When to let go...

So, have you ever had one of those days when everything you do seems to go wrong? Yesterday was "that day" for me. It started with a tooth chipping (thank goodness it's not one you can see), then a quote for a very expensive auto repair (that they are almost confident will fix the problem), then an item I ordered on the internet (and needed by Friday) turned out to be discontinued!
Maybe at that point I should have just gone back to bed and waited for another day to begin (that does seem like the smart thing to do now), but alas I moved on to the next thing on my list for the day. #8- Finish the envelope album for CHA
(that's the BIG trade show coming up).

I will let you know that until this particular time the journal had been going great...found all the pictures I needed and the pages/envelopes were complete. My final plan was to use a large manila tag at the front of the journal to introduce who and what the was book about. I decided to punch holes with the square border punch to be able to put the big tag into the wire-o and on the other side of the tag, I will print the words, " The family gatherings were simple and more often than not included good food and laughter. No matter how often we got together, there were certain things you could count ALWAYS count on..."This is what I got.


The tag jammed in the printer and half of the words printed on top of teach other!
Now, on MOST days I would have got another tag from the bin and printed it again. But yesterday was just one of those days and all I could do was sit and stare at that stupid tag.
Ever feel that way?
As I was sitting and staring and holding my head in my hands...
It came to me...as if a cartoon light bulb went on over my head,"it's OK, use it anyway, just let it go..."
so I did.

I grabbed a fabric swatch that was on my work table (just the right size for the space). I stapled it to the tag on opposite corners. I dug out a baggie of chipboard pieces I had painted for a project I was working on last week. The previously painted @ symbol was in the bag and seemed to fit the space. Now what to do to finish the sentence I had started? I went back to the computer and printed out...every family dinner to make it a complete sentence and glued it on with gel medium.

Done, I solved the problem.
My troubles are over!
I have fixed the tag "Gypsie Style".

So I turned the tag over to the front...painted the tag blue, added the picture and the names. Then used the new ATC clear stamps-Journal stamp to stamp the circle, added the text and then the rubbing.
Now do you see where I went wrong (again)?


It was the last step...the rubbing...it originally was going over the circle and then I changed it to the left side (where I was going to punch the wire-o holes). Back to the "fix it" mode of thinking. This one was much easier to solve than the last mistake I made.
The answer... GAFFER TAPE!
Gaffer tape can solve so many of life's problems. In fact, Debbie once had her cell phone held together with gaffer tape! Now if only I could use it to fix my car I could avoid those costly repairs!

In the end, the big tag had no holes punched in it, just a little piece of gaffer tape to save the day. That's the great thing about solving a problem Gypsie style...it all ends up looking like you planned it from the beginning. Sometimes just remembering to let things go lets in enough creativity to make things better than your original idea. Debbie calls these "happy accidents".
Works for me!(although I do not think this style will work when it comes to fixing my tooth or my car)