I went to a bunch of garage and rummage sales today and didn’t really find much that I loved.  An elderly man was serious about selling us anything in his garage. Actually, he wanted to give most of it to me.  In the end, I bought a small garbage can that was completely full and had boxes of Velcro on top, as well as a big bag of safety pins, and he only wanted a quarter for it.  I felt so bad for him and his quest to empty his garage, that I bought the garbage can.  On the way home, I went through the can with my girlfriend making fun of the bunion pads, moleskin, ankle braces, patches for clothes, fake pockets (that I’d never heard of) and the list goes on and on.  Up to and including a new 46D bra of which I found no use for, but did giggle that he thought someone else would want a bra.  Needless to say, the can had a few things that were of value, but I didn’t discover it’s true value until I got home.

I had carried most of my purchases in the house–dog toys and some Chai tea that I needed to get myself through a day of garage sales.  I decided to go back to the garage for the garbage can full of goodies, and tripped on a hose, ran my head into the wall, my elbow into a car, bounced my knee off the cement floor and twisted my ankle.  The absolute worst part of the experience was seeing the look on Rich’s face when he saw what I had done.  He looked like he was about ready to have a heart attack, it’s just horrible to witness.

He picked me up off the floor and I knew I had sprained my ankle in the hose, but honestly, didn’t know what to expect, as I’ve never sprained my ankles in 57 years.  Odd right?

We decided the first order of business was to put ice packs everywhere, so Rich went into doctor mode.  He needed an ace bandage, and guess which Girl Scout was prepared?  Oh yeah, there was a brand new Ace bandage in my little garbage can.  Problem solved.  Apparently there was a good reason I bought the garbage can full of goodies, and I just didn’t know what it was.

The reason for this story is that I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to go to the stamp show tomorrow and I am SO disappointed.  I was really looking forward to going.  Rich did offer to go and push me around in the wheelchair (because he is that good to me), but I’m anticipating that the knot on my knee will be worse tomorrow and my ankle will probably not be pretty either.  Sometimes it’s extremely frustrating being clumsy.  Darn it.

 

I have a really nifty stamp set from Hero Arts called Sea Life that also includes dies and I wanted to use the sentiment that references jelly fish, so I stamped a jelly fish in Cameo Coral Stampin’ Up ink and  Dusty Durango Stampin’ Up ink on the second layer of stamping.  I used the Vagabond to cut the jelly fish out and stamped some coral with the same colors and cut them out as well with the Vagabond to embellish the front of the card.  I used a plastic bag and cut it to fit inside my 5 x 7″ card (it’s 10″ scored at 5″ x 7″).
I have a big fish background stamp from Whipper Snapper called Under the Sea and stamped it side by side so it was wide enough to show through the oval of the card.  I used a Creative Memories cutting system to trim out the oval, but you could use dies, or trace an oval shape and then cut it out with scissors.  I colored my underwater background with my new Touch 5 markers and listed the colors in the video and on the video screen.  After I was finished coloring the fish, I used my 1″ chip brush to add a blue background with Stampin’ Up Pool Party ink.  The gel is LA Colors and is from the Dollar Tree and I like it because it has bubbles in it and they show up on the card.  I used a machine that seals the plastic bag called a Magic Sealer that you can buy anywhere, but here’s a link on ebay to view the options.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xmagic+sealer.TRS0&_nkw=magic+sealer&_sacat=0

Even though I seal the bag with this sealer, I still go around the edges with a couple layers of scotch tape to ensure the gel doesn’t leak in shipping.  I also laid a piece of foam over the front of the card to ensure it didn’t get punctured in shipping.  I used a couple of tablespoons of hair gel in the bag as you only want enough to make sure that you see gel when you look through the window, but don’t have a puffy bag as it increases the chances for the gel to leak.  I added tear tape to the four sides of the bag and stuck it inside the oval card and then put a layer along the bottom to ensure the card is sealed closed.  Then I added my embellishments and my sentiment on the outside of the card.  I saved one of the coral for the inside of the card and stamped little jellyfish with a marker inside the card and on the envelope.  I used Peach Parfait and Poppy Parade colored Stampin’ Up water based markera to ink the stamps.  I used a Simon Says Stamp called You Matter for the inside sentiment and inked it with Versafine Onyx Black ink.  The card base was also 5 x 7″ and I added a lot of tear tape to the front of it to ensure that the gel piece stayed put.  You could make the gel layer 1/4″ smaller so you could see the white layer.  I used Recollections 110 lb. white cardstock for my base as it is a sturdy paper and would hold the heavy piece with the gel inside.

Sometimes, I just like to make a card that I know will work well.  Other times, I’m willing to experiment and risk having a major fail.  Tonight I wanted to do something that was almost certainly going to work.  I have Ken Oliver Liquid Metallics and I thought it would be really fun to use them as watercolors, so I picked a large floral image and used black ink and heat set it, then went crazy watercoloring.  I really love to watercolor and those metallics are so much fun that I decided to keep the long coloring portion of the video on regular speed.  I’ve been asking Rich to speed through coloring, but sometimes I think people want to watch the long version.  Maybe I’m wrong, but I know I like watching coloring, so maybe others do as well.

The card looked ok, but then I decided to use a toothbrush to flick the leftover inks out of my palette.  It went like I expected.  I flicked ink all over my work surface and some actually hit the card as well.  I had to laugh because when I looked at the desktop, it was covered in ink.  I’m so used to the crazy mistakes that I make, it doesn’t even faze me anymore.  Oh, I forgot one last mishap.  I used the foam tape that sticks to everything and took the backing off of it and “thought” I laid it out of the way of my work.  No, not the case.  I accidentally attached the card base to the foam tape then after retrieving that mess, I tossed the tape runner out of my way and it landed directly in the center of the exposed foam tape.  So long story short, the foam tape is now attached to not only me, but the tape runner and, oh, yeah, the envelope ended up in the Nuvo drops I put on the front of the card.  Sometimes I wonder how I accomplish anything, haha.

I’m still fretting about the oxide inks, but have decided that when the time is right and my patience is high, I’ll be ready to try them again.  In the meantime, I made a fun and pretty card that I’m pretty happy with.

I saw Jennifer McGuire make cards that were similar to these, by using her paper shredder and cutting thin strips. I thought it would be really fun to use my guillotine paper trimmer to create similar strips of paper. When you do this process, you need to remember that when you lay your paper on a diagonal, you have to be careful to ensure your strips will be long enough and that you cover all the way to the edges of the card with the strip. If you still see white, you need to either add more card stock or move your strip to cover it, or in my case, trim your front once you are finished. My card base was 4″ across and I used strips that were 5 1/2″ long. Some will not be long enough if you make your diagonals steep, so you might need to piece papers together if you make that mistake. Another option is to use longer paper strips to avoid having to piece them on the ends.

I used a Xyron machine to turn my strips into stickers, but you can use any kind of glue to attach them to your base. I started with 80 lb white card stock that was 4″ x 5 1/4″ and then laid my strips in rainbow order. Rainbow order is red, orange, yellow, green, blue, lavender and purple. The only color I did not use was orange, but stuck to the order anyway.
After attaching my strips, I turned the white paper over and trimmed all of the edges then laid the “You” from Simon Says Stamp You Matter stamp set die on the paper where I thought I would like it and then used my Vagabond to cut it out. Make sure you keep the piece of paper that cuts from the loop of the “Y”, as you’ll need to reinsert it into your project. I used additional sentiments from the same stamp set and stamped them on the card front with Versafine Onyx Black ink and then used Ranger clear embossing powder over it and heat set it.
Take a piece of scrap paper and lay it on the back of the paper where you cut out the “You” and make sure you really coat it with tape runner, so the You will attach to it and stay in place. Then die cut another You out of yellow card stock so it shows well on the background and lay it in place and take the loop from the first die cut of the Y and put it inside the yellow die cut on the card base. Then put three rows of foam tape on the back to make it stand up on the card.
I used 110 lb. Recollections white card stock that was 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ and scored on the 8 1/2″ length at 4 1/4″ and color the sides with a matching ink which in my case was Distress Oxide Fossilized Amber on the first card and regular Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink on the second card. Additionally on the second card, I cut out the Enjoy die from Hampton Arts Enjoy Stamp set and the words Happy Birthday from Stampendous Say it Today.
This is a fun and easy card to make and by changing the colors, you can make it look more masculine or feminine.

I’m committed to having some fun tonight and making a card that really makes me happy.  I’m tired of making cards that are disappointing and end up in the trash, so I think I might do a flicking or smooshing technique.  Something that will be messy and a lot of fun.  There’s nothing fun about making a card that doesn’t create a big mess (in my opinion).  I like to be covered with ink or watercolor paints when I am finished.  That way I know I really put myself into the project.

Unfortunately, I was really covered with the oxide inks, but just didn’t get the results I expected.  I’m so frustrated by them and by the fact that others don’t seem to have the bold colored looks that I got when I tried them.  They either look like chalk, or are crazy bold in color.  I need to spend a day with them where I’m not really concerned with results and just learn how to use them.  That’s not my plan for today, however.  Today is about playing and having success with whatever I try, so it needs to be a technique that I have already mastered.

Did I tell you about Aliexpress?  It’s a website from Japan (I think) that sells just about everything, but you can find terrific deals on stamping tools.  Dies, tape runners, etc.  One of my viewers told me about it and I’ve ordered a bunch of things and can’t wait to do a haul once the things start arriving.  I don’t like waiting for two to three weeks to receive the things I order, but then again, I do like buying sets of stitched dies for $4.  I hope I’ll be happy with them and can’t wait to get everything.

I’m sure I mentioned that we’re going to a stamp show this weekend in Akron, Ohio, and I’m hoping I don’t go crazy buying everything in sight.  It’s fun to see what’s new in stamping and I’m looking forward to it.  Rich is thrilled beyond words, haha.  Actually, he doesn’t mind going. The last time we went to a stamp show, the man selling tickets, gave Rich his ticket for free, because any man who would attend a stamp show didn’t deserve to pay for it too.  It was funny and sweet of him to give Rich his ticket, and we’ve been laughing about it since it happened.

I wanted to make a fun card for my girlfriends’ birthday and she’s a big dog lover.  I used Koi watercolors and my watercolor block that I made (I’ll link that video to the end) and colored it with blues and greens.  The block is 4 x 6 and I’ll cut it down to fit a card base after I’ve finished with the dog coloring.
The dog stamp is from Eureeka Stamps and the sentiment is from Stampendous and is called Dog Sayings.
I colored my dogs with Spectrum Noir markers and put the colors in the video.  I had thin washi tape and I ran a piece of it across the front of my card to fix a spot of ink that I accidentally put on it.  I also went around the edges of my white card base with the washi tape.  The card base is 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ and I cut the dog piece down to 5 1/4″ x 4″.  I used a label bracket punch for my sentiment and put it on foam tape then laid it on the washi tape on the front of the card.  Then I put foam tape behind the dog images and attached it to my base.  I thought it came out pretty frisky and hope you did as well.

It’s nice to feel needed.  I’ve been getting emails from viewers who are wondering if I am ill, because I haven’t been putting many videos online.  The truth is that we’ve had some problems with losing pieces of videos and I’ve had to recreate them, and Rich just got frustrated for a few days and didn’t upload any videos.  We’re back on track now and you shouldn’t have to wait for videos going forward.  I hate it when we don’t put videos up and it makes me fret as well as all of you.

I just finished the edits that I do on videos before I give the memory card to Rich on the one with paper piecing.  I’m hoping it goes live tomorrow night or the next day at the latest, but I’m hoping for tomorrow.  In the video, I mention that Rich and I are going to a stamp show this weekend in Akron, Ohio, called Adventures in Stamping.  We went to it last year and it is so much fun to walk around and see  techniques and ideas that are new this year.  I’m hoping I don’t go crazy and buy a ton of stamps that I don’t need, but sometimes I just lose my mind at these stamp shows and come home with all kinds of crazy purchases.  Last year I bought so many stamps that I haven’t used yet, so I definitely shouldn’t be buying a bunch more.  I would really like to focus on using the products I already have.  Carol Held calls it shopping out of her own craft room.  I think it’s a brilliant idea and I have been trying not to buy any kinds of embellishments or things that are really unnecessary, but sometimes, shiny things catch my eye, and it’s all over for me.  I have to have whatever it is.  So my goal for this years stamp show is to hopefully meet some of my subscribers and if not, just have a lot of fun roaming from booth to booth, and hopefully, not come home with a car full of crafty goodies.

I spent a long time today, working on cards that were similar to ones Jennifer McGuire made with piecing papers together.  Although it should have been fairly easy, I used the Vagabond and did some die cutting and really struggled with losing little pieces of paper that I needed to complete my cards.  I really liked the end results for both cards, and think they will be nice birthday cards for male friends.  I’ve been having a hard time coming up with cards for friends that are men, so I thought this card technique worked well for them, and I hope you will agree.  I like the look of these cards since I’m a fan of cutting paper strips and man,  did I cut a lot of strips.  I thought it would work well to run the strips through the Xyron to make them sticky, and it did do a terrific job.  I’m not sure why I did this, but at the beginning, I thought I should line the colors up in rainbow order in the Xyron.  I’m not sure what difference it made, since I was just going to tear them off of the backing and lay them on the card front.  It only took me a couple of strips before I realized the foolishness of my actions.  Oh well, these things happen.

 

I wanted to make stamps and show you that you don’t need to have a lot of supplies to be able to make an interesting background. I took a container of foam shapes with adhesive backs that I bought at a garage sale and a piece of foam board or maybe it’s called foam core. I attached five of each of the shapes to themselves then laid then beside each other in a row on the foam board. You need to have enough of these in a stack that you can easily ink them and that the backing doesn’t end up making a mark on your project. You can use any type of ink for this project, but the more colorful, the better. You don’t need to add vellum to the top, but I liked the look of it, so added it. My stamped paper is 4″ x 5 1/4″ and the purple card base is 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ . The vellum is 4″ wide and 6 1/4″ tall and scored at 1/2″ from the top of the 6 1/4″length and at 5 3/4″. I had a circle from a paper punch that was 1 1/2″ and I dropped it onto the Distress Fired Brick oxide ink color and pressed it into the pad to ensure it was coated with color. I made sure it was dry with my heat tool then stamped a sentiment from TAC called Trendy Greetings on it in Versafine Onyx Black, then put clear Ranger embossing powder over it and heat set it. (I used the bag of corn starch and rubbed it on my surface before stamping, to ensure that no embossing powder ended up where I didn’t want it.)
I used tear tape on the ends of my vellum and cut the edges on an angle to the score line so that they didn’t show behind the card front when I glued it down. I also put some tear tape behind the sentiment and under the vellum to make the vellum more see through on the front and so the vellum is well adhered, even though I put tear tape on the back of the card to attach the vellum. I had a black long sticker that I attached to the top and bottom of the vellum. I found the long stickers at AC Moore and Michaels.

I have to say, I’m a little bit frustrated.  We lost another video, well a portion of it.  I’m starting to lose my mind.  I need to get serious about making sure I do a complete video on one memory card and then hand it to Rich and make it go live.  This video was one where I needed to let the first part dry before I could proceed, so I did another project on the memory card, and then finished the first project on another memory card.  So the first card is missing in action and I’m starting to lose my mind!  I have no one to blame but myself, because I should have changed out the memory card, and saved it until I was finished with the first project so the entire  project was on one card.  I’m not going to make that mistake again.  I know you think I’m talking about the chair video, but no, this is another project where I show you how to make your own stamps out of kids foam shapes.  I have so many things that I have to remember when it comes to memory cards, because every time I think I’ve made sure I can’t lose another video, I do.  Oh well, maybe I’m cursed.

Regardless, I did get a card done today that was a lot of fun.  One of our friends just had his birthday and I didn’t remember in time, so I made him an underwater themed card that’s really frisky. It came out really cute and I’m sure he’s going to like it.  And even better, I used the Vagabond for the card.  I know you are shocked, but I cut four different die cuts..  I know, it’s almost a miracle.  Tomorrow, I think I’ll tackle the Jennifer McGuire card that I discussed in yesterday’s post.  Today, I just wanted to play with hair gel. haha