Today I was really going to do some serious crafting…I wanted to make a Halloween treat bag using a brown paper bag and covering it with a napkin and then decorating it.  Everything started out fine, then I tried to cover the second side of the bag and accidentally taped the napkin to it, by virtue of the fan that was blowing overhead. The napking definitely wasn’t where I wanted it, and when I tried to take it back off, I destroyed the napkin (hard to believe, I know)  So I took that napkin off and put more tape runner on, and that’s when the first mini tape runner was destroyed.  It was sticking to the brown paper bag so much, that it was advancing far beyond what it should have, then snapped.  I thought it was a fluke…no, number two small tape runner when in the same fashion (both from different companies.)  I went to number three and by now you probably have figured out what happened.  I felt so foolish and don’t really know exactly what i was doing wrong to ruin three tape runners in a matter of maybe two minutes.   It was so frustrating, but I decided I needed to power through…So I laid the napkin, well, what was left of it, on side two, and pieced it together.  I needed to trim the edges off and ended up cutting the seam of the bag as well.  In comes washi tape to save the day.  I tried to make it sound like I was decorating the inside folds of the bag, but honestly, it was the only way for the bag to hold anything, as half of the seam was cut.  Another foolish mistake.  I added embellishments and they ripped the napkin, so more washi tape.  In the end, the bags look fairly decent, but I’m almost embarrassed to put up a video showing how to do it, because it looks like I’ve lost my mind.  And maybe I have…It was so crazy.  I have Halloween things all over the floor of my craft room..Rich walked in and asked if it was garbage or something I was keeping.  I almost said “garbage” so he wouldn’t think I’m that big of a slob.   My craft room normally looks pretty bad, but it’s a total mess right now, and there’s no end in sight…Crap.

I decided to sleep in today and had a lunch date with two old friends.  We had a really nice time and I ate way too much.  I definitely need to finish the video of the waterfall card, album, today, or it’s going to be forever before I put another video up.  I have some Halloween ideas I’d like to put on video, but keep forgetting to make the cards.  I’m really off of my game and I think it’s from the non-stop itching.  I’m not sure about the rest of you, but I can’t stand it when something is itchy.  This poison ivy has been lingering, probably because I don’t have much of an immune system, and I’ve had it with it.  I’d really like to wake up one day, look down at my arm, and be happy that it’s gone.  So far I’m wondering in what century that will occur.  I’m thinking I might have this stuff forever.  And that’s a long long time.

I’m going to force myself to finish the album so I can get it photographed and mail the Halloween one that I made.  I had promised to get it in the mail on Monday, so today is the day to finish that stupid thing.  It’s frustrating that it’s been sitting on my desk, half finished, for several days.  I’m going to go finish it right now.  Or maybe later.  Definitely today though.

Holy cow, I missed a day of blogging.  Sometimes I swear that I did write something, only to discover that I didn’t…Where does the time go?

I went to some garage sales today and found a huge cutting mat that I think the woman used with material.  It was only $1, so I bought it, but it’s not in the best shape.   I think I’ll use it off camera anyway, so no need for beauty.  That’s what I say when I’m making videos in my pajamas too…No one sees me, so they don’t know I’m making this in my snuggly pjs, you should assume I’m wearing a ballgown and tiara when I make my videos.  It’s a secret that we won’t share.

The poison ivy is still on my wrist and I’ve been holding off making new videos because I didn’t really want anyone to see it because it looks like I was attacked by something.  It’s really unattractive and no matter what I do, it always seems to show up on camera.  So I finally went to the doctor this morning and she said it looked like a spider bite.  I’m not sure what spiders have venom that acts like poison ivy and spreads to other places, but she finally gave up on that idea when she looked at the rest of my forearm.  She decided to prescribe a topical rub and told me not to over use it as my skin would break down.  So I put some on, and it didn’t seem to do anything for the itch, so rubbed a little more in, and about thirty minutes later, got really dizzy and nauseous  I felt horrible, because I was on my way out to lunch with a girlfriend, so I had to tell her I didn’t think I would be eating much because I was feeling nauseous.  I didn’t tell her about being dizzy, as I didn’t want her to worry, and after drinking a lot of water at lunch, I started to feel better.  When I got home, I told Rich about it, washed my forearm so the medicine would be gone, and decided to take a nap (as naps cure anything.)   Rich came into the bedroom with the information from the topical rub and read in the section that says, “Warning: In the unlikely event that you experience these side effects, contact your doctor immediately” and then said something about dying.   Naturally, dead center in this section it says dizziness and nausea, blah, blah, blah, contact your doctor immediately, if you have these symptoms.  It’s 2:30 on a Friday, and my doctor is gone for the day.  I called my brother in law who is a physician, and he told me to clean it really well and drink a lot of water.  Who would ever think that something you rub on your skin would cause this type of reaction.  I swear that I am cursed, because you can list a million side effects and I’ll get the second to last from the bottom of the page.  The one that only one person in a million seems to get, that’s me.  I never read those pamphlets either, because doctors think I get these side effects because I read the pamphlet.  So apparently I can conjure up a side effect, just by reading about it.  In my case, ignorance is bliss.  Since I never know what to expect, it’s always a big surprise when something goes wrong…Then when the doctor accuses me of bringing it on myself, I can honestly tell them that I had no idea, because I don’t.  Is that a good thing or a bad thing?  I’m not sure, but at least the surprise is better than being accused of manufacturing the symptom…that always bugs me.  And you know I hate to be bugged.

I was sent some really nice gifts and wanted to share them with you. I did buy a bunch of stamps from Rubber Stamp Tapestry, pegstamps.com. My Aliexpress purchases were: You’ll be amazed, that I finally figured out how to shorten the links to Aliexpress…no need for applause…. Note: You should always price check for a cheaper item as prices are always changing and the one I bought might not be the least expensive at this time. Double ended molding tools: http://tinyurl.com/Moldingtools $2.88 Sea Shell dies http://tinyurl.com/y9mxqo7n $1.35 I bought these for less, but this is the price this site sells them for now. Candles Dies: http://tinyurl.com/candledies $1.72 4 word dies: http://tinyurl.com/4worddies $1.87, I paid $1.79, but the price has gone up from the site I bought it from. Tool set: http://tinyurl.com/tooldies $1.35 Happy Birthday sentiment: http://tinyurl.com/happybdaydie 79 cents, not sure if they still have this in stock. two flower dies: http://tinyurl.com/rosedies $1.78 deer ornament: http://tinyurl.com/deerornament $2.85, the price has dropped from $2.93 that I paid for it. You stamps: http://tinyurl.com/yd8qz4dt $2.16 With Love die: http://tinyurl.com/withlovedie 74 cents Holly Leaf: http://tinyurl.com/y75nv7v7 $1.79 Long Christmas Die: http://tinyurl.com/xmaslongdie $1.29 it went up from the $1.25 that I paid. Flag Dies: http://tinyurl.com/flagdies $2.47 Spider and web dies: http://tinyurl.com/spiderandwebdies $1.94 bat dies: http://tinyurl.com/batdies 91 cents Happy Halloween die: http://tinyurl.com/halloweendie 74 cents…I did have trouble as the e’s don’t punch out the insides…just so you know. Grim reaper die: http://tinyurl.com/grimreaperdie 94 cents web frame die: http://tinyurl.com/webframedie $1.67 was $1.49 when I bought it Queen anne’s lace die: http://tinyurl.com/queenannedie $1.69 was $1.67 when I bought it Alphabet dies: http://tinyurl.com/alphabetdies $1.87 Halloween people: http://tinyurl.com/halloweenpeople $2.98 quilt die: http://tinyurl.com/quiltdie $3.81 diamond die: no longer sold where I bought it, sorry. four leaf die: http://tinyurl.com/fourleafdie $2.43 ivy leaf die: http://tinyurl.com/ivyleafbkgrnd $2.52 up from $2.38 that I paid for it. daisy dies: http://tinyurl.com/daisydies $3.36 up from $3.32 that I paid. wreath die: http://tinyurl.com/wreathdie $1.49 flower and leaf dies: http://tinyurl.com/flowerleafdies $1.49 tag stamps and die: http://tinyurl.com/tagstamps-die $2.98 for one stamp set and $4.58 for stamps and dies. alphabet stamps: http://tinyurl.com/alphabetstamps $2.98 happy birthday raised die: http://tinyurl.com/haopybdaydie $3.15 Haunted house: http://tinyurl.com/hauntedhousedie $2.37 brads: http://tinyurl.com/y79497qh $1.60 each set screw brads: http://tinyurl.com/screwbrads $4.60 price has gone down from $5.02 I paid for them Happy anniversary die: http://tinyurl.com/y9z4x9of 99 cents up from 97 cents I paid for it. pumpkin die: http://tinyurl.com/pumpkindie $1.06

I really wanted to perfect the waterfall card, so I spent most of the day working on a Christmas version.  I decided to make two videos instead of one, because it took a while to show the Halloween version, plus making the actual card.  Decorating became a second video, as I wanted to make sure that I took my time and really did a nice job of decorating, since it’s going to be a gift for one of my girlfriends.  I like to make her an album for Christmas, as she has a younger daughter, and loves handmade gifts.  We always try to make each other something handmade for the holidays.  She’s really handy, and made me an afghan one year, and last year, made me all kinds of different holders for my crafty goodies.  I was going to show them on video, but the year has quickly passed me by, and I forgot.  That’s how things go with me sometime.

I thought I would update you on my poison ivy…It’s still there.  How long does this stuff last?  And it’s spreading…A week plus, into it, and it’s still giving me nightmares.  I can’t believe it.  Holy cow, how long will this go on?  Geez!  I’d like to whine a little bit longer, but that’s not really my style, or is it?

Ok, maybe it is.  I finally made an appointment for my doctor to look at it, and to tell me just to grin and bear it.  That’s Friday, so I’ll let you know if I was right or not.  So to end my day of whining, I had to go to the dentist for a regular check up.  If you know anything about me, it’s that I absolutely hate the dentist.  It’s a really good thing that I’ve got good teeth, otherwise, I’d be thinking of ways to kill him in my spare time.  Yes, I’m that kind of patient.  Horrible, that’s me.  No cavities, so he’s still walking around, but it was my first time with him, and he got off on a bad foot.  Had to tell the hygenist to keep an eye on one of my molars, as I have a big filling and he wants to make sure he digs at it enough to make it a little bit loose.  Ok, that’s in my head, but I hate it when they want to “pay attention” to anything in my mouth, as I know that’s just a prediction of things to come.  Why don’t they just wait until I leave before making their grim prediction?  I’m just saying….

I’ll say this for me, I’m not a quitter.  I gave the waterfall card another try, and of course, I did it wrong again.  This time I flipped the tab over the wrong direction, so my waterfall wouldn’t fall.  Happily, it wasn’t a total makeover, I just flipped the tab over the correct way, and re-papered it.  I’m really happy with the end result, and although I didn’t video this one, I’ll make sure to show it when I do the video with a Christmas themed card.  I’m really not sure what else I did wrong, as none of the sizes that MayMay gave for the paper to cover each of the pieces that flip were correct.  Mine were a lot smaller, which tells me that I might have done something else wrong.  Oh well, it works and looks good, and I don’t feel too badly that all I had to do today was re-cut paper….not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.

I used Graphic 45 paper that was discontinued called Rare Oddities, that had really great colors.  My favorites for Halloween, with a lot of purples and greens and only minimal oranges.  I didn’t use any of MayMay’s ideas for putting the word  “pull” or “place photo here” on my card, as I thought it was self explanatory.   I added a really fun little tag that said “31” on it, and used eyelets so it wouldn’t rip the paper when you pull it.  I put an eyelet on the “31” that was cardboard, just so it would be consistent with the card.  It took me all afternoon to finish the card, but it’s really more of an album, and I hope my friend really likes it.  She always has a Halloween party at her house, and now she’ll be able to add photos to the card after the party.  It will make a nice little keepsake from this year’s party.  I’m crossing my fingers that she’s happy with it.

I spent a lot of today looking for the next great fun fold card.  A friend of mine, Sherry, sent me a photo of the latest one she had tried, and I have to make it in the next couple of weeks.  It’s a card that has a tea light inside, so it looks like there’s a flame in the fireplace or a light on in the window.  Both were adorable, but I didn’t have any tea lights yet, so didn’t want to make it until I did.   I thought I’d make a waterfall card that MayMay had just made.  I thought it looked relatively easy, when watching the video, and took notes, so I’d know how to do it.  I made it once, well the card base and mechanism, and realized my mechanism was too long to fit inside the card, so obviously I was doing something wrong.   I went back to the video and saw that  I had glued the photo pieces to the wrong length of the mechanism and went back to the drawing board.  Made the mechanism a second time, confident that I knew what was wrong, and had the same problem again.  I decided it was better to stop while I was ahead and make the mechanism tomorrow.  I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me that I was gluing the pieces in exactly the same way I had the first time (only on the opposite end of the card stock), so how did I expect to get a different result?  Just because I glued them to the opposite end didn’t make the end result any shorter.  It’s a mystery.  Back to the video.

In the meantime, I went to the Dollar Tree and bought my tealights so if the waterfall never works, I’ll have a backup plan.  My Dollar Tree excursion was to buy more hydro-cordisone (ok, I’m not sure how to spell it and it’s not in the spell check for my computer, so I apologize for the spelling), cream for the poison ivy on my wrist.  I’m sure I must have mentioned it in another blog post.

I can’t believe how much this itches.  I have friends that had poison ivy all over their legs and arms.  I think I would have gone insane.  I haven’t really slept in at least four days, as the itching wakes me up.  I’ve used a lot of different products, none have been effective long term, except ice.  I lived with an ice pack on my wrist for at least three days, but in my sleep, the ice melts and I wake up.  I’m too lazy to get more ice, so I have two other remedies on my night stand, one being the hydro-cordisone that works, but only very short term.  I keep a paste I made of water and baking soda, and that works great.  The only problem is that it wipes off and it looks like there’s snow beside the bed on the floor from me getting up a hundred times a night…Ok, probably more like five or six times, but every time I get up, I’m shedding baking soda paste.  It’s really pretty.  No, it’s kind of gross, but it helps me sleep and that’s all that matters.  I tried putting a band-aid on it to cover it and keep the paste on, but that makes it really warm and super itchy.

I was telling Rich yesterday that I didn’t understand why it was still so red and irritated because I know I’m not itching it, but I wasn’t sure if I itched it in my sleep.  Last night I really thought about it, and yes, I’m a night itcher.  Call me crazy, but boy that feels good.  At least now we know.  TMI?  Probably so.

The day started out sunny and 70 degrees and by 4PM, it was down to 50, raining and very windy.  I had the window open in the room that the dogs and I were hanging in, (Ok, napping), and Honey was terrified by the blowing curtain.  She’s afraid of so many things and it’s so sad that after almost two years with her, we haven’t been able to calm her fears.  We’ve tried all kinds of things, including a collar that has a pheromone that mother dogs secrete that is supposed to calm the dog that wears it.  Apparently, Honey had to fight her mother for food, because she went crazy when we put it on her.  Needless to say, it lasted less than a minute and had us more frustrated than before.  We bought Honey from a farm that we didn’t realize was a puppy mill, but was.  She had never heard a man’s voice, as Rich scared her silly for the first couple of weeks.  She’d had to fight every other dog for food, so ate like she was never going to see another meal, had mites from cats being in her box, had a parasite that took literally months to get rid of, fleas, it was sad and horrible.  Sadly, we couldn’t find anyone who cared about the state of her breeders and when I called the breeder to complain, they acted like this was all new to them.  It’s sad that in this day and age, we still have such cruel breeding practices for animals.  One breeder told me that it was partially our fault for buying Honey, but if we hadn’t and had left her there, she would have been bred to death.  i know you should buy dogs from puppy mills, but the puppies are already here, and saving them from that life seems like the right thing to do.  Unfortunately, it also perpetuates the problem.  The more puppies we buy, the more they breed them.   We’ve really worked hard with Honey, but she still eats like she won’t get another meal (even though we bought a special dish that slows down her eating), and she’s never had to fight another dog for food.  It took us a year to train her to go outside to pee and still she’s afraid.  Sounds are especially frightening to her.

I know I should be writing about things other than Honey, but some days are sadder for us than others and today with the wind, she jumped on top of me and shook.  I just resent it, that people can and do profit from treating animals cruelly.  My hope is that someday Honey will hear thunder and not hide, or see the wind blow something and not jump on my lap.  I’m not sure what it will take, but I really hope it’s in our future.

I wanted to make a baseball inspired card and found some clipart from Clipart Panda at the following link. http://www.clipartpanda.com/categories/crossed-baseball-bat-clipart
I found the big baseball and loaded Georgia Pacific 110 lb card stock into my computer printer and printed the baseball, the bat, and the uniforms. I colored the bat with my Touch 5 alcohol markers.
I put the big baseball into my score board upside down and scored it at about 4 1/2″ across the top so I could fold it over onto a 5 x7″ card base. I stamped the sentiment on the baseball from a set from Inspired by Stamping called Wishing you. I used Versafine Onyx Black ink and then used clear embossing powder and heat set the sentiment. I used tear tape on the back of the baseball, especially around the edges and adhered it to the card, lining up the score line with the score line on the card. Added tear tape to the back of the baseball bat as well and added wet glue to it as well as foam tape on the top of the bat. I buy my foam pieces at the Dollar Tree in the automotive department and I really like them. I cut out the baseball uniforms and added foam tape to the top of the uniform to make it look dimensional. I added a big baseball on the inside of the card as well as a Pirates symbol. I used gold foil on the inside of the card and added washi tape over the top and bottom of the gold foil. Rounded the corners with a Creative Memories corner rounder. Added washi tape and a baseball to the envelope.

We spent the day visiting with old friends and seeing their Newfoundlands for the first time.  Such sweet gentle giants, those dogs….Came home and got a big smell down by Bella, who decided maybe we shouldn’t spend so much time with other dogs.  I walked the entire length of our house with Bella’s nose glued to my pant leg.  Obviously she knew I’d been unfaithful to my girls. haha.

It was a nice day and we really enjoyed hanging with our friends.
On a crafty note, the pumpkin is starting to look better.  I’m beginning to think I might just keep it after all.  I wish I had a better idea than the one I used, but I guess it’s not horrible.  I have a couple more things I’m going to do to it and then I’ll call it done.  The stem is a challenge as I don’t know if I should do something normal, like paint it, or go wild and do something crazy, like glitter it.  I’m thinking ahead to how I would get the glitter on the stem and not cover the rest of the pumpkin with glitter residue, and think I’ll probably just paint it.  Why risk the entire project over something crazy, right?

I haven’t really gotten started on my Halloween videos and I feel pretty terrible about it as I really love making Halloween inspired cards.  Tomorrow I’m going to get serious about them and make a bunch.  I have some dies I’d like to try and Rich is having dinner with one of his college roommates, so I think that will give me the time to get serious about them.  I’d really like to make a mini album for a friend who also loves Halloween.  Last year I bought some Graphic 45 paper intended for that purpose, but just haven’t felt like making it.  Maybe tomorrow’s the day for that as well.  I’ll have to think about it.  I did buy some really fun embellishments from Aliexpress that hopefully will come in the next couple of days…I think they’d be perfect for the album.  I guess I could always put them on after I’m done with it.  I think tomorrow could be the day for the album as well.