I started the day by going to several really bad garage sales…I’m talking horrible.  We didn’t find one thing worth buying, and that’s saying a lot since my girlfriend buys clothes/shoes for all of her children and grandchildren.  It was just pathetic.

Rich was golfing today, so I spent the day with the dogs.  I decided to work on the pumpkin and of course Honey chose that time to sneak into another room, find a bunch of papers and rip them to shreds without me knowing about it.  I’m not sure how a dog can be so sly, but she’s like a ninja when she wants to get into trouble.  As for the other two, they act as lookout for her, and stall me so I don’t see her in the act.  Sneaky dogs.

I’m not sure if I’ll ever get that pumpkin finished, because every time I do something to it, I have to do something else to fix what I just did.  I really thought it would be simple, and it probably would have been, if I had just been patient.   But we all know patience isn’t my strong suit, so I basically glued it to the paper pad I had it sitting on. Then once I tried to take it off, the napkins stuck to the paper pad, and well, you know the rest.  Maybe I’ll give it another try tomorrow, or maybe not.  It’s almost at that stage where I can’t decide if it’s redeemable or not.  We are close, that’s for sure.

I asked my friend Shelly to review the Tim Holtz Stamp Platform for me. Shelly did a terrific job of discussing the difference between the Tim Holtz stamp platform and the MISTI. Shelly’s review is from the perspective of someone with a physical limitation…I also asked my friend, Barbara Harrold, if she would do a review from the perspective of someone without a physical limitation, and she posted her video on her daughter Gracie’s YouTube page. You can find her video by going to this link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4P2D3JbpVs.
I really hope that my viewers answered any questions you might have about the Tim Holtz Stamp Platform.
I wanted to try one of the dies I bought from Aliexpress, as well as the peg stamp set my friend Linda gave me called Bunny Garden. I cut out the dies and then laid a piece of purple card stock behind the front of my card and closed the card and using a white pencil, drew the circles through the front of the card then laid the circle dies on the pencil marks and cut them out.. The purple piece is 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ (as is the card.) I cut a pink piece of card stock with the edge die (and not using the circle. I laid the purple piece behind the front and lined up the holes, then glued it in place and added the pink layer leaving about 1/4″ of purple paper showing. I used peg stamps to create a nice background for my card and then put my sentiment on a piece of the pink card stock from the Hero Arts set called Friends L351 and raised it on foam squares. I stamped with the peg stamps on the envelope so it matched the card.

To buy the Bunny Garden stamps, go to the following link: https://pegstamps.com/bunny-garden-peg-stamp-set.html

I’ve been working on the foam pumpkin that I’ve been covering with napkins.  I really made a horrible mess of it the first time, so decided to paint over it and start again.  I’m not sure if it will look any better this time, but if it doesn’t, it’s going in the trash.  (I think I say that a lot, do I?)

We’ve sold nine of the twenty boxes from the destashing, which is pretty good.  I wish it was more like fifteen, but I think I’m being overly optimistic.  I’m just glad that people are interested in them.

I had a viewer tell me that she was going to post the destash videos on StampNation, which gave me the idea to post it on SplitcoastStampers website.  My part didn’t go so well, as they kicked my post off, because it violates their solicitation policy.  They said even though the money is going to charity, it’s still a violation.  Darn…Oh well, I gave it a shot.

The poison ivy is making me a little bit crazy and I can’t imagine how nuts I would be if I had it all over.  I think I would lose my mind.  Then again, I haven’t taken Benadryl because it makes me tired, and I like to stay awake as much during the day as possible.

I finally sent my brother-in-law his fairy garden wreath.  My sister sent me a photo of the door that he hung it on….he was so happy with it, he attached it to the first door you see when you walk into their house.  I’m just really glad that he liked it.  I did add a lot more to it, including a pirate ship I made out of a wheelbarrow, a crow sitting on a pumpkin and a pirate flag (he likes pirates.)  All in all, it looked pretty good, but was still shedding like crazy when I mailed it.  It was shedding so much that I had to put it into a plastic zipped bag so it didn’t ruin the other things I sent them.  That mossy stuff is really hard to glue so that it doesn’t shed, and honestly, I’m not sure any amount of hot glue would have worked.

I’m not sure if I mentioned doing yard work last week, but now I have poison ivy.  Fifty-seven years old and never had it before now.  I’ve been so lucky, but I guess my luck has ended.  It’s only on my right wrist and forearm, and I hope it doesn’t spread anywhere else.  I’ve been putting a mixture of baking soda and water on it and that really helps the itching.  I don’t know how people stand it when they get it all over, I’d lose my mind.  Sorry for the big whine, but I just had to get it out..haha

I didn’t realize that Rich has more backlogged videos, and one of them is the one that gives the Tim Holtz Stamp Platform review.  I feel badly that it’s taken me so long to get that video up, as I completely forgot about it until I saw a comment from a viewer of mine that I asked to do a video review of the platform.  I had one viewer who has physical limitations do a review via email that I read on this video, and another viewer with no physical limitations do a video review.  I really wanted to cover all bases with this and didn’t really want to buy another stamp platform for myself.  I’m sure once they hit the big craft chains, that I’ll probably break down and buy one because I can’t stop myself when I have a good coupon, but until then, I’m holding out because I already have two stamp tools and who really needs three?  I really like the Stamp Perfect, because the lid is easier to press than the MISTI, but unfortunately, it’s no longer available.  Darn.  And the price for it was really terrific.  I’m glad a lot of my viewers bought them before they were no longer available.

I didn’t do anything crafty today as the weather was really drizzly, and if you know anything about arthritis, it’s worst enemy for weather is drizzle.  I slept really late and then convinced Rich we should just hang out and watch movies.  He’s an easy touch for that, so we spent a leisurely day inside.

I guess I’ll finish the cards I started tomorrow.

I saw the stair step card on Stamp TV and it looked like a fun card to make. I used Recollections 110 lb. Heavyweight cardstock in white cut to 5″ high by 10 1/2″ long. Score it on the 10 1/2″ length at 1 1/4″, 2 1/2″, 4 1/4″, 6″ and 8 1/4″. You will start your folds at the 2 1/2″ folding up, then the next score down, then the next score up, then the next score down. Use your bone folder or a ruler to make sure each fold is really well bent. You should get an envelope that fits a 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ card and put it under your card as you build it. That ensures that you will be able to fit the card into the envelope when you are finished. I used several Stampin’ Up floral punches and matching Stampin’ Up stamp sets called Petite Petals, Mixed Bunch, Three for You and Petite Pairs. I used Simon Says Stamp Black ink to stamp my sentiment on the bottom right corner from a Stampin’ Up set called Too Kind. The colors I used were Stampin’ Up dye inks in Rose Red Cranberry Crisp, Purely Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink and Sweet Sugar Plum. I used a Martha Stewart leaf punch that I used on two different colors of green. I also had a Stampin’ Up punch that matched a stamp set called Friends and Flowers that I used for a variety of leaves. I used Always Artichoke Stampin’ Up ink for the leaves and then used my Touch 5 markers to colors the Martha Stewart leaves to make them look more like the rest of the flowers. I added brads to the centers of the flowers for a little more bling. Sorry that some of the card was out of frame so you didn’t get to see all of it being built, but I was hoping that if you saw the first row built, you’d get the general idea. Make sure you only put glue on the bottom half of your flowers as you don’t want the backs to stick to the rest of the card once it is folded closed. I thought this was a really fun card to make and hope you’ll give it a try. Please check out my destashing videos, as 100% will go toward peoples affected by the floods and hurricanes. October 28th is the day that we will put up the video where people’s affected by the floods/hurricanes will be able to list the tools that they lost and viewers will send the tools that they have to those people affected. I hope you’ll join me in “Making a Difference.”

I’d like to go on a little rant for a moment.  First let me say I absolutely love my viewers, as I wouldn’t have any idea that this problem exists otherwise.  Now on to the rant.  In the last week, I’ve had three different YouTubers steal my videos and upload them as their own.  I don’t understand why anyone would think that my hands aren’t recognizable as mine, so why steal my videos?  You’d think that they would be smart enough to steal the videos of someone with absolutely perfect hands, but then again, maybe brains don’t really play into it.  Then again, maybe they do.  Maybe the reason they steal my videos is that I don’t have any advertisements, so they know I don’t make any money from them.  Maybe there’s a way that they can.  I’m not sure but I’m hoping that someone on YouTube will eventually figure out that I am a target of these people and figure out why.  On the other hand, YouTube probably has so many of these kinds of people out there, that they have their hands full just trying to get rid of them.  I’m not even sure if they do get rid of them, or just give them a warning, but I am getting so frustrated by this, I can’t even tell you…..

Ok, I’m over the rant.

Today, I made a couple of videos and I hope they both turn out ok.  I covered a foam pumpkin with napkins and used the leaves that my friend Elizabeth gave me and made a card out of them.  I think the card is fair, but wish it was a little bit more frisky.  I’m thinking I am going to make a video on marbling tomorrow and then use the backgrounds I create on cards going forward.  I’m hoping that Rich puts up a video later tonight and I’ll upload it tomorrow in the morning.

It’s been one of those days where I haven’t accomplished very much.  We did sell seven out of the twenty units we have for sale for the fund raiser.  I’m hoping we’ll sell a lot more in the next few days, but it looks kind of iffy.  I’m hoping that it won’t be a one day of activity and then nothing, kind of thing, but I guess I’ll wait and see.

I really had big plans for activities today, but ended up spending a lot of time making a big supper for Rich, and that’s about all.  Some days I just don’t have a ton of ambition.  I wonder if other people have days like this?  Probably so.

I did write several cards I’d been meaning to get into the mail, so tomorrow I’m making a trip to the post office and hopefully will be making a couple of videos.  Rich does have three ready to edit and upload, so I guess I’ll start bothering him about it tomorrow…So maybe we’ll have a video go up tomorrow as well.

I really tried to do a good job of grouping things together for the destash videos and hope that people will be interested in buying them.  It was so nice of Rebecca Walton to donate so much merchandise from Rubber Stamp Tapestry, and Yvonne, a viewer, who donated a lot of dies.  I’m really lucky to have found such wonderful generous people to partner with on this project.

You never know how things like this will go though, so I’ll just hope for the best.  I decided I had a lot of cards I needed to make for friends, and today was the day.  I have a friend whose daughter has been ill and is a big baseball fan.  I made her a baseball themed card and I think it turned out pretty frisky, if I do say so myself.  Then I did a huge haul video that took a really long time to make.  I don’t know if people enjoy long hauls, so if they don’t, I’m pretty sure they’re not going to be thrilled with this one.  I need to make one more card and I think I’ll be caught up with the things I needed to do for the day.  Some days are like this where I just have so many ideas and need to get them put into motion.   On the other hand, I’m exhausted from all of the things I’ve already done today, so might put it off until tomorrow.  (That’s still my motto for my craft room.  I just keep putting it off until tomorrow thinking I’ll actually do something about it.)  It doesn’t seem like I’m ever going to get serious about it, but maybe tomorrow, haha.

I spent most of the afternoon working on my big destash video, then Rich spent the rest of the afternoon and all evening, trying to upload the video.  It was so long that it turned into two videos, and he’s having a difficult time getting YouTube to upload it, so it’s still not up.  Sometimes these things happen when you do videos, but unfortunately, I had promised that the video would go live today, and I’m so sorry to break that promise.  I’ll make sure it goes up tomorrow and hopefully, early in the day.  Sometimes I am at the mercy of the YouTube system, so it will go live when it goes live.  Darn it.

I did end up with twenty packages of goodies to sell and I think people will have a great selection of items and prices, so if they are looking to spend a little bit of money, they can, and if they are looking to spend more, there’s a goodie bag for that as well.

I’ll jump on the video first thing after I get out of bed in the morning.  Again, I’m sorry that the videos aren’t live.