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.

I spent part of the day doing more embossing research, then went online and bought some things I’ll need for the video.  I swear this video will be at least an hour by the time I cover everything that is important.

Then I decided to clean out my summer clothes and got rid of a ton of ones that no longer fit.  I still have more to go through, but at least I’ve made a little dent in the project.  I love organizing but sometimes just don’t have the energy to do it.

But here’s the big accomplishment of the day.  There is an introduction video that most YouTube channels have on their home page that explains their channel, and I’ve never made one.  I’m not sure why I never made one, but recently I’ve had a few people ask me about my hands and I don’t know why, but thought if I went over everything in my first video, that I’d never have to talk about my arthritis again.  I’m pretty naïve that way, so decided I should make the video.  It’s not horrible, but Rich thought he might want to try editing the background around me and make some kind of interesting backdrop.  If he can make something fun out of the outside brick wall of our house, more power to him.  It was such a nice day, I thought it would be nice to sit on our covered patio and record the video. Naturally, the entire neighborhood thought it was the perfect time to mow their grass, so we had to wait until most of them had finished, otherwise, you’d have really only heard lawn mowers and not me talking.
I’ve seen some pretty impressive videos, but mine is just like everything else I do.  I explain the channel and talk about the mistakes I make and the fun I have in fixing them.  If that doesn’t make people want to jump on my channel, nothing will, haha..

I spent the day doing research on embossing powders and the mistakes that we make, the best end results, and types and makes of powders.  I’m afraid this video could be longer than the one I did on wet glues.. LONG.  I might end up making it into segments, because some parts require demonstrations and I would want to heat set the powders so newer crafters can really get the feel for how long it takes to heat set an image.  Of course some images, like sentiments, only take seconds to melt, while backgrounds can take upwards of a minute.  These are the things that make a big difference to someone who has no idea how long to heat or when enough is enough.

I’m not sure what to expect when I tackle embossing powders, but I do know this.  In order to do this properly, it’s going to take some time.  While watching other crafters make videos about embossing powders, they used terms that I know a newer crafter would not understand.  Things like resists and mixed media.  I really believe that if I am going to tackle this properly, it’s going to require a lot more research.  The techniques that can be done with embossing powders can be a segment unto themselves.  The bottom line is this.  I have more research to do and then I’ll start experimenting.  I have an idea how long the research will take, but the experiments might take a long time.  This is a process, that’s for sure.

I wanted to make one fun fold card every week, so this is my latest.  I found this on YouTube by Mary Trautner and liked the idea of it.
I started with 10 1/2″ long x 3 1/2″ high navy blue card stock.   I scored it on the 10 1/2″ length at 3 1/2″  and 7″.   If you have a diagonal score board, you can use it, and I have it on my Martha Stewart board, but chose to go without, so everyone can make this card.  Using a ruler, line it up from the top left corner to the bottom of the first fold.  Use something like fun foam under your cardstock so you don’t tear your paper (even a phone book would work).  You will make another diagonal score from the top of the 7″ score, and score to the bottom right corner of your card. Fold in the right side and fold out your diagonal score.  On the left side, fold in to the 3 1/2″ straight score and then fold back the diagonal fold.  Use your bone folder and really burnish the folds so the card is flat.  I had a starry night looking watercolor that I cut down to 3 1/4″ square.  I cut it on my paper trimmer on a diagonal from corner point to corner point.  I used tape runner to adhere the diagonal shapes to the front of my card.  Before laying the right piece of cardstock on the card, I laid matching ribbon that was 1/2″ wide and about 14″ long across the front of the card and laid the starry paper on top of it and glued it down with tape runner and a little it of wet glue..
I used a sentiment from Unity Stamps that says “A certain darkness is needed to see the stars” and stamped it with Versafine Onyx Black ink and then heat set it with clear embossing powder.  Using one of my AliExpress dies, I cut the sentiment out to put on the front of the card.   I adhered the sentiment to the right side of the card with tape runner and wet glue to make sure the card would still open.  You can’t put glue on both triangles or you won’t be able to open it.
I put a piece of white cardstock that was 3″ x 3″ inside the card with tape runner for something to write on.
I used a We R Memory Keepers Envelope Board to make the envelope.

 

The summer seems to be flying by and I’m wondering why the winters never seem to do that…

I wanted to make my fun fold card for the week and decided to make a dutch fold card that is a one layer card.  I’d seen a video on it, and it looked like it wasn’t very difficult, so I thought I’d give it a try.  I had some great Distress Oxide inked papers from my friend Kay, and thought one of them would be perfect to decorate this card with.  The only problem was, I couldn’t follow the woman who gave the tutorial.  She did some scoring that just didn’t make sense, and even though I watched it several times, it never got any clearer.  It looked like all I needed to do was cut some paper off then bend the card in half, so that’s what I did.  It was one of those MacGyver moments and I was kind of proud of myself, because otherwise, this card was going into the garbage.

My system wasn’t pretty, but it worked and that’s all that mattered.  Sometimes you just have to wing it when it comes to card making.  I liked the end result and am glad I gave this card a try.

I went to A C Moore and bought a few things and didn’t want to do a haul, but thought I’d just talk about my finds.  I just watched a video with Lindsay making cards using acetate that was decorated with either dots or striped and made a cute clear card with it.  I found that exact paper pad at A C Moore, so definitely wanted to make some clear cards.  (Do you still call it a paper pad if it’s plastic?)  They had 6 x 6″ paper pads all with the same pattern of flowers, but in a bunch of bright and cheerful colors.  I put them against the acetate and thought I could make all kinds of cards using them together.  I was happy with my plan and walked about ten feet, only to find a big set of washi tape featuring the exact same floral pattern as the paper pad, in all the same colors. How much fun will that be, making cards that feature not only the paper, but washi tape that is exactly the same.   I’ve never seen any matching paper and washi patterns and was thrilled with the idea.  I bought a few other things including a five pack of black Sharpies.  I could have a thousand black Sharpies and never be able to find more than one, and that one would be old and low on ink.  I associate black Sharpies with reading glasses.  It doesn’t matter how many I own, they are never where I need them, or the reading strength is too low.  And to continue my comparison, why don’t I get rid of the old Sharpies and low strength reading glasses?  These are more of the mysteries of being me.

Then, when I got home, I found that I had gotten my “Embossing Powder Techniques from A to Z” book in the mail.  I’ve already read a lot of it, and was disappointed to find that they didn’t cover some of the mistakes or problems I’ve encountered on more than one occasion.  Maybe my expectations are too high, but I was hoping it would cover things like an uneven look to my embossed results and how to correct it.  Or, how do you know when your embossing powder is old, or what results would I get if my embossing powder is old?  I was really hoping I would learn a lot more about techniques for big screw ups, but maybe that’s not their ideas of “techniques,” darn it, those are the techniques I really need to know about.