Apr 5, 2020

Reverse Confetti Easy Hello


Reverse Confetti is owned by Jen Del Muro and is located right outside Dallas. We've never met (but will fix that as soon as we go back to "normal times"**), but I am a big fan of her products, particularly the line of bold, graphic cover plates. It's open for business, as Jen is running it by herself for now.

This card uses the Rounded Stripe Panel die, which is super easy to use -- I cut the die in 3 colors and then pieced together, popping up the blue pieces. Added a sentiment that was sitting out on my desk! And yes, I can see that the sentiment isn't centered perfectly, but that's another lesson to slow down, even in these slowest of days.

I don't know about you, but before I shell out $20 on a die, I want one that I can use over, and I think this one fits the bill. You'll be seeing more of it.

MOOD WHEN DONE: Great!

** I keep thinking about the future and found myself referring to it as "normal times," as in "I can't wait for normal times so that I can...."  I realized that I got that phrase from my paternal grandmother. She was born in 1900 and never accepted all the changes she witnessed in her life. One of her favorite expressions in the 1960s was to bemoan current prices (for example, bread (.25!)) and say she couldn't wait for them to return to "normal times." Bread was never going back to .5 a loaf, but she never stopped pining for that time.

The funny thing was that, by then, she and my grandfather actually were very comfortable financially. After they died, we grandchildren figured out that my grandfather, who had traveled to the US alone from southern Italy through Ellis Island when he was 13, earned his money, not just by being a barber, but by running a numbers operation through the barbershop. Despite having money, my grandmother worried all the time that they would lose it all. She had been poor and never felt the safety that those who grow up comfortable take for granted. She never stopped waiting for the .5 loaf of bread, even though by every measure she was better off when bread was .25.

So now that we have all had the rug pulled out from under us, I wonder how this will change us. Will I ever be comfortable going to the movies, eating at a restaurant, or going to an ER? Will I go back to having a half empty pantry, believing that "stocking up" is a waste of money? Will I ever take easy access to a grocery store for granted?

Maybe time will soften this experience, but I expect that for many, particularly those who are facing financial ruin, these times will leave a heavy mark and change us in ways that we cannot see now. So today, it's one day a time, helping where we can, waiting and hoping for the best, but knowing that "normal" is going to change forever.

In the meantime, I'm wondering -- how do you think this will change you or your family or society? 




7 comments:

Diana K said...

Love the card, Joan, it totally sings out to me (p.s. I think the sentiment looks better this way than it would if centred). Not knowing when all this is going to end is the hardest thing for me to manage. I am not a germaphobe *normally* but I already know that when this is over I'll never go on a cruise again! Airplanes will also be a hard one. Other than I can't begin to predict what the world will end up being. It surprises me continuously even in *normal* times. Hugs to you.

SmilynStef said...

Love Jen ... love what you did with her die (great color choices) and always love having *conversations* with you ... love you too.

Sherri said...

I keep thinking how different this would have been not that long ago when we wouldn't have had so much online connection with others, both nearby -such as churches- and faraway -such as universities-. Even with our poor rural internet, we have adult kids here taking university courses, and one who cannot get back to China yet and will be teaching university courses there online while sitting in our midwest farm house. We are isolated in one sense, yet better connected than ever.

Julie Ebersole said...

This card is BOMB!!! Great use of this die! Right now, I think of all the stats being posted and how the numbers mean nothing to someone who is directly dealing with this virus. . . I'm in the "one day at a time" camp . . . But, my hope for the world is that people will be more thankful and less critical, more considerate of others and less self-centered, seek to spread more kindness and squash hate, be part of the solution instead of the problem . . .

Karen Page said...

I think my response will be different from most. Let me preface that I have been a stay at home mom for 18 years, and while I was on the PTA for 7 years, band booster board for 4, and HOA for 2, I haven't had to supplement the family income. My husband is in IT and has worked from home part time all our 25 years together and full time the last 5 years. My only child attends a local community college and had mostly online classes. Our routine hasn't changed at all, and were it not for the lack of paper goods in the stores, I would be totally unaffected. That said, I'm betting I had the virus early February (anxiously awaiting the antibody tests) when I developed pneumonia overnight, but it happened coincidentally after having swallowed wrong and feeling like I had something stuck in my throat. They initially said Aspirate Pneumonia, but based on all my symptoms, and my family's symptoms a week later, the doctor is now guessing Covid. I got sick, I got better, I got on with it. I know that is harsh, especially with so many people world wide losing their battle with the virus. It just shows how I am having a hard time wrapping my head around this. No one I know has gotten deathly ill, and many feel, like me, that they already had it. No one I know has lost their job or a loved one. I live an hour north of Atlanta, which they thought would be another epicenter. I can't understand why so many people are bothered by being home, when its something I am thankful for and accustomed to. I don't understand why others are having family issues when we have always loved the amount of time we spend with one another. My son didn't go away to school because he enjoys having us in his life. I'm sure it helps that I don't watch tv at all and only watch the daily Presidential reports. I just hope people learn to slow down, make time for their families and hobbies, and that our country learns that we cannot rely on a global economy for life sustaining goods and medicines. I'm proud of what our government and citizens have accomplished and hope going forward we learn to extend grace to others not just in times of trouble. Americans, in particular, have a great opportunity here to learn how to be better... better parents, better spouses, better citizens, better workers... better people. Staying busy takes the focus off relationships and goals, but this has made many people slow down and reevaluate those things. Wow, that came out a whole lot deeper... and longer... than I intended! Just my thoughts 😊

Leslie Miller said...

Oh, I like this. The colors, the texture, way cool die, and a photo that shows it off beautifully. I remember $.25 bread. I've always kept a well stocked pantry, so that won't change. Otherwise, I'm sure it will be a while before I feel entirely comfortable about getting back to "normal". After reading the last comment it would be best if I said no more.

Meg McAlister said...

Oh Joan, I fear my response may be longer than your blog post. I apologize in advance. I think the timing of all of this is what I twirl around in my mind the most. Having lost both of my parents last fall following their sudden onset and short-lived illnesses . . . This whole coronavirus situation adds a new heavy blanket of grief and loss and newness on top of my well-worn blanket of grief I was already working to adjust to a comfortable position.

I have not experienced the anger part of my grief process until now... and it's only in small snippets, but mostly, I am angry sometimes that everyone is having their own experience with COVID-19 and that it leaves me over here feeling a bit more isolated and alone than I was already experiencing.

Like one of your commenters said above, I struggle the most with not knowing "when" this will end. I realize that this feeling reflects something deeper that I could stand to sit with and work through.

I also welcome any opportunity that allows me to see into the lives of others so that I may learn something new and developer a deeper understanding of the "hows" and "whys" that are often silently going on behind closed doors.

I am touched by the outpouring of human compassion and kindness and grace that is showing up everywhere and being shared through all of our ways of connecting. Initially, I was skipping past the present moment and already experiencing sadness for when I just know people will return to living how they always lived and as if no lessons were learned from this common experience that is surely unique to this time-period. But now, I am showing myself compassion and grace and when I see those thoughts popping up and then I breathe and allow myself to soak all of the present moment in rather than wishing it all away by mourning it while it is right in front of me.

I don't know how this will affect me or society. . . but I hope that this serves as a bit of a reset for those of us who need it. (I also realize that this hope comes from a place of privilege and I'm trying to process that part too). For me (which is now my family... pretty much just me) I commit to living each day with intention. I did this for an entire year when I turned 45, which is the final age my original dad ever reached. I'm now 4 years past that year and ready to recommit. And in an effort to wrap this way too long comment up . . . I will say that I still plan to come to Texas. If the stay at home order is lifted... my plan is to come in late August/early September and I will do everything I can to meet you in person.

XO Meg