You know you’re getting old when you think you just wrote in the blog yesterday, when it was actually two days ago.  I’m getting senile, I’m pretty sure of it.  Made two videos yesterday and had a great time doing it.  Today, I’m doing two more.  I had a viewer ask if something was wrong that I haven’t been putting up many videos.  I think I’m forgetting how long it is between videos.  They’re done, I just have to remind Rich to put them up.  I have videos that are so old, they date back to the beginning of October…Are they up?  No, because I keep thinking people want to see fall/Christmas type videos, so I’m putting the others on the back burner until January when I won’t have any new or different ideas.  Ok, these aren’t new or different, but I still need to wait until after the holidays when I’ll be hard pressed for ideas.  This time of year I can make a video a minute with card ideas and albums, ornaments, etc., but after the new year, I have no ideas, and that’s when I need to say things for.

I need to get busy and make today’s videos.  I’m shooting for easy and quick, because this time of year people need easy and quick crafts to do.  I’m on it.  It’s bookmark and refrigerator magnet and decorated clothespins….Videos for everyone, Yay!

You’ll need a plastic container or aluminum (disposable) pan that is larger than your card stock and has at least 1″ tall sides. I cut my card stock to 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ and 6″ square and 5 x 7″. I would suggest using 65 pound card stock as it doesn’t need to be watercolor paper and heavy weight card stock would be expensive, and you might discard some of your results, so the cheaper the paper, the better.
I also used an old hotel key card, you can use an old credit card, or a gift card that has no balance left. I also used a hair pick, but a comb works well too. You can use a skewer too.

1. Men’s shaving cream from the Dollar Tree and food coloring. Take your shave cream and cover the bottom of the container you are using and using food coloring, place drops of different colors into the shave cream. Using your comb, spread the food coloring around in the shave cream. Once you like the pattern you’ve created, place your card stock face down into the shave cream, pressing it in until the face is covered. Gently lift it up and if you have areas that aren’t covered, push it back into the shave cream. Once all of the card stock is covered with shave cream, lay it on a craft mat or old newspaper or kid’s drawing pad (that’s what I used), and take your credit card (gift card, key card) and scrape the shaving cream off of the card stock and wipe the excess onto the side of the pan you are using for shave cream. Once you’ve scraped all of the foam off, set the card stock aside to dry. You’ll need to keep adding food coloring as your backgrounds will get lighter with each round of use. You’ll also need to change out your shaving cream with multiple uses, as it will start to blend the colors to a ugly brown. Clean your pan once done with soapy water.
2. Kit from Dollar Tree called “Marbling Kit” found in kid’s toy department. Fill your pan with about 1/2″ of water, and drop a lot of your colors into it from the kit. These colors will really dull, so use more than you think you will need. You’ll need to add more colors with each use. Drop your card stock into the pan face down and make sure the face is completely submerged in the water. Pick it out of the water and let it dry.
3. Marbling Kit from Michaels…I don’t recommend this kit as it was really expensive on clearance and the container included is really low grade. I used the magic powder that was included and then added the colors, then dipped my card stock into it. You might want to try a pack of gelatin to make the water thicker, and the magic powder did seem to make the water thicker like gelatin would. It did say you should use only 8 oz of water in the pan. Pour the colors into the water and use more than you will think you need and move the colors around with a comb or skewer and then place card stock face down then remove and let dry.
4. Nail Polish. Definitely use a container that you can discard, as the nail polish sticks to the container. Add about 1/4-1/2″ water to the bottom of your container then pour some different colors of nail polish into it. Add your card stock and lift gently. The nail polish will pool so you have to be careful to avoid big globs of polish on your card stock. Move the nail polish around with a skewer or tooth pick. It smells, so you should open a window when you are doing this one. Put the card stock face down in the container. and gently pick it back up.
5. Alcohol Inks in water–fill your container with 1/4″ water and put drops of alcohol inks into water in a variety of colors. It is pale, so I put drops of alcohol ink right onto our card stock to make droplets.
6. Marbles in a closed container. Use an old Stampin’ Up stamp box or a Rubbermaid plastic container…Put a small amount of tape runner on the back of your card stock. Place the card stock inside the lid of a plastic container with 5-6 marbles. Put a few drops of re inker in the bottom of the box, close it and tilt the box back and forth to cover the marbles, then flip it over so the marbles make contact with the card stock. You can use any reinkers or using your small ink pads, press them into the bottom and try that as well. Anything that allows the marbles to color the paper, would work.

I got a request from a viewer to make a video showing how to make a Heidi Swapp iridescent paint.  So I figured, why not?  I should try to make it and while I’m doing that, I should also make some Wink of Stella.  I always love trying to replicate a product, and helping others save money at the same time.  I made the paint and think it came out close to the real thing…here’s the funny thing..I didn’t know I already had a bottle of the Heidi Swapp paint, so could compare what I made to the original.  I know what Wink of Stella looks like, so that wasn’t hard to duplicate.

I finished the video and hope people will give one or both a try.  I guess this is my DIY weekend, since yesterday was all about marble techniques.

I should also tell you that I’ve tried really hard not to buy a lot of crafty things on cyber weekend, and it’s been a struggle.  I keep telling myself I don’t need anything and that if I buy one more thing, I’m a certified crafty hoarder.  OK, so there’s a good chance that I actually am a crafty hoarder, and I’ll let you know tomorrow night how I fared with not buying anything…It’s not looking good.

I thought I’d buy myself one stamp set that I’ve been looking at, and today was the day.  I’ve been trying to go onto Simon Says Stamp for at least six hours and their website is down.  I’ve got to wonder, how much traffic would it take to bring down a site like theirs?  Six hours is my maximum commitment, so I’ve decided to kick this stamp set ot the curb.  It’s not like I need it anyway, but since their sale ends tonight, I thought I’d buy it.

I made a video today showing different ways to make paper look like it’s got a marble finish.  I tried using the word “marbilized,” but that wasn’t correct, so went with “marble finish” instead.  I had a really good time with the different techniques, and think the video will go over well.  It’s always fun to show a technique that’s simple and also, one that can be done in a variety of manners.  I think I show six different ways to make paper have a marble finish.  Geez, what’s the correct way to say that?  I think I’m losing my mind.  It’s probably something really simple, and I need to figure out the proper terminology before I put the video up.  It’s going to look really foolish if I call it marble finish…It won’t be the first or last time I’ve looked foolish, but I’d prefer not to, if I can avoid it.

I think I was a little bit brain-dead when I wrote the last post, as I talked about how I got up at 11AM, and that was today, not yesterday.  It would be funny if I had gotten up at 11 on Thanksgiving, as my meal for 1PM might not have gone off as scheduled.  And one of our guests arrived at 10AM, so I would have slept through an hour of her visit.  So I apologize for my misrepresentation of the day.

I’m off to a great start.

When we were getting the house in order for our company, I did something really stupid.  Anything I found that I didn’t know what to do with, I threw into my craft room.  It had been really starting to look better, and now it’s back to crazy messy.  I’d like to say that there’s going to be a time in the near (or distant) future, where that room doesn’t look just terrible, but it’s looking bad.

I wanted to do a video today, but honestly, I’m still exhausted from entertaining.  I always love people who say they love to entertain, but I’m not one of them, and I kind of think those people might just be lying about it.  I fret that I’ll forget to do something, or will burn something or the meal will be cold, you name it, I fret about it.  So by the time the guests leave, I am too exhausted to think about anything.  And obviously, 14 hours of sleep didn’t make it any better, as I’m thinking about taking a nap.  It’s almost 4PM, so I’ve been out of bed for roughly five hours, and still, I’d like to sleep some more.  So those of you who love to entertain, I really need your secret.  How do you do it?  I need to know.  Or is it all just smoke and mirrors, and you secretly dread it too?

November 22nd is my birthday.  In my head, I’m about twenty-five, but in real life, I’m 58.  When did I get so old?  It seems like yesterday I was in college, but it’s been forty years.  Did I say forty years?  Holy cow, that’s a long time ago.  I’m not fond of my birthday, not because of the aging thing, but it’s just not been (historically) a good day for me.  I’ve probably mentioned this in the previous two years, but my first memory of my birthday was in 1964, when I turned four.  President Kennedy was shot and killed and my first memory is of my mother and her two friends crying, while their two kids and I sat and ate cake while watching the news coverage.  Since then, many birthdays have not been good..my sister had a major seizure, my mother an emergency hysterectomy, my hip dislocated, I had a major infection that couldn’t be cured, and the list goes on and on.  So I hold my breath and hope I’ll get through the day unscathed.  I know it sounds silly, but I really fret until the day has passed.

Thanksgiving on the other hand, combines my favorite foods, carbs, carbs and sugar, into a wonderful day.  We had some friends over, and it was a really nice afternoon.  I was so exhausted, I went to bed at 9PM and woke up this morning, at 11AM…I’m not even embarrassed to admit that.  It was funny, when I looked at the clock, I thought there was something wrong with it,  it couldn’t possibly be 11, but it was..

I spent a lot of Thanksgiving worrying about Aggie, as she’s not fond of any commotion, or changes in her routine.  She wandered out, figured out there were more people here than usual, and went back to bed.  I love how dogs handle stress…just sleep it off until things get better.  Aggie’s new favorite meal is vanilla yogurt mixed with peanut butter and her dog food.  She probably wouldn’t eat her dog food without it, as she’s now decided she’ll only eat what she wants.  And don’t try to sneak any medicine in there, as she’s got a nose for meds…and won’t eat  it.  She’ll just walk away.  Thus the peanut butter and yogurt, because she loves anything sweet, and she’ll eat her pill when she knows it’s going to be hidden with something sweet…Smart dog.  We were giving her chicken and rice mixed with dog food, but she figured out really quickly that her pill was in there,  so now she sniffs it and walks away.  I had been making frozen treats with vanilla yogurt and melted peanut butter combined, and she loved it…I figured if she liked it frozen, she’d love it cold, and does.  So far, it’s been a real winner for us.  I’ll feed her anything she wants, in order to keep her eating.  It’s only fair.  If I was approaching my 16th birthday as a dog, I’d hope my family would feed me whatever I wanted too…

I started with gold pearlized card stock that is 8 1/2″ by 5 1/2″ tall, scored on the 8 1/2″ length at 4 1/4″ to make an A2 size card that is 5 1/2″ tall by 4 1/4″ wide.
I used a sunflower die and cut it out on my die cutting machine in brown and then in blue. I used the blue out of the excess of the die cut. I used a diluted wet glue and laid the brown flower on my gold card base. Then added the blue to the top section, then took a brown Sharpie and colored in the center of the sunflower. I used a bronze colored glitter pack from a pack of multiple colors of glitter that I bought at Joanns last year. Added the wet glue into the center of the flower and then gently rubbed the glitter into the circles.
I have a set of banner dies from MFT that I used to lay my sentiment on. I used a thank you die and cut the gold card stock from it and centered it on the brown banner. I added foam tape behind the center of the banner and tear tape on the edges to adhere it to the front of the card.
For the inside of the card, I used My Creative Times This and That stamp set and Versafine Onyx Black ink with clear embossing powder and heat set it.
I used peg stamps to decorate the envelope. http://www.pegstamps.com and Stampin’ Up ink Delightful Dijon and a sunflower set called Greetings from Kansas. The leaf stamp is called a wide leaf stamp. The green ink is also from Stampin’ Up and is called Always Artichoke.

I decided I really needed to get serious about packaging the boxes for Puerto Rico.  I know it doesn’t sound like it would be a lot of work, but it took me about six straight hours to fill eleven boxes.  And that was after I’d spent probably another ten hours sorting through stamps, dies, embellishments, ribbons, embossing powder, and the list goes on and on.  I bought a lot of new things for them as well, and the boxes are almost completely full.  I wish I could say I feel like I really accomplished something, but for some reason I don’t.  Maybe because the boxes are still sitting here staring at me.  (If boxes could stare, they would be, of that I’m certain.)

I have some serious work to do tomorrow, as we’re having Thanksgiving dinner here  and although I’ve made turkeys, never for anyone other than my parents and Rich.  We’re having another family over, so the pressure is on.. I need to produce a turkey that is totally edible.  It’s a scary thought, and I hope I’m up for the challenge.  Wish me luck.

I’ll let you know how things go tomorrow, when I’ve gotten a bigger grip on the rest of the meal.  This could turn ugly fast.

If you’ve left a comment for me on my blog, I feel really badly, because I accidentally made my blog comments spam on email, so I wasn’t getting any notifications about them.  I realize that’s a pretty lame excuse, but I’m going to jump on it today and try to figure out how to find them from this page instead of email.

Once I’ve done that, my life will be back on track..I absolutely hate it when I miss any comments on YouTube, Facebook or on this blog.  It was a commitment I made to myself when I started the YouTube channel…I was going to answer comments until there were so many, that it’s virtually impossible to keep up with them.  I know a lot of the bigger YouTube pages let their comments go unanswered, and I’ve always wondered why people continue to leave comments for them.  One of my favorite parts of YouTube is the interaction with viewers and I think it’s sad that others don’t find the same joy from it.

We had our first real snow last night and had a couple of inches on the ground.  We’ve had snow earlier in the November, but it didn’t accumulate.  Luckily, it’s already melting, and I see grass again, so life is good.

Did I mention my plan to make easy gift bags?  I’m not creating the bags, but will be decorating them.  I thought it would be fun to create a handle for them too.  This is sounding really familiar so I probably already talked about it.  I think I could be losing my mind.  I’d bet if I read a month’s worth of blog posts, I probably repeat topics at least a third of the time.  I need to start writing down what I talk about instead of just jumping in with an idea.  That’s an exaggeration, as I don’t even jump in with an idea, mostly I just jump in.  I’d love to say I’ve got a plan for what I want to talk about, but mainly I just start telling you about my day, or a project I’m working on, and go from there.  No planning required.

I know I told you about Aggie going to the vet, and feeling really frisky when she got home.  She’s not been feeling well the last couple of days, and we started to worry that we’d have to make a big decision about her.  But today, she decided she needed to go for a walk and did.  She roamed around our backyard and accidentally walked into a tree.  She wasn’t walking very fast, so it just surprised her..these are the things that happen when you’re an old lady.  Oh, and a couple of nights ago, she walked to the front of our yard where it slants toward a dead end street.  She fell down and before Rich could get his shoes on, walk to her and pick her up, she’d already decided to take a nap…Like I said, it’s not easy getting old.  Some days are better than others, and today is a good day (other than walking into a tree.)

I loved making the peek-a-boo card to help my friend Kelly, who really struggled with it.  It wasn’t an easy card to master and I’m still not very comfortable with it.  I spent most of the day yesterday working on my craft room.  I wanted to go through all of my tools and supplies and decide which ones I’ll be using and which ones I’d like to donate to the women in Puerto Rico.  I have so much stuff and I’m ashamed that I have let it get so out of control.  I have embellishments that I must have thought I would use at some point, but aren’t anything I’d really every use.  In the beginning, I bought things thinking I would make cards for kids and cards for men etc., and that’s really just not the case.  I primarily make “thinking of you,” get well, thank you, sympathy and birthday cards.  The birthday cards I make are almost always for women (except Rich’s card), so masculine themed cards just aren’t something I make many of.

To make a long story short, I’m really starting to make a dent in the huge piles of craft supplies I own.  I’m happy about it, because now I feel like I have a grip on my supplies, whereas before, I felt like they owned me.

I can’t wait to finish my de-cluttering, so that I can make the boxes and get them in the mail.  I know it will be a huge weight off of my shoulders when I hand them to the post office to send.  I can’t wait.