Scrapbooking is a Great Craft

Just not my personal choice of craft. You see, what a lot of people don't know about me is that I am a Vietnam vet disabled Marine.  I get a real kick out of smashing tile and tesserae into little pieces, gluing the bits on things and calling it mosaic art.

I only mention the marine thing so that you understand that no one can say I am less of a man because I prefer playing with glass to watching football. I have played football and it effing hurts!

My wife is just sooo possessive of my time she can hardly bear the thought of my absence – even for a few hours. That’s what I tell my sports nut buddies but truth be told I am married to the most understanding wife ever to come down the pike. So, for the present time anyway, my once monthly, one -quarter appearance during football season is sufficient (at least for now) to convince them that I am still one of the boys.

I’m truly sorry to blame my wife for my lack of sports enthusiasm but being the coward that I am I would rather have them think poorly of her than discover the awful truth – and risk being tossed into the loony bin just because I prefer to spend my time with a fun craft project than take part in the mass hysteria that takes place jusdown the street in a dark, smoke- filled cavern. There, amongst the spectral light of wall to wall big screen TV's, faces lit by a blue tinted light, purple lips depicting ghastly caricatures of the grinning faces of my sports fanatic friends – depending on the score, of course!

During a recent, rare appearance at the local pub during some game or the other, showing up to pacify a friend, (I can’t remember who was playing) I was enjoying a commercial break in the action, sipping on a cold one when my friend started in on me again with histheir good natured ribbing that I suspect is designed to wear me down and shame me into becoming a more regular sports bar patron. As I have many times before, I put on a long face, shrug my shoulders and patiently explain once again about how I will have to (gulp!), check with the wife. As I utter those words my posture consciously slumps into that of the total submissive which of course is designed to make them feel superior but it also helps that the attention span of a true sports nut is about two clicks below a two year-old. They can’t help it, sports bars are not doing their job unless the senses are stimulated, all of them, at once!

Forgetting for a moment the female factor where any girl sports fanatic, especially a good looking girl sports fanatic, always commands attention. There are just a few other stimuli that can generally prevent meaningful conversation; the combined smell of French fries in hot oil, stale beer, old cigarette smoke, and visually, the hypnotic, strobe- like effects of the TV’s and a multitude of screaming sports announcers at high decibels are all designed to grab your attention. Throw in a couple of good looking waitresses and well, you get the picture.

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A Guest Post By Dudley Kraft

Hi all! this is Dudley Kraft, it's my distinct pleasure to be here guest posting about two of my favorite subjects on my dear friends craft blog, the Lowcarb Crafter, those two subjects being crafts and healthy eating. I think the two go together because it's so easy to nosh while you craft and sitting on a stool for hours on end sewing is not exactly conducive to burning calories. Needless to say my weight gain soon began to concern me and I thought, what if a person could be involved with crafts and lose weight too?!

I have discovered that you can be into crafts and still be enjoying those snacks but only if you choose the right foods to snack on.  No matter what kind of craft you are passionate about, you could be a scrapbook aficionado, into paper crafts, fabric crafts, glass crafts, mosaic, scrapbooking, etc. you don't have to gain weight while crafting unless you make the wrong choices.

I enjoy my secret life as the Crafty-Man, the name I go by in the craft underground (Dudley is not my real name of course, as I would never admit to writing openly about my craft addictions under my real name.) But until I get the nerve to come out of the craft closet and face my creatively- challenged friends, that particular bunch of louts, admitting that crafts, not football!, were my passion, well, let's just say that if there was a TV reality show series, Is He or Isn’t He? I would be first person voted off. Projects that require sewing, scrapbooking or involve arts crafts of any kind are Verboten! to real men.

In other words, if a certain group of chest beating, testosterone laden, sports fanatic acquaintances of mine EVER found out about my secret life as a crafter , much less that I had “come out” and written an article for a craft publication, I would be banned from the local sports bar and ultimately be forced into moving to another city. An exaggeration you say? Well, you don’t know how serious these guys take their sports!

This is the first guest post in what we hope will become a regular series; Guys Can Craft Too!  by the Crafty-Man of crafts himself, Dudley Kraft.  For more information about Dudley check out his bio.

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You don't have to dedicate yourself to any diet plan or low-carb regimen to lose weight. Just substitute what you might eat in carbs with fat instead, bacon vs donuts, cheese vs cereal, or a sandwich with mayo without the bread.  Doing this will have much less impact on insulin levels, where upswings cause weight gain.

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Of course, later on when my mouth could handle it I too started eating like my Dad, hogging it down in a way that I convinced myself had me enjoying food more. I didn't just pick up this eating style during my stint in the Marine Corps, although back then I ate fast because I either had to or was in a hurry to get somewhere. The marines have a saying about chow time;  "take all you want, but eat all you take".

Unfortunately, as a result of his bad eating habits,  Dad became extremely overweight, developed diabetes and died at the tender age of 62 from complications of a gastric bypass operation.

After I joined the marines I had to learn how to eat all over again. In USMC boot camp I was always hungry, not because they starved me (just the opposite) but because I was expending so many calories in training I needed the nourishment. And the food was darn good too! Since leaving the marines I have had to watch what I eat and was not always successful, I gained weight and before I knew it had gained more weight than I thought possible. Before I discovered the low-carb lifestyle I was headed toward repeating my Dad's mistakes and fortunately I woke up in time to reverse that trend.

As a low-carb aficionado my sandwiches (I call them roll-ups) now consist of ingredients such as ham, turkey, roast beef, tuna salad, cheese and lettuce, minus the bread and I don't really miss it. I may never be able to give up bread completely but the carbs I have resisted not eating bread with a sandwich allow me to eat other carbs I enjoy, especially pasta (low-carb) and fruit.

What brought all this up was  coming across an article in Men's Health titled Chew on This which brought back memories of Dad's eating habits because the article is about what Dutch researchers discovered;  that big bites (and fast chewing) can lead to overeating. I didn't know about this and was surprised to read that people who chewed large bites of food for 3 seconds consumed 52 percent more food before feeling full than those who chewed smaller bites for 9 seconds. Their findings suggest that tasting food for a longer period of time (no matter how much you bite off) signals your brain to make you feel full sooner.

I wish these Dutch scientists had discovered this in time to help my Dad, he might have lived longer had he been able to change his eating habits by taking smaller bites and chewing longer. If you find yourself doing the same thing, taking big bites and gulping, remind yourself to slow down, try taking smaller bites and see what happens. You might be surprised at what you discover.

Believe it or not these are fully functional pinhole cameras. They have no lens, light meter, viewfinder, or automatic shutter, and yet they can produce gallery quality images. To see how Steve does it visit his website.

Amaze your friends at your next home event by taking a group picture with a beautiful ceramic accessory!

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No matter, it's what gives you pleasure and gets your juices flowing, right? Well, we would like to know which particular creative endeavor gets to share that most precious of moments, your spare time?

Please take a moment and vote, comment if you like and if you see a category of crafting that is unique to you, please let us know about it.

Thanks and happy crafting,

I thought these looked like works of art and deserving of a spot in the Crafter's Gallery.

What bartender out there wants to double their tips?