I spent the day running errands, and got almost nothing accomplished.  I did get my hair cut, so that’s one thing to check off of my to-do list, but otherwise, really didn’t get much done.

We went shopping for new recliners for our sun room.  I spend almost all of my time there (as do the dogs), so it’s important our chairs are comfortable (the dogs don’t sit in them).  We remodeled that room ten or eleven years ago, and the Laz-Boy chairs we bought haven’t held up very well.  It seems like the seat on my chair is tilting to one side.  It’s not really noticeable until you sit in it for long periods of time.  Thus my issue.  I spend a lot of time there, as I respond to all comments in that chair, as well as research projects I’d like to try.  We sat in a bunch of chairs at a big furniture store, but none of them were just right.  (I’m referring to Goldilocks and her problem with the beds she tried out.)  I wish I would have seen a chair that was perfect and also had an alternative to the bar on the side of the chair that you use to recline and pull the foot rest up.  I used to be able to pull the bar, but was bummed when I couldn’t do it today.  I guess I’m destined for electric controls, as the old Laz-Boys had chairs that you simply pushed back, and the foot rest popped up, and you could recline.  I guess they don’t make that type any more, so I’m stuck…I may look into another line of chairs, but we’ve always bought Laz-Boys because of their durability.  If any of you know of another line of recliners that are comfortable, durable, and easy to recline, please let me know.  I’m on a mission to find the perfect one.  This Goldilocks isn’t going to rest until she finds one that’s just right.

February really flew by.  I can’t believe that it’s March 1st tomorrow…  Today I got inspired once my video went live, and so many people wrote notes about how they had missed seeing me, and hoped I was feeling better.  I felt well enough to do a haul video today.  I must shop when I don’t feel well, because the mailman has been delivering me all kinds of fun packages, and you know I love packages.  I had also gotten a nice box of goodies from one of my viewers, and wanted to share that on a video as well.  I have the best viewers, so kind and generous.  I’d mentioned on one video that my friend Cora, who made my new sign, has a twelve year old daughter whose very crafty.  The lady that sent the box, said I could share any repeats with this young crafter.  How wonderfully kind.  I now have a box of items from her gift, as well as any stamps, dies, inks, that I own that might be repeats, and her box is filling more and more every day.

I’m hoping I’ll finish another video before I call it a day.  I saw curtain fun fold cards, and decided I needed to make one, so that’s my next plan.  I also saw several people make a small Easter basket, and I think I’m going to give that a try as well.  The baskets I saw were pretty complicated, but I found the same basket, simplified, and I think I’ll give it a whirl.  Probably not tonight, as I’ve been trying to take all of the new stamp sets and put them into cd cases, and organize them first.  I have a tendency to let those kinds of things pile up, and then I have hours worth of work to put them away.  I much prefer doing a few at a time so I don’t have hours of work ahead of me.  Unfortunately, I have a ton of things to put away.  Drat!  I talk a good game about organizing, but don’t really have good follow through.  Maybe that’s a plan for next year, or the year after, haha.

I wanted to make a thank you card for my friend Jane, for sending me a box of goodies. (I’ll make sure to show you the goodies in my next video.) I used a thank you stamp (in several different languages) from Purple Onion Designs, and placed it in the MISTI to ink it with Versamark ink. I used clear embossing powder and heat set the image, then watercolored with Vivica Color Sheets with paper attached with painters’ tape to a plastic cutting board I bought at the Dollar Tree. I colored over the thank you design with a rainbow order of colors then waited for it to dry and then wiped the letters to make sure any color that might discolor them would be wiped off. I trimmed the image out and made a 1/8″ border, then put it on a turquoise blue background that was 1/8″ wider than my image.
I used a Dylusions small Star stencil and pressed Distress inks into the stencil that was taped to a 5 x 7″ white card base. I used candy apple red, spiced marmalade, salty ocean, twisted citron and wilted violet inks. I used my 1″ chip brushes from Harbor Freight Liquidators to brush the ink into the stencil. I only colored around the edges of the stencil as my thank you design will take up a large portion of the center of the card base. I used tear tape on the back of the thank you design and adhered it to the center of the card and used a Rubbernecker stamp on the inside of the card and a stamp from Peg Stamps called three open stars to stamp inside the card and on the envelope. I used all five distress inks to stamp the card and envelope.

I started to really fret about YouTube last night, so I finished the card I’ve been working on for it seems like forever.  I’ve ripped that card apart and tried at least four-five different techniques (they all looked terrible) and finally found an idea that I liked that worked.  I finished the card and the video, and today Rich has been editing it and we should have a video go live tonight.  I really hope we’re able to get it online and am crossing my fingers that we do.

I have some ideas for future cards, including one that looks like a curtain, as well as some cards using scraps.  I always like finding new and different ways to use scraps, and know all of you do too.  I hope that I’ll feel like making some cards and videos tomorrow and am planning on doing so currently.  I also got a box of goodies from a viewer and want to share those on a video.  I like showing others the nice things that I’ve been given, and hope you like to watch these types of videos, almost like a haul.  Let me know if you’d rather not see them, as I really value your feedback.

Thanks for the kind notes I’ve been getting related to my health.  I can’t ask for better viewers and readers of this blog. You are all so great to me, and I can’t thank you enough for your patience and kindness…

OK, so I really did believe that the drizzle was the root of my issues, but today the sun is shining and I should be feeling so much better.  A few weeks ago, I went to have my annual check-up for my replacement joints (four, in case you were wondering.)  They like to make sure the older ones are still working fine, and since I have a knee that dates back to 1987, and the other 1994, (I know, amazing, isn’t it?)  they like to make sure nothing is amiss.  I had been having some pain in my re-replaced right hip and I was concerned about it, as I’ve never had pain in a replaced joint before.  After the x-ray, they decided that I have bursitis in my right hip.  I guess it’s common to get bursitis after a joint replacement.

The pain has been really bad at times, but when I was at the surgeon’s office, it wasn’t really hurting and hadn’t been for a few days.  I was taking a bunch of steroids at that time, to get my arthritis under control, so the bursitis really wasn’t hurting enough to have an injection.  Also, I am such a baby about injections that I can convince myself that I don’t need one…  I haven’t really felt bad until the weather change, and then, as I said before, I convinced myself it was the weather.

Today the sun is shining and I should feel great.  I woke up early and thought I’d read for a little while and my hip started to hurt so much, I had to take some medications that I really try to avoid.  I went back to bed and woke up at 1PM, not a good sign for the day.  I had tried to finish the card last night, but my hip started to ache so much that I couldn’t sit there any longer.  I guess the moral of my story is, I have no idea when I’ll feel like finishing the card, or another video will go live.  I feel awful, but do have a doctor’s appointment on March 1st, so may consider getting the injection if my hip doesn’t start to feel better by then.  I love the YouTube channel and making videos, but when my body tells me to stop doing something, after thirty-five years with this disease, I’ve learned to listen.  I am sorry though, because I know a lot of people look forward to my videos.  I’ll try to get back on the horse (so to speak), as soon as possible.

I really thought I would be able to make some cards tonight, and really tried, but had to give up after the pain in my hip got too bad to continue.  I am so sorry that I’m not feeling up to doing anything in the craft room, but am hoping that tomorrow will be a better day.

I really wanted to finish the card that I started yesterday, but lack any ambition today.  I don’t usually talk about my arthritis, but we’ve been having drizzly weather all week.  People always ask me about winter and how it affects my arthritis, and honestly, it doesn’t.  The absolute worst thing for me, is drizzle.  I feel terrible and it saps my energy to the point that all I want to do is sleep, laze around the house, and sleep.  I feel terrible that I don’t have any videos to upload, and probably won’t until Monday.  It’s not something I’m proud of, I guess it just is what it is.

I’ve checked our weather forecast and tomorrow is still yukky, but after that, I might be feeling a lot better and things may be looking up…Let’s all cross our fingers that I make a few videos and get back on track really soon.

I had an idea for a thank you card and I wanted to try it out.  First, I tried taping my paper to a cutting board, but then realized I hadn’t stamped my image on it (that needed to be embossed before the next step.)  Back to the drawing board.  Took the paper off of the cutting board and ripped the edge, so that became scrap.  Onto the second card base…Same process, only this time, I put the embossing powder on and heat set it…Actually colored it and cut it out, then had trouble with my ATG and wasn’t sure if I liked it, so backed it with glitter paper with brads on the corners.  I couldn’t get the brads to lay properly, and decided they needed to be layered on foam, but had already adhered the card to the card base, so needed to tear it apart again.  Decided to try to make it even more simple, and eliminated the glitter paper under my image, and just made a white border, and glued it to the card base.  It still looks pretty pathetic, so tomorrow I think I’ll cut it apart again and add a layer of embossed paper under my original image.  How much worse can it get?  It’s definitely one of those cards that I’m never going to consider using in a video if I don’t find a way to make it look a lot better than it does right now.  I can’t believe how much card stock I tossed, hacked up, accidentally got ink on, or tore, and my frustration level was really starting to peak.  That’s when my college roommate called to catch up.  What a perfect way to end the craft day…I can always try to fix the card tomorrow.  And there’s always the trash can if I can’t.

I spent the day today at our college Alma mater, giving practice interviews to the graduating seniors in the business department.  I really enjoy the process, and hope that it helps the students prepare properly for their real interviews.  This was the last interviewing day for this school year, and I have to be honest, I’m always relieved when they are done.  I’m exhausted from doing them, and I don’t have enough energy to go into my craft room after I’m finished.

I hope that tomorrow I’ll have rebounded enough to be able to make a couple of cards.  I have some fun fold ideas that I would like to try, so will probably be making them first.  I make a lot of thinking of you and hello cards, but need to make some for specific occasions, and that’s my goal for the next few cards I’m making.  One of my viewers lost her son unexpectedly in November, and I just heard about it, so definitely want to send her a card.  I also need to make a run to the post office, as I have three or four cards to send, and one needs to go to England, so I’ve been putting off mailing it…I need to stop with procrastinating, that’s for sure.  Tomorrow is definitely a mail day…I’m not going to delay any longer.  It’s like doing my income tax.  I put that off for as long as I can.  I don’t even do them, I just collect the information for them…You’d think with as little as I need to do, that I wouldn’t put it off so much, but I just dread doing them…It’s the reason I didn’t use my accounting degree to become an accountant.  I did an internship during tax season and realized it just wasn’t for me, and almost forty years later, I’m still trying to avoid them…

Thanks for the input I got from my question about how to handle the use of Aliexpress products on YouTube.  I’m so lucky to have so many really wonderful people that follow me here and on YouTube.  I consider myself truly blessed to have people that are so supportive, that care enough to help me with issues and are committed to my channel’s success.

I’ve read the comments on other YouTube channels, and wonder how the video makers can continue making videos after seeing the many negative comments they receive.  That was the one thing that I was really worried about at the beginning of my channel.  Luckily, I very rarely get a negative comment, and when I do, I’m OK with it, because I understand that some people just don’t understand my hands, and for the most part, these comments come from teenagers.  I always respond, and explain why my hands look the way they do, and try to educate them about leaving hurtful comments in the hopes that maybe they will learn something from me about respect, and how their comments can hurt.  It’s probably not going to change the way they think, but I live in hope.

 

 

 

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