I had a terrific day today.  This morning, I met my two close college friends for breakfast.  We each drive almost an hour to meet in the middle and it makes it so we’re able to see each other at least four times a year.  Since we’ve been out of school since the early 1980’s, it’s a commitment we’ve made to each other over the years to ensure that we never lose touch.  Of course we also keep in touch by email and telephone, but seeing each other is so much better.

The place we meet is by a mall, so Rich and I did a little bit of shopping and couldn’t get over how crowded the mall is for Christmas shopping.  I think I’m out of touch as I am amazed how the “Christmas shopping event” has stretched from Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), to now having another Black Friday any Friday in November.  I saw Christmas decorations in stores in September.  Are we stretching things just a little bit, or is this a way to make me feel guilty that I haven’t even thought about Rich’s birthday which is the beginning of December, let alone his Christmas gifts.

I think when you are as old as we are, you’ve basically accumulated the things you want and don’t really need much anymore either, so it’s difficult to find gift ideas.  I have a couple of girlfriends that I exchange gifts with and one is retired like I am,  and has everything she needs.  It’s so hard to think of ideas for her and I try very hard to make every holiday special and every gift to have some meaning.  I think I might have one of the photos Rich took of her puppy and have it made into a throw for on her couch.  She loved the album I made her (there’s a video of it on my site and if you search “puppy album”, it should come up for you.

Christmas is such a high pressure time for people, with money and time both at a premium.  I’ve been trying to focus my Christmas videos on one or both of those ideas to try to take some of the pressures off of my viewers/subscribers.  I hope I can do just a little bit to help them get through this very stressful time.  I feel the stress and I’m not really sure why.

 

I have been meaning to make this video for a long time but this was the perfect opportunity to make an ink pad specific to the stamp.
I used Simon Says Stamp Thankful Heart and Printworks Celebrate America stamps for the sentiments.  The flag stamp didn’t have any information on it other than the store it was purchased at and their telephone number from Rubber Monger phone number 928-536-5128. but I don’t know if it is available any longer.
I used Ranger Cut n’ Dry foam stamp pad to create our ink pad.  The first thing you do is place the stamp in the corner of the Cut=n-Dry and then using a Sharpie, trace around the stamp.  Using a black archival ink, stamp inside the box you created and then cut it out with good scissors, I used Tim Holtz scissors.  Once you’ve cut it out, you will color the appropriate colors with dye based re-inkers.  I used Stampin’ Up Real Red and Night of Navy re inkers.  Don’t be shy when you use them and you will only be putting the re inkers on the dark spots that the archival left behind.  All of the white areas don’t need re inker on them.  This ink pad should produce thirty or more images, so it is perfect for Christmas cards.  Once you have inked the entire stamp, place the stamp on the new “ink pad” and try it.  If you don’t have enough re inker on it or you need to put more in an area you missed, now is the time to perfect it.
The process works better if you have a more etched stamp but if you have a stamp that is thin lines, you can use a water brush and move the ink around the image, but if you do this, I’d recommend you stamp on watercolor paper so the paper doesn’t ball.  In the time it took me to stamp one image normally, I stamped five flags.  This process is terrific and I hope you give it a try.
You might try using fun foam instead of the Cut-n-Dry, but the ink would definitely bleed through to whatever is beneath it and that doesn’t happen with the Cut-n-Dry.  You can purchase Cut-n-Dry for $3.74 at Joanns (full price) and $3.82 at Walmart..
I made several cards with this process and showed them on the video.  I used A2 size card bases, 8 1/2″ high and 5 1/2″ across scored at 4 1/4″ on the 8 1/2″ side.
I apologize for the light that showed in the entire video.  Geez.

I have been meaning to do a video that was a throwback to something Tim Holtz and Carol Duvall did on a video that’s now on YouTube for Christmas over ten years ago.  He showed the audience how to make a stamp pad with colors that would be specific to the project you are making.  With today being Veteran’s Day, I decided that this was the perfect opportunity for me to not only make a bunch of cards for service people, but also to use this technique in a video so others can apply it to their Christmas card making.

The video should be live in an hour and I made Rich back burner all of the videos ahead of it, so it would be live on Veteran’s Day.  I was amazed at how quickly I could put cards together once I had the focal point stamped.  When I made a stamp pad with the focal point on it, it was just a matter of stamp and go.  I really think this is the perfect idea for people who make a lot of Christmas cards (or even a few using the same stamp.)  I’m hoping it will be a big time saver for them as well.

My sister loved the Primrose Petals card I made early in my YouTube channel.  I wanted to show you the cards I made that were similar but different to the original card.  I made a lot of sentiments to go inside the cards and showed you how to make these easily in another video, so I linked that video to this one as well.  This video was a way to show you how to make the same card but try to make it look different by changing the colors, papers and embellishments.  The embellishments that were resin flowers I bought on ebay for 94 cents for thirty of them and the item number is  222091402976.  They take a while to get from Japan and they came in a variety of colors,  I really like them.  I hope you like the cards.

Today I focused on cleaning and then went crazy making videos.  I’m so excited about this series of videos for saving time or money for Christmas, that I just can’t stop.  I made three tonight.  The first is a haul video that I end by making a gift out of part of the haul.  The second is how to make your own DIY dry dog shampoo and how to turn it into a gift and the third is how to make your own perfumed powder or perfumed glimmer powder.  All three are very inexpensive and make great gifts (in my opinion.)  I’m hoping people will like this series as much as I am enjoying making the videos.  The upside is that I’m taking care of some of my Christmas gifts along the way.  I love it when a plan comes together!

I’m not sure if I have mentioned this or not, but when Rich and I travel, I always have made a journal.  I include some memorabilia and recap every day, and at the end of every trip, Rich and I share the top three things we’ve eaten and our favorite moment of the trip.  I’ve been wondering if people would enjoy a video that describes my system and to see a few examples of journals I’ve made in the past.  I can’t decide if this is something that people would be interested in seeing or not.  It’s just one of those things that’s been spinning around in my brain while I think through whether I should make the video or not.  Any ideas you have on the subject would be terrific!  It’s always great to get someone else to give me input and I’d really appreciate getting some on this.

I just never know which videos seem to resonate with people.  The glue dot video wasn’t (in my opinion) a new idea, but a lot of people seem to have been unaware that you could make and store your own glue dots.  I’m thrilled when I find a topic that hasn’t been covered repeatedly on YouTube.  It’s not easy to do and sometimes I think everything has already been done on YouTube.  This video is the first of the videos I’m planning to do for Christmas to help save people either time or money and possibly both for the holidays.  There are so many pressures for people at this time of year and I’d just like to give a few simple, inexpensive ideas that might make people’s lives a little less stressful this time of year.

I know that Rich has a big backlog of videos that he needs to upload and I feel sorry for him that I am inundating him with work.  He says he doesn’t mind, but I have been giving him on average, two to three per day to put online.  It’s not easy having me hand a couple of memory cards and some scribbled notes that don’t make much sense, but he does his best with it.

At this point, I’m not totally certain what videos he still has to put up from a couple of weeks ago.  I’m hoping you’ll enjoy them!

 

To make your own glue dots and holder, all you need is:
-wax paper or your old glue dot paper, cut to the length and width of the pad you use for your backing.
-a piece of cardboard.  I used the back of a notepad that sticks to the refrigerator because I liked the magnet to hold my pad.
-Aleene’s Tack it Over and Over
-stapler and staples (I love the Staples stapler as it is the easiest stapler I’ve ever used.)
-decorator paper for the outside of my book of glue dots.
-washi tape to cover the staples on both sides to avoid catching them on things.

I cut my papers to fit my backing cardboard which was 5 1/2″ long by 3 1/2″ wide.  I cut my outside decorator paper 3 1/2″ wide by about 11″ long and then cut the pad to uncover the magnet.  I did score my paper at 5 1/2″ and 5 5/8″ to allow for the thickness of my papers inside.
You will cut your wax paper to 3 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ tall and then lay the wax paper out and make the small dots of Aleene’s tack it over and over on it.  Space the dots out so they are about 1/2″ from the top to leave room for the staples and so they are far enough apart that you don’t get caught up in them when you use them.
After your dots have dried, you will carefully stack your papers and then put them inside the cover, making sure you have one blank piece of wax paper in front of your first sheet of glue dots.  Put the stack of sheets inside the cover and put your back cover on the back.  Take your stapler and staple across the top of the cover and then I used washi tape over the staples so the backs didn’t catch on anything.
When you use these, use one page and then replace the glue dots on that page when you are finished crafting for the day.  Just fold the paper back so it doesn’t touch anything while they are drying.  Don’t put the papers back together until it dries.

I spent most of today finishing the album, which actually came out really pretty cute and then, cleaning my craft room.  Yikes!  For those of you that craft, you know what I’m talking about, when your room seems to swallow you up.  I had just about given up on trying to keep it in any semblance of order, and then today I found the will to start to tear it apart section by section.  I’m not saying it’s clean, but I’m getting there.  I think I might see a distant light in the very far distance.  Oh who am I kidding?  As soon as I clean it, I’ll find a way to make it a horrible mess again.  It’s just the way I am.

I am definitely on hold to buy anything further for crafting.  I have way too much stuff as it is and if I can just stick to my guns, maybe I can keep my room in order.  It’s all of the things I bought at garage sales this summer that have overwhelmed me.  I’ve bought so many things and just don’t have the room for them.  I need to make things and give them away and be done with them.  That’s the secret to organizing for me.  Make it and give it away.  Oh, and donate to the library all of the papers and things I just don’t want or need.  It’s been a real benefit to be able to easily get rid of things I just don’t like.  They use it in their children’s area for craft time.  I’m so glad to help as it takes a load off of me, literally!

 

I decided to give the paper bag albums that I’ve been seeing everywhere a try.  They aren’t really hard to make, but require re-measuring with each page as the bags I bought weren’t all the same size.  I did cut mine down so they were all “supposed” to be the same size, but actually, an 1/8th of an inch makes a difference when I’m looking at it, so I measured every page.  So far, I’m not really disappointed with my results, but the people who said you can crank these out in 20 minutes are kidding me.  Well of course it would take me a lot longer, measure twice and glue once.  It’s fun to do and I’m enjoying it, but it is a little labor intensive for me, requiring I take a lot of breaks.  Or maybe I just like taking breaks, you’ll have to decide that for yourself.

I thought I’d make three of four of these, but at the rate I’m going, I might make two and be done with them.  I prefer a project that is not only fun to make, but that doesn’t look like a paper bag when I am done.  I think the people who made the ones I have seen, have purchased ones that are of a higher quality than the ones I bought.  I bought plain white lunch bags, which is what one YouTuber said to use.  I don’t recommend them as they are pretty flimsy and (I think) still look like a paper bag.  Maybe if I had upgraded to a heavy duty expensive bag, the end result would look better.  I’m not sure, maybe one of my readers could let me know their thoughts on it.  In the meantime, I’ll finish this one and then maybe make one on video.  It’s a long process so I might cut paper before I tape so it goes together quickly.  I’m not sure if that will work or not, as the bag sizing might make it a total fail.  I guess we’ll wait and see.

 

 

I wanted to make something special for a friend who just had her birthdayI The outside sentiment came with the girlfriend stamp. I used 10″ tall by 7″ wide scored on the 10″ length at 5″ purple paper and lined the inside of the card with yellow paper that was 4 3/4″ x 6 3/4″. I used sentiments for the inside from Creative Times Floral Sayings and MFT True Friend Sentiments. I colored my girls with alcohol inks. I had a ribbon that was clear and lined it with a piece of matching pink paper. I made this card at 1:30 in the morning and would have put small stamps on their pants and shirts but ran out of steam, darn it. I lined the girls with a piece of yellow cardstock and then put the outside sentiment on a piece of purple and a piece of yellow cardstock as well. I ran a piece of pink washi tape around my envelope and stamped the envelope with my fruit loop stamp that I bought from Discount Rubber Stamps for $4.99 plus shipping. You just give them the sentiment and type it in the font you want and they mail it to you in a week or so. I love using them for sentiments that I repetitively use. I hope you like this card, Becky did.