I am SO excited to share a great tip that I learned this morning from Amanda Fowler’s Inspiring Inkin’ blog post on using dryer sheets with intricate dies. The photo on the left shows the doilies that I cut using her instructions. As you can see, all the little bits are gone (without any poking or snipping to make them turn loose).

 

Amanda demonstrates the method with the new Butterfly Thinlit in the Stampin’ Up! Occasions catalog. After reading her post and watching her video, I tried it out on the doily sizzlit that has butterflybeen gathering dust in a basket because I don’t have the patience to pick out each of those little bits after running it through the Big Shot. I confess to jumping up and down while shouting YES!! several times when the little bits adhered to the dryer sheet as I pulled the doily away.

 

I have been admiring the Butterfly Thinlit, as I love both butterflies and fussy cuts, but based on my frustration with the doily sizzlit, I’ve resisted. Now I’m excited to place my next order because that butterfly will definitely be on it!

 

This morning’s experience is a great example of the power of social media. Thomas Friedman introduced us to the “flat world” years ago, explaining how distance no longer determines what we can learn and from whom. Before social media, what chance would I have had to ever learn techniques from Amanda Fowler who lives in the UK? However, because I admired one of Amanda’s cards on Pinterest, I began following her blog with my Feedly reader. I saw the post she did yesterday on the dryer sheets, went directly to her blog, and watched her video.

 

As an English teacher (retired, but once an English teacher…), I get excited about communication in the 21st Century. One of my favorite quotes is from Neil Postman’s 1971 book Teaching as a Subversive Activity: “Once you have learned how to ask relevant and appropriate questions, you have learned how to learn, and no one can keep you from learning whatever you want or need to know.” Couple that thought with the power of the Internet and learning has no limits!

 

If you have read all the way to this point, thank you for listening to me wax on about learning. To mangle an old saying, You can take this teacher out of the classroom, but you can’t take teaching out of who she is.

 

Thanks for stopping by.