Blog hop - ribbit

You have arrived at my Blog Hop! Let me explain.

I am pretty sure you are not interested in how I take my coffee (not a coffee drinker) or which song I sing along to on the radio (Bohemian Rhapsody gets me going every time), which is what I think of, when I think blog hop.

If you are unfamiliar with a blog hop: usually bloggers tag each other in a pyramid scheme sort of way (blech) and everyone answers the same list of questions, The part that I rebel against, personally, is that it brings up all my social anxieties and insecurities when I have to ask two other bloggers to follow me, because of the dreaded fear of rejection. Also the questions are usually not very interesting.

But then I got this email from Anu from Nalle's House. She is a very good friend and I love reading along on her blog. They are re-doing their kitchen right now and I am eagerly awaiting pictures of their new patio as well.


Ice cream, Blog hop

When she asked me, a series of events happened:
1. I realized I have never done one of these. So bucket list. Right?
2. I found that the questions in this blog hop is not the usual drivel.
3. I lucked out that two of my friends agreed to be tagged. (phew - thanks)
4. I thought I should love everything for at least 15 minutes - this is a Philism.

I think I made a dr. Phil emoticon to go with these... not that I used it. A lot. Here it is.
   Ha ha...

5. Tangent: all the emoticons on my site are made from scratch by me. Here are some of my favorites:

Love:
Blush:
Right?:

And my all time favorite:

Never have popcorn been eaten for this long in one sitting.

Anyway...

So I agreed. And here we are.

The four questions. I thought they were really good:



Why do I write?

In one word: Entelechy. - my friend told me this is what I suffer from. Definition, see 2.

Entelechy



What am I working on?

Right now, I am working on all the projects you are going to see in September. Halloween is coming up, so I am working on that and I have a couple of quick forever succulent projects coming up as well.

What am I not working on? Tiling the bathroom. The phrase bathroom stall might work here. I am still trying to make final decisions on the perfect tile. I have been searching online and going to tile stores. Taking home samples, giving them back again.

I have a couple of upcoming spotlights with some really great projects. I have some home projects and a couple room projects coming up as well. There is a particular one towards the end of September that I am very excited about.

More on that later.



How does it differ from others of its genre?

Oh this is a tough one. If I start listing anything too specific you might think "No it doesn't", or "that other blog does that same thing". Or "get over yourself" or a combination of those three. It would get super ugly and awkward.

I can tell you that I work from my own sort of blogging manifesto. Ok that sounds a little lofty. It's a set of guidelines if you will. Are you dying to know what they are? Ok then. Twist my arm.

• I want you to be able to know what the story is about by only looking at the pictures.
• I want the photos to be the best I can get them. I spend a lot of time thinking about which photos will support the story and how I can make them interesting. And pretty.
  
• I keep my sentences short-ish and weed out filler words the best I can.. Example:  Then you take the fabric and turn it over so you can see the other side of it before you take it to the sewing machine where you then insert it and stitch a long the long side down to the end of the fabric. zzzzz Becomes: Turn the fabric over and stitch down the side.
• I don't make excuses. Excuses to me are just gums flapping and all I hear is bla bla bla. I don't think I have heard an excuse, ever, that was worth my time. Except maybe: My dog ate my homework. So I don't think any of mine will be worth yours. I look at people's actions much more than I listen to their words anyway, and I try to live by that including in the way I blog.
• I don't start a post with anything "finally" and I don't end a recipe with "enjoy" or end any post with a question. Since recently. Don't be going through my archives now...
  
• I proof read. A lot. Then I proof read some more. Yes there are still mistakes. But so what.
  
• Most importantly: I don't follow too many of the rules. The irony is not lost on you, right? I'll break almost any rule if I think it's funny too.
  

Which brings me to my final bullet:

• I don't use emoticons in my posts. Ha ha... - and again... don't go through my archives on that one either. It looks, in some places, like the top part of this post.

Oh and are you wondering about the cow? I blog about the art I make. See here how I made that cow. This is why my blog is called Shift Ctrl Art. Shift Ctrl refers to all the shortcuts I use in Photoshop.

I also try not to bullshit you. That's the cow again. If a project doesn't work. I will tell you, or actually, I won't post it. If it almost works, I will tell you where the improvements need to be made. I check my intentions and keep them as pure as I can. I think that is important. In life as in blogging.

I will also frequently do a behind the scenes thing to show you something post related rather than project related. Like when I share how I got a shot.

How I got that napkin ring shot (you may have to click over to the blog to see this):



 
Felt flower napkin ring



How does my writing process work?

My posts are very photo centric. Even this one. I had so much fun coming up with and creating an image for each question.

I start my story telling even as I am creating the project. I am already thinking about which photos I want to take and how best to photograph a certain step and how it will be placed in the post. They are not an afterthought.

Next, I set up all my photos in Photoshop, save, upload, and place them into a draft post. Save again. (People who don't save their work cry and/or vomit). Then I brain dump my text. I let it sit for a while so I can come back to it with fresh eyes. Then I edit, add, subtract, rephrase, rinse and repeat. Then I proof read. And again. And again. See thsi - totally fixed: this.

Then I hit publish. Then I proof read one more time actually. For some reason I am usually able to find a couple more errors after it's public. Why is that? By that time all my email subscribers have already gotten their version. So they are laughing right now... It's ok. Thanks for subscribing!

And that's my hop! With that, I feel like I have this blog hop thing completely out of my system ... #btdt. (for my Mom: been there, done that)

Ahh - felt good. Please don't ask me to do another unless some extraordinarily out of the box thinking went into it. And I only have to pass along to one person. And you find that person for me.

Blog hop - passing it on

Ok, hopping along to these two amazing bloggers. I have followed them both for quite a while. They are favorites of mine and total sweethearts, funny as heck and best of all: great friends!!

Primitive & Proper


Primitive & Proper

Cassie from Primitive & Proper is just a total sweet heart! I love her to pieces. She is so funny too. Always makes me laugh! She is a master furniture restorer and transformer. She has a barn consignment shop where she sells lots of MCM (Mid Century Modern) furniture and other treasures once a month. She is the host of the Eclectic Boogie Oogie Oogie home tour series and recently started a great Click it series on Fridays, featuring great finds from around the web. Cassie's home is just beautiful as well and we have been seeing more of it on the blog lately, which I love.

Lately from Cassie


Links: 1  2  3  4  5  6

Go Haus Go


Go Haus Go

And here is Emily. She is completely awesome. And has style for miles. Emily is busy blowing everyone away with her fabulous designs. She is such a great friend too and funny to boot. In that dry wit kind of way that I just love! Emily just made over her Kitchen and before that, her bathroom. Oh and you should see her Master. And her office too. Lately Emily is dabbling in art and being way to hard on herself. I am hoping we will see some more art from her. She is fabulous through and through!!

Emily lately


Links: 1  2  3  4  5  6

You can read their blog hop next Monday. Edited: Cassie's blog hop here., Emily's blog hop here.