I don't know why, but it is evident to me that card making, whether alone or with friends, causes a type of myopia which is usually only typical in small children who can't find the sweater you asked them to pick up off the floor, or the sneaker that you told them three times is under their bed.
Last Monday, at the Cottage Crafts Make-and-Take, the ladies and I laughed when within 10 minutes, no fewer than three crafters sitting around the table asked loudly for the location of an item which was found right in front of them. The Stampin' Dimensionals are notorious for hiding in plain sight this way, as are the scissors, ink pads, punches, and...actually, anything and everything.
As a matter of fact, a few days prior to this class, as I was sitting at my own table making a few cards, I made the little greeting tags for all of them, and laid them neatly aside on a half-sheet of Whisper White card stock to keep them safe 'til I was ready to use later. They immediately disappeared from sight, but I didn't notice, because I was working on another part of the card.
When I was ready for the tags, I searched the table in vain to find them. My little pile of butterflies were just in front of me; my card bases off to the left, and the ink pads (safely closed, see "Learning From My Mistakes") were at the far right. My mini cutter was at eleven o'clock, my scissors were under a bit of scrap at my elbow, and the snail tape was in my hand. I put it down, 'cause I was going to use the Dimensionals (right there next to the cutter) for those tags, if I could ever find them.
I decided to get up to get a drink, and from the kitchen, I looked with satisfaction at the mess on the table--the pretty butterfly medallions, the gorgeous spring colors, even tho' it's autumn, the papers that were begging to be made into more projects, a neat row of bright greetings stamped straight and cleanly, the card bases scored perfectly and folded and waiting for the card front, pretty pearls for embellishment, all the fabulous tools that make this so fun and easy...
Back to work! What was I doing? Right. Put card fronts on bases. Snail tape--excellent. Butterfly medallion popped up & attached--very nice. Where are those pesky greetings? Where, where where? Back to the kitchen to help someone get something...as I'm approaching the table, I clearly see a pretty row of scalloped ovals lined up amongst all the chaos. Pretty. I sit down. What was I doing next? Where are those greetings? I'm looking under and around everything for a little pile of--maybe it's under this sheet of DSP--scalloped--maybe under the mini cutter? ovals with a--wait; were they behind the card bases? greeting stamped on them.
It amazes me still to think how long it took me to see the neat line of exactly what I was looking for right there where I put it so I wouldn't lose it. And the fact that every time I got up from the table, I saw them; but since at that very moment I was about to do something else, I didn't see them. Or the fact that since I was looking for a little stack of medallions, I didn't see them laid out in a row. Right in front of me.I would say that this is an easy mistake to fix; that the cure is to simply look right in front of you for what you have lost, but you know it doesn't work that way. You know. 'Cause you've done it too.
