I started to work on my tape runner video and I’m starting to worry that it’s going to be horribly long.  I have a box that’s two feet long, full of tape runners.  Granted, some of them came in sets of three, so they all won’t be on the video, but regardless, I still have a lot of tape runners to share.  I wanted to cover the widest number of brands that I could, and I think I’ve accomplished that.

I did finish the rose card today and I think it came out pretty well.  I had a small mishap when I used my diecutter to cut Happy Birthday out of the card.  The little pieces of paper in the loops of letters just seems to disappear, so I had to rig a few more.  They aren’t a perfect match, but what can you expect?  I did use a lot of the dreaded foam tape and I’m really getting close to the end of the roll.  This could be a great time for me when I finish that roll.  I could be jumping for joy, or at least thinking about jumping for joy when it’s gone.

I have all of the things I need to make my embossing powder video as well, so this should be a busy week.  Rich has finally caught up with me on videos, so I’m a little bit nervous that I’m going to have to get really serious about making videos so I can have a few in the bag.  It’s kind of crazy that I’m so obsessed with making sure I stay ahead of him, I think if I let him catch up, it means I’m lazy, so that’s why I push myself to stay ahead.  I know, it makes no sense, but whoever said I made sense?

I wanted to try something fun with watercoloring and making note cards and thought I’d like to try decorating my envelope with peg stamps.  I chose to make it as easy as possible, so used pre-made note cards from Michaels.  I used a stamp set from W Plus 9 called Kind Soul for the sentiment “hello” and the large floral stamp.
I used a couple pieces of clear plastic and used Distress Inks Carved Pumpkin for my orange card and a mixture of two green Distress inks, Peeled Paint and Forest Moss, and smeared each on their own plastic piece.  I added some water to make the Distress inks more watery then used a waterbrush and colored my stamped image.  I stamped the patterns with an Archival black ink from Color Box before coloring them.   The note cards are 5 1/2 x 4 1/4″ so I cut my white layers 5 1/2″ by 3″.  I stamped the inside with the same archival black ink.  I adhered the layer with tape runner to the note cards.
To stamp the envelopes, I used peg stamps from Rubber Stamp Tapestry.  I used  Bitty Peony, Chinese Privet, 3 Ripply Flowers,  Foliage Leaf, Sopanaria Solid, Bunch of Daisies, single daisy, dainty floral, 7 petal group solids, tiny apple open and two ferns.
I used Stampin’ Up inks to stamp on my envelopes.  You need to determine where you want to write your name and address and outline the area with stamps, then try not to stamp inside that area.  I tried to stamp enough that the stamped area looks almost like a wreath.

The weather was really nasty today.  Rain, sunshine, rain, thunderstorm, rain, sunshine.  We had just enough sunshine for Rich to take each dog for a walk and they were thrilled.  I was not feeling like doing much because of all of the weather fronts moving into our area, so I didn’t do much of anything.  Ok, I read and watched a few videos.  That’s basically all I did.  Wait, no, I also took a nap.  I know, my life is full of excitement and glamour.  More excitement than glamour.  Ok, not much of either.  With that being said, I didn’t really do much today, and I definitely think I might go to bed early as well.  Some days just go like this.

I really got serious about making a card with triple layer stamps in rose patterns that I bought from AliExpress.  I found just the right color combination, (after a lot of experimentation), and went nuts stamping all over a card.  It was so hideous that I had to start over.  That happens sometimes, and sometimes it happens more often than not.  I really needed to cut back the number of roses, so settled on three.  It seemed like a good number and really started looking good.  Then the phone rang.  It was our nephew’s wife in Virginia, and I always look forward to talking to her.  She put me on speakerphone and I got to speak with our great niece as well.  She’s a hoot.  If I didn’t know better, I’d think she is related to me and not Rich, because her personality is very similar to mine.

They made plans to spend a long weekend with us this summer.  We had talked about having them visit when we went to Virginia last year to see both of our nephews, but didn’t think they would be able to fit us into their very busy schedule.  I don’t know how people handle the schedules that kids have now.  They have every week planned for the summer except the time they are visiting us.  That’s amazing.  We are just so excited that they will be spending time with us, as they’ve never been to our house before and we just want to relax and hang out with them.

So two hours later, I was off the phone and done with the idea of finishing the card.  That’s the way things go sometimes.  I’m thrilled for the interruption and even more excited about their visit.  That also means more videos featuring Erika.  YAY!

I saw this single layer dutch fold card idea from FaithfuleCreations who got the idea from Splitcoast Stampers and I thought it would be fun to reproduce it in my fun fold card series.
You will start with a piece of cardstock that is 8″ wide and 7 1/8″ tall and score on the 8″ length at 2″ and 6″ and then on the 7 1/8″ length, score at 2 3/8″.  You will find that you will have two longer rectangles that are scored on the 8″ length so you will want to cut those rectangles out.  Make sure you cut the rectangles so that you can’t see any score marks left behind.  Once you’ve cut out the rectangles, you have what looks like a “T” left.  You will fold the bottom section of the T in half so the length of the long paper is half of what it was when you began.    The top pieces will fold toward the center and the bottom piece will fold up toward the two pieces that are folded inward.
I used sentiments from My Creative Times This and That and used Onyx Black ink from Verafine then used clear Ranger embossing powder and then heat set the sentiments.  One of them is on a piece of the paper that my friend Kay had given me with Distress Oxide inks layered on it.  I used a die from AliExpress to cut it out and layered it on a pink layer of card stock that I used the next size die to cut it out.
I used green cardstock to back my pieces for on my card and
the smaller pieces in green are 2″ tall x 1 11/16″ wide, and the pink colored  layer is 1 3/4″ x 1 7/16″..  The bottom larger layer is 3 3/4 x 2 1/8″ green layer and the pink decorated layer is 3 1/2 x 1 7/8″.

After laying the bottom piece down with tear tape,  I decided to put brads in the smaller pieces at the top, so put one larger pink brad on the left side and two smaller brads on the right side.
I layered my sentiment on the outside on a ribbon that I wrapped around the layers that I had already adhered to the card and just lifted them up and shoved the ribbon under with a little wet glue on the ends of the ribbon to hold it in place.  I should have done this step before gluing the layers to the bottom section, but didn’t think about how I wanted to layer my ribbon until it was too late.  I took another length of ribbon and wrapped it around my brads at the top to hold the flaps closed.

Today, we’re spending the day with friends and going to a sea glass festival near Lake Erie.  I’ve never been to one, so I’m hoping it involves fun things to buy and lots of carnival type foods.  I love the smell of a carnival, and hope that we find this event similar to one.

I got up early and went online and bought the rest of the things I need for my tape runner comparison video, as well as for a video on embossing techniques.  I’ve been collecting tape runners for a few months now, and got input from several crafters and now I have a bunch.  It’s not over-the-top-crazy like my wet glue video, but I think I should have enough comparisons to  encompass just about every need.  I’m so glad that the video will finally be done, as I made a promise to a viewer many months ago, to help her find the perfect small tape runner, and I hate to break a promise.  I think the research took the longest, as I put a message out on Splitcoast Stampers asking for input as to the best tape runners, and it took a few weeks to really get the amount of responses I was looking for.  Then tracking down some of the tape runners took some time, as they weren’t particularly accessible within the US.

With promises in mind, tomorrow I’ll be making a video using the layered rose stamp set from AliExpress, as a viewer asked to see the stamps in action.  I love it when people request videos, as it helps me with ideas and gives me something to focus on before making the video.  Rich is behind in uploading videos, so this will really add to his pile.  All in all, it’s going to be a great week for video making, as the ideas are already in the bag.

 

The weather was not fit for garage sales today.  It rained like crazy and of course, my girlfriend and I still ventured out.  Big mistake.  We were both drenched, but continued on.  In the end we got nothing but wet.

I did, on the other hand, finish cleaning my summer clothes, so now I should be left with only clothes that fit me.  Poor Mother Hubbard, her cupboards were bare.  I don’t really feel that way, although I don’t have many clothes left in there.  I’m relieved more than anything.  I just wanted to stop trying on clothes that no longer fit since the big weight gain of 2016.  I think we should look at weight gain like a particularly bad hurricane season.   In my case, since  the medications were the primary cause, it was a lot like a hurricane–it came out of nowhere, and left devastation in its path.  I’m not overwhelming devastated by the weight gain, but it really did bother me when I couldn’t find clothes that fit in my closet.  Now that I’ve basically eliminated that problem, things should be much simpler (at least when I get dressed.)

One of my favorite things about cleaning out my closet, is finding someone that will appreciate all of the clothes I’m giving them.  I know this sounds crazy, but I have three large garbage bags full of clothes.  But it also covers two sizes and a long time span.  My girlfriend suggested someone, I called them and they are really happy to get my goodies.  It’s so much more fun to give clothes to someone I know will appreciate them, and they re-gift the ones that don’t fit or don’t like, to others.

So although I didn’t really do much today, I accomplished a lot.  I wish I could say that I did something crafty, but instead, Rich and I watched movies and had a nice “date night.”

I’ve been working on the home page for my YouTube channel.  I didn’t realize until today that I can add all kinds of things to the page and feel kind of foolish that I haven’t figured it out until now.   I wanted to add an introduction video, so we tried making one last night.  I look like I’m about ready to pass out from heat stroke which really isn’t a good look for me.  It was warm when we were taping, and the whole process made me super anxious, so get ready for a hot flash.  I didn’t sound bad, but looked crazy and rambled too long.  I thought it would be fine to sit outside on our patio, but didn’t think about how a brick wall with a window behind my head might not be the best backdrop.  Sometimes it would be great to have a professional videographer handle my videos so that I look like someone else. Plus the special effects they’d have, would be amazing.  This is the kind of fantasy world I live in.

So needless to say, the video is on hold until I come up with a new backdrop and someone else who will impersonate me so I don’t come off looking like a crazy, sweaty middle aged woman.  No, I’m sure I can handle the impersonating part all by myself, as long as I can put myself somewhere in a dimly lit area with a fan blowing my hair so I look like a model.  Wait, if all I need to become a model is a heavy duty fan and dim lighting, I’m in.  I just need to make a quick trip to Home Depot.

I think it’s safe to say the introduction video might not be making an appearance any time soon.  On the other hand, I did make a lot of changes to the home page and hope you’ll let me know what you think of it.

I wanted to show some of my AliExpress dies in a project and have more purchases I wanted to share.  I had bought a cd case at a garage sale and it works perfectly to hold most of the AliExpress dies I’ve gotten.

I made a graduation card that could also easily be converted to a birthday card with the balloon die.  I used the balloon die from AliExpress and a Congratulations die that I had already purchased (and don’t know who made it.) I attached the Congratulations sentiment on with a “Quickie Glue Pen” that I had purchased from pegstamps.com.  I had a graduation themed stamp set from Taylored Expressions called Dream Big and used it for all of my stamped items.
The card base is a gold glimmer paper and is 5 1/2″ tall by 4 1/4″ wide.  The high schools’ colors are navy blue and gold. I put a navy blue balloon in the top left corner and put the string on using the Quickie Glue Pen.  I added Class of 2017 from the Dream Big stamp set with Versamark ink in the MISTI and used gold embossing powder and heat set the sentiment.  I glued the Congratulations die cut toward the bottom of the card and started in the center of the word and glued it down first, then glued the rest of the word in place to ensure that the word actually fit in the space.  It also made it more centered than if I would have started at the beginning of the word and randomly chose where to place it.
I had little graduation caps in a row and put them below Congratulations with Versamark, then added blue embossing powder and heat set them.  Added a sentiment inside with Versamark ink and then used the same blue embossing powder then heat set that.
For the envelope, I took a single graduation cap and stamped it on the flap of the envelope in Versamark then used gold embossing powder and heat set it.

I have been wanting to get rid of some of the note cards I’ve bought in big sets from Michaels.  I’m not sure why I thought they would be a great purchase, but have a lot of them and need to find some uses for them.  I used a stamp set that worked well and then took my distress inks and smooshed them onto acetate, added water, and used a water brush to color the images.  I found the cards fast and easy to make and are a good use of the note cards.  Now I just need to start giving sets to friends.

I also thought it would be fun to decorate my envelopes with peg stamps and took some floral stamps and used them around where I would write a name and address on the envelope.  I did them very quickly, but going forward would definitely put more time into stamping them and creating a better design.  I needed to make them look more cohesive than I did and was unhappy that I didn’t take more time with them to make them look more attractive.  Note to self, take more time to ensure your end results are more professional looking.  I might consider remaking that portion of the video as I’m not really thrilled with the way the envelopes came out.