I’ve been corresponding with my friend, Rebecca Walton, from Rubber Stamp Tapestry, the peg stamp company.  It’s a small, family-owned company, with mainly she and her husband doing everything.  They took a family vacation to Buffalo, NY, and the day they got there, their son, who is 16, contracted a disease I’ve never heard of, called Guillain-Barre Syndrome.  It basically shuts down the muscles in the body, starting at the feet, and working its way up.  He lost lung function and had to be put on a ventilator….Hopefully, he’s been taken off it by now, but has to relearn to do everything all over again.  Rebecca said it’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to her and her family, but is so grateful that it happened in Buffalo, as they have the doctors and staff to accommodate it.,   Since they live in Star, N.C., it’s an undertaking to continue to run their business and stay with Logan.  She’s been trying to make trips back and forth, and luckily, there’s a Ronald McDonald house there that they can use, instead of hotel, but still….they have two other children and a lot on their plates.  She’s very grateful for the doctors and facilities available to her, but I just can’t imagine what they are going through and wish there was something I can do for them.  The most I’ve done so far, is post their story and their  Gofundme page on facebook.  Here’s the link if you have interest in helping.  (I think you’ll need to copy and paste this to get the link to work.)

https://www.gofundme.com/f/logans-fight-with-guillain-barre-syndrome?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fb_dn_postdonate_r&fbclid=IwAR3dLIfcn0SK7xVwdvcQcNRvS_tCwaNTEpwJuQ1v9YBGcNxQyzsP8OS2o7Q

Your thoughts and prayers would be greatly appreciated as well..

As for us, we spent the 4th of July with our close friends at their beach house on Lake Erie.  It was so relaxing, and time with friends is always a nice break.  I’ve been working on a card, using Arteza’s professional grade watercolor pencils, and have really enjoyed using them.  They are soft and easy to use….they don’t give me muscle strain and so far, I think they are a very good watercolor pencil.  I’ve been coloring a huge chameleon stamp, and the colors are vibrant and (I think) look great.  I hate saying that, as it sounds like I’m patting myself on the back..  And really, I’m patting the back of the pencils instead. haha….

Rich’s working on getting my baby bird video uploaded, and it should be the next one to go live.  I think we did a pretty good job of showing the birds, from right after hatching, to the point where they are ready to leave the nest.  The only thing we think we missed, was the actually leaving, but we haven’t watched all of the footage yet, to know if we caught one flying away…It would be amazing if we did catch it…..and I’m crossing my fingers that we did…..

There is a 10% discount using the coupon code CraftingForAlmostEveryone3, which is valid until Aug 10th

Site Links:
USA: http://arteza.com/?_aid=Youtube_CraftingForAlmostEveryone
Eu: https://arteza.co.uk/?a_aid=Youtube_CraftingForAlmostEveryone

Sketch TwiMarkers, Dual Tipped – Set of 48:
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Watercolor Paint – 60 Colors (60 x 12ml/0.4 US fl oz):
(US):https://arteza.com/collections/paint/products/watercolor-paint-set-of-60-colors-x-12-ml?a_aid=Youtube_CraftingForAlmostEveryone&a_bid=4efa7bfa

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Expert Watercolor Pad 5.5×8.5” 30 Sheets – Pack of 3:
(US): https://arteza.com/products/expert-watercolor-pad-5-5×8-5-30-sheets-pack-of-3?a_aid=Youtube_CraftingForAlmostEveryone&a_bid=0deabed2

I started by stamping a Simon Says Stamp called Outline Leaves link: https://tinyurl.com/y3nyloqn

I stamped in a Stamp Perfect that is not available in the USA, but is available outside the US. I stamped a few times with Versafine Onyx Black ink and then used clear embossing powder and heat set the whole image. I used a Baren to help me press the door of the Stamp Perfect and found it at dickblick.com and here’s the link to it. https://tinyurl.com/y5b645rn After it was heat set I trimmed the edges so only the pattern remained. I used the Arteza Watercolor Pad for this process and this discount link is above. I started with a white card base that was 5 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ and then cut a piece of gold mirror card stock from Crafters Companion (available on HSN.com) and cut it to 5 3/8 x 5 3/8″ and layered on the card base.
I took the stamped image and used the Twi markers in Yellow Ochre, Sage Green, Olive Green to color the leaves.
I used the Olive green at the base of the leave, then used Sage Green, and then at the tip, yellow ochre. I blended over the olive and yellow ochre with the sage green to make sure they blended together.
If you struggle blending, you can always scribble the markers on a palette, and using a moist paint brush, blend the same colors on the leaves. This leaves a much lighter look, and that’s basically the difference.
I used Cerulean blue on the bottom of my background and then about halfway up, changed over to bright blue for the background.

I used Mowed Green Distress Ink and went direct to paper with the ink pad on the card base and covered all of the edges. Then I took a gold leaf ribbon from Beebeecrafts.com, Link: https://tinyurl.com/y5boy6fr
and cut a length of the ribbon to cover a strip on the front of my card..
I first attached the gold paper to the card base with Plus tape runner and some Elmer’s glue pen, and then added foam tape to the back of the painted leaf design paper that I cut to 5 1/4 x 5 1/4″
and attached the leaf ribbon to the foam tape after wrapping it around the back of the leaf paper. I put glue dots under the leaves to make sure they stay in place.
I took a retired Stampin’ Up stamp set called “So Sorry” and used the “so Sorry” and stamped it on a scrap of the watercolor paper and put it through the Vagabond with a Spellbinders die and then I colored the front with the same blue colors and put foam tape behind it. I added a little Shimmer Spray from Imagine Crafts to the front of the sentiment.

I’ve been making videos but apparently not talking about them on the blog.  For some reason, I keep forgetting to do so.

So the latest videos I’ve made had to do with creating background paper from peg stamps, and then creating five different cards using the background paper I made first.

It will be a super long video, but might be worth it for someone who wants to use patterned paper, but doesn’t know what to do with it once it’s made.

Then the nice people at Arteza sent me TwiMarkers, and I’m in love with them.  I’ve tried blending with other water-based markers, but never was able to do so.  I always ended up with  one color and another beside it, but nothing blended in between.  The only way I was able to get water markers to blend was if I scribbled them onto a palette and then used a paint brush and a small amount of water to allow the marker ink to blend.  This time, using the TwiMarkers, the inks blended like they were alcohol markers, and I can’t tell you how much fun they are to use…I’m definitely going to play with them in more videos…And they are so much less expensive than alcohol markers, and that’s another big benefit..

I started with Lawn Fawn’s You’re Claw-some stamp set. Link: https://tinyurl.com/y5zzod92

I stamped the stamp of the game on Recollections 110lb heavyweight white cardstock in the MISTI with Gina K’s Amalgam black ink. link: https://tinyurl.com/y3oe5wpz
I stamped it a couple of times so it’s dark… on 5 1/2″ tall by 4 1/4″ wide card stock.
I also stamped the claw above the bears, to the right, and stamped stars across the top section of the claw game.
I removed the cardstock from the MISTI and put a piece of clear plastic (acetate) that is 5 1/2″ tall by 4 1/4″ wide and laid this in the MISTI exactly where the cardstock had been. I wanted to stamp the same Amalgam ink, but I didn’t want the bears, the claw or the stars on this image. I had to lay a piece of paper in the animal section while inking it, as I didn’t want the animals on the acetate. Basically, I only wanted the outline of the machine on this layer so it appears 3-d. After inking, I removed the paper that I used to hide the animals, and stamped the machine in the MISTI on the acetate.
I stamped some extra animals (that I didn’t use), as well as one bear that I stamped with a graduation cap on his head. The graduation cap came from a stamp set from a Stampin’ Up Paper Pumpkin kit that’s no longer available…sorry. I stamped the graduation cap inside the claw , and used this as a mask so I could put it in the claw when the time came. I stamped the claw with the cap (covered with the mask) in the machine on the card front, then colored the machine and bears on the original stamped image, and cut out a rectangle of the machine.  I didn’t use anything else from the original card front I showed on the screen.
I glued the acetate onto a 5 x 7″ blue piece of cardstock after die cutting out a large rectangular piece out of the center. I put two removable Glue Dots on the bottom front of the card base that is 5 x 7″ and then laid the card front with acetate on the glue dots, lining the front so that it is perfectly aligned on the card front. Then I took the colored image of the game and laid it (with wet glue to hold it down) under the acetate and made sure it was laid perfectly under the inked image on the acetate before gluing it in place. Once that was done, I removed the glue dots (and acetate layer) and put the bear wearing the graduation cap on foam tape and glued it into the claw. I used Diamond Glaze on the machine and the claw and should have let it dry before proceeding, but didn’t….such a bad mistake…you’ll see later.
I added thin lines of foam tape around the back of the acetate layer and added a second layer of foam tape so it (theoretically) wouldn’t land on the bear or the Diamond Glaze. I bought the thin lines of foam tape from Aliexpress (no longer available).
I added some thin orange ribbon to the bottom of the card front and wrapped it three times around the front (Stampin’ Up retired ribbon), then knotted it in place..
I added small nail art beside the machine and around the top and bottom that would show through the acetate, with a pick up tool from Ecstasy Crafts.
I used another stamp from the Stampin’ Up Paper Pumpkin set that said “Hooray Grad” and added that to the top right side of the acetate, after using a postage shaped die to cut it out. The acetate and glued nail art make the card look like a shaker card, but it was never my intention to make it a shaker, I just wanted the machine to appear 3-d…
I used odd colors because my great niece was graduating from a high school whose colors are orange and royal blue….not the best combination of colors…
Sorry I had a lot of camera issues with this video. I thought about not putting the card up, but decided it was a cute card and worth seeing.

I finally have done it.  With Rich’ s help, we were able to video the mother and father house wren feeding their brand new babies.  It was interesting, as they fed their babies, the parents were removing a white rubbery gob of something…so I had to do some research and it turns out that it was their fecal sacs…who knew?  That tells me that the babies were brand new that day.  And with further research, I found that they will stay for 12-18 days and then the parents will stop feeding them, making it so they have to leave the nest to eat.  I wonder if the parents stay nearby, to ensure their babies leave the nest, and are safe when they do it.

I did watch a video of the babies leaving, and it seemed like they just flew away like the parents always did…I guess I didn’t expect that.  I really thought they would stumble before they flew…

But back to the current situation.  I’m not sure how or when the mother explains her danger voice, but as soon as she lets out what sounds like the same tone repeated over and over, her babies immediately stop chirping.  Isn’t it weird that they would know that on day one?  I’m blown away by these birds, and they have the most beautiful voices.  When they are singing just to sing, it sounds like this.  You’ll need to wait for about 30 seconds before it sings.  I think these could be my favorite birds.  I have to thank the YouTuber Bryan for this video.  Ours will be coming soon.  I may wait to see if we can capture the babies leaving the nest before putting up our video…

I have made this type card with metal stencils and an expensive coconut soap in the past, and wanted to make sure that I experimented to see if it would work with cheaper soap and plastic stencils. I hate it when the cost of doing a technique stops us from attempting it.

I took a white card base that was 5 1/2″ wide by 8 1/2″ tall, scored on the 8 1/2″ length at 4 1/4″ to make a 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ card front…I misspoke the size on the video, sorry. I added a piece of designer paper that was 5 3/8″ x 4 1/8″ and then took a white piece of card stock that is 5 1/4″ x 4″ and laid 2″ wide carpet tape in two strips (laying them side by side) onto the 4″ length so the full card front is covered with double stick tape. I took the backing off, and used a stencil of multiple designs from the Dollar tree link: https://tinyurl.com/y557xuoz
I ripped the paper that allowed only one stencil to show at a time, off. I rubbed Caress Daily Soap and Oil of Olay Ultra Moisturizing soaps on the back of the plastic stencil, rubbing all around the individual design I was glittering with a particular soap. Caress and Oil of Olay, neither one worked well..You can remove the stencil, but not easily. It didn’t adhere well to the paper so I had a little glitter seeping under the stencil. I also had to use a makeup brush to remove the soap that was left inside the stencil.
I used Arteza’s set of 54 glitters (link: https://tinyurl.com/y26muamt) Once you’ve laid the stencil onto the card stock and make sure it’s well adhered, sprinkle the glitter over the area and rub it in well with your finger.  I tried several colors of glitter and after finishing with these stencils, decided the card looked like a hot mess.
I had almost given up, but decided to try my third soap which was Yardley’s of London Shea Buttermilk….also bought at the Dollar Tree, link: https://tinyurl.com/y3wzy5vv This soap worked great…I used it three times on the card front and all adhered well when necessary, no glitter seeped under, and the stencil came off easily.
I took a die cut of the word “hi” and put foam tape under it and adhered it to the middle of the card (after using orange glitter on it.) I simply took wet glue and covered the word “hi” and then covered with glitter and let it dry..

 

I’m going to whine for a minute.  I got the second shingles shot, and have been sick for days.  Nauseous, yep….all the time, for days.  And before that, I had a welt on my arm that was the size of a small avocado and o sore, it hurt when my shirt sleeve touched it.

Naturally, I haven’t been in the craft room, but luckily I have so many videos that need to be uploaded, it didn’t slow down the channel.  Then again, Rich hasn’t been well for a while.  He needs to have his hip replaced and still pushes himself like he doesn’t.

Unfortunately, between the two of us, getting videos uploaded hasn’t been as high of a priority as sleeping…we’ve been sleeping a lot, and trying to put videos up when we can.

I’ve also found that I don’t have as much to talk about on the blog.  I wish I was more active and had interesting things to say, but sadly, I’m not doing as much or experimenting as much as I used to, and wish I had more to say.  Sometimes life seems to pass me by, and sadly, the last year has gotten away from me.  I hope that I find a renewed passion for the blog going forward..I hope…

 

I spent most of the day yesterday in my craft room.  I wanted to create my own background paper and then cut it into several smaller pieces, to be used on as many cards as possible..  So far I’ve made four cards, and still have a piece of my background paper left to create a fifth card.  I was having so much fun and doing so many different things with the background paper, and I’ve still got several ideas left to share.  It was so much fun working with peg stamps to create the background paper….and I used a watercolor paper that if I wanted to, I could color the background a different color, and I still might do that with my last piece.

I need to sent so many cards to people that I’ve promised them to, and I feel guilty that I continue to procrastinate.  I wish I was as good at sending cards as I am at creating them.

I want to go back into the craft room, but got my second shingles shot yesterday, and today my shoulder has a huge red welt on it, and hurts like anything.  At least I got an older video uploaded, and have a couple more that Rich needs to put online before he catches up with the video I just made.

I have a bunch of things I’d like to share in a haul video too, so will probably making that video in the next day or too.

My birds are back in their house, and as soon as I hear the babies chirping, I’m going to make a video recording them.  It’s so much fun to watch the mother and father birds working to keep their babies stomach’s full…

I started with 8 1/2″ long by 5 1/2″ tall white Recollections Heavyweight card stock, scored on the 8 1/2″ length at 4 1/4″ to make the front of the card 4 1/4″ by 5 1/2″ tall, an A2 size card.

I used a stencil from Stencil Revolution that they sent me, called Lavender, and here’s the link to it: https://tinyurl.com/y5ar6889

I also used a stamp set from Hero Arts called Hummingbirds and here’s a link to it: https://tinyurl.com/y3auw4yp

I positioned the stencil to the right on the card front, and positioned the hummingbird so it would be pointing toward the lavender. I put it in the MISTI,  added the sentiment and  from the same stamp set,  and stamped them with Versafine Onyx black ink. To help with stamping in the MISTI, I use a Baren from Dickblick.com and here’s a link to it: https://tinyurl.com/y5b645rn.   I used clear embossing powder on the sentiment and hummingbird then heat set them. I decided to color the hummingbird with Touch Five Markers and Studio 71 alcohol markers. Studio 71 colors: r16 and r18 Touch 5: 2, 11, 50, 55, 52, 65, 36, 101, 104. I like to color my lightest colors first then put in my highlights in the darker colors, then color back over it with the lightest color again. I went outside the lines and used a Windsor and Newton colorless blender to remove those marks.

I used a sand eraser to remove the ink that somehow ended up on my card base. I used washi tape from the Dollar Tree and rubbed it on my arm to remove some of the stickiness from the washi, then attached it to the stencil to ensure it wouldn’t move while using it.
I bought Flower Soft and now it’s harder to find, so I found it on ebay and here’s a link to it. https://tinyurl.com/y42r75p3
I used Cosmic Shimmer glue Link: https://tinyurl.com/y2yskucc and used the fine tip applicator of the glue to basically color inside the stencil so I could apply the Flower Soft in the flower of the stencil. I used a green marker #42 to color the stems of the lavender and then removed the stencil. You’ll want to wash the stencil right away to ensure you can removed the glue from it.
I used a light green Stickle to go over the leafs of the lavender and also to the wings of the hummingbird.
I took tear tape and laid it near the bottom of the card front and then removed the backing paper and added a piece of ribbon over it.
I cut another piece of white paper that is 5 1/2″ tall and 4 1/4″ wide to cover the back of the front cover to hide the alcohol ink that seeped through the paper…

I stamped the back with my “made by Sandy Parker” stamp and stamped one of the hummingbird’s on the back of the envelope.

I haven’t felt like going into the craft room, as it’s been drizzling here for a week..or a month, or a year…it seems like forever.

But something happened today that I’m really excited about and I thought I’d share it with you.  Our great nephew graduated from a school in Florida (sorry, I don’t know the name) to become a music producer.  He’s not looking to make songs, but is looking to make the music and sound for video games, a field that’s really growing.  So we talked to him about making a sound track for my channel.  Something uniquely mine.  I gave him some ideas of music I like and he’s going to start working on it right away.  I’ll make sure I tell everyone all about it when we use the music for the first time, and we’ll also include his contact information in case someone, by chance, hears the music, and wants to use him for additional work.  We’ll be paying him so that it can go on his resume, and are excited to collaborate with him.  I’ve always wanted to have music that was all mine, and he’s going to be providing it for me…YAY!!