There’s a change in the weather coming and I’m a great predictor of rain.  I think they should hire people with arthritis (or similar illnesses) as weather forecasters because I am almost 100% on my predictions and our local weatherman is at about 50%.  I’ve often wondered why local news stations don’t have people with arthritis on retainer, just to verify if the weather man or woman is close to being right.  They would be a lot more effective if they did.  I am really surprised that no one has taken advantage of this gift we have.  It’s a genius idea to improve their overall effectiveness and they are ignoring an untapped market of talent (so to speak.)

I went to a few garage sales this morning, but hit a wall when the front started to move into the area and had to call it a day.  If you have any kind of illness like this, you know what I’m talking about.  You just need to take a nap and hope when you wake from your nap that the front has passed.  In my case, the front must be sitting on us as I still haven’t felt any better, so I haven’t accomplished anything today.  I did find a really great idea for a card though.  I don’t think I can explain it well, but it involves using the circle dies that nest inside each other and a color wheel idea.  I hope it will work and if it does, it will make a really easy, but interesting card.  I’m going to have to spend a little bit of time working out the logistics of it, but once I do, I’m pretty sure you’ll wonder how I did it.  Of course once you see the video you won’t wonder, but when you see the photo, you probably will.  I saw a picture of something similar in an old craft magazine (of course I don’t remember the name of the magazine), and at the time, I didn’t have a die cutting machine that I could operate, so I never tried it.  I’ve never seen anything like it on any card making videos, so this could be really different and fun, at least I’m hoping it is.

I’ll hopefully be able to give it a try tomorrow when the weather either improves or gets worse.  If it starts to drizzle, I’ll feel worse, but if it really rains hard, I feel better.  Isn’t that weird?  Regardless, I’m going to make myself be productive, no matter what the weather does.

I haven’t been out to any garage sales since my fall a few weeks ago, so today was the day.  My girlfriend and I went to several sales and I found a few things that really made me happy.  I found a really big guillotine paper trimmer (and I mean really big.)  I almost can’t reach the top where you line up the paper, it’s so big.  I only spent $4 on it, which really made me happy.  I tried it on cardstock before I bought it and it cut really well, so I wasn’t worried that I bought a paper cutter that wouldn’t really cut paper like so many of the old guillotines.  I’m not really sure how you sharpen the blade on them and didn’t really want to watch Rich attempt to sharpen the blade and cut half his arm off in the process.

I also found a nice sized stack of cork pieces that were probably 8″ long and 6″ wide.  They sold the whole stack for $1 and I didn’t think that too much considering there were at least twelve pieces in the stack.  I bought some 12″ x 12″ backsplash ceramic tiles that I thought I would turn into coasters to match my kitchen.

I also found some 8 x 10″ canvases that they were selling for $1 each and I’ve been wanting to try a cool paint pouring technique on canvases, so I probably won’t feel too terrible if I ruin a few when I only spent $1 on them.

Of course, I bought three baby stuffed toys that the dogs were exceptionally happy with.  I like the toys they make for babies over dog toys, because the toys they make for babies are really well made and seem to hold up longer than dog toys do.  They also don’t have any beans in them like beanie babies and don’t have glued on eyes for the dogs to swallow.  I recommend baby toys highly.  When I leave in the morning with my girlfriend, the dogs know I’ll be bringing home something that will make them happy.  After one garage sale trip, the dogs ran out to the car to greet us and didn’t see their presents right away, so Bella got into the trunk of her car and found a toy my friend had bought her granddaughter and stole it.  I don’t let them outside after a shopping trip now, I’ve learned my lesson.

I like to make the whole family happy, so found a bake sale and bought Rich german chocolate cookies and some sugar cookies for me.  (I need a treat too!)  All in all, it was a good day for garage sales and now I need to put my foot up as it took a beating.

 

I made a couple different cards today and only videotaped one of them.  It wasn’t the greatest idea, because the card I didn’t record, turned out to be the better of the two.  Isn’t that the way it always works out?

The card that I made and intended to make on film, was a card using chalks.  I started making the card and it was really warm and muggy in my office, so I had the window open.  About half way through the card, it started to rain and then it started to hail and my window was still open..  You’d think I would have gotten up and closed it, but I’m such a crafty hoarder that I can’t reach my window and Rich always has to open and close them for me.

I had a really great time with the chalks and think the card came out better in person than on video.  It’s a lot more vibrant in person.  Regardless, it was a lot of fun to play with the chalks and it reminded me of being a kid again.  Of course it didn’t occur to me that I could erase the chalk mistakes I made, so just covered them up.  All in all, the card came out ok.  I’ll probably get more requests for a video on the card I didn’t make a video of, but that’s ok too.

I wanted to make a gate fold card and started with Recollections 110 lb cream card stock, cut to 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2. I scored it on the 8 1/2″ length and scored it at 2 1/8″ and then flipped the cardstock to the other end of the 8 1/2″ length and scored it again at 2 1/8″.
I wanted to put some pretty paper on the card, so used Royal Gypsy from Die Cuts with a View from Michaels. I made a 1/8″ border, so cut the paper to 2″ x 5 3/8″ and made two pieces this size. I put tape runner on the back and adhered them to the front panels of my card.
I used a Stampin’ Up retired set called D is for Dog and used several of the stamps from that set. I stamped with Elegant Eggplant ink from Stampin’ Up and stamped the dog with Versafine Onyx Black then used clear embossing powder and heat set it. I used two of my new dies that are rectangular but the corners are rounded from AliExpress. I used the size that fit my sentiment and then the next larger size. I did the same for the paw print, using cream card stock for the paw and the sentiment, and purple paper to the underneath layer. I used the Vagabond and cut out all four pieces of cardstock and then layered them with tape runner. I used tear tape and put it on the back right side of the dog image and on the back left side of the paw print. I made sure the tear tape did not touch the opening of the card as I wanted to make sure it would open. I laid the dog toward the top of the card and the paw below it making sure one is glued to the right opening and one is glued to the left opening. I put ribbon around the middle between the two to ensure the card stays closed.
I showed how to fix ink boo boos by using either a Qtip to ink where I missed, or a Fantastix or a micro brush I just bought from AliExpress, All are easy fixes and hopefully you already have one on hand.
I stamped purple bones inside the card and stamped the paw print on the envelope along with another sentiment.
I tied a fake bow on my card by wrapping the ribbon around the card and used tape runner to adhere it on the back. Then I took a smaller length of ribbon and tied it in a single knot on the front of card on the ribbon to make it look like a real bow/knot, even though it was really simple.

I was a crafting fool today.  Is there a term for someone who spends a really productive amount of time making cards?  If so, that’s what I did and that’s the term we should insert here.

I started by making a card using the birch tree die I bought from Aliexpress.  I wanted to use as many of the dies as I can on video, so people can see how they work.  I not only used the birch tress, but some rectangular dies and other shaped dies as well.  I showed how to layer dies on a card to create a border and then used the insides of the die cuts to create layers for the inside of the card.  All in all, the card really came out pretty well, considering the birch trees were really hard to work with and got tangled easily.

I made another card that I used two different alcohol ink backgrounds that I made the other day.  I used one to line the inside of the card and another I die cut into several feathers.  I glued the feathers to the first alcohol ink background then made a shaker card out of it.  All in all, I had a really successful day of making cards.  I know a lot of card makers can make fifty cards in a day, but I’m lucky to make a couple, as I try to make each card unique if I can.  If I can’t, then I probably could make several cards, but the most I’ve ever made in one day was fourteen.  Those were for the military and I created a stamp pad for a flag stamp and the cards were very basic, but very patriotic.  I hope the soldiers we send them to will appreciate them, or at least the effort.

Some days you just don’t accomplish a lot.  Today was one of those days.  I started talking to Gracie Harrold a few weeks ago.  She has a new craft YouTube channel for Disney Bounding.  Her mother has been a long time subscriber of mine, and I offered to help Gracie with her channel.  We are going to do a collaboration where we both make a card using the same theme.  The theme is Guardians of the Galaxy, and I chose to use baby Groot as my focus.  I’m not sure what Gracie will do, but I wanted to stick to the Disney topic and didn’t realize Guardians of the Galaxy is a Disney movie.  I did some research and found a nice sized image of baby Groot and I think I’ll color it onto acetate and then use alcohol markers and embossing powder to create the image.  I’m not sure how well it will turn out, but so far at least I have a plan.  Sometimes, for me, the plan is the hardest part.

I’m also thinking of more ways to use my alcohol backgrounds.  One thing I don’t want to do, is create a bunch of backgrounds and then have them lay in a pile for months or years until I finally throw them away.  My intention for these is to actually use them.  I saw Lindsay make a card using old die cuts she had made.  I’ve been wanting to send a card to a friend in Texas who raises chickens and haven’t been able to master anything to my liking.  I tried coloring a gaggle (bunch) of chicks, and they didn’t turn out the way I intended.  I think they might be destined for the trash.  Instead, now I think I’ll use one of the backgrounds and die cut a bunch of feathers and attach the feathers to my card.  I’m not sure if I’ll love it, but it’s better than the chicks I painted.  The project has nowhere to go but up.

I wanted to use the background I just made with alcohol inks, as well as the new dies I bought from AliExpress.  I laid two of the dies that were closest together in size and would fit inside a 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ card and taped them so they wouldn’t move, then attached red card stock to the dies and cut them with my Vagabond.  The inside frame will pull apart from the outer paper (your outer paper needs to be 4″ x 5 1/4″ before you do your die cutting so that it’s the right dimension to fit on your card front.  The background piece with alcohol ink should be smaller than 4 x 5 1/4″ so it is hidden behind your front, I’d cut it to 3 3/4″ x 5″ and then use tape and attach it to your card base.  Then take the frames you die cut and remove the inner piece and use a piece of plastic (I used plastic from a set of stamps I bought) and put it inside the inner frame and tape it in there than attach that frame to the outer frame and put foam tape behind it.  I used red marker on the outside of my foam tape so you don’t see white when you look at the card from the side.  I also put some of the embossing buddy corn starch on the inside of the foam tape so my shaker items don’t stick to it.  Don’t attach it yet, you’ll want to put your shaker things inside and stamp your sentiment inside.  I used a sentiment from the same set as the hummingbird as well as a Happy Birthday sentiment that was just generic and used Versafine Onyx Black Ink and then used clear Ranger embossing powder and heat set it.
As for my shaker items, I used some sequins as well as the pieces that look like sequins but don’t have holes in them.  I buy them at Hobby Lobby in the party section as they are confetti to put on tables.  They come in round and square and I have both and they are all different sizes and colors.
After filling the confetti, I laid the card base with the alcohol ink background onto the confetti filled front of my card (making sure it’s right side up, which mine was not.)

I used a hummingbird from a Stampin’ Up set called Picture Perfect that had a four step stamping process and then I hand cut it out and use tape runner and attached it to the front of the acetate and bottom left corner of my card.

The memory card I used was going bad, so it made the video very choppy and I apologize that it was.

I had a lot of free time today, so I went crazy on Aliexpress and bought a bunch more dies.  I’m not crazy about the small individual dies, but love the layering ones.  I really like creating different shapes for my cards and these work really well.

I bought a birch tree die and played with it a couple of days ago and had horrible results.  It’s a really intricate die, so today I ran two pieces of different colored cardstocks through at the same time with it.  I got two very distinct colors for my trees, and I think I should be able to make very simple cards with two completely different looks using these die cuts.  I thought about working on the cards tonight, but decided to wait until tomorrow.  I find that when I start working on a project after 8PM, I get very frustrated really quickly and then my results are terrible.  It’s just simpler to wait until morning and start fresh when I’m not feeling completely overwhelmed.

I am really good at reading and watching craft videos at this time of night though, so I think I’ll put some energy into finishing a novel I started reading yesterday.  I’m a big fan of all kinds of books, but lean toward mysteries and detective novels.  I would like to say that I love the Kindle, but I really only love it when we travel.  I don’t have to carry a ton of books in our luggage, only the Kindle, and that’s really nice.  Otherwise, I really enjoy the feel of a book, the smell of the paper, and the ability to look at it from the top and know exactly how much of the book I have left to read.

Many of you probably think I’m out of touch, and I’ll be the first to tell you that I am.  I have a lot of “old lady quirks” and am not ashamed to admit it.  I don’t like texting, or the new phones in general.  I like sending and getting paper cards and not the computer generated ones you get in email.  If I want to catch up with an old friend, I’ll call them, and not contact them via facebook.

I see how attached people are to their technology today and am saddened that we’ve lost the personal touch of hearing each other’s voices on the phone, or the thrill of getting a letter in the mail.  I realize that I am completely out of touch with most of the technology that everyone else takes for granted, but I’m ok with that.  The only time I really feel like I should jump on the technology band wagon, is when people who would benefit from my YouTube channel don’t know about it, because I don’t know how to use whatever media they are looking for it on.  That’s one of the biggest reasons I ask my viewers to tell just one friend about me on social media.  That way I don’t feel so bad about not keeping up with technology.  I know that all of you have the skills to spread the word, and that’s all that really matters to me.  It’s just another reason I admire my subscribers, as they help make the YouTube experience a lot nicer and easier for me.

Today is Mother’s Day but it also marks another milestone day for us.  My senior year in college, my older sister was pregnant with her first baby and we got a call (on a real telephone that connects into the wall.)  They were going to deliver the baby that morning, so Rich and I drove to Pittsburgh to witness the miracle of what was to become my first nephew.  Rich already had two nephews by his older brother, but this was the first time either of us was there to see a newborn and to worry about my sister and how she made it through surgery.  Mike was born on May 14, 1981, and was several weeks early, but in great shape considering my sister is a juvenile diabetic and had a lot of complications.
Mike has always been a really sweet, giving, honest man.  His dad was a doctor and Mike definitely did not want to follow in his father’s footsteps, so went to the Art Institute to be a product designer.  He did really well in school, but that’s an exceptionally hard industry to break into, so Mike spent some time not knowing exactly what he wanted to do with his life and ended up working in a hospital as a medical scribe.

Last year, he started nursing school and has been given a lot of accolades for his work ethic, his tenacity and grasp of the field.  Since my sister is also a nurse, medicine is literally in his blood.  He has been chosen by the professors in his nursing school to be the recipient of a really prestigious  scholarship, as well as the chance to work in his off-time at a VA hospital.  Since both of these opportunities are decided by the staff, they are especially impressive to us.

The best part about Mike though, is that fact that he’s a good and caring man.  One who isn’t afraid to tell his family that he loves them.  Someone that you would want to call a friend.  So although Mike is at the University of North Carolina today, Rich and I are taking a moment to celebrate him.  My Dad always sang “Captain Zoom” to Mike on his birthday, and after Dad’s death, I continued making the call.  His voice mail was full when I called today so I haven’t been able to sing to him, but if you don’t know the song, it goes like this.  “I’m Captain Zoom and I’ve come from the moon, singing Mikey, it’s your birthday today.”  (To make the song work, you can’t use the word Mike, as the word needs two syllables, therefore, Mikey instead of Mike.)

Happy birthday Mike, we’re so proud of you!

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and although both Rich’s and my mother’s have passed away, Rich decided to celebrate with me today.  He loves to bake, so he made homemade hamburger buns that were awesome and made hamburgers on the grill.  I’m not really hard to please when it comes to anything on the grill, so it was the perfect meal.  You’re probably wondering why we celebrated a day early.  Tomorrow, his basketball team is playing in the afternoon and then Rich plays basketball every Sunday night, so he wouldn’t have time to make his rolls.  The day doesn’t matter to me, it’s the thought that counts.  No, we don’t have kids, but we do have three dogs who were ever so helpful in the kitchen.  If he dropped a scrap, they were there for clean up duty.  You can’t ask for more than that when you are a chef.  Clean up, aisle 1.

I needed to make a card for friends who lost their dog this week, and I have been wanting to make more cards with different folds.  I saw Gina K make a gatefold card with a twist and liked the idea, so made it.  It was so quick and easy, I was amazed.  Sometimes you forget that just by layering different papers, you can make a really lovely card.  I used ribbon and taught a sneaky bow technique for people like me who struggle making bows.  All in all, I’ve got some great videos in the hopper and now it’s up to Rich to get them online.  Yay, I’m ahead of the game again.  That’s a great feeling!