I was sent an email by a friend who attached a link to a YouTube video.  It was for a woman who has people make wishes on her comment section and other people may or may not fulfill her wishes.  In theory, I like this idea.  My concern is that the person who runs this channel makes her wishes first and freezes them there, so you will always find her wish first.  Isn’t that like having your own personal genie in a bottle?  If once a week I decide I want something and I put it out to the people on YouTube, isn’t that basically me using this channel to get the things I want?

Maybe her channel does a lot of good and maybe the people on it are fulfilling each others wishes and not hers, but I don’t think so.  I think they are giving her what she wants so they will hear their name on YouTube.  Wouldn’t it be great if people would do something like that on their channel and keep themselves out of it?  It would be so wonderful to help grant wishes for people and do it for the pure joy of seeing others get the things that they want.  Maybe my hope for the world is too big, maybe I should be glad that’s she doing anything at all.  Maybe.

I’m cleaning again today in my craft room and still working on eliminating the duplicates I’ve bought of things.  I’ve had people ask me about the list of things I’m selling on Splitcoast Stampers and so I thought it would be easier to just copy and paste it here.  A couple of people have emailed me saying they had a hard time figuring out how to use Splitcoast Stampers website and I had a hard time when I first used it maneuvering within the site.  So here’s the list, if it mentions a photograph, you can find the photos on the Splitcoast site.  If you have any questions, or interest in anything, please email me at saundralparker@yahoo.com.

Anna Griffin Gold Edition Cuttlebug machine (used maybe five times)
with all plates necessary including a long “C” plate. $35 Shipping costs to be paid by buyer, least expensive USPS method available.

Cuttlebug extra long plates new in package 6 x 13″ photo below all for $25 plus shipping. These work on the Big Shot as well.
Size A
Size B=2 plates
Size C

Used full size Stampin’ Up Classic Ink Pads, checked for inkiness. All in like new condition. $3.50 each plus shipping, or all 23 for $70 including shipping.
Creamy Caramel
So Saffron
Perfect Plum
Orchid Opulence
Mellow Moss
Brocade Blue
Cameo Coral
Pumpkin Pie
Really Rust
Handsome Hunter
Close to Cocoa
Summer Sun
Regal Rose
Bordering Blue
Only Orange
Ballet Blue
Chocolate Chip
Garden Green
Old Olive
Not Quite Navy
Apricot Appeal
Night of Navy–Staining on case asking $3 for this one.
Bravo Burgundy

New Stampin’ Up Classic Ink Pads $5 each plus shipping
Wisteria Wonder
Island Indigo
Crisp Cantaloupe–new ink pad style, still in shrink wrap but it bled in shipping into the wrapper, photo attached below.

Classic Reinkers $3 each plus shipping
Soft Sky
Pool Party
Wisteria Wonder

NEW full-size Stampin’ Up Craft Ink Pads/still in shrink-wrap.
$39.00 for entire lot of 13 pads. No Re-inkers. (Shipping included.)
Blush Blossom
Mint Melody
Gable Green
Bordering Blue
Bliss Blue
Mauve Mist
Pale Plum
Orchid Opulence
Marvelous Magenta
Forest Foliage
Taken with Teal
Barely Banana
Cameo Coral

USED full-size Stampin’ Up Craft Ink Pads/Re-inker included. Shipping not included.

$3.00 each with full re-inker without shipping
Tempting Turquoise –sold–
Green Galore
Chocolate Chip–sold–
Lovely Lilac

$2.50 each; with partial re-inker; slight staining on case, shipping extra.
Brilliant Blue
Real Red
Pink Passion

Used Craft SU Ink Pads, full size, $2 each plus shipping. Used, no re inkers. Full Size or all 20 for $35 plus shipping.

Pretty in Pink
Rose romance
Positively Pink
Lavender Lace
Eggplant Envy
Perfect Plum
Rose Red–sold–
Ruby Red
Baroque Burgundy
Yoyo Yellow
Summer Sun
More Mustard
Only Orange
Really Rust
Ballet Blue
Brocade Blue
Sage Shadow
Mellow Moss
Glorious Green
Not Quite Navy

Stampin’ Write Marker Real Red New $2

Distress Ink Mini Set #2 new in package Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean, Seedless Preserves $5 plus shipping

Tim Holtz Distress Inks set of 32 full size, like new, checked for inkiness, $92 including postage within US.
Old Paper
Walnut Stain
Tumbled Glass
Wild Honey
Faded Jeans
Fired Brick
Brushed Corduroy
Aged Mahogany
Barn Door
Spun Sugar
Worn Lipstick
Mustard Seed
Pumice Stone
Antique Linen
Victorian Velvet
Bundled Sage
Squeezed Lemonade
Broken China
Chipped Sapphire
Rusty Hinge
Pine Needles
Scattered Straw
Dried Marigold
Tea Dye
Vintage Photo
Shabby Shutters
Milled Lavender
Weathered Wood
Peeled Paint
Spiced Marmalade
Tattered Rose
Stormy Sky

Paint Box Color Box Pigment Ink like new $5 plus shipping, photo below

Color Box Petal Point Provence, like new, $5 plus shipping, photo below

Distress Ink set new holiday edition Evergreen Bough, Iced Spruce, Festive Berries, full size, $12 plus shipping

Creative Memories Basic Round tip 4 pen set Black, red, green, blue (unused), see photo below $4 plus shipping

Creative Memories Precious Element Rainbow Point Tip set of four pens, Red and Green are used, Orange and blue, unused $3 plus shipping

Ranger Craft Spinner new in box $15 plus shipping, see photo below

Ala Mode Sprinkle Flocking Set of 18 colors new, retail $25 asking $12 plus shipping, see photo below. –pending–

Stampin’ Up new in package washi tape $5 each plus shipping, see photo below
Sweet Sadie
All is Calm
Color me Autumn

Art Bin Magnetic Die Storage Case new with 3 extra magnetic storage sheets for total of six sheets included $22 plus shipping, see photo below. –pending–

 

Every once in a while, I used to think about this.  If I could do anything with my life (or job) what would it be?  I never thought I would be doing a blog and making YouTube videos, but now that I am, I wonder what could be better?  I really enjoy making videos and learning so many new and different things.  I’m meeting new people, granted, via email, but isn’t that kind of the norm these days?  I’ve discovered a new world of ideas and people who are creative and funny and entertaining.

My job in banking was demanding but rarely inspiring.  I’m meeting new people who inspire me often, and that, in itself, is a really rare gift.  This experience has made me want to be a better person.  I want to try to make a difference, no matter how small, in the lives of the people who watch my videos because they have made such a difference in mine.  Life can throw so many things at us, and I’m so glad it has thrown this experience at me.  I am lucky and grateful for having this opportunity.

Every time I do a product comparison video, I’m amazed at the number of that product that I own.  I just finished the craft knife, demon stick, comparison and I had eight of them.  Ok, I bought ONE for the comparison, and had the other seven in my stash.  Two of them were so generic that they didn’t have a name on them, so I excluded them from the comparison.  The other six made it into the video.  I compared one from Fiskars, Martha Stewart, Prima Marketing, X-Acto, Tim Holtz and the dollar knife I bought on Ebay that I used in a video to make my own stamp storage.  I won’t ruin the surprise, but I was impressed at how well even the $1 blade cut.  Granted, it bent when I pressed down on it, but it did cut all three surfaces I used it on.  I thought it was only fair to test it on paper, cardstock and cardboard (chipboard, or whatever cardboard is currently being called.)  It was fun to play with all of the knives and as I used each one, I remembered why I did or didn’t like them.  For me, it’s about the handle and feeling comfortable and secure when holding it.  Some required more force to make cuts in the cardstock, but all in all, they cut pretty well.

You are probably wondering why I needed another craft knife for this comparison.  I watched a video that had a woman who lacked hand strength and she loved this craft knife.  I didn’t think it was fair to do a product comparison video without looking into whether this craft knife was easier to use than the rest.  Besides, I forgot I had purchased Martha Stewart’s and Tim Holtz’s knives, and found them when looking for the rest of the craft knives. At least the next time I need a craft knife, I should be able to find one.

I’ve watched Tim Holtz and Carol Duvall on YouTube making what seems like a pretty easy project, until I tried it for myself.  Maybe the miracle of television made it look easy, or maybe they weren’t telling the whole story.  I’m not sure, but what I do know is this.  It wasn’t easy and mine didn’t turn out anything like theirs did.  It was a way to create a stamp pad that is colored specifically for a particular stamp.  Using re inkers for Distress Inks, you first stamp the image with archival ink on a foam piece, then draw the lines in with re inker in the colors that you would use if you were coloring it in.  Then you stamp on the foam and then stamp on card stock and ta da, you have an image that you can use a water brush and make it look like it’s been water colored.  Really?  It didn’t work that way for me.  I used Ranger foam that’s specifically made to use as a stamp pad.  I used Distress Inks.  I used a water brush.  The re inker dried onto the card stock before I could use the water brush.  On the video, Tim Holtz said you could stamp it one week and color it in the next week.  I couldn’t move my color within a minute of stamping it.  It really looked easy when they did it.  I’ve watched that video so many times, I practically have it memorized.  I’m just not sure what I missed.  What a huge waste of re inker.  Maybe once I’ve had time to think about it, I’ll try it again.  Or maybe someone reading this will say, “Geez Sandy, did you do this or that?”  And then I’ll smack myself on the forehead and say, “Gee, I should have had a V8.”   Then again, maybe not.

I’m still thinking long and hard about the recipe box I’m covering with paper for our niece.  It’s definitely a project that’s going to take some time, I think.

So I decided to kick it to the curb, for now.  Wow, already terminology I’ll need to research.

Here’s the scoop.

It means “discard.” In many places in the USA, garbage is left in front of the house, at the curb, usually at the bottom of the driveway. This facilitates collection by the sanitation trucks (garbage collectors).

Huh, makes a lot of sense.

I have had an idea of a video I’ve been thinking of making for a while and today is the day to give it a try.  I saw Tim Holtz do this process with Carol Duvall from a very old video, at least ten years old.  He turns a rubber stamp into it’s own stamp pad.  I don’t think it makes much sense when I say it, so you’ll probably just want to watch the video.  I want to use my four bird stamp from Carolyn Shores Wright as it takes forever for me to watercolor pencil, and I refuse to do anything less with it.  Cross your fingers for me.  Wow, this is the first blog that had two pieces of slang that I need to find their origins.  Of course, I know what crossing my fingers means but I don’t know what the origin is. And now I do, well I maybe have a clue.

This is what mentalfloss.com has to say about it.

Crossing fingers to achieve your own good luck or in a display of hopeful solidarity that things go well for someone else is one of the most widely recognized symbols in the Western world. This is in part because of the gesture’s long history—although originally, it was not a solo act.

There are two main theories regarding the origins of finger-crossing for luck. The first dates to a pre-Christianity Pagan belief in Western Europe in the powerful symbolism of a cross. The intersection was thought to mark a concentration of good spirits and served to anchor a wish until it could come true. The practice of wishing upon a cross in those early European cultures evolved to where people would cross their index finger over that of someone expressing a wish to show support. Eventually, wish-makers realized they could go it alone and impart the benefit of a present cross to their wishes without another person’s participation, first crossing their two index fingers and finally adopting the one-handed practice we still use today.

The alternate explanation cites the early days of Christianity, when practitioners were persecuted for their beliefs. To recognize fellow Christians, people developed a series of hand gestures, one of which involved forming the ichthys, or fish symbol, by touching thumbs and crossing index fingers. This theory doesn’t fully explain how luck initially became associated with the gesture, but it does posit that the solo finger cross developed during the bloody Hundred Years War by soldiers eager for anything that might curry God’s favor.

So there you go.  I never realized how many of these slang sayings I use until doing this blog.  I’m a huge slang user and didn’t even know it.  Well at least if you aren’t familiar with these terms, I’m saving you the research into what they mean.  It might be easier if I just stopped using them, but what’s the fun in that?

 

 

I started working on what looks like a very big project.  Our niece is getting married in July, and is asking all of the guests to bring their favorite recipe with them.  I offered to make the recipe box for her and she agreed.  I found a great recipe box made by “Close to my Heart,” that is specifically made to be recovered with paper.  I don’t think they make them anymore and found mine on Ebay.   It’s white cardboard and has a magnetic closure.  I decided I want to use Graphic 45 Home Sweet Home paper and bought the paper and a lot of the accessories for it.  I really love the front cover with the woman outside, putting clothes on the line.  She looks like she’s from the 1950’s and the colors of papers are really nice.  I got my invitation and recipe card in the mail and the recipe card has flowers that match the colors in the paper pack.  Needless to say, it made my job a lot easier.  Now it’s a matter of making it look great.  When I took the box out of the plastic wrap, it had some weird spots on the edges.  Spots that currently aren’t taking any ink.  Yikes.  I didn’t anticipate that.  I’m going to have to email my expert, Linda, and find out what ideas she has to correct this problem.  I’m not sure how to protect the outside once I’m finished either.  I know I’m going to make an easel top, so she can prop her recipes on it, but I’m not sure what to do to make it stain-proof.  I could use Collage Podge or Mod Podge, but I really don’t like a finish I can see.  Again, I might need to defer to Linda for help.  This is really an important project for me.  I don’t like to let our niece down when I can avoid it.  I think I’m giving myself plenty of time to finish it, videotape it, and make sure it looks great.  At least that’s my plan, but, with something as big as this, I’m never really sure.

I was asked to do a haul video for the things I bought at the stamp show, so that’s my project for today.  But first, I need to rearrange my craft room for a really big set of shelves I bought at a church rummage sale for $3.  I thought it would be perfect for stamp sets, especially Stampin’ Up ones that come in larger CD cases.  Unfortunately, they don’t fit.  Now I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to put into the shelves, because they are really narrow.  At first I thought maybe it was used for old VCR tapes, but I don’t think it’s slots are long enough for those.  I’m really not sure what it was used for.  I also bought an IKEA cart that Rich just put together for me, so I’ll have to figure out what to put on that.  I just need to get organized.  I mean, seriously organized.  I’m not really accustomed to working in chaos and that’s what my craft room appears to be.  I’m really trying hard to focus on getting rid of things in my immediate work area, but that only lasts until the next video, when I load things back into it.

I came up with a really great ribbon storage system that I’m going to share on the haul video as well.  I think everyone should have an inexpensive system for storing ribbon.  And of course, I need more than one system since I have so much ribbon.  I hoping viewers will enjoy my idea and put it into action for themselves.