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So I had nearly half my cards finished, all sitting nicely waiting to be signed and put in envelopes, when I went in to retrieve my Sonic Route 444 diet coke from my table....yes, you know this isn't going to be pretty. I tripped on my uneven flag stone floor, which sent my drink flying from my hands to land right next to my beautiful cards, pouring almost the entire contents all over my cards, my white curtains, my baskets that hold my embossing folders and dies, splashing onto my brand new Grand Calibur and finally spilling down the sides and back of my die cut station.:-(...on the bright side I did manage to save two cards...oh and since it was diet coke, no sticky residue!
Oh, my! The worst that happened with mine was I dropped a stamp onto my card but not where I wanted it and had to toss that one! Nothing compared to your spill!
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I worked on my cards today. Went and got a latte and a Starbucks carbonated green coffee drink....,as I came upstairs I looked at those drinks and my cards and quickly put them two rooms over in he kitchen.
I had a vision of his happening to me, too!
I've so far avoided a huge mishap. I'm feeling your pain. That had to just about killed you. What do you plan to do. Re-make them or buy some? I'm really sad for you.
__________________ All I want is the chance to prove money won't make me happy!
I don't know how the heck I did this, but once I was working with a bottle of India ink. Some how, I ended up tipping the bottle upside down and the lid wasn't on and poured the ink all over my working area. Thankfully, I didn't have anything "important" on the table at the time, but it was sure one big mess to clean up.
I am sitting here trying to think of some disaster I could tell you about to make yours seem really little but I cant. I am so sorry this happened to you, you must have felt gutted at the time but sure glad you decided to share and see the positive side (mini though it was).
Now I am waiting to hear whether you plan to remake or buy christmas cards for this year. All that cleaning up you have to do too......murphy was on your shoulder when that happened.
Just before Easter, I spent an evening cutting all the components for 10 pop-up cards. Added Stickles and Liquid Pearls on some pieces and left on the kitchen table overnight to dry. Got up in the morning and there were tan splotches on nearly every piece. I verbalized my dismay and DH asked what was wrong? When I told him it looked like coffee had been spilled on my work, he shrugged and said it wasn't him! I managed to cobble two cards together for my grandkids.
I'm in the process of making a large configuration box for the family gift exchange. It has 2 of the larger size Tim Holtz trees. I wanted them to have glitter so I thought I'd spray the trees with fabric molding spray (it's sticky), dumped on the glue and let it dry. The glitter "appeared" to stick so I add the trees to the box. This morning I was showing the DH and I flipped the box over to look at the back and all the glitter fell off the trees. It was all over me, the floor, hubby's desk, and the big mess is that it went into every nick and cranny of every little stinkin item in the box. It took a few minutes to clean us up and a couple of hours to brush/vacuum it off all the items in the box. I think we'll see glitter in February because that stuff travels.
That is why I do not bring anything to drink in my craft area. I am clumsy enough
Dropping my ink pads or spilling my embossing powder. I even spill the little water that I use for watercoloring. That is personal rule I have in my craft area, no beverages.
Yep, I hear ya. I haven't spilled any drink, believe it or not, in all the years I've been scrapping! Now I've dropped ink pads, smudged ink with my fingers, accidentally cut off my sentiment while trimming my card and cut things at wrong angles, but never ever spilled a drink. I'm usually so very careful. Always have a lid on, never put the drink close to my projects...but yesterday was Murphy's law for me most of the evening.
Broke a necklace, ruined my Christmas cards, dh helping me put up my lighted garlands around our windows and half of two strings were blown out. Could we find what bulb made them blow...nope! Had to trudge off to the store in search of more lights. The first store was closed, the second where I had purchased the lights was cleaned out and the third...well it was Walmart...need I say more? We did not find the right ones, but we found some....separate strings that ended up not being the same length...ugh!
I had just vacuumed earlier in the day, but now my floor looked like we were stringing pine needles to make our own garlands!
After the lights fiasco, the only thing I wanted to do was fall into bed and forget the day.
Bright spot! I was rummaging through a box of what I thought were scraps...and discovered a nice stack of Christmas cards I'd made last year and never sent!!! Well, guess what?! They're getting sent this year and no one will be the wiser
That is why I do not bring anything to drink in my craft area. I am clumsy enough
Dropping my ink pads or spilling my embossing powder. I even spill the little water that I use for watercoloring. That is personal rule I have in my craft area, no beverages.
Same here! I have done enough damage with unknown ink on the sides if my fingers, fumbling jars of embossing powder (but only the detail powder that has to be special ordered :rolleyes, and dropping trays of beads. I have learned that small containers of water for watercoloring are always placed in a catch-tray, for a darn good reason.
My heart is aching for you & the gorgeous cards that were decimated by a diet coke...that's a cryin' shame and I'm sorry for your distress.
I just had a thought about how to salvage them. Have you thought about sending them in their less than stellar condition with an upbeat, funny note enclosed about why they are receiving the card in the sorry shape? Maybe something like this: Thought I would share a card I made using a new technique. It's called the double-over-and-under Diet Coke special! I guarantee that this is a limited edition card (praying this NEVER occurs again!) Just wanted to share "A Coke & A Smile" with you. Merry Christmas to you and yours and may you enjoy a fumble-free year ahead!
Goofy, I know, but I bet everyone who received it would laugh, show it to others and likely keep it. Just my thoughts on the matter.
Off to my stamp room to make darn sure the lids are on my embossing powders.....
OK, I'm officially banning all beverages from my crafting area! I haven't had a disaster but why tempt fate?
So sorry that happened to you, do please give us an update.
I only take water in my studio simply because I'm such a klutz. Omgosh, my heart aches. I know how that feels. My biggest fear is to spill on my computer. Om gosh. I feel ya!!
After my "I hate my Christmas cards" thread. I finally found a design I liked but I kept messing up the "mock up". I did about 6. - Finally I actually sat down and wrote out step by step what to do. Out of the 80 I made I messed up 4, 2 of which were beyond salvation.
I completely feel your pain and my biggest concern was your die cutter not your cards... hey if the die cutter is working you could always cut the cards and add an insert with the story of your cards.
FWIW - I love little accidents, it is what we remember and what makes events unique. You will always remember the year you tripped and spilt your diet coke all over your Christmas cards etc. The times when everything goes by the book aren't so special because nothing unique happened. Embrace it!
Last edited by RiverIsis; 12-10-2014 at 02:10 AM..
Oh my, I feel so sad for you :( I would be heartbroken and so angry all mixed up together that I would feel like I would explode! I can't think of anything of that magnitude that I have done. I have over-squeezed my Tombow glue, knocked over a container of glitter, dropped my paintbrush onto a finished image and ruined it, dropped my ink pad, cut my finger with a craft knife and shoved a paper-piercer half way up underneath my fingernail bed - honestly I am so clumsy - but it all pales into comparison with your disaster. {{hugs}} Is there anything you can do to salvage what you have?
Last year my kitten was only 9 months old.
I made all the poinsettia flowers for my cards and left them on the kitchen counter for the glue to dry. There were the style of flowers where each petal was glued on separately and took quite a bit of time to make .
I went to bed. I heard him playing in the kitchen and living room, but he often did that after I went to bed.
Finally my curiosity got the best of me and I went into the kitchen to see what he was doing . Just as I walked into the kitchen he was jumping down from the counter with a flower in his mouth. Then he tossed it into the air and chased it as it bounced LOL He is small so I didn't think he could jump high enough to get onto the counter .
When the flowers went under the refrigerator or under the sofa he just jumped up and got another one from his ready supply .
I gathered up the flowers hoping they could be salvaged but they all had kitten teeth marks in them so I had to start over making flowers for the cards . This time I put them in a container in the cupboard to dry .
__________________ "I have not failed . I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work" --Thomas A. Edison
Nope I cannot top that booboo. So sorry it happened but you do have the right attitude. Well, how could you not? Sitting on the floor and crying is just not an option.
oh no! but well done for seeing the funny side of it. I posted all my cards to the UK and Ireland - cost me $60 for 21 cards...only to have 11 turn up in my post box the next day....yep $2.50 to ship less than a Kilometer away from the post office......
Oh no! that's terrible! I feel for you.
I've been able to avoid spilled drink disasters. I use my old crop drink holder on the side of my desk (It clips to the desk top) in order to avoid any possible spillage.
I have done what Muscrat posted, accidentally dropped an inked stamp on a finished card. Or more to the point, had an SU clear cling stamp fall off the block :(
I sign the back of all my cards. I used to put the year I made them too. I don't do that any more. Lesson learned!
I tried selling my cards at craft shows for a while. I put each card into a ziplock bag, punched a hole in the top, and hung the cards on a home-made rack that stood on the table. I went to one outdoor show on a beautiful sunny day - nice breeze, lovely setting, all is well - until another paper crafter stopped by and said "how do you keep the condensation inside the plastic from ruining your cards?" Because of the warm sun and the cool breeze, every one of my cards had drawn damp inside the baggie and I had to trash a whole stack of them.
__________________ SilverSnow Lois Malachi 3:10 "See if I will not throw open the floodgates of heavenand pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it"
Oh Y'all have made me feel so much better, sharing your concern and your own disaster stories. It's never fun to have a whole lot of cards ruined in one go, but as Kristin said, I'll never forget this year's cards...to be sure they are forever burned in my brain, diet coke and all! Lois, oh my goodness, after all that work protecting your cards and then that very thing being what ruined them!!
Barbara Jay, oh I wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry, kittens are sooo cute when they are playing, it'd be hard to be mad!
Jukie, $60 to mail 21 cards??!! And then to have half of them returned to you!
Same here! I have done enough damage with unknown ink on the sides if my fingers, fumbling jars of embossing powder (but only the detail powder that has to be special ordered :rolleyes, and dropping trays of beads. I have learned that small containers of water for watercoloring are always placed in a catch-tray, for a darn good reason.
My heart is aching for you & the gorgeous cards that were decimated by a diet coke...that's a cryin' shame and I'm sorry for your distress.
I just had a thought about how to salvage them. Have you thought about sending them in their less than stellar condition with an upbeat, funny note enclosed about why they are receiving the card in the sorry shape? Maybe something like this: Thought I would share a card I made using a new technique. It's called the double-over-and-under Diet Coke special! I guarantee that this is a limited edition card (praying this NEVER occurs again!) Just wanted to share "A Coke & A Smile" with you. Merry Christmas to you and yours and may you enjoy a fumble-free year ahead!
Goofy, I know, but I bet everyone who received it would laugh, show it to others and likely keep it. Just my thoughts on the matter.
Off to my stamp room to make darn sure the lids are on my embossing powders.....
That's a good idea! I once sent a card to a friend on SCS that had the inside panel glued to the wrong side! I told her I knew how much she loved to laugh and figured she would love my card no matter what....and she did!
And for Barbara Jay....no kitten is too small to get anywhere! LOL
So sorry to hear of your mishap. So happy you have a happy attitude about it. When you are feeling like a total klutz (which I often do!lol) just leave it to your SCS sistahs to chime in and make you feel better by sharing their own stories. My worst disasters have been fingerprints....grrr....
For the past 4 or 5 years, I don't send actual cards. Instead I use recycled (or upcycled?) Christmas card fronts and I make huge jumbo tags. I cut, decorate, embellish, stitch edges, you name it. Everyone I know saves me their old Christmas cards. These days, since people get so few cards, and because not every card lends itself to this, I need lots of people saving. These are cards that otherwise, come the post-holiday January clean-up, people would just toss.
Anyway, these altered tags really take a lot of time to make. A few years ago I had worked ahead during the cold cocooning months of January and February. I probably had 60 or 70 made ahead (I send about 90).
Well wouldn't you know it, that April we had what's called a hundred year flood. I had a foot of water in my basement. And yes, the made-ahead altered tags were in a cardboard box on the floor of the closet in my craft room. All ruined. That was a setback.
I will say that I also lost tons of designer paper that was stored on lower shelving...automatic purging, LOL :-) .
The photo is of this year's batch, to give you an idea of the size. I use a jumbo Sizzix tag die, the old red plastic-cased kind that I bought maybe 10+ years ago. Let me tell you, that die gets a workout and is still going strong. I keep my dinosaur of the old heavy red Sizzix die press around, just for this.
Anyway, these altered tags really take a lot of time to make. A few years ago I had worked ahead during the cold cocooning months of January and February. I probably had 60 or 70 made ahead (I send about 90).
Well wouldn't you know it, that April we had what's called a hundred year flood. I had a foot of water in my basement. And yes, the made-ahead altered tags were in a cardboard box on the floor of the closet in my craft room. All ruined. That was a setback.
I will say that I also lost tons of designer paper that was stored on lower shelving...automatic purging, LOL :-) .
Losing so much in a flood would make anyone sick at heart . Not to mention all the work you had done .
__________________ "I have not failed . I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work" --Thomas A. Edison
OH MY GOODNESS! I feel for you ALL having all these mishaps! All that work!!!! One thing I do to keep kitties away from my work...is take a baby gate & prop it up in the chair at my desk. My desk is positioned so the kitties can only get on it from where the chair is. I know it doesn't look nice, but it keeps kitty paws off my desk! Kitties do more than tear up your cards! Have you ever had them urp up on your desk? Litter? Poo? Hair? NO THANK YOU!!! We have 4 little fur balls that get into a lot of mischief! You have to be constantly vigil to keep your area YOURS! LOL
I ;mistakenly posted this to the wrote place. I think I would do a quick "IOU" card, send them out and take a deep breath. You are such a saint the way you handled it. lol
That would be so sad to lose all that hard work! I'm sorry. My worst mishap was at a weekend scrapbooking retreat. I always trimmed and matted all the pictures, made embellishments, and any titles ahead of time. All that was left was taping it to the page and journaling. I had about 30 pages sitting in a cardboard box on my table when I went to bed. Overnight there was a leak in the roof and my pages got covered in mucky water. I ended up crocheting the rest of the weekend and recreating all my pages at home. Now I always store my works in progress in a plastic box!
So I had nearly half my cards finished, all sitting nicely waiting to be signed and put in envelopes, when I went in to retrieve my Sonic Route 444 diet coke from my table....yes, you know this isn't going to be pretty. I tripped on my uneven flag stone floor, which sent my drink flying from my hands to land right next to my beautiful cards, pouring almost the entire contents all over my cards, my white curtains, my baskets that hold my embossing folders and dies, splashing onto my brand new Grand Calibur and finally spilling down the sides and back of my die cut station.:-(...on the bright side I did manage to save two cards...oh and since it was diet coke, no sticky residue!
Anyone else care to share?
I feel so sad for you. My daughter In law collets misfits. I bought a Misfit toys stamp to make a place card to put in front of her display. Now if I have a boo boo, I pull this stamp out and write something humorous to go with it. It was great to do one for my picky Quality Manager at work, asking her to use "as is", words she hates.
Colored nail polish is my enemy! I had worked on a huge card order--and I was almost done with 50 cards...I noticed these red streaks on the cards in various places--RED was not one of the colors I had been using--It dawned on me that the color from my nails when I moved the cards around it was scrapping off onto the cards I had just made--I have not painted my fingernails any color other than clear or a very light-light pink since that day--this was about 10 years ago! Needless to say-Ladies...make sure your polished nails doesn't "schmear" your art work!
__________________ I love creating something...from nothing! Susanne
My worst was having one of my dogs chew up a couple of finished cards - he likes paper so I keep the craft room door tightly closed when I'm not in there. I've also had the small disasters of dropping ink pads or getting inky fingers on finished cards.
I'm taking a lesson from this thread - no beverages on my craft desk ever!!!
__________________ Susan
My SCS gallery is here should you care to look! Or please visit my blog, Cardmaker's Garret.
Oh boy. That was a doozy of a can flip! I think I have to score you a 10 since you hit just about everything in front of you. Being highly experienced, I consider myself a good judge of this.
I was worried for the machine too.
Sitting on the floor and crying is not an option? Watch me. Very doable. But then you have to get up and get movin' again. You keep sniffling while you wipe it up and curse a bit but done is done. Once the last paper towel goes in trash after you blow your nose, the waterworks end.
I purposely got heavy bottom weighted glasses to keep me from knocking them over...I do anyway. I cant even count how many times. I also drop stuff all the time. Klutz is tatooed on my behind like a trademark. I gave up worrying about the things. Now I just worry my neighbors will come upstairs one day to kill me.
I call this going "uphill"-when things just keep going wrong. It's been an uphill season for me too. Your attitude is inspirational for me!
I've done the nail polish thing and every thing else people have mentioned here. I can come away from a craft time and I have glitter all over me, rhinestones in my hair, etc. Like a crafty pigpen lol. But I will also have a huge smile on my face that little else puts it there. I just try really hard not to get it in my eyes.
Yes-you will remember the "coke christmas". LOL. But that's what makes it real life!
My "accident" story. No harm,no foul but took awhile to clean up.
So, I'm headed to my craft room with a full
Coffee in carafe in hand, tripped on a cord, fell down, carafe landed right side up but shattered the glass lining, there fore the whole pot of coffee seeped out onto the carpet. Ugh, the stain is still there. BUT, nothing else was stained.
__________________ I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. PhiL. 4:13
Christmas card disasters..
