Today, Rich and I went to the “The Rock” in Skyscraper.  If you are old enough to remember “Die Hard,” then you’ve basically seen the movie.  There was one “jump out of my seat” moment, when it seemed like he was falling one-hundred floors to his death.  It was entertaining,  but probably better as a video rental.

When we got home, I fully intended to do some crafting, but got sidetracked when watching YouTube videos.  I found one that talked about how a woman lives in her car for $800 a month, and thought “that seems expensive.”  So I watched the video, and she earns $800 a month, and she only pays a portion of that to live in her car.  It was interesting to know that it was her choice and she’s enjoying it, but that there’s a whole movement toward people living in cars, trucks and vans by choice.  Apparently tiny houses just aren’t tiny enough.  Who knew?  Of course then I found a video on the pitfalls of living in a tiny house, most of which I had already figured out for myself.  Why do I allow myself to get waylaid by crazy videos?  I guess because I can.  I have a plan for myself and tomorrow, I’m going to stick to it.  I’m not watching any videos on dumpster diving, how to make an entertainment center from the Dollar Tree, or the best potato salad made by a woman who really doesn’t measure anything….I am going to make that box card, or throw in the towel and watch some other crazy videos, but I have a plan.

I spent most of the day going to garage sales with my girlfriend.  It can be a very disappointing experience when you don’t find things, but fortunately, an older lady in our area that’s a baker, was selling her baked goods, so the day was saved!  Rich loves her lemon bread, so I bought him a couple of loaves and his happiness was complete.  His lower back and hip are still really hurting, and the bi-weekly procedures he’s been getting, don’t seem to be helping much with the pain.  It’s hard to see him hurting, as I always kind of hoped that I could be the one to “take it for the team.”  I wish it was that easy, but it’s not.

As for the crafting side of things….yesterday, my friend Rebecca, from Rubber Stamp Tapestry, sent me a link to an event that Stationary Trends Magazine is having to encourage people to send a card a day to someone during a week in September.  I posted all of the information on facebook and will talk about it a lot in upcoming weeks.  It’s a way to get people to give back, and send words of encouragement to friends, family and strangers.  I loved the idea and the magazine encouraged people to talk about why it’s so important for them to participate.  So I wrote about the YouTube channel and that I send cards to viewers who are struggling, and that I admire their initiative.  I almost immediately got an email back from someone at the magazine, asking if I would write up something about myself and my YouTube channel, submit at least two or three of my videos, and they would feature the channel in their “inspirations” page.  I am over the moon excited about this opportunity.  I don’t know the reach of the magazine, but I’m thrilled that the channel will be recognized, and more people with physical limitations will have an avenue to hear about it.

I’ve also gotten a couple more companies asking me to try their products and they’ll offer discounts to my viewers for purchases of the products.  The only thing I get out of it is the product to try, but that’s the best way for all of us to know if it will work for us.  And if it’s one less product I have to buy, it allows me to buy something else for us to try.  I’m really happy that companies are recognizing that people with physical limitations can’t necessarily use the same tools as those without, and I’m so excited to try these products, and pass them on when I can’t use them, or hopefully, be able to add them to my arsenal.

I really never thought the channel would get this far, and I’m so happy that it has.  I know I’ve said this a hundred times, but the channel isn’t monetized, so the joy I get from this process is the payment I receive.  I absolutely love doing it and meeting so many wonderful people like all of you.  Thanks for being there for me and for coming along for the ride.

 

I often had to have moles and spots taken off my skin as my mother had melanoma, and I’m very light skinned.  When I was young, the highest SPF I can ever remember seeing, was a four.  And a lot of my friends would just use baby oil and put iodine in it so it turned their skin a reddish color, also crazy.  I couldn’t be out in the sun for very long, or I was sunburned, and as you get older, you realize how dumb it was that we got burned so often as kids.  I didn’t know that getting a bad sunburn before the age of eighteen, increases your chances for getting skin cancer significantly.  I have had spots taken off that were pre-cancerous, and one on the very top of my head that was skin cancer, but not melanoma.  Because of my mother having melanoma, I’m supposed to be checked at least annually by a doctor, to ensure I don’t miss something in my “spot checking.”  Since I have tons of spots, it would be easy to do.  I had a mark on the top of my foot, right at the crease of the ankle that was looking dark.  So after a couple of appointments, my dermatologist decided to remove it.  It’s fast and almost pain free, and I never mind going to have spots removed.  Unfortunately, the placement on this one will make healing difficult, according to my doctor.  He said it could be over a month before it heals, so I’m putting my foot up to reduce swelling and thinking that I might not get into the craft room today.  I really want to make that county fair box card, but I find ways to procrastinate, thus being the case today.

I just talked to a viewer who said she spends 90% of her time looking at videos and only 10% making cards.  I told her I think that’s probably average, as we look at a video, decide if we want to make the card, then decide if that person explained it easily, or do we need to go to another crafter to see if they explained it better.  I spend so much time researching and could be making a lot more cards, but I don’t want to make ten of one card.  I like to make a couple at the most, as I want people to feel special when they get one of my cards.  Maybe that’s why it takes me so long to make a card.  If I did several, I could do an assembly line process and make a lot at once.  I don’t do that…darn…I should rethink how I make cards and maybe I would be more efficient and have less waste to clean if I use the excess on other cards.  Or, maybe the real truth is that I just like to procrastinate.

I worked on finishing the video that just posted, but forgot to write on the blog.  I have a block, and if I don’t write on the blog when I’m thinking about it, then I forget for a couple of days.  I’m not sure how that works, because I swear I wrote on it a day ago, but didn’t.  Yikes!

I went to the craft room, intent on working on the county fair card.  I don’t want to put too much time between the napkin video and the fair card, so decided to get right on it.  But once I got there, I needed to clean a few things, which lead to organizing more things, which lead to labeling other things, and I got nowhere.  The room actually looks worse than when I started.  How’s that possible?  I wonder if others intent on cleaning or organizing their craft rooms get a bigger mess than when they started?  Maybe they have helper bees that clean up after them….wouldn’t that be awesome?  I’m thinking it would be a dream come true for most of us.

So tomorrow, I’m back to working on the fair card.  I hope I’ll be able to wade through the mess to make some kind of dent in it.  One can only hope!

I wanted to show you a couple of uses for that clothes iron we never seem to use any more.
The first is to iron heat embossing to flatten the embossed surface so that it’s invisible and makes the image look seamless.
The stamps I used are from MFT, All Occasions and Simon Says Stamp, Floral Bliss. Neither are newer sets, so you should be able to find them second hand on Ebay or Splitcoast Stampers website.  Links are at the bottom for your reference.
I started with a piece of white card stock that is 4 5/8″ x 6 5/8″ as I’m going to put a second layer under it for a 5 x 7″ card.  I used a green layer that is 4 3/4 x 6 3/4″ then a gold base that is 5 x 7″.  I rubbed baby powder over the cardstock in a brush decanter I found at a garage sale and filled with baby powder. You can use corn starch as well, and can put it into two doubled knee highs, knot them and cut off the excess knee high.  I’ve used the knee high system for years and it works fine. Unfortunately, I couldn’t locate it to show it in the video. The reason you do that, is to remove any static or finger prints from your paper, as embossing powder sticks to anything, and this will make your process so much simpler, as you need to wipe off any excess powder or it will ruin your design.
Once it’s been covered with baby powder, I like to blow off any excess. I put the Floral Bliss primary stamp into the bottom of a Stamp Perfect from Hampton Arts.
I stamped the image with Versamark ink and made sure that it’s well inked, then turned the paper around and stamped it on the opposite edge. If you have hand or wrist issues, use your forearm to push on your stamp tool to get a better impression. After stamping both images I decided I wanted to add another stamp that looks like a pussy willow branch, so stamped the big design on a piece of copy paper. I used removable Glue Dots to ensure I could hold the image in place and not worry about it moving. These work well and are easy to remove. To make a mask, simply stamp the image and cut close to the outline, better inside the lines, rather than outside, so you won’t get a gap when you stamp over it. The mask makes sure that the image under it is the closest image and the item you put on top of the mask will be below the masked image once you remove the mask. Keep your mask, as it’s reusable.
After stamping the pussy willows and removing the masks on both sides of my image, I used clear embossing powder and heat set the entire sheet after removing any excess powder with a paint brush.
I used Touch Five alcohol markers for my coloring. The numbers of the colors I used are on the screen. After coloring, I laid a dish towel under my project and two pieces of copy paper, then put my image down, and put another piece of typing paper on top and ironed on a non-spray medium setting. It removes the shiny, raised embossed look.
The second use for the iron is to adhere a napkin to card stock for a box card I’ll be making in an upcoming video. Take a piece of washi tape and apply it to the edge of the underneath of your napkin and pull the top away from the washi and it makes separating napkins really easy. I cut out the lined portions of my napkin and made sure there wasn’t any writing on the pieces I used. I used the same format for layering under the napkin and ironed each napkin piece so they are completely flat, then laid the card stock on my dish towel then put a layer of basic plastic wrap from the kitchen, then laid my napkins on top and put copy paper and an excess napkin to ensure I didn’t get any plastic wrap attached to my iron.  Rub the iron over it until the edges are well adhered and keep checking to make sure you are getting it all ironed down.  All that’s left to do, is trim out the areas that don’t have napkin on it and you’ve made your own decorative paper with a napkin.
Back to the card…I added Glossy Accents to some of my images and let it sit over night, as I added a lot to ensure a 3-d look. I changed my mind about my greeting and in the end, used a light green card stock with green ink and cut it into a banner and put foam tape under it and laid it in the center of the card. Before doing that, I thought it would be fun to fill in the rest of the card with small purple flowers from the same SSS stamp set. I added a small branch with leaves from pegstamps.com in Always Artichoke from Stampin’ Up. Here are similar branches that pegstamps.com has available that would also work. http://tinyurl.com/ybol6usr

Here are the links to the stamp sets I used: These are full price sites, and I recommend you checking others for a lower price, but I wanted you to see the sets. (I make no money for anything you link to…I only do it as a reference point for you.)
SSS Floral Bliss http://tinyurl.com/yd8nfr4p
MFT All Occasions http://tinyurl.com/ydxx3u7u

I really wanted to find an idea for a video that was a little out of the ordinary…so I decided to do a video on two ways to use your iron for crafts.  Let’s face it, we don’t really use our irons for much else..at least I don’t.  If I’ve got a wrinkle in something I’m wearing, I put some water on it and hope for the best…Yes, I’m that classy!

So I made the video showing how to take the embossing off after you’ve heat embossed something, and also showed how to adhere napkins to card stock to make your own designer paper.  I want to make a box card and my theme is the county fair…I got my last Hero Art’s monthly kit, and it was fair themed, so I thought it would be perfect for this project.  Our nephew and his family are coming to stay with us during our county fair, and they love going there with us, so I thought I’d send them this card to remind them of the fun we’ll be having together.  I’m making a box card, and I finally found directions that will work for me, where I don’t have to stick my fingers inside the box to line up the little “shelves,” and I think it will make this card a lot more accessible for my viewers as well.  It’s one of those cards that is so “fiddly” (like my UK friends would say), because you normally have to stick your fingers inside, and I’m not going to even attempt that trick.  I’m not sure if the video will appeal to a lot of people, but I think the card I made is going to turn out well, at least I hope it is..

My good friend Rebecca, at Rubber Stamp Tapestry, aka http://www.pegstamps.com, sent me all of their new releases, and they are terrific.
She sent their new individual stamps..two different ice cream cones, the word “tea”, with sympathy, happy holly-days, blessed and an image of a robin.
They also came out with five sets of peg stamps. Robin’s Nest, Hoo-Ray, Ocean Babies, Fairy Garden, Fresh Lemonade. They also came out with corresponding red rubber stamp sets with sentiments…Whispers from the Garden and Hootin’ Sentiments.

I decided to make a card for my cousin Shelli, who appears in videos with our friend Linda and myself.

I started with a piece of white cardstock that is 4″ x 5 1/4″ and I stamped an old Stampin’ Up background stamp called Sanded, with Hero Arts Soft Stone light blue ink. I laid the stamp wood side down and laid my card stock on top of the stamp and holding the paper in place, rubbed it with my other hand to ensure a good inking. It’s subtle, but I liked it.

I used Whispers from the Garden for the sentiment and an older set called Woods in Winter that Lindsay the Frugal crafter designed for trees and birds. I used the pine trees from the set and stamped them with Old Artichoke ink from Stampin’ Up and wiped off the bottom of the trees and used Distress ink Brushed Corduroy to wipe across the bottom to ensure the stamp looked more authentic once stamped. I stamped the trees in three different spots. I rubbed a Memento ink called Olive Grove onto an acrylic block and added a little water and used a paint brush to color in more on the trees. I added Brushed Corduroy to the acrylic block added water and painted under my trees to create dirt.
I showed how to trim the gnome stamp and stamped it with SSS Intense Black ink in three spots and I added some snails with a caramel colored ink to the bottom of the scene.
I wanted to make a sky so cut a scrap of white cardstock into waves and used the Soft Stone Hero Arts ink with my 1″ chip brush that I bought at Harbor Freight Liquidators. I bought thirty-two of them for $8 and use one for each color family, ie. red, orange, yellow, blue, etc. You also need to use one for every color family if you use distress oxides or pigment inks, as they won’t work for dye inks if you use them for oxides or pigment inks.
I inked the sky, then moved the paper, and inked less, then moved it again, and inked it a little less, all the way to the ground.
Then I used a brown brush for the ground with the corduroy ink and made a light brown background
I used Stabilo 68 markers and scribbled out the colors I wanted to use on an acrylic tile and painted my gnomes and snails by adding a little water to my paint brush and running the brush through the ink. I stamped black birds from the Woods in Winter stamp set and filled in where the ink wasn’t perfect with a black marker.
I used brushed corduroy ink to ground the gnomes and snails. To finish it off, I put a sentiment from the Whispers from the Garden together by cutting a set apart. I used chapstick to adhere the stamp to the acrylic block and a circle die, then cut the sentiment,  used Summer Sun ink from Stampin’ Up and colored the sentiment like it’s the sun in the scene. I put foam tape on the back of the sentiment and laid it on the right side of the card and covered a couple of the birds…I think I like it better without so many birds.
I rounded the corners with my Kadumoro corner rounder punch from Amazon..here’s the link. http://tinyurl.com/yck3q3ns
I put the scene on the 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ blue card stock and then decided it needed something more, so added green Stickles to the trees.
I added snails to the envelope and the card is complete. I hope you enjoyed it.

I am kicking myself because I was all excited about videotaping the bird family, and this morning, they had flown the coop.  Literally.  The whole family has departed.  It happens like that every year, but I really thought I had a couple more days left, but sadly, not.

Oh well, there’s always next year.

My good friend, Rebecca, from pegstamps.com, sent me their new stamp sets.  I don’t know I’ve done to deserve such a good friend, but I just love her and her generosity.  I really wanted to make a card using the sets, so decided today was the day.  Actually, I’d tried to make a card yesterday, but it was terrible, and I had to delete the video.  Today’s card took several hours, but isn’t as nice as I wanted it to be, but far better than yesterday’s card.   I think I’m struggling because my arthritis is in a flare, and when that happens, I have a difficult time thinking and coming up with ideas that I like.  Basically I’m in a fog.  I started on a burst of prednisone, (that’s when you take 40 mg, then the next day 30 mg, then the next 20 mg, etc.) and it’s supposed to help take me out of flares.  It works, but the drug makes my face a bright pink, almost purple color for the first few days, and it’s not only attractive, but kind of uncomfortable, as it’s as hot as it is red.

I started the medicine last night, so I’m hoping by tomorrow I start to feel a little bit better.  I’m crossing my fingers that I do, because when I’m in a flare, I’m not really very effective, and seriously frustrated.

I got the new camera ready and started making a video…then the battery went dead, and then another and another.  It’s the exact same camera as I used before, only this one eats batteries like I eat candy.  Then of course it through me off my game and I ended up making a postcard that is absolutely dreadful, and will have to rethink the whole plan.  I thought I had a great idea, but naturally, probably not because of the new camera, (although I am going to blame it on that), the project had to be chucked.  I hate wasting so much energy on something that’s going in the trash, and believe me, this card will not see the light of day, or YouTube.

I did talk to Rich about videotaping the baby birds, so I’m hoping he can figure out a way to keep the camera running while waiting for our mother and father bird to not only feed their babies, but possibly see the babies leave the nest.  I’m really hoping Rich can capture that, as we’ve never seen the babies leave the house and I’d love to see them do it just once.

On a completely unrelated note, our nephew passed his nursing boards, and is ready to take his career by the horns.  We could not be more proud of him or the man he’s become.

I got my camera on Thursday, so no more going through withdrawals.  It made me super happy, but I still hadn’t finished cleaning my craft room, and now the problem is working on that side of the room to have space to work.  I went to a few garage sales and found a couple of cool metal storage containers that should work well for markers and pencils, pretty much anything that’s flat.  When I got home, I should have worked on my craft room, but wasn’t feeling great, so spent the afternoon and evening reading and watching television.  Sometimes I feel like I’m a slug, but have to remind myself that I have a disease and the days of pretending I’m Super Girl are gone.

Today I went to several garage sales and found some fun and unique things.  After I got home, I started thinking about other videos I’d like to try, and here’s one I’d like feedback on.  We have house wrens that make a home out of a birdhouse I have under my awning every year.  I’m not sure if it’s the same family, but every year they return.  They’ve had their babies and are in the feeding stage now, and it’s really interesting to watch and listen to.  The babies are really loud, but if the mother or father bird use a certain call, they immediately are quiet.  I think it might be “stranger danger” in people terms, as those babies know to be silent until the mother or father bird return to the bird house.  I think I’d like to set the video camera up so it catches all of it..The feeding, the calls, the coming and going.  I find it fascinating, and think others would too.  It’s definitely not a craft video, but do all of my videos have to be crafty?  I’m just wondering if anyone would be interested in watching and listening to a video featuring my bird family?

Oh, and one other thing happened that’s note worthy.  I was at a garage sale for a teacher I’ve known for many years.  She teaches arts/crafts at a local high school.  She showed her students some of my videos and wanted me to know that one of her students chose my tie-dye sneaker video to do for her class project.  The teacher loved them and the student was really proud of her accomplishment.  I couldn’t be happier, knowing a student got an A because she watched one of my videos…Life is Good!