Me on Monday

Well, I'm just going to say it. I'm a little nuts! Or maybe I'm a lotta nuts. You be the judge. 

I've been doing a lot of clean out this year. A lot. I feel like I've made progress, but there is still much to do.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I pulled a bag out of the upstairs closet that I had clearly marked--table favors and game prizes. That bag has been up there a really long time--probably 10 years or more. Actually, I had forgotten about it--during the holidays. During the year, when I've seen it, I tell myself, "I need to remember to get this bag out for the holidays!" And then I don't. Well, I finally did it.

I had finished ALL of my holiday wrapping (yes, I'm finished wrapping) and was ready to tackle the bag. Oh, the treasures it held! So many things I had forgotten about. There were a dozen cloisonné Christmas ornament picture frames. I remember that when I bought them years ago, I thought they would make really cute place cards for the Christmas table. That thought came to me again, but I didn't really want to go to the trouble to figure out the size I'd need to print to fit into each little window--- every one a different size and shape. But, I figured, it's now or never. Either I do it this year or I just get rid of them. Do them I did--even though I have tons of other stuff to do. Here's how it went, step by step:

1. The very first thing was that I fell down the "rabbit hole" of fonts. You know how I love my fonts. I can't just select one and be done. No, I have to look at them all in my neatly organized folders--selecting the one that's for "script" fonts. Then, I narrow it down to 10 pretty fonts, do a mock-up with each one, and then decide what I liked best. That probably took about 45 minutes.

2. I measured the tiny frames to figure out how big I could make the initials. They were too small to actually use names. 

3. I sized and printed the letters.

4. Next it was time to take the frames apart. They required one of those tiny Phillips head screwdrivers. I was too lazy to go downstairs to the toolbox to hunt for one. So, I used the handle of my Mrs. Grossman's tweezers. (If you don't know what that is, it's the most useful and powerful pair of tweezers you've ever seen. But, fuggedaboutit--they are no longer available.) Anyway, I used the handle side to "scoot" the clips out of the way and took the frames apart.

5. I cleaned the tiny glass.

6. I used the little sample pictures as templates for cutting the initials. 

7. Then I re-assembled the frames.

All in all, it took me about 2.5 hours. Everything takes longer than I think it's going to. And at this time of year, I have enough to do without adding extra chores for myself. 

I think they turned out pretty cute. 

So what do you think? A little nuts or a lotta nuts? Go ahead, think about it. I'll wait.