Hello friends! Please forgive my recent hiatus. I went to California with plans to post regularly but the palm trees voodoo’d me into distraction. And by “distraction” I mean slothful consumption of sunshine and Dr. Pepper ice cream floats by the pool. Not to worry – ample details to follow!
Also. On the excuses front, there was a major meltdown on the backend of my site’s server. If you came here in the last two weeks and it was down or it looked like another site (yeah – that was weird, right?) I apologize. Finger crossed it’s fixed for good now but stranger things have happened. Then the fun part – I came back to Chicago to find a water pipe at my studio froze and exploded and it was horrible and I cried and the good times keep rolling.
But I digress. It’s Monday, it’s a new week, and Carson and Mrs. Hughes got married (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) on Downton Abbey last night so I’m going to be a happy camper IF IT KILLS ME.
Now. Let’s get back to the previously scheduled program of being awesome.
Ahem:
This 93-year-old granny models her granddaughter’ weavings like a champ!
Every color lego ever invented.
The pigment library to end all pigment libraries lives at Harvard, thus, I’ll be needing a reason to visit Boston asap. Thank you.
Ann of Green gables is coming back with thanks to one of the writers from breaking bad and i’m ready to LOSE MY MIND.
This is what I’m wearing through March. Save your judgements for your cold, puffy parka coat laughing in the corner.
Dogs with flower crowns. Need I say more?
Also! An update! Some of you asked if I’m doing another Valentine swap this year. The answer is YES, but I’m going to need to change up the format a little. I’ll be honest, nearly 10% of last year’s participants reported a problem with sending or receiving one or more Valentines and that is NOT COOL. For anyone. Especially my inbox. Most of this is the result of people who decide to pull out at the last minute, or people who didn’t take it seriously in the first place. I’m thinking if I add a small obstacle to make it harder to sign up (don’t hate me)…we can separate the wheat from the chaff. Sidenote: Is it chaff? Or shaff? Or maybe it’s shaft? I’m not sure but spellcheck says shaff is not a real word and chaff sounds vaguely farmish to me so I’m keeping it. The point being, as much as I would love the swap to keep growing in size, I would rather see it go small if it meant all those participating got what they signed up for.
Some people suggested a small entrance donation, while others suggested changing it to an ‘by invitation only’ basis for people who participated successfully in the past. Neither one of those sounds appealing to me right now, but I’m open to suggestion. Thoughts? Either way, I’m keeping the signup window short. Expect to see something something the last week of January. Holy cow I just typed that out and that is next week. Oufff.
Did I mention? Happy Monday!
I’ve done the Valentines swap twice and even participated in the Flamingo exchange a few Christmases back! I hope to do the valentines again! I guess I was one of the lucky few who had NO problems. Thanks for being awesome.
DAMMIT! Spoilers, Peaches!
1. Ok, my bad, but 2. DOODE Who didn’t know they were getting married?!?! That’s like telling people ‘the boat went down’ in Titanic. I’m only surprised they didn’t save it for the final episode.
My friend got it all out on DVD….and so I’ve watched to the finale. There are FAR more wonderful things to come!! Enjoy it 🙂
I tried to share the legos and the doggy flowers, but it wasn’t allowed. I would like to make some crowns for my dogs with Aunt Peaches flowers! So, did you lose any art in your studio, or do you have renters’ insurance?
no renter’s insurance but my loss as more inconvenience than value. the landlord is taking care of the plumbing, and that’s the worst of it.
I’m glad you still want to do the swap. This year has been so difficult for me and I am really looking forward to spreading some love.
me too jenny!
Thoughts:
1. I want to get married again (to the same guy) and have the exact same wedding reception as Carson and Mrs. Hughes-Carson. “I don’t mind the schoolhouse,” indeed.
2. Those weavings and their model are AWE. SOME.
3. I am cautiously excited about the new Anne series. Wonder when it will be available in the US?
4. You know I am IN for the Valentine’s Swap. It’s a shame that there have been poopers to the party. I’m all for making the sign-up window shorter and a bit more complicated if it helps weed out not-so-serious participants. Not so excited about the idea of pay-to-play or by-invitation-only (although, I’d certainly be invited, right 😉 ?), but I’d probably sign up no matter what. I’ve loved doing it every time!
wasn’t it the cutest eddying ever? and i loved the flag garlands…thought they were SO PINTEREST but then it occurred to me that maybe it was pinterest that as being SO DOwNTON. ha! And of course you would be invited to participate!
I did the Valentines swap last year and I may have accidentally created a complaint. I sent my Valentines and one of them came back to me because I got the address wrong! 🙁 I fixed it and resent it, but I’m afraid that because of that, it was
rather late. I wrote an apology to the woman who got it so late. I’m not sure if she sent you a complaint first, but I’m here to say, that I loved doing it and receiving the valentines and I hope that I don’t get kicked out! 🙂 🙁 :/
I’m sure it was fine. Most of the confusion and complaints comes from people who pull out at the last minute…the list is large but thanks to the Excel sort function, it’s very easy for me to see who does not send stuff. I can also see in Mailchimp ho does/doesn’t open the email with the recipient addresses, so. Yeah. It’s not just one-off glitches, it’s a systemic problem.
What about a truly tiny donation like $2 or $3 to enter? And don’t make it to you, make it to one of those organizations that use art to help disabled kids or abused kids or etc.
I bet you can get one to partner with you and then have them set up a page for this. Once the sign-up window closes, they give you a list of all the emails and then you match people up!
The problem is non-profits are required by law to keep donor records of all (non cash) funds received. It might take me only a minute to donate $3 but it can 15+ minutes for their admin to then create the donor record in their database, send a thank you note for tax purposes, sort the file into their mailing lists so they can spend more money soliciting donations in the future (if you have ever donated to a charity you know how much mail you’ll see later!)…multiply this times hundreds of valentine participants and I just created a royal pain in the butt for some poor charity. I’m not cool with creating a lot of work for them so I can avoid work for me. You know? I could act as the middle man and do one big donation but that seems a little sketchy and I’d have to pay taxes on money collected. anyway. i’m not ruling anything out, and i have already spoken to a couple of organizations…i’m just trying to avoid solving one problem by creating another one. it’s harder than it looks. 😉
Currently binge watching Road to Avonlea, a series based on L.M. Montgomery books. Got it for Christmas! Saw my favorite episode tonight, Gus asks Felicity to marry him. So sweet. We chose our daughter’s name from a character on the series and her middle name is Anne. I’m excited to see a new Anne of Green Gables!
Really looking forward to the Valentine swap! Thank you for getting us all together for some fun.
LOVE LOVE LOVED that Road to Avonlea hen it was on disney back in the 90’s!
And hat a great name for a kid!
Hey – I am one of those that signed up, and did not get to participate. I didnt mean to flake…..and have been looking forward to another opportunity to join and participate. I’d really like to this year. A fee will not make it better, lots of people pay for convenience these days – and a fee/donation does not equal commitment.
No, but it does mean that everyone participating would have some skin in the game and that usually increases community commitment. It might also avoid the many ‘I signed up but didn’t hear back’ emails (a time-stamped donation receipt would take care of that). No scenario is ideal. Still working on it…
As soon as we officially hit mid-January, I started thinking Valentine Swap.
I’ve done both valentines and flamingos. The only “problem” I experienced is that I had to rethink/retool my overseas swaps because the postage for what I originally wanted to send was astronomical.
I, too, want to suggest a small-fee-to-charity solution. For example, check out DreamingZebra.org — which donates music and art supplies to children, schools, and non-profit organizations.
You are a first class mail champion Lynn! your mail skills are the stuff of legends!
High praise, indeed, from the legendary Aunt Peaches herself.
I now have a banner in my studio that says “Your mail skills are the stuff of legends! Aunt Peaches, January, 2016”
🙂
OH MAN re your frozen pipes Peaches! This happened to us once and we came home to a cracked toilet bowl with an iceberg in it!
I am thrilled you will repeat the fun of the V-Day swap ( oh, sorry, THAT didn’t come out right !). My Australian Swapper and I became e-Friends on Facebook. If she reads this, sorry I had to get off. Too many “nutbars-from-the-past” stalkers
Happy 2016!
xo
That’s so cool you guys became FB friends! That makes my day!
Been getting ready for the Valentines swap! It doesn’t really bother me if I get no Valentines in return, making and sending is the fun part! But I wouldn’t be opposed to a small donation to be able to do it!
Love your attitude Camille – I hope you get ALLLL the valentines 🙂
You’re right, it’s chaff. Straight from the farmer’s mouth to your website. I’ve spent months teaching my phone’s autocorrect the names of the flowers I grow so I can text faster. The things they omit are always surprising (to me, anyway) 🙂
Sorry to hear about your pipe, I hope your insurance covers a fancy new floor and shelving!
That’s the kind of Gran that everyone should have in their lives! She looks like she’s having a great time.
I MUST add that pigment library to my list of places to visit. That’s like one of the most amazing places I’ve never heard of.
And yes, it’s “chaff”. You are correct.
Why can’t adult women make a commitment and honor it? WTH is with people? I know life gets in the way sometimes, but you are letting someone down. Okay, yeah, they are an anonymous stranger and you don’t have to look them in the face, but, is this how you would want to be treated? Or your grandma?
And no. I have never participated and I won’t because I don’t have time. But at least I’m honest about it. And I think it’s such a great idea. I don’t get people who can’t stand by their word.
I don’t get it either. I flake out on stuff all the time, granted, but this is one of those rare *reciprocal* commitments. You can’t just forget that you signed up. It’s one thing to skip sending your valentines, but your name is already in the pool and you then get to deal with the feelings that come when you see three other people sending YOU valentines. I would feel like such an ass. and that’s some majorly bad juju.
Oh thank god you’re back! I missed you.
Several things.
1. What do you think of craigslist free? I have furnished my house with it, but as a true afficionado of quality from thrift, i was wondering. Plus your storage ideas are soooo much more awesome!
2. New to valentine’s swap. Could you explain how it works?
3. Pppplllleeeeaaaasssseeee stay with me when you come to Boston!!!!
I am SO STOKED for the Valentine swap! I think I have an idea for what I’m going to do picked out already, I just have to make everything. It’s a shame that some people are party poopers, but I know we all really appreciate you sticking with it and hosting another swap. The invite only idea sounds good to me. I’ve participated in swaps on other sites and they have ‘veteran swaps’ that are only open to people that have successfully participated in swaps before, kind of a similar idea.
Absolutely loving Granny… her adorable modeling brings back fabulous memories of my Mom. I’d purchased a huge lot of linens at auction, during my eBay heyday. There were all kinds of gorgeous aprons in the lot. Mom modeled them for all my photos and not one was left after the sale. To this day, I’m sure it was her beauty that was the attraction!
Belated congratulations on your White House gig! Would love to hear details.
I was JUST TODAY thinking about the V-Day swap – I’ve participated a couple of times now and love it so it’s a shame to hear some people had problems.
Oh and AoGG making a re-appearance? Yes Please!!!! Thank you so much for putting that on my radar!
Oh and that granny! Love her! Did you see another link on their Facebook page about stones with dots? It looked like something you would totally nail!
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/elspeth-mclean-painted-ocean-stones
Woah. Spoilers! Really wasn’t expecting that, or I might have tried to avoid reading your post. Next time a warning? Please?
I hope that my VD swaps went to some happy hands.
I worry now that some people didn’t get mine, and I wish there was a way to know.
Too bad there isn’t a guest book or VD sign up comment section where people could leave little notes, like, “sent” and “received.
Lame idea but it’s all I could think of late at night!
If you didn’t hear from me, I wouldn’t worry about it!
I was also just thinking about the swap and hoping you’d do it again this year. I didn’t get mine last year but I had lots of fun making those I sent out!
I’ve run a few swaps and sadly there will always be flakes. The best way I’ve found to prevent this is to keep a list of blacklisted people, have at least one mandatory check in date towards the endish. People who don’t check in get dropped right then and their partners are reassigned to “swap Angels” these are people that volunteer to make but not receive a valentine. So they may have swap partners too but they agree that in the event of an emergency they will make _____ extra valentines to send out to people that get jilted. Either because their person didn’t check in and got dropped or they notify you by a week or two after the send deadline that they never got a valentine. I will happily volunteer to be a swap angel. I’ve done it for loads of swaps and had many people volunteer to do it for my swaps. Sadly there’s really no way to stop it. I haven’t run one swap where someone hasn’t flaked out. :/ anyhow. All this does mean keeping pretty good records from year to year. Good luck. Don’t let the crafty trolls get you down. Karma will bring them many paper cuts in their future mailing endeavors.
Yes, those are great tips, and yes to the Swap Angels! I would volunteer to be an angel, too. I’m kind of tremendously smitten with an adorably sweet Canadian fella, so I’m in the mood to make lots of Valentines anyway. 🙂
I can’t wait for the Valentine swap! I think I’ve participated every year…and there have been a few years where I didn’t get all of them back. It’s disappointing, but not the end of the world. Even if I just get one it’s fun to receive. I like sending out mine…and hopefully they brighten someone else’s day.
And I, too, am about to lose my mind with the Anne of Green Gables news! That is ah-may-zing!!!! I’m gonna watch all of that all the time proudly wearing my puffed sleeves.
As someone who miiiight have flaked on the swap several years ago and feels like a turd every year when the swap starts up again… Is there any way for past flakes to redeem themselves? You know, hypothetically? =/ I dug through my email archives and still have the email with the addresses so I thought about sending a better-late-than-never valentine, but that feels a little weird/creepy? and who knows if these people even still live there 5 years later. (I’ve moved 3 times since then!)
Hahaha. Oh Dear. Welp, I don’t think any harm will come from it! Better than late than never, and the surprise they will get NOW as opposed to then will be pretty cool. I say go for it! And if you deice not to, make/deliver valentines to people in your life now who are not expecting it. Not just friends and family…but give something to the nice lady at the grocery store, or the neighbor who shovels the snow off your sidewalk. The value of *unexpected* kindness goes a long way in this world. There are plenty of ways to redeem. 🙂