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.

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.