I decided I needed to get serious and make some videos.  So I started with a haul video for all of the things I have purchased at Aliexpress.  I’ve used three or four of the different die sets I purchased on the videos I’ve made after the haul video, so people will be able to see my buys in action.  I have never really used dies very often, so don’t know if there is a good quality die or not.  I think the important thing is do they cut?  These definitely do.  The little stitch lines show up really clearly as well.  Overall, I’m thrilled with my purchases, if only they didn’t take so long to get here.  My problem with the mail is completely mine.  I buy things and then forget I bought them.  I know a woman who keeps a log of what she buys, where she buys things and how much she pays for them.  That way if they don’t come in the mail, she has a record of her purchase.  I think it’s a genius idea, but I doubt if I would remember to stay on top of it.  I know I would be great at setting up a system like that, it’s follow-through that I lack.

I made a shaker card for my nephew for his birthday and used the backgrounds that I made with alcohol inks.  Did I mention that in the blog?  I might not have done so, and it might have been from all of the fumes I consumed.  Holy cow, you have no idea how much alcohol inks smell, until you leave the room you work on them in and then try to return to that room.  You get dizzy immediately upon returning.  That’s the moment I remember that I should have opened at least one window while working with them.

His shaker card came out pretty well considering I forgot to include the plastic layer that keeps all of the shaky things inside and had to re-group.  Oh well.  If you don’t learn what not to do in my videos, you aren’t watching hard enough, haha.

One of my viewers, Sue, told me about this site and was really helpful in explaining the ins and outs to me.  The site is AliExpress
https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale
and they are based out of Japan so shipping takes a few weeks.  She said that sometimes you won’t find the sizes of dies, so be careful to ensure you research it.  Use Google to convert the cm and mm to inches, (for Americans) to truly understand sizes.

Here’s the conversion link in Google from cm to inches.
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=convert+cm+to+inches&spf=1494713327290

Sue also said to make sure you check shipping costs as most are free, but some will charge so watch for it.

She also said that the same die set might have several different prices, so check around on the site before buying.  This site is a lot like Amazon where several sellers might be selling the exact same stamp or die set.  You should check prices as they change often and don’t assume the first price you find is the best price.

I’ve bought several dies, stamps, stencils and embellishments on AliExpress and have been happy with the sizes of everything I’ve bought.

You’ll need to be patient when it comes to shipping, as most things take between 2-4 weeks to get.

The prices that I paid for the dies and stamps were all under $4, and the dies that I’ve used have worked perfectly.

I really felt like I would get serious about making the cards to go with my alcohol backgrounds today, but just didn’t have any ambition.  I’m a little bit frustrated because it will be two weeks tomorrow, and my foot still swells a lot when I put it on the floor.  My antics yesterday with the alcohol inks, although loads of fun, made my foot almost impossible to get into a shoe today.

So instead of doing anything that I planned on doing, I took a nap and watched videos most of the day.  I have a rough life, I know it.

My new plan is to make sure I get serious about the video and the cards tomorrow.  Yes, it’s a plan, not a thought, an actual plan.  As in, “you can plan on it.”  Or, I’m planning on it.  Whichever, the point is, I am going to get serious and make some cards.  I have cards I need to send people as well, so need to do other videos for those too.   I am on it!

Tomorrow’s a whole new day.  Plan on it.

I made another crafty failure last night after having dinner with friends.  I really thought that my plan would work and that the end result would be adorable.  It wasn’t.  I kept it though, because I might be able to hack it apart or use different dies and somehow make it more appealing by cutting it into a smaller image.  I don’t know.  I’m just not sure and am starting to doubt myself with certain projects.

Today was a different story.  I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube videos with people using Yupo paper and alcohol inks to create cards.  Lindsay did a watercolor with Yupo and then went on to make a card as well.  Even Jennifer McGuire is using Yupo and alcohol inks.  I started thinking about the difference between a paper like Yupo, that’s plastic and not really paper at all, but used for things like alcohol inks and the difference between Yupo and glossy photo paper.  I have a big pack of photo paper that we’ve never used and thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try out my idea.  I had purchased Tim Holtz’s paper specifically made for alcohol inks, but don’t have any Yupo.  Close enough for me.  Most crafter say that glossy card stock and glossy photo paper can’t be used in the same way, but Lindsay always says, “Try it if you have it.”  So I did.  I used two 8 x 10″ sheets of photo paper and cut them down to 4 x 6″ and 4 x 5 1/4″ pieces.  I used Adirondack Alcohol Inks and their solution that is supposed to dilute the inks.  I sprayed and dotted, dragged and smeared, and in general, had a really great time.  I think alcohol inks are addicting, they’re just so much fun to play with.  I did make a minor mistake in not having good ventilation, so I was a little bit woozy when I was done.  I made several backgrounds and really liked a few of them.  I then used the Tim Holtz paper specifically made for alcohol inks and didn’t think there was anything impressive about it.  It has a different reaction to the inks, but not so much that I cared.  It also reacted differently to the solution Tim Holtz makes.  When I used the solution on the photo paper, it didn’t lessen the intensity of any colors, but when I used it on the alcohol ink paper, the colors got really dull.  So I added more ink to bring back the color and that did work, luckily.

I have to say that I could create a room full of alcohol ink backgrounds, but had to call it quits when I started to feel confused.  Ventilation is definitely the key to alcohol inks.  I did end the video by making the backgrounds and showing the differences in the two papers.  I’ll definitely be doing a second part where I turn them into cards.  This has really helped me get my mojo back.  I might just turn my channel into an all alcohol ink all the time channel.  Better not, I can’t afford to lose that many brain cells, I need all I’ve got.

I’m working on a video and hoping Rich gets another one online today/tonight.  I’ve had a cute baby chick that I thought I would do a bunch of masking and show beginning crafters how to mask and work with tiny images for masking.  It’s a work in progress, but so far, so good.

You know how in the beginning of my channel, I referred to myself as MacGyver?  I was watching a couple of YouTube videos this morning and on the side of the video showed a Canadian YT channel for a Stampin’ Up representative by the name of, wait for it, Sandi MacIver.  She has over 13,000 subscribers and probably thinks I tried to steal her name when I called myself MacGyver.  Tell me how weird that is that her name is so close to it?  Anyway, I’ve been getting a chuckle out of it and thought I’d give you the link to her channel.  I haven’t watched any of her videos yet, but will make sure I put it on my channels to visit.  After all, we’re almost related. haha.

https://www.youtube.com/user/sandimaciver

I’m meeting my college girlfriends for dinner tonight and hope I’ll feel like finishing my card when I get home.  It’s always great so see old friends as we never really have to say anything to break the ice to reconnect.  That’s the best part about knowing people for almost 40 years.  Holy cow, that can’t be right…I’m only 37.  (See how I took 20 years off and didn’t say something completely unbelievable, like 29.)  Twenty nine is completely out of the realm of possibilities, but 37, people could just think I’ve lived hard and look really old for my age.  I might have to bump my number into the 40’s, but who really cares what lie I come up with…it all sounds fun to me.

It’s been so nice hearing from all of the viewers after my very short hiatus.  I was overwhelmed by the nice notes everyone left for me and was happy that people weren’t horrified by the length of the video.  That bokeh card was probably one of the most stressful yet rewarding cards I’ve ever made.  Sometimes I just throw in the towel and chuck the card in the trash, but in this case, I’m not sure what pushed me forward.  I definitely don’t go to this much effort most of the time.

It was nice though, to see the really lovely comments people left.

I’m not sure if I’ve talked about this before, but YouTube keeps track of how long people watch a video on average and for me, it’s between 5-6 minutes.  Now when I am reading comments, I can almost tell from what they say, if they’ve watched it or skimmed through it.  I don’t care either way, but it will make me laugh when they say something that shows they really haven’t seen it.  I think it’s nice that they take the time to comment, when they could just skim through the video and go on to someone else’s video.

I got a really fun comment on the wet glue video.  Did I already mention this?  I hope not, because I hate to repeat myself, but know I do it all the time.  Ok, so the comment was from a Las Vegas magician that needed to do a special illusion and wanted a glue with certain components to allow him/her to do the illusion.  They wanted me to know that my glue video gave them four good options and they were subscribing to my channel because of it.  Isn’t that great?  So if you are in Las Vegas watching an illusionist and they do a trick, it could be because they found the right glue for the job.  Crazy!

This card was bad from the very beginning.  I started with Fabriano Hot Press 140 lb watercolor paper cut to 4 x 5 1/4″ and used Distress Inks, Worn Lipstick, Shaded Lilac and Squeezed Lemonade brayered onto the paper.  I couldn’t get enough ink on it to make me happy to added more with water and a make up sponge and hated it, so I took out my Koi watercolors and used a purple and brushed it over the whole image to get a color I liked.  Then I took four different circle shapes with Hero Hues Unicorn White pigment ink and made a bunch of circles on the background, some overlapping the others.  I used a pencil eraser, a foam marshmallow
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Foam-Marshmallow-Shapes-15mm-x-18mm/35647136?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&adid=22222222227024003107&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40947123272&wl4=pla-78888855872&wl5=9006368&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=online&wl12=35647136&wl13=&veh=sem

a homemade foam stamp (video on how to make them is attached at the end) and a sponge dauber
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Tsukineko-STDAB003-Sponge-Daubers-3-Pkg/24939534?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=1453&adid=22222222227017645375&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=52567859415&wl4=pla-79640924055&wl5=9006368&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=112550049&wl11=online&wl12=24939534&wl13=&veh=sem

to make my circles.  I heat set the ink and thought it was dry.I liked the way they looked but thought they would look better if I put some mica powder over my images, so used pink and purple LA Shadows eye shadow to make my background glittery.  I needed to wipe the excess off, and accidentally smeared everything by using a damp cloth.  (Apparently the ink wasn’t dry.)  So now I really wanted to throw in the towel, but decided to give it one last try, so used Distress Oxides in Worn Lipstick and Wilted Violet and used my homemade stamp and added bokeh circles again.  I also used the little foam dauber with the Unicorn white ink as well.  I die cut the word happy three times from the Hero Arts set Happy and the words Mothers Day I stamped on the card with Unicorn White ink and then used Ranger white embossing powder to heat set it.  I layered the happy’s together with Stampin’ Up’s glue pen (retired.)  I used a brush with the Wilted Violet Distress Oxide ink and let it dry.  I thought it would be nice to add the pink mica to the word happy.
I rounded my corners with a We R Memory Keepers 1 2 3 board, but you could probably use any corner rounder if you are stronger than I am.  I cleaned my corners with a nail file you can buy in any nail polish department.  I added foam tape under the bokeh page and then adhered it to a 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ purple base.
To make my happy glittery, I added the pink eye shadow and some Wink of Stella type marker from Spectrum Noir.
I used Martha Stewart’s white glue on the back of the word happy to attach it to my card front.   I liked the look of the Spectrum Noir marker, so added it to some of my other circles to make them more glittery.  I got some of the pink on my marker, so used it on the back of the envelope and then added the pink eye shadow as well for more color.  I stamped the back of my card with Made for you by Sandy Parker stamp.
This card was such a trial.  I made so many mistakes and should have thrown it away so many times.  In the end, I was happy with my card.

It’s a miracle!  I finished the card (excuse my language) from hell.  I think this is the best example of a card that should have gone into the trash on at least three occasions and yet, rose from the ashes to become a card worth putting on video.  I know you think I’m exaggerating, but wait until you see the video.  You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, but you definitely won’t beg for more.  This card was such a trial and yet I lived to tell the tale.  Rich has it and will edit it tonight and hopefully, I’ll have a video live tomorrow AM.  I’m so sorry that it’s been so long since I’ve put up videos, this darn ankle/foot thing is working against me.

I decided while I was on a roll, that I should finish another card that I had in process.  This is a really nice card and yes, I used the Vagabond on BOTH cards, so you’ll know that I’m not trying it once and throwing it to the curb.  I even layered some of my die cuts.  I’m a regular die cutting fool now.  Or maybe just a fool, it’s kind of hard to tell.

Today’s card is really a sweet card that I spent almost as much time coloring the envelope, as I did on the card.  I’ll have Rich fast forward through the envelope coloring as it wasn’t very nice.  Paper makes a big difference when you use alcohol markers and for some reason, I completely forgot that I couldn’t blend on an envelope.  For those of you who don’t play with alcohol markers, the paper is everything when it comes to blending.  For those of you who do play with alcohol markers,  I’m not telling you anything that’s new.

Something that is new though, is that I got an email from the makers of Spectrum Noir markers.  I had sent them three emails about the dryness of my markers and never heard from the first two.  When I sent the third, they said that they hadn’t received the first two (I’m not sure why since I used their customer service contact system.)  Apparently, they are having issues with lost communication since they have moved operations to England.  Anyway, they assured me that they will replace all of my dry markers, which I was really impressed by.  The did tell me that the caps on my markers are not the current caps being used and haven’t been used for eighteen months.  I explained that the markers I showed them had been purchased from Joanns in the last three months.  In addition, I have Spectrum Noir markers that I bought at A C Moore and they have the same caps.  I’m wondering if all of the big box stores that sell Spectrum Noirs are trying to get rid of their old inventory for them and that’s why the markers are dry.  I was disappointed to learn that we are buying old inventory, but how would any of us know, since the markers we see in these stores are all the same?  It seems like there should be a manufactured date on them, but then again, maybe it’s on the packaging and I just never looked for it.

I’m just happy that they are standing behind their products, as I have a lot of their markers and so many of them are drying out.  In case any of you have the same issue, the company said that they warranty their markers for 18 months from purchase.  Although I’m not sure how they can determine when you purchased markers unless you keep your receipts, and I don’t know many people who would do that.  I don’t want to know how much money I spend on crafty things, that’s for sure.

 

Today was definitely going to be the day that I got back in the craft room and made some projects.  If you ever watch Lindsay talk about the “bad pancake,” being the first one you make and it’s a garbage experience, that pretty much summed up the day.  I thought I’d make the bokeh technique, it’s easy and what could go wrong?  Ok, so I used regular Distress inks on watercolor paper with a brayer to make a pattern.  I used yellow, pink and light purples.  Looked terrible.  So I added more ink, it looked worse.  So I thought, hey why not watercolor over it, so I took purple watercolor and  colored over everything and it looked a lot better.  So then I added the white bokeh dots all over.  They looked weird, so I heat set them and thought hey, why not add mica powder to the dots for a little color and glimmer.  The mica stuck to everything and looked terrible, so I used a cloth to wipe it off.  The cloth was damp so it smeared everything all over and I mean everything.  So now we’re back to a purple glittery smeared background with nothing on it.  I should throw it out, but I’m NO QUITTER!  I took the Distress Oxides in pink and purple and tried to do the bokeh technique again.  Didn’t totally love it, so added some white bokeh circles as well.  I’m letting it dry overnight, but if this makes it to an actual card it may be a miracle.  I can’t believe I’m still working on it.  I should just throw it out and start with something new.  This is one bad pancake.

Normally, today being a Friday, I’d be going to some garage sales with my girlfriend.  Unfortunately, the weather is really drizzly, and not really conducive for hanging outside.  I think after our rummage sale excursion yesterday, she didn’t really want to risk having me push myself too much.  She was really surprised that I went out yesterday, so probably didn’t want to push our luck

I don’t really mind though, because even though I didn’t walk very much yesterday, my ankle has been hurting a lot more since then.  I would like to get back in the craft room as I’ve been thinking about a bokeh technique that I’d like to try that looks fairly simple, but has a nice wow effect.  I need to get some videos in the bag as I think the only complete video is one that I tailored after a Jennifer McGuire technique of double stamping.  I’ve been waiting for Carol Held to do the same technique for a collaboration.  I mentioned this at least a month ago.  Carol is going to do her card with sign language and I’m doing what I always do, and that is write the entire technique below the video in the “more info” section.  Carol has made one set of cards and hated them.  I’m not saying that mine is very nice either, but it’s an easy technique and one that Carol can easily sign.  I’m not sure how many attempts Carol will make before she gives up on this project, but I’m really hoping she makes a card (well really two cards), that she likes, and then we can get this show on the road.   This is the first time that I’ve been completely out of videos for Rich to upload and I feel really nervous about it.  I need to get some in the bag.  I wondered about the origin of “in the bag” so I looked it up for myself.  Here’s the origin and meaning from “The Phrase Finder” .