I had purchased a few containers of Flower Soft last year and of course, forgot I had them.  I was talking to a friend and she mentioned them and I thought, geez, I need to get those out.  So I’ve been trying to think of just the right project for them.  I have a tree stamp set from Fiskars that has the tree as well as every possible thing you could attach to it including a bird, nest, flowers and several types of leaves.  Perfect!  So I stamped and played and found that the Flower Soft is so much fun.  I know that I say that often and with so many different mediums, but honestly, it looks good and the more you put on the tree, the better it looks.  I was going to do a small lilac branch on a stamp I had, but what the heck, if I’m going to use it, I want to make a horrible mess and cover almost the entire card front with it.  I think it’s my style.  All in all, I wish I’d used the Flower Soft before now, but then I wouldn’t have been as excited about it if I hadn’t had it for so long and finally discovered a good use for it.

I was at a garage sale and they had a bunch of scrapbooking supplies and I didn’t buy anything.  I was really proud of myself that I didn’t buy anything, but then when I got back to my craft room I started to wonder where would I put one more thing since my room is overflowing with craftiness.  I made the mistake of showing my room to a friend who was visiting, and luckily, Honey had decided to see what she could do with the paper in my garbage can so had paper all over the place.  It looked like every time I make a project, I must just toss everything on the floor instead of using the garbage can.  Needless to say, I was really embarrassed at the mess that was there and that most of the mess was par for the course.

I was answering comments and mentioned that I’m messy, make a lot of mistakes and have a few mishaps along the way and that maybe I should rename my channel, the three M’s.  Messy, Mishaps and Mistakes.  I really like it.  It fits my channel so much better.  After all, how many channels do you watch where the crafter whines when she has to use foam tape….not too many.

I bought a small die with birds on a wire from AliExpress and really wanted to see what I could do with them. Here is the link to the bird dies that I paid 93 cents for.  Please remember that their prices can change.  https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?ltype=wholesale&d=y&origin=y&isViewCP=y&catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20170526062217&SearchText=bird+party+die+metal&blanktest=0&tc=af

I started by using the dies with several different colors of cardstock.  I used an 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ Recollections white 110 pound cardstock and scored it on the 8 1/2″ length at 4 1/4″ to make the card a 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ card (an A2 size card.)
I used two other rectangle dies I bought from AliExpress that were the two largest in the set.  Here’s the link and I paid $2.39 for the set.
https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?ltype=wholesale&d=y&origin=y&isViewCP=y&catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20170526062020&SearchText=rectangle+wave++die+metal&blanktest=0&tc=af
I centered them on each other and washi taped them together and put them in the middle of the front of the card and ran it through my die cutter making sure that the card is open so I’m only cutting through the front of the card .  I used My Creative Times This and That stamp set for my sentiments and stamped it on a scrap piece of white cardstock.  I used another rectangle set to cut the sentiment and edged it with the same ink I’ve been using.
I took the center out of the two rectangle shaped die cuts and put some Tumbled Glass Distress Ink on a piece of plastic and added water to it and painted it on the rectangle so it looked like sky blue, then let it dry.  I did the same thing with the inside of my card to make it look like sky as well.  I decided to smoosh ink inside the card and then pressed the plastic into the ink pad then pressed the plastic onto the inside of the card to make it look like clouds, then dried the card.
I used three brown die cuts of the birds and cut out the individual birds in different colors and glued them to my brown die cut.  I alternated the placement of the birds on all three wires so that the bird colors were varied on the card.  It would be a lot easier if you die cut three  birds on a wire in white and then colored them.  I never thought of that, Rich asked why didn’t I just color them.  Geez.
I had some plastic from a stamp set and laid it behind my front of the card and used a lot of tape runner to adhere it.  Then I used a Zig Glue Pen and put some on the back of each bird and their wire and then laid them on the acetate/plastic.  After making sure they were glued down, I added the inside rectangle die cut that I had colored blue.   The back of my card did get blue spots of ink (even though I cleaned my area thoroughly.)  So I cut a piece of white cardstock that is 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ and put glue on it and applied it to the back of my card.  I realized after stamping my “Made by Sandy Parker” stamp on it, that there was no good place to write in the card, so tore that piece of paper back off.   In the end, I glued the card shut so the clouds were really visible and no writing would show.   I decided that I should add another card base to it.  I added an 8 1/2 x 5 1/2″ piece of white cardstock to the back scored on the 8 1/2″ length at 4 1/4″ .  I’m sorry I forgot to mention that in the video.
I had an extra line of birds, so glued them to the back flap of the envelope.
I used three peg stamps and Versamark ink with chalk colors that matched my birds.  The peg stamps are soponaria solid, dainty floral and another tiny flower.  The chalks I used were from Inkadinkado and the applicators are from Sofft sponge applicators.

I have been thinking about the collaboration video I’m going to do with Gracie Harrold.  If you’ve never heard of Disney Bounding, join the club.  It’s a really interesting concept, but you really have to be a Disney lover to get it.   Gracie makes cards that will have the colors and ideas of let’s say “The Little Mermaid.”  The card might have something that reminds you of water and something else that’s the color of the clothes she wears.  I’ve watched several of her videos and they are really well thought out, but again, if you don’t really know the Disney movie in detail, you might not get the correlation.  The great part is this..  You don’t really have to know anything about Disney to appreciate how cute her cards are.  Since I’m not a huge Disney follower, I never really watched many of the movies more than once.  Ok, the original Cinderella, but that’s probably one of the only movies I saw more than once.

I really liked the first “Guardians of the Galaxy” and have seen a bunch of television commercials featuring baby Groot.  I’m pretty sure I can make a card that looks 3-d and is Baby Groot.  I’m not going to be Disney Bounding it, you’ll be seeing Baby Groot and hopefully it will turn out well.  If not, I’ll have to start over with an entirely new concept and I have no idea what that would be.  I really doubt I can replicate anything from Cinderella, so we’re back at the drawing board.  Since it’s another drizzly day, I should be able to get my card done.  It depends on how dedicated I am, or if I’m dedicated at all.  I’m thinking I might just read a book instead, I can always tackle the card later.  Lazy is my middle name.

If April showers bring May flowers, then what do May showers bring?  Mud.  Of course we have the days that are sunny, but I can usually predict that Memorial Day weekend will have a lot of rain involved.  It’s a bummer, because we have two towns in our area that have Memorial day garage sales all over their towns and although I’m sad to miss the sales, I’m a fair weather garage saler.  I wonder what the real term is for people who go to garage sales?  I’ll see if I can find the answer…maybe I’ll ask a few of the women that are die-hard garage salers (that definitely can’t be the correct term.)

Rich and I put flowers on my parent’s graves this weekend and I dread doing it in the rain.  I also am not particularly fond of doing it when it’s hot, but my dad and I always made sure that his parents and grandparents’ graves had flowers, so I’m carrying on the tradition.  Our grandparent’s grave is next to my parents, so I feel bad if I don’t put a few flowers on theirs and my other grandparent’s are nearby, so by the time we are finished, Rich is exhausted and I feel exceptionally guilty for making him weed, hoe and plant flowers for hours.  As a side note, Rich has never really planted much at our house, I usually have done it, but I can pace myself here, and you really need total commitment on Memorial Day weekend, or you’ll never get your flowers finished.  We both dread the whole experience, but know my dad is happy that we’ve done it.  It’s the least I can do for people who gave me so much.

 

 

 

I wanted to share a really nice set of cards and gifts I have gotten from friends as well as make a simple one layer card..
The stamp sets I used were from Stampin Up and one is Swallowtail and the other is Another Thank You (both are retired but available on ebay).  I used chalks from Inkadinkado and pastels from Stampin’ Up that are both really old and kind of abused.  Any chalks or pastels will work for this technique, even ones kids use.  You can use makeup sponges for blenders or Q-tips.  I had some Sofft sponge blenders that are made specifically for chalks or pastels and used them as well as Q-tips and other blenders.  I used a bunch of different sponge blenders so I could show you options.  I also used pompoms and a bracelet buddy to hold the pom pom.  They make tools to hold pompoms but I had the bracelet buddy and figured “why not give it a try?”  It worked like a charm.  Here’s a link to where you can find bracelet buddies, but I didn’t check for lowest price, just wanted you to see where you could find them easily.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=bracelet+buddy

I used a 5 x 7″ 80 lb Neenah solar white cardstock for my card (It’s a one layer card.).  I stamped Versamark ink onto the Swallowtail and stamped it on an angle then turned it the other way and stamped it again using Versamark ink. I laid the stamp face up and laid my paper over it because the butterfly was so large and I wanted to make sure I inked it well. Then I took different colors of chalks and pastels to color on the Versamark.  The camera doesn’t do the card justice, as the chalks/pastels were much more vivid than they appeared on camera.    You need to change your pompom out for each color you use.    I stamped Thank You on the front with Versamark ink.  I added a bunch of small peg stamp images around the butterflies using Versamark and a middle swirl flower peg stamp.  Here’s the link to the middle swirl flower peg stamp.
https://pegstamps.com/middle-swirl-flower-mini-peg-stamp.html

I colored the swirl flower images with blue, purpose and yellow to make them stand out but still match the butterflies.   I stamped the same Middle Swirl flower peg stamp on the back of the envelope with Versamark and then made it match the inside of the card by using the same colors of chalks and pastels on them.

I find that people like special fold cards, so decided to make one today.  I have a friend who was trying to sell her deceased parent’s home, and today, we got an email that she finally sold it.  I went through the same thing with my parent’s home, and I know how frustrating and overwhelming it can be.  So the card I made is unique and kind of quirky, but I think she will really like it.

I used the Aliexpress stamps of the houses with another set of stamps that had accessories like trees, lamp posts, benches, and bushes.  I thought the combination of the two stamp sets would really work with the way the paper was folded.  It’s hard to explain, but Lindsay had made a card using this technique and it looked like it wasn’t very difficult, so I gave it a try..  The only thing I did wrong was measure the paper that I stamped on incorrectly, so I had to cut a bunch off of it when I was done with coloring it.  It was kind of a bummer, because it would have been a lot easier if it had been an inch shorter.

I also looked at the history I have of purchases from Aliexpress and found that I’ve gotten everything from my first order and I’m really impressed with the quality of almost everything I bought.  Everything except the tape runner, and let’s be honest, that was really my fault for not reading the fine print closely.

I’m happy with the card and it adds yet another video into Rich’s pile of unedited videos, so I’m ahead of the game (currently.) haha

I need to make another AliExpress haul video.  It’s not a very big haul but a funny one.  I bought some really cute cat stamps.  I’m not big into cats, but I have a lot of friends who are.  That’s not entirely accurate.  I really like cats, but Rich doesn’t, so I’ve had to readjust my thinking so I don’t want to keep any strays that I find.  We did keep one a few years ago and one of our dogs (I can’t remember which one now), decided it was a toy, and accidentally killed it.  It was in our wood pile and was really small and malnourished, so it didn’t take much more than a small shake, to kill it.  That’s weird because I completely forgot about that incident until just now.  I was mortified at the time and it still makes me sad when I think about it.  Not as sad as the time Rich was away at a work conference in Chicago and Aggie and Bella (who was a puppy at the time), found a baby rabbit nest.  Aggie was just looking at all of the little rabbits, and Bella decided they were fun, so grabbed one in her mouth and ran with it.  I tried to get her to come to me when she decided to swallow the live rabbit whole.  Of course I started crying and calling to her…she ran back to the nest and grabbed another one and ran into the house with it and onto our bed.  I did eventually get that one back from her, but by then she had already killed it.  I got our neighbor to save the rest of the babies, but none of them survived.  I felt horrible and there was nothing I could do, except call Rich at the airport and cry about the whole story.  His response was “what do you think I can do?”  That didn’t occur to me, I just wanted him to have an idea for me…He didn’t.  I called the vet and they assured me that puppies eat live animals all the time and survive.  I spent the whole night worrying that she would vomit, and I’d have to clean up a dead, or even worse, a live baby rabbit.  Somehow in my head, this baby could live in Bella’s stomach forever without air.  I do have a vivid imagination.  Back to the Aliexpress order.

The cat stamps I found are really adorable and I can’t wait to share them.  I bought other stamps and some foam daubers and a tool that I’ve seen other crafters use to fix mistakes and move ink around.  Ok, I’m not sure what they used it for, but I’ll figure out something and since it was $1, I don’t feel bad about not remembering it’s use.

Ok, now on to the funny purchase.  They had tape runners that look like the one Jennifer McGuire uses.  To be fair, the description did mention the word “petit” which I assumed was their spelling for petite.  I can’t wait to do the video, because nothing I can say will really help you understand their size.  These tape runners fit into the palm of my hand.  Smaller than that.  They are the size of a big bug.  There’s nothing I can compare them to.  They are tiny.  I haven’t used them yet, because I’m sure when I run it across the back of a card, it will run out of tape, it’s that small.  I know it described the amount of tape in them as being much larger than these could possibly contain, but I’m going to be honest and show it all on video.  I think we’ll all get a big laugh.  I got two of them for around $2, so I’m sure I’ll get my money’s worth.  The laugh I already got at their size was worth $2.

I had more of the alcohol ink backgrounds that I hadn’t used, so I used feather dies from Simon Says Stamp that someone had given me (I apologize that I forgot!) I cut several feathers and laid them using tape runner on another alcohol ink background that I had made.  I used a 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ card base in green and added a the alcohol ink background cut to 5 1/4 x 4″ and after laying feathers on it, attached a die cut of fun foam to it.  I put 1/8″ tear tape on the fun foam and laid a piece of plastic (from a stamp set) to the front after filling the inside with small beads and confetti from Hobby Lobby that looks like sequins but doesn’t have the holes in it.  I made a green piece that was 5 1/4 x 4″ with the same size die centered on it that I used for the fun foam.  Then I took a die that was one size smaller and a piece of another color green card stock that was 5″x 3 3/4″ and attached the smaller green piece on top of my plastic.  Then I took my sentiment that I cut on the smallest size dies from the set from Aliexpress that were $1.49 for the set.  Here’s the link where I found it.  https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?ltype=wholesale&d=y&origin=y&isViewCP=y&catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20170523073003&SearchText=rectangle+die+set+metal&blanktest=0&tc=af

I layered the sentiment on a light orange color onto a green die cut the next size bigger.  I took orange ribbon and wrapped around the sentiment and used tape runner to attach it.  I wrapped the same ribbon around the envelope after putting tear tape on the back of the ribbon.

I love watching birds in our backyard.  When I was a kid, my parents loved watching birds and I thought it was the most boring thing I’d ever seen.  As an adult, Rich and I love feeding wildlife and buy a ton (literally) of corn from a local farmer, so our deer population don’t starve.  We take the same approach with our birds and have several feeders operating at once.  It’s really lucky that we do, because we have a bear (that’s funny, I typed beer instead of bear and caught it just in time.)  Our bear finds it to be great fun to destroy as many bird feeders on his/her quest for spring sustenance.   So unfortunately, as soon as he/she wakes up from his/her long winter’s nap, we have to stop feeding the birds.  That’s actually when the real fun begins.  I have several bird houses that I hang in spots around our backyard.  I always put at least two under the awning that covers our patio.  We have a pair of small brown birds (I know they aren’t sparrows), but really don’t know what kind of birds they are.  They always set up housekeeping in one of our bird houses and the mother bird is very verbal.  I’m not sure who she’s talking to, her mate, other birds who might want to take her home, or us.  But she is a talker.  Non-stop.  Rich thinks she sounds like she nagging the male bird to get the nest ready to go or help feed the babies.  Regardless, we love watching her and listening to her rants.

Our bird family inspired me to make a card that’s all about birds.  I bought a die from Aliexpress that was maybe a dollar of small birds on a line.  I thought it would be really fun to make different colored birds on a tree branch, so die cut a bunch of birds in different colors.  The card is for a friend that just retired and I thought she’d enjoy it.
It took a while to change out the colors of the small birds by cutting them from their original die cut and gluing them to the branch colored one. There are three branches on the card, so I had to cut fifteen little birds off of their die cuts.   After I finished the card, I showed it to Rich and he said, so you just colored them?  I felt like smacking myself on the head and saying something like “I could have had a V8” or “how stupid am I that I never thought of that?”  It would have been so much easier if I had just die cut three white branches and colored the birds and the branch, but why take the easy way out?  These are the things you have to ask yourself, or think, if I only had a brain.

Here’s another use for the alcohol ink backgrounds I made.  I bought a birch tree die from Aliexpress for $3.15.  Their prices vary, here’s a link to the birch tree dies there. https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?ltype=wholesale&d=y&origin=y&isViewCP=y&catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20170521130357&SearchText=birch+tree+die+metal&blanktest=0&tc=af
I cut two of the tree dies, one on a bone cardstock 5 1/4 x 4″ and a grey one that was the same size.  I took Hickory Smoke Distress Ink and used a brush I bought at Harbor Freight Liquidators to highlight the trees to make them look shaded on the bone card stock..
Using a piece of white 110 lb Recollections 5 1/4″ x 4″ cardstock and a die from Aliexpress that was the largest in the set, I cut the center out of the paper.  This set was $2.32 and here’s the link to it. https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?ltype=wholesale&d=y&origin=y&isViewCP=y&catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20170521130949&SearchText=rectangle+die+set+metal&blanktest=0&tc=af
After cutting the center of the white card stock, I took a piece of gray cardstock that was 5 1/8 x 3 7/8″ and laid it under the white frame I just cut out.  By doing this, you can find the right size die to create another frame that you’ll be able to see inside the white paper.  (I think this die was two sizes smaller than the largest die).  Once you find the size die you want, you’ll lay it on your gray paper, making sure to center it in the white frame, then holding it in place, tape it down with washi tape or medical tape, something not very sticky, and remove the white frame.  Using the Vagabond, I cut this piece and then put tape runner on the white frame and laid the gray frame on top of it.  Since the sizes are almost the same, make sure you can’t see the gray paper on the outside of the white paper.  Put tape runner all around the edges of the gray paper and lay the bone colored trees on it.  I needed to cut two trees off of my die cut.  Make sure you cut the same two trees off of the gray die cut as well.  Carefully lay the bone colored trees down and glue them in place and then offset the gray trees so they look like shadows.  I used wet glue (I think it was the Best Glue Ever) on the back of my bone colored trees to ensure the gray trees were glued well to them and so my branches don’t stick up.  You’ll want your branches glued together if possible.
I used a white card base that is 5 1/2″ tall x 4 1/4″ wide.  I cut the alcohol ink background down to 5 1/4″ x 4″ and using tape runner, centered it on the front of my card base.  Then I took more wet glue and applied my framed trees to the front.
I took the centers that I die cut from my frames and layered them together with tape runner and put them inside the card where you would write.  I stamped a sentiment from Hero Arts Friend stamp set #L351 on a piece of the white card stock and took one of the dies from my set and cut it out and cut a piece of the grey in the next size bigger die, cut both out then layered them on top of each other and used tape runner to hold them together.  I put foam pieces behind the gray piece.  I didn’t adhere it yet, as I decided my trees needed to be more white.  I took a Prismacolor white pencil and colored them and then used a Uni Posca white paint marker and made white horizontal dashes on the trees to make them look more authentic.
I had one branch that was sticking up, so added some wet glue behind it and then set my glue bottle on it to hold it.  I put my sentiment in the center of the card and added some green leaf washi tape to my envelope and stamped the back of my card with “I made this for you.”
If you don’t have a background, you can use any medium, watercolor pencils, colored pencils, gelatos, to create a background where one third is green, the middle is yellow and the top one third is orange for a sunset look.