I wanted to make a fast and easy card for New Years. so took some generic Aliexpress balloon dies I had, and their Happy New Year die, and ran them through my die cutting machine with different colors of card stock.
I really like the Dollar Tree Diamond Wrap, and cut the edges of the strings off the sides with my Tim Holtz scissors, and backed it with tear tape. I put foam squares under my balloons and used a Pinpoint Roller Quickie glue pen to adhere the Happy New Year onto the balloons. I originally put the balloon strings below the balloons, then decided it would be more fun to use the diamond wrap for strings. I cut the diamond wrap apart and using the tear tape to adhere it,. I ran a row of diamond wrap above and below the balloons and put washi tape on the envelope to decorate it. It had a blue pattern inside it, so it matched the card. The card is 5 1/2″ across and 4 1/4″ tall. The card stock is from Recollections and is 110 lb. heavyweight. It’s my favorite for card bases, as it is so sturdy.
I had an old Stampin’ Up sentiment that I added to the inside with Simon Says Stamp Intense black ink.

I have been talking to Rebecca Walton from Rubber Stamp Tapestry, the peg stamp company.  I had an idea for a very simple stamp and wondered if they would consider making it.  They immediately agreed and sent me a sample.  I made two card backgrounds and sent an email photo of them to her, and she was really thrilled.  We’re working out the details so when I put videos up, you’ll be able to buy them if you like them, and I really think you will.  It takes peg stamps to a whole different level and I can’t wait to have you try this out.  I’m sure other companies make similar stamps, but this is so much more effective and easier to use when paired with their peg stamps, it’s really fun.  I wish I could say more, but I want you to be surprised and have something fun to look forward to in the crafty world in 2018.  I’m sure it won’t be a long wait, hopefully in a week or two.  I had so much fun playing with these and know you will too.  If you’re a peg stamp lover like I am, I know you’ll really love these…and if you haven’t tried peg stamps, this might give you a reason to do so.  Of course I won’t make any money from this (in case you wondered), I just had an idea and it is really pretty specific to peg stamps,

I tried to make another video tonight, but lost my mojo, and since Rich has a bunch ready to edit, I’ll give him a day to put one up and then he really needs to get the planner video up for the beginning of the new year.  I think a lot of people still use the old fashion calendars, and I love redecorating the Dollar Tree planners.  And speaking of the Dollar Tree, have any of you seen the videos that people are making gnomes out of Dollar Tree supplies.  I think they are hysterical and am thinking of giving one a try.  Although I hate to make a video when there are already a bunch of them out there covering the topic.  I’d rather try something that isn’t being video’d to death.  I’ll just suggest you check some of the videos out, because they are cute and lots of fun to make.  It might be a great project for my cousin Shelli and her friend Linda to try with me.  If you’ll recall, we made fairy gardens together…So Shelli, if you’re in the market to make a gnome, give me a call and we’ll make a play date.  Although I’m not sure how quickly we’ll be seeing each other, as Shelli lives in Erie, PA, and if you haven’t heard the weather, they got over sixty inches of snow in two days.  Since I only live about 40 minutes from them and got four inches, I feel like we were given a Christmas miracle.  Shelli, I’ll see you and Linda when the snow thaws.

I’ll bet you will find this hard to believe, but I finally finished all of my cards for New Years, and will get them in the mail tomorrow.  I wish I was more organized, and if you read yesterday’s blog, you know my plan is to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to getting cards video’d and mailed on time.  This is step one.  So far, so good.

On a more irritating note, I found one of the Christmas cards I thought I mailed a few weeks ago on the floor of the back seat of our car.  That’s not the same as actually getting it into the mail box and sending it, is it?  Darn it,  and I was really proud of sending one card out on time.  I was mailing it the day that I sent all of the boxes to Puerto Rico, and that’s no excuse, but the boxes were piled everywhere and the pile toppled over on the two mile drive to the post office.  You’d think I could manage a two mile drive without incident, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

If you read my facebook page, I got a really nice note from one of the ladies that I mailed boxes to in Puerto Rico.  The other lady sent me an email saying that her mother-in-law passed away last week, so she will be putting her photo up on facebook later.  I told her it was not that important, as she and her family need to grieve.  Can you believe the year these ladies have just weathered?  It’s hard to imagine.   I complain about snow, but snow is nothing like a hurricane, even a blizzard, if you aren’t driving, is nothing compared to a hurricane.

I’m off to finish another video, and I’m doing really well keeping the supply of videos coming, and Rich is doing an even better job of editing and getting them uploaded quickly.  We’re quite the team..

I received some really lovely cards recently, and I loved the one from Jennie. She recently started a channel called Craft Creations on You Tube and I thought I’d try to replicate the card she sent me.

I used 110 lb. Recollections white card stock for my base that was 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ and then layered a floral piece that was 5 1/4″ x 4″ onto a light pink layer that was 5 3/8″ x 4 1/8″ and tape runnered (I know that’s not a word, but we’re making it one today), the two layers together. I cut them at an angle on my paper trimmer and then moved the straight top edge of the angle about 2″ to the left on my trimmer, and cut it again. Then attached the layers to my card leaving a gap in the center. I took ribbon and made a bow then ran the length of the ribbon around the back of the card and glued it there. Took some of the leftover ribbon (1 1/2″) and folded it in half on an angle to create the tails and trim the ends on an angle. I put one glue dot inside the folded tails and one under the tails then lifted my bow and laid the tails under it. You can add another glue dot under the bow to hold it in place, but I run tape runner on either side of the bow to hold the ribbon in place, and that seems to hold the bow where I want it. The camera cut out and you missed seeing me lay the reverse side of the floral paper in 1/8″ strips on either side of the opening. I used an Aliexpress Happy New Year die on white card stock (works best with heavier card stock), and then colored it with a marker that matched the darker purple color of the card. I put glue on it (and should have used my glue pen, but forgot I had it), to attach the words to the card. I laid two long strips of the paper, about 1 1/2″ wide on the inside of the card running 5 1/2″ tall on the left and right sides and used another leftover scrap to decorate the back flap of my envelope.
I hope I did a good job of replicating Jennie’s card and that you’ll check out her YouTube page, Craft Creations at this link. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrQHJqnI8Qn6kMjmMu9S95g/featured

I show the new Cutterbee non-stick scissors in action. I don’t find them to be very non-stick, and show the stickiness on the video. It’s my opinion, but I don’t find them to be any more non-stick than any of the other scissors I own.

I wish I had a magic wand to get me caught up with the cards I need to send.  It’s not that I don’t have the desire to make them, it’s that I don’t make them in advance of needing them.  Does that make sense?  I hope it does.

I really want to get serious about making a bunch of thank you cards and get well cards, and thinking of you cards, and now that the holidays are almost behind us, I think I can start making some.  I’d really like to find an idea for a card that I really like to make and then make a bunch of them.  That’s the plan I need to put in place.  Instead, I think every card should be completely unique, and that’s kind of hard to accomplish without copying someone else’s design.  I try not to do that.

Here’s some scoop for you.  I don’t use Pinterest, ever.  I went on it when it first came out, and I didn’t like just looking at a picture and not finding out how to make something.  I’m someone who needs step by step instructions to follow if I’m going to make something that’s really intricate.  Since I didn’t find those kinds of directions, I kicked Pinterest to the curb and never went back.  I do know how to add my video photos to pinterest, but only because YouTube makes it so simple…a click of a button and it’s done.

As for Facebook, I’m amazed that people are so addicted to it, because I can’t find my way around it, and get frustrated that messages can be in so many different places… It’s another media site that I’ve mastered certain components because of YouTube, but otherwise, don’t even have a personal Facebook account.

I do like the idea of Facebook, but wish it was simpler to use.  I really like it so I can use it for an interactive spot for my viewers to be able to share their projects and ideas, and photos of their pets.  I love it when I get to see what others are making with the ideas they’ve gotten from me, and I really enjoy it when they give me terrific ideas and suggestions.

I really need to make a New Year’s resolution…or maybe a few.  I need to stay ahead of the curve on holiday card videos, make a stockpile of everyday cards that I can have ready to mail, and keep my craft room clean.  I’m already pretty sure I’m not going to accomplish the last one, it’s a pipe dream, and the other two, well, we’ll see if I can manage one of them.  Geez, I shouldn’t have brought this up;..I’m already thinking there’s no chance I can do these.  I should downgrade my resolution to this.  Hopefully, I’ll do better in all three categories than I did in 2017.  How’s that hit you?

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.   We definitely did….we ate too much and had a lot of fun opening the presents that we bought for ourselves on our day of shopping together.  If you missed that blog post, Rich and I wanted to do something different this year to make our stocking stuffer more entertaining.  We had some gift cards with balances that we hadn’t used and set an additional limit of $25 each and a minimum of five items purchased.  We could only spend fifteen minutes in each store and if we had a gift card, we divided the balance in half, and each spent that amount in that store.  We could have spent more and counted it toward the $25, but the gifts bought with gift cards weren’t allowed to be included in the minimum of five items purchased.  We had a great time.  Rich got a cookbook, a brush to clean his gas grill, two books he’s been wanting to read, and some socks.  I bought a Mandala coloring book, chapstick, a Yankee candle car air freshener, and two charms for a bracelet I have.  One was a dog paw print to remind me of Aggie, and the other, a bear that always reminds Rich and me of his dad.

I really recommend doing something different when shopping for a longtime companion/spouse, as it isn’t always easy to find things you think they will like.  This way, we created a fun experience out of something that can be a little frustrating.

I thought Christmas would be hard without Aggie, but she’d been spending so much time alone in our bedroom, that sadly, it was a relief we didn’t have to worry about her while we were visiting friends.  We had bought rug runners for every surface that wasn’t carpeted in our house so Aggie wouldn’t fall.  She still managed to fall, and one day it was particularly horrible, as she fell in our bathroom, and then panicked and had a huge accident everywhere.  We were only gone for an hour that day, and it was about a week before we made the ultimate decision.  It was just too hard leaving her, not knowing if she would lose her balance and panic when we didn’t immediately come to lift her.

We bought lots of fun toys and treats to fill the stockings for our two remaining dogs, and they had a great time snacking and stealing toys from each other.  Surprisingly, all in all, it was a really nice day and I hope yours was too.

I took an Aliexpress die and centered it on a craft colored card stock that is 5 1/4″ x 4″ wide and ran it through my die cutter. I took the outside and used a corner rounder from Creative Memories and rounded the corners. I used three different snowflake peg stamps (www.pegstamps.com), and used Distress Oxide Salty Ocean with clear embossing powder from Ranger. I stamped one side of the frame at a time and then put embossing powder on the stamped images then heat set them. I repeated the process on the other side of the frame.
My card base was 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″ wide Recollections white Heavyweight card stock. I used the corner rounder and rounded the corners on it so it matched my frame. I put tear tape and wet glue on the frame and attached it to the white base.
I originally thought I was going to make a lot of layers of dies, but after I cut out the foil turquoise paper, I really didn’t want to add layers any more. I did show you how to layer dies when I showed the deer..You cut the entire die out in every color you want in your final project, and then cut out the individual pieces from the colors that match what you want, and that’s how you layer dies. In this case, I ended up not using any of the other colors I had cut.
I also cut Happy New Year with an Aliexpress die and put that in the inside of the card.

I hit a wall today, not literally, just figuratively.  I’m exhausted, and still don’t have my presents wrapped.  I think this week’s stress has finally caught up with me.  I seriously need to get busy wrapping, even though I don’t have a ton of packages, it still wears on me…when will I finish, will I finish, do I have enough tape, where is the tape…the list goes on and on.

I really am glad I made so many crafty videos for Christmas, but they took priority over everything else, and I probably should have managed my time more effectively.  I still  have ideas of some crafts I’d like to make for Christmas.  Maybe I’ll start a list for next year.  Oh, who am I kidding?  I’d lose that list so fast, it wouldn’t even be funny.  Maybe instead of making a list, I should take a nap instead.

Let me take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2018.  I won’t be blogging tomorrow, and hope that all of your Christmasy wishes come true.  I’d love to get an email telling me your favorite Christmas gift.  You can send it to me at saundralparker@yahoo.com….it’s always fun to hear what others get for Christmas…Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish viewers, and best wishes for a happy and healthy 2018 to you as well.

A really nice viewer named Margaret told me all about traditional Christmas Crackers. It’s not what you think….In England, it’s been a tradition there since the mid 1840’s. A traditional cracker has several components. It should have a crown, an activity or joke, a small prize and the cracker, which makes a loud popping noise. There’s a company that makes the crackers, called http://www.oldeenglishcrackers.com, where you can buy all of the supplies to make them, as well as buying ones that are premade.
I was going to buy the premade cracker component from them, but didn’t know if all of my viewers would have access to that company, so made my own version, using the poppers you use on New Years Eve. I bought a set of them from Walmart for under $2, as well as decorated straws from Walmart to make the cracker.

Take the popper and pull the string free of the foilm but don’t tug on it.. Then, remove the cardboard on the bottom of the popper, and the paper from the side, and take out the paper that would shoot out when it explodes. Leave the next layer of cardboard inside and cut the plastic off down to this layer of cardboard. If the cardboard comes out, put a little hot glue on the edge of it to keep it in place. This makes sure the inside of your cracker prizes are protected. Take one of your straws and cut it in half. I cut a slit about 1/2″ long on one side of the straw and pushed the string from the popper into the straw.. Then shove the string into the crack and glue it in place. Put enough glue that it’s well adhered so when it’s pulled, the string won’t come out. You need the straw so that you have something to pull and the string isn’t long enough once it’s inside the popper.
To make a crown, cut a piece of gift wrap 24″ long and about 6: tall and glue the ends together (by putting tear tape on the outside edge of the gift wrap)so it’s a circle. Carefully fold your paper in half so the edges are even, then fold it again. If the bottom and top are not straight, trim them to be straight. Once you’ve folded it in half so your width is about 3″ wide, cut an inverted “V” and once it’s unfolded, it’s a crown.
Next, you’ll want treats, I put a buckeye in mine, as well as a bookmark and a joke I found on the internet, and some activities. I’m attaching a link to the activiites and jokes

Corny jokes: http://www.quickfunnyjokes.com/cheesy.html

Printable word search: http://www.puzzles.ca/wordsearch.html

Strip should say: Twist and pull apart. Firmly grab this string and pull for a bang.

Take the inside of a wrapping paper roll or a paper towel roll cardboard insert and cut them to 4″ lengths. You’ll want to hot glue the plastic part of the popper inside the cardboard and make sure it’s well glued so it doesn’t come apart when pulled. Fill the cardboard roll with your prize, joke, and activities, as well as candy and any additional prizes. Cut two more pieces of the cardboard roll about 1 1/2″ long each. You’ll take a piece of gift wrap that is roughly 14″ long and 6-8″ tall to wrap the popper. Put a piece of tear tape on the side of the center cardboard roll and remove the liner so it’s sticky. Lay the smalller pieces of cardboard on either side of the 4″ cardboard, leaving about a 1 1/2″ gap between the two pieces of cardboard and the longer center piece. On the side with the straw, make sure the straw is inside the side piece of cardboard. Don’t glue the wrapping paper to the side cardboard rolls. Hold all three pieces of cardboard and roll the gift wrap tightly around them. Once the gift wrap surrounds them, you;ll want to put a piece of tear tape that runs the whole length of the three cardboard pieces to glue the gift wrap together. Take ribbon that is called curling ribbon, and put an 8″ strip between the center and one side of the cardboard circles and tie it tightly. Put it as close to the center roll as possible..You can now remove the small cardboard piece on that side if you want. Do the same to the other side, making sure it’s tied tightly. Attach the strip that tells you how to pull it open and curl your ribbon ends and you are done.
I hope you give this a try, even if you do it for New Years. Traditionally, two people pull on either end of the crackers in England, but one person can pull it to explode it if they want.

 

I would have done a great job of making the exact number of videos for the numbers of days until Christmas except for an idea that I just had to get on video.  I couldn’t sleep yesterday, so in the middle of the night, I got out of bed and made a video.  You wouldn’t have to be told which video it is, because I sound like I just woke up for about 80% of the video.  And I’m almost whispering, as I guess I was afraid I would wake Rich, even though the door to my craft room was closed.  It’s one of those nights when my mind just won’t shut down and I need to do something to make it stop.

I really thought I was handling the Aggie situation pretty well, until I woke in a panic, thinking I needed to make a video.  I mean, who really needs to make a video in the middle of the night?  It’s crazy that I was so obsessed with the idea, but i was.  I definitely wanted to make sure I made a video and made it right then.

It’s short and easy. and will help people with last minute gift wrapping, but all the same, it wasn’t crucial for anyone to have to see that video.

It’s a bag topper and refrigerator magnet.  Well, it’s actually one of each.  I just wanted to show people that there was an easy way to make a cute bag closure or a cute refrigerator magnet (not all in one…)

I hope the video goes live before Christmas, and I know Rich is working on the Christmas Cracker video now and has one more card video before he’s done.  It’s been a lot of work for him, and a lot of fun for me. making so many different Christmasy crafty videos this year.