On Crafting Live and Re-purposing Stuff

I've mentioned before that my pal Lydia of Understand Blue will occasionally do a UStream broadcast of her stampy table, and people get to see the creative process real-time. It's fun because we can interact with her and make suggestions when she says, "It needs something ... black." We type into the chat area, and it's like we're all there! So Sunday, just before my Google Chat session with Lisa of Papergrace Designs, I test-drove UStream, and actually did a live broadcast for a few minutes. I had that date with Lisa, so I shut it down to chat with her, but I had a blast! And now that I know how to find the chat room for my own broadcast ;/ I hope to do it again this weekend.

What did I make? I made this card:

The stamps (Great Impressions) were a prezzie from Marianne of Paperplay@Ruff Haven, and I just HAD to use them. I thought that piece of colorful SU paper would be a perfect background for jelly beans, and you'll notice I got to use another piece of that Melon Mambo paper I have. I think it's a really fun card.

In other news, I've made a little (very little) progress unpacking the multitude of boxes I have in my Living Room. Remember the van I drove to Ohio and back and filled with boxes of stuff from my Dad's house? (He moved into smaller place.) One of the things I took was the contents of the forgotten "seasoning drawers". LOTS of bottles of spices. Glass bottles. I took the entire contents of these drawers.

A little aside: In the past I've talked about how my generation is confused. Yes, I think we are The Confused Generation. My parents were children of the Great Depression, and they were frugal and re-used everything they could. How many of you took a sandwich to school in an old bread bag? *raises hand* I never bought a baggie until I moved away from home. Seriously. We brought those bread bags home where they were washed, left out to dry, and used again.

On the other hand, my kids are of the Planned Obsolescence Use-It-Toss-It-Buy-Another-One Generation. They have no concept of how anything could be 50+ years old. Heck, their computers are "old" a year after they buy them. They don't even bother to harvest the parts.

So, yeah, I'm stuck between the two. I'll go to the grocery and study the price-per-ounce for pasta and buy the one that is 1 cent cheaper per ounce, yet I'll also grab a box of jelly beans because I WANT IT and not even look at the price. Like I said, The Confused Generation.

So back to this stuff from my Dad's house ... part of my spice drawer haul included several of these glass bottles:

You can see how they've been reused over the years. Just because those peppercorns were all used didn't mean the bottle was discarded. Nope! Look at the one in the middle. See what I'm talking about? These bottles are PERFECT for my stash of tiny stuff that comes in plastic bags (that I throw out). The one on the right holds the remaining buttons from my SAB hoard. These bottles now stand proudly on my craft shelf, to be re-purposed, yet again.

Wanna see something else? Look:

My Mom's handwriting in permanent marker. I want to preserve it forever. I'm thinking clear nail polish or one of the gel mediums. I'm open to suggestions.

That's all I have for now. Thanks for stopping by!

Edited to add: Please note the new widget I have on the bottom of my left-side panel. I am supporting Rachael Rossman's 2012 Calendar Project: Portraits of Man and Beast. Please check it out. Thanks!