Special Delivery Package

Brown paper packages tied up with string

Baby gift wrapped in brown kraft paper,

stapled and tied with waxed twine.

(Next time, I'll sew it closed instead of stapling.)

Rubber stamped my own "postage" stamps.

Added special delivery tag with an old school diaper pin.

Word of the day: Craft envy

My friend Dawn should be credited with originating the term "craft envy". While crafting with others, invariably the feeling of "damn, I wish I had thought of that" occurs, thus craft envy.

Reading other's blogs is interesting and sometimes I think "that's cool but not my bag" or "why the hell would someone spend 7 hours making that crap?" or "way cool, I am so gonna copy that" but the blog entries that chap my ever lovin' ass are the very same ones that cause craft envy. Ideas or creations that are in my mind but time hasn't allowed me to create OR just the germ of the idea that someone beat me to OR made something even better than I could have imagined.

So, the source of craft envy is use of twine (which I blogged about in November) by the ever talented and creative Cathe Holden.

Don't wanna post her pix without permission but click HERE for her fabulous and much coveted images featuring TWINE and retro images, dammit to hell.

And, I love retro. If I didn't love Cathe Holden's style and blog, I might just pout but instead I'll direct you to her site so you can see her fabulous creations.

My Retro image embroidered on tea towel,

. . . thinking she needs a twine rope now . . .

In a bind for twine

Ya know I have a ribbon fetish, right?

One day while picking up something at an electrical supply business, I spied a big roll of waxed twine. What the heck waxed twine has to do with electrical parts I dunno but I snatched it up in my greedy little hands and asked the counter guy "what's this used for?" He didn't know. Okay, how much? He didn't know the item number nor description so after a few minutes of tapping on his computer keys, he became exasperated enough to just shove it toward me and growl "take it". WooHoo, if it is FREE, it's for me!! I thanked him and bolted out of there before he changed his mind.

Waxed twine works for gift wrapping and all kinds of little household uses. Not good for macrame, it's too sticky.

Little did I know that there are fancy baker's twine out there in cool colors. Looka! 240 yards for $15.00 ~ that's .06 a yard!

Oh wait, here's a roll of 3,360 yards of packing twine for $17.40!! Available in red/white or green/white.

I smell another obsession~~~

My name is SkitzoLeezra and I am a Ribbon Whore

It all started so innocently. Back in the day, I had preppy ribbon to match my headband to the watchband plus an interchangeable ribbon belt. (Heck, that was 20 years ago and I just recently sewed one of those old watchbands into a keyfob.) After my preppy phase passed, then began the ribbon obsession for gift wrapping. Ribbon on sale, clearance, post-holiday sell off, all of it gathered.

No nylon or this horrible shiny plastic ribbon for me. Yuck. Ugh! I just threw up in my mouth a little.

YUCK

Hemp, cotton cord, and waxed linen made the cut and serves as ribbon for men's gifts. Eventually, I began grading gift recipients on their ribbon worthiness. If I feel a recipient will reuse the ribbon, I am happy to share. Should I suspect that the ribbon will go in the trash, I'll retrieve it beforehand. My dad has actually pulled his pocketknife and CUT satin ribbon! No more, he now gets raffia. Then I moved and created the SkitzoLeezra Studio. 20 feet of gutter cut down to four 5' sections and I still needed more space! Added a shelf above gutters. Sorted ribbon in metal baskets and hung ribbon from shelf bars.

I am a ribbon whore. But not ashamed of it.

Much.