The first glue gun is the Snail from Stampin’ Up.  It sells for $7.00 from Stampin’ Up that includes 40 ft. of adhesive.  Refills are $4.50 for 40 ft.  It is a small and convenient adhesive.  Tombow and Darice make these as well for a lower cost and more accessible through normal craft retailers.

The second is the Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro that sells at gluearts.com for a grey or green handle for $6.29 and refills are $8.99.  I found the refills less expensive at Scrapbookpal.com for $6.11 for 40 ft.  It doesn’t have a trigger and pushes or pulls for ease of use.  The adhesive is stronger than the other three guns.  The adhesive also comes in Permatac (which is what I used), ExtremeTac, Repositionable, and ValueTac and all are the same price at gluearts.com for 40 ft.

The third is the Xyron Mega Runner that sells for $14.43 at Amazon Prime for the machine and one refill of 100 ft.  The refills are available at Joanns for $10.99 full price (use a coupon).

Lastly is Scotch ATG that sells at Joanns $39.99 full price (use a coupon) or $22.74 at Amazon Prime and $21.88 + shipping at FRUUGO.com with two refills of 36 yards each or 108 feet.  The refills are $6.49 for two at Joann.com full price, (use a coupon.)  If you want a generic, Lindsay the Frugal Crafter buys her refills at the tapedepot.com for $26.64 for 12 rolls.  The nice thing about this adhesive is that they sell it in 1/4″, 3/8″, 1/2″ and 3/4″ widths.

Then there’s always tear tape if you prefer to avoid a gun.

Here’s my observation.  The Scotch gun is heavy and difficult for the left handed user.  The Xyron and the Glue Glider Pro are ok, but for me, I feel most comfortable using the small Snail and the tear tape.  I’ll try to use the three other guns in videos so you can see them in action, but I think I gave my reasons for my choices on the video.  I hope this helps you make your choice of ATG.

I bought a template from Kreat-a-Lope aka Green Sneakers, to make a portfolio card holder. (Here’s the link to it.   http://www.greensneakers.com/Portfolio-Box-Template.html).  I thought it would come in handy for occasions when I want to give a gift of note cards.  In this case, I have friends who just got a newfoundland puppy that is all black.  I thought it would be great to make the couple a set of note cards as well as stationary with their puppy stamped on it.  The rubber stamp was very easy to find (much to my surprise.) and since the dog is black, there shouldn’t be any problem stamping the image and making it look good, hopefully.  I really want to do some creative images with embossing powders and use some papers that have gold and silver backgrounds.  I thought a black embossed dog would look spectacular against a gold and/or silver background.  I have some really great ribbons (of course I do) to match.  I’m really excited about this project, because the couple won’t be expecting this gift and if you have a new puppy, you really want to share your joy.  I thought I’d also make a few 3 x 3″ note cards to put into the folder as well. After I am finished, I’ll give them the rubber stamp as well as a black ink pad to complete their gift.  I think I’ll make a couple of different videos so they don’t last too long.  So I’m off to work on my project.

One other note, Rich is busy uploading a video and he has three others that are ready to upload as well (not counting the ones I’ve discussed above.)  He may never see daylight, as I’ve been in a crazy crafting mood the last few days.  I guess I’ll see him in the fall, or whenever my crafting craze ends, whichever comes first.

 

I bought a set of Stabilo 68 markers from Amazon Prime. My set is a 40 count and the tip size is the 68. They have a finer tip that is 88, but I like a wider tip and this is not a very wide tip at all, fyi. I have some really ugly 12 x 12″ paper, and thought it would be fun to use it to make background paper and take the individual flowers and make them into flowers. I’m making another video featuring the Stabilo markers and using them to watercolor with that should be up in the next week. I found these markers to be really easy to work with and recommend them highly after using them for watercoloring and as a blended marker as well as on my Mandala coloring book. I used Archival Ranger ink and a Rock a Block acrylic block for stamping.

I found the 30 count for $19.99 plus shipping on ebay by seller leftys0528 and the 40 count was least expensive with Amazon Prime at $34.61 including shipping.

I really liked the way the colors blended but the oranges were not as easy to work with as the other pens. I thought the yellows were a little drier than the other colors. Overall, this is a great set of pens for the price and I hope that if you are in the market for some water based markers, you’ll give these a try. Remember that the nib is not very large so it takes longer to color with these. Check back later in the week for a card I make by water coloring with these pens.

Some days just don’t go well.  Yesterday, I was highly motivated to make videos and spent all afternoon and part of the evening making them.  I finished three vudeos and was happy with my results.  I wrote notes for Rich and folded the notes around the memory card so it would all be together and nothing would get lost.  Did I say nothing would get lost?  Just one little something, the memory card.  What’s a video without a memory card?  Nothing at all.  I search alone, then Rich and I searched, and finally, Rich searched for it without me.  The bottom line is that card is gone.  Gone, gone, GONE!  Geez.  If it had only had one video on it, I would have been bummed, but would have gotten over it quickly.  Three videos lost is a cry-worthy event.  I only cried for a minute and then decided, what’s the point?  It won’t change anything and will only prolong my misery.  So I decided to put it behind me and remake one or more when I feel like it.  Today might not be that day.  Maybe tomorrow when I’m completely over it.  Maybe not.

I was just looking at my YouTube account and could not believe that I have just completed video number 100.  I have three that are finished and am currently at ninety-seven.  It seems like five minutes ago that I did my craft room tour, which was the first video I made.  One hundred videos, wow, that’s a lot of videos and in just about six months.  I’m really having fun making them and hope more and more people find my channel.  I really want people with physical limitations to know that there is a place that they can find videos specifically tailored to their needs.  I’m especially proud of the “Let’s Talk” series of videos where I do product recommendations based on my needs and not necessarily the needs of someone without any limitations.  I’ve gotten good feedback on those and have had a lot of requests for more of them.  In the grand scheme of things, 100 isn’t very many, but it’s a really great start.

For this card, I used a Creative Memories punch that had a 1 1/4″ and a 1 1/2″ star punch on it. I used two pieces of white card stock that were each 8 1/2″ long by 5 1/2″ tall. I scored them at 2 1/8″ and 4 1/4″ then glued both together on the long 4 1/4″ length. I folded the score lines closest to the center in, and folded the score lines farthest from the center, out. This produces the “Z” on both sides. I cut burgundy paper 5 1/4″ tall by 2″ wide and made four of these, then glued them to the folded panels. I punched eight small polka dotted stars with the 1 1/2″ punch and eight 1 1/2″ white stars to make them look more dimensional. I used a white and a burgundy ribbon that were about 14″ long and wrapped them together around the card and tied them in a knot.
I used Cranberry Crisp ink by Stampin’ Up and a row of stars top stamp on the sides of the center white pieces as well as on the center burgundy pieces. I used a sentiment from Stampin’ Up from “Curvy Verses.”

I had a request for a video about ATG guns. Is that right?  Shouldn’t it just be ATG since the last letter stands for gun?  Anyway, I started digging around and found three of them.  Of course I don’t use any of them.  I had tape spew out of one of them and couldn’t figure out how to salvage it.  One has the tape with little dots on it and it doesn’t seem to hold anything in place.  And finally, the big Scotch ATG that everyone owns.  I really want to love that gun.  I want to use it and feel like a real crafter in doing so.  I’m not sure why I have so many problems with it, but I do.  In doing the video, I did realize one thing about it.  The tape is on the right side of the gun so if you are left handed (as I am), you can’t see where the tape is being applied.  When you turn the gun around for the right handed person, you can see exactly where the tape is going.  The other issue I have are the small glue clumps that I have once I stop pulling the trigger.  I’ve seen other crafters use this gun and have the same problem, so I’m not sure if it is an actual problem, or just the nature of the beast.

I think I gave a fair description of each gun and in the end, felt the snail type adhesive as well as tear tape, are the best solution for me.  I’m not saying I won’t use the other devices, I’m just saying I feel most comfortable with the small snail and tear tape.

I spent a lot of time today working on swatching  my Prismacolor watercolor pencils and my new Stabilo markers as well as some stragglers from other brands.  I have found that the colors on pencils and on markers can be very deceptive.  I’ve only ever seen people swatch their pencils out on paper and although I have done this,  I have found it to be a fruitless exercise.  Most of you are probably saying “fruitless, why?”  I suppose others would refer back to their pages of swatches, but I have never done so.  I swatch them and then immediately throw that paper inside the pencil holder, never to look at it again.  I needed a system that would work for me.  I’m apparently too lazy to look past the pencil to find the swatched paper.  The only solution has been for me to swatch my pencils and markers on a strip of sticker, then use a wet brush (for watercolor pencils) and liquefy the pigment.  Once this dries, I cut it out and wrap the sticker around the pencil.  When looking at my pencils and markers, I know immediately the color that I am looking for.  No more guessing if it is a real red or an orangish red, the swatch tells me all I need to know.  I have mentioned this on videos, but should consider making a very quick video so others can benefit from my system.  I’m sure others have the same problem I have, and  I appreciate anything that is easy, and hope others do as well.

Our niece is getting married and has asked every person coming to her bridal shower to bring their favorite recipe on a card that matches her invitation. The invitation looks really great with Graphic 45 Home Sweet Home paper.

I bought the recipe box from Ebay and it was made by Close to My Heart,   I used Stampin’ Up Lucky Limeade ink and matching paper for distressing the edges of the box and as the first layer of paper under the Home Sweet Home paper.  I hope you enjoy the video.

 

I decided I needed to rid myself of ugly 12 x 12 paper.  You know the pages that were somehow lost in time.  The ones that appear to be from 1972, but were purchased in 2015? I bought them in a paper pack with some great paper and some really bad paper.  So I thought I should use the white side to create background paper for cards.  I started by stamping rather large flowers all over the page with Archival ink.  I got a set of Stabilo markers and thought I’d color the flowers with them.  I think the paper will look good when I am done, but it taken much too long for a video.  I did start it on video, but am not sure if I should finish it that way.  I’m having a great time coloring the images, but don’t really think viewers will want to watch a really long video of me coloring.  But then again, maybe they will.  I’ve had emails from people about the scrap and punch cards saying that they wished I showed more of the process.  I thought if I showed the entire process, people would start to fall asleep.  I could be wrong.  I guess I’ll never know until I make the video.  I guess I better finish coloring.