Dr. Seuss Words To Live By

I love Dr. Seuss. His messages are so clear and full of wisdom but delivered in a way that is not preachy.  I found this on Pinterest and just had to share here.

[Via: 30 Dr. Seuss Quotes to Live By]

Not sure what this was originally (a poster? bookmark?)  In any case, it's wonderful. Words to live by!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  It seems like 2011 was a year that alot of people were ready to see end. I'm not sure why: We all had our own personal reasons and all I know can say is Good Riddance!.  Here's hoping that 2012 is filled with good things for all of us. We deserve that.

I don't like to make resolutions (way too easily broken) but I do have several things I'd like to work on this year. I want to continue to expand my creativity, both in crafting and writing. I plan to use this blog to share my amazingness (yes, I am confident)! I hope you enjoy this journey and I encourage you to share the wonderful things that you are doing. There's plenty of room here on Random Bits of Goodness for us all!

I am ready and open to new and exciting changes. We live our lives and have to decide how we want to do that. I'm a Sociologist and I've always seen change in that perspective. Change is not bad, it just means that something isn't working and alterations are necessary. That's where I'm at. I need to make alterations. Let the changes begin!

The picture below is of some paper cranes I made last year for the Paper Cranes for Japan Project. Mythology says if you make 1,000 paper cranes for someone they will have a wish granted. I'm not sure that I will make 1,000, but I've got a couple hundred so far and probably need another 200 hundred or so. I want to make an art installation in my craft room that has the cranes flying out of a hanging birdhouse. (Did you see the Next Great Artist? One of the contestents did this on that show). This will definately be a work in progress and I will post pictures.

Craft A Week #3: Photo Canvas

Tis the time of year for me to get pretty crafty so I am onto my second craft project this week.  Today's craft is a photo canvas.  SHANA:  If you are reading this stop here!  This is one of your birthday presents! 

Here's my picture:

(It's still drying so it will smoothe out as it drys). If you can't read the quote from the picture, it says:

Watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.

Roald Dahl

I thought the quote fit PERFECTLY with this picture. Yes, I too agree that it looks like the quote is eating her face (thanks Bre) but it was based on this original photo. This picture has always been one of my favorites. (Shana is a good photographer, isn't she)?

This project sounds simple but it was rather a challenge. I found other people online who came up with the idea of printing a photo onto tissue paper which then, in turn, is Mod Podged onto a blank canvas. Sounds simple, right?  Well it's not that simple. 

No matter what I did the paper kept getting stuck in the printer.  I did have limited success by ironing my tissue paper and then taping it onto light cardstock paper.  I cut it 4" larger than the cardstock, wrapped it around the back, ironed that flat, and taped the whole thing down.  (Sorry, I didn't take pictures).  Even with doing all that the page got stuck 3/4 of the way through printing - which was okay because that's all I needed.

I then took the printed tissue and carefully cut it away from the cardstock. I used the canvas as a guide and cut it to size.  I then put a light coating of Mod Podge on the canvas.  I VERY carefully lined up the picture and, starting from the center, smoothed the photo onto the canvas.  This is the tricky part because you want to try and get as many bubbles out (not that easy).  Once that is done, just let it sit and dry for 30 minutes.

Because my photo wasn't as wide as the canvas I felt the picture needed something to blend it with the canvas. I used watered down blue water color to marry the two and let that dry 20 minutes. While that was drying, I found and printed the quote. I printed this on regular paper because I didn't want to bother with the tissue anymore.  I played with the spacing and, once I was satisfied, I Mod Podged that in place too.  I then put a thin coat of Mod Podge over the entire thing.

I let that dry for 15 minutes and very lightly sprinkled glitter for highlights.  I'm still feeling it needs something but I'm not sure what. I don't want to add too much to it because once added, it can't be removed.  Any suggestions?

All in all, I think this project is just okay. I like my final product but the printing issue was so frustrating it totally turned me off.  Considering you can get these done at WalMart and other photo places for $15-20, I think I'd rather do my photoshop magic and send it to them for printing. 

Happy Crafting!

Children in the Techno Age

This video exemplifies what I've observed about how children born within the last few years will expect media to work. I am both amazed and saddened; our current "babies" (less than 4) will be so amazingly tech savvy. I think that is awesome. But, on the other hand, it is encumbant on us to educate them of the "old ways" as well.

Invest in a Girl, Save the World

The Girl Effect is a project that focuses on investing in girls to stop the cycle of poverty. Some of the facts from their website include:

•  When a girl in the developing world receives seven or more years of education, she marries four years later and has 2.2 fewer children.
• An extra year of primary school boosts girls’ eventual wages by 10 to 20 percent. An extra year of secondary school: 15 to 25 percent.
• Research in developing countries has shown a consistent relationship between better infant and child health and higher levels of schooling among mothers.
• When women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90 percent of it into their families, as compared to only 30 to 40 percent for a man.
• Approximately one-quarter of girls in developing countries are not in school.
• Out of the world’s 130 million out-of-school youth, 70 percent are girls.

While their focus is on girls on a global level, I contend that we need to use the same principles nationally. We have a large portion of our girls who live in poverty. Girls in poverty, regardless of where they live, are at risk of repeating the cycle of poverty.

Invest in a Girl, Save the World.

Notes on DIRECTV

As a birthday gift to myself, I upgraded to DirecTV HD. Initially, I had major issues with DirecTV's cusomer service and their inability to create a work order that reflected what I wanted. After much time spent and threats (promises) of discontinuing service, they finally got it right! While I still feel their company has some serious customer service issues (smack talking and blame gaming between customer service and the technicians), I am very pleased with my new tv!

I did find out some interesting and insightful info from the technician who installed the new HD dish. The following is a compilation of info I've learned through this process. Some of these are DirecTV specific and others are relatable to any cable provider.

• If you are having any kind of issue with your service, ask to speak to the Customer Service Retention Department. This department is willing to play 'Let's Make a Deal' to keep you as a customer. Even if you aren't thinking of taking your service elsewhere, ask them what they are willing to do to keep you as a customer. By asking them what they could do for me, they credited me $15 per month for 6 months. Further, they credited me the entire $199 charge for the HD/DVR upgrade.
• Each of our tv's has a receiver. However, two of the receivers I have are in rooms that aren't used all that often. One is on the back porch, which is used only during the summer months. The other is in the spare room my mom uses when she comes to visit once or twice a year. I thought I had to pay for these receivers to be active year round (to the tune of $5 rental fee for each receiver). Turns out you can suspend service when those receivers are not in use. Then, when you do want to use them, just call in and have them reinstate service. This will save me about $90 a year.
• The technician left me the old, working receiver. While I don't have a summer home or cabin, turns out that, if I did, I could relocate the dish there. All you have to do then is take the dish, position it so it gets signal and take one of your home receivers with you. This way you can have DirecTV service whereever you go.
• The technician also set up my tv remote so I can have wifi access. This way I can change the channel anywhere in the living room or any other room in the house. This is really handy if your furniture is placed so you don't have a straight shot at the tv.

This info was really helpful to me. I'm not sure why DirecTV doesn't make this knowledge more accessible to their customers. But, as I said, they seem to have such major communication issues internally, it's no wonder they don't communicate well with their customers. If you have any other lessons learned, please leave them in the comments.