YOU CAN'T MAKE TIME... ALSO I'VE STARTED PAINTING MINIS

One of my biggest pet peeves is the phrase “making time.” People say this constantly, particularly in a work context. “I need you to make time for _______.”

As a maker, I’m acutely aware that time is the one thing you absolutely cannot make. We’re all given a finite amount of time in our lives. Other than trying to live a healthy lifestyle, there’s not a lot we can do to control how much time we do or don’t have.

2024 CHRISTMAS CRAFTS

As I sit here on the other side of the holidays, it’s hard to believe they’re over already. I literally started preparing for Christmas in October and still felt rushed. Time keeps hurtling forward and waits for no one.

One thing I love is my yearly Christmas crafting. My wife and I don’t exchange Christmas gifts, opting to hand make an ornament for each other instead. Here’s what I made for her this year:

HOW IS THIS THE THING THAT WENT VIRAL?

TikTok confounds me. I “get” short term video, but I have no idea how the magic algorithms of the clock app decide what goes viral and what doesn’t.

I cross post my shorts to YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. I figure the audiences are different and honestly? It’s all kinda the same thing. These are usually small projects. In this case it was a video of me soldering together an LED Christmas tree.

SAVING MY MARRIAGE WITH FLUTTER AND A LASER

Fun fact about this project… I spent over a year building it. I would get frustrated, put it down, then come back to it. Eventually I did finish it, but it sat on a shelf for months waiting for me to actually release the video.

I don’t know what held me back. I think I felt like the project was too silly and nobody would watch.

While it certainly didn’t go viral, as I type this it’s at 601 YouTube views… Which is around 600 more views than I expected it to get.

HOLIDAY GREETING INATOR

I’m still getting the hang of creating short-form videos. This one was a lesson in where not to put the captions, but other than that I’m happy with how it came out.

The idea of sending magnets instead of Christmas cards actually came up last year. Each magnet has an NFC tag in it. Just tap it to your phone and you’ll instantly view a photo video slideshow of our year in review!

MODEL PART DRYING TRAY

I’m easily distracted and enjoy making a bunch of different stuff. Recently I got into building and painting models. Well… Sort of. I’ve yet to successfully build a whole model. I have a Gyrados that I’ve been trying to finish for over a year.

You clip the model parts to the end of a stick to paint them. The idea is to be able to paint all sides without touching the piece itself. Then you put the stick into some sort of holder while the piece dries.

FIXING MY CAR WITH A 3D PRINTER

3D printing is incredible technology. We’re seeing some backlash from all the “3D printed crap” hitting the market. That doesn’t change the effectiveness of the tech itself.

For me the real joy in the hobby came when I started designing my own things. There’s something magical about almost “thinking” something into existence.

Usually I make art and silly stuff, but an opportunity arose to “fix my car” with a 3D printer.

ROBOT PAINTINGS

Robot…. Robot Rock…

Sorry… I had to. I do love me some Daft Punk. I still haven’t gotten over their breakup.

Anyway… My painting skills are an abomination unto art. That being said, it doesn’t stop me from trying on occasion. I actually really enjoy doing the “group painting nights”.

If you’ve never done these… Everyone gets drunk and attempts to follow along with what the instructor is telling you to do. The results are always entertaining.

CUSTOM CHECKERS

Some good friends of ours have a young daughter. We’ll call her “Mel” (not her real name).

Anyway, she loves playing games. All kinds of game actually. Her dad has done an incredible job of introducing her to both board games and video games. She’s a really, really smart kid.

Anyway, he found his old Connect 4 set from when he was a child and wanted to share it with her. The problem is that it was missing one of the checkers.

HANDMADE CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

So every year the wife and I make each other a Christmas ornament. We don’t buy each other gifts, so this ornament is a Big Deal™.

Throughout the years I’ve done different stuff. Early on I put in… Less effort than I should have. She did, at one point, receive a pine cone with pom-poms glued all over it. I should remind you that I was a grown man of 34 years old at the time.