I’ve never been someone who shopped around at different online craft companies.  I found their prices to be prohibitive and if I bought something, it was because I saw someone else use it, then never really shopped further.  I found Aliexpress and absolutely loved it.  I loved the dies, the stamps and especially, the prices.  I was oblivious to where a stamp or die design originated, and just bought things when I liked them.

This week I’ve learned that a lot of YouTube channels have been deleted for showing Aliexpress hauls.  I’m not sure if my channel was spared because I am not monetized (YouTube doesn’t pay me for my channel), and don’t make money for referring customers to Aliexpress, but am glad that my channel is still here.  I’ve taken most of my haul videos and made them private, so you can no longer see them.  I can’t take the chance that my channel will be taken down as I’ve put two years of my life into it, and don’t think I’ve done anything intentionally wrong.

On the other hand, when you have a small YouTube channel, you are not given anyone in the YouTube company that you can converse with, so I have no way to contact them or ask them any questions about this issue.  It’s just better to take my videos and make them private, rather than lose the channel over something I’m not clear about.

I’ve tried to contact another YouTuber who does Aliexpress haul videos to see if she has been contacted by anyone in the YouTube community, as she’s taken her hauls down as well…Maybe she’s doing what I am doing, trying to protect her channel, I’m not sure.  I wish I had someone in authority to ask.

Obviously, I couldn’t address this directly on YouTube at risk of losing my channel, but wanted you to know the situation and thank those of you who have told me about other channels being deleted and giving me the heads up about my videos that were stolen.  I feel really badly about this situation and don’t think I’ve done anything intentionally wrong, but will do whatever necessary to save my channel and rectify the situation.

If you want to discuss this further, you can either respond here or email me at saundralparker@yahoo.com.

I’ve been wanting to finish that crazy foam pumpkin that I covered with napkins, so today was the day.  When I do something like that, I feel like I’ve done something amazing, even though it was really nothing…But it was just hanging over my head for so long, and I couldn’t stand looking at it for another second.

I also had to remake the beginning of the video for the card I did yesterday.  That turned into a huge ordeal, where I made a really embellished second card…The worst part was that I used a smaller bat die and decided to use it again.  I couldn’t find it and had literally, used it two minutes ago.  So I started looking…A half an hour later I found it, attached to the front of my shirt.  I had almost given up the search when I heard a metallic noise and looked down, and there it was…Who would have thought?  Sometimes I think I might be going crazy, as I lose things like that all of the time.  It’s just unbelievable to me that I can do the things I do and still make it through the day.

I think I mentioned last week that Aggie wasn’t doing well and we were worried that we would have to put her to sleep…I think that’s the oddest term for euthanizing a dog, but I’m using it because it’s the acceptable term for it.  Since then, she’s decided that she really shouldn’t have to eat what other dogs do, and is only inclined to eat chicken and rice, a food combinations that vets always give when dogs won’t eat.  She’s doing so much better and I can’t believe how well.  Last week she couldn’t go up or down our two front outdoor steps, and now she hops up and down them.  She’s an 85 pound golden retriever, so that’s no easy feat.  She’s amazing, and at almost 16 years old, an unbelievable dog.  I’m so glad that we can put that decision off for another day.  Hopefully another day in the far far, distant future.

I made a really fun Halloween card and the video was acting strangely, but I just kept going.  The camera didn’t record that whole segment of the video…Darn….So now I’ll need to remake the beginning of the video, and the card.  I really hate it when things like that happen.

I cleaned my craft room for hours…I organized Halloween stamps and my ribbon drawer.  Rich walked into the room and said “I thought you were cleaning in here.”  I had to laugh, because it still looks like a mess, but I did make some progress…None you can see, but progress none the same.

I’ll be working on it again tomorrow and maybe by then you’ll be able to see some changes.  I’m starting to think I could clean that craft room every day and never see progress.  I’ve often wondered about crafters with these pristine white rooms.  When are they doing anything in there and how do they keep that room so spotless?  I’m thinking that they plan out one card, make it, put everything away, and they are done.  I also believe that if you are a Stampin’ Up rep and have a You Tube channel, you probably don’t accumulate stamp sets like normal people do, because Stampin’ Up reps seem to sell their retired merchandise.  That’s a great way to stay on top of hoarding…Unlike me, I just accumulate and never really get rid of anything.  I need to get serious about eliminating a lot of the things I have in my craft room.  I have so many things that I just don’t use…I’m hoping that during the Make A Difference Day video, a lot of people will be asking for the things I’d like to get rid of…That would truly make a difference for me, and the cleanliness (or lack thereof), of my craft room.

Today is our 35th wedding anniversary, and we celebrated by going out to dinner with our close friends.  It was a lovely day and Rich wrote a really beautiful tribute to us on his facebook page.  If I knew how to copy it here, I would, but I’m pretty sure I’ll screw it up.    Ok, here goes.  I’m so awed that he would take the time to write such a lovely story, and wanted to share it with you.  I realize that you probably are learning a lot more about us than you probably want to know, but I still wanted to share.

And now I’ll add my two cents to his story.  I got diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis two weeks after this photo was taken.  Rich and I both thought it was nothing…like a commercial on TV where two women are playing tennis and one woman rubs her hand and says her arthritis is acting up, and the other tells her to rub Ben Gay on it.  We should’ve known we were destined for more.  A lot more.  By the time I was twenty-seven, I’d put off having my knee replaced for longer than I should have, and had to bend at the waist when I walked to maintain my balance, as my knee was permanently bent at about 30 degrees.  It was the first replacement, shortly to be followed by my right knee at 29, my right hip at 31, my neck fused at 31, my right shoulder replaced at 33….well, you get the picture.  Rich was so good to me, and had to do so many things that a very young married man should ever have to do.  I remember going to our tenth college reunion, and Rich had to carry me up the stairs of the dorm we were all staying in for the weekend.  That had to be so difficult for him (and embarrassing).  He was 31 years old.  I am blessed to be married to not only the man whose always taken my breath away, and makes my heart beat faster whenever he is near, but most importantly, my very best friend…The first person I want to see in the morning and the last that I want to see at night.  I couldn’t have gone down this path without him and we were lucky to have found each other.  He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

My friend Elizabeth, sent me a lot of paper napkins and I wanted to show a variety of ideas of things to use them for.

This is such a simple abd easy project. I separate my napkins by putting washi tape on the back edge and pull the washi and the back of the napkin off. I’ve never found an easier way to separate the napkins and saw it on another YT channel, but don’t remember who it was, sorry.
To make one of these bags, simply separate the front of your napkin from the other layers, then put tape runner on your bag and make sure you fold down the bottom of the bag.  Lay your napkin over the bag and trim.  If you put washi tape on the edges of the bags, it really makes them cute. Pick your favorite scary decorations, glue them to the bag, and fold the top over and close with a clothespin.
To cover the clothespin, simply put tape runner on the clothespin, then lay a strip of decorated paper over it and trim with scissors or an Xacto or craft knife. I recommend you trim from the underside of the paper as it’s a better angle to cut from. When you get to the metal spring, bend your paper away from the clothespin for easy trimming.

Today I was really going to do some serious crafting…I wanted to make a Halloween treat bag using a brown paper bag and covering it with a napkin and then decorating it.  Everything started out fine, then I tried to cover the second side of the bag and accidentally taped the napkin to it, by virtue of the fan that was blowing overhead. The napking definitely wasn’t where I wanted it, and when I tried to take it back off, I destroyed the napkin (hard to believe, I know)  So I took that napkin off and put more tape runner on, and that’s when the first mini tape runner was destroyed.  It was sticking to the brown paper bag so much, that it was advancing far beyond what it should have, then snapped.  I thought it was a fluke…no, number two small tape runner when in the same fashion (both from different companies.)  I went to number three and by now you probably have figured out what happened.  I felt so foolish and don’t really know exactly what i was doing wrong to ruin three tape runners in a matter of maybe two minutes.   It was so frustrating, but I decided I needed to power through…So I laid the napkin, well, what was left of it, on side two, and pieced it together.  I needed to trim the edges off and ended up cutting the seam of the bag as well.  In comes washi tape to save the day.  I tried to make it sound like I was decorating the inside folds of the bag, but honestly, it was the only way for the bag to hold anything, as half of the seam was cut.  Another foolish mistake.  I added embellishments and they ripped the napkin, so more washi tape.  In the end, the bags look fairly decent, but I’m almost embarrassed to put up a video showing how to do it, because it looks like I’ve lost my mind.  And maybe I have…It was so crazy.  I have Halloween things all over the floor of my craft room..Rich walked in and asked if it was garbage or something I was keeping.  I almost said “garbage” so he wouldn’t think I’m that big of a slob.   My craft room normally looks pretty bad, but it’s a total mess right now, and there’s no end in sight…Crap.

I decided to sleep in today and had a lunch date with two old friends.  We had a really nice time and I ate way too much.  I definitely need to finish the video of the waterfall card, album, today, or it’s going to be forever before I put another video up.  I have some Halloween ideas I’d like to put on video, but keep forgetting to make the cards.  I’m really off of my game and I think it’s from the non-stop itching.  I’m not sure about the rest of you, but I can’t stand it when something is itchy.  This poison ivy has been lingering, probably because I don’t have much of an immune system, and I’ve had it with it.  I’d really like to wake up one day, look down at my arm, and be happy that it’s gone.  So far I’m wondering in what century that will occur.  I’m thinking I might have this stuff forever.  And that’s a long long time.

I’m going to force myself to finish the album so I can get it photographed and mail the Halloween one that I made.  I had promised to get it in the mail on Monday, so today is the day to finish that stupid thing.  It’s frustrating that it’s been sitting on my desk, half finished, for several days.  I’m going to go finish it right now.  Or maybe later.  Definitely today though.

Holy cow, I missed a day of blogging.  Sometimes I swear that I did write something, only to discover that I didn’t…Where does the time go?

I went to some garage sales today and found a huge cutting mat that I think the woman used with material.  It was only $1, so I bought it, but it’s not in the best shape.   I think I’ll use it off camera anyway, so no need for beauty.  That’s what I say when I’m making videos in my pajamas too…No one sees me, so they don’t know I’m making this in my snuggly pjs, you should assume I’m wearing a ballgown and tiara when I make my videos.  It’s a secret that we won’t share.

The poison ivy is still on my wrist and I’ve been holding off making new videos because I didn’t really want anyone to see it because it looks like I was attacked by something.  It’s really unattractive and no matter what I do, it always seems to show up on camera.  So I finally went to the doctor this morning and she said it looked like a spider bite.  I’m not sure what spiders have venom that acts like poison ivy and spreads to other places, but she finally gave up on that idea when she looked at the rest of my forearm.  She decided to prescribe a topical rub and told me not to over use it as my skin would break down.  So I put some on, and it didn’t seem to do anything for the itch, so rubbed a little more in, and about thirty minutes later, got really dizzy and nauseous  I felt horrible, because I was on my way out to lunch with a girlfriend, so I had to tell her I didn’t think I would be eating much because I was feeling nauseous.  I didn’t tell her about being dizzy, as I didn’t want her to worry, and after drinking a lot of water at lunch, I started to feel better.  When I got home, I told Rich about it, washed my forearm so the medicine would be gone, and decided to take a nap (as naps cure anything.)   Rich came into the bedroom with the information from the topical rub and read in the section that says, “Warning: In the unlikely event that you experience these side effects, contact your doctor immediately” and then said something about dying.   Naturally, dead center in this section it says dizziness and nausea, blah, blah, blah, contact your doctor immediately, if you have these symptoms.  It’s 2:30 on a Friday, and my doctor is gone for the day.  I called my brother in law who is a physician, and he told me to clean it really well and drink a lot of water.  Who would ever think that something you rub on your skin would cause this type of reaction.  I swear that I am cursed, because you can list a million side effects and I’ll get the second to last from the bottom of the page.  The one that only one person in a million seems to get, that’s me.  I never read those pamphlets either, because doctors think I get these side effects because I read the pamphlet.  So apparently I can conjure up a side effect, just by reading about it.  In my case, ignorance is bliss.  Since I never know what to expect, it’s always a big surprise when something goes wrong…Then when the doctor accuses me of bringing it on myself, I can honestly tell them that I had no idea, because I don’t.  Is that a good thing or a bad thing?  I’m not sure, but at least the surprise is better than being accused of manufacturing the symptom…that always bugs me.  And you know I hate to be bugged.

I was sent some really nice gifts and wanted to share them with you. I did buy a bunch of stamps from Rubber Stamp Tapestry, pegstamps.com. My Aliexpress purchases were: You’ll be amazed, that I finally figured out how to shorten the links to Aliexpress…no need for applause…. Note: You should always price check for a cheaper item as prices are always changing and the one I bought might not be the least expensive at this time. Double ended molding tools: http://tinyurl.com/Moldingtools $2.88 Sea Shell dies http://tinyurl.com/y9mxqo7n $1.35 I bought these for less, but this is the price this site sells them for now. Candles Dies: http://tinyurl.com/candledies $1.72 4 word dies: http://tinyurl.com/4worddies $1.87, I paid $1.79, but the price has gone up from the site I bought it from. Tool set: http://tinyurl.com/tooldies $1.35 Happy Birthday sentiment: http://tinyurl.com/happybdaydie 79 cents, not sure if they still have this in stock. two flower dies: http://tinyurl.com/rosedies $1.78 deer ornament: http://tinyurl.com/deerornament $2.85, the price has dropped from $2.93 that I paid for it. You stamps: http://tinyurl.com/yd8qz4dt $2.16 With Love die: http://tinyurl.com/withlovedie 74 cents Holly Leaf: http://tinyurl.com/y75nv7v7 $1.79 Long Christmas Die: http://tinyurl.com/xmaslongdie $1.29 it went up from the $1.25 that I paid. Flag Dies: http://tinyurl.com/flagdies $2.47 Spider and web dies: http://tinyurl.com/spiderandwebdies $1.94 bat dies: http://tinyurl.com/batdies 91 cents Happy Halloween die: http://tinyurl.com/halloweendie 74 cents…I did have trouble as the e’s don’t punch out the insides…just so you know. Grim reaper die: http://tinyurl.com/grimreaperdie 94 cents web frame die: http://tinyurl.com/webframedie $1.67 was $1.49 when I bought it Queen anne’s lace die: http://tinyurl.com/queenannedie $1.69 was $1.67 when I bought it Alphabet dies: http://tinyurl.com/alphabetdies $1.87 Halloween people: http://tinyurl.com/halloweenpeople $2.98 quilt die: http://tinyurl.com/quiltdie $3.81 diamond die: no longer sold where I bought it, sorry. four leaf die: http://tinyurl.com/fourleafdie $2.43 ivy leaf die: http://tinyurl.com/ivyleafbkgrnd $2.52 up from $2.38 that I paid for it. daisy dies: http://tinyurl.com/daisydies $3.36 up from $3.32 that I paid. wreath die: http://tinyurl.com/wreathdie $1.49 flower and leaf dies: http://tinyurl.com/flowerleafdies $1.49 tag stamps and die: http://tinyurl.com/tagstamps-die $2.98 for one stamp set and $4.58 for stamps and dies. alphabet stamps: http://tinyurl.com/alphabetstamps $2.98 happy birthday raised die: http://tinyurl.com/haopybdaydie $3.15 Haunted house: http://tinyurl.com/hauntedhousedie $2.37 brads: http://tinyurl.com/y79497qh $1.60 each set screw brads: http://tinyurl.com/screwbrads $4.60 price has gone down from $5.02 I paid for them Happy anniversary die: http://tinyurl.com/y9z4x9of 99 cents up from 97 cents I paid for it. pumpkin die: http://tinyurl.com/pumpkindie $1.06

I really wanted to perfect the waterfall card, so I spent most of the day working on a Christmas version.  I decided to make two videos instead of one, because it took a while to show the Halloween version, plus making the actual card.  Decorating became a second video, as I wanted to make sure that I took my time and really did a nice job of decorating, since it’s going to be a gift for one of my girlfriends.  I like to make her an album for Christmas, as she has a younger daughter, and loves handmade gifts.  We always try to make each other something handmade for the holidays.  She’s really handy, and made me an afghan one year, and last year, made me all kinds of different holders for my crafty goodies.  I was going to show them on video, but the year has quickly passed me by, and I forgot.  That’s how things go with me sometime.

I thought I would update you on my poison ivy…It’s still there.  How long does this stuff last?  And it’s spreading…A week plus, into it, and it’s still giving me nightmares.  I can’t believe it.  Holy cow, how long will this go on?  Geez!  I’d like to whine a little bit longer, but that’s not really my style, or is it?

Ok, maybe it is.  I finally made an appointment for my doctor to look at it, and to tell me just to grin and bear it.  That’s Friday, so I’ll let you know if I was right or not.  So to end my day of whining, I had to go to the dentist for a regular check up.  If you know anything about me, it’s that I absolutely hate the dentist.  It’s a really good thing that I’ve got good teeth, otherwise, I’d be thinking of ways to kill him in my spare time.  Yes, I’m that kind of patient.  Horrible, that’s me.  No cavities, so he’s still walking around, but it was my first time with him, and he got off on a bad foot.  Had to tell the hygenist to keep an eye on one of my molars, as I have a big filling and he wants to make sure he digs at it enough to make it a little bit loose.  Ok, that’s in my head, but I hate it when they want to “pay attention” to anything in my mouth, as I know that’s just a prediction of things to come.  Why don’t they just wait until I leave before making their grim prediction?  I’m just saying….