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Posts Tagged ‘Easy’

  1. Did You Guess?

    January 26, 2012 by Sharplisa

    It came from here.

     

    Category LEAN for Your Life | Tags: ,,,,,, | 1 Comment

  2. Guess What’s Cooking on the Blog Today?

    January 26, 2012 by Sharplisa

    Category LEAN for Your Life | Tags: ,,,,,, | No Comments

  3. Tuesday Updates

    January 24, 2012 by Sharplisa

    I have no excuse for not blogging yesterday so I am sorry.  I owe you updates on a few things.

    20 Minute Decluttering:  I mastered my craft room.  It took a lot more than 20 minutes and it still looks kind of junky because of my set up and it’s location.  My creative space is in an unfinished basement adjacent to the boys’ play areas.  In fact, it is centered between them.  This can be… complicating.

    So, without further ado, here are some after pictures of Saturday’s work:

    This area is a cutting table, the bags underneath are fabric pieces as are the four totes at the end of my bookcase.  See what I mean about it still looking kind of dumpy despite being mostly orderly?  My sewing machine is in the rolling case underneath the table.

    This piece I hope will be next week’s make it Monday.  I have great plans for this $10 coffee table.  In the background is my major work station.  More on that soon.  The bookcase is cluttered, I know, with my professional library, my crafting books and my cricut cartridges.  I will be moving some cartridges to the Jukebox which will help but I need to be honest with myself about the pro gear.  Soon.  It’s just too soon.

    This is a better view of the main work area.  It is big enough for two to make cards or scrapbook pages and whatnot.  The Cricut, Sizzix and laminator are readily available as are the Xyron machines.  As an aside, I think the Xyron machine is the greatest invention ever.  It spoils me for other adhesives.

    My desk.  Ready and waiting for rubber stamping.  On the baker’s rack in the background are scrapbooks to be filled, WIP projects, 12×12 paper and foam.  On top are Sizzix dies.
    This represents the bulk of my miscellaneous storage.  The tall dresser even has the drawers labeled.  The shorter, wider dresser is full of randomness:  bubble wrap, stuff I am still learning how to use, crayons, wrapping paper…  It’s kind of scary, but I know what’s there and where to find it.  Extra Xyron cartridges are in the third drawer.  Ink pads in the rack on the top and the two boxes are ribbon.  I went back down to pick the paper pad up off the floor.  (MY KIDS!)

    The remaining storage area.  Four totes on the end are fabric, on the near end is paper, embellishments, knitting magazines and a handful of in-progress scrapbooks.  Do I like how it looks?  Not really, but having it organized allows me to get some of that stuff used up.

    So let me ask you a question.  As you can see, we have an unfinished basement.  We could certainly finish it with paneling or sheetrock, but it would be at our expense and, since we live in military housing, the ROI is negative by the  cost to finish it. So what can I do?  What would you do?  Leave me a comment and share your thoughts and we can come back to it on Friday, okay?

    Next up, the Make it Monday update.  I did tweet it last night, but if you don’t follow me on twitter, you’ll feel cheated that you didn’t get it.  I did finish a knitting project.  After lamenting that it takes me SO LONG to get one done, I now will admit that I just don’t spend enough time on it.  I will knit a few row and put it down when my ADD kicks in and I want to play video games.  So this project, that would take a serious knitter an afternoon, took me a couple weeks. It is knitted in garter stitch, seamed and gathered.  I enhanced the pattern by knitting a band to cover the cinched part, not wrapping yarn.  I didn’t like the look of it.  Using yarn and needles I had so it fits into my stash busting goals as well.  Also, the model is adorable, right?

    I also want to thank the lovely Sarah for delighting me with one of her projects this week.  Her blog is showing tremendous potential because her Pinterest addiction is worse than my own.    Look at what she sent me!

    So once again, loyal readers, what should I do about my basement walls?  Would you take on the paneling or drywall costs yourself?  Another option I thought of was to get bedsheets at goodwill and just cover the walls.  It would be random, yes, but with a bit of fabric paint and a stamp or stencil, kind of funky?  HELP!

    Category LEAN for Your Life | Tags: ,,,,,, | No Comments

  4. Write Me a Letter!

    January 20, 2012 by Sharplisa

    I am developing a hate-hate relationship with e-mail and Facebook.  Now, mind you, I spend too much time on FB and I love e-mail but I think that the combination of the two is killing sincere communication.  My e-mail is all work, bills, newsletters and spam.  I don’t even get e-cards or e-vites anymore!    We won’t get started about what it does for proper grammar and spelling.

    How often do you complain about the contents of your mailbox?  ”Oh it’s always just junk mail and bills!”  Maybe you have all your bills set up for e-billing so it’s all just junk mail.  How does this make you feel?

    During the just-passed Christmas season, I mailed out approximately 80 cards.  I hand-delivered a few dozen more.  I received fewer than a dozen, including hand-delivered cards.  How many cards did you get?  Admit it.  Did your heart skip a beat when you saw the envelope?  Mine does.

    When did birthday cards become obsolete?  Hand written invites?  (although I am very guilty of the Facebook event post)

    So I want to point out that the feeling you get when you get a letter or a card is the same that everyone else gets.  I mean if you get an “Oh shit!  Not another friendly letter!” feeling, I daresay you’re solidly in the minority and I can’t help you.  So why not let someone have that feeling?  A pad of writing paper is around $1.50 nearly anywhere and a box of envelopes is about the same.  So add that to the price of a stamp and for less than 50 cents, you can make someone’s day.  There are lots of places where a card can be purchase for around $1 making the price of a smile $1.44.  Worth it?

    A letter needn’t be wordy.  I like to include pictures.  A card – even better!  Have your little one draw a picture on a piece of paper folded in half.  Write a note inside and send it on its way to make Grandma’s day.  Print a copy of a favorite photo for around 19 cents and write a note on the back!  It doesn’t have to be hard.

    So I am making a pledge to myself to begin “Healthy” communication for 2012.  This means more face time and more letter writing.  Maybe e-cards too, who knows?  Would you like to join me?

    To make it easier, I am going to have a little contest.  The winner will receive a dozen hand-made note cards or a pack of 12 assorted, hand-made greeting cards customized for you with favorite colors, etc.  The choice is yours!

    To enter, leave a comment on this post sharing the first person who would get a note from you.

    For additional entries:

    Like Lisa Sharp  Solutions on FaceBook

    Follow @LisaMSharp on Twitter

    And every $10 Donated toward my Chicago 3 Day will get you an additional entry.

    I will select a winner by random number drawing on February 1.  GOOD LUCK!

     

     

    Category Contest!, LEAN for Your Life | Tags: ,,,,,,,, | 3 Comments

  5. A Kindle for your Kindergartener?

    January 18, 2012 by Sharplisa

    I’m a huge fan of anything that gets kids to read. If it inspires them to love learning, I’ll give it a shot.  This applies to video games, TV Shows (Hollaback if you love The Magic School Bus!), board games and other non-traditional educational devices.

    Now that e-readers and discount tablets are all the rage,  Nook Color, Kindle Fire, and various discount tablet manufacturers all have a comprehensive (enough) android platform tablet for less than $250.  And the number and range of applications available is impressive.  All the world is jumping on the educational applications bandwagon.  That being said, I do not suggest a tablet for your child.  But I am all in favor of an e-reader.  Why?

    Price.  The price for a Kindle is now as low as $79. Of course this includes “special offers” which it is worth paying $30 to turn off.  This is roughly the cost of two video games that have a lot less educational potential.  Not to mention that there are a variety of educational games that can be played on the Kindle.

    Capacity. The lowest priced Kindle holds roughly 1,400 books.  I’m going to guess that it will hold even more childrens books because of their shorter length.

    Features.  The addition of library lending makes the e-reader a solid hit.  I make no secret of the fact that I am a Kindle owner and LOVE my device, but the ability to get books from the library in Kindle format was a great addition.  The text-to-speech feature lets your child have the kindle become an  audio book which is nice for quiet time at night or longer car trips.  With my youngest, sometimes me being in the room reading to him is a distraction.  A nice audiobook helps him unwind and fall asleep much more quickly.

    Free content.  In addition to library lending and the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library (if, like me, you have Amazon Prime), there are hundreds of free books available for Kindle.  I take a couple minutes every day to see what’s new and hot, but there are lots of classic books including Little Women, Sherlock Holmes, Alice in Wonderland, The Ugly Duckling…   Hundreds of titles await you and your curious child!

    No clutter!  All the books live on the device and in the cloud so your child can carry an entire library!

    I hear you.  You’re saying  ”But the wi-fi!  I don’t want my kid having unlimited access to my Amazon account.” Simple fix.  You have a couple of options.  One, do not register your child’s kindle to your Amazon account.  Set up one just for the child’s kindle and put a gift card with the monthly allowance on it. My preferred choice: supervise your child when he or she is looking for new books.  Download books together.  If your home wi-fi is password protected, you will always have some control over your child’s access to the web.  Definitely choose wi-fi over 3G for your child.  3G you have no control over.

    I truly believe that before long, all books will be in e-format so the sooner kids get comfortable with this technology the better.  Do I love “real” books?  Sure.  But I love my Kindle too.

    If one book puts the world at your child’s fingertips, imagine what 1,400 books in their hands can do?

    Category LEAN for Your Life, Product Reviews | Tags: ,,,,, | 1 Comment

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