Picture this: It's the night before last week's card classes, which happen to be the day before my big Crafter's Garage Sale. Of COURSE there aren't enough hours left to get everything done that I need to (or should I say, "want to") do for both events, but I'm perking along finishing up the design for my final card, and then will only have to cut and package the supplies for it. A quick glace at my watch encourages me – thinking I'll probably even have time for a decent period of sleep if I can keep up the pace.
And then it happens. That pesky set of 3/4" dies that I adore and hate at the same time…. does it again. One of the "Little Letters Dies" hits the floor in my workroom/laundry room. And promptly disappears. And it isn't the obscure letter "X" or "Q". Ohhhh no…….
It has to be the "H", wouldn't you know. The very letter that plays such a crucial role in "Hello", and "Hi", and "tHanks", and "WitH Love", and "WitH SympatHy" – and "Happy BirtHday", which was what I was spelling at the time. Come to think of it, "H" just might even be the die I use the very most from that entire set!
Well, after 2 hours of crawling around on the floor in the middle of the night with an LED miner's light strapped to my head, I was no closer to finding that runaway "H" than at the moment I heard it go "tink". So sadly, I had to acknowledge it was time for Plan B: scrap the really cute card design that was nearly finished – and start over from scratch. Which I did ultimately do, but obviously at the expense of several hours' sleep that night.
But I'm happy to report that "H" is now back where it belongs with the rest of its "Little Letters" family. Yesterday I emptied and pulled out 2 big cabinets (including the one that houses all my cardstock and paper) so I could crawl into the corner to access the side of the washing machine I'd been unable to reach that night. And with the assistance of this very classy, high-tech tool………….
…….. I located and snagged that wayward puppy in a snap! I'm thinking seriously of not taking my new die-snagger tool apart, though. This is already the 2nd time I've dropped a pesky little die in that room only to have it result in a multi-hour search, and somehow I suspect it may not be the last. And perhaps it might just be easier to be prepared next time……
And speaking of being prepared, I'll share again how handy it is to use magnets with these dies. Not only do I use the magnet platform in my Big Shot, but I store the entire set of "Little Letters" on a piece of 5" x 6" black magnet, and it was 2 strips of magnets that I'd glued to the wooden stick (one on either side of it) that allowed me to rescue this little 3/4" escapee from under the washer. If you don't have any left-over magnet material from when we carried it in the Stampin' Up! line a while back, you can find a couple of sheets in a package in most any kind of craft or home-improvement store. (I get mine at W**mart nowadays.)
Anyway, now that my cabinets and drawers are again replaced and refilled (and cleaned, btw), I think I'll wait another couple of days before I get brave enough to handle one of these tiny little dies again. But I WILL use them again; they're just TOO sweet and adorable NOT to!
