I started with gold pearlized card stock that is 8 1/2″ by 5 1/2″ tall, scored on the 8 1/2″ length at 4 1/4″ to make an A2 size card that is 5 1/2″ tall by 4 1/4″ wide.
I used a sunflower die and cut it out on my die cutting machine in brown and then in blue. I used the blue out of the excess of the die cut. I used a diluted wet glue and laid the brown flower on my gold card base. Then added the blue to the top section, then took a brown Sharpie and colored in the center of the sunflower. I used a bronze colored glitter pack from a pack of multiple colors of glitter that I bought at Joanns last year. Added the wet glue into the center of the flower and then gently rubbed the glitter into the circles.
I have a set of banner dies from MFT that I used to lay my sentiment on. I used a thank you die and cut the gold card stock from it and centered it on the brown banner. I added foam tape behind the center of the banner and tear tape on the edges to adhere it to the front of the card.
For the inside of the card, I used My Creative Times This and That stamp set and Versafine Onyx Black ink with clear embossing powder and heat set it.
I used peg stamps to decorate the envelope. http://www.pegstamps.com and Stampin’ Up ink Delightful Dijon and a sunflower set called Greetings from Kansas. The leaf stamp is called a wide leaf stamp. The green ink is also from Stampin’ Up and is called Always Artichoke.

I decided I really needed to get serious about packaging the boxes for Puerto Rico.  I know it doesn’t sound like it would be a lot of work, but it took me about six straight hours to fill eleven boxes.  And that was after I’d spent probably another ten hours sorting through stamps, dies, embellishments, ribbons, embossing powder, and the list goes on and on.  I bought a lot of new things for them as well, and the boxes are almost completely full.  I wish I could say I feel like I really accomplished something, but for some reason I don’t.  Maybe because the boxes are still sitting here staring at me.  (If boxes could stare, they would be, of that I’m certain.)

I have some serious work to do tomorrow, as we’re having Thanksgiving dinner here  and although I’ve made turkeys, never for anyone other than my parents and Rich.  We’re having another family over, so the pressure is on.. I need to produce a turkey that is totally edible.  It’s a scary thought, and I hope I’m up for the challenge.  Wish me luck.

I’ll let you know how things go tomorrow, when I’ve gotten a bigger grip on the rest of the meal.  This could turn ugly fast.

If you’ve left a comment for me on my blog, I feel really badly, because I accidentally made my blog comments spam on email, so I wasn’t getting any notifications about them.  I realize that’s a pretty lame excuse, but I’m going to jump on it today and try to figure out how to find them from this page instead of email.

Once I’ve done that, my life will be back on track..I absolutely hate it when I miss any comments on YouTube, Facebook or on this blog.  It was a commitment I made to myself when I started the YouTube channel…I was going to answer comments until there were so many, that it’s virtually impossible to keep up with them.  I know a lot of the bigger YouTube pages let their comments go unanswered, and I’ve always wondered why people continue to leave comments for them.  One of my favorite parts of YouTube is the interaction with viewers and I think it’s sad that others don’t find the same joy from it.

We had our first real snow last night and had a couple of inches on the ground.  We’ve had snow earlier in the November, but it didn’t accumulate.  Luckily, it’s already melting, and I see grass again, so life is good.

Did I mention my plan to make easy gift bags?  I’m not creating the bags, but will be decorating them.  I thought it would be fun to create a handle for them too.  This is sounding really familiar so I probably already talked about it.  I think I could be losing my mind.  I’d bet if I read a month’s worth of blog posts, I probably repeat topics at least a third of the time.  I need to start writing down what I talk about instead of just jumping in with an idea.  That’s an exaggeration, as I don’t even jump in with an idea, mostly I just jump in.  I’d love to say I’ve got a plan for what I want to talk about, but mainly I just start telling you about my day, or a project I’m working on, and go from there.  No planning required.

I know I told you about Aggie going to the vet, and feeling really frisky when she got home.  She’s not been feeling well the last couple of days, and we started to worry that we’d have to make a big decision about her.  But today, she decided she needed to go for a walk and did.  She roamed around our backyard and accidentally walked into a tree.  She wasn’t walking very fast, so it just surprised her..these are the things that happen when you’re an old lady.  Oh, and a couple of nights ago, she walked to the front of our yard where it slants toward a dead end street.  She fell down and before Rich could get his shoes on, walk to her and pick her up, she’d already decided to take a nap…Like I said, it’s not easy getting old.  Some days are better than others, and today is a good day (other than walking into a tree.)

I loved making the peek-a-boo card to help my friend Kelly, who really struggled with it.  It wasn’t an easy card to master and I’m still not very comfortable with it.  I spent most of the day yesterday working on my craft room.  I wanted to go through all of my tools and supplies and decide which ones I’ll be using and which ones I’d like to donate to the women in Puerto Rico.  I have so much stuff and I’m ashamed that I have let it get so out of control.  I have embellishments that I must have thought I would use at some point, but aren’t anything I’d really every use.  In the beginning, I bought things thinking I would make cards for kids and cards for men etc., and that’s really just not the case.  I primarily make “thinking of you,” get well, thank you, sympathy and birthday cards.  The birthday cards I make are almost always for women (except Rich’s card), so masculine themed cards just aren’t something I make many of.

To make a long story short, I’m really starting to make a dent in the huge piles of craft supplies I own.  I’m happy about it, because now I feel like I have a grip on my supplies, whereas before, I felt like they owned me.

I can’t wait to finish my de-cluttering, so that I can make the boxes and get them in the mail.  I know it will be a huge weight off of my shoulders when I hand them to the post office to send.  I can’t wait.

My friend Kelly asked me to give this card a try. I went to Dawn’s Stamping Thoughts on YouTube for inspiration. If you make this card, you can’t alter the size of the punch. I recommend you using a 2″ circle punch or die, as that’s what Dawn used, and hers came out well.

Here’s the link to the holiday sales I found last year and wanted to share with all of you.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uT9_4weisLQbU7diehdhR97tHm5zr8nG/view

It’s important that you write on two pieces of paper “front” and “inside” and attach

Inside — 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ colored card stock
4 1/4 x 5 3/4″ white (or a color you can stamp on)

Front — 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ colored
3 x 4 1/4″ white

Scoring on the:
Inside pieces:
4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ score on the 8 1/2″ length at 4 1/4″ (this is now square when folded)
4 1/4″ x 5 3/4″ white piece, score on the 5 3/4″ length at 5 1/2″ (so you only have a 1/4″ score)
On your front: Score only the
3″ x 4 1/4″ white piece, score on the 3″ length at 2 3/4″

Using a really strong adhesive, (I use tear tape),
on the front of the card, fold your raised score under and put tear tape on top on the 1/4″ piece that is scored, up to the score line, but not over it, then attach it to the back of your card front. Then rub it to make sure it is well adhered and fold it under so you know it will stay attached.
On the inside of the card, fold the score down on the white card stock, and put tear tape on the edge up to the score, but not over it. Then attach it to the back of the red paper…

Take the front of the card and fold it closed so you are looking at the white and colored card stock. You will want to punch or use a die that is 2″ round (if possible) and center it on the colored card stock and cut it out.

If you want paper to cover the outside of your card, you’ll cut it to 4 1/8″ high by 5 3/8″. Once you’ve cut the circle out of your front (or an oval), you’ll put the decorated paper on the front where it would be once it’s glued down and put a paperclip on it to hold it there. Flip it over and take a pencil and draw the inside of your cut circle or oval. Then using your punch or die, cut that out. If you can, use a larger punch or die and center it over your pencil lines and cut that out, so you have a frame around the front of your card.

Now to the inside of the card…make sure the white part is to the left of where you are cutting. You’re going to line up the front of the card over the colored card stock from the inside of your card, making sure the right edges line up. then using your pencil, draw a line around the inside of your circle or oval. Then using your punch or die, cut this out. Then trace inside that hole and cut the other piece of your colored card stock (that’s inside the fold)—make sure you don’t cut through the white card stock that’s attached to it.

On the white of your card inside, you’ll want to have drawn a circle or oval where the colored card stock folds on it, and then you’ll want to do your stamping here. I used Color Box Archival Black Ink and Sunny Studios Bundled Up stamp set for this.
For the front of your card, you will take the front and push the white piece into the inside of the card as far as it will go, and draw a circle or oval where the opening is, so you can stamp in the right place. You’ll need to erase this mark when you are done. I had an issue with my first card, and had to add another layer in that opening and didn’t have any issue with the card opening or closing.
I took water markers from Stampin’ Up and scribbled them on some plastic and added a little water and watercolored my penguin with a fuchsia, orange, gold and gray.
I apologize that I had camera issues and was out of frame for my ribbon. I added tear tape to the back of the decorated paper I added…use some wet glue as well to give you wiggle room when laying the two down.
To put the card together. take the front of your card (open) and lay it over the right side of your inside of the card (the part that is furthest away from the white paper. I added tear tape to the front of the inside of my card as well as wet glue, then took the card front (open) and line it up with the edges of the colored card stock inside of the card.
I used three falling snowflakes peg stamp that I just bought and used Melon Mambo ink from Stampin’ Up to stamp around the penguin. I added evergreen trees to the envelope with Garden Green ink from Stampin’ Up. Here’s the link to the trees. https://pegstamps.com/evergreen-trees-tiny-peg-stamp.html and the snowflake stamps. https://pegstamps.com/snowflakes-three-falling-tiny-peg-stamp.html

I have spent most of the day going through my craft room to find things to put in the boxes I’m giving to the women in Puerto Rico.  Here’s the funny part, the pile keeps getting bigger and bigger, but I haven’t made a dent in anything in my room.  I have so many crafty things, and I could donate to another fifty people, and still probably not make a dent.
I really need to get a grip on my craft purchases.  I know this sounds crazy, but even as I say this, I really would like to buy some inks I just saw.  What is up with this obsessive need to buy and try everything?  I can’t stop myself.  I really wish I could just say no, but if I find a really great bargain, I go nuts and buy things.  I need to just say no.

My friend Carol Held has a system now, where she’s shopping out of her craft room.  I’m so proud of her, because she’s a lot like me..she wants the newest things, so she can show them on videos.  She has every Copic marker they make and if she buys a set of something, it’s the biggest, best set they sell.  The fact that she figured out a way to stop shopping is amazing to me.  (In case you didn’t know, there are over 300 Copic markers, that sell from $4-$7 each…)  I think Carol has a lot more in her craft room than I have, but she’s been doing it longer.  The fact that she’s now stopped buying things, is a real testament to her will power.  My will power is unfortunately, low.

I’m going to go back into my craft room tomorrow and gut a few more drawers and cupboards, looking for more things to mail.  I haven’t even gotten into my embellishment stacks yet, and need to go through more ribbon too.  I have some deco mesh I know I’ll never use that I’m going to donate, as well as Nuvo drops..I can’t make those into anything other than a drop that looks like a Hershey’s kiss, so I need to get rid of them.  If I got rid of just the products I don’t like, I’d be doing great, and would be sending a ton of products to people who truly need them.  And if they don’t like them, I’m sure they can pass them on to others who do.  There are so many crafters who love the Nuvo drops, so I have to wonder if it’s just me that can’t master them.  Probably so.

I made the peek-a-boo card on video and still had issues.  I’m not certain why that card has so many issues, it just does.  I have trouble getting mine to stay shut, making sure my hidden message is wide enough, pretty much everything is a mystery on this card.  I’m not sure though, if the people who made it on video have good results either, or just fake like they do..Is that wrong of me?  Probably so.  I feel like they sugar coat when things go wrong..maybe don’t show the whole card, or hold it a certain way so you don’t see what’s going wrong.

Regardless, I finished it and hope people can follow my directions.  of course when I needed my camera to work at its best, it had an error on one segment so that part isn’t on video.  I tried to explain what needed to be done in that segment, but it’s really not the same thing as showing it.  I feel really bad when that happens, but not bad enough to recreate the entire card, that’s for sure.

I’ll probably sleep on it tonight and tomorrow decide I need to re-video that section.  OK, I’m already pretty sure I’m going to have to somehow recreate that part of the card, darn it.  Oh well, these things happen, especially to me.

I bought this foam pumpkin last year at Joanns in their after Halloween clearance. It had the back cut out of it to be used as a fairy garden (but of course, I had no idea what it was to be used for when I bought it.) Start with acrylic paint, any inexpensive paint will work…Color the pumpkin a color that will work well showing through the napkin. I used a foam brush, and covered the entire pumpkin with the paint. After it’s dry, you need to separate your napkin front from the other layers. The easiest way to do this, is to put washi tape on the back near the edge and pull the back away from the front of the napkin. After separating my napkin, i cut off the border on the top and bottom of my napkins, and used them as the center of my pumpkin. I used Fiskars scissors that I love and will link the video on my favorite scissors to the end of this video. I used matte Mod Podge for my glue and the best way to lay your napkins down, is to cut them into strips so the strips lay beside each other and don’t overlap…If they overlap, you’ll see that in the finished product. .I found that the project worked better if I didn’t coat the napkin with Mod Podge until the whole pumpkin is covered and the underneath Mod Podge is dry. You really need to make sure that you use enough Mod Podge under the napkins to ensure it’s glued down. You’ll also want to be gentle when laying your napkins down, as they tear easily. I had a problem with putting glue over the napkins while working on the backside of the pumpkin, and my napkins adhered to the paper surface underneath the pumpkin and tore. (That’s the reason I don’t recommend you putting the Mod Podge on it while the napkins are still wet underneath.) After applying the napkin layers and making sure the napkins and Mod Podge underneath are dry, paint any areas that have overlapped napkin that you don’t like, and then once the paint is dry, recover it with Mod Podge and a new piece of napkin that fits exactly where you’ve painted. I painted the center of my pumpkin and applied the pattern from the bottom and top edges of my napkins. Then after it’s dry, Mod Podge over it. I painted the stem of my pumpkin with green and brown acrylic paints and then Mod Podge’d them. Then I took a moss matt and glued it inside my pumpkin and bought some Halloween decorations to put inside my pumpkin next year as well as add some lights inside as well.

One of my girlfriends called me early this morning and asked me if I wanted to spend the day shopping.  As she works full time and I don’t get to see her often, I jumped at the chance.  We had a great day together and I came home really tired.  I’d like to say that I bought a ton of fun things, but only a couple, as I’m focusing on the boxes I’m sending to Puerto Rico.  I was originally going to send three or four boxes, and now the number is more like ten.  I just can’t let these women go without so much, when I have so much to spare.  I got an email from one of the ladies we have adopted, and I’ve asked her if I can share her story on facebook.  One I get the answer, I’ll share it there as well as here, because what she’s lived through since the hurricanes has been unbelievable.  I can’t understand how in 2017, their infrastructure, telecommunications, and electricity can be un-managed for so long.  She and her family have been through so much, and their journey isn’t over.

I’m glad we can be of help, and hope I can find others that will consider giving things (or gift cards) to these ladies who have lost so much.  I just want to help make their struggle a little less and hope we can do something to ease their burden.