I've got a plan/ner

I've been a bit delayed in posting given a hectic schedule over the past two weeks! But my plan to buy nothing new is still going strong. I've had a few instances of "oh crap, I really want that new (fill in the blank)", but I've so far been able to deter myself by remembering that my sister doubted my ability to do this, and overcoming someones doubt is a pretty good motivator! Thanks Dor!

Normally at the end of the year I take a quick trip to Dollar Tree, a pretty spectacular dollar store in Oregon, and pick up a planner for the coming year. But this year it just didn't happen and come January 1st, I was without planner and had limited myself to buying nothing new. After a few days I asking around if anyone had gotten a free planner in the mail, and getting no where, I noticed the 2010 calendar that my alma mater sent......could it work as a day planner? Yes! I don't anticipate needing more than a blank square with a date attached to write in this year (last year my days were broken into half hour increments) so a calendar should work fine.

The only thing strange about using a wall calendar as a day planner is the fact that it looks a bit odd. And this brings up an interesting point - why do we limit the functionality of items because we perceive them to be useful in only one way? Am I the only person that gets incredibly excited when an item has multiple uses? Has anyone else noticed that most items produced for common usage today (not including common electronic devices) tend to have a single specified use? I guess this is supposed to make our lives easier. Except I think it just makes a ton of clutter and plastic crap heading to landfills. Recently while perusing some camping supplies, I noticed the worlds smallest salt and pepper shakers for sale, made of plastic and touted to be water proof and spill proof. Um, ok. I thought of about a million things that could be used in place of S+P shakers while on a camping trip.....any plastic bags, old film canisters, contact lens cases, small plastic spice jars, plastic extract bottles, etc. Come on people! Put on your creative hats!

Ok, back to the calendar turned planner....

Every year I make a collage cover for my planner out of images from magazines and phrases that should inspire me to work toward the goals of my coming year. This was the perfect way to disguise my wall calender as a planner. I started by making a cover for my calendar out of a brown paper grocery bag (high school book cover style).

Next, I took the cover off the calendar, opened it up to expose the front and back cover and arranged an assortment of magazine images, photos from past trips, and labels on the paper. When I got things how I wanted them, I used Mod Podge to glue the collage items into place. To keep things a big water resistant, and to guard from the inevitable planner abuse that will occur over the next year, after the Mod Podge dried, I covered the collage with clear packing tape.

Here's what I came up with (the cover is the side with the prayer flags and polar bear) :

I've got prayer flags to keep me thinking of the greater good, a photo of a sunset from a great camping trip to SinkyOne State Park in CA, a mini map of Ireland to remind me to get there this year, an Ethiopian beer label from a great dinner with a great friend, Frida to keep the art in my life, record albums for music, a cedar waxwing-a bird that looms large in my life, and a few other little things to inspire my day-to-day life.

You don't really notice the fact that this is a wall calendar until it gets opened up. And I actually find it quite amusing to open, especially because some of my former professors, and current professional colleagues are profiled on the pages. I've gotten to say howdy to Shaik, the director of International Programs, and look at an awesome study abroad photo each day this January!

She's Crafty

I managed to escape office gift giving before the holidays with a well timed vacation, but coming back I knew I’d have to gift my colleagues with some sort of token of my esteem and well wishes. What do you give when you are opposed to giving clutter? Baked goods. But baking for an office of 15 people with 15 different aversions, “ I don’t like fruit and chocolate combined” and assorted allergies took the fun out of my plan.

I decided to focus my office gift giving on acknowledging the exciting new year – 2010 (which I refer to as THE FUTURE because I feel like I’m a Jetson each time I write it). Normally I would head to the craft store for inspiration, and spend a small fortune on some cool new art project I could slave over for a few days. But this time I decide to consult my closet first. This is where I admit something: I AM AN ART AND CRAFT SUPPLY ADDICT. In my closet are five plastic tubs of art supplies ranging from a 120 count box of Crayolas to to metal etching tools. These tubs can’t even contain the silk screens under my bed, or my bag of fabric and sewing supplies and thousands of glass beads boxed under my bed. Walking into art supply stores makes me flutter with excitement. So many aisles of creative potential! Shortly before Christmas I discovered the amazing art supply store at the University of Oregon, and fell in love with these Enkaustikos Hot Cakes: http://www.encausticpaints.com/ which look like the coolest things ever and would really improve my current encausitic technique of melting crayons in a pie tin on a hot burner in the kitchen. Alas, I will have to wait a year. And by that time I’ll probably have forgotten they even exist. Hmm. All of this wax thought makes me wonder, “Where is my candle mould?”

Back to my gift giving plan. A quick survey of my art supplies (see photo) made me realize that I should make something for my coworkers. I decided to make everyone little 4x6 inch colored paper Goal Reminders for 2010. On each paper I used colored marker to write 2010 and then bedazzled it with glitter (I love sparkly things). I bought this particular set of awesome glitter a few years ago at The Accidental Bookmaker, the store of Green Heron Book Arts in Forest Grove http://www.greenheronbookkits.com/

On the back of each card, I wrote a personal message to my colleagues and then provided the following instructions:

Step 1: On the bottom of this paper, write something that you would like to leave behind in 2009. (an example would be, “worrying about things I can’t control, eating too much fat, being addicted to televistion, etc.”)

Step 2: Cut off what you have written and burn it (I gave each person a match – who doesn’t like to burn things?)

Step 3: On the bottom front of the page, write something you would like to embrace or welcome into your life in 2010 (example: Good vibes, positive thoughts, eating healthy, spending more time with family, etc).

Step 4: Keep as a reminder of your goal.

I rolled each Goal Reminder up and tied it in place with a strike anywhere match and some old embroidery thread (because I’m probably not going to finish those friendship bracelets I started in the 7^th grade.)

My colleagues received their Goal Reminders in their mail boxes today. I thought they might think I'm a weirdo for giving them an unorthodox gift and providing them with a match at work. What if one was a secret pyromaniac? But so far I've received nothing but good response and those who have mentioned the gift seem excited to take time to think about potential changes they'd like in their lives...and the fact that they have an excuse to play with fire.

In other news, I need a day planner. And normally I would go to DollarTree and pick it up. But those days are gone. What to do? Time to get thinking....