I wanted to share the stamp sets I bought from Altenew.. They are on sale at scrapbook.com if you want to check them out.  I love Carolyn Shores Wright stamps and found Holly House on Ebay.  I used my Poppy background stamp from Rubbernecker that I showed in my last haul…I used Versafine Onyx black ink to stamp it with and Recollections 110 lb white card stock for it cut to 5 x 7” and used a new clear embossing powder from Nuvo.   I used my Touch Five markers to color it.  I bought a set of 168 markers from Ebay for $63, as it was the only set they offered that had a lot of the lightest tones and I color with those for the majority of my coloring.  I swatched them in a book, so I can easily find the colors I’d like to use.  I also put a sticker around the markers, so I can see what the color actually is (compared to the color on the cap.)  The colors I used were 70,144,183,37,41,12,15,2,3, and a colorless blender.

I colored the lightest red tone for the entire flower, then went around the edge of the flower with the next darker shade, then the shaded areas with the darkest red, then went back with the lightest color to cover the entire flower.  That’s my system for coloring with markers, and I hope it helps you when coloring.  I usually use three shades of the same color and always color the entire image with the lightest tone first and then go back over all of the coloring with the same marker after using the other two colors.

When I colored the blue background, instead of using all of the shades of blue, I used a colorless blender to lighten certain areas to make it look like I did shading…it’s a sneaky way to make your coloring look like you worked harder than you did.

I trimmed the background on it to look good on a 5 x 7″ card…it’s 10” by 7″ and scored at 5″ to make a 5 x 7″ card.

I used a ruler to make my edges straight with the blue marker and put foam tape behind it to adhere it to the red background.  I stamped “You are Simply Wonderful” on the bottom in black ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder then heat set it.  By using this sentiment, I could stamp Happy Valentine’s Day on the inside of the card, or leave it blank.  For now, I’m leaving it blank.

I took a 1” chiffon ribbon that matched and tied it around the front panel and tied it in a bow and cut a notch out of the ends of the ribbon by folding it in half and cutting toward the bow on an angle.  That gives you (I think) a fish tale edge, but I might be making it up.

The stamp I used on the back of the card came from Stampanda.  I went through Groupon to get a discount code for Stampanda, then went to the Stampanda site and found their square self inking address stamps, and looked for the one that I liked, and changed it from an address to “Made for you by Sandy Parker”…  Hope that helps if you want to make one for yourself.  I think it ended up being around $20 to make it.

I was asked by a company called Bangood, if I would be willing to do a video on one of their products.  I like water based markers, so agreed that if they sent them, I’d try them out on video.  They’re really inexpensive, $12.99 for a set of thirty-six markers..The markers arrived today and I thought they be fun to watercolor with.  I used a really pretty round stamp from Rubberneckers and used silver embossing powder on it, then used the markers to color it.  Of course, I had a major malfunction with the camera, and it didn’t record any of the coloring of the flowers on the card.  They were the best part of the coloring, so I had to come up with additional footage to show me blending the various colors on watercolor paper.  I find it hard to believe that I make as many mistakes as I do, but these things happen.  Unfortunately, they happen more than I would like them to.

I liked the end result with the card and think it’s  a frisky Valentine’s Day card.  Rich and I don’t exchange Valentine’s cards, so I’ll probably send it to one of my friends/viewers.  I just wanted to make something with a Valentine theme since I normally don’t make many cards with a Valentine motif.

I did want to tell you about Rich and the quatrefoil on the last card.  He was convinced that he needed to fix the issue with me making up a word on the video, and was shocked to discover that I hadn’t made a mistake at all…I did use the proper word.  The scary part is that I have no idea how I knew that was a quatrefoil.  I’m pretty sure I pulled that out of thin air…Impressive though, right?

We had a really nice day..Started with meeting a group of our college friends, as the men wanted to get together, so the women went to a coffee shop while the guys did their thing…then we all went out to lunch together.  It’s great that Rich has reconnected with this group of college friends, and I’ve had so much fun meeting and getting to know their wives.  We all live within an hour of each other, so it’s not difficult to find a central spot to meet.

When we got home, Rich and I made the executive decision that it was time for a nap.  He’s been fighting off a cold and it was exactly what we both needed to get rejuvenated.

I wanted to tell you about something we bought for Rich that I think is really helping his lower back and sciatica.  It’s an inversion table…you know the ones that turn over so your head is near the floor and your feet are near the ceiling.  You only use it for 3-5 minutes at a time and only two or three times a day.  Rich thinks it’s really helping him, and this is coming from a guy whose had his back injected with steroids on at least four occasions without any relief.  It’s not supposed to cure the problem but give pain relief…I don’t know about the rest of you, but pain relief is better than just about anything…and not having to take any medicines or have any injections makes it even better.

On to crafting….I’ve been thinking about the circle stamp that I bought from Rubbernecker stamps, and how I could make it into a card.  I thought it would be really pretty, painted with bright watercolors on a dark background, and using silver embossing powder to really set it off.  I started working on it and couldn’t get the water colors to look exactly the way I wanted, so put it aside for another day.  Sometimes it really helps me to do that, as it give me time to think about alternative products and ideas…I guess we’ll have to wait to see if I can make it work, or if I need to kick it to the curb and try something else.

I bought some great stamps from Rubbernecker Stamps, http://www.rubbernecker.com/..

I thought it would be fun to show you how to mask with the MISTI.
I used two old Stampin’ Up sets, Hello There and Madison Avenue that you can still find on Ebay… I used Color Box Cat’s Eyes in fawn, butter, chambray, plumeria, black cherry and mint to stamp with. To mask a long strip, put a piece of paper on the portion of the stamp that you don’t want inked, and ink the rest of the stamp, then remove the paper, and stamp it on your image. I stamped the long stamp that I kept calling a Quatrefoil (and it’s actually a quatrefoil, shocking, I know!) I stamped two of the quatrefoil on the left side of the bottom row in one color, then stamped beside it with the entire stamp in another color, then stamped the end of that row in a different color. I stamped three quatrefoil in the second row on the left, then the full stamp, then two quatrefoil at the end of the row. The third and fourth rows i only stamped the full stamp in a different color on both rows.
To remove the ink that I had on the card that was an error, I used my Mono sand eraser to take it off.

The “Hello There” I stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink and then used clear embossing powder to heat set it.

I stamped the smallest stamp from the Madison Avenue stamp set between the rows of quatrefoil in different colors. Then I took my colored pencils from Marco Renoir and my white Prismacolor pencil. After coloring the insides of each quatrefoil with two different shade to accent the ink, I took Gamsol on a baby Q-tip and blended the colors. I used the white on the very centers of each quatrefoil. I took Judikins Diamond Glaze and coated all of the quatrefoil then let them dry. I stamped the envelope with another quatrefoil shaped stamp from Madison Avenue as well as the smallest stamp from that set.

I thought I had written in the blog yesterday, but apparently I forgot.  It’s funny how I can convince myself that I’ve done something when I haven’t.  So today I worked on a new card and really think it turned out pretty good.  I bought a bunch of Rubbernecker backgrounds and played with the poppy one..I can’t believe how long it took me to color it with alcohol markers, or how much marker ink it used.  In the end, a couple of my red markers were really struggling to color in the background.   I wanted to make this card something you could give for Valentine’s Day, but not specifically for Valentine’s if you can follow that.  I just wanted to send a card to one of my girlfriends so she knows I’ve been thinking about her, as she’s had a really tough couple of months.

I got another haul in the mail today…I had found some Altenew stamps that I wanted.  They have the nicest floral stamps, so I bought them and will be using them in some upcoming videos.   I love it when the mail comes and there are crafty presents just waiting for me….It really made my day.

I haven’t been working on any cards today, but late last night, I started playing with my new Color Box cat’s eye pigment inks in jewel tones.  I wanted to try to make a card that used not only stamps, but some colored pencils, so picked a green and blue and some darker green and blue pencils, as well as a white gel pen and my white colored pencil and went crazy.  I’m not sure if I really like the image yet, but I haven’t put it onto a card base yet, so it’s not really ready for video.

Today I wanted to label some stamp sets and continue cleaning my craft room, so I got out my label maker and started labeling stamp sets.  I want to not only put the names on them, but I also want to put them in categories, animals, florals, sentiments, household, etc.  I thought by doing that, it would allow me to look at the top of the stamp set, and I’d know by the symbol A, F, S, H, etc., what the stamp set contained.  So many stamp sets have odd names that really have nothing to do with the stamps they contain, so I thought this would be a simpler way to sort them.  I’m making some progress, but have a long way to go before I’m finished.  Tomorrow’s another day…

You know how I’ve been on a rant lately about “craft/kraft” colored card stock?  I know I talked about it on a video as well, and mentioned that these companies should call it paper bag brown….and why don’t they?  Today I got an email from Hallmark Scrapbook that mentioned they got a bunch of things back in stock and they showed some “craft/kraft” card stock.  I don’t know why I clicked on it, but I did.  Up pops the card stock and its name.   It’s called “Paper Bag Brown” and is made by Lawn Fawn.  I laughed so hard, I almost cried.  FINALLY, someone actually got it right!   I should order a pack of it, just so I can show the name on a video.  Wouldn’t it be great if other card stock manufacturer’s decided it made sense to call it that too?  I would love it if the crafting industry would stop trying to be cute with their names and simply call things names that we all can recognize.   This is definitely a great start, and it made my day!  Apparently, I’m easily amused.

I uploaded the Peg Stamp video showing the new Lindsay stamps as well as my layering circles, and got so many really nice comments about them.  It never occurred to me that you could use the circles to swatch inks, but then again, I just smear ink on the end of my ink pads, so I know what color they are.  I’d like to say that I’m going to get serious about swatching my inks, but we all know that’s never going to happen.  I do like the idea of it though, and hopefully will come up with other uses for the circles that I will use them for.  I do love them and think I’ll find all kinds of ways to make cards with them in new and different ways.

To see the brand new sets of stamps from Rubber Stamp Tapestry, go to http://pegstamps.com/   Lindsay, the frugalcrafter, designed all of the new red rubber sets they are offering. I love all of the sets and hope you do too.
I really love the Perfect Layering Circles for creating fun backgrounds. These are the stamps I have been talking about on my blog.  I had approached Rebecca, the owner of Rubber Stamp Tapestry, about making a circle that I could stamp inside, and she made a whole set of them and even let me name them.  I used them with the Sparkle and Shine set of peg stamps. I used Distress Oxides in Picked Raspberry, Candied Apple and Spiced Marmalade, as well as Color Box Cat’s Eyes in mint.
When using the perfect layering circles, you need to use the same size stamp that you’ll be stamping inside the circle. I used floral patterns to stamp inside mine from the Sparkle & Shine set. I used microbrushes to fix a spot that didn’t stamp well. You can buy them where you find make up supplies…I found mine at Aliexpress for under $2 for 100 of them. I dried my circles after they were stamped, then used dye inks from Stampin’ Up in Tangelo Twist, Melon Mambo and Cherry Cobbler to stamp the flowers inside the circles I had already stamped. I decided to add more images around my circles, so went with another Distress Oxide in Wilted Violet to stamp the smallest flower in the set, then used Loop Double Swirl with Peacock Feathers in Distress Oxides to stamp around the images, then finally used the sun stamp from Sweet Song of Sprint with Fossilized Amber Distress Oxides to stamp around the images. I liked the idea of raising some of the circles, so used my Picked Raspberry and smashed it into white cardstock and then dried it. I used Rose Red Stampin’ Up dye ink and stamped five of the larger flowers like we had stamped on the card. I used a Rose Red marker and scribbled it onto a plastic lid (from the peg stamp sets) and wet the ink then colored the flowers I had stamped. I punched them out with a 1″ circle punch, then re-stamped the flowers over the marker, so the outline of the stamp was brighter.  I put them on foam tape squares and added them to the background we had created. I used a variety of jewels to attach to the centers of the flowers. I used more of the Picked Raspberry paper to stamp a sentiment on with white pigment ink, then used white embossing powder and heat set the sentiment. I cut the sentiment into a banner and taped it to the front of the card. I used an 11″ x 4 1/4″ wide card base, scored at 5 1/2″ in pink glitter paper, and then used an ATG to attach the card base I’d made. I used the flowers to stamp the back of the envelope.

I finally got the dress video uploaded after midnight, so didn’t think I’d have very many views this morning, but had over a hundred by nine AM.  I got a nice note from Leslie, the lady that requested the video, and it made my day.  Leslie has been struggling with some debilitating pain, and it’s gotten to the point that she’s also shaking, and I wanted to do something to make her smile.  When she asked for this video, I really was excited to give it a try, and when I read her comment, it made the whole project worthwhile.  Leslie had gotten some origami paper and followed along with me, and made her first folded dress.  I can’t ask for more than that when I’m making videos.  Leslie hadn’t done anything crafty for a while, because she hadn’t felt up to it, but made the dress.  i am so happy for her.  Sometimes, all we need is someone else to help us back on our feet, and I know that this channel has kept me on my feet more often than not.

I am excited about the new peg stamp sets that were supposed to come out today, but so far, they haven’t been shown on their website, even though the site does say they will go live today.  I wanted to coordinate my video using  the stamps with the launch day, so am waiting to hear back from Rebecca, from Peg Stamps, before uploading my video.  I was so excited to actually have my video ready on the day the stamps were going live, but I guess we’ll wait until tomorrow to upload it.  (It’s so rare that I have something done on time, I’m thrilled that I might actually be early.)

I was asked by a viewer, Leslie, to make a card that was similar to the men’s shirt card I made, as a dress.
I found a video on a channel called The Paper Addiction, who made paper dresses and turned them into cards. I followed her directions and hope you can follow mine.

Use a square piece of very thin card stock (scrapbook paper). I used 6 x 6″….Fold it in half (from side to side) with the pattern running vertically and the white side facing down. Then open the paper and fold each side into the center seam. Then with the pattern facing up take the first folded line and fold it in half to the center seam and do this on both sides.
Fold it so it looks like a gate fold card (what it looked like after you did your first folds. To create the bodice of the dress, fold the paper from the bottom to 2″ from the top of the dress. From that fold, bend it back toward the bottom about 1/4″ to 1/2″ so it looks like a “Z”.
Next fold the center at the top toward the side and it will only let you fold it to the seam…make sure the seam is clean, then do the same to the other side. Then push both sides back to where they were before you folded them.
Flip over the dress and pull the top center down, and hold it down, then push the sides down so they are flat. Then flip the dress over and you should have a “v” neck.
To create the look of the slit in the front of the dress, put your finger under the center at the bottom and push the center away from itself and push it down, and do this on both sides. If you look at it from the bottom, it will almost look like a box once those folds are made.
Flip it over and take the top side and fold it in to the line that’s where there’s a fold. Do this on both sides. (Don’t worry about the bottom skirt of the dress).. Then from the top point, fold the top back on an angle, so it looks like a sleeve. Now you want to make the skirt, so fold the sides toward the back on an angle to make it look thinner. You should have a gap in the front at the waist in the front. I put wet glue there and glued the skirt on the back where I folded it.
I added a piece of green paper at the waist for a belt and crystals for buttons on the neck of the dress.
I used Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide inks with a 1″ chip brush from Harbor Freight Liquidators to distress the dress.

I used 110 lb. heavyweight Recollections card stock that was 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ scored at 4 1/4″. I took a light green card stock and cut it in 1/2″ strips that were 5 1/2″ long and laid them on the card every 1/2″, then laid the dress on with wet glue and tape runner. Then I used Coastal Cabana ink from Stampin’ Up to ink my sentiment on the same green card stock and laid that strip across the top about 1/4″ from the top of the card. I’m sorry that my written directions are so confusing…It’s really hard to explain them, as it’s easier to watch than to read it…