Lindsay the Frugal Crafter showed how to make the glue that seals envelopes years ago, and I decided I wanted to make it. When I give card sets, I like to make sure the envelopes can be sealed…

After several taste tests, I decided that the envelope glue recipe is as follows:
1/2 cup + one tablespoon Elmers Glue All.   
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/8 cup cinnamon extract

You can always make less of this recipe….If you want to cut it in half, it would be 

1/4 cup Elmer’s Glue All

1/8 cup white vinegar

1 TBSP  cinnamon extract, add more if you hate the taste

Stir until everything is combined and then using a funnel, put it into a bottle with a squeeze lid. If you use all of your glue, you can put it into the old glue bottle..

I went on Aliexpress and found a bottle for 67 cents that should work..here’s the link https://tinyurl.com/yxuovn5x Check the size before you buy it, as it might be too small…

Once you’ve combined your ingredients, put some on the top flap edges of an envelope and let it dry…Once I licked it, it didn’t taste as badly as other envelopes I’ve licked that were made commercially.

To make envelopes for any card, you’ll need 12 x 12″ paper for anything larger than a 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ card (an A2 size card).
Measure your card on the diagonal from the bottom left corner to the top right corner….I first measured an A2 size card that is 6 3/4″ diagonally, and you’ll add 1″ to it, to make      7 3/4″, and you’ll need to cut a square out of your paper that is 7 3/4″.
Once your paper is square, the outside of the envelope should be facedown at this point. You’ll decide what you want to be the outside of the envelope based on if you are mailing it…If you are mailing the envelope, you need the front of the envelope to be easy for the postal workers to read, so a pattern should be in the inside of the envelope...
You’ll put your paper in front of you like a diamond..I always corner round the top corner with my Kadomaru Pro corner rounder from Amazon...I love it…by the way. Lay your card in the center of the diamond, and fold in the sides so they are close to the sides, but not tight. Then rub your folds so you can see them. Pinch in the bottomedges and fold it up to make the bottom of the card, then do the same with the top. On the top corners you’ll see folds where excess paper exists. I use my scissors and trim out the excess..the bottom doesn’t matter as people won’t see that. You might want to cut the center piece that sticks up from the bottom so it’s straight across…You’ll use a strong adhesive on back of the bottom flaps and add your envelope glue to the top edges of the flap. Let it dry before proceeding to the licking phase.
To insert your card, it’s easier to put your card in face down, as any embellishments won’t get stuck on their way in…..
To make an envelope for a 5 x 7″ card, measure diagonally from corner to corner and it’s 8 1/2″….add one inch, so you’ll need a 9 1/2″ square of paper. Follow the same steps as you did for the smaller envelope.

I had a plan.  I thought it was a good one.  I was going to make brownies and a card for my 80 year old 5th grade teacher who still plays basketball with Rich.  Funny how plans can go awry.

It started with the brownies, or maybe it ended there.  I put them in the oven and they came out beautifully….For those of you who don’t know this, I don’t have the world’s best nose.  Rich came upstairs, smelled the brownies and said “they smell funny.”  He tasted them and said they tasted like the box.  Apparently when I bought them, I didn’t look at the date, and they were old…..really old…..So into the garbage they went.

Onto the card.  I thought I’d make a simple card using a dotted stencil and layered dies of the number 80 and the word “happy” die cut.  I layered them together, everything went fine, and then I decided to heat emboss them.  The embossing powder wouldn’t stick to the edges, wouldn’t do anything I wanted, and I ended up with so many layers on the word happy, that it cracked in half when I tried to glue it to the card…and that’s not even the bad part.  The number 80 dies were balloon shaped, so I’d need to attach a string to them.  First I tried a different embossing powder, same crappy results….and now time is of the essence..I’m running late.  Rich needs to leave for basketball.  So I flick another color embossing powder onto the numbers, heat set them, and decide “good enough.”  And then things went from bad to worse.  I was using a new twine I’d bought at a Hallmark store that’s really great quality…..until you cut it.  And then it starts to unravel…forget gluing the ends and trying to “re-twine” it, as nothing would keep it together.  So round two…this time I got the 8 on, but the 0 was not playing with me.  I had glue all over, and strands of twine glued to my hands, and fibers on the paper.  It looked so terrible…..and at that point I just thought, “Screw it, take the card.”  Until I opened it….when my hands touched the inside of the card, all the ink and glue that was on my hand was now inside the card.  I seriously wanted to cry.  Instead I took it to the kitchen, showed it to Rich and said, “It’s only paper,” and chucked it into the trash.  So if you’re thinking you might at some point see a video of this debacle, think again…I’m not sure when I’ll have the guts to get back in the craft room, or make brownies again…it’s all up for discussion….One things for sure, I’ll be checking expiration dates before I buy brownie mix again…..And that twine, it might wrap presents, but it definitely didn’t work on a card.  Crap!

We had a great day yesterday, having breakfast with three couples we went to college with,  all of the men played football with Rich…Oddly enough, I was friends with the men in the group (as I graduated with them), and really didn’t know their wives very well…until the last couple of years, when our good friend moved back to the area with his wife.  It’s funny how little their personalities have changed, but of course, time, and age, has taken its toll on their hair, their waists and let’s face it, we’re not young any more.  Darn it.

After breakfast, Rich and I ran a few errands, including going to Walmart (my least favorite place, especially on the weekend.)  But our vet just prescribed Honey a new anti-anxiety medicine and the vet recommended we go online to do price checking…Boy was she right.  Walmart charges us $11 and the closest price to that was over $30 at any of the chain pharmacies.  That’s pathetic.   So I had to stand in line, come up with a date of birth for Honey (I knew the day but had to figure out what year, and when you’re in line, you start to panic about holding up the line,) I recalculated in my head to come up with 2015.  I knew she was three, but thought that meant 2016….no, that’s wrong, well, you know how it goes…Lines in Walmart will do that to you.

We got home mid afternoon and had to spend time calming Honey, as a big change to her routine makes her crazy anxious.  I caught up on emails and read “No Man’s Land” by David Baldacci…It’s a good book from a series he writes on a character named Puller.  If you’ve ever read any of the Jack Reacher book series, the character has small similarities to those.  Rich and I have read all of the Reacher books and recommend them highly.  This series is good, but I’d say most of the Reacher books are better.  Look at me, book critic..haha….

I need to get into the craft room and work on a few things.  I haven’t made my sister her St. Patrick’s Day card and need to clean in there again…what a horrible mess.  I would love it if I walked in there once and said, “Wow, it looks great in here.”  I doubt that will ever happen.  I almost wish my craft supplies were able to be compressed into one piece of luggage.  Just think about how easy that would be to maintain.  We all know those days are long gone…and there’s no going back.

Rich has one more video to upload and I think he’ll probably do that today.  I’m sure I already mentioned this, but I made envelope glue, and just the taste testing I did is funny…It’s worth watching simply for that alone.  Off to the craft room…or maybe I’ll read…I think we all know I’m not going in there any time soon…

Thanks to all of my wonderful friends for the lovely cards I received.

Here are the links to the new releases for Rubber Stamp Tapestry, the peg stamp people.  The first sets are large acrylic stamp sets, followed by the new peg stamp sets.  I wanted to make sure I also shared my storage idea with you and added a link below so you can find them easily at the Dollar Tree.  Just as an FYI, I do not make any affiliate monies from sales from these links, and only put them here for your convenience.

Clear Acrylic Sentiment Stamp Sets:
Happy https://pegstamps.com/happy-clear-stamp-set.html
Mom and Dad https://pegstamps.com/mom-and-dad-clear-stamp-set.html
Because of You https://pegstamps.com/because-of-you-clear-stamp-set.html
Handmade with Love https://pegstamps.com/handmade-with-love-clear-stamp-set.html

Peg Stamp Sets:
Skyward: https://pegstamps.com/skyward.html
Strawberry Delight: https://pegstamps.com/strawberry-delight.html
Poppies for Remembrance: https://pegstamps.com/poppies-for-remembrance.html
Secret Garden: https://pegstamps.com/secret-garden.html
Poppy Wreath: https://pegstamps.com/poppy-wreath.html

Dollar Tree box: Here is the box I buy at the Dollar Tree, as well as the colors you can buy it in. https://www.dollartree.com/plastic-storage-boxes-with-hinged-lids-3-qt/987218

I keep the packaging from my peg stamp sets, as the lids work great for mixing watercolors and the base is perfect for water or cleaning brushes.

The photos I took of the woodpecker are amazing, but I took over one hundred (couldn’t stop holding down that shutter) and so Rich has to find the best ones so I can share them with all of you.  I am so proud that the photos (some) are perfectly focused and the bird is the center of the frame….it wasn’t easy, but I’m glad I got at least a few.

Rich’s brother’s heart surgery went well and he should go home tomorrow.  He wanted to go home today, but still had drainage tubes in, so won’t be able to go until then.

We went to Pittsburgh today for my doctor’s appointment…Nothing new, I still have arthritis…I go there every three months, and the best part, OK, there’s two great parts….we stop at a tremendous bakery on the way out of Pittsburgh, then we stop at a huge Dollar Tree….I found so many things that I’ll be showing in upcoming videos.  I hate to do that though, because, I know, like me, most people don’t have access to Dollar Trees that are huge and loaded with all kinds of new products, and frankly, it’s frustrating.  I know when I show our store, that’s small, but well stocked, a lot of viewers are jealous, and that makes me sad…If they saw the store I was in today, they’d really be upset.  I spent over $40…At least $10 was dog treats though.

Tomorrow we’re meeting college friends for breakfast, then I’ll be uploading a new video…It’s the new stamp sets just released by Rubber Stamp Tapestry, the peg stamp people…I think these are some of their best sets ever..

Rich’s brother had heart surgery yesterday, and we thought we’d see him, but he was in too much pain, and wanted us to wait until today…Honey was super anxious for some reason this morning, so Rich went without me, and I went out shopping with a friend for a couple of hours, thinking Honey would be fine….I got home and she was so freaked, she couldn’t calm down until I came into the sunroom (her safe haven) and sat in my chair, while she sat on the love seat beside it.  Our dogs never used to lay on our furniture, but since we’ve had Bella and Honey, they think they own everything, so almost all of our furniture has removable dog covers.  I sometimes feel like a really old lady, and maybe should reconsider, and go for clear plastic covers..smack me if I even consider that as it’s just gross…If you’ve never sat on it, it sticks to you and makes all kinds of noises when you move..my grandma had it covering her couch.  But that was in the 1960’s, and thankfully, she got over it and stopped using plastic in the 70’s.

While I was sitting with Honey, a huge woodpecker with the hair like Woody Woodpecker came to one of our bird feeders.  Rich has been trying to photograph him, and had his camera in the kitchen.  I knew it would be a miracle if I could hold the camera long enough to get photos, as it has a long lens and weighs a ton (to me.)  It’s so much lighter than the Canon AE-1 I had in college, and loved….I saved while working summers, so I could afford a really long lens to take photos of Rich playing football.  And I made a scrapbook for him and one for another good friend who played on his team….I guess I was crafty back then …  I could barely hold that camera, and I was physically healthy..I’m off topic, so..Back to the bird.

I took probably fifty photos of him by holding down the button, and if any of them turn out, (I’m waiting for Rich to look them over), I’ll be sure to upload one in the next day or so.  I don’t think this particular woodpecker is very common, at least in PA.  We get four varieties of woodpeckers, and he’s the one we rarely see.  You’re probably thinking I know a lot about birds from what I’m saying here, that’s not the case, I just kind of like woodpeckers, as they come in so many shapes and sizes.  Since Honey and I spend our winters in the sunroom staring at birds and squirrels, we get to see a lot of different things….Bella, on the other hand, prefers the living room couch…No they’re not spoiled at all..

I took the Valentine’s wreath/frame and used my heat tool to heat the hot glue I’d used to attach the Valentine’s decorations. If you heat where you applied glue, you’ll be able to take off the old pieces without damaging the frame.

I went to the Dollar Tree for the new decorations and liked the long door hanger with the hat on top, then cut off all of the shamrocks except one. I attached the hat to the back of the frame with hot glue and shortened the ribbon so it hung close to the top of the frame. I had some ribbon that a viewer had sent me, that was wrapped around cardboard, so it had a lot of kinks in it. The ribbon had what looks like plastic white coating as it’s design, and normally I would have run the ribbon through a hair straightener to remove the kinks, but didn’t think it would work with this ribbon, as I felt it would melt the pattern. Instead I wet the ribbon, stretched it and used my heat tool on it (waving it back and forth) to remove most of the kinks. I wrapped a length of the ribbon around the top of the frame about 1 1/2″ from the left side of the frame, with the end of the ribbon hot glued to the back of the frame. I bought some foam scatters from the Dollar Tree and glued two of the shamrocks and one of the gold coins onto the ribbon, then cut the bottom of the ribbon in a whales’ tail fashion, by cutting a small slit in the center of the ribbon, the cutting in from either side up to the point where the center slit ends.
I mentioned that I would show the bag from the glue sticks, but forgot to do so. If you go to this link, it will show you the glue sticks I DON’T recommend from Ad Tech. http://tinyurl.com/y6q5jcq3 Below is the link to the glue sticks that one of my viewers recommended that you can buy at Michaels by ArtMinds, http://tinyurl.com/yxsjttqu..I’ve never tried these, as an fyi.
I wrapped another length of the ribbon around the top of the frame about an 1 1/2″ from the right side of the opening of the frame, and glued it in place. I added five of the foam scatters that were smaller to this side. I took the large shamrocks that I removed from the large center banner, and glued them to the side and bottom of the wreath. I added a length of the ribbon to the bottom portion of the frame, then glued three different sized foam pieces to it. I had another long sticker that said the word “luck” left from last year’s St. Patrick’s Day decorations, and glued it to the right side of the frame, and the frame/wreath is done.

I know I’m uploading this early, but will not be able to think clearly enough tomorrow to upload any notes.  I’ll be doing practice interviews with the graduating seniors of the college we attended, and packed way too many students into one day…I’m not sure how that’s going to go.

So for today, I’m pushing Rich to upload another video, as Wednesday his brother is having heart surgery to repair a valve and Rich will be with him. I doubt I’ll be doing anything that day…maybe napping, to help recover from a day of interviewing.

Today I’ve been working on catching up with laundry and house cleaning….the glamorous life of Sandy Parker…

I’ve got a couple more video ideas I’d like to play with today…the gem picker comparison is big on my list, as well as showing you how to combine the remnants of old candles to make new ones…Then I think I’d like to do a video showing people how to move around on YouTube..I think a lot of people don’t know how to move around within one person’s channel, and I hope it might be helpful. Of course I don’t use a big girl phone, so I have no idea how to navigate YouTube on small technology, so maybe it’s a big waste of time…maybe some of you can give me your input on it.  Naturally, I have a few more stamp kit videos to do before I can do the comparison, and frankly I’m losing momentum on that one.  I just want to get to the bottom of the pile so I can do the final video, but it seems like every time I think I’m at the end, another one comes in the mail…drat.

I’ve got laundry to do and have to gather my interview information and snacks for tomorrow, as I doubt I’ll get lunch..I’ll update you once I’ve got a grip..

We’ve been having a crazy wind storm here for the last two days and so I’m still hanging around the house…We went to lunch today with friends, but otherwise, spent our time inside.

I did make a couple new videos today and Rich uploaded one.  I’ve been wanting to show off the Valentine’s cards I’ve received from viewers, as well as all of the new stamps just released from Rubber Stamp Tapestry, the peg stamp people.  They have some acrylic sentiment stamps that really made me happy, especially one that talks about how the card is handmade, and has more cute and snarky sentiments about not throwing it away….Loved that set best.

I had another video idea a while ago, about showing viewers how to create their own envelopes, and making their own envelope glue.  I’d seen Lindsay the Frugal Crafter make this glue years ago and kept the video to remind myself.  You’re probably wondering why you’d need glue for envelopes…if you make your own envelopes, there’s no adhesive on them, and if you use tear tape, maybe the recipient (and this would be when you send a gift set of cards) wouldn’t know what to do with the backing paper…you never know.  So I made the glue and two different sized envelopes and applied the glue.  I let it dry and I have to say, at first it tasted really nasty….But by the time the glue had dried, it was a lot better tasting than store bought envelopes you’d lick.  It was one of those moments before the final lick, that I was wondering if I would have to scrap the whole video if it tasted like crap…after all, the glue was an integral part and it would be kind of pointless without it.  People still might not understand a need for envelope glue, but I figured if they know how to make it, maybe they will give it a try.  It’s super simple, with only three ingredients….can’t get much easier than that.

I was given a monthly card kit for the month of November, 2018, from Spellbinder’s representative Samantha Torres…If you’d like to contact her, her email is storres@journeyblooms.com. I’m sure she would be able to assist you with any questions you might have.

The kit is called Deer Santa and it’s still available on the Spellbinders site…Here is a link to all of the individual products and the kit. https://tinyurl.com/y48btamd If you are a kit member, the kit would be $35, but because it’s after November, it now sells for $50. Here’s the link to sign up for their kits if you are interested.
https://www.spellbinderspaperarts.com/card-kit-of-the-month-membership/

My goal in this video is to show you how to turn Christmas kit products into every day cards.

I started with one of the postcards that came in the kit and cut it down to 5 1/4″ x 4″ wide and rounded the corners with my Kadomaru Pro corner rounder from Amazon. I used a green piece of paper from the paper pad I received and cut it to 5 3/8″ by 4 1/8″. I adhered both of these papers to one of their card bases that are 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″. I used Brutus Monroe embossing ink to ink a sentiment that came from a Stamps of Life stamp set called Phone4You…I put “What’s up” on the front three times and added gold embossing powder from an old set of powders I bought at a garage sale then heat set them..I added a few blue sequin type stars to the front and on the center of the phone..Then I added white gel pen around the phone and on the flowers and leaves.

I used tear tape that came in the kit to adhere it to the layers…If you are interested in where I buy my tear tape, I buy it from CraftChameleon.com.

For the second card, I used a large flower die and cut out a blue piece of paper that came in the paper pad. I laid the blue paper that I’d cut to 4″ x 5 1/4″ tall and used washi tape to adhere it from behind to a white piece of cardstock that was the same size. I added one of their card bases behind them and glued them together. I rounded all of the corners with my Kadomaru Pro.
I used alcohol markers from Touch Five to color through the flowers onto the white paper behind it. I lighted drew with a pencil so I could see where the petals were on the white paper before coloring. I added enamel dots that came in the kit and then used a 3″ square punch to punch a piece of orange cardstock, then laid it in the bottom left corner of the card. I die cut the word Hi and attached it to the phone ephemera that came in the kit, then glued the phone on the orange square…I decided the card needed something else, so used Diamond Glaze and covered all of my flowers with it so they had some dimension.

For my third card, I took a premade card base that was made from craft cardstock. I added a piece of their black textured paper over it…the black paper was 4″ x 5 1/4″ and the base was 4 1/4′ x 5 1/2″. I added the word hello that I die cut to the black paper, then glued one of the small envelopes to the front (that came in the kit.)