I waited a day to write this because I wanted to have some time to process.  We went to the funeral home tonight to say goodbye to my friend Tammy.  It was harder than I thought because I thought I had let her down.  A couple of months ago, I had sent her a card saying we should have lunch.  She called and said she had a cold and that we could have a lunch in  a couple of weeks.  I waited too long to call her, and by then it was too late and I never saw her again.
I have been sending her cards for months, ok maybe years, because she’s had brain cancer for so long.  As I waited to speak with her son, I couldn’t help but wish I had made that telephone call sooner.  When I reached him he grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go.  I told him I felt so badly that I missed the chance to have lunch with her and he said it didn’t matter.  He said my cards meant the world to her and that as they got each one, someone in the family would show them to her and read them to her.  I always wrote more than a few lines because I wanted her to know that I was thinking about her and remind her of things we had done or something that reminded me of her.

When I got to her sister (who also worked with me at the bank), we asked how she was holding up and she said “Good until I saw you.”  Then she told me about the cards I had sent and how beautiful they were and how much Tammy loved them.

I guess my message is that we need to remind our friends and family how much they mean to us because life is short.  I’ll be making more cards for them, and this time, they will be sympathy cards.  Take the time to tell them before you need to write sympathy notes.  You’ll be glad you did.

I’m on a crafting roll lately.  Rich has at least four videos ready to be uploaded and every time I hand him another one, you can see he’s about ready to break.  He has the video of the wedding album I made and there are at least twelve small segments to be linked together and that could take him forever to edit (or at least a very long time.)

I wanted to compile a large array of crafty projects that I can photograph for the people at A C Moore.  They want a good representation of my channel and since I give away most of the things I make, I’m scrambling to find a nice mix of projects.

I wanted to add some dog projects to the list, so I’m going to work on a couple of cute dog collars so I have something that will line the bottom of my project photo and make the dogs happy at the same time.  I’m not sure what it is about collars, but our dogs have always loved them and push each other out of the way to try to wear multiple collars.  They are girls who like their accessories I guess..

We are out of homemade dog treats and I’m going to videotape making a batch and need to do that today as it’s finally under 90 degrees here.  The only problem I have is that when I make them, I have three very enthusiastic assistants at my feet.  I’m not sure how they know, but as soon as I start making treats, I have no trouble finding a clean up crew.  By clean up, I mean anything that might drop out of my hands.  Otherwise, their cleaning skills are pretty limited.

So my crafty list is full, which means I’ll be handing Rich another memory card.  It’s a bummer being the chief editor and videographer, and there’s no money in it either, literally.  He gets paid in love and affection and that’s much better than cash.

I wanted to make a special wedding card for our niece, who is also Rich’s goddaughter.  When I saw the dress stamp with the words to “I’m so Pretty” on it, I knew it would be a perfect background for the card.  I started with Neenah Solar White 110 pound  cardstock and a craft colored cardstock as well.  The card is 5 1/2″ square. The dress is #W362 from My Sentiments Exactly.  I starred by using an embossing buddy, or my version of it.  (I took an old pair of panty hose and doubled it over and filled it with cornstarch then knotted it.)   I used Versamark on the dress stamp and then stamped the craft colored paper.  I used Ranger white embossing powder on the dress and heat set it. I did a second dress (off camera)  with Princess Gold embossing powder from Ranger and cut that dress out and cut it in half and layered it under the dress with the white powder.  I used a Stampin’ Up ink called and stamped “Congratulations” from MSE and the set is called “Hand Written”  on the front .  I layered the dress with fun foam and adhered it to the card with Tombow Mono Aqua glue.  I had some gold cord in my stash that I trimmed the edges of the card It had issues with fraying and I tried using a candle under it, but it was too thick so I used Fray Stoppa on it.  I adhered it to the card with Art Glitter Glue.  The sentiment was from Repeat Impressions. and I used the Misti to stamp it inside the card using the same ink as on the outside of the card.  I apologize for the choppiness of this card, as I had a lot of weird issues with it.

I’m really excited that we might have found a solution to the audio problems we have whenever we switch to a new video.  I’m so frustrated that you can almost never hear the opening to my videos and it is literally making me lose my mind.  Every time I listen to the opening line, I cross my fingers that Rich got the audio to link.  More often than not, the audio doesn’t sync for at least a couple of seconds and that’s unacceptable.

So at lunch today, Rich and I were talking about the problem and trying to decide just what the cause could be.  I thought we had tried everything.  I started asking about how over YouTubers are able to fade in and out from one sequence to another and Rich said, “Sure, we can do that.”  I asked if that might solve our audio problem and he thought there was a chance that it could.  So in the next few videos, he’s going to give it a shot.  I really hope he finds a solution to it because the software company couldn’t help him and their tech support people couldn’t, so it’s up to us.

My goal for the next few months is this.

1.  Stay in frame 100% of the time.
2. Make sure the audio and video sync
3. Find good transitions from the end of one segments to the next.  Right now we have the same problem with the audio cutting out and it is horrible for everyone, especially the viewer.

You would think I could make my timeline a lot shorter, but frankly, we have been working on this audio mess for a long time and I’m not sure what it’s going to take to fix it.

 

I realize that my blog is about crafting, but I need to talk about more than that today.  If you watch my videos, you’ve noticed that I send a lot of “thinking of you” cards.  I’ve mentioned that I have two friends who are ill.  My heart is heavy as last night a lovely wonderful woman named Tammy passed away from brain cancer.  She and I worked together for many years and I watched her sons grow from very young, to adult men.

When her boys were in first and second grades, they had a day that you could bring your mother to lunch.  Tammy asked me if I wanted to come with her and of course, I said yes.  The boys were so happy to see her and talked throughout the lunch period about their day and things going on at school.  They were so excited to see me and made sure I liked my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I’ve never forgotten that day or how much she loved her kids and how much they loved her.

When I heard she was ill, I called her and said I’d do anything she needed including making sure her son could come home from college to see her whenever he needed.  Within a couple of weeks, we got a call from him and asked if we could bring him home.  It never crossed my mind to do anything but help him.  I knew how much he loved his mother and his desperation to see her.  We had a couple of hours to reconnect with him and we were glad to spend the time together.

Tammy divorced when her kids were very young and raised her boys with the help of her mother and her sister.  A few years ago, she found the man of her dreams and they were married in September.  We had lunch together a couple weeks after the wedding and she said she was a Mrs. now and giggled really hard as she was so happy and proud to be his wife.  I can’t help but cry when I think about that moment and how fleeting life can be.

She knew she was sick and wore her wig with pride.  She’d talk about how itchy it was and would pull it off without hesitation.  That’s one of the many things I loved about Tammy.  It didn’t bother her that she was bald (at least she never acted like it did.)  She never complained about her disease or the fact that she wouldn’t see her granddaughter grow up.  She always had a big smile on her face and seemed determined to live forever.  The last time I spoke to her a couple of months ago, we were going to have lunch, but Tammy had a cold and didn’t want to expose me to it.  So I was going to call her in a couple of weeks.  I will never forgive myself for not calling soon enough.  A couple weeks later, hospice was called in and my calls to her cellphone went unanswered.  I’ve continued to send cards to her almost weekly and  miss her sweet personality and smiling face.  I’m so angry that she that she spent so many years alone and finally found her true love only to lose everything.  I’ll miss her very much and know that her sons will carry on her legacy of love and laughter.

The wedding card is for my friend who is getting married and has a denim and lace theme.  I already made her a denim and lace card for a late engagement card, so this card just references the colors of navy and white.
I used Recollections 110 pound white card stock from Michaels for the card base.  It is an A2 size card which is 8 1/2″ long scored at 4 1/4″ and 5 1/2″ wide.  I cut a piece of green patterned paper 2 1/2″ tall by 5 3/8″ wide and cut two pieces of a different green patterned card stock at 1″ x 4″ long and two pieces of navy blue card stock that were 1 1/8″ x 4 1/8″.  I used one piece of plaid cardstock that was 1 1/2″ x 4″ long and a piece of navy that was 1 5/8″ x 4 1/8″ long.  I used my Misti to put the sentiment on the inside and it was from MSE the set is called Hand Written.  The ink I used was a Memento Dew Drop called Bamboo Leaves.  I used plastic embellishments from Stampin’ Up called Adornments Dahlias that were retired and can be found on ebay.  I put three of the dahlias on the widest plaid paper centering them on the paper. The glue I used is from Scotch.  I used Stormy Sky Distress Ink and distressed the edges of the card front.  I took the three small papers and layered them on the navy blue backing and then put dimensionals on the back of them Then I layered the 2 1/2″  piece of green in the center. I put the three strips centering the middle wider one and then putting the two matching ones on either side spaced the same distance from the middle piece.  This card could be used for really any occasion.

I need to make a video for my friends and family as they don’t know how to subscribe or how to leave comments.  I’m not sure how I figured both out for myself, usually I ask Rich for help with things I’ve never tried.  I know I just winged it and left the first comment for my favorite crafter, Lindsay.  I had a heck of a time trying to leave comments and then one day it just worked.  I’m not sure if I wasn’t signed in or what I did wrong before, but all of a sudden, paydirt!

Friends and family leave a lot of thumbs up in Facebook, but I’m pretty sure it’s because they don’t know how to leave them in YouTube.  My sister says signing in and leaving comments work differently when you are using different types of devices.  That could hamper my tutorial as I only use a laptop.  No cellphone, I Phone, tablet, just a laptop.  I’m not sure what I’ll be able to do once they eliminate laptops.

I do need to get serious about setting up Instagram because A C Moore want to feature my channel on their social media that includes Instagram.  I’m thrilled and hope that it actually happens, but need to do a few things first.  Like set up Instagram and get my photos loaded to it as well as make a bio for it.  It’s so exciting and it’s something that means a lot to me because it will allow people with physical limitations to have access to my channel.  I’m thrilled to be considered!

I spent all day finishing the album and making the wedding card.  After the recipe box I made for my niece, I’m a little skittish about whether or not the bride will enjoy the album.  She’s pretty close to my age group, so even if she doesn’t like it, I’m sure she’ll make sure I think she does.

This marriage has been a long time in the making.  They met as kids and worked on each other’s farms and were family  friends.  The bride always had a crush on the groom, (and vice versa) but  didn’t want to be a farm wife, she wanted to see the world.  After living a very full and interesting life, her marriage had ended and she was home for her high school class reunion.  She saw the groom and  started talking through Facebook and eventually started dating long distance between Florida and Pennsylvania which lead to her relocating back to Pennsylvania and the life of a farm wife.

They are so sweet together, he’s tall and sturdy and she’s very petite.  It’s so wonderful to see a couple who have virtually known each other all of their lives finally find true love,  and it’s written clearly on both of their faces.

Today was their wedding which was on a hilltop on their farm.  We were lucky to be invited to the reception and I’ve never seen the groom smile so much or so big.  He was so cute.  The bride glowed, especially when she was looking at her groom.  It’s a wonderful thing to find your soul mate when you are sixty years old.  Love is the best of things at any age, but somehow I think you appreciate it so much more when you’ve lived a while.  So congratulations Lynne and Bob, we are so happy for you both.  It only gets better from here.

I couldn’t sleep last night because I was fretting about making sure I finished the album in time for the wedding reception tomorrow night.  I need to make a bunch of photo corners and decided on an easy way to do them.  I’m going to take the scraps of paper I cut from the ends of the pages that are in the album and put tear tape on the back of them.  Then I’m going to take my photo corner punch and punch out a bunch of each page and include them in a homemade matching envelope that I’ll put in the album.  With the photo corners included, all the bride will need to do is pull the corners out of the envelope and pull the backing off of the tear tape and put her photos in place and adhere them with the corners.  I thought it was a terrific idea.  Now all I have to do is make sure it actually works.

I bought heart shaped buttons that Rich is going to cut the loops off and I’ll apply them to my pull tabs that I bought for on each journaling card.  If those work, this project might actually come out looking pretty great.  I know you are crossing your fingers for me and no matter what, I’m sure this bride will be appreciative.  I’m really looking forward to seeing her reaction because she’s been really supportive of my YouTube channel and the crafty things I’ve made for her.  Now all that’s left is making the card–a piece of cake compared to the album.

I found the notebooks in the $1.50 section of Michaels.  They were two to a pack and are well made.   The ones I bought were 5″ tall and 3 1/2″ wide so I cut my paper 5″ high by 7 1/2″ wide and scored it at 3 1/2″ and 4″ on the 7 1/2″ length.
I covered the outside with a cute designer paper from my stash and used tear tape for my adhesive.  I used a 2 1/2″ circle punch on light pink card stock and a 3″.scalloped circle punch in orange to match the background.  I used the following Peg Stamps from Rubber Stamp Tapestry.  They are from the Brambly Rose set.
Sprig Crackled
Small Brambly Rose
Leaflet Rose

The colors I used are from Memento Dew Drops and are:  Espresso Truffle, Sweet Plum, Elderberry and Northern Pine.  I used some alcohol markers in coordinating purples to fill the roses in with color.

The pens were in a set of five from the Dollar Tree and I used the same paper and wrapped it around the pen with a strip that was 3/4″ wide and about 6″ long.  I lined the image on the back of the book with the paper making room for the pen.  I put tear tape inside the strip up to where the pen was and then put more tear tape on the front of the strip and lined the strip up with the pattern on the back of the book and then attached the strip to the back of the book.  You may need to cut some off as you won’t need a really long piece on the back.  I attached the scallop circle with tape runner as I did with the circle.  You could put dimensional foam tape under your image but I thought mine would go inside a purse, so I didn’t want to have anything get pulled off when it’s pulled in and out of the purse.

Lindsay the Frugal Crafter has a great video making labels with her peg stamps aka Rubber Stamp Tapestry stamps.  The link to it is  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziutWsP05j0

Lindsay’s discount from Rubber Stamp Tapestry is 20% off through 7/24/2016 and the promotion code is LABELS to get the discount.

I hope you enjoy this video.

https://www.youtube.com/edit?video_id=I0snxOpldg4