I can finally say I really finished the A to Z Challenge.  Looking back on it now, I realized that I had originally intended to tell a bit more about my scrapbooking process and explain different techniques I used and the supplies, etc.  However, as I got farther and farther into it, I realized that I didn’t leave myself enough time to do that and the pages that I had done a while ago I could not remember the different names of paper styles, etc.

I also realized that I TAKE A LOT OF PICTURES AT CONCERTS!  I have come to the conclusion that I don’t need to keep every single picture I take and that I need to be more selective and edit them before I print them.  I was getting free prints from Shutterfly because my son worked for them and that was one of his perks.  Since he doesn’t take pictures he let me have them.  I had a lot of pictures printed that way.  Now that he no longer works there, I have been trying to take advantage of their sales and giveaways and be more careful about the pictures I have printed.  I’ll still take a lot of pictures at the concerts because you never know when something special is going to happen, but I don’t have to keep them all!

Now it’s time to start thinking about what I can do for next year’s A to Z!  Hope you have enjoyed reliving my concerts with me.  Love to hear any comments!  

Even though the challenge is over now, you can still click over to the main A to Z Challenge page to see what other participants have come up with for this letter if you are so inclined.

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It has been quite a while since I added any of the pictures I’ve been taking.  Here are a few of my recent ones:

#169 – In honor of Father’s Day I picked this one of my dad helping me blow out the candles on the occasion of my first birthday.  Somewhere I have one of him holding me but I couldn’t find it now (of course – which leads me to add sorting photographs to my current to-do list!)  My dad passed away about 35 years ago so he didn’t get to meet my husband or our kids, a fact that I’m a little sad about.  I know he can see from heaven, but I am pretty sure my kids would have gotten a kick out of him.  Wasn’t I a cute kid?  There is a sparkly thing on my left hand which I am pretty sure is a ring given to me by my godparents.  Who in their right mind would let a little kid have a choke magnet like that?  

#168 – Tuesday’s With Morrie was a quick read so here is book #11.  This is based on a true story of a Holocaust surviving family.  It is one of the “mystery books” that Bill brought home from Oregon.

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