Advent Art 2

Advent season 2018
I make my Christmas cards. I wish I could make little watercolor card fronts for all of them, but that's never happened. I love using stamps and die cuts to create fun cards.

Scribble tree

I rarely make elaborate fancy cards. Simple is fun for me. Unlike many artists I admire, I just cannot bring myself to make sets of cards that are alike. The best I can do is go with similar. 

Simple cards are easy, however, simple can be challenging too. There's the inevitable urge to add more...There's the choice of colors that is critical to bringing it all together. When you go simple, every element has to count.

Here's one of the Sizzix(tm) scribble tree dies with a print paper border. I enjoy using non-traditional Christmas colors. 

Merry Christmas!

Advent Art

The art of Christmas...what a joy. For the next few posts (totally related to the time and photos I have available), I'll be sharing some of my Christmas art. 

Angels make me happy. This one is ink and watercolor matted on Christmas paper for a card.

About Advent

Advent is "the first season of the Christian church year, leading up to Christmas and including the four preceding Sundays."  It is the season observed in Christian churches as a time of expectant waiting for Christ. 

I get a bit annoyed with the common concept of "12 days of Christmas"  being before Christmas. These 12 days are actually the 12 days between Christmas and the coming of the Magi (you know, those 3 kings--smile). Yes, Virginia, there is a Christmastide season and it is NOT the 12 days before Christmas.

And now, I apologize for getting all huffy. Seriously, if you are celebrating the birth of Christ, then the blessing is the blessing.

I'm on Instagram with my life and my art--https://www.instagram.com/nachattin/ 

I

Self Defense makes sense

If you have attended any of my live seminars or seen me at local shows then you know my motto, "Self defense makes sense." 

Pepper spray is one of the "most asked for" items that I demonstrate. Until recently, however, I stopped recommending pepper spray because it is difficult to use, the blow back (especially here in Florida) was impossible to plan and predict, and pepper spray was a difficult skill to practice and maintain.

Sabre now offers an exceptional form of pepper spray in a gel formulation. The blow back is substantially lessened plus it is now an effective tool for indoor use in large buildings. Regular pepper spray could harm large buildings and their occupants via the ventilation systems, but the gel does not.

Plus, the smart folks at Sabre offer not only the gel spray but a practice spray and target as well. 

Look Alive, Be Alive

Tools are great, IF you use them. Don't think owning a tool makes you safe. If your tool is at the bottom of your purse or in your car or just out of mind then your tool is useless. You must know how to use any self defense tool and stay vigilant about keeping and using it.

Memory Stretches

Today’s Slipper Camp Workout

Stretch your list memory today. Memorize your current grocery list, your to-do list, a list of names from work or social life, a list of bones in your foot—anything that is a sequence of list of items. This list recall exercise will improve your ability to retain information.

Tips/Enhancements:

·         Use memory tricks such as this one on Wikkihow: http://www.wikihow.com/Remember-Lists-of-Words-with-the-Memory-Trick

·         Watch this great video on memory from Ted Talks

  

Slipper Camp: A kinder, gentler boot camp designed to assist you in living well.

Camp Motto: Being kind to yourself makes you strong.

Follow along with the  Slipper camp workouts and check out my Facebook Page

Finally I can print photos from my phone--quick, easy, and great quality

I have searched and searched and tried--oh how I've tried, to find a way to print the photos from my phone. I've finally found the best:



Here's what I love about Cannon SELPHY:
1. High Quality photos--if you've taken a decent photo with your phone then you will get a great print.

Thanks to the Cannon SELPHY I made a last minute anniversary
gift for my sweethusband by putting the 6" by 4" photo in a 5" by
7" magnetic photo frame with a print paper back-ground and a
paper butterfly attached on top.

Tip: Most phones now include a photo editor to improve your pictures or you can get an app
2. Printer price--The printer with refill paper is only $149.00, it is under $100.00 with a small sample amount of paper.
3. Photo price--the price of each print is about .31 each. Yes, it's more than taking your pictures to a retail outlet, but the advantage of not traveling to a store or having prints mailed is worth it for me.
Note: these prints are the standard 4" by 6" no crazy size tiny prints with this baby.
4. I only print the photos I need and want for a particular project. If I want to print a photo to mail in a card to my Mom I can do it in 3 minutes. That 3 minutes includes plugging in the printer, connecting to WiFi, loading paper and pressing the print button. If I'm working on a project life (scrapbook) page or a collage frame photo gift, I can print those as I need them.
5. It's light weight, less than 4 lbs. That's HUGE for me and my lifting capabilities. Especially if I want to take it to a party or crop or just to visit family.

I took this photo while my friend Bridget

was visiting and gave it to her in a "going-away"

card when she left the next day.--It's so easy 

and fun to do "instant" photos to give away

with the Cannon SELPHY.

6. Every package of paper comes with the exact about of ink needed to print that number of photos. I don't have to order paper and then order ink and then check to see if I have enough ink.
7. I can print ANY photo on my phone. That means if I get an email or text photo from family or friends, I can have a print right away.
8. It's very easy to use.

Biggest issue for me was doing the initial set-up. When you get yours, pay close attention to selecting the WiFi connection. If you want to take the printer outside of your home then you will want to set up your phone itself as the WiFi connection. The instructions explain how to do this, but make sure you follow them, and have an ink pen handy to write notes and the WiFi password. I keep my instruction book with the printer at all times. If I go over a month without using it I will forget the things I forget everywhere such as how to load paper, which side is up, etc.

If you click the link above to get your printer from Amazon I may get a tiny percentage of the sale. I only recommend products I absolutely love and 99% of time actually own. Thanks!

As-Seen-On-TV

True Confession--I love "As-seen-on-TV" products.
Next confession--I am baffled about how to get the spacing correct on my blog today.

Back to "As-seen-on-TV" products.

They had me at Ginsu knives and our affair has never ended. I love:

• watching the infomercial
• the shopping channel presentation
  
• the wacky late night ads
• the You-Tube(TM) videos

I get a little thrill hearing that one low price will solve problems I never knew I had and bring products to my home that I never dreamed possible.
What I really love is an entrepreneur and the entrepreneurial spirit. In many cases, someone, somewhere, had an idea for a product that people might really like and use. They took an idea and they put it out there.

The Pitch

I spent a large portion of my working life in sales. I wore many different job titles, but they all came down to sales. I love a "good pitch." An infomercial or online presentation is a pure undisguised sales pitch.

I love a good online pitch too. The combination of writing, graphics, and videos is wonderful.

Fine Print

Yes, there are some companies who specialize in grabbing your cash without providing a decent product. In my experience, the most unscrupulous companies are using online advertising and web sites now instead of the more traditional (and expensive) television advertising. After all, if they want to rip us off, then online sales has the lowest up-front cost for the seller.

Do Your Research

YouTube

James White has a You Tube(TM) channel that is devoted to ASOTV products:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTCpOFIu6dHgOjNJ0rTymkQ

Blog

I found a blog recently that reviews ASOTV products called Does it really work?

https://doesitreallywork.org

So far, their reviews match my own for the products I have tried and now I'm ready to try purchasing a few more based on their feedback.

HighYa

Another site that has done research and collects reviews on these products is HighYa https://www.highya.com/ Highya also reviews products and services from many companies beyond the As-Seen-on-TV genre. While I have not reviewed this web site extensively, it strikes me as a decent consumer advocacy and research reporting site.

So far, I am impressed with their articles related to products such as the article "6 Ways to Naturally Reduce Stress and Increase Productivity" linked to a review of the brain exercise app Lumosity(tm).

Buyer Buy Smart

Many stores carry ASOTV products in the store. When possible, buy them in the store to avoid shipping costs and make returns easier. If you use Amazon Prime(TM) shopping, that's another way to find products, avoid shipping, and do free returns.

Sometimes there are rotten eggs, but sometimes

there are just cute chicks...

There's always a few rotten eggs

Unfortunately, there are scams everywhere. Be wary and check out articles like this one "Top Online Scams and How to Avoid Them."

https://www.highya.com/articles-guides/117-scam-hacks-all-the-tips-you-will-need-to-avoid-popular-scams

They do it so well

I enjoy making videos and posting them on YouTube. I have not posted one in ages.  There's a good reason for that...

So many others do it so well, there's no need for me to do it again.

 I say this with gratitude, appreciation, and quite cheerfully.

 Here is a link to the playlists on my channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/nachattin

 As you view it you will see some of the things that interest me. Many of them I've never mentioned on the blog because they are not topics I focus on here in the blog.
This means you now have some insight into what interests me in the world. It also leads me to suggest that you look at the playlist on any You Tube channels created by individuals. I have found this enlightening, possibly because I'm always curious and occasionally find myself down a rabbit hole..

Here are some recent greeting cards I made inspired by videos and Pinterest which is another rabbit hole I'll address another time-smile.

Both cards are goofing around
with doodles
and Grunge stamps
 by Stampin' Up.

They are also here because everyone likes photos and reads more with pictures.