I’m going to finish a bunch of projects today.  I have a list of things I have to get done as time is running out.  I want to make the rest of the small cards to put inside my boxes for Puerto Rico, then put mailing labels on all of them to take to the post office tomorrow…I have a lot of cards that I want to finish to send to people for Christmas, as well as make a lot of door decorations for my girlfriend to put on doors for patients at the assisted living facility that she works for.  I know it sounds like I have too many things packed into one day, but I have been so far behind on my Christmas decorations and gifts, that I have to start somewhere.

It’s now 9PM, and I didn’t make any cards or finish closing the boxes for Puerto Rico..On the flip side, I did make at least eight frames to hang on the doors of assisted living patients, and that makes me really feel good.

I have to admit, things did not go well today.  I wanted to do a simple frame with burlap inside, and our initials glued to the front.  In theory it sounds so simple, but when push came to shove, the initials wouldn’t fit.  So I started sanding them, and sanding, and sanding…finally resorted to an electric sander to finish the job.  I got them to wedge into the frame, but when it came to gluing them down on camera, the last letter went in crooked and of course, stuck like, well, glue.  I’d already spent so much time on it, I tried using my heat gun to melt the hot glue, and that didn’t work, so I gave up…I’m leaving that for another day.

I almost wish you could see my craft room.  It looks like every hoarders nightmare.  I keep all of my Christmas craft supplies in vintage suitcases.  They are all open on the floor and it looks like they exploded.  I really thought that after making so many of these frames, that I wouldn’t have so much “stuff” left inside the suitcases, but I honestly think they have grown. Like when you use glitter and try to put the rest back in the bottle, but there’s just too much left…that’s what it’s like.  I feel like I always do before Christmas…my house is a mess, my craft room is worse, and I have boxes of things in every room and each box needs my attention.  I really need to get the boxes sent to Puerto Rico…that’s my first and biggest priority…Oh, wait, tomorrow is Rich’s birthday, and we’re supposed to get 8 inches of snow, so I might not make it until Tuesday..Yikes.

I finished the wreath I started yesterday.  I really thought it needed a bow, but I found a really cool deer that was covered in red glitter, and looked perfect, glued to the front of my wreath.  This project went from just ok, to “I kind of like it.’

After finished the wreath, I had another idea for an ornament that I had been wanting to try.  I’m not sure if I’ve talked about this before, or not, but I saw a wreath in Cracker Barrel, that was a wreath covered in pom poms.  I know, it sounds kind of silly, but it really looked cute.  (In my opinion.)  I had a 3” round wreath styrofoam shape, and thought it would be the right size for me to use a range of red pompoms on.  I had bought a small box of them at a garage sale last summer, with no idea what I’d use them for.  This was the perfect use.  The pom poms were easy to hot glue onto the styrofoam, and the end result looks pretty frisky.  I’m really looking forward to hearing what people have to say about it.  I have so many ideas for projects and not enough time left before Christmas to finish all of them.  I’m going to give it a try.

Dollar Tree sells Polaroid decorative labels that you can decorate yourself. I used peg stamps, http://www.pegstamps.com and started with a “To, From” stamp.and stamped all of the tags with this. Then I took a light bulb stamp and stamped with Versamark ink to heat emboss it. I used red Ranger embossing powder and added glitter to it to make a red glitter embossed look..then heat set it..Don’t mix this mixture back into the red embossing powder glitter as it will contaminate your embossing powder. I took a black marker and drew a wire to connect my bulbs. I used a snowflake peg stamp with liquid platinum embossing powder and heat set it. I used a ribbon stamp with red glitter embossing powder and heat set it. And used a light blue embossing powder with a snowflake stamp. I finished the red glitter embossing powder with the poinsettia peg stamps. I used a red marker Studio 71 from Consumer Crafts that I bought for $1 each during their cyber Monday sale and colored the ribbon with it. I used the Deco Foil in blue and gold, with tear tape to make another tag and added a package from Jolee’s Boutique to accent the foil. I used the markers to outline my tags and make them look more finished,

I spent the day in the craft room and made a horrible mess there.  That’s what happens when I try to make something.  I don’t take the time to put things away immediately after using them, and they just keep piling up everywhere.  I need a maid to follow me around and clean up after me…Do you suppose Jennifer McGuire has someone that does that for her?  Her area always seems spotless, so I have to believe she does…haha.

I made a paper wreath and took some of the scraps and made some cards with them.  I wanted to make sure that I got rid of the excess paper, and this was an easy way to do it.  I made some 3 x 3″ gift cards to put in the boxes of supplies I’m sending to Puerto Rico.  I didn’t want to mail the boxes without a card, but didn’t have the will to make eleven full size cards…Yes, I’m that lazy.  I have a bunch of cards I need to finish and get mailed as it’s getting closer to the holidays and I’m still not finished with sending thank you cards and get well cards that are long overdue.

I have three or four projects in process right now and really need to get them finished and get their videos done.  I have so many videos that are in Rich’s hands, and now he’s trying to do a video once a day or once every other day.  It’s the time of the year when I make a lot of videos to show people all kinds of crafty ideas.  They really want to see cards, but I really like to branch out into other areas when I can.  This is the best time of year to do that.

I’d really like to finish the sea glass ornament video, as we didn’t tape anything when we made them, and I’ve got so much going on in my craft room, that I don’t have any place to put the supplies to make the ornaments with.  I should clean and get going, but really would prefer to sit and watch the birds outside my window instead.  I’m trying to think of a great idea for a Christmas gift for the friend I made the sea glass ornaments with.  She and her husband really seemed to enjoy watching the woodpeckers eat suet in my backyard, and I thought that maybe buying her the shepherds’ hook, suet and suet cage might be a nice gift.  I really hate it when I buy something that people don’t like for Christmas, and hope my ideas will make them happy.  It’s really stressful, and I’m normally a lot more organized than I have been this year.  Rich’s birthday is Monday, and we’re going to go shopping in the closest large city to us…I came up with an idea of something we could do that would be out of the ordinary for Christmas gifts.  I thought it would be fun to each take (let’s say) $25 and have to buy a certain number of gifts (maybe five) for ourselves, not each other.  I think we’ll put a time allotment on it as well, so we can’t doddle..Since we’ll be buying presents for ourselves, we should be able to find things we enjoy and make a fun afternoon’s activity out of it.  I think we’ll go to a mall where we can’t find a Dollar Tree, because you know I could spend all day there buying all kinds of fun things.  We won’t be shopping together, but will be checking in with each other to see how the other is coming with the project.  I think it will be a lot of fun, and after we get home, we’ll have to wrap the others’ gifts.  That way, we both are sharing in the gift giving experience.  What do you think?  Stupid idea, or fun?  I just wanted to do something a little bit different this year.  We’ve done coupon books for each other, and Rich made me a coupon book once with different menus that he would make for me.  But my favorite gift (and one I could share with everyone), are the music videos Rich made for me.  He lip synced to different songs over the years and the best part is that the first one was for our first married Christmas together in 1982, at the very beginning of MTV…He wanted to make me a music video and did.  He recruited a friend to help, and it’s so sweet.  Maybe someday I’ll be willing to share it on YouTube….although I’ll have to ask Rich for permission..

I think I talked about an idea that came to me in the middle of the night.  A lighted Christmas card/ornament that I wanted to make.  It took one day of making a ton of mistakes and a second attempt where it actually worked.  I can’t wait for you to see this video, as the end result is pretty nifty.  I’m not sure if someone would want to put something this large on their tree, but it definitely could sit on a counter or desk.  I have to say, Rich was really blown away by the end results and that’s the biggest compliment I can get, because he’s normally not really outspoken about the projects that I make.  He’ll often say “that’s nice,” or “I like it,” but this was over the top.  He said he’d give it a 10 out of 10 rating and he was so impressed that I came up with it on my own.  Initially when I had told him my idea, he thought it was too much work and wouldn’t be very impressive, but he’s taken that back and says he really didn’t envision it to work the way it has.  I can’t ask for more.  I’m looking forward to hearing what viewers think of it.  If they aren’t impressed, it’s only two days of my life gone, haha.  Actually, I just hope people watch the video and try to make it themselves, as that’s the greatest compliment I can get.

I had such fun making Christmas ornaments with my girlfriend from sea glass and glass ornaments.  I had found small bulbs and large bulbs to fill, so we tried a variety of sea glass, sand and beads.  I had some pink sand that we brought back from Bermuda in the 1990’s and thought it would be a terrific way to commemorate that visit.  I made a bulb with the sand, some sea shells I brought back and a couple small pieces of sea glass.  I tied a ribbon to the top and called it done.  Becky didn’t want to be on camera, so the only things I have to remember the visit is a photo of her ornaments.  I’ll make a very short video showing how we made them in the next day or so.

I’ve made so many videos of so many different things this holiday season, and it’s been a nice break from card making.  Don’t get me wrong, I love making cards, but sometimes I just like to try different things and show some different techniques.  It seems that the only time I can really get away with it, is during the Christmas season, when everyone is looking for new ideas.  And boy do I have a lot of them.  I’ve been seeing wreaths made out of big pompoms, and have been thinking about making a small ornament wreath with mini-pompoms.  I’m not sure if it will look corny or not, but since Cracker Barrel has been decorating with them and selling them, at least I could give it a shot.  It’s in my list of things to try for the holidays…and I’m on it.

Time for some ornaments! I took a 2″ styrofoam ball and used red glitter Tempura paint from the Dollar Tree to paint it with. I used two punches from Stampin’ Up, one with leaves and one with petals. I used my pokey tool, and pushed it through the center of two layers of red glitter card stock and a center layer of silver foil paper with small stars on it. After pushing the whole through the center, I made sure the hole was as large as I needed to insert stamen in the center. I removed the pokey tool and took a stylus (a tool with a small ball on the bottom) and pushed it into the center of the flower. Then, I folded three stamen (I bought from Aliexpress) together, and wrapped some scotch tape around the bottom to make the bottom as small as possible, to be able to insert through the holes of the flowers. You’ll push the stamen through the center hole of the flowers and then flip the flower over and rub the stylus around the centers of each petal to make the center of the flower pointing down, but the petals will be pointing up. I used hot glue on the bottom to surround the stamen and ensure they will stay in place. Set them aside to dry.
I took a small length of matching thin ribbon in green and made a knot about an inch from the top of the loop, leaving small pieces that you can put a pearl headed straight pin into the ribbon edges and then put them into the ball to create a hanger that looks nice.
I didn’t have green glittery paper, so used the green Tempura paint from Dollar Tree and painted green card stock and let it dry. I didn’t love the amount of glitter left on paper, so used Wink of Stella on them at the end of the project. I punched the green paper into leaves and then folded the leaves in half. You can easily cut leaf shapes out card stock without using a punch.
I cut the stamens off the backs of my flowers and put hot glue in a dollop to attach to my ball. I started by putting the first flower beside the ribbon and hot glued it in place. I put leaves around it, and then continued gluing flowers onto the ball. I put leaves anywhere there was a gap and finished the ball by placing the flowers as close together as possible. I finished the project by using my homemade Wink of Stella, and painted my leaves so they were shimmery. I used a heat tool to remove all left over glue strings.

Stamen Link: https://tinyurl.com/y97x56hr
Leaf Punch Stampin’ Up: https://tinyurl.com/leafpunch
Blossom Punch link: https://tinyurl.com/blossompunch
2″ styrofoam ball available in all craft stores and the glitter tempura paint is available in the kid’s craft section of the Dollar Tree

I had to go to my rheumatology appointment today, which is a three hour drive round-trip.  It was raining and I am exhausted.  Rain will do that to me.  I really had intended to work on my lighted house ornament, but have no steam left.  I think instead, I might go to bed at 8PM…Since it’s already 7:45, I’ll be sleeping shortly.  I’m getting whimpy as I age, that’s for sure.

Tomorrow, one of my closest friends, is coming for a visit.  She’s not crafty at all, but collects sea glass, and wants to make some Christmas ornaments out of it.  I’m the girl for this job!  I volunteered to make ornaments with her this summer, and really didn’t think she would want to follow through with it, but luckily, she does.  I love trying new and different crafts (as you all know), and this should be a lot of fun.  I think all I need is sand, glass ornaments, sea glass, ribbon, and maybe some small sea shells.  I think I have everything covered.  I’m really looking forward to spending time with her, and this isn’t a craft that will take very long, or much thought process.  I think it’s a matter of pouring some sand and sea glass into the top of the ornament, gluing the top shut, and adding some ribbon to the top.  Voila!  I almost wish all of my projects could be so simple.

In the middle of the night, I woke up with an amazing idea for a card/ornament.  I really didn’t think it would be too hard, but have not seen anything like it, so thought, why not give it a try.  I spent hours working on it today, and finally decided I should throw in the towel and try it again tomorrow.  It starts with a large house die I bought.  I’ve been wanting to make a card/ornament, with lights inside it, but never really liked the ideas I’ve seen on YouTube.  I decided I could design and create a box that would have the house die cut out of the front, then reattached over vellum.  The box will be deep enough to encompass two lights, one on each floor of the house.

Things went bad for me, right from the beginning.  I couldn’t get my score tool to stay in the grooves because I was using really thick card stock….so of course, I now have weird lines in the paper.  On to the next problem,  I kept scoring on the wrong line…I don’t know why I couldn’t remember where 1 5/8″ was on my score board.  I scored 2 1/8″ for one score, so that made that card stock garbage.  Then came the third mistake.  I die cut the house out of the card stock, but cut it out of the wrong side of the box, so I have the back of the die cut facing out, not the front.  It makes a big difference with this die, as it’s big and highly ornate.  So I started over with black card stock.  I cut the paper and scored it, then looked at my score lines and thought they looked odd…..Yep, scored those suckers on the wrong score line.  This time I used 1 3/8″. so I decided, this project is done for the day.  I’ll start over, this time with some pre-planning already done…I’ll definitely know the things I should not be doing.  Some projects are much better when you take the time to think things through before proceeding with them.  This is definitely one of those.

A viewer, Jennie, asked me to make a dangle charm…I couldn’t make it from scratch, using an I pin, so I started thinking about alternative ways to do it. The easiest way, is using old jewelry and taking it apart, then reattaching it in the form of a dangle. I went through my mother’s vintage jewelry and found a pearl dangly bracelet circa 1980. I took the clasp off of it, and added pieces from the bracelet using two loops with each addition. I found by using two loops, it allowed everything to dangle easily and made attaching new pieces much easier. I meant to say that in the video, but got distracted along the way. When you open the loops, you should not pull the two end away from each other, but instead, bend one side down, then closing the loop will maintain it’s shape and will close much more efficiently. I used the dangle that I made to attach to a Bath and Body Works antibacterial hand sanitizer, and the other, a key chain that wasn’t overly attractive. I added a lot of different components to the key chain from earrings and loose charms, and a glass butterfly that I had to make my own loop to attach it. I took an I pin (I think that’s what they are called), and put it through the butterfly then bent the two ends up and twisted them together several times, then cut off the loose ends. I attached two rings and added another piece from earrings, and attached it to the key ring. I hope this is what Jennie was looking for me to make, but if it isn’t, I’d be happy to try something else. This was a lot of fun, and I highly recommend you going through your old jewelry and finding a couple pairs of pliers and making your own dangles.