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!

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!