I got serious and made a haul video of AliExpress purchases plus some nice gifts people have sent me.  I really like making haul videos because it forces me to put the things I’ve purchased into the storage I’ve created for them.  It’s sometimes frustrating when I don’t have enough space for things, but I’m focusing on making sure I’m as organized as I can be with the limited space I have.

I think one of my biggest problems is paper storage.  I used to put scraps back into the hanging folder with the color it belongs to.  It never occurred to me that it would increase the width of the folders instead of decreasing it with the cards I make.  Unless I make a few cards out of the same color, my folders never seem to get any thinner.  Of course the fact that I continue to buy cardstock doesn’t help things either.  I’m getting more organized than I’ve been, but every time I organize myself, I lose track of things I use all of the time and that makes me crazy.  I’ll put things in a “safe” place, and the next thing you know, I’m digging through every crack and crevice in the craft room looking for it.

I hope tomorrow I’ll have time to make another video and have Rich upload one as well.  I like to stay at least three or four videos ahead of him so I don’t feel like I need to create something in a hurry.

I didn’t really feel like doing very much today as I had the carpet cleaning people here and had to keep the dogs out of their way and out of the house.  Two of the three dogs were losing their minds over the stranger danger.  I never have anyone in our backyard, so the dogs are safe there, and a ChemLawn man showed up and wanted to talk about changing our lawn service.  Isn’t that the way it goes?  You end up having your neurotic dogs in what they consider a safe place, and it’s no longer safe.  Rich had a doctor’s appointment (regular check up, nothing big), and so we were without the man of the house.  It wouldn’t have been bad if they had a safe place in the house, but didn’t.  Almost three hours later, we were good to go, but most of the carpets were wet, so only had one room they could hang in.

Luckily, it was our bedroom, so the dogs and I decided to take a long nap.  Yes, I know my life is extremely difficult.  Honestly, though, I was completely exhausted from the commotion and dog anxiety and needed a nap.

I did take the time to upload the die video and was glad to make sure I accomplished something.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll accomplish something else.  Maybe not.

I bought this die from AliExpress, thinking it would be fun, but didn’t realize just how many uses there were for it.

Here’s the link to the seller I bought it from, but you could probably find it cheaper if you looked.  $2.98
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Rectangle-Cutting-Dies-Scrapbooking-Metal-Cutting-and-Pressing-Dies-For-DIY-Decorations-Embossing-Art-Cake-Die/32813529559.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.qHzAM1

The first method is using the die with several colors of cardstock that all match.  I put the pieces that came out of the die cut into a pile and chose a base that was 8 1/2″ wide by 5 1/2″ tall.  Score the 8 1/2″ length at 4 1/4″.  The one color you can’t use is the color you chose for the front of your card.  I used wet glue and a jewel picker that I bought from Amazon to inlay my die cuts.  Here’s the link to the jewel picker:
https://www.amazon.com/Uchida-90G-C-Marvy-Jewel-Picker/dp/B0082A2CR4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1502212146&sr=8-3&keywords=jewel+picker

I used a basic wet glue that I put thin rows into the openings of the background after gluing it onto a card base.  You will go through your pile of different colored pieces and find the one that works for the row you are gluing and make sure your colors vary as you go.  You can create a pattern of colors or just use two and vary those.  Make sure you put enough glue on the ends to ensure that the pieces don’t come out.  Once you are finished, you can lay a book over them as long as no glue has seeped out and would stick to the book.  If that happened, you can use a piece of silicone mat under the book to ensure it doesn’t get glued to the book.
I added a die cut sentiment to the card to make a clean and simple card.

The second card, I layered the backgrounds on top of each other.  I chose three different colors of backgrounds and the card base was not the same as the other colors.  I lined the first two up so that I could put tape runner on the left edge of the first background and then laid the second background on it, but offset just enough that you can see that color.  Then using glue stick on the front of the next layer, I laid it under the others and off set it enough so you could see that color, but there was still a small amount of light showing through.  You will have to trim these pieces now so that you only see the top color when you lay it on your card base.  The card base size is the same as the one in the first card.  I die cut a sentiment and put it on this card to finish the second card.
The third card is a little trickier and doesn’t really look like the first two.  I used all of the same color background die cuts and glued them on top of each other with Multi Matte Medium..  I started with four.  I glued a piece of plastic backing you get from stamp sets to the back of the four to create a shaker card.  Then I took another background and stamped it with a rose background stamp using water based markers that I colored the stamp with.  Make sure you don’t use the tip of your marker directly on the stamp, use it more on an angle, so it doesn’t ruin the tip of your marker.  After stamping the design onto the paper, I used the markers to color in the design.  I used pink, lighter pink, green and darker green markers to color in the design.. Then glued a piece of acetate behind that background layer and laid small beads into the four layered pieces and then glued the top layer to it and glued the whole group onto a card base the same size as the other two cards.  I added a banner and used a sentiment from My Creative Times, This and That .  I put pink flowered washi tape on the envelope from A C Moore. .
I really think this die is versatile and could have found more uses for it if I had more time.

I really thought that I would accomplish a lot of clean up in the craft room today.  I’m pretty certain at this point that I am destined to live in squalor there forever.  I will find almost any and every excuse not to clean it.  Today’s excuse was looking for marbles.  I know you think I’m making this up, but I need ten marbles for a crafty project and I have them, just can’t remember where I put them.  So I started searching.  That lead to more disarray.  Then I thought about the new Aliexpress dies I had purchased and wanted to make sure I keep them separate from the other dies I have, so that distracted me.  I never found the marbles and am not sure if I have all of the dies separated, but both of those activities prevented me from getting any kind of organization done.  I know what you are thinking..  “She’ll do anything to avoid cleaning that room..”   Probably so.  On the other hand, I gave Rich at least four videos to upload, so at least I did something worthwhile.

Today we drove almost three hours to meet our niece and kids (not kids, one is eighteen and leaving for college in two weeks, and the other is sixteen.)  They live just outside Washington DC, so it was about halfway for both of us, not a bad drive at all.  We met in Somerset, PA. It’s only claim to fame is that one of the hijacked planes from 9/11 was crashed there by the passengers.  The town has a really nice memorial to the people on board, so we toured it while we were there.

Of course we all remember the story of that plane, but I never realized that there were only thirty-eight people on board, including the pilots.  Five of the thirty eight were terrorists.  I also never knew that the terrorists all flew first class.  I guess it makes sense, as they would be closest to the pilot, and it also explains why the people were able to make telephone calls, since they were on a huge airplane, with very few people on board.   The other passengers were spread out within the rest of the airplane and although it’s been almost sixteen years, you only have to see a photo, and it brings that day back in vivid memory.

We were glad we visited it, but were really ready to leave once the tour was over.  I was able to give our great niece her album and some other things I’d bought for her for college.  She was really impressed with her album, and was completely amazed that I had found hornets for her book.  I had so many hornets, that I gave her a small bag of extras to use however she wanted.  Her mom teaches first grade and she was excited to take the tie dyed tennis shoes that I had made, so it was a great day to rid myself of so much crafty goodness.

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s blog that I stayed up until almost 2AM finishing the album, and we left to meet them at 9AM, so I was completely exhausted on our trip home.  I remember Rich saying something to me and the next thing I knew, we’d driven fifty miles.  I am a riveting travel companion.  It’s been a long day and I am ready for bed.  It’s not even 9PM, I must be getting old.

I think you’ll get a small chuckle out of this, but I really had thought I was blogging every day, until I checked the dates, and hadn’t done a blog post in three days.  What was I doing?  I’m not really sure, definitely not blogging though.

Today was the last day to finish the album for our great niece.  I can’t even begin to tell you how badly things went…not so much with the album, but when I was going through my tiny brads and other little embellishments, I dropped the entire divided box…Oh yeah, that was some fun to clean.  I had brads everywhere and kept either stepping on them or rolling my chair over them while trying to get them back in their box.

We all know I’m a crafty hoarder, but this was an exceptional day for it.  I have four divided boxes with different small embellishments.  I was going through them looking for something blue or red to match the book, and you won’t believe what I found.  I had probably ten to fifteen gold colored metal hornets.  I have no idea where I got them, I know I never bought them, because, well why would I?  Our great niece’s college mascot is the hornet.  What are the odds that I would ever find a use for that many hornets?  Was that crazy or what?  It almost made dropping the entire divided box of embellishments worth it…Almost.

Tomorrow, we’re meeting our family and giving her the presents that I’ve made for her…I really hope she likes them.

I watched a video from Dawn O. from Stampin’ Up where she made an “easy” pinwheel card.  Here’s the link to it.

I had a really difficult time making this card and I think it was because I wasn’t mindful of the two times it is imperative that you flip your paper over.  Here’s how you make it.

You’ll need a piece of 8″ square double sided patterned paper and you will start with the pattern you want on the inside of your card (not as featured as the front side), face down to start.  You will make a little pencil mark on all four sides at 3″ and 5″ on each side.  Put something squishy under your surface (I have foam under my mat) and take a ruler and a scoring tool and line the ruler up with the 3″ mark on one side with the 3″ mark on the diagonal.  Then score it well.  Do the same with the 5″ mark and the diagonal 5″ mark on each of the four sides.  You’ll end up with a “V” in the center of each side and you will cut out those V’s.  Now, FLIP YOUR PAPER….Take your score board and put your paper in and score the first side at 1″, (but only the top section), then turn the paper one turn and score at 1″, then turn one turn and score at 1″ (always just the first section not the second.) and then do your last side.   You will have an indentation from your scoring tool on these 1″ marks and you will want to fold back on those indentations and then use your bone folder and go over them so you have clean folds. (Your paper should now have the inside paper facing down again.)  Now fold back on the scores left in the center of your card.  Use your bone folder and burnish all of your folds.   To close your card, start with the bottom flap and fold it up, and then in a clockwise direction, fold the flaps in.  (That means you will fold the bottom, then the left flap, then the top flap).  Your last flap you will make sure you tuck under the other flaps making sure you include the top flap.

I used Stem Silhouette’s, an old Stampin’ Up stamp set and Stampin’ Up Kiwi Kiss ink, and stamped on my white piece of paper that will be in the center of my card.  I also attached a flower embellishment that matched my papers.  I used three layers of cardstock in the center of my card.  The bottom layer  was 4 1/8″ square and the next was  3 7/8″ square and the white layer was 3 3/4″  (I mixed up these sizes when I discussed them in the video.  It won’t make a big difference if you follow the other measurements as they come out to look basically the same.)
I used a stamp set Friend to Friend by Stampin’ Up for the sentiment and used Memento Teal Zeal ink to stamp it.  I used it on the sentiment for the inside and the Happy Birthday for the white inside paper.  I used a scrap paper to stamp the rest of the image over the little white paper where I stamped Happy Birthday.
I cut out the rest of the sentiment with my paper trimmer and added a layer of orange paper behind it.  I used am EK Success edge punch and cut a strip of matching cardstock that I would use as a belly band. I layered two types of ribbon with Fabric Fusion (you could use tear tape to layer the ribbons if you don’t have Fabric Fusion)…Then once the ribbons were dry, I threaded it through the holes in the strip for the belly band.  I added a layer of white paper behind the ribbon that was about 1 1/8″ wide and attached it to the back of the strip, then using tear tape, wrapped it around the card and tear taped it closed.  I put my sentiment layered on the orange paper onto the front of the card and it was complete.
If you tear tape is sticky anywhere on your belly band, rub your embossing buddy, corn starch or baby powder on it, so it’s not sticky any more.

I started working on the album for our great niece who is leaving for college in the fall.  I really wanted her to have a keepsake that she can add whatever memorabilia she wants to it.  I had 6 x 6″ chipboard pieces that were supposed to be white.  They are white on one side, so I had to paint the edges and back so it would be consistent on both sides.  I went online to see what her school’s mascot was and the colors for her school.  Her mascot is a hornet and her colors are (I think) a maroon red and navy blue.  I printed out a bunch of the images that came up for her school and used them to create little covered paper clips.  I had to make some images bigger and some smaller, to make them the proper size for the paper clips.  So far, I am happy with what I’ve created.  Now comes the hard part.  I’m not exactly certain what I am going for, but had some papers that I colored to match the album and will be deciding how to make journaling spots and flip up pieces to the album.  It’s just in the initial stages, but I’m happy with the progress I’ve made so far.  I guess I’ll have to wait to see how it turns out.  (I’m a little worried, but will just take a deep breath and throw myself back into it tomorrow.)

I went to Michaels on 7/21/2017, specifically to purchase the Recollections Heavyweight 110 lb cardstock that is now being sold in a variety of colors.  Of course I got sidetracked along the way and bought a few other goodies that I thought I would share.

The Heavyweight Recollections 110 lb cardstock comes in packs of 100 sheets.  The sell full packs of black, cream and white.  I already had those colors, so was looking for more of a variety, as I make my card bases almost solely from this brand of paper.

I bought the neutrals, which were black, gray, brown and cream, and the blues, which are a turquoise, light jean color, royal blue and navy blue.  I also bought the pinks, which were very light pink, then baby pink, then a brighter pink and a fuchsia color.  They normally sell for $14.99 but were on sale for $10 and I had an additional 20% off coupon for sale items, so they were $8 each (and well worth that price.)

In the clearance department, I found a cute notebook that I’ll be covering that was $1.50 and a smaller popsicle shaped post it note pad for 50 cents.

They were also selling small “Mason jar” type bottles of crafty supplies for $3.89 each.  They had the alphabet in peg stamps with a small black ink pad.  I’m going to return this set as they did not stamp really clearly and I’m sorry that it’s not mentioned in the video.
Also bought a jar of 12 ink mini ink pads and I went into detail on them in my ink video that’s one of the videos I uploaded right before this one.  This jar was also $3.89.

I bought two sets of spray shimmer inks that were called “Boho” and the color sets were orange, yellow and pink, and green, purple and a blue/green color.  They were also $3.89 each.

I bought a marbling set that was originally $30 and I spent $9 for it.  I thought it was poor quality and you are only given four or five packets of “magic powder” and once the powder is gone, you can’t make any more marbled papers.  Also, the colors included were all very vibrant primary colors.  The box was really well sealed in the store, so there was no way to determine the quality in the store.  I did contact their customer service department and they gave me a $15 gift card which was terrific.   They did say the item had been discontinued.
I love the quality of the things I normally purchase at Michaels and was happy with the end results of this haul.

I can’t believe it’s August already.  I’ll blink and it will be January and continue to be January for about four months.  I really need to stop whining about winter….or do I?

The card fronts that I started yesterday, upon further reflection (used some big girl words there), were not as horrible as I originally remembered them to be.  I decided to continue with my original plan and in the end, I don’t think they are garbage.  Ok, the envelopes might be, but the cards are not.  I decided to use sparkling spray ink (I made up that name) on the envelopes and they took on the look of something that was dropped on the ground and landed in mud.  Of course they were not mud colored, but still, the image remains.  I do think I’ll have to make them over, as they really are pretty bad, but then again, maybe by tomorrow, I’ll think they are ok.  Seems that the way my craftiness has been going lately.

I need to make a small album for our great niece this week.  I know I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s my way of making myself get serious about it.  Tonight we are going out for dinner with friends and then to horse races.  I’m not a big fan of them, but do like sitting around and just people watching.  It’s always fun to catch up with old friends too.

So I’m off to the races, sounds like of catchy, huh?