I am finally getting the videos I made at the Stamp and Scrapbook Expo organized and ready for Rich to upload.  I think we have four or five, plus the haul, and now the giveaway for the Halloween album.  I’m excited about that, and hope we have some viewers who would love to have it, as I want to make sure it goes to a good home.

As for the rest of my day, I worked in the yard and burned some branches (OK, twigs) that had fallen in the last storm we had last week.  I’m not sure what happens when I do things like that, but my face turns almost purple and stays that way for hours…And I must grit my teeth while doing it, as my jaw hurts so much I have to put Salon Pas pads on both sides.  I think I’m completely out of shape when I do just a small amount of yard work, and should show a video so you can see the color of my face for yourself.  This is the first time Rich has actually been concerned with the color, as I think he’s worried I might have a stroke…I really hope that’s not the case, but until you see how red my face is, you really can’t imagine the color…

I had a terrific time at the stamp show.  We weren’t there ten minutes before a woman pulled me aside and asked if I have a YouTube channel, and to tell me how much she enjoys it.  It fills my heart with so much happiness whenever I talk to someone who truly enjoys the channel…and Rich is happy too.  We never expected to grow the channel to the point that someone would recognize me, but we’re so happy that it’s grown to where it is today.

I video taped several demonstrations and one woman, in particular, was really impressive.  She used a lot of different Tonic products, and I learned a lot from her.   Don’t worry, we’ve got at least two, maybe three videos where she demonstrates them and one I’d never seen before.  They are making a watercolor shimmer powder similar to Ken Oliver’s Color Bursts.  I’m seriously considering buying them and using them like a watercolor in a palette.  I don’t like using them like most crafters do, where they squirt the powder onto paper and then wet it to see what they get.  I know I’ll make a mess if I attempt that…My thought is to put some in a palette, wet it, and then brush it onto a surface.  I’m trying to talk myself out of buying them, but I wanted the Ken Oliver ones, and they don’t have sparkle, but these do….decisions, decisions…..

We watched a woman who represents Art Impressions who does watercolors with their stamps and markers.  Honestly, she’s a true artist, even signs and dates her images…But unfortunately, Rich held the camera for the first three-quarters of her watercoloring, and when I took over, I couldn’t get the camera to focus, so the last part, the most important part, is too blurry.  I hate it when my camera won’t focus, as it completely ruins the video….darn it.

And lastly, we found an idea at the stamp show for Rich’s Christmas card…The vendor did a “make and take” where you pay them $3 and they show you how to do a technique.  They sell stamps that look very similar to a Mandala.  They give you four of the same image on different colors of card stock.  Then they have you cut out different parts of the image on each color card stock and then put glitter and crystals on the finished image.  I liked the idea, but didn’t want viewers to have to buy their stamp to make it.  I knew I had a coloring book with simple Mandalas, and found one that I think will work for this…So I cut it out and made copies, and tomorrow, I think Rich is going to make his first video.  It should be a lot of fun…

I finally mailed my thinking of you week cards.  It only took me an additional week to mail them.  I wonder if that happens to anyone else?  I will make several cards, and address them, but getting them in the mail…I put it off as long as possible.  I think it’s because I have to take them to the post office to see if they are too thick to be sent with a regular stamp.  If I didn’t have to do that, I would be much quicker with my mailing time.

Tomorrow is a big day..(OK, not for Rich.)  We’re going to a rubber stamp show in Akron, Ohio, and I’m hoping it’s going to be a lot of fun.  I’d like to say that I don’t plan on buying anything, but you know I’ll find so many great things, and will definitely need to buy something.  (Probably more than one something.)

It will give us a chance to make another road trip video.  And you’ll get to see the beard Rich is growing.  I’m not exactly sure what he’s thinking, but he’s definitely into the idea of growing one.  Today he said he’s not going to be on camera tomorrow, and I’m wondering if he’s afraid he’ll get comments about the beard.  I’ll get a big kick out of it if we do.

I watched this album being made by Lyriclover810, and thought it would be fun to make for Halloween. I bought four sheets of loose scrapbook paper at Joanns for this project…My paper wasn’t perfectly square and it would have been better if I had used a pad of paper, as all of it would have been the same size.
You’ll need four 12″ x 12″ pieces of scrapbook paper, not super thin, as you need it to be sturdy enough to create an album. Score each sheet at 6″, then turn it one turn and score at 3″. Do this to all four sheets. Then fold the paper in half and burnish with a bone folder or anything that will flatten your paper. Fold the 3″ scores toward the raised score (and not the indented score) to create pockets. Take wet glue and glue the two outer edges with a fine line of wet glue. If you want to round your corners, do this before gluing it down. My corner rounder is from Amazon and here’s the link to it. http://tinyurl.com/ydf9a6w6
I rounded all of my corners.  The bottom ones might be difficult to round, so press your rounder hard enough to leave an impression on the paper, then use scissors to cut it.
Once all four papers are scored and folded, you’ll want to glue them together. If you use double sided paper, the middle two sheets won’t show on the outside, as they’ll be hidden with other papers…so if you don’t like one side of your paper, put it in the middle of the album with the ugly sides on the outside (not where the pockets are). The outside two pages will show both the inside and outside.
To glue them together, fold them, then glue the back of one to the front of the next. I used Elmers glue stick on the page on the left side and Tonic Funky Glue Pen on the page on the right.  Make sure all four corners are perfectly lined up before going on to the next page.
To create a binding for the album, cut a piece of coordinating paper that is 9″ long by 1″ to 1 1/2″ wide. If your binding is thicker, you’d want to make yours 1 1/2″ wide like mine. If your paper is thin, you can get away with using a 1″ wide piece. You’ll need to put tear tape or ATG glue on this strip to ensure it adheres well. Center the 1 1/2″ wide part on the binding, making sure it’s laid so the 9″ length is even on both ends of the album. Bend the edges of the 1 1/2″ piece and fold them until they meet the album and press down on both sides. I also pressed the center on my craft mat so it was flat. I put binder clips on it to ensure it stayed in place until the glue was set..
The papers I used to decorate are from Graphic 45 and the set is called Rare Oddities. It’s a retired set of paper, but you still should be able to find some of it on Ebay or Etsy. I decorated the album almost solely from the 8″ paper pad and ephemera set that you can buy separately.
I used pearls from Stampin’ Up and colored the pearls with a Copic marker to ensure it matched the album.
I got a box of goodies from my friend Kelly, and showed it in the video….I bought some things from Stampin’ Up that are discontinued. If you are looking for any of these things, here is the information on them. Since these are being discontinued, you might want to shop sooner, rather than later if you’re interested in them.
Black Metallic Thread #141695
Pearl Buttons #138394
Just Add Color Designer Series Paper #144180

 

I looked over the album I’d glued together and decided it wasn’t worth finishing.  Rich and I went out to lunch and then to a movie with friends..We saw “A Simple Favor” with Anna Kendrick…It wasn’t at all what I expected, but still kept us wondering where they were taking us with the plot…Might be one you should wait to watch on video.

After the movie, we stopped at Joann’s and I bought five sheets of orange dotted card stock.  I thought it would work well for the album, but it never occurred to me that the paper would be different sizes.  It definitely wasn’t 12″ x 12″, and that creates a problem when making this album.  You really need to start with four pieces of 12 x 12″ paper.  I had to cut mine and score in a different spot and frankly, it was kind of a hassle.  If I had bought a paper pad, I don’t think I would have had the problems I had.  Oh well, live and learn.

I have to say though, the album is really cute and I’m hoping will be a nice gift for someone…Although who I should give it too, I’ve got no idea.  It’s Halloween themed and so many of my friends’ grandkids no longer trick or treat.  I might make a giveaway for viewers with it, but so far, I’m not sure what I’ll be doing with it…Have to think on it a little while.

I finally got the codes to work for the Mulwark Tools…It’s only taken me about a week.  I felt so stupid that I kept getting codes that wouldn’t work, and finally, YAY!  They had to send me individual codes, so each person needs their own code.  I’ve never heard of anything like that happening, and was blown away that they actually worked.  I’m breathing the biggest sigh of relief!

I didn’t finish the album today, or look at it for that matter.  We had a thunderstorm about 4AM and Honey gets so anxious that I have to take her to the basement and sleep with her there.  And no, she doesn’t want Rich to do it.  If he takes her downstairs, she still paces and worries…It’s a job for SuperDogMom!   As soon as I lay blankets on the couch, she jumps on one end and lays at my feet…I don’t feel sleepy until I hear her make a deep sigh, and then I know it’s OK to rest.  I can’t imagine how scared the poor dog must be.  So needless to say, I was pretty groggy most of today.  I even took a nap, and then we had a tornado warning, so back to the basement with Honey, as it was thundering again….It’s been a long day..I’m hoping tomorrow is a whole new ballgame.

I had a bunch of scrap paper left over from the purse we made and I wanted to make six cards to fit inside the purse..I started with 110 lb Recollections (from Michaels) heavy weight card stock in cream for card bases. I cut them to 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ when closed 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″, an A2 size card.

I used sentiments from Aliexpress and a stamp set called Many Greetings from My Creative Times.

Cut the sentiments with dies from a Spellbinders set from the Small Dies of the Month, March, 2018. I put my greetings on the magnetic plate of my Vagabond and laid the dies on top of them, then rubbed washi tape on the sleeve of my shirt, and taped the dies in place (for those of you who don’t have a magnetic plate.) My plastic plates are warped so I wanted to be sure mine would stay in place, and added the washi to them so they would.
I made a lot more sentiments than I would need, but I wanted the recipient to be able to use the ones that they needed on the cards. Some people need a lot of thank you, or happy birthday, so I made sure they could apply only the ones that they needed to the cards.
If you only have larger dies, I showed how to trim a sentiment so it would work with them. Took a rectangular die that was much longer than I needed, and laid it as close the the left side of the image as possible and cut that, then laid it as close to the right side as possible and cut it again. FYI, this doesn’t work well with dies that are embossed (raised) on the edges, as it’s almost impossible to line it up so the embossing doesn’t look odd. I used a stitched die, and if you try to line up the die with the existing stitches, you should have good results. The die set I used was also from Aliexpress.
I stamped the sentiments with brown and black inks from Versamark, then put clear embossing powder on them and heat set them (off camera.)

I wanted these cards to fit inside the pockets of the purse so I didn’t layer them with foam so they weren’t very dimensional.  Didn’t have a ribbon that matched my card, so took an alcohol marker and colored it so it was more pinky-peach. For my second card, I used a scalloped edge border punch from Stampin’ Up and layered one of the images on black paper that was leftover. The black layer was 4″ x 5 1/4″. I had a blue ribbon that I laid on the left edge of the scalloped layer, vertically, and tied a knot in it to resemble a bow.
The next card I showed how I chose from the scraps, and used a dotted design that was 4″x 5 1/4″ and put tear tape on the back, then layered it on the card. I used Funky Tonic Glue Pen to glue down strips of black to the back of a patterned blue piece as the black scraps weren’t wide enough to cover the blue piece on their own. It’s a great way to make more use of leftover paper. I glued the black lined blue scrap about 1/4″ from the left side of the dotted paper, then laid a floral image on top of it.
For the next card, I did the same technique with black paper, so my pink striped paper would end up being 4 x 5 1/4″ once the black paper was affixed to either edge. Then glued a blue and beige paper that was about 1 1/4″ wide by 5″ long onto the center of the card and laid a length of postage stamp images onto black paper, cut the black paper so it was about 1/4″ wider and taller than the stamps, and centered it on the blue and beige layer.
I stamped the back of all of my cards with a stamp I had made by Discount Rubber Stamps that says “I made this for you.”. I thought it was a great plan as I’m giving these so that someone else can mail them and the recipient will think they made the cards for them.
The next card was strips of blue patterned paper that edged a blue polka dot layer on either side to make it 4 x 5 1/4″ and put a large bird image on top.
The last card was a blue background 4 x 5 1/4″, with a polka dot layer that was about       2 1/2″ wide by 5 1/4″ long…I added a black layer that had a bird image on it…the black layer was about 1/4″ wider and taller than the bird image..glued that on the center of the polka dot layer and called it a day.

I started making a video on an easy album I wanted to make.  Everything went wrong and I’m thinking I should start over.  The paper needed to be 12 x 12″ and I think I might have somehow trimmed one of my pieces shorter, thus making the whole project a mess.

I tried to rectify the situation, but you know how that goes sometimes, it’s either meant to be or not, and right now, I think this could be made for the trash.  I’m not sure yet, and I’ll know for sure tomorrow, as I’m waiting for the glue to dry to see if I can trim edges that are really nasty right now.  I would never have thought that I’d have the patience to mess with something like this, but I guess patience has been a gift of mature age…I could have said old age, or almost old age, as I’m definitely not middle aged any more…If I’m middle aged, I’d have to live to be 116…I sincerely hope I don’t live until then.  I don’t consider myself to be old, but when talking to anyone below forty, I’m pretty sure they would classify me as old.  (I know I would have when I was young.)

Tomorrow is another day for the album.  I might wake up and wonder what I was fretting about..Cross your fingers that I’m thrilled with it tomorrow, otherwise it could be a long wait for another one.

 

We had a really nice day today.  Our college friends had a get together, and Rich made an apple pie that was amazing.  He’s quite the baker, and his friends were amazed that he did such a great job on the pie…  It’s always nice to see them and reminisce about the “good old days.”  Those days seem like they were yesterday (in some ways) and in other, forever ago.  Some of our friends have grandchildren and in my head, I still think we’re about twenty-five…How does that happen?  In our heads, we’re still young, but on the outside, not so young.  I wonder if everyone feels the same…young at heart, I guess.  I don’t know, but I definitely don’t feel like I’m almost sixty..Holy cow!  Sixty…weird!  I have one more year to go before I turn sixty, but it still seems so odd to me…Let me know if you feel the same way in your head..if that even makes sense.  Obviously it makes sense to me, but I don’t know about anyone else.

I’m hoping tomorrow I hear from the people at Mulwark and that we get to the bottom of the issue with the promotional codes that don’t work.  I feel so stupid about it and am hoping it gets corrected, because I thought it was fixed on Friday, but obviously not.  Man this is frustrating for everyone…

Today has been super frustrating for me.  I had been contacted by the Mulwark Company a few months ago about doing a video for them demonstrating their tools.  I agreed because of the great discounts they were offering my viewers for these tool, plus they would let me have the tools to try out for free.  Now that the video is live, the link and the promotional codes don’t work.  It’s making me crazy.  I emailed them yesterday and they thought the links worked….but on our end, they don’t seem to be working.  I tried one this morning and it worked for me, but it doesn’t seem to work for anyone else.  Geez!  I just want to scream…I feel like I should be able to do something, when I clearly have to wait for them to get back to me.

I’m trying to get over this..haha

I decided to order the Simon Says Stamp monthly kit.  I get the Hero Arts kit, but don’t make videos with them because by the time I receive mine, there are at least ten people with videos featuring the kit and why would anyone want to watch yet another Hero Arts video…I’m hoping the SSS kit comes on a more timely basis, and I’m crossing my fingers that I do.  I’ve been watching the last few, and really think they are nice kits…I’m hoping they continue to make me happy, so I can make some fun cards with them…We’ll just need to wait and see.