Confidence

So I'm still not psyched up enough to begin offering my cards for sale. Call me chicken. I have a ton so I might mail them off to Julie for her Compassionate Cards missions. It's a recurring thing for me, I guess -- this lack of confidence. I think I would do better selling my sculptures if only my kiln was working. The kiln is still not wired in properly.

I saw an ad in the paper for oil drums at twelve bucks a piece. I'm thinking about getting one. The trick is, though, I would need to put a four inch hole in the side of it near the bottom of the barrel. How exactly I would do that stumps me. The hole would be for the weed burner. When I have seen this done in videos, the person making the hole used a torch like a welder would use. Alas, I'm not a welder.

Head Problems

So it seems as if I can't get my head around the idea of selling things I make. For one, I don't think what I make is good enough to charge people for it. I made a second video of other cards I made, and instead of taking pics and posting them here on my blog for sale, I simply said that if you like one, let me know. My mindset is such that I think it would be nicer to give away my cards rather than sell them. Am I a lost cause? Anyway, I will still make my new piles of cards.

Cards, cards, and more cards

I have totally been neglecting my fledgling blog. But I'll do that no more! In order to fund my scrappy addiction, I will be selling many of the cards I make right here on my blog. You can e-mail me, and I will send you a PayPal invoice. So simple. Cards are three dollars US, and shipping to the US is included in the price. I hope that you enjoy my hand-made cards. Also, if there is something specific you wish to see, please e-mail me. For the first cards, I have a YouTube video showcasing the cards (go to YouTube.com and search for DeraLynnD. The post is called Card Bonanza), so you'll have to give me a short description of the card(s) you want. In the future, I'll take photos singly and post them here to prevent confusion.

Tricia's RAK

Okay, so I'm lame. I wanted to have scrapstress (Rina from youtube) have her video embedded here, but the best I can do is add the link to her video.

And why do I need to have her video? Well, I won Blog Candy! triciaa2474 (tricia from youtube) selected me to receive a RAK. Whoo-hoo! She also selected Rina. I don't have video capabilities (I don't own a camera), but Rina does and she filmed opending her Blog candy. My package and her package were very similar. So, if you want to see what Tricia sent, please just click on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxe5WJzgqUM

Surprise Stickers

I would like to thank Julie at readysetstamp (youtube name) or readysetstampit (blogspot) for the beautiful cards and the lovely goodies she sent. She sent me some paisley stickers, love sentiments, plastic flowers, green stickers, clear stamps (summer), and a lovely card in addition to the pink and black card I so admired.

Please visit CompassionateCards.blogspot.com to see information on Julie's charity work. She is always in need of cards to give out to those less fortunate. Her blog has the information you need such as mailing address and current mission. It's definitely a worthy cause.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Julie. I love everything you sent.

OWL

My husband took my boys camping to celebrate Valentine's Day. Kinda weird? Actually I am loving it. My daughter and I can craft all day without the boys bothering us. That's a perfect present to me.

We watched a video by RoxyCar11 (youtube channel) on how to make owls. We dug through my supplies until we found the stuff we would need. My daughter is going to explain what she did to make her owl:

Hey everyone, so the first thing i did was find an ovalular (its a word) or oval piece of chipboard.Next was i cut a cresent shape off the top for the top of the head.After i did that i placed 2 white feathers for the ears, i then made the body but you can put the arms-wings on first, then i put the wings and tail feather on.

For the eyes i used circle pieces of a light tan paper which i dunked in water then put on top of a yellowish stamp pad.After i had dyed both sides yellow i took a dark brown stamp pad and then using my finger (you can use a sponge if you dont want to dye your finger) i pressed onto the stamp pad then dabbed at the eyes to darken them up.

Once they dried i had to pick the pupils.My mom said they had to be the same color (there goes my blue and green idea) and that they couldnt be bright red (well there goes that idea).Finally i found a pretty amber color.I glued the eyes on and together with glossy accents.My mom said that i couldnt make the mouth or beak bright red (my excuse was it just ate...) so i decided on a light blue rhinestone which i glued on with glossy accents.

I thought this was a fun project to do with my mom cause she kept sighing and rolling her eyes everytime i suggested something ridiculous.Thanks Roxy for the fantabulous (its a word...i am writing a dictionary) idea.

Tuesday Morning Merchandise Certificate

Have you gotten your Merchandise Certificate from Tuesday Morning? E-mail me and I will send you a copy. It's from a lawsuit settlement which gives you a $10 certificate, or $20 off a purchase of $60 or more. I'm not sure if they will honor it since it won't come directly from you. But when the lady checking me out filled out the paperwork she just asked for my e-mail address. You'll have to use your own e-mail account since it's only one certificate per person. Hopefully you can use it! ~Dera

A Mini from a Minnie

I made a mini album using a Minnie Mouse board book (the kind for toddlers to play with). I roughed up the pages with some sandpaper and then covered the album using the Rockstar paper pad. It was nice to work with something that already had a binding. The downside was I had to keep the embellishments flat or the pages wouldn't close. The Rockstar Pages are black based; the board book, white. So I took a black Sharpie and covered the pages down by the binding so the white wouldn't be obvious. I then took the same Sharpie and penned all along the edges of the board book pages. If I had planned ahead, I would have blackened everything before adhering the patterned paper. Alas, I had to peel back the papers, black the binding, and then re-adhere the paper. It's a fun little project, and if you are a mom like me you should still have slobbered on board books tucked away in your home.

Roses ala Rosanne

After several attempts, I finally was able to make the tea rose that Rosanne at A Moms Impressions made. (She can also be found at RoxyCar11 on Youtube.) I tried putting a button on a lop-sided one (at top). I tried to cover up a lack of petals by adding gold stickles (at right). I made another one that I obviously didn't roll up enough because instead of looking like a rose, it looks rather like a camellia (at left). Nice flower, but not what I was going for. Using darker cardstock than the first three attempts, I succeeded (bottom). I don't think it was the cardstock - but the change allowed me to let go of the failures and go forward. It's strange how just a little change in thinking can alter a person's perspective. However, I think my circle base is still too small to get the best result. Anyway, thanks so much Rosanne! Your tutorials are priceless. I can't afford to buy the pre-made Prima flowers I see on other people's blogs and tutorials. But I don't have to go without flowers, as Rosanne has shown me.

A Cheery Card

It's been very foggy lately. We haven't seen the sun for almost two weeks. So, I decided to make a cheery card for my mom to lift our spirits.

The card itself is made with white cardstock which, when folded, is 5.5in by 4.25in. I added some pink polka-dot paper that I got from my son's origami kit (he didn't want pink with polka-dots). On top of that is another piece of paper from the Best of Paper Collections from K and Company which I got on sale for $17 at Joann. The rub-on sentiment is by colorbok, and the two sparkly dragonflies are by Darice, and called self-stick gems. I purchased both the rub-on and the gems from Tuesday Morning. Finally, I made stitch marks all around the outside of the pink polka-dot with my pink .05 Zig pen.

Since the sun just started peeking through the clouds, I'd say that my card has already brought sunshine to my life.

Marlene's Blog Candy Giveaway

Marlene is having a giveaway and I would love to win her Blog Candy. It's tons of super cute vintage items. I like the lace a lot. Please visit her blog at UniquelyElla.blogspot.com for your chance to win!

Christmas Gone By

Even though I didn't get a video camera for Christmas, I didn't want for it, (Christmas), to be over. My kids had a wonderful Christmas, and didn't complain at all about the fewer number of presents under the tree this year. My husband's pay-cut dug deep into our Christmas budget. I was thankful that at least he still has a job. So many don't. I bought candy canes and we already had lights and a few ornaments for our little "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree. Although I have taken everything off the tree, we still haven't moved it out of the house. The needles haven't started falling yet, so we are still enjoying it's lovely scent. And, as corny as this sounds, thank Wal-mart for our Christmas. I was able to get new winter jackets for everyone for $7 each. My husband gave me some money for myself (he's so sweet -- he didn't give himself any money), knowing that I really enjoy scrapbooking. I bought the Rustic paper pack by DCWV from Jo-ann for $9.99 and spent the rest on a really sharp pair of scissors which I'm dedicating to ribbon cutting only, and some clearance Christmas stickers and bling from Michaels. It's amazing how far $20 can go if you really budget.