You know when you have one of those moments that just blow your mind?  Today has been one of those days for me.  This morning, Jennifer McGuire put a note about my YouTube channel on her Facebook page and I started getting a lot of comments and new subscribers.  I think I might have gotten forty new subscribers over night.  The comments were amazing including one from Gina K from Stamp TV who I have admired since starting watching videos.  I am thrilled she took the time to watch my haul video and comment.  I also got a comment from Jennifer McGuire.  Some days you just want to pinch yourself because things are so much fun.  I’m thrilled that other really serious YouTubers would take the time to watch one of my videos and comment.  It’s so much fun, much like the times that Lindsay has taken the time to respond to my comments to her.  I’m always amazed that she does that, considering she has so many comments and yet she still makes the time to write me a note.

Our latest conversation was about me learning to watercolor.  I’ve decided I’m going to try to do a watercolor that Lindsay recommended and I’m going to do it on video. Why not?  You know it’s not going to be good, we already know I can’t paint, but what the heck?  We’ll all get a big laugh out of my skill set and I’ll have some art to line my garbage can.  I’d love to be able to paint.  I watch her do a small drawing and my envy is so intense, I just wish I could hold the paintbrush in the positions she does.  It’s so great that she can hold her hand so still and barely have the brush touch the surface of the paper, I’m envious of that alone.  Apparently my envy is limitless when it comes to artists.  She did a drawing of an eye the other day and if you haven’t seen that video, you should.  It’s amazing.  It looks like a photograph to me.  I’m positively blown away by that kind of talent.  I realize she’s been painting all of her life, but it still just blows me away.

My senior year in college I took a pottery class and I fell in love with it, and spent every free moment in the studio making anything and everything.  I decided I would make myself a set of pottery dishes and ended up with service for eight including serving dishes, a water pitcher and everything you would need to do a full course meal.  I remember the instructor telling me she felt that I was really trying to do too much with my plan, little did she know that not only did I make the dish set, but I also made enough random pieces, that everyone I knew had a piece of my “art.”  I’m not saying I was talented, but if you ever get the chance to take a pottery class, do it, you’ll fall in love.  Of course I couldn’t make it now because of the ways you have to hold your hands, but I remember that class and I can still smell the wet clay.  It was a great experience.

Tonight Rich and I are going back to our alma mater to speak to the college seniors about life, careers, and what it takes to succeed in today’s job market.  I really enjoy speaking to the students as they are weeks away from graduating and if they don’t have jobs at this point, are starting to feel the pressure and anxiety start to build.  I also volunteer to interview each of the students to prepare them for the process and this is the kick-off to setting the schedule for interviews and the interviewing seminar that I lead before we do any interviewing.  Our students are getting jobs because most colleges don’t prepare their students for interviews or work on their resumes with them.  Can you imagine spending four years and acquiring a ton of debt and not having a job to show for it?  It’s a scary job market and I really feel for these students.  I’m really happy to help them get their jobs and love it when I hear from any of them when they get their acceptance letters.  I’m almost more excited than they are, almost.

One last note before I go.  The memory card is still missing and I think it’s time to call time of death on it…Darn it.

I have to say that sometimes I might be crazy, or at least on my way to becoming crazy.  How many times can I tell you that I’ve lost a video,  or erased a memory card, or lost the memory card, or finally deleted the video from the memory card?  Well apparently, no matter what excuses I’ve made in the past, there’s always another one to add to the list.

I just finished two new videos today and was taking the memory card out of the camera.  Now for common people, (people who lack extraordinary abilities such as myself), you would eject the memory card and proceed on your way.  Not so if you have my infinitely impressive skill set.  I was able to eject the memory card and turn it into a projectile that landed, well, who knows where.  At first I felt it was only a matter of time and searching, and I would eventually find the memory card.  The appropriate amount of time had passed so I enlisted Rich to help find the card.  He did a terrific job of searching and looking under and inside of cabinets etc., to no avail.  It was at that point that I mentioned how police have a set amount of time before a missing person is considered seriously missing, and we had reached that point with the memory card.  The point that it’s probably never going to be found.  I spent three more hours and I have yet to find the missing card.  I guess we will add this to the many ways I have lost a video before it’s been uploaded.  Don’t worry, I’ll keep you in the loop and if it does appear, you’ll be the first to know.   I feel so foolish, because we all know Jennifer McGuire wouldn’t have lost a memory card in such a crazy way.

Our college friend, Kelly Nan, was buried today. Rich and four of our college friends were pallbearers.  I couldn’t look at them without crying knowing how proud they were to have such an honor, but how broken hearted they were to have lost such a great friend.  Kelly was a wonderful man and will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

I’ll be back blogging and crafting tomorrow, but for tonight, I’m taking a break and remembering a good friend.

This technique would work better if the image had fewer lines (in my opinion.)  You might also notice that I thought I was using the largest stamp and only used the two smaller sizes, but I was committed and decided not to remake the card, because Jennifer says she doesn’t get rid of a card once she’s really worked on it..

Jennifer used gel pens and I did try using the gel pens, but I couldn’t get a good result and I think that’s because I can’t hold the gel pens properly to get a clean line.  So I went to my Stabilo 68 Pens and used them instead.

I ueed two floral stamps that had a lot of nice lines in them and thought that would work well for this technique.  I made masks of the two smaller size flowers on a post it note pad and then I stamped using Stampin’ Up basic grey ink that I stamped off onto scrap paper and then stamped it onto the top folding card.  It is 11″ high by 4 1/4″ wide scored at 5 1/2″.  I stamped a flower on a scrap paper then randomly on the card (leaving room at the top of the card for the sentiment.  I repeated the process and again, thought I used the biggest flower but used the middle size one again.  I filled in any empty areas with the smallest flower stamping it so it ran off the side of the paper.  I used the Stabilo markers to trace the light lines that the grey ink left behind.  I only used an orange and red marker color.  Because my markers were thicker than a pen would be, I don’t think my card is as nice and clean looking as it would have been if I had used the gel pens.
I decided the would look better if I embossed them, so I used Marvy embossing markers and retraced my lines and then used clear Ranger embossing powder to emboss them.  After using the heat tool, I put some glittery black embellishments in the centers of my flowers.  The sentiment was done using the Marvy orange marker and clear embossing powder.
Unfortunately, my sentiment and the flowers do not have any maker information on them so I can’t tell you the manufacturing information and I apologize for that.
I used a stencil from Stampin’ Up to use the polka dots and used the black Marvy marker to be able emboss them and make the polka dots match the centers of the flowers.  I bought those embellishments at Michaels and don’t know what they are called.  In the end, I cut the front off of the card and cut it down to 5 1/4″ x 4″ and put it on a red card base that measured 11″ 4 1/4″ scored at 5 1/2″  I hope you enjoyed this card, I’m still not sure I love it, but the technique I don’t think is one that works well for someone with hand issues as tracing with gel pens isn’t as easy as with a marker.

I decided to do an old JM video reprisal on glitter and shine, I think Jennifer called it.  She made a card with glitter and of course, her glitter didn’t go everywhere and her Swiffer cleaned it up like it had never been there. So how did I end up with so much of it on my hands, table, my pants and floor?  I didn’t just use a tiny piece of Swiffer, I used the whole sheet.  Clearly, I’m Swiffer challenged.  I was laughing at myself (off camera, because it’s not nice to make fun of people like me.)  I had so much glitter everywhere and then, of course I spilled the little bottle, and even though only the little sprinkle spout was open, glitter went everywhere.

So that wasn’t enough stress for one day, and I made another video, because one moment of torture is definitely not enough.  This one was for Honey and her anxiety.  The veterinarian suggested we buy this pheromone that the mother dog produces and it’s supposed to ease the anxiety in her puppies.  Studies have shown that this pheromone will work for dogs of all ages.  They suggest that you spray it around their kennel, (she’s never in her kennel unless we are not home.)  The alternative is to spray a bandana and tie it around her neck.  Great, perfect plan.  Rich and I went to Joann’s and he chose some fabrics that he could live with.  He wasn’t thrilled with them, but eventually he decided they were acceptable for his dogs.  So I bought the material and some sort of fray stop.  I used the old bandana from our last groomer visit as a template, traced it and cut them out using pinking shears so they won’t fray.  I wasn’t convinced the fray stop product would work, considering my dogs would be using the bandanas as a tug of war tool.  I made the video and said that I would put the bandana on Honey and report back after she had any kind of anxiety to determine whether or not the pheromone works.  By the way, the vet sells a bottle of this for around $40 and I found it on a diabetic website (not sure what anxious dogs and diabetic humans have in common),  for less than $15 with shipping included, for the exact same product.

It’s now been about four hours since I put the bandana on Honey and it’s now partially (ok, mostly) shredded and Rich raised his voice and Honey peed everywhere.  I’m going to say that this is probably not going to be the answer to Honey’s anxiety, but apparently it was a lot of fun to tear apart.  Geez!

I was excited when one of my viewers mentioned that Tim Holtz was coming out with his version of the MISTI.  Competition is always a good thing because it allows us to benefit from different choices, and more importantly, helps bring the prices down so that more crafters can find it in their budget to purchase a product.  Here is the Tim Holtz version that won’t be available until mid April.

https://www.simonsaysstamp.com/product/Tim-Holtz-Tonic-Craft-STAMP-PLATFORM-1708E-1708E

 

So far, it looks very similar to the MISTI and I’m hoping the quality is the same.  I can’t recommend the MISTI enough, but I have to say, it’s cost has made it prohibitive for many crafters.  The Tim Holtz version is coming out at $39.99 and hopefully will be available on sale by Christmas time.

The crafter with physical limitations benefits the most from the MISTI type product and  although I have tried to send emails to people when I’ve seen sales on MISTI, it’s price, even on sale, has never been so low.  I don’t plan on purchasing one of the Tim Holtz versions, as I don’t see the need for two of them, but do hope some of you are able to find it in your budget to purchase one and let me know what you think of it.  I’m thrilled that there will be an option at a much lower price point as eventually, I hope every stamper that needs this type of product will be able to own one.

After finding the Tim Holtz version, I found that Hampton Arts has also come out with a stamp positioning tool much like the MISTI.  The difference that I have found so far is that is comes in two sizes, a 10″ x 10″ and a smaller one.  the 10″ version is only $25.99 at Tupelo Designs and they don’t charge shipping.  The smaller one is $21.30.  I am really excited by these new products and hope they are of the same quality as the MISTI.  I’m especially excited about the prices and how the larger one from Hampton Arts is only $25.99.  That’s a much lower price point than any of the others.

In my quest to become Jennifer McGuire, I had to have the stamp kit that she made a card from that came from Hero Arts.  Scrapbook.com had a terrific sale after the beginning of the year and I bought a lot of stencils. Stampin’ Up had some great clearance items that I bought and I also found some things at Tupelo Designs and Gina K.  I wanted to try her inks and papers as Jennifer McGuire really recommends her inks and papers.

Today wasn’t much fun, I have to say.  We decided we needed to go to our friends’ home (that passed away) and deliver paper products for them.  When my father died, it was by far the best thing anyone gave us and ever since then, I’ve made sure to duplicate this gift whenever someone close to us passes.  In case you are interested in doing this, you take a big container of the medium paper plates (make sure they are made by Dixie as they really hold up well and are paper so will be biodegradable.)  We also take napkins (without any cute flowers, just plain white), cups, silverware, a six pack of paper towels, a big pack of toilet paper (I think it had 24 rolls in it), small packs of Kleenex for inside pockets, a case of purified water in smaller bottles, Tic Tacs and Altoids, a box of gallon Ziploc bags, Dawn dishwashing detergent and a box of kitchen garbage bags.  There may have been more things, but that’s what I can remember off the top of my head.

The thing that’s great about this gift is it allows the family to focus on the important things and not worry about whether they need to do dishes, or if they remembered to buy toilet paper, or where to store all of those leftovers.  It’s also great because you can take the small Kleenex packs in coat pockets as well as the Tic Tacs because anxiety makes you get dry mouth and if a couple people in the family have these things in their pockets, the rest of the family can go to them to get some reprieve.  Same with the water bottles.  Some funeral homes provide water, but if they don’t and the family wants to have some on hand, they can bring a couple of bottles and sip on them when they have a moment’s break.

I’m not sure why I felt the need to go on this big explanation, but I have to say, it was such a great gift that I’ve never forgotten it.  One of my close girlfriends lost her husband about ten years ago and of course, she got my great big trunk full of paper products.  Ever since then, she only gives this gift as well, and it makes me happy that it had such an impact on someone I’ve given it to.  Sometimes a practical gift can have real impact.

Rich was a real trooper.  First shopping for everything, then driving almost an hour each way to deliver it.  He’s a great guy, never complained once.  Ok once, when I almost gave away the candy bar we’d bought for him.  The day would have taken an ugly turn if he’d have been without his candy.

Ever since I made the jukebox card and tried to blend the markers from different manufacturers, I’ve been thinking about my marker situation.  I have a lot of Spectrum Noir markers and some Bic-Mark-It and Sharpies.  I’m not a big “name brand” shopper, I just like products that work well for me.  What I’ve been finding is that I have a good range of light colors and a great range of very dark colors, but the middle range seems to elude me.  I got serious about this situation at one point and went to an online sales at Joann’s and tried to fill the middle colors and did buy over twenty markers, but I continue to have the problem.  It’s like those twenty didn’t make a difference in the situation at all.  Today, I was watching some YouTube videos on markers and found a brand from outside of the U.S. that I might be buying.  At this point (it’s been one of those days when names elude me), I can only remember that it has the number five in their name.   They are very inexpensive and are rated really highly by the people on YouTube that have done reviews on them.  I’m seriously thinking of buying them as they have different sets and one of the sets is on animation and apparently has a lot of colors in the skin tone family.  When I looked at their range of colors, they appear to land in the area I am lacking, and I hope that they will make blending a lot easier.  It’s really hard to identify if the sets overlap significantly, say if I like the one for fashion, or architecture.  I have no idea what the color numbers are in each set and I haven’t found anyone who has discussed the overlapping of colors.  I don’t really want to buy a set of 60 or 80 of these and fall in love with them and then buy a fashion set and have 20 of the same colored markers.  So that’s where I stand on the marker front.  The other issue I have is storage.  I realize that markers are to be stored on their sides, but so many of the storage containers I have found will store the markers upright.  I’d really like input from someone who has a lot of markers and how they store theirs.  I have seen craft room tours that show people using the IKEA carts and store their markers on the top shelf in containers, again vertically.  I really thought that was a hard and fast rule on marker storage, so I wish I knew how much of an issue it is to store them vertically.  These are the things that keep me awake at night.  Actually, they don’t, but they do really kind of bug me.  How am I supposed to know the right way to do things, when every crafter does it a different way?  Yikes!  I don’t want to spend a lot of money on markers and ruin them by storing them the wrong way.  I’m looking for the ultimate answer on this.  Oh, and here’s another thing.  Why do the Crafter’s Companion people make marker storage bags that will hold almost 200 markers but don’t include the trays in the bag to hold them.  You need to buy them separately. If you don’t purchase the trays separately, then how do you keep them organized in the bag, or do they all just tumble out when you unzip it?  This is almost too much to consider.

I saw Jennifer McGuire do this technique and thought it was really an interesting one to try. You need a background stamp and I forgot to tell you something I do to save space. I use a Stampin’ Up background stamp and then I mount another company’s stamp on the back of it. This stamp is from Rubberneckers and is called Abstract Roses that I think is now retired. I used Tim Holtz Watercolor paper and put it on a craft mat or in my case, a cutting plastic mat from the Dollar Tree. I rubbed a pouch with corn starch in it over the paper. I laid my stamp on the matt and then used Versamark Ink on the stamp then laid the watercolor paper over that and rubbed it well to make sure the ink transferred from to the paper. I used Ranger clear embossing powder with a piece of scrap paper on it to lay my paper on and then covered it with the powder. Make sure you don’t have any stray powder on your paper and then pour the excess off the paper onto the scrap and put the powder back in the bottle. Heat set the paper. Once the powder is shiny, it’s done. I could have used foam daubers, but chose to just use my ink pads and pressed into the paper in a random paper. I used Seedless Preserves, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, Dusty Concord and Mowed Lawn Distress Inks. Once I was done, I wiped the paper with an old baby washcloth (that can be reused and washed) to remove ink from the areas that were embossed. I used a glimmer spray on it that I made from using an old spray bottle for spray cologne (buy them at garage sales for a great bargain), and fill it about 2/3rd full with either water or inexpensive alcohol and put MICA powder into it and swirl it like you would ring a bell. I used L A Colors eye shadow you can buy in a pot from the Dollar Tree. I shook my bottle to make sure the mica is not on the bottom of the bottle (again, shake it like a bell), and then spray the surface. I saturated my paper and then let it air dry. Jennifer said she did not like using the heat tool on this technique (but I don’t remember why), so I did not.
Once it is dry, put down a piece of scrap paper and lay your paper down then add another scrap paper and put your old iron on a non-spray setting and iron until you can see the pattern is coming through the scrap. The purpose of this is to take the shine and raised image off the embossing powder and flatten our project. I made a card that is 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ and put a layer of purple paper that was 5 1/4″ x 4″ and then cut my watercolor background down to 5″ x 3 3/4″.
I used a stamp set Hero Arts Just Saying Hi stamp set and vellum for my sentiment. I used Embossing Pearl Gold embossing powder that was old, but still worked. I ran my pouch of corn starch over vellum and then put the vellum in my MISTI and stamped the image and the telephone on the vellum. I heat set it and then cut it like a banner and attached it to the card using tape runner under the phone and writing. I added some sequins with glue dots and put more glue dots under the vellum where the sequins were to adhere the vellum to the card. Anything you put under vellum will show through the vellum so it’s important that you hide the glue under things.
I thought the card was cute and hope you like this technique. The video of this technique on Jennifer’s YouTube page is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3BiE…