Monday, January 23, 2012

Stamped & Embossed Key Chains

Today's Question From The Craft Room:  Are We Becoming Numb?
I was in the checkout line at a store and the woman in front of me decided to make a call on her cell phone.  As we neared the checkout stand, she kept chatting to her companion on the phone.  Then it was her turn at the counter and the woman behind the counter greeted her and asked how she was doing.  The woman on the phone said nothing and instead, kept chatting on her phone.  Ugh - I was not happy!  Of course, I could hear every word she was saying to whoever she was talking to on the phone and it wasn't a conversation about a dire medical emergency or any such thing.  But on and on she went with her call, totally ignoring the person completing her transaction for her.  Can you tell this is a pet peeve of mine!  When I got up to the counter I apologized to the woman on behalf of the cell phone-talking customer.  Her response to me was, "You're sweet.  Actually I don't even notice anymore."  And that's what made me sad.  Have we gotten to a point where it doesn't even bother us anymore when someone doesn't even acknowledge us?  Have we become so numb?  Has this become the norm?  It makes me sad if this is our new norm.  What I do know, though, is that it will never be the norm for me.  How 'bout you?
Today's project are a set of key chains I made for my nieces :)  I began with the same clay-covered masonite pieces that I have been playing with lately.  I was able to punch holes in them using my crop-a-dile.  Next I stamped to my heart's content!  I used black Staz-On and also good ol' classic SU ink.  I used the Dot, Dot, Dot stamp on Jordan's keychain and a retired SU stamp set called Groovy for Avery (she LOVES peace signs and everything groovy :)  I was also able to scratch into the clay surface, so I outlined the letters in Avery's name and also created a border on Jordan's tag that I then applied ink to.  I allowed the ink a bit of time to dry and then covered the tags with VersaMark ink and clear embossing powder.  I heat embossed the tags and then repeated the embossing steps (adding powder and heating) a few more times and then, before the powder cooled, I sprinkled a little dazzling diamonds over the tags.  Once the tags were cooled I painted the back with metallic paint and added the key chain hardware.  I hope you like them :)

2 comments:

TiaraHelen said...

Hello, I am enjoying discovering your blog that I came across via the papercrafters library.
I agree with you about the mobile phone thing. I find myself thinking the same way sometimes about all sorts of things. I can tell you are a very reflective person, so I will say it: it's dangerous thinking to generalise from one person to everyone and then get disappointed. There have always been people in the world who disappoint. I reckon we just have to focus on knowing the ones who don't, and personally being one who doesn't. Also, to remember that we don't know a person's whole story.

TiaraHelen said...

oops, didn't mean to do that quite so soon.

I hope you don't mind me commenting like this...

...And I love your blog, lots of lovely ideas, like your embossed paper bead and the tiles - very effective.

tfs
Helen x