I took on another Jennifer video, this time on craft card stock using a technique called shadow stamping.  I’m not really sure where these technique names come from, because a lot of them seem very similar to each other.  You take white pigment ink and stamp an image, dry it, then shift your stamp/stencil/tape and stamp another color over it.  So far, many of Jennifer McGuire’s techniques have been like this.  I guess I never noticed it before, because I never power-watched her videos, only the crafty favorite ones.  Now that I’m watching several of her videos at once, I’m finding more and more of her techniques involve these same components, just use different names.

I did make one change today in my “Jennifer” process that made a world of difference for me.  Jennifer always makes several of each card she makes.  She says once she has a plan and has the supplies out, why not?  For me, making several cards at once is over-taxing and maybe it’s the same for others.  Although it was fun making ten of a certain card, I find it to be more than I can handle and now I am making a prototype plus the card on video,and I’m done.  It was so much easier for me and made me feel a lot better about becoming “Jennifer McGuire.”  Just because I am trying to use her techniques doesn’t mean I need to make a multitude of cards.  Let’s face it, I didn’t try to organize myself the way she has, so why make ten cards when I only need one or two?

I am really proud of the cards I have produced so far and am looking for a technique that does not involve using white pigment ink for tomorrow’s card.  The problem is that I don’t have my MISTI, and some techniques will require that, so I need to find a technique that doesn’t use the white ink or the MISTI, and that could be a challenge.  Stay tuned, tomorrow’s a whole new day.

I spent the day today travelling to the Cleveland Clinic to meet with a new rheumatologist.  He is supposed to have a tremendous reputation and I was referred to him by a local woman who is his patient and really admires him.

We got there almost an hour early, because it was sleeting when we left home and weren’t really sure about the weather conditions along the way, and didn’t want to be late for the appointment.  They have you complete a very lengthy survey on an IPad and even with the extra time I had allotted, I hadn’t completed the survey by the time they called for me.  After answering the usual questions and providing my medicines etc., the physician arrived to meet with me.  He was very thorough, asking questions about the history of my disease and the medications I’ve tried along the way.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with rheumatoid arthritis, there are a lot of newer medications called “biologics,”  all with very similar side affects.  Primarily, they increase your risk for infection and if you’ve seen any television commercials that reference these medications, they also have been known to cause lymphoma.

Both of my parents died from B Cell Lymphoma and I have had one of my artificial knees become infected, thereby making me very leery of these medications.  That’s not to say that I haven’t tried them, I have.  I haven’t had any good results and the last one I took several months ago, made me gain 30-35 pounds without any increase in food intake.  Since I can’t exercise, losing this weight has not been easy, and it’s one of the reasons you rarely see me on video any more.

After spending almost an hour with the physician (which is almost an unheard of amount of time to see a doctor), he said I should consider another of the biologics.  Which one, he wouldn’t recommend any.  Rich asked for his top two choices, and he wouldn’t give them either.  There was a long moment of silence so I asked, “so what would our next step be?”  He said he couldn’t take me as a patient because I lived so far away, but he would be willing to write up a recap of our visit and forward it to my current rheumatologist.  She’s a very nice lady, but she’s not experienced with my level of disease, which is why I was seeking another doctor with the experience necessary for my disease state.

My biggest fear in going to a new specialist is that they won’t take me as a patient.  Of course, Rich said, they would.  Especially since I had been referred to him by not only my primary care physician but also our local pain clinic.  I’m sure the doctor’s reason for not taking me as a patient had nothing to do with the distance I travelled to reach him (since he has other patients from my geographic area.)  I think it had more to do with the fact that I’m probably beyond his help at this point, and he didn’t want to tell me that.

I think by now you know me well enough to realize that it takes a lot to get me down, but at the end of the visit, I was disappointed and saddened that he wouldn’t give me the real reason that he wouldn’t take me as a patient.  It reminded me of the movie with Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise where Jack says, “You want the truth?  You can’t handle the truth.”  Maybe not, but I would have loved to have been given the option.

I like this technique as it’s results are similar to the ones I did yesterday. I decided to try another of the techniques using Unicorn White Pigment Ink. I used 5 1/4″ x 4″ pieces of vibrant color card stocks and washi taped the back of the paper to a stencil making sure the tape didn’t have a lot of stick left on it. I ran the washi tape over my clothes to take some of the stick off. I put the card stock where I liked it on the back of the stencil and taped it there. Then I used a make-up sponge to dab the white pigment ink on it until the colored card stock is white. Once you have covered the cardstock, remove the stencil and clean the stencil and dry it. Once it’s dry, you should also heat set the white pigment ink on the cardstock you just colored until it’s dry. Reposition the card stock a little off set on the stencil so that the white is a little below where stencil now shows through. I used a darker color dye ink Distress ink Tumbled Glass on the stencil this time. Once the blue is finished, let it dry and then take the stencil off and decide how you want your card to look. On the pink and blue card stocks, I put fun foam under the designed paper I just made and used a small oval scallop punch and punched a sentiment that I had heat embossed with Ranger white embossing powder and punched vellum with the same punch then cut the vellum through the center and used tape to attach it to the back of the sentiment so you can see the vellum. I used a piece of matching baker’s twine and ran it through the center of the back of the sentiment where the vellum is missing and then glued the baker’s twine on the back and foam taped the back of the sentiment and glued it and ran the baker’s twine around the back from the sentiment then laid three small rhinestones around the sentiment.
On the orange card, I used Ranger white embossing powder and a big Thanks sentiment on a piece of 5 1/4 x 4″ orange paper and
measured how far the top of the sentiment was from the top of the card. I cut the background that I created to account for that measurement and then laid foam tape on the back of it and laid it above the sentiment on the card. I measured the bottom of the sentiment to the bottom of the orange and cut my background paper to fit and put foam tape behind it and laid it down. Then I put a few pearls around the “thanks” and this card is done.

I liked these cards and thought they were pretty Jenniferish. I also made a small note card that I show in the end.

Here’s Jennifer’s video that I used as my inspiration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3tng…

 

 

I made my second video on becoming Jennifer McGuire and I’m exhausted.  It’s not the actual  process, it’s the fact that she makes so many variations of it.  Of course if she makes a lot of color variations, I guess I think I need to as well.  It’s overwhelming and I need to go back to part Sandy/part Jennifer McGuire because I can’t make ten variations of the same card (as much as I would like to do so.)  I think I’ll try for three at most going forward.

I’m putting my MISTI in the mail tomorrow to get the grid fixed and will probably be going through MISTI withdrawals while it is gone.  I hope they only have it for a few days because a lot of the J McGuire techniques work best with the MISTI.

I have an appointment at a new rheumatologist tomorrow in Cleveland and it takes over two hours to get there.  I’m not fond of driving to Cleveland because of the snow and the fact that the drive is all along the snow belt.  I am hoping that this new doctor is experienced and has dealt with people with the degree of arthritis that I have.  My problem has been finding physicians that have seen people with R.A. like mine.  Since new biologic drugs have come along, people with arthritis don’t advance to the degree that I have, which is so wonderful, but that also means that more doctors don’t see cases like mine very often.  I’ve been told that this physician has experience with my age group so I’m crossing my fingers that he has some idea of how to treat me.  My last doctor had run out of options on how to control the disease and although I liked her, I need someone who has some ideas in their arsenal that will work for me.

I’ve been working on my Jennifer McGuire series of cards today and I spent so much time and had some problems that I swear, other people wouldn’t have had.  I used a stencil and stenciled in white pigment ink.  Then you remove the stencil and clean it, put it back on the paper in a slightly offset manner, and ink again with a brighter ink that matches the card stock.  That sounded so simple, didn’t it?  I chose a stencil that I absolutely cannot remember how to place it so the symbols line up properly.  I’m not sure how to fix it as I’ve turned the stencil over, sideways, upside down, and still, I can’t line the images up properly.  I’m really feeling foolish.  How could it be so hard to line things up when it’s a 6 x 6″ stencil and a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of paper?  There are only so many ways you can place the stencil.  Geez, it’s frustrating and I still haven’t come up with a solution.   One thing I know for certain, I’m not showing that card in the video unless I figure out what I’m doing wrong.

The other card I did, though, is really great and I think it looks exactly like something Jennifer McGuire would have produced.  I didn’t use any of the same supplies, only the same techniques, as I want these videos to still reflect my own personality and vision.

I was talking with Elishia today about a bucket list idea of mine.  I would love to attend one of Lindsay’s stamp classes that she teaches near Boston in the summer.  She is one of the teachers at a stamp show and although I’ve attended stamp shows, I’ve never taken any classes, but I’d love to take one of hers live.  I don’t think it’s on the agenda for this year, but maybe next.  I think it would be so much fun and maybe a group of us could all go.  If things work out that we get some interest, I’ll definitely keep talking about it on the blog and in videos as we get closer to the date.

We had another big cold front move through the area today so it was bitterly cold and of course, we got more snow.  I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but the older I get, the more I hate snow.  It’s cold, gray (or is it grey?) all the time and snow, snow, snow.  If you don’t live where it snows all the time, it might be fun, but here, it snows from November through the end of April and sometimes into May.  We’re hoping maybe next year we can spend a few months in the south if we can find a medicine to help with both dogs’ car anxiety.  It would be nice to only suffer through a couple months of snow instead of six.

My plan for tomorrow is to finish the J McGuire video I’m almost done with and do at least one more.  I have a couple that I don’t think are very difficult, but since she always seems to make several cards at once, I’ve been doing the same and it really makes the process a lot longer than I’m accustomed to.   Regardless, I’m proud of my results and can’t wait to upload them so you can see them for yourself.

 

The weather has been keeping us indoors and it’s getting a little big claustrophobic as the temperatures are really low and the snow keeps coming down.

I spent a lot of the day working on organizing my Christmas and Halloween/Thanksgiving stamp sets.  I thought it would be great if I had a list of the makers and the names of the sets so that next year I don’t repurchase any sets that seem new but are actually ones I already have.  Then I made a list of the other seasonal items I have, hoping to get a little bit more organized than I currently am.  It didn’t look like I made any progress in cleaning my craft room, but I swear I can see a difference.  I can actually walk through it without wanting to pull my hair out from all of the clutter.

My girlfriend gave me a custom made Christmas ornament (a few days late, but not a problem for me).  It says “crafter” in a silver ornament.  What a sweet and simple idea.  I think I’ll have some made next year for friends who are crafters as well.  I think they will really like to have one.

I didn’t make any more videos for Jennifer McGuire inspired cards, but did get more ideas of ones I am definitely going to make.  I really like her tone on tone cards where she uses pigment white ink with other dye inks.  She uses a bunch of different techniques to accomplish the same exact end result, so I’m going to make videos of all of her techniques so if one looks easier to do for one crafter, they can try it and if another seems easier for someone else, well, you get the idea.

I also talked to my friend Elishia, who recently started her own YouTube channel, WanderingDreamer555, about doing a collaboration where we both use the same stamp set and create our own unique card from the same stamp set.  We have two sets in mind.  One is a Stampendous Hummingbird set and the other isn’t a set, but is a juke box, and my cousin Shelli had asked me to do a video using that stamp and I hadn’t come up with a plan until now.  Shelli, the juke box stamp is coming out and I’m going to be making a card with it in the next week or so.  Finally, I’ve got a plan!

My girlfriend loves to play “Words with Friends” and I had this old Scrabble set and thought this would be a perfect gift for her.  I saw a video by Baby Gizmo (sorry I forgot her name in the video) on YouTube showing this technique.

All you need to make this project are:
-Scrabble letters (I found my sets at thrift stores and garage sales
and they don’t need to be complete, just have enough letters that you can form sixteen to twenty-four letters worth of words from them.  I made five coasters because I couldn’t think of any words to make with the letters I had left.
–E6000 glue (I only used the very smallest new tube and had enough for my project) Joanns sells a four pack of the smaller tubes for $5.49 before a coupon, or a larger tube for $6.99 before using a coupon.
-Xacto knife
-t ruler to make sure your tiles are straight
–thin cork pieces–You can find this at Michaels, but make sure you use a coupon if you buy larger pieces.  I found this set for $1.99 on Michaels.com website that will make four of these coasters and shouldn’t involve much trimming.
http://www.michaels.com/artminds-cork-discs/10107897.html#q=cork&start=4
-polyurethane spray I found a can of Rustoleum polyurethane at Walmart for $5.17 online but have found it on sale at my local hardware store for less.
–sand paper or sanding block

I took each of my letters and formed four letter words.  If I had a larger word, I figured out how to shorten it but still be able to read it by taking out vowels.  If you have shorter words, fill with blank tiles or the backs of tiles you won’t use like “Q” or “Z”.. I tried to put four words together that made sense.  You’ll need at least sixteen four letter words to make four coasters.

Once you have formed your words, lightly sand the backs of the tiles so the glue will adhere better.  Starting in the bottom right corner of your cork, lay the last letter of the bottom word of your four words you are using together and glue it down. It’s easier to do it this way to ensure your tiles are straight.  Finish gluing the last word and then start the word above it using the last letter again to make sure they are straight.  Put a dollop of glue on the backs, but don’t get the glue on the front or you’ll be able to see it when you are finished.  If you get a little glue on it, wipe it off immediately with a baby wipe or wet paper towel.  Once you have all four words glued, immediately use a t ruler or two rulers in the shape of an “L” to ensure your letters are straight on the cork.  Make sure you do this before the glue has time to dry.  After all of your letters are glued down, put a heavy bottle on top of it to weigh them down.  I put two of my tiles on top of each other and then laid a heavy book or jar on top of them for weight.  Let them dry overnight, then trim the coasters with the X-acto knife on a safe cutting surface like a cutting mat or a cutting block from the kitchen.  Once trimmed to your liking (so you can’t see the cork), you can use the sand paper on the edges so your cork has a clean edge.
Spray the coasters with polyurethane and set to dry.  I sprayed mine with two good layers of spray and did this outside for good ventilation.  Let them set a few hours between coats.  Once they are dry, tie a nice ribbon around them and you are done.
My friend loved her coasters as I themed them around her lake house.
This is not a hard project and if you find the things you need around the house (the game, polyurethane, sand paper, x-acto knife), it’s not an expensive project to make.
If you enjoy this video, I’d really appreciate it if you would pass it along to one friend that maybe hasn’t seen my channel as I’d like to grow to 3,000 subscribers this year.  If your friend likes the video, they might subscribe and tell one friend, and on and on.

I had a great time today, shopping with my girlfriend.  Spent a minimal amount of time at the Dollar Tree but came home to find a pile of crafty fun that came in the mail.  Who can resist it?  I got a bunch of fun things for future Jennifer projects and can’t wait to start playing with them.  I’ve also found a couple of really discounted Christmas ornaments to start my hoard for next year’s Christmas framed art.  I’m telling you, that is addicting.  Right before Christmas I took them to friends who work in offices and dropped one off on every desk and the people that work there were thrilled that someone would think of them.  I just love making them and they are so easy and fast, I’ll be making a ton of them next year so I can cover my whole town with them.  Ok, maybe only a portion of the town.

Onto my Jennifer McGuire project.  I’ve been getting so many wonderful comments on my first video and I could not be more proud.  I was kind of worried that people might get the wrong idea about why I’m doing it and also that my cards might not be good enough to be compared to hers.  Instead, I’m finding that others are happy to see that her cards are easier to make than they appear and that I’m doing this to improve my card making skills, and there’s no harm in that.  Sadly, Jennifer has not replied to the Facebook post that I left for her, but that’s ok, I just wanted to make sure that she knew I was doing it in case she might be opposed to the process.  So far, my 2017 resolutions are in full swing and I’m having a terrific time with them.  I’m not saying I’ll be jumping into the Vagabond just yet, but it’s definitely going to happen before the end of this month.

Oh, and if you are in the mood to do some crafty shopping, check out Tupelo Designs, where they are having a birthday sale with some really great deals, and of course, I couldn’t resist.

That reminds me of something else I did today.  I’ve been trying to compile a list of all of the crafty offers I saw this year (for the holiday season) so that I could put them on a blog or video early in November ne, 2017, so people are aware of the offers that stores used this year.  If the stores stick to their normal format, their sales should be similar and it should give all of us crafty shoppers advance notice of the stores we need to follow for their upcoming sales.  My list starts at the beginning of November and goes through January 1st, so I think it’s fairly complete.  It’s my hope that it helps all of my crafty friends find discounts that they might not normally know about otherwise.  We’ll call it an early Craftsmas gift.

I’m thrilled at the comments I’ve been getting from my first Jennifer McGuire inspired card.  People have been very kind and said they really liked the cards and thought they turned out well.  Before I put up any videos, I tried to contact Jennifer McGuire to let her know my plan and to make sure she was ok with it.  After over an hour of searching her website, blog and finally Facebook, without finding a link to email or a contact button, I chose to leave a message on Facebook.  I’m not sure if she reads or responds to them, but at least I feel like I did my due diligence in letting her know of my intentions.  The last thing I would want to do is offend her and I’m not sure if she would understand my sense of humor since she doesn’t know me.  I definitely don’t want her thinking she’s acquired a stalker, but then again, maybe she doesn’t read anything anyone writes on her page, so she’ll never know about my videos.

The funny part of this plan is that I feel badly, because I really feel inspired by the way Lindsay speaks to her audience and feel much more connected to her. I would have loved to have done a year of “becoming Lindsay,” but I can’t paint, and although she has given me a painting tutorial to attempt, I’ve watched her do it, and I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to hold my wrist in the right position to paint.  I think I’ll end up with my arm in the wet paint and we all know how that will turn out.  She’s still my crafty idol though, and has shown me so many different crafts that I will forever be grateful for the education she has given me.  I wish there was a way for me to thank her for what she’s given me by way of her extensive knowledge.

I’m happy to say that I cleaned my craft room today for many hours and although you’d never know I did anything, I feel like I have accomplished something.  I organized all of my Halloween through Christmas stamps and documented the names of all of the sets I have for those time frames.  At least now I have a small clue about what stamp sets I own for the holidays.  That, in itself, took a really long time to accomplish.  I feel pretty good about finishing the list and putting all of the holiday things away for the year.  I am thinking about doing a bunch of videos throughout the year for Christmas, but not airing them.  I just want to accumulate them so I don’t feel rushed in the weeks before Christmas.  I don’t know about Christmas in July, but I was thinking about the twelve days of Christmas and making twelve ornaments, maybe one per month, so that people can start to get their Christmas ideas lined up.  They might not do them when I put them up, but at least they will know they are there.  I’ve also considered doing them, and keeping them, and not uploading them until the beginning of November, and have that be the twelve days of Christmas.

I saw one of those “Elf on a Shelf” and thought it might be fun to include one of those in the pictures of my twelve days of Christmas videos with the elf in all kinds of weird positions.  I’m still in the thinking stages right now.  In a couple of weeks, I’ll probably have forgotten all about the elf and the twelve days of ornaments.  That’s sometimes how it goes with me.

 

One of my New Year’s resolutions is that I want to turn into Jennifer McGuire this year.  Not in her organized way, I’ll never be able to handle that, but in her cards.  I think she has a remarkable eye for card making and want to try to be more like her.  Of course that doesn’t mean I don’t still love Lindsay, she’s my first crafty love, but she’s doing more painting and worry that might be more than I can aspire to.
With that being said, I watched some videos Jennifer did on Monochromatic Stamping.  Here are the two videos that I combined into creating my own technique.

and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp2RSg3Oo5s&t=219s

I started with a bunch of sheets of different medium colored card stocks that were each 5 1/4″ tall by 4″ wide.  I then laid my Bamboo Rose stamps from Altenew. and put my card stock on the 1″ mark on the Misti.  I inked the MISTI with Unicorn White pigment ink from Hero Arts and had to re-stamp my images a couple of times to ensure they were all really white.  I found in doing this process with darker colored card stock.  I recommend light to medium colors as the darks just did not look as good I thought they should.
After letting my white ink dry overnight, I chose ink colors that were a little darker than the card stock and then moved my card stock to 7/8″ or 15/16″ on my MISTI and put the magnet on the top of the card again.  I used Grape Jelly ink on the purple card stock from Color Box by My Favorite Things.  If the color doesn’t show up vivid enough, go for a darker or brighter ink.  I used a wide variety of inks with my colored cardstocks until I got the colors I liked.
I apologize that I forgot to show stamping the sentiments and heat embossing them.  I used Pearl White detail embossing from Hero Arts and White Embossing powder from Hero Arts.
After the inks were dry, I put a piece of fun foam on the back of my card fronts, I used wet glue, but I highly recommend using tear tape instead.  Once I changed over to tear tape, my card fronts looked much more flat.  The ones I used with wet glue, I had to put a heavy book on the cards to make them flat.
I put matching washi tape on my envelopes and I really think my cards came out close to something Jennifer McGuire would have created.  I have to say, for my first attempt, I’m really pleased with the results and hope you are as well.  This isn’t a difficult process, but it is time consuming.  I could have used my heat gun to speed up the process, but I made so many cards, it would have taken a long time to heat them all.

Please leave me a comment and let me know if you like this series!  Also, I would appreciate it if you like a video, that you will send the link to one friend so they can see my channel and maybe they will subscribe as well.  My other resolution is to grow my channel to 3,000 subscribers this year.  I’d really appreciate your help with this quest I’m on.