I was asked by a viewers Crafts by Pwilli to make a video of my favorite tools.
Paper
For card bases: Recollections Heavyweight Card stock 110 lb. from Michaels,  in white, cream or black  $14.99 for 100 sheets (without a coupon.
For layering and techniques:  Georgia Pacific 110 lb card stock from Walmart 150 sheets for $4.88
Colored card stock Recollections 50 sheets 65 lb. weight five colors in a pack $4.99 (without a coupon)
Paper Trimmer— 12″ Cricut paper trimmer $14.99 at Joanns  (without a coupon). Two pack of blades are $4.99 at Joanns without a coupon.  Don’t make the mistake that I made which is buying a smaller paper trimmer when I started making cards.  I thought since cards are small, I wouldn’t need the 12″ trimmer, but if you ever buy 12″ card stock (and you will if you make your own envelopes), then you’ll need the 12″ trimmer.  I recommend this trimmer very highly.
Corner Rounder to make cards that have rounded corners which is popular currently.  Creative Memories ebay for less than $10
Score Board–Martha Stewart large score board  12″ Joanns $24,99 before coupons
Bone Folder–makes a professional crease.  Fiskars bone folder  large head on it so easier to use if you have issues with your hands or wrists $5.99 at Joanns before coupon
Nail file from any drug store or Walmart $1 approximately, gets rid of fuzz on cards
Pokey Tool— (Paper piercing tool)  Lowest price  Ribbon Pro  Pin Needle Detail tool in the clay department and there it’s 99 cents on Ebay,  You use this tool to take the backing off of tear tape, or to poke holes for brads.  There is another option by Tim Holtz and his is much more expensive, but is retractable.
Silicone large Baking Sheet for $1.23 from ebay #142156077801 to use as a craft mat.  Tim Holtz also sells a craft mat that is around $20.  For the price difference, I prefer mine.
Glue Products:
1.  Tape Runner– Tombow Mono Permanent Adhesive $3.89 at Amazon Prime.  I just made a video comparing tape runners and this was the one that outperformed all others.
The big ATG guns I don’t recommend if you have hand issues or are left handed, as you can’t see where you are running the tape as the ATG is between you and the tape.  It is also heavy and cumbersome.
2,  wet glue Martha Stewart wet glue 99 cents at Tuesday Morning,
3,  Tear Tape, double sided tape, Craft Chameleon 1/4″ wide tape  50 yds $3.95 or 20 yds $2.50.  It is a very strong adhesive and works well for albums, scrapbooks, or any card that you need to adhere layers together
4.  Foam Squares $2.00 at a stamp show
5.  Foam Tape (double sided)  Check on ebay or Aliexpress for best prices for the foam squares and foam tape.  Craft Chameleon has good prices for these as well.  You will use foam tape and foam squares to make your card have dimension.
Scissors–Stampin’ Up Paper Snips $10 great for fussy cutting (cutting around small images)
or Fiskars Easy Action 5″ scissors $14.99 at Joanns without a coupon, also great for fussy cutting.  get either of these scissors and you’ll be happy with them.  The easy action scissors are recommended by the Arthritis Foundation.  There is a larger size 10″ for $24.99 as well.
Tim Holtz 6 1/2″ Tonic scissors–great for trimming rubber stamps, cutting through wire etc.  These are great as they have a surface that is non-stick.  $16.99 at Joanns without a coupon
You’ll need both a pair of fussy cutting scissors and the Tim Holtz scissors to trim rubber.

Inks–Basics
You will want to have Versamark ink for heat embossing and using different mediums like chalk or mica powder on cards
$9.99 at Joanns
Versafine Onyx Black Ink–it’s a very dark black ink and dries slowly so you can use it with embossing powder. It’s the ink most stampers use for stamping their sentiments on cards $9.99 at Joanns
Memento Tuxedo Black Ink- for use with alcohol markers.  So if you intend to color with alcohol markers, you’ll need this ink as others will smear. $6.99 at Joanns

Stamping tools–  Either
Acrylic blocks $14.99 for a set of 4 pc of Recollections blocks  or the
MISTI the ultimate stamping tool that allows you to stamp and re-stamp over it as many times as necessary.  I recommend this tool for people with hand/wrist issues.  $60 My Sweet Petunia.
Tim Holtz is coming out with his version of it that is $34.99.
Stamp Cleanser—make your own with a spray bottle and
10 parts distilled water,1 tsp baby shampoo,1 tsp glycerin that you find in the nail department of Walmart or a drug store.  Put them in your bottle and shake it and you have a great stamp cleaner.  You could also use baby wipes for cleaning your stamps as well.
Blending tool–Harbor Freight Liquidators sells 1″ chip brushes for 69 cents each or $9.99 for 36.  Cut off 3/4″ and make a straight edge on the brush.  You need one for every color family and twice as many if you are going to use dye and pigment inks as you can’t use the same color brush for both types of inks.  I like this tool because I can hold it easily and it leaves a light colored finish behind.
Stamps and Dies–go to Ebay and Aliexpress.com before shopping elsewhere for them as their prices are lowest.

We spent the day going out to lunch with old college friends and then to a movie.  I know, it’s tough being retired!  When we got home, the weather got pretty nasty and the dogs decided they’d had enough of thunder, so Rich, Honey and Bella went to the basement for some quiet time.  Aggie and I are hanging upstairs, as she can’t really hear the thunder and the stairs are a hassle for her (and for me if we’re telling the truth.)

Since we were near an A C Moore, I decided to do a little bit of shopping and bought some things that I definitely didn’t need, but wanted to try.  I bought one of the knitting looms at a garage sale and bought some yarn to try to make a scarf with.  I’m not even sure if I can do it, but I asked and they said I can return the unopened yarn.  If I open one skein and can’t use it, it won’t be a big deal.

I found some pretty papers that were 70% off and lately I can’t pass up anything that is pink.  I bought some deep pinkish purple ink and paper from Stampin’ Up and some pink texture paste and just love anything pink.  I think I might make some pink glitter spray and play with that as well.  I have some card ideas I’d like to try that are fun folds, but just made one that should go live in the next few days that is really cute.  I really like fun fold cards and especially ones where I can layer papers and add something fun in the way of embellishments.  I think I mentioned in the blog that I found matching paper and washi tape and can’t wait to make a card with that as well.  So many ideas and so little time.  Ok, that’s not really true, as I have the time, I just don’t have the ambition that I really should have.  When we have such changing weather, I just can’t get any momentum, so I’ll just keep buying things on AliExpress until I find the will to create things.  It might take me a few days, besides, Rich has a lot of videos that need to be uploaded before I’m going to feel any real pressure.

I needed to make a sympathy card for my friend whose dog had passed away.  I wanted to make it simple and have dies from Impression Obsession that are a variety of dogs.  I used black paper and glued the die cuts together, some two, some three and some four high.  It gave the card a lot of dimension.  I took the Stampin’ Up Fine Tip Glue Pen #138309 that works well for me as I can get the tip to work well and the lid goes on and off easily.  It’s $7 online.
I have a “with sympathy” die and cut it out in black and put Versamark ink on it and then clear embossing powder and heat set it.  I glued it in the center near the top of the cards.  I glued the dogs all over the card and didn’t have any that were on the edges of the card as I couldn’t cut them because of their thickness.  I used the stamp set that’s retired from Stampin’ Up called “D is for Dog” and used the sentiment for the inside of the card and a paw print for on the back of the envelope.
This is a really fast card to make but carried the message in a simple yet personal way.

Finally, the tape runner video is live.  I was beginning to think I’d never get the supplies together or do the demonstration.  I tried hard to be consistent with the amount of tape I used, but don’t think I was successful, as viewers have sent me notes saying they thought my demonstration wasn’t really fair.  I guess I did the best I could and in the end, I am confident that the tape runners I chose were good ones.  I’ve learned from doing the YouTube channel that I have to roll with the punches (so to speak.)

You’ll be amazed that I made a card video that’s under four minutes.  I know what you are thinking.  What’s up with that?  I know!  Rich was freaking out that I deleted at least two portions of video clips, and I had to verify that he wasn’t missing anything.  It is a really simple card and I don’t think many people will really love it. It’s a layered die cut card that has a sentiment stamp inside and that’s about it.  It’s a sympathy card for a friend who lost her dog.  I have a variety of dog dies and used them with black card stock (her dog was black), and then glued them together to make different heights to each dog.  I used black embossing powder on them and they looked pretty interesting on kraft card stock.  I guess we’ll know tomorrow if people are going to like it or not.  I’m guessing they’ll like the length of the video, but not the content.

I forgot to tell you about something really sweet that happened this weekend.  We went to a graduation party for my cousin Shelli’s son.  A lady that worked with Shelli named Linda, wanted to meet me as she loves the YouTube channel.  She said she was really nervous getting the opportunity to meet me, and I was blown away by her.  She was so grateful for the channel and thanked me for everything I’ve done.  It didn’t just make my day, but probably my year.  Rich was so happy because this YouTube channel isn’t just my baby, but his as well.  Since this is the first time a stranger has introduced themselves to me to talk about the channel, it will be one of those firsts that I will never forget.  Rich and I always tease about strangers saying “Don’t I know you from YouTube?”, but it’s always been in jest.  Linda made it a reality for us and we’re forever grateful.

One of my viewers, Heidi, asked me for this comparison back in December.  I went to Splitcoast Stampers and asked that community of crafters which tape runners they liked best and used their input to order tape runners.  I figured if they already liked those particular brands, that I was already starting out with good choices.  I have fifteen brands and will give you my results at the bottom of this information.  The prices below were the prices I paid for them or the lowest prices I found them on the internet, so you should price shop before buying them to ensure you get the lowest price.

1 Elmer’s Craft Bond Tape Runner-permanent and refillable, 8 meters, 26.25 ft at Michaels $3.99,  two refills $7 at Amazon
2. Plus Glue Tape Runner TG-610BC refillable, 22 meters $3.78 Amazon
3.  N Nicole from AC Moore permanent, refillable, 3 pack $8.99
7.6 yds in each runner
4. Duck Double Sided Adhesive-4 pk 7.1 yd each $9.69 at Amazon and $14.99 at Joanns without a coupon
5. Sticky Thumb by Lifestyle Crafts-permanent adhesive 26 ft $1.49 at Tuesday Morning
6. AdTech Permanent Glue 8.75 yds $2.77 Amazon Prime
7.  Tombow Mono Permanent Adhesive-39.33 ft refillable at Amazon $3.89.  The refills for a 3 pack $6.74 12 meters in each.  I was told that the Stampin’ Up snail refills will fit into the Tombow case and they do.  So if you have any snail refills and don’t have the original case for it, the Tombow case will work in place of it.
8.  Stampin’ Up Snail- permanent, 13.1 yd, or 12 meters $7, and $4.50 for a refill.
9.  Tombow The Craft Collection-permanent, refillable, 40 ft, $7.99 Scrapbook.com.  Really substantial in your hand compared to the others..
10. Ki by Hampton Arts 16.25 ft, permanent, acid free, $1 at AC Moore
11.  Recollections from Michaels 3 pack $8.99 permanent, in the 3 pack, you get one that is a permanent dot, and one permanent and one permanent repositionable.
12. Scrapbook Adhesive by EZ Runner, permanent, 33 ft, $5.39 at Walmart.com.
13. Paper Studio 3 pack, 1 tab, 1 strip, 1 dots. 16.4 ft each at Hobby Lobby $7.99 without a coupon.
14. Crafter’s Tape Permanent Glue Runner- Darice- 2445-97BV double sided pack of six from Amazon Prime $7.33 permanent and refillable, 315 inches 26.25 ft each.
15.  Kokuyo (long), Jennifer McGuire’s current favorite. Amazon $5.32
dot liner, comes in a variety of sizes.  3 pack at 16 meters each $7.41 Amazon prime and then the crickets Aliexpress 8 meters and a two pack is $2.05 called the petit size.

I tested the tape runners on four different paper surfaces.
A. Taping thin paper to thin paper
B. Taping thin paper to 65 lb paper
C. Taping 65 lb paper to 90 lb paper
D. Taping 90 lb paper to 110 lb paper

I kept track of my results and the only tape runners that I chose to be most effective were ones that worked on all surfaces.

My favorites are based not only on how well they work, but how easy they are to use:
1. Tombow Mono Permanent Adhesive $3.89 Amazon Prime
2. Sticky Thumb by Lifestyle Crafts (found at Tuesday Morning) $1.49
3. Crafter’s Tape Permanent Glue Runner by Darice #2445-97BV
$7.33 for a six pack at Amazon Prime

Honorable mention–these work well but have issues with the tape leaving a long string behind.
Ki by Hampton Arts $1 at AC Moore
N by Nicole–AC Moore three pack, $8.99
AdTech–$2.77 Amazon Prime

 

I’ve been wanting Rich to upload the video I did on small tape runners, but it’s a really long video and required a ton of work.  Today was the day.  He has spent all afternoon and late evening working on it, and it should be up by tomorrow morning.  It’s a really thorough look at fifteen different small tape runners and I hope you’ll enjoy it.

I haven’t done a fun fold card in a week or so, and I have been wanting to continue doing them as they are a lot of fun to make, so tonight, I decided to make a tri shutter card that Lindsay make a very long time ago.  I liked the idea of it and since I haven’t seen many tutorials on this card shape, I decided to make one.  I wanted to use a layered stamp set from Sunny Studios that was all about popsicles and they were horrible to work with.  I know the Aliexpress layered stamps were difficult, but honestly, the popsicles were so much worse.  I washed them with soap, then used a nail file, and I still couldn’t get the ink to be consistent on the stamp.  If you can’t get a consistent layer, your results are really splotchy and gross.  I had to make several popsicles before I made one that I was happy with.  Actually, I didn’t like the die that I bought with the set either, as it didn’t seem to cut the popsicle properly.  I have to say, I was disappointed with this set and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. The card came out pretty frisky and I hope you enjoy it.

My friend Barb sent me a box of cd cases to use for my stamp sets, as well as some cards she had made with a set of three layered dies.  I’ve seen Jennifer McGuire use these dies and they are absolutely lovely, but unfortunately, over $70 for the set.

If you know me or watch my channel, you know that I try to always buy things on sale and never pay full price for things without losing my mind over it.  I’ve always been that way, very conscious of money, so would never buy a set of dies for $70.

I was looking around on AliExpress and found the main die to the set for $3.75 and bought it.  The same seller had two dies that layered, and we are talking about background size dies, so I bought those as well.  They were also around the same price.  In all, I think I found four different styles of background size dies that layer on each other and can’t wait to get them.

I love it when I find something like this as I know my viewers are as conscious of price (for the most part) as I am.  I’m particularly excited about these as I’ve never seen anything like these on AliExpress, and know my viewers will be as excited as I am.  These will make beautiful and simple cards and their size is significant (around 5″ tall by over 4″ wide)…The seller’s name is Top Top Ali Store and I lied.  The prices were either $3.39 or $3.59 each.  I can’t imagine buying any dies in the US that are that large for such a low price.  I am so excited that I found them and really hope that they work well and layer like I think they should.  If they don’t layer well, I guess I could use them individually, and I can live with a die that doesn’t layer for $3.59.

I found some other things at AliExpress that I didn’t know they sold. They have a 50 ml bottle that has ten different needle tips on it.  It’s the perfect size for glues and the tips are all different thicknesses, so surely one of them should work for me to get glue to squeeze through.  And best of all, it was 89 cents.  I can’t wait to try this out as I’ve never found any glue bottles that work well for me with a fine tip applicator, so this could be the answer to my issues with glue tips.  The vendor’s name is Home Improvement Mall and I’ll keep you updated if the bottle works well for me.

 

There are some projects that are just destined for the garbage can.  I’d tried making a card with three large roses on it…At first, I played with kid’s chalk, and that didn’t go well, as their chalk is more gritty and hard to work with.  I wiped it off and threw the card front aside over a month ago.  It was when I played with chalks in a couple of videos and wanted to try sidewalk chalk as a viable alternative (which it is not.)  So now you know it’s been sitting on my desk for a little while.

I found the card today and thought I’d paint it with watercolor pencils.  I probably should mention that I used kraft card stock and it just doesn’t look very nice when you try to color on it, at least not for something like this.  I used different shades of reds and it looked ok, but the roses needed some kind of highlights, so I added gold Sharpie to the them.  I was surprised, but the Sharpie really improved the look of the roses, but they still needed something.  So I added some Wink of Stella and that’s when the project started on it’s downward spiral.  Since it was already looking a little iffy, I added some Distress Oxides around the edges and used a water brush and added a little to the leaves and stems.  The oxidation made the paper look horrible and made the leaves look like they had some kind of disease.  But I’m no quitter, so I decided to cut the roses out and apply them to the front of a note card.  That was the end of the line as the roses wouldn’t work with anything behind them, they just looked bad.  So I used Distress Oxides on a note card to make the base almost match the roses.  No, it was just getting uglier and uglier.  Luckily, that was the moment Rich asked me if I was ready to order pizza for supper, and I threw everything into the trash.  After all, pizza was calling and there was no redeeming that mess.

Today was one of those days where I didn’t really accomplish much of anything.  We went out to lunch with a friend and other than that, I basically bought groceries and hung out with Rich and the dogs.  I did watch some YouTube videos from the Frugal Crafter from Christmas.  I don’t even know why I watched them, other than they were videos of hers that I’d never seen before, and I always love watching her.  For some reason, Lindsay’s videos make me feel good.  I don’t know what makes hers different from other people’s videos, but I really enjoy them.  I’m not crazy about the live videos, and trust me when I tell you this, I sincerely doubt that I will ever do a live video.  They just seem so long and I’ve watched several YouTubers do them, and none really appeal to me, not even Lindsays.  Some are just horrible, where they can’t get the camera to work, or their helper isn’t prepared or the helper doesn’t know what they are doing.  I just don’t enjoy them.  I wonder if I’m the only one that feels that way.

Even worse are the ones where the YouTuber is talking to the people who are on their computer and you feel like you are eavesdropping on their conversation.  It goes like this “Yes, Judy, I feel the same way.”  “No, Tom, I wasn’t aware of that change.”  What the heck are they talking about?  Maybe I’d like to know if I feel the same way as Judy, and would benefit from knowing about the change that Tom mentioned.  I can’t remember what those are called, I Chat maybe.  I don’t know, but they drive me crazy.  Can’t they stream the conversation on YouTube so we have a clue?

So apparently I’m on a big rant and need to get a grip.  “What was that Susie?”  “Yes Sandy is crazy.”

And so it goes.

Our great niece just graduated from high school and is going to nursing school and I wanted to make her graduation card to be focused on nursing.  I found this house mouse stamp at Joanns’, but Walmart.com seemed to have the lowest price for the stamp currently.  Here’s the link to it.  https://www.walmart.com/ip/Stampendous-House-Mouse-Cling-Stamp-2-75-X3-75-Nurse-Mouse/145555090?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=1453&adid=22222222227061276284&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=165473023646&wl4=pla-271605667906&wl5=9006368&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=112550049&wl11=online&wl12=145555090&wl13=&veh=sem

I used Touch 5 markers and some Spectrum Noir markers to color the image on a 5 1/4″ x 4″ piece of white card stock.  The marker numbers are written on the screen.

After coloring the image, I used one of the sets of AliExpress dies to cut it ou.  I also cut the same size die in a brighter pink color, then cut it in half so I could line the back of the mouse piece with it.  I colored in the background of the house mouse stamp with a lighter coral color and listed that number on the screen as well.
The die set I used was from a vendor by the name of sanheshun Shenghua Crafts Store on Aliexpress and the die set was $1.99 and called wavy square frames cutting dies.
After attaching the two layers together, I tied a 1/8″ matching taffeta ribbon to the front of the mice and using the smaller matching die for my sentiment from the Taylored Expressions Dream Big stamp set.
I put foam tape behind one half of the sentiment and doubled the foam tape behind the half that wasn’t laying on the mouse stamp, so the sentiment would lie flat.  The background cardstock was 8 1/2 x 5 1/2″ and the 8 1/2″ was scored at 4 1/4″ making it an A2 size card that’s 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ when folded.

To decorate my envelope, I used stars from the stamp set Dream Big and used Stampin’ Up marker in Melon Mambo to color the stars.  I used a pink glitter washi tape to decorate the bottom of the envelope.