I wanted to show how to make a watercolor card with Crayola watercolors, but the card went completely awry.

Before I started, I made stamp cleaner with 1 part baby shampoo to 10 parts distilled water. You can also use Dawn dishwashing detergent, but I would use less. I found my pump bottle on Aliexpress, but was told you can also find it at the Dollar Tree in the nail department. Pour your baby shampoo into the bottle and add the water and swirl. It works well with a bib or old t-shirt.
The stamp is from Stampabilities and is called Sunny Side Up. I started with Crayola watercolors, and tried them first, then went on to my Koi watercolors. I use Royal and Langnickel brushes #5 that I bought at A C Moore.
I wanted to take a minute to talk about my plans for hurricane relief. Rebecca Walton, one of the owners of Rubber Stamp Tapestry has donated a lot of products for our destash video. 100% of the proceeds will go to hurricane relief. That video will go live in the next couple of days. On October 28th, I’ll have a video that people can submit a comment of the things they would like replaced and viewers will comment on the items that they want to donate. Lindsay the FrugalCrafter, came up with the concept and Rebecca and I are running with it. We are trying to help as many people as possible (including people in Puerto Rico), and are asking that only people affected by the hurricanes/floods ask for donated items. We are excited about helping and hope our viewers and the customers of Rubber Stamp Tapestry will join us in our effort to Make a Difference on Make a Difference Day October 28th….

Now, back to the card. I added some Marco Renoir colored pencils 48 count, trying to add more yellow to the flower and lighten it somewhat. Then I used Gamsol to blend the colored pencils…I decided maybe I should add some white, so used my white gel pen on it…In the meantime, I used an AliExpress die to cut out the image.
I put the image on an 8 1/2″ by 5 1/2″ gold card stock folded on to 4 1/4″. And because I wasn’t thrilled with the card, I added tear tape to the back and adhered it to the gold cardstock. Then decided maybe Stickles would improve the sunflower, so I started with yellow Stickles, then added Brown to the edges and green to the stem of the flower. The sentiment came from an old stamp that I used Simon Says Stamp Intense Black ink on and then decided I needed to redo it with gold embossing powder and used a Stampin’ Up ticket punch and added some gold Stickles to the bottom and top of the punched hello.
I stamped the back with “I made this for you.” and Greeting from Kansas, a new set from Rubber Stamp Tapestry…really beautiful sunflowers that I stamped with Hello Honey ink from Stampin’ Up. You can find their newest stamps at https://pegstamps.com/newest-stamps/

The weather is changing…How can I tell?  I slept until noon…That’s normally an indicator of a big shift in the weather…It makes me feel like I can’t accomplish anything, because I’m completely exhausted, and that’s why it’s so important that I do make videos while the sun shines…I think that’s an old farm saying, “make hay while the sun shines.”  I’m using it in this instance in basically the same context.  When I’m feeling good, I try to accomplish as much as possible, because I know that there will be days like this that I don’t.

I went through the big box of goodies that the good people at Rubber Stamp Tapestry sent for our fund raiser, and they sent some really fun kits.  They’ll be especially great for new crafters, as she’s included basically everything you would need to make a card.  I can’t believe their generosity and just general goodness, and have been really lucky to have them behind my channel, always supporting and routing me on.

I’m not sure if I talked about this on the blog or not, so if this is repetitive, I’m sorry.  I was asked if our Make a Difference Day will include Puerto Rico.  I wasn’t aware that it costs the same to mail a flat rate package to Puerto Rico as it does the contiguous US…The only drawback is that currently, it doesn’t look like they are accepting mail..Maybe by October 28th that will have changed, and I hope that it does, as it will be terrific if we can send crafty goodies there as well as the East Coast and Texas.

Tomorrow I’ll be working on pricing things for the destash video and making groupings of supplies.  I’ve never done anything like this before, so will have to watch some other destash videos to see how others have done it.  I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

 

I spent the day shopping with a girlfriend and while out, got a call from Rich.  Apparently a couple of different YouTubers are using my videos and calling them their own.  It’s so frustrating that someone would want to steal my videos, but luckily, I have great viewers who alerted me to it so I could contact YouTube and have the videos removed from those sites.  I guess if I was going to steal a video, I’d steal it from someone who has what I would call “regular” hands.  Since primarily you don’t see my face, my hands are my signature.  It makes me laugh that someone would choose my videos because if there’s one person who can prove that this is their video and their hands, it’s me.  I have to wonder what these people are thinking when they steal my videos.  Obviously they will be found to be the frauds and what a waste of my time and energy, having to track them down and sent reports to YouTube.  Luckily the process isn’t overly cumbersome, so it didn’t take hours to do.  Of course I found a YouTube video that told me how to report that my videos were stolen…you can find just about everything on YouTube, and I would be lost without it.

I got home to find a big box of goodies from Rubber Stamp Tapestry, to use in our destashing video.  I was so excited, because Rebecca made really nice, organized sets of merchandise, and I think anyone who would like to try peg stamps, will really like these sets.  Now all I have to do is organize the many things I need to sell, and decide the best way to organize  and price them.  I’ve watched destashing videos, but have never done one, so am not really sure how to price things.  I have a friend who has made these videos, so I’m going to email her tonight and get her advice.  I’d really like to make enough money to buy several gift cards, at least that’s the plan.  Let’s cross our fingers that this will work…

I discovered something else today.  I wasn’t aware that you can send flat rate packages to Puerto Rico for the same price as within the continental US.  I was really excited to hear that, as I’ve had requests for Puerto Rico to be included in our Make a Difference Day.  This should make it simple for people to help there as well as within the fifty contiguous states…The only problem now, is that currently the mail is not being delivered to Puerto Rico, at least that’s what the Walmart.com store said.  I’m hoping by the 28th, that it will be running again.  Let’s cross our fingers for that as well.

I just made it to get the peg stamp video uploaded on October 3rd, as it’s now past midnight and I just got done with it.  Sometimes I make a video that is so scattered, that it takes Rich all afternoon and evening to upload it.  I feel really bad when that happens, but unfortunately, there’s not a lot I can do to prevent it.  I’m just not very organized sometimes, and that makes a lot more work for Rich.

I was feeling like I should do something crafty today while Rich was busy uploading my video, and saw a video on Stamp TV of a stair step card. I’ve seen other stair steps, but this one was really simple. Ok, simple is really kind of an understatement, because there is a lot of stamping and punching involved in making this card.  I stamped, punched then trimmed a lot of floral images.  Once I was done, I decided my flowers needed something more, so had to dig through my brad stash, and found a bunch of nice brads for the floral centers.  In retrospect, I have those small stamen that I could have used, but of course that didn’t occur to me at the time.  Darn it.

The card took a really long time to make, but shouldn’t be a very long video for Rich to upload, at least I hope it’s not.  Tomorrow, I’m spending the day shopping with one of my close friends.  She’s still in banking, so I don’t get to see her very often and really look forward to our time together.  It should be a really nice day….Don’t worry, Rich will be hard at work, uploading another video.  (His work is never done.)  Oh, and by tomorrow night, he’ll be checking out the elf names, so if you haven’t submitted an idea for the elf, please make sure you do so…

Rubber Stamp Tapestry, the Peg Stamps folks, sent me their six new stamp sets plus a turkey stamp. The sets are Autumn Glory, Greetings from Kansas, Autumn Elegance, Itty Bitty Pun’kin Patch, Cactus Terrarium and Build a Prickly Pear Cactus. Here is the link to them. http://pegstamps.com/
I used the Cactus Terrarium and Build a Prickly Pear Cactus stamp sets.
An update for helping people affected by the floods and hurricanes….The Peg Stamp people, Rebecca and Donny Walton, have donated a lot of their products for us to do a destash video as a fund raiser where 100% of the proceeds go to buying gift cards for crafty items for those affected by the hurricane/floods.
The actual event will be October 28th, when we will be doing a video so that people can list the things that they are looking to replace in the comments of that video. Please don’t submit your name and address on any videos, as we are only going to be conversing through email after the video on October 28th.
To make the flip fold card with the AliExpress die, you will take a 5 1/2″ tall by 4 1/4″ wide closed card and you will place your die with the circle facing the opening of the card and the top and bottom of the die should be on the 2 1/8″ line on a ruler. Tape the die in place. Open the card before putting it through your die cutting machine, then run it through. I also used another Aliexpress die from a rectangle set of dies, where the center die says “Thanks” in the middle of the rectangle. I used the same off white Recollections heavyweight card stock for this sentiment and the card.
Cut a piece of matching cardstock to 4 1/8″ by 5 1/2″ and glue into the inside of your card. Fold back the front right side and decorate the front (that’s actually the folded inside.) I also cut out the circle that comes with the die set and stamped from the set Lots of Pots from Rubber Stamp Tapestry a pot, and then stamped and masked cacti from Cactus Terrarium inside the pot. I used Touch 5 alcohol markers to color this pot and cacti, and then used Old Paper ink from Distress Inks with a brush to color in the background. I sprayed it with water and dabbed it with a cloth.
I used the Build a Prickly Pear Cactus stamps to stamp the outside of my card (as well as under the flip piece) and stamped them with Brilliance Archival Pigment Brown ink to stamp the cacti.
I masked them and colored the them with Touch 5 markers and then used the Old Paper Distress ink and my brush to go around the edges of the card. I stamped a fern with Old Olive ink from Stampin Up.
I used the Thanks sentiment and rubbed it on my Old Paper ink and let it dry. Then ran it through the Xyron and attached it to the front of the card. I stamped a fern on the envelope that I also used on the card front.

I am going to be using the Elf on the Shelf in all of my Christmas videos, and wanted to name it. We thought it would be fun to have viewers choose the name. Our elf appears to be a boy. You have until midnight EST of October 5th, 2017, to submit a comment on this video with the name you think we should name our elf. Rich is going to be the one to determine the winner and the winner must be in the United States to receive their prize. The prize will be something crafty, (not the Elf on the Shelf.)

We made our Christmas wreaths out of existing wreaths and fluffed them and then used a combination of bells, metal balls, styrofoam berries, gold plastic wreaths, and pine cones to hot glue on our wreaths. We made large bows (with the help of our human bow jig, Linda. If you want to make a bow with a human bow jig, have them hold their arms out (the width you want your bow) and you’ll need a second person who will wrap a long length of thick wire trimmed ribbon around the other person’s outstretched arms, and you will cross the right length under the left then through the center of the arms then back over the top and tie it in the back. It’s exactly how you would make a bow with a wood jig, only on a larger scale.

I’m excited that we finally have the last of the old videos uploaded.  Sometimes you don’t realize how far behind you are getting, until you’re there.  I’m not sure why we haven’t been uploading as many videos as we used to, but I’m hoping the tide is turning.  I wanted to have a small contest for viewers around the Elf on the Shelf that I’ll be showing in all of my Christmas videos this year.  When I was crafting with Shelli and Linda, Shelli thought Rich should choose the name from those submitted, so we rolled with it.  Rich didn’t know about his new responsibility until after it was committed to video, and as usual, he was happy to help the channel.  I couldn’t ask for a better partner in this endeavor, as he’s exceptional with technology, and has done a tremendous job with editing and choosing music.  He’s a one-in-a-million kind of guy, and I’m lucky he’s my one-in-a-million guy.

After uploading that video, I think Rich thought he might get a breather, but then I told him I need another one to go live tomorrow and another one the day after, so his week is already committed.  I’m hoping that some of the videos aren’t exceptionally long, so it doesn’t take him too long to edit them.

I finished the flip card today, and figured out what I was doing wrong.  I didn’t realize that it needs to be flipped back on itself to be “closed” and that you pull on it to open it.  I guess it never occurred to me how the mechanism worked.  I know I sound kind of dingy, but I just never really looked at one before.  Of course the card I made had to be remade, as it was stamped on the wrong side, but these things happen, and often for the best.

I’m hoping that Rebecca from Rubber Stamp Tapestry likes this card, as I made it with her new stamp sets and discussed the upcoming destash video within the body of this one.  I feel bad that I’ve been using old videos because I’m not updating anyone on the project to make a difference for those who lost crafty things in the flood.

I got a little bit more organized today and then decided enough is enough.  I moved some things out of the way and started to make some cards/videos.  I’d gotten some really lovely gifts from viewers and wanted to share them with everyone.  I am so behind on discussing my plans for helping with the flood/hurricane victims, that people probably thought I’ve forgotten about it, so wanted to make sure I talked about that as well.  The first video is a card using the stamp set my friend Linda gave me.  I promised her that I would do a video using them, so I did.  I really liked it at first, but then it got a little bit over-the-top, and now I’m not sure if I like it or not.  I really thought my idea was sound, but sometimes, they just go awry.  I’m going to look at it again today, and hopefully I will like it better, but you never know.  Sometimes it takes a day away from a project, before I can look at it and decide if it is video worthy or not.

I also finished a card that I started a few days ago and wasn’t really sure about either.  I had to give myself a few days away from this one to find clarity.  It’s the House Mouse (note sure why I capitalized it, but I’m keeping it that way), and he’s laying in the center of a sunflower.  I watercolored it and didn’t really love it, so used Stickles on it, and so far, it’s much improved, but I always like to wait until it’s dry before giving it my final opinion.

Then I wanted to make a card using the new peg stamps that my friend Rebecca, from Rubber Stamp Tapestry sent me.  She sent me six of their new sets and I couldn’t wait to play with them.  There’s a set where you build your own cactus, and I wanted to do something fun with them.  I thought I’d use my Aliexpress dies and make a flip card.  Ok, here’s the funny part.  I’ve seen flip cards made, but really didn’t know how they flip.  So I used the die and made the card, but the flip action doesn’t seem right, so now I’m going to watch some flip card videos to determine what I did wrong.  My card flips, but it looks kind of odd when it does.  I might have put the die in upside down, or created the wrong type fold before using the die, whatever the reason, my card has a wonky flip.  I might need to remake the card, and I really don’t think I’ll be disappointed, because I had some issues using a darker green paper as my background.  I need to use a neutral tone, so that my cacti look the way I think they should.  It’s one of those things, that, until I get it right, I just can’t let it go.

I’ve spent most of the day labelling stamp sets so I know what category they fall into, and had to add a couple more…earth/stars/moon, people/clothes and shapes.  Who knew there would be so many?  I really wanted to ensure that I could easily find stamp sets by category, so if I needed to make a card that had an animal, I’d know to find them with a yellow sticker.  It’s definitely not foolproof, but at least I won’t be searching like a chicken with my head cut off, the next time I’m looking for a particular stamp set.  By now you’d think I would be finished, but no, it has taken me a lot longer than I thought it would.

I did take time out to go to a craft fair at our local senior center.  It was like a step back in time, as most of the crafts were either those plastic sheets that you stitch through, or Halloween wood painted objects with googly eyes…I think you get the idea.  I saw one vendor that sold greeting cards, as well as a local Stampin’ Up representative.  I’m not sure what she was doing there, as she wasn’t selling anything and didn’t approach anyone to suggest possibly having a party for her.

I did find the Scentsy representative and was glad that I did.  If you’re not familiar with them, it’s like the old Tupperware system, I think, where you attend a party and buy electric wax warmers and the wax scents that fill them.  I’ve seen the same woman twice, and both times it was at craft fairs, so I’m not sure if they even have parties any more.

I had gotten one of their electric warmers a few years ago, from a friend for my birthday.  I really liked it and used it often, until recently when the bulb burned out.  I have been trying to buy a new light bulb for it, but none seems to fit.  So when I saw the Scentsy representative, I thought I’d ask her about it.  The light bulbs that they use in their units are specific to their products, so no other light bulbs will fit.  I think that would have really bothered me if the bulb was more than $2, but for that price, I was on board.  I was a little bit surprised, though, that you can only purchase bulbs from a Scentsy distributor.  I learn something new every day.

I got the closet put together, now I just have to figure out what I’m going to put inside the closet.  I have a bunch of different storage units in there and have so much craziness in the room, that I don’t really know where to start.  I know I want to put most of my stamp sets there, as well as loose stamps, but am not sure about everything else.  I just started thinking about things like dies and wood stamps and then that’s when I just shut down.  I’m not sure where to go from here, but know tomorrow is another day and I’ll tackle it then.

I came up with a system for determining at a glance which stamp sets are what.  I made colored stickers and broke them out into categories….animal/birds, sentiments, flowers, household, trees/bushes/cactus, vintage, and holiday/graduation.  Then I’m going to make them alphabetical by stamp company within the color coding.  I really hope that it works for me and kind of wish I had done more, like masculine, celestial (for suns and stars)….but don’t have so many, that I think it would be worth the hassle, but tomorrow is another day.  I might change my mind and add them.  I really want to make one system and use it going forward.  I really hope this one works for me, but if it doesn’t, I’ll find something else that does.

I worked on about thirty stamp sets and color coded them…This could take longer than I thought.  I really want to get my room back in order, so that I can make some cards/videos.  I’m starting to get a little bit stir crazy, not being able to create anything.  I really need to get focused, so tomorrow I can do something beside move things from one spot to another.  I really hate it when I’m indecisive, and this organization process is really making me that way.  YIKES!