I started with a big background stamp called Rose Background 1229-K from Stamp Oasis that’s older and I looked online and couldn’t find any where that sold it. Sorry. There are a lot of really pretty rose background stamps available though. Here are a couple I found on ebay that I really liked. http://www.ebay.com/itm/ROSES-AND-BUDS-NEW-BACKGROUND-RUBBER-STAMP-3-x-4-x-1-Montage-Collection-/182744901019?hash=item2a8c71e59b:g:BUgAAOSw2ENW7aoi and

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BOTANICAL-BACKGROUND-ROSE-FLOWER-LEAF-BRANCH-NATURE-Rubber-Stamp-Lot-/232449286466?hash=item361f0ea142:g:jB4AAOSwK6RZDnze

 

 

 

I used pink and purple 5 1/4″ tall by 4″ wide pieces of card stock and a pigment ink from Hero Arts called Unicorn White. With my stamp laying stamp side up on the surface of my work space, I inked the stamp and placed the card stock on the right edge and bottom right corner of the stamp, then rub the card stock all over with the side of your hand to ensure the ink transfers. When you off-set your design, you make sure that the pattern is the same direction, and you move your paper a little bit to the left, but still along the bottom edge and stamp with another color. The ink can be dye based, but you’ll need to make sure your white ink is either heat set, or sits overnight to dry before stamping with another color.

I used Distress Oxides and colored the green of my leaves, then stamped back over the whole design with the Unicorn white ink to enhance the pattern. Because I put the paper in the right hand corner both times I stamped with white, the ink will end up in the same spot both times and allows you to accentuate the green ink beneath.
I used a white Uni Posca marker to color in my flowers to accentuate the design of the flowers after I painted them with Distress Oxides and they were dry.

I used different discontinued pink pigment inks from Stampin’ Up on a light pink cardstock with the Unicorn white stamped first, and then moving the paper about 1/16″ to the left, to offset the design and really make it pop. The Stampin’ Up inks also need to be heat set as would any pigment ink. Pigment inks are easy to find and here are some ideas of some inexpensive ones if you are interested in trying them. Clearsnap Colorbox 5 ct cats’ eyes are small and come in a wide variety of colors.. currently on sale for $8.39 at Joanns. Here’s a link to them. http://www.joann.com/clearsnap-colorbox-5ct-cats-eye-pigment-ink/zprd_14944029a.html#q=cats%2Beye%2Bink&start=1

Pigment inks are slow to dry, so you either need to heat set them, emboss and heat set them, or let them sit overnight to be sure they are dry. They are exactly the same color as they appear in the packaging, so it makes it nice when you are looking for a particular color, because what you see is what you get. I don’t own many because I’ve very impatient to continue projects, but do like to use them from time to time.

I started with an 8 1/2″ wide by 5 1/2″ tall brighter pink card stock and scored it at 4 1/4″ on the 8 1/2″ side to create an A2 size card.
I used some Old Olive Stampin’ Up ink on a piece of acetate and using a little water, mixed the ink and water. I then watercolored the leaves on the pink cardstock that had the brighter pink flowers on it with a paint brush.

I used a die from Serendipity Stamps that says “Hello” on it and die cut the pink flowered card stock. Keep all of the pieces that come out of the die as you’ll need some of them later. I used Scrapbook Adhesive tape runner to attach my flowered card stock to the card base without the hello…I had to use a Zig 2 Way Glue Pen and put glue inside the cut out for hello, so my new die cut will fit inside and stay there. It’s important you put as much glue in the opening as possible. I die cut a darker pink Hello and laid it in the spot where I cut the hello from and once it’s in place, find the pieces that are missing that you saved from the first time you cut the hello out of the flowered paper. I used a Spectrum Noir glitter marker to go over the flowers and the Hello to make it a little bit sparkly.

At this point in the video, I talked about my facebook page, crafting for almost everyone. I would like to see the facebook page be more interactive with my viewers, so am encouraging people to put some of their project photos there. It’s simple to do..where it says write something (I think), you would write whatever you want, and then below it says attach photo, and you can add your photo of your project there. I love to see what my viewers are creating and I’m sure other viewers would enjoy seeing others projects as well. Please do not write anything negative on people’s projects as they are sharing their best…you can save any negative commentary for me on this channel if you want. I think it will be so much fun to see more and more people adding their projects to the facebook page because it gives us a space that’s all our own to share with each other and the world.

For my envelopes, I used some purple sprays that I just bought at Michaels and made a rounded rectangular shape and laid it on the envelope before I sprayed it so it created a space for the address. (This didn’t turn out perfectly, but I kept going.) To decorate around the purple spray, I used peg stamps, Three ripply flowers, and a leafy branch with Vintage Violet (discontinued, I think) ink from Stampin’ Up and Old Olive ink for the leaves. I stamped Blushing Bride ink from Stampin’ Up with brambly roses from peg stamps and a strawberry leaf and Old Olive ink, on the back of the envelope for the pink cards.

On the purple cards, I used an Old Olive colored die cut, so used a similar sheer ribbon near the top and tied it into a bow. I apologize that my camera cut out for part of it. You know how these things happen, darn it.

In person, the words show up much better than they do on camera and I apologize that you can’t see it as well as I would like.

I bought two pairs of inexpensive canvas sneakers to try to make tie dye sneakers. I used to do tie dye in the 70’s (I know I’m too young to remember the 70’s), so thought I’d try it with alcohol markers (Sharpies) and 91% alcohol and some sort of dropper to control the alcohol that you are dripping onto your shoes. You’ll want to put a large wad of paper or plastic bag shoved into the toe of your shoes so that it’s easier to color on. Make sure your paper has no writing on it, because it might bleed onto the canvas from all the alcohol you are dripping onto it..

Make sure you do this project in a well ventilated area or outside so the smells are not so strong.

For this project, you’ll need 91% alcohol, Sharpies in a rainbow of colors, a pair of white canvas tennis shoes (sneakers), and painter tape or masking tape to wrap around the plastic base of your shoes, and a pair of scissors, plus paper to jam into the toe of the shoes and a medicine dropper or some sort of way to drip the alcohol onto the shoe, vs pouring it out of the bottle.

Step 1: Cover the plastic base of your shoes with the masking/painter tape and when you come to a curve, snip the top of the tape so you can curve the tape and overlap your tape to allow it to curve. You might need to rip the tape if you can’t make it overlap enough to make the toe curve, Don’t get the tape on the canvas portion of the shoe, only on the plastic. Really press the tape onto the plastic to ensure a good seal. Remove the shoe laces and keep them somewhere where you won’t forget about them.

Step 2…I made a design that looks like the curve of an ear. You need to make sure that each shoe has an “ear” that curves in the right direction…Look at the drawing I made of the ears, to know what your shoe should look like. I draw lines to make the colors look precise. The brighter the colors you use, the more your shoes will resemble traditional tie dye. Leave some room between the colors to allow for bleeding. Yellow is especially difficult because the other colors seem to absorb into it . You’ll want to color the tongue of the shoes to match the colors around it.

Step 3 Make sure your tape is still well adhered to your shoes, then take your dropper and start at the top of the shoe and work your way down the shoe. If you have an area that still looks like individual lines, put more alcohol on it.

Step 4. Wait for the shoes to dry and then put your shoe strings back in. Your shoes are ready to wear and are lots of fun.

If you get any ink on the plastic sides of your shoes, rub a little of the alcohol on them to remove it.

My girlfriend is having a craft booth at a local fund raiser and asked if I would be willing to participate.  I had a couple of ideas that I thought would be fun, so finished the first, the covered notebooks, and began the second, matchbook notepads.  I saw these on a video a while ago and can’t remember the name of the site I saw it on, but will definitely include it in the video.  You cut double sided decorated paper and then score it so it’s shaped like a matchbook, then put ten pieces of typing paper folding in half inside, and staple the bottom.  Then decorate the front and slide the top paper under the bottom paper and your work is done.  It seemed so simple when I saw them made, but I didn’t like the look of the staples, so decided to cover them with washi tape, and my decorations always seemed to be too large and my staples too close to the top, and it was just more labor intensive than I anticipated.  I think it was because I used an electric stapler, as I couldn’t get the staples to go through all of the layers of paper when I tried it with a manual stapler.

I think in the end, they looked fine, but I was hoping they would be much faster and easier to produce than they were, darn it.

For the last project, I’m going to make a bunch of cards using my new layered dies…They should be extremely fast and easy to produce, and I think I’ll use the MISTI and stamp several sentiments in it and then punch them out so they can easily be added to the cards on the inside, so each card is individual.  I’ll start working on those tomorrow and hopefully, will have enough complete, that I will feel like I’ve done my part.  I did think I would have produced a lot more than I did, but with my head hurting for most of the week, I had a lot of time when I wasn’t doing much of anything….And yes, I’ll be wearing hats when I go outside from now on.  At least I plan to wear hats.  Either that, or figure out how to apply 100 SPF to the top of my head…I better plan on the hat.

I know it’s been a few days since I’ve added anything to the blog and it’s really not like me, but I probably should explain.  Keep in mind that this is a total excuse and I should have still written something on the blog instead of forgetting to write about anything.

On the 29th, I had to have some minor skin cancer taken off the top of my head.  It isn’t serious and just required some surgery to rectify the situation.  They started at 10AM and by 11, the surgery was complete and they were looking at it under a microscope to determine if all of the edges were clean.  By noon we knew everything was fine, but they needed to fit me in to the rest of the day’s scheduled to close up the hole they had made.  We all know I have a hard head, but this was a true testament to exactly how hard it is.  The surgeon started by saying that my scalp was tight, and he was having a little trouble closing the wound.  That precipitated more injections as I started to feel things again…after all, it had been four hour since this process had started.  So they must have used clamps or something to pull the skin and twist it at the same time, because it took them an entire hour, and they only closed the wound by 90%.  I say only 90%, because after all of the tugging and turning they were doing, I was hoping it was completely closed, and I guess after an hour, you’d have thought they could have pulled my skin from one ear to the other.  The end result is that my head started to ache later that day and hurt for the next three.  It felt like they had used a vice on it, and I normally think I have a pretty fair pain tolerance, but I have been feeling pretty crappy until today.  I’m feeling much better and getting back on the crafty bandwagon.  Rich on the other hand, had to have his lower back injected today, so he’s not feeling like uploading videos, so I gave him an easy one, and I think it’s up and running.  The Parkers have had a tough week, and we need to take a long nap to make up for some of it.  We’re both very lucky though, because our medical conditions are completely fixable and we’ll be up and causing trouble any day now.

I’d seen this card many times on Stampin’ Up sites as it’s an oldie but a goodie, as far as fun fold cards go.  I found the name of the punch you will use — it’s called a decorative label punch and Stampin’ Up made the one I used.

I used a crumb cake colored cardstock and used an old Stampin’ Up set called best of Butterflies for my stamping.

The cardstock measures 5 1/4″ tall by 11″ wide and score it on the 11″ length at 2 3/4″ and  5 1/2″ and one at 8 1/4″.  Take the decorative label punch and center it between one of your scores and the end of the card.  Put your punch inside up to the center where there is a point that protrudes on either side, and make sure it is perfectly centered and punch it.  Then fold one length of paper over, and line up your first punched spot as a guide, and punch there.  Do the same to the other two scores and your card is made.

Now all you need to do is decorate it.  I cut off-white cardstock, four pieces, 2 1/8″ x 4″ tall and Raspberry Ripple (I think) cardstock from Stampin’ Up, four pieces 2 3/8″ x 4 1/4″ tall to create layers.   I used a stamping tool and stamped two of my off-white panels at once.  I used Stampin’ Up Raspberry Ripple dye ink to stamp my butterflies.  I used Stabilo 68 markers and colored a little bit on my butterflies.  Some of the coloring I didn’t like, so had to stamp those butterflies over, so if you think you’re seeing things, you’re not.

I used two butterfly punches from Martha Stewart and punched some green butterflies and put some rhinestones on them.  After applying all of the panels, I realized that I put one on the front of the card when they should have only been placed on the inside….so I had to stamp another panel of butterflies.  These things happen.  Most people only put four decorated pieces in this card, but I wanted a front to my card, so made five.  You could still make four and then a fifth that you leave blank for writing space as well.  This is a really simple card to make and I hope you’ll give it a try.

People have been talking to me about the lack of new videos we’ve been putting online.  There are a number of reasons for this, one of which is having family visit for almost a week.  The other issue is Rich’s lower back and hip, and having a lot of pain in both places.  He’s been getting shots to help with the pain, but sitting for long periods of times (doing videos) has not been great for him.  I think the turning point was when Rich concluded that he is at least ten videos behind and it made him panic a little bit.  It’s not like I’m doing more videos than normal, it’s just that he’s not putting them up as quickly as he used to.  I haven’t been giving him any pressure, but he’s started putting one up every day for the last few days, and I’m happy he’s feeling well enough to edit them.

I love it when viewers mention the music or Rich’s editing, as he is really proud of the channel and his role in it, and he should be.  I’m amazed that we are creeping up on the two year mark for the channel.  Time passes so quickly, and it’s been so much fun for both of us.  The dogs, not so much.  Aggie gets really frustrated when the craft room door is closed, so I leave it open so she can see me, but her panting sometimes is pretty disruptive.  After your dog is fifteen, you pretty much let them do whatever they want, and Aggie is the queen of the household.

I’m still working on the projects I’m donating to a friend’s charity, and will be videotaping making one of them before I am finished.  I’m thinking it’s time for a movie and bed so I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

 

I went to Dollar Tree and bought a set of four pair of brightly colored socklets (ok, that’s what I’m calling them and thought they’d be really fun to decorate with my peg stamps.  I practiced on a pair that I ruined when I cut the socks apart.  I used Staz-On ink in black for my stamping as well as the peg stamps.  You can find them at http://www.pegstamps.com.  I also used a Derwent Inktense pencil as it’s a permanent ink once it dries.

Went to a few more garage sales today and didn’t really find anything thrilling, so I came home and started cleaning my craft room.  It seems like I say I’m cleaning my craft room constantly, but honestly, it’s a horrible mess and it doesn’t matter how hard I try to keep it organized, it just looks terrible.  I can’t even begin to consider making a video craft room tour, because it’s such a holy mess, but maybe some day I’ll get it cleaned out.

I saw a couple of videos on how to make a purse out of cardstock to hold cards and I don’t think it will be too difficult, so my plan for tomorrow is to finish the rest of the covered note pads and then work on making at least one of the purses and filling it with cards.  I think I’ll do something with a floral theme and then use my flower dies to create six cards that are simple but elegant looking.  I hope they will be something that people will want to buy at the fundraiser I’m making them for.  You never really know what people will buy though and I’m hoping I don’t disappoint my girlfriend with the things I come up with.  She’s really talented, refinishes furniture and makes signs with sayings on them.  They’re really unique and lovely, but too complicated for me to ever consider making.  I would like to videotape her making one, as she’s really good at it.  Maybe I’ll talk her into a video project soon.  I hope so, because she does make some really interesting projects.

I went to several garage sales today and fell in love with an old oak rocker that fit me like a glove.  I sat down in it and know I had to have it.  Do I have one spot open in my house for it?  No, but I couldn’t resist.  It was so comfortable and reminded me of being at my grandmother’s house and swinging on her porch swing.  I love it and it was $10, a real bargain.

I bought some crafty items because I promised a friend I’d make some projects for a fundraiser of hers and I wanted to try a couple of different things, so even though I promised myself I wouldn’t buy any more paper pads at Michaels, I bought three paper pads so I could make sets of cards and little purses to hold the cards.  I think they’ll turn out pretty well as I’ve almost finished the notebook holders I’ve been working on for her and now it’s almost time to turn to card making for her money maker.  I don’t know if she’ll even be able to sell the things I make, but I’m giving it a good try.  I promised I’d make ten of the notebook holders and so far, I’ve finished five of them.  I need to make one on video and haven’t done that yet, but wanted to wait until I felt like I’d really mastered them.  So far I’m a little bit shaky about the measurements and want to be certain I know what I’m doing when I make the video.

I have to say that sometimes I’m just too tired to do much.  I did go to our closest Michaels and bought some of the big paper pads that I keep swearing I’m not going to buy again.  I bought them this time to make card sets for a friend who wants me to make things for her to sell at her charity’s rummage sale.  I like trying new projects and re-making old ones with a new twist.  I love making covered notebooks, so made some of them and used some fun embellishments and made others with hot glue.  I’ll have to do a video on the hot glue, as the results were fairly amazing.

I also want to use the big paper pads for the sentiments that are inside.  I think it will make it easier to make inexpensive card sets with my pre-made cards and envelopes.  I hope it will anyway.  I have so many of the pre-made cards and I’ll be thrilled if I can get rid of maybe one box of them.  Two would make me even happier.

Tomorrow is garage sale day, so I’m hoping to spend some money and find some really fun goodies.  At least that’s my plan.  I might come home with a big bunch of nothing.