We all use dies can the scraps that result have lots of uses. This card shows you how to make a card from those scraps.

I used a heart die that covers the whole front of a standard size greeting card. I took only the remaining papers created from the die to make this card.

Start with a card base that is 5 1/2″ wide by 4 1/4″ tall, a standard A2 size card. I use Recollections heavy weight card stock from Michaels.

I die cut the heart die with a solid color Stampin’ Up paper and a matching patterned paper color. Using the hearts that fell out, I created a line of hearts by gluing the top right corner of each heart together and using a ruler, to make sure the line was straight. I made sure the line was at least 5 1/2″ long. I made two of these lines.

Then using the outside of the paper that was left behind after cutting the die, I cut out two strips of dotted paper that was 1/4″ wide, then cut the plain colored paper in a strip that was 1/2″ wide, and flipping over the dotted paper, I had a zig zag so cut two strips of that 3/4″ wide (all were 5 1/2″ long). Then using tear tape on the back of the thinnest strip, I laid a loop of washi tape on my work surface and laid the 1/2″ strip of plain paper on it to allow me to lay the thinner strip on it and make sure it was straight, by laying a ruler below it. I repeated this process with the zig zag paper. Once the three layers were together, I put foam tape under the zig zag paper and adhered it to the bottom and top of the card, leaving about a 1/8″ border below it at the bottom and above it at the top.

I ran a thinking of you die cut through my Xyron, then used an eraser to take the excess adhesive off, and then adhered it to the card below the top zig zag images. I lost the dots to the “i” in thinking of you, so used a hole punch and re-made the dots and adhered them with wet glue.

Took the strip of hearts and put wet glue behind them and applied them to the center of the card. Used one of the leftover hearts and laid it inside the card.

Took the other strip of hearts and adhered it to the flap of my envelope and stamped the back of the card with a stamp I had custom made for me from Stampanda. I used Groupon for a big discount with Stampanda , then used their square self inking stamps and made my own design. Hope that helps if you are interested in making one for yourself.

We were going to go to lunch today with friends and see the new house that they are in the process of building.  I was a little bit nervous about it when I saw we’d gotten a few inches of snow, and it’s still really cold, but we have a four-wheel drive car, so I relaxed a little.  As we were going out to the car, Rich mentioned that the four-wheel drive’s battery was dead, so we were going to take my car.  Great ride, but terrible in winter.  I was trying for my brave face, until we got on the road, and he said one of the tires was low and we needed to stop and put air in it.  That meant I was now on high-alert, because the roads were bad, it was freezing, we didn’t have the right car for the circumstances, and our tire was low.  We went to a convenience store, and while he was getting air in the tire, I was getting food and drink (even though we were going to lunch), in case we had issues on the highway.  The ride should normally take about an hour, but once we got on the highway, it got worse.  There were cars in the ditch, there were cars that had just had accidents and the police were just pulling up and the final straw, was a car in the passing lane that lost control and was swerving all over the road.  Luckily, the person must have known a little bit about driving on ice, as they didn’t put their foot on the brake….and eventually regained control.  By then Rich had decided we were going to turn around and I could not have been more relieved.  He asked me to put the hazard lights on, so other cars would slow down or avoid us, and found our way off of the major highway to take a two-lane road back home.

I’ve never been fond of driving in bad weather, but today was a combination of conditions that we should have known not to try to navigate..  We were only twenty miles from home, but the ride back seemed to take forever.  Rich was producing so much adrenalin from the near misses, that his mouth was dry and his hands were shaky.

We stopped at a grocery store, got some treats for ourselves and the dogs, and came home.  So date night begins, with us snug in our house, the heat cranked to high, a pizza and two movies to watch, and the dogs ready to rule the roost.  It just doesn’t get any better than that.

I made the Queen Anne’s Lace card the beginning of November, but had so many Christmas videos, that it never got uploaded.  I struggled making that card.  The tiny spot on the front made me absolutely crazy, and I knew I had to do something to correct it, so started with one crystal, and you know where it went from there.  Often when I make a mistake, it’s a great learning experience, and sometimes I’m just not sure what to do, and eventually, after trying numerous ideas, the project goes in the trash.  For most of us, that’s not a really big deal, but when you are doing a video, it’s highly discouraging.  So I try to make is a learning experience for everyone, and hope that you’ll consider it as such, and realize that all projects can’t be perfect.

My white inks have started arriving in the mail, and I’m really getting excited about trying them out, and deciding which ones will work best.  I love it when viewers make specific requests like this, because it shows they trust me enough to help them with their decision process.  I really take their trust seriously, and hope that others will appreciate the process as well.  There are a few videos already on YouTube comparing white inks, so I want to make sure mine is a little bit different and includes things like, does the paper make a difference?  I’ll try and use a few different black and colored card stocks to see if it does.

It’s snowing like crazy today and is really getting cold.  I talked to one blog reader, who said it was -22 degrees where she lives in Montana, and I have to be honest, I’m too much of a whimp for that kind of cold.  I feel so badly for the deer and birds when it gets this cold (around 0), and the deer are eating a lot more than usual.  We’re going through one 200 lb. bag of corn every two or three days.  That’s a lot of corn, and it’s probably the only thing keeping these deer alive as they can freeze to death in these frigid conditions.  I read articles that said that deer move during the day when it is warmer and bed down at night, but my deer are coming to eat all night long, especially after midnight.  My bedroom window looks out on where they eat, and there are usually at least two deer eating at any given time during the late night hours.  It definitely slows in the early morning hours, but at least I know they have a food source.  The article said they will eat tree bark when all food sources are depleted, but that would be extremely difficult, given these cold air conditions.  We’re finding the corn covered in ice and although, the deer eat the corn, they never consume the cobs.

I would bet when you read other blogs on paper crafts that others aren’t as concerned about the state of the wild deer and their empty stomachs, but it’s something that’s always bothered me.  I’m not sure why I feel the need to update you on my deer herd, but it’s something I spend a lot of time observing.  They are such magnificent animals, and watching them is so relaxing.

I’ve got some ideas that I want to experiment with in the craft room, so may be trying something with coloring embossing folders.  I guess we’ll see how the day goes.

This card was going to be relatively clean and simple, but once I had a small spot on the front that I couldn’t remove, I had to bling it up.
I started with Recollections 110 lb white card stock cut to 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ card front size. Then cut the Queen Anne’s Lace die out of it. I added a piece of 4 1/8″ wide by 5 1/2″ tall piece of More Mustard card stock from Stampin’ Up and glued it to the inside of the card front, so the circle would now have paper behind it. I laid the die back in place, and used washi tape to ensure it wouldn’t move, then used More Mustard ink from Stampin’ Up on a 1″ chip brush from Harbor Freight Liquidators to brush around the die. I decided it needed more color on the white card stock, so brushed the ink all over the card front. At this point, I ended up with a small splotch that I couldn’t figure out what to do with, so ended up gluing crystals from Hobby Lobby (Halloween collection) all over the front. I think I lost my mind, as I just glued those everywhere….I used tape runner from an ATG gun that stopped working, and laid the crystals on the tape then slid them off and it’s a great way to use up that tape and glue the crystals to the card front.
I used Impression Obsession Wishes and Concord and 9th Love You, Mean It stamp sets for my sentiments. And used Versafine Onyx Black ink and Ranger clear embossing powder with the Marvy Heat Tool (OK, that one died too, so I don’t recommend those tools, and am back to using my very inexpensive original blue model.)
On the envelope I used peg stamps from the Autumn Glory peg stamp set and also on the inside of the card to decorate it. You can find them at http://www.pegstamps.com. And Lindsay the Frugal Crafter almost always has a discount code on her latest peg stamps video, so check with her site to find the code.

I was feeling a little bit stir crazy today, as we really haven’t been out of the house for a few days.  So we went to Erie, PA, where they had 63 inches of snow on Christmas and shopped at the mall and Michaels, AC Moore and Hobby Lobby.  We found a few cute things and got some ideas for projects for next year, but we really wanted to see the snow.  I know it sounds dumb, I live where it snows all the time, but they had rolled a huge snowball in the parking lot of the mall, and I wanted to see it.  It was huge…I think it’s over twenty feet high.  Rich took photos of us standing by it with his phone, and I might put one of them on the facebook page, because I thought it was really funny.  I have no idea how they made that snowball, but it was completely awesome.  Huge and amazing and so much fun to see.  Now you know how bored I am, that I’m gushing about a snowball.
Meanwhile, they were using a crane to take the snow off of the roof of Lowe’s.  The weight was threatening to buckle the roof.  That’s not as much fun, but it’s the reality of getting that much snow so quickly.  We thought it was odd that Kohls decided to plow out enough parking space for twenty cars per lane of their parking lot, and then plowed shut the end, so once you pull into that lane of the parking lot, you have to turn around to get back out of it.  That was not the brightest idea, because the snow that’s falling off of cars is accumulating in the parking lot and trying to do a three-point-turn in it wasn’t easy.  Plus the cars pulling into that lane are not expecting you to try to turn around and get confused by that, so there’s a big log jam of cars not completely knowing how to park or leave the parking lot.
Let’s just say it was an interesting experience and I’m glad we’re home, where it’s still really cold, but the snow is minimal.  I really hope it stays that way too.  I need to find a video to give Rich, so we get a new one up tonight.  I hope I have one that won’t take a long time for him to edit. I have a tendency to make so many mistakes that he has to spend a long time correcting them…

I’ve been working on ways to use the scraps that come out of a die when you cut it, and today made a card with them.  The card is relatively simple, but I think has some good tips on how to do things more easily.  After finishing the card and the video, I thought I’d play with my Distress Oxides and some background stamps.  I’m still struggling with the Distress Oxides, I have to be honest.  I like the idea of using a pigment based ink, but don’t really like the look once it’s wet.  I know that’s the whole point of them, the “oxidization” look, but I’m just not comfortable with using them that way.  So I made a big background, stamped it with four different colors, and decided to let it marinate, while I decided if it was a keeper or not.

I often wonder how other YouTubers come up with their card ideas.  Do they go to Pinterest and find something they’d like to duplicate, or are the ideas completely their own?  I think I’ve said this before, but I don’t use Pinterest, other than to upload my video images to it.  I like to know exactly how to make something when I see a photo of it, so am a YouTube junkie.  I really like watching videos of fun fold cards, as I find them to be immensely satisfying to create.  And for some reason, I love watching the old Frugal Crafter videos…I mean the ones from the days when she used a desk and had her camcorder pointed from angle so you can’t see what she is creating very well.  Still, I really enjoy watching them, as they are relaxing, and you can tell she’s doing it because she loves the act of creating.

I need to find other crafters whose videos make me feel like Lindsay’s, as one channel just isn’t enough.

Every year, I like to re-make a Dollar Tree planner with a paper pad included as well as a pen, decorated paperclips and a pocket. This year, my girlfriend asked me if I would make one for her ninety year old girlfriend. She’s from the South, and as a Southern Belle, loves all things frilly. It’s not a style I’m accustomed to using, but fell into this style with no problem at all. I started by covering the book like we did when we covered our text books as kids (back when schools used books). I made a book mark with about 12″ of ribbon and putting tear tape on the back of the first inch and putting the ribbon inside the middle of the planner on the outside of the plastic planner and inside the paper we just covered it with. I covered the edges of the planner with a thin washi tape. That was a mistake, as the washi tape would not stick….so, plan B…I took off the washi tape and used ribbon instead. The ribbon is retired from Stampin’ Up, but you can find it on Ebay. It’s called pleated ribbon and here’s a link to some I found on ebay. https://tinyurl.com/ebayribbon.
I didn’t use measurements, because every Dollar Tree planner is not exactly the same size. I will give you measurements to things that are consistent, though.
After you cover the planner, you’ll want to put your pen holder in place. The paper should be about 3/4″ tall by 3″ wide, and wrap it around your pen under the clip and line up the ends then fold it around the pen, so you can see where the pen would fall. Put tear tape inside the paper, not right up to the pen as it has to be able to move in and out of the paper. Remove the backing of the tear tape and attach it together, making sure you can pull the pen in and out. Then put tear tape on the back of the paper that doesn’t surround the pen, and take the lining off and adhere it to the inside front cover of the planner, making sure the pen is outside the book. I cut another piece of matching paper to fit the inside front cover, and covered the pen holder so you can’t see it anymore. I added a note pad in matching colored paper (that I got from the Dollar Tree and show the package at the beginning of the video.) Put a lot of tear tape on the cardboard backing and adhere it to the inside cover.
I took another piece of paper and cut it to fit the back inside cover and then made a pocket. My pocket was 1/2″ wider than the inside cover paper and 3 1/2″ tall. I scored it on the sides and bottom at 1/4″ and snipped out the two bottom corners . To create the diagonal, I put the paper in my paper trimmer so the right top edge is on the cut line and then turn the paper so the left side is turned so there’s enough of a diagonal to look right, then trim it and you’ll need to snip out the top corner as when you turn the folded score down, you’ll be able to see that scored piece. I put tear tape on the scored edges on the patterned side of the paper, then folded them under and adhered the pocket to the inside back of the book. I put the ribbon all along the pocket so it was easier to see.
I made a pocket to hold my paper clips on the inside left side of the book. I used a piece of paper that matched that was 1 1/2″ tall and 4″ long and scored at 1/2″ on either end. I put tear tape on the decorated side of the paper on the 1/2″ ends and folded them under and adhered them to the inside left side of the planner.  I realized the paper wasn’t sturdy enough to hold them, so glued a couple of the back pages of the planner together with tear tape so it would hold the paperclips without any problem.. I took matching buttons and threaded embroidery floss through the buttons and hot glued them down to big paperclips from the Dollar Tree.
I ran a long thin ribbon (about 18″) around the planner in the center, so she could tie it shut. I laid tear tape under it and then put hot glue on the very ends to ensure the ribbon would not pull off the book. I added a clock embellishment on the front cover with tear tape, and more of the pleated ribbon on the left and right front of the planner with hot glue.

If you’re into frilly, this planner is for you. I added a little pink resin heart to the inside top corner…

Happy New Year!  Boy, is it cold here….I’m thinking it’s around 0, and I’m not a cold weather girl.  I did curl up with the dogs and turned the heat to high, and we’re watching what I call “dog television.”  We have a room that’s mainly windows, and it has a patio behind it with the rails for our awning.  I line the rails with bird feeders, and at the back of our property, we keep it stocked with corn for the deer.  Normally, we watch a lot of wildlife, but you know it’s cold when the birds don’t come out to eat.  The deer have been eating mainly at night, so we don’t see them as much as we used to, as Honey likes to bark at them.  The other dogs knew the deer would leave if they barked, but Honey hasn’t figured that out yet.

I’m going to make some cards today, or maybe wait until tomorrow.  Like I said, I’m not a cold weather girl….I lack energy when it’s cold outside.  And, I think I need to wear some muk luks around the house, as my feet are always cold..  Do other people have cold feet?  The rest of me can be toasty warm, but my feet are freezing.   I’m really whining now…

I’m getting excited about doing the video on white pigment inks and have ordered five different kinds I didn’t own before.  I found them in the mini sizes, and that’s fine with me, because I don’t want to waste money on something that doesn’t work, and you never know which will work when you do an experiment like this.  My white Staz-on ink was hard as a rock.  I think I might have thrown it out, even though I just discovered it this week, and Lindsay, the frugal crafter, told me I should put denatured alcohol on it.  Of course, it’s probably too late now, as the trash already went out, but I’ll know going forward, and will definitely tell others about it in the video.  I think I have the re-inker for the white Staz-On, so might make my own “mini” pad for the video, just so we can compare it to the others.  I’m not going to invest in another Staz-On white ink pad, as I don’t use it enough to make it worth the money.  And you have to re-ink it almost every time you use it anyway, and who wants to do that? Certainly not this girl, wrapped up in my afghan and thinking about hot chocolate.

That’s the only reason to live where there’s a winter.  If you live in a tropical climate, you never get to experience a day when all you want to do is wrap up in an afghan and eat soup and make hot chocolate.  I think it’s worth the cold just for this experience (and then leave, as fast as you can, for a warmer climate, haha.)

I’m not sure how all of you celebrate bringing in the New Year, but Rich and I have never been big about going out…we like to watch movies and have treats and some years I make it until midnight, some years, I’m asleep.

I’ve been thinking about 2017, and wish it hadn’t ended with Aggie’s passing, but knew it was inevitable.  We love to travel, but didn’t go anywhere in 2017, because of her.  We didn’t want her to be with strangers at her advanced age, and didn’t want anyone else to be with her if things went badly.  I don’t regret not going anywhere, and am hoping we’ll be able to go somewhere early summer.  We have a bucket list that we’d like to visit all fifty states, and we have (I think), six states to go.  I’m hoping we’ll get to a few of them this year.  Most are clustered together, North and South Dakota, Idaho, Montana, Alaska and oddly, Vermont.  I’m not sure how we could miss a state that is as close to us as Vermont, but it’s one we haven’t visited yet.

My thoughts on the world make me worry about travel outside of the U.S., and St. Maarten, a country we absolutely love, was practically destroyed by the hurricane this summer, and sadly, we won’t be going there any time soon.

I am hoping that 2018 is a healthy one for Rich and me, and my hope for the world is that we find peace within ourselves and with each other.  I wish all of you a very Happy and Healthy 2018.

I realized after we put up the last New Year’s card with balloons, that I was really taking the easy way out.  I know I could do a lot better job and really, shouldn’t have made that video, but did it because I liked the card, but didn’t love it.  The difference is important.  When I put up a video I’m proud of, I am happy I made it, and feel like I’m giving people value for the time they put into watching a video.  If I don’t love it, I worry that people will feel like I shortchanged them, and that their time would have been better spent watching someone else.  I realize that this is a hobby for me, and not a money-making proposition, but I still feel guilty when I don’t think my work is good enough, because viewers only have a certain amount of time to watch videos, so why waste their time watching something that is just OK.

Viewers often tell me that I’m too hard on myself, but if I don’t push myself to do better, or different, then I think I’m giving myself an easy way out.  I started watching some technique videos today and decided I’m going to focus on some new techniques.  I was also asked by a viewer if I would do a white pigment ink comparison video, so that’s also on my agenda.  I have a few white pigment inks, but my Staz On is rock hard, and although I have the re-inker, I’m not sure if anything can save that.  I may just show it and explain that Staz-On requires a lot of re-inking, and figure out how to make it viable and show that instead of offering it as an option.    I also promised that I would make a video on embossing, and need to get serious about that as well.  I’m sure that different powders work differently on different papers, so will probably make a follow up video about that as well.  It’s about staying out of a rut, and not putting up a video just to say I did it.  I need to find techniques and ideas that excite me, and then go from there.  It’s not about letting others down, it’s about making sure I don’t let myself settle, and I’m not going to do that going forward.  At least I’m going to make every attempt not to do so..