The card is a 5 x 7″ card 10″ high x 7″ wide scored at 5″.  I am using Cherry on Top paper from Stampin’ Up.  A lovely lady from Splitcoast Stampers named Pam,  offered to give me the Cherry on Top paper that I am using on this card as I didn’t have the paper but did have the matching washi tape and small flower embellishments. Thank you Pam, it was so nice of you to send this paper to me.   I used yellow paper as my base paper, then green that was 4 3/4 x 6 3/4″ and then used the cherry on top and cut a frame out of it using my paper trimmer and leaving a one inch border on the sides and a 1/2″ border on the bottom.  The outside dimensions were 4 1/2″ x 6 ” and I put the cherry on top frame on dimensionals .  I’m sorry I forgot to show how I cut the frame out.  I used my Koh I Noor set of water color pencils and a Dove blender pen (that you can get at Amazon) to liquefy my water color pencils. I used Canson XL watercolor paper that was 5 x 6″ and then cut it down in the end so it fit inside my frame. The stamp is a Hedgehog stamp by Penny Black. I used a MSE set of stamps called Tag Words and used a small tag stamp and used Summer Sun ink from Stampin’ Up and the word thanks from the same set, stamped with Rose Red Stampin’ Up ink.  I used red embroidery thread about 6″ and wet it so it would straighten out and made sure it didn’t unwind.  I cut out the tag and punched a small hole near the top and pushed the red twine through the hand of the hedgehog and through the tag then back through the hedgehog and attached the string to the back.   I took the matching washi tape and ran a strip on the inside of the card as well as on the envelope.  I hope you like this card, it was a lot of fun to make.

I’ve been looking for ideas for unusual Halloween card ideas and have seen some cards that have been made using dies (I think), or else a Cricut.  I think I can make them using regular paper punches and they might be really easy to make.  The card itself is in the shape of the face of either Frankenstein, a ghost, Dracula, or a vampire and they don’t seem to be really difficult to make.  I’m hoping I can make the first one tonight and it’s going to either be Dracula or Frankenstein, as both are my favorite Halloween characters.

I really like the idea of taking a project that others use really intricate tools and making the same card with minimal tools, mainly punches.  It takes a little more forethought, but shouldn’t be too difficult (at least that’s what I keep telling myself.)  Although sometimes I convince myself that a project will be a lot easier than it turns out to be.  I’m hoping that this will not be a tricky one.

I’ve also been rethinking the small child’s chair that I was going to stencil the back with a design.  That was a total fail, and instead I may repaint the chair in a lemon yellow color (as currently the blue is too bright for my taste).  Second step is to find different wood pieces that are painted. Currently, I have stars and candy corn and need to find one more design, maybe seashells or flowers.  Third step is to attach magnets to the back of the wood pieces as well as on the chair.  Since the chair is a small child’s chair, I shouldn’t need a lot of wood embellishments and I’m hoping to use rubber cement or hot glue to attach the magnets.  Everything would need a coat or two of polyurethane.  The end result would be a chair that throughout the spring,summer, and fall, the embellishments can be changed.  I really like this idea better than my last and really hope I can make it work.  If you have any ideas on how to adhere the wood pieces easier, please let me know.  I’m really open to ideas and want this chair to be really cute when I am finished with it.  Otherwise, I’m not going to give it away, I’d be too embarrassed.

I spent today interviewing college juniors and seniors from our college alma mater to help prepare them for real interviews for internships and getting their “real” jobs.  I do this every year as most colleges and universities don’t prepare their students for interviewing and I did a lot of it while I was in the work force.  For those of you who are new to my blog, I used to manage bank branches for PNC Bank until about eleven years ago, when migraines made it impossible to keep the schedule necessary to do the job effectively.  Preparing students for interviewing is something I do to help students prepare for, let’s face it, a very difficult endeavor.  Today, with a very tough job market, it’s especially important to prepare the students for interviewing.  The accounting majors do most of their interviewing in the fall and we send them to a symposium where major accounting firms have evaluated their resumes and invite only the best to interview.  The seniors went to the symposium on Thursday and came back saying they were surprised at how underdressed many of the students from other colleges appeared to be.  I do a seminar for our students giving them dress standards and everything I can think of to prepare them for the interview.  Then they research a company and we interview them on videotape for the company they researched.  We only videotape the interview, not the feedback they are given when we are finished.  I want them to feel comfortable watching the video with friends and not be embarrassed at things they may have said.

I tell them that this is the only interview they will ever have that the interviewer gives them feedback as to what they did well and things they need to correct.  This program has really been effective and this year, we had twelve seniors get job offers before the symposium, so they are really taking this seriously.  With the amount of student loan debt most students have when they come out of college, it’s only fair that their college or university offer them help in obtaining good jobs.  It’s sad that most schools don’t do much or anything in the way of assistance.  I’m proud to volunteer to do this for the students and my school, and am really happy that they are getting jobs.  I have to say though, it is really exhausting and I normally fall asleep on the way home.  (Obviously Rich is driving.)  I try to space the interviews out so I only do four a day, which for me is still a lot, but it’s something I feel totally committed to doing.  The best part of the experience is when I see one of the students right after they get their job offer and how proud and excited they are.  It makes everything worth it.

I decided that I should make a treat bag decoration that should be something you could do with minimal supplies.  If you want to do this with white card stock and not watercolor paper, you can use the markers without the blender pen which is why I needed to use the watercolor paper.  I used a round punch that was 2 1/2″ for my white cardstock or in my case, watercolor paper, and an orange cardstock that I punched with a 3″ scallop circle punch.  I used Crayola markers on a piece of acetate, but you could scribble them onto a glass plate, a glass tile, a piece of plastic, a craft mat, almost anything as long as it isn’t a surface that will absorb the ink.  I used a Stampin’ Up blender pen and if you are interested in purchasing one and don’t have a Stampin’ Up demonstrator, my friend Linda Bauwin, would be happy to help you with it.  Her contact email address is jlbauwin@@roadrunner.com.  You get three of them for $10.
I used the following stamp sets from Your Next Stamp and the set is Fangtastic and my sentiment was from Inspired by Stamping and the set is Tricks and Treats and stamped them with Ranger Archival black ink..  I stamped it on orange card stock and punched it out with a 1 7/8″ scallop that I punched a hole in the top near the center.  I used a craft knife to cut a hole in the watercolor paper in our Frankenstein’s hand.  I used black embroidery thread and threaded it through the sentiment and through Frankenstein’s hand and knotted it on the back of Frankenstein.  I used tear tape to adhere the image to the scallop and tape runner to adhere the project to the bag.  You might want to use tear tape to adhere it to the bag as well.
If you did this project with your kids, you could stamp the images on white and whatever color cardstock you want to back the image and for your sentiment to dangle from.  They could color it with markers and then attach the two together with tear tape and then you could help them string the sentiment to the Frankenstein.  You could use regular lunch bags or Walmart sells white lunch bags and you could punch two holes through the bag and tie your string on the back of Frankenstein through the two holes to keep it closed and to attach your decoration.  I hope you enjoyed this and try it for yourself.

I was starting to get nervous because Rich was catching up with me on editing videos, so I needed to get serious about making more.  Today was the day.  I found a really cool bottle at the Dollar Tree (where else) and they even have Halloween bottle stickers this year.  How cool is that?  So I decided I would dye the inside of my bottle to match my sticker and started that video.  I hope it will be dry by tomorrow, so I can finish it.

Our niece and nephew lost their grandmother over the weekend (on their mother’s side of the family) and we weren’t aware of the funeral arrangements until after they were over so I knew I had to get serious about making a card for the family. I made one with hand made paper and a lot of ribbon and I really think it came out nice.  Different from what I normally make I think.

I made another card, this one was fall inspired.  It is a seed packet and I used water color pencils and Stickles and a cute peach colored ribbon for a nice card.  All in all, I think I had a good day of crafting and I even spent some time cleaning my craft room.  I have to say that’s an accomplishment.

I realize that now I could be procrastinating cleaning and organizing the craft room, but decided I wasn’t up for it today.  I really wanted to get serious about it, but the weather has finally gotten cooler, around 70 degrees, and so we finally were able to take Rich’s Mustang for a ride.  He has a 1966 red Mustang convertible that I’m pretty sure is the love of his life.  As a kid, it was his dream car, and when we were in our thirties, I promised he would have one for his fortieth birthday.  A friend of ours who is a Mustang enthusiast, was keeping an eye out for any in our area.  Rich was thirty-seven when we found it and it looked great but really wasn’t.  Since we bought it, almost everything in the car has had to be replaced, and I mean everything.  He wanted to get it painted candy apple red, and we found a man and his wife that had a small body shop where they renovated old cars.  They told us it would take a long time to renovate and in the end, they had it for a year.  His car needed new doors, trunk lid, hood, floor boards, and that’s just some of the cosmetic things.  An engine, muffler system, electrical system, radio, and more on the mechanical side and every year, it costs about a thousand dollars just to get it on the road.

I think the reason I brought this up, is because crafting can be expensive at times as well, and we all have things that make us happy.  I’m thrilled that Rich loves his car and he’s really supportive of my YouTube channel and all it entails.  When you have the right partner in life, you share in each other’s happiness and I’m blessed I found the man for me.  I can always clean another day, but there aren’t many days that are perfect for a ride in an old convertible.  Those days are few and far between.

I spent the morning going to garage sales and only found some great dog toys (baby stuffed toys work the best as dog toys) and she only wanted a nickel for each one.   I would have paid a quarter for each of them, but hey, if she only wants a nickel, you pay the price.  I found another lady that was selling the big Christmas gift bags ten for a quarter.  Crazy cheap.  She also had a brand new really big bag of decorative tissue paper for a quarter as well.  I didn’t find many crafty things, but had a good time anyway.

I should have finished cleaning and organizing my craft room, but just could not find the ambition to do it.  Maybe I’ll get serious about it tomorrow.  Then again, maybe not.  I don’t like to push myself too hard when it comes to cleaning and organizing, as it takes the fun out of it. So instead I decided to read.  I’m a big fan of suspense novels and decided to read a book called Lost Light by Michael Connelly.  I have to say, I was really disappointed in it and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.  It was too long and predictable and that’s something that kind of bugs me.  If it’s predictable, then it has no suspense, thus it’s not really a suspense novel now is it?  I probably should have cleaned instead.

I’ve been trying to stay on top of things but have fallen behind on my blogging and I apologize.  I normally am only a day off at most and this is the first time that I’m three days behind.  Geez!  I spent the day cleaning and organizing my craft room.  It was the perfect day to do it as although it’s fall, it’s been really warm this week and way too hot to spend time outside.

I finished a couple more videos and got some great ideas of things I’d like to do for more fall projects.  Oh, and I also spray painted my blacktop driveway where I had accidentally painted it with different colors while doing projects.  It’s kind of odd how much the wind blew the spray paint and I think you’ll really see it in the video of the second dresser I refinished.  I couldn’t believe the cloud of spray paint that was in the air around the dresser and it looked like I wasn’t hitting the dresser with any paint, but rather just spraying the air.  Crazy how things like that look on video!  Although it did look like I’d have to fix a lot more of the pavement after that video, there wasn’t anything left behind (and that was a big relief.)  Although I did use an entire can of black spray paint on the colors from past projects.  I’m not sure how I accomplished getting so much paint there, but boy was there a lot of mess to fix.  By the time I was finished, I had sweat running down my back and my face was bright red.  Yes, that’s how out of shape I am.  Spray painting made me look like I might be going to have a stroke.  Oh, and my calf muscles were shaking from bending over.  I was quite the sight and pretty, really pretty!   I should have videotaped that project, you would have laughed like anything at how crazy I looked.  Maybe I shouldn’t have done it at 11AM on a really hot day either. Oh well, it’s just another day in the life of Sandy.

Separate all layers of your napkin down to just the top layer.  I got my napkin at the Dollar Tree.  Put it on a silicone mat (don’t make the mistake of putting it on a plastic placemat as it won’t come off).  Put Mod Podge on a foam brush and gently cover the entire napkin.  Let it dry and then cut out the piece you want for your card.  I used an A2 size card which was craft card stock that was 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ tall.  I took a stamp that is an old graveyard stamp from Stampendous called “graveyard” and was #R132 and inked it with Versafine Onyx Black ink and put the card on the stamp and tried to make sure it would show through my napkin.  I used a wet glue like Elmer’s and covered the front of my card and then put the napkin on top and scrunched it around on the glue and tried to make the napkin stick but also make it distressed and wrinkly.  After getting the napkin where I wanted it, I trimmed off the edges.  I had a little spider stamp and stamped it around the inside of the card and on the front once it was dry.  I had a cute scalloped die cut that a friend sent me that wasn’t the right colors for my card so I rubbed it over my Versafine Onyx Black ink pad until it was black.  Inside the card I stamped a sentiment that said Happy Haunting and was from Inspired by Stamping called Tricks and Treats and all of bats, spiders and sentiment came from this set.
I took the scallop that I turned black and ran it down the length of the left side of the card and trimmed it to fit.  I put foam tape on the back of it and then ran some beige embroidery thread around the scallop several times and knotted it on the front.  Then I attached a mummy that I got from Recollections that is a  dimensional stickers.  I stamped more of my spiders on the front of the card.

Our YouTube channel has 1,000 subscribers in less than eleven months.  I am AMAZED and awed that people are watching and subscribing to it.  I absolutely love making videos and people have been so supportive and kind to me.  I have been so blessed to find such a great group of people who watch my videos.  I realize that a lot of people will take one look at my hands and move on, and I’m absolutely fine with that.  I’m so happy, though, that so many people have stayed long enough to decide that my channel isn’t about the look of my hands, it’s about what my hands are capable of doing.  I know that sometimes it takes me forever to accomplish small tasks and I do try to fast forward through things that are kind of repetitive, but I refuse to eliminate any mistakes.  If you craft, you make mistakes, and if you have any issues with your hands, you’ll make even more.  How will the viewer know how to fix things if you eliminate the issues you have?  In watching my own videos, I think the funniest moments are those when I’ve made a big mistake and have no idea how to fix it and just start to laugh.  And once I start laughing, I have a difficult time getting a grip on it.  I hope it gives the watcher permission to have fun with their projects and to laugh at themselves when they do make a mistake (or two or several.)

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for watching and subscribing to my videos.  It has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and I have met so many great people and made wonderful friends with so many of you.  Of course I’m going to give some thank you prizes away, it’s the least I can do to show my appreciation. I have a lot of great videos ready for Rich to edit, and with Halloween fast approaching, I’m accumulating a lot of fall and Halloween videos, so be ready for tons of fun!