I made a card that I thought would be really cute with a chicken that said something like “Just chicken in on you”…I could not do anything right and in the end, gave up on the video tape but decided my friend really wouldn’t care how ugly the card is, because it’s the thought that counts.

I’ve made two different cards with the chicken stamp and I’m not sure why I hate what I am producing but both cards just didn’t make me happy.  I have a certain standard for YouTube, if the project doesn’t make me proud or happy, it doesn’t go on YouTube.  I have one card on YouTube that I am not proud of  and every time I think about putting something up that isn’t very impressive, I remember that one card and have no trouble deleting the files.

I’ll try the chicken one more time, but not anytime soon.  It’s just too depressing.  It’s only a chicken for heaven sake.  Why can’t I get it right?  Maybe I’m just hoping for too much and am worried I’ll end up with egg on my face again…hahahaha, get it, egg on my face?  Chicken.  Oh forget it, it was a really bad play on words, really bad.

I’m having so much fun with the new line of red rubber stamps from Rubber Stamp Tapestry also known as pegstamps.com. I bought this travel mug at the Dollar Tree and thought I’d use it as a Christmas gift. I started looking at it and thought, “I should have my own decorated mug!” The first thing you will want to do is take the mug apart by unscrewing the top black portion and remove the papers inside. Clean thoroughly. I traced the template inside on a piece of copy paper and cut it out. I used the MISTI to stamp on. I took the template and pushed it up against two sides of the MISTI so if the paper moves, you can put it back where it was originally if you need to re-stamp it. I had a problem where I had stamped my images once and didn’t clean them enough so had a light outline of my stamps so had to re-stamp anyway, so I get to show you how to fix it. I stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and took the Rubber Stamp Tapestry set called “Lots of Pots” and used the tea pot and the teacups and stamped them onto the template closer to the bottom of my paper so I have room for the flowers on the upper part of my design. I decided I wanted to use a background image using an old Stampin’ Up background stamp that was called Harlequin.. I used Memento Dew Drops Desert Sand for my background color. Because I used a background stamp, I needed to make masks for my teapot and teacups. You do that by stamping the image on a piece of post-it note and then trim it out. After you trim it, you lay it on the stamped image on the template. Make sure you don’t cut out inside the handle of the teapot as you want to make sure you can see your flowers that you’ll be stamping. I took the template out of the MISTI and inked the background stamp and laid the template face down onto the stamp inked with Desert Sand. I moved the template to where the stamp ended and re inked the background stamp, and stamped the rest of the background. I decided to color in my pot and cups with Dew Drops first around the edges and as my shading color with Grey Flannel and then London Fog to fill the rest of the inside of the pot and cups. I used a blender pen from Dove (check on Amazon for the set that includes extra nibs and a bottle of blender fluid. Here’s a link to it.
https://www.amazon.com/Dove-Products-…

I pulled out the different peg stamps from Rubber Stamp Tapestry that I wanted to use and I put them in a star shaped ice cube tray so I can easily see them and they stand up straight and I really like this system when I’m stamping with them. I started with the branches that I wanted to put in each pot called Sprig Crackled and I use Dew Drops ink color Expresso Truffle. Using the line on the side of the peg, I stamped the image in each piece at least once. In retrospect, I maybe would have not stamped this into the cups and just made them flower filled instead. I still liked how my cup looked, but thought you should consider not using the branch in the cups.
I used Potter’s Clay with Open Dogwood Cluster stamp as it is my biggest stamp I’m using. Always go biggest to smallest when using peg stamps. I used Dianthus Solid Left and Tangelo ink and stamped three (at least) on each of my cups and pots. The next stamp I used was called Berries six on a stem and saw that the edges needed trimmed. I started with Lady Bug and didn’t like the red so switched to Stampin’ Up Real Red ink which looked better with the colors in the project. I used the blender pen and used another Stampin’ Up ink called Pumpkin Pie and colored inside the dogwood stamps. I used Cantaloupe Dew Drop and put little dots inside the dogwood flowers as well and then went onto foliage. I used a stamp called Foliage Leaf and Olive Grove Dew Drop and placed the leaves all around the image. I’m using other foliage stamps and went to Strawberry Leaf stamp and Northern Pine Dew Drop and stamped them around. (This is when I accidentally dropped the second dew drop onto the bottom of my project, jeepers!) I used another stamp called Maidenheart Fern down onto the side of the pots with Olive Grove . I used a pinwheel flower with Daffodil Delight ink from Stampin’ Up to fill with a tiny flower. To fix my spots where I dropped Dew Drops onto the project, I used a green patterned washi tape to cover it making sure to line the edges so when you make the template into a circle to fit inside the mug, the edges of the washi meet. I think it worked pretty well. All you have to do now is make the template into a circle and slide it inside the clear plastic outside of the mug then put the black inner lining inside and screw it closed.
This is an easy project and one I hope you try with your family. I thought it was a lot of fun (other than the problems I created for myself) and really like my mug.

I had put an ad in Splitcoast Stampers for some paper I was looking for called “Cherry on Top.”  A lady named Pam responded and said she had the paper pack and was willing to send it to me at no charge.  I thought that it was such a generous offer and really appreciated the gesture.  So today I decided to put her paper to work and make a thank you card for Pam.  Of course now I can’t find her address and will need to contact her for it (I hate it when I do things like that), but at least I will be able to thank her for her sweet and generous gesture.

I decided to make a card with hedgehogs and framed them with a layer of paper above them.  I had to cut the frame and as you can imagine, it didn’t go exactly as planned.  In the end I realized I should have just used my paper trimmer, but that was after I’d already made a plan using a cutting mat and my X-acto knife.  I think it turned out fine but had so many setbacks that I considered throwing in the towel on several of occasions.  Sometimes you just need to decide if a project is worth the frustration or not.  Apparently, this one was worth the frustration, because I persevered.  I’m always glad when the plan is finally finished and looks good enough to put on video.  That’s how I determine whether or not I am happy with something.  If I decide to put it on YouTube, it has to pass the Sandy test or the whole thing is scrapped.  The beauty of the Sandy test is that you never know about my failures.  A lucky break for all of us.

I know a lot of you have been considering purchasing the MISTI.  I’ve never seen it on sale before, and for only three days the nice people at Splitcoast Stampers are teaming with My Sweet Petunia, the maker of the MISTI, to offer 15% off any model of the MISTI.  So if you don’t have one and want to buy one, here’s a great opportunity.  Please remember, the sale only lasts three days from 9/12 to 9/15/2016.

I have the standard size MISTI and think it is the perfect size for the card maker who makes both 5×7 and A2 size cards.  There is a larger version for scrapbook makers and one that is a mini for only A2 size cards.  The decision is up to you as to the size you think will work best for you.

I will give you this recommendation though.  If you have any issues with your hands, please buy six magnets, as you may lose one and some acrylic stamps really stick to your project thereby shifting it when you open the MISTI.  They are inexpensive but worth every penny if they keep your paper where you put it.

Here is the link to My Sweet Petunia.  http://www.mysweetpetunia.com/Default.asp

The promotional code is SCS KIND

They are also donating 5% of the proceeds to a campaign called KIND which is an anti-bullying campaign and now that school is back in session, this will help put more focus around anti-bullying.

I wanted to make sure you know about this offer and hope you take advantage of it.  I am not affiliated with Splitcoast Stampers or My Sweet Petunia and make no monies from this sale, but love my MISTI and wanted to be sure you knew about the sale.

It’s so hard to believe that fifteen years have passed since 9/11.  I know every person can still vividly remember that day and the days after.  I wanted to take this time to say I’m sorry to those of you who lost friends and family on that day and in the days, weeks and years after.

I’d also like to remind you that our troops that are serving overseas deserve to hear from us and if you don’t have a local organization, I have a group that sends boxes to our troops monthly local to me.  Their contact information is:

Project Support our Troops

c/o Laurie’s Embroidery

283 North Street Plaza

Meadville PA  16335

I hope you will join me in sending cards and notes to our service people to remind them that we are thinking of them.  You can also send cards you have made for them to send home to their families as well.  Please do not put glitter or foil on your cards.  Thanks so much for joining me in sending cards to our service people!

I went to A C Moore today and bought some watercolor brushes.  I contacted Lindsay, the Frugal Crafter, and asked her what brushes she recommended for someone who really wants to learn to watercolor, and she said I should buy the Royal and Langnickel Aqualon brushes.  She gave me the numbers of a few round brushes I should buy, as well as a liner and a wash brush.  I’m so excited because I want to learn how to watercolor, but I’m not finding that I have the right brushes for the job.  Now I have them and I am thrilled to give them a try.

We also finally uploaded the last of the craft videos we made with our great nieces and nephew.  They were so much fun to work with and made my job so much easier as they came up with their own projects and ran with them.

I went to a garage sale and found some cool fruits and pinecones to work on redecorating a wreath and will be making that video in the next day or so.  I’m also going to put the finishing touches on my $10 dresser to finally get my craft room organized.  I say that, but you know I’ll just buy more craft things and need more space to hold it, so that should just be a given.  I do feel a lot more organized than I was, but I’ve run out of old empty CD cases so won’t be able to convert any more of my stamp sets to them.  I need to finish that project to get my room completely organized.  I think I’m going to talk to our local thrift stores and ask them if they get any donations of empty cd cases and if they do, could I buy them from them in bulk.  I should buy another hundred of them to ensure that I get everything converted over.  I’m thinking of converting all of my red rubber stamps as well.  I think it would really keep me organized and take up less space than the binder system does.  I’m not doing well with the binder system.  It’s too bulky and I forget what stamp sets I own.  I need to have one system that works for everything and I really like the cd cases.  It’s just a matter of finding enough of them and taking the time to convert them.  I’ve got almost all of my acrylic stamps done and then it’s just a matter of converting all of the red rubber stamps and then voila, a stamp storage system that works for me! YAY!

Our great niece Erika is a really talented artist.  She took #6 plastic from a cookie container you’d get at your local grocery store bakery and laid the plastic over the image she wanted to shrink.  She used a black Sharpie to trace the image, then used a bunch of other colors to fill them in. She then cut the image out of the plastic with Tim Holtz scissors.  A hole needs to be made in the plastic where you will hang a loop for jewelry from it.  The hole needs to start out bigger as it will shrink 3 times smaller as well. You can hang these from your backpack or make them into earrings or other jewelry.

My favorite was her map of the United States that she drew and then put a heart where Virginia would be on the map.  We thought it was big enough, but once it shrunk, it was hard to see the heart.  The images shrink to three times smaller than  originally.  You can see the original and the shrunken image in the first photo of the circle on the bottom.  Left side is before and the right side is after.  Once you are done decorating your image, you preheat your toaster oven to 325 degrees and using some wax paper or parchment paper, line a cookie sheet or the tray to the toaster oven, then lay your images on it.  Put them into the oven and watch them the entire time as they are done within 2-3 minutes of baking.  They will curl up then flatten again and once flat, take them out.  Let them cool and they are ready to go.  This is a great project for even younger children as the adults can punch the holes and handle the oven part.  Find an image in a coloring book or on a map (like the United States), or one from the internet.  Lay the plastic over the image and using the black Sharpie, trace the image.  Then color it in.   We really had a great time making these and recommend this project highly as it is a really inexpensive one and something that kids can really use to make their backpacks their own or make their own jewelry.

It was a very good crafty garage sale day today.  Two women were selling all of their deceased mother’s crafting things and she had a variety of crafting interests.  She also bought a lot of her things from QVC and never took them out of the box.  I found a candle making set that included everything you need to make candles including a really nice mold and “magic wax” that was very finely grated.  I’m pretty sure that this will make for a fun video.  She also had a tole painting kit, unopened with DVDs and a bunch of cute mini glass ornaments that I should be able to put alcohol ink inside and add to a wreath or something else that’s tiny.  I found a new bottle of Aleene’s Tack it Over and Over for a quarter and I go through that like crazy because I use it on the backs of all of my red rubber stamps and make glue dots out of it.

All in all, there weren’t many sales, but that one was so much fun, I was thrilled. Oh, and they had an unopened package of nice silver drawer pulls that I’m going to add to the $10 dresser to make it look more attractive.  Currently it has some pretty ugly black wood knobs that have seen better days.  So, YAY, it was a good day for crafty goodies and allows me to branch out into even more crafts on video.  I like to make sure I try as many crafts as possible to ensure that someone with physical limitations finds something they might want to try and have been afraid to do so.  I might not really like doing the craft, but by purchasing the things I need at a garage sale, I don’t have a lot of money invested.  It’s a win win.  If I do love it, I can always buy additional products (wax etc.) at a big box store.

I just bought a $10 tall thin dresser that I think will be the final component to organizing (I know I’ve said this before) my craft room.  My problem in the past was that most of my storage was visible, being shelving and open fronted cabinets.  It made it so that no matter how uncluttered the space, it still didn’t look very good because you could see so much of it.  Since buying the two shorter drawered units and stacking them and now with the new dresser, I’m hoping that most of my crafty goodies will be hidden from view.  It’s really bothered me that I couldn’t get the space organized and hopefully, this will be the last part of making it look presentable.  I’ve also been getting rid of things I don’t want or need–donated things to the library, sold things at my garage sale and on Ebay.  I just needed to downsize the tools I had bought that were not feasible for me to use and were just taking up additional space.  I might even do a video to show you the updated craft room tour (although I have more destashing to do before I take the leap to video.)

I’ve really been trying to stay on top of this crazy mess and I finally feel like I just might be doing so!  Stay tuned for more updates.