An Oven Adventure

My oven door fell off and it has turned into an adventure...

I placed an ad on my Local Yahoo Groups Bulletin Board asking for advice on attaching an oven door. One reply lead to Julie and her husband coming over. Julie's husband spent a long time trying to put the door back on. We even used the Internet for directions on how to do it with this specific Whirlpool stove. It was finally deemed impossible. But Julie and I had a good time yacking about New York State while he worked on it. 

They knew of another stove that they could get for me for free. How cool is that. So a few days later they delivered a nice white GE stove with a glass top, quite similar to the one I have except mine is a Whirlpool. The only thing missing was oven racks, but we assumed we could just use the racks from my stove. Not! The size was different. Mine are too wide.

Oh well, now I had a nice stove and all I had to do was find some oven racks that fit. That should be easy.

Or maybe not so easy. The stove has been an ongoing adventure for close to a month. I posted wanted ads on Freecycle for stove racks and got 2 but they didn't fit. I went to some metal recycle places with no luck. I went to appliance stores. To buy a replacement is very expensive. Then I went to the local dump. They had a pile of appliances there including stoves. Told the guard at the gate my saga and he said they are not allowed to sell parts due to insurance reasons.  Okay so then he says but you can buy a whole stove. I asked how much and he said $10. Cool, well that's cheaper than buying an oven rack. So I asked to go look at them.

I was carrying an oven rack that is too large for the oven, and planned to use it as a measuring tool to find a stove with smaller racks. I spotted a GE stove and worked like the dickens to ease it out so I could peek in the oven door. Weird they can't sell the racks because of insurance reasons but they let me shove all that heavy metal stuff around. I could have been killed. LOL There was metal stuff on top of it, too. Finally got it out, opened the door, and no oven racks inside it. Rats!

So I went to the next stove and went through a worse ordeal, because that one had a glass top that was smashed, glass shards all over the place, and heavy metal stuff on top of it. It was hot that day and this was in the full sun. I swore at the thing until I got it so I could open the oven. Yeah! Oven racks, 2 of them. I pulled one out, set it on top of the one I brought there, and sure enough, it was narrower.  Without even thinking about it, I set down the oven rack I had brought into the junk pile, and carried the newly found one out.

I walked past the guard at the gate feeling like a criminal, but then told myself, "Hey they get paid in weight for that stuff and I just left a larger heavier rack for them. The stove was smashed and unusable and destined for metal recycling." (end of guilt trip)

I couldn't wait to get home and try it out. My heart sunk when I discovered it was too narrow and wouldn't work. Now I had a total of 5 oven racks and none of them fit in this GE oven.

Yesterday I called the appliance repairman even though I still owe him $75 for the time he repaired my refrigerator. He came over today, and in about 3 minutes flat he had the oven door back on. He said there is a trick to it. He demonstrated by taking the door off, as I was cringing thinking, he won't be able to put it on again. But he did, he put the door on, he took it off, he put it on again. 

He said no charge for attaching the oven door, but of course I paid for the refrigerator repair (with a post dated check.)

He does not have a dolly and so the stove is on the front porch and now I need the stoves switched out. 

I am getting closer to being able to bake something. All that is left to do is find someone who has a dolly and knows how to change the electric plug and can do the  stove switch. I can almost smell brownies baking. 

Anyone need some oven racks? What could they be upcycled into? Perhaps repurposed into something to sell on Zibbet?

Promoting Cloth Diapers

Someone posted on Facebook a photo of Huggies new disposable diapers that look like blue jeans. I commented that they are bad for environment and then quick went to Zibbet to search for cloth diapers so I could include a link to something WAY cuter than Huggies plastic trash that just looks like fabric.

I found just what I was looking for on Zibbet:
Nifty Nappy Cloth Diapers that are so, so cute and colorful.

Zibbet is the place to shop.

NEW: Gift wrapping

I've been doing free gift wrapping for customers when they request it. I had a customer yesterday who asked for gift wrapping and a note. Being short on note paper but always having buttons handy, I decided to just make a button instead of a tag with the requested message.

It looked so darn good, I thought, that I decided to offer the wrapping as a listing.

So from now on if a customer wants gift wrapping they can purchase this listing. Not only do they get the buttons gift wrapped but they get another button that tops the package off nicely.

What do you think?

I think the listing needs more examples, because I use assorted scraps of recycled tissue and wrapping paper, and whatever I have on hand: raffia, fabric ribbon, maybe velvet, possibly brown cord, a piece of leather. Sometimes I recycle the nice ribbons and paper that come in items that I buy on Etsy from others.

So basically the wrapping is a surprise.

How to convey that to the customer.

They do get their choice of words on the button. But the background might be different than the one pictured so it goes well with whatever wrapping paper or tissue I use.

Any thoughts? Critiques greatly appreciated.

Learning to use Photoshop

I am learning to use Photoshop to create buttons without actually making the buttons, until after they have sold.

Much trial and error. I know I could watch the instructional videos, but I find them so boring. They put me to sleep just like television does, well just like TV would if I had a TV.

So instead, I try this, click that, experiment, until something that somewhat resembles what I wanted it to look like appears on the screen. When I just can't get it, and my mind is totally blown, I email Donna and ask her my how-to question.

These altered My Little Pony photo buttons were a joint project. My daughter's friend painted and altered the ponies, My daughter photographed them, and I worked them in Photoshop.

Her friend has many more altered My Little Ponies. Punk, Goth, Magickal, Emo...I bet she even has a Vegan Pony. So there will be more pony buttons to come.

You can buy this set of Upcycled, Recycled, My Little Pony Altered Art Buttons at Portable Graffiti on Etsy.

Featured Artist: Chandler

My friend Summer who sells her homemade candy on Etsy just told me that her daughter has opened an Etsy shop. SweetTeeHamBone. I just love these glass bottle magnets her young daughter made from recycled items.