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Post by joblackford on Sept 20, 2023 19:19:41 GMT
joblackford is this your favorite glue?? I use Nuvo delux... so just curious Yes. I liked Nuvo a lot too, but a friend gifted me a big bottle of Bearly Art and it has lasted me so long, it's really good value! And the fine tip applicator works well for die cuts. BA is much thinner than Nuvo, which surprised me, but it works well and it's easy to add fine dots or lines onto the back of tiny things. I was gifted the full kit which has a 4oz bottle which is what I use on my desk, and a big refill bottle. It's a bit pricey to start with but that has lasted since Sept 2021, and I make A LOT of cards (maybe 600 a year? maybe more?) Climate seems to have an influence on adhesives but I've only heard good things about BA (and Nuvo). BA recovers from being frozen so it's not going to get ruined if it's shipped in the winter in a cold place, but from what I can tell that and price are about its only major differences from every other glue. Everyone seems to have their fav but they all seem pretty good to me.
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Post by joblackford on Sept 20, 2023 16:43:14 GMT
I guess if I had followed through on scrapbook dot com there might've been some cheaper shipping options on the full checkout page, but I was VERY happy to get it shipped free directly from the BA company. It arrived from Texas today, priority mail, 2.5 days. I imagine they can afford to do that because their profit margin is higher if they retail directly. I'm very happy to support a small business instead of a bigger or massive one (I think amazon has enough money) and it didn't even cost me more Off to refill my glue bottle!
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Post by joblackford on Sept 20, 2023 16:37:08 GMT
Thank you I found something that would work and then decided I didn't actually want to do it, so I'm good for now!
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Post by joblackford on Sept 20, 2023 1:59:26 GMT
Hallmark Christmas starts Friday October 20th! I think that’s even earlier than last year.
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Post by joblackford on Sept 19, 2023 22:03:58 GMT
I know this is an old thread, but did anyone else pick up this collection? We hosted a Halloween party last year and the colors in this collection work perfectly with my photos! The holographic mini alphabet are a great size, I love the stamps, and die cut packs are super cute. I am thrilled American Crafts is releasing AC brand collections again. Thank you for bumping it. I had totally forgotten about it, but looking at the individual sheets I quite like it. And Halloween crafting is much more on my mind now than back in June when I first saw this
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Post by joblackford on Sept 19, 2023 21:13:02 GMT
yes - I like ScrapbookMyLife 's list and would add... modern looking schoolbuses metal detectors graphing calculators chromebooks and some phrases that fit modern kids - less A+ and Best Student Ever and more homework, computer work, virtual day/school, Working Hard etc.... Especially because not every kid is getting A+ all the time... and their efforts are still totally worth celebrating! I think simple symbols are what buyers for craft stores are choosing, and this same issue shows up in a lot of other places in the scrapbook world - I'm thinking Dads represented by ties and fishing, music by records or tapes, gendered colors and stereotypes for babies and littles, etc. It's partly what people our age and older are thinking of when we're looking for symbols, and partly safe. But when I think of the things I celebrated about being at school it was recess and lunch, school trips or camps, friendships, extra-curricular activities, maybe even learning things effort and achievement... Some less celebrated but iconic things might be uniforms and homework, exams, chalkboards/whiteboards, stationery (maybe even pencils are getting to be a bit old fashioned beyond the early grades, but still feel symbolic). I feel for teachers every time I see the new cardmaking products full of apples for teachers. Is it safe? Guaranteed not to offend anyone? I guess it's hard to come up with a simple iconic image that sums up everything teachers do in this day and age. Maybe lilacgal can comment from an elementary teacher's POV.
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Post by joblackford on Sept 19, 2023 3:34:40 GMT
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Post by joblackford on Sept 19, 2023 3:20:46 GMT
Bring Smiles to Seniors has an update on their mailing addresses. They’re still finalizing all of them but there’s a new west coast address here. IMG_0435 by jo.blackford, on Flickr
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Post by joblackford on Sept 19, 2023 3:05:12 GMT
Glad I haven't been tempted to buy anything. But I do enjoy seeing a new stamp set everyday and the creations everyone makes. I agree, $70 for that Halloween card kit is nuts. I do like the mummy image but nah. I laughed at the description, the $70 card kit also includes 1 black envelope, 1 white envelope, 1 sheet of white cardstock...lol. That always makes me irrationally furious! If they’re only going to give me one of each I’d rather they didn’t bother at all. Especially white cardstock. Why even include it if you’re not giving people enough to make a handful of cards? I haven’t looked at the kit because it’s always overpriced and overhyped. I’ve only seen this example which I though was pretty cool, but not something I would make. http://instagram.com/p/CxUcJYHRscK
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Post by joblackford on Sept 18, 2023 17:27:03 GMT
BUT, in my quest to organize my Quickutz, I was wondering why I kept the packaging, even though I now store my QK in half-size binders. I think it stems from, if-I-ever-want-to-sell-this-it-will-sell-better-in-the-original-packaging syndrome. Maybe that was true in the QK heyday, but I don't think it matters now. So I cut up the QK packages to use as dividers. Win-win! Packages gone and I don't have to buy dividers. One small step in the right direction. awesome - I think that whole 'sell better in the original packaging' is a hold-up for a lot of us...but are we more concerned with a possible future for the item or with making it more usable for us NOW? Exactly! I had kept a bunch of packaging thinking I might change my mind about how I was storing it, perhaps... I did actually put a set of stamps back in their packages because the branding will make it easier for me to find them. But I had consolidated a lot of dies onto one magnet sheet - all the random words together, all the ones for gift card notches (which I never use! oops) - and there's no way I'm going back to having each element in one package. I tossed them all. I just retrieved some paper die envelopes from the recycle bin though, because it suddenly occurred to me that most of them are dies I should consider decluttering. When they're integrated into my stash they are fine, but looking at each envelope I had that sinking feeling that they didn't turn out to be as useful as I expected and I haven't used them in ages. I think I will give myself a use-it-or-lose-it deadline and donate some of them in their envelopes, since I still have them.
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Post by joblackford on Sept 18, 2023 2:45:42 GMT
I was shopping for the big bear refill bottle… Shipped from scrapbook dot com in AZ to the Pacific NW $17.99 + $15ish postage, ouch! Shipped directly from Bearly Art, same retail price, $17.99 but with (ETA: priority) shipping included for free. I’m glad I checked!
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Post by joblackford on Sept 18, 2023 2:36:52 GMT
I tried the special fall apple “croissant” at Starbucks sleepingbooty - not bad, but a little underwhelming. There are other bakery items I’d rather have (ham and cheese croissant, cheese danish). The black chips disappeared before I could buy any. I’m hoping they come back when it’s actually time for Halloween. The big box hardware store has big bags of Halloween candy for sale. Oh, and this showed up on the roof of an espresso stand down the street… Spooky season by jo.blackford, on Flickr It’s a lot less big looking on the side of a multiplex movie theater.
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Post by joblackford on Sept 18, 2023 2:28:55 GMT
Love the owl! And the black and white striped album The IG link didn’t work for me. Not sure if you have a private account? Or some other glitch. But I see the pix you uploaded
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Post by joblackford on Sept 18, 2023 1:16:46 GMT
Big shoutout to joblackford . I didn't get to watch as much as I hoped, but was able to watch a lot more thanks to her links. One speaker talked about removing items from their packaging (she was talking about decluttering the bathroom) and that is just not something I do. BUT, in my quest to organize my Quickutz, I was wondering why I kept the packaging, even though I now store my QK in half-size binders. I think it stems from, if-I-ever-want-to-sell-this-it-will-sell-better-in-the-original-packaging syndrome. Maybe that was true in the QK heyday, but I don't think it matters now. So I cut up the QK packages to use as dividers. Win-win! Packages gone and I don't have to buy dividers. One small step in the right direction. I love that! I watch way too many decluttering advice videos but you never know when something will trigger a realization like that. It’s often in response to a “yeah, nah, I’m not going to do that” too. I have some packaging that I should just get rid of too. I was planning to sell some items but after a year of not actually doing it I realized I just don’t want to, so why keep original packaging when I’m just going to gift or donate things. I tell myself it’s not much, but all those ‘not much‘ things add up to a decent chunk of real estate. I went through some stuff during the drawer organizing session and realized I could declutter beading threads and findings, which actually led to a bundle of stuff getting recycled, given away, or put away in a spot nearer where I use it. It was that thing that Dana says about actually looking at each item in turn - seeing the supplies together it all seemed useful, but looking closely most of it was unnecessary. OK, I’m going to go look at my packaging hoard now!
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Post by joblackford on Sept 17, 2023 18:56:57 GMT
It seems very quiet on the boards this weekend! Is everyone out doing something fun? I hope so. I need to read for my book group meeting on Tuesday, but I really want to make fall cards instead. I was even dreaming about fall cards this morning. Maybe I shouldn't have been shopping at scrapbook dot com cart at bedtime last night! Or maybe I should've finished and hit BUY.
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Post by joblackford on Sept 16, 2023 23:29:23 GMT
How interesting. Curious to hear if anyone else has noticed this. I had heard it has a bit of a learning curve too.
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Post by joblackford on Sept 16, 2023 19:52:19 GMT
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Post by joblackford on Sept 16, 2023 19:43:40 GMT
Didn't see any new techniques, mostly product demo's. SBCfest is really one big infomercial for SB.com, and when i get irritated I need to remind myself that the event is FREE. Yeah, that...
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Post by joblackford on Sept 16, 2023 19:41:39 GMT
I started to watch Simon, but didn't get past the very long paste ad. I like the fox die AND those paper pads, but that presenter's voice was not easy to listen to. That was Kristie, I guess. I have issues with bad voices. I like her kit, but I think I'd be better off passing.... Yes, grammadee Kristie never even used to do voiceovers, just music and subtitles, and almost never shows her face on camera. She has a very strong accent (N Dakota, I believe) and follows her script very closely. She's gotten a LOT better since she started doing the vocieovers, if you can believe that. I'm used to her, and I like her videos much more since she started doing the voiceover - I don't like music-only videos - but if I she wasn't so in-line with how I craft I might not be able to listen to her. I skipped Simon's paste ad and jumped to the finished cards. Jumping around is harder because it's such a long stream, you click just ahead but it takes you 10 minutes further instead of 1 minute, so I ended up going back and forth looking for the cards. I appreciated that Kristie showed all of the finished cards together at the end of her session. That's really all I needed to see.
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Post by joblackford on Sept 16, 2023 19:16:22 GMT
including a layering stencil with a matching stamp and die Is that the SSS one from last fall? It was a kit - Hero Arts MMH I think. But I think every company probably has a version. It was this one. Sept 2021. I used it quite a lot that year.
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Post by joblackford on Sept 16, 2023 15:00:32 GMT
turns out some of the sessions I wanted to watch weren't on the schedule I was looking at. They were the live keynotes that streamed ?somewhere? in the evenings, so I missed them. I have no idea why they weren't highlighted/teased on the "what's showing now" schedule. I guess I should've printed the pdf and joined the Fbk group and signed up for text reminders (nope). Even though I know I didn't miss anything these people haven't shared all-day, every-day on their YT channels, at the end of the summit I feel kind of let down. I won't bother next year. Quoting myself because they put the sessions I missed into an “encore day” so I will get to watch them today. If you joined the summit and got burned out or ran out of time, the email today has links for the star YTer’s reruns. I did watch a couple of sessions that were very good that are not on the list, but just watching today’s replays will get you about 80% of what was worth watching from the summit IMO.
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Post by joblackford on Sept 16, 2023 14:55:57 GMT
OMG the capybara set is terrible! I agree, they look like random brown lumps - wombats? guinea pigs? who knows? I agree that the sentiments are awful, and I'm pretty forgiving of bad puns. And this BS: "This super sweet and on trend 4x6 inch (12 piece) clear stamp set has brought the trend of real-life capybaras to life and ready for the holidays!" The trend of real life capybaras? what?! I did recently see/meet a capybara IRL for the first time. He was some kind of mascot for a movie production company, doing promotional work/eating grapes in the lobby of the movie theater during a film festival. I was surprised, I had no idea they were so big, but he was quite appealing - he snuffled my hand! Very soft snuffles. Capybara at the movies! by jo.blackford, on Flickr I actually never heard of or seen one of these before. Ever. Do they walk around like a dog? I'd kind of be afraid of it because I know nothing about it. I would think it might bite me with sharp tiny teeth. Thanks for sharing that photo. I probably would not have googled it. It did walk around like a dog! I think it had learned some tricks like standing up on its back legs to beg for treats too. It seemed gentle, and I think the teeth are more like beavers. Yup, I googled and they have a pair of big buck teeth and they eat water plants and grasses. I think they hang out on the edges of rivers in South America.
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Post by joblackford on Sept 16, 2023 14:50:12 GMT
Last year I didn’t buy anything because I didn’t want to pay shipping charges several different times. This year there’s free shipping and so far there hasn’t been anything that screams “buy me”. Even the magnolias, which I really like, are still sitting in my cart. Stamptember is really unfair to us east coast girls. I’m getting too old to wait up until midnight just to see a stamp set. Wish they’d do the drops at 9pm EST. Maybe that is why there is free shipping. Maybe Heidi sneaked peeks ahead and went "Ewwwwwww". hahahahahahaha Hahahahahahaha!
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Post by joblackford on Sept 16, 2023 5:37:36 GMT
Ugh, I'm a sucker for sunflowers! Oh well, I have plenty already, including a layering stencil with a matching stamp and die, which I haven't touched in more than a year.
Completely missed the bird one, and don't care. Pretty but not my thing.
I see they're calling it quits after this, with a vague teaser about next year.
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Post by joblackford on Sept 16, 2023 5:31:06 GMT
I knew what they were (rodents of unusual size!), but, um…WHY?! I will be calling them ROUS from now on. Love The Princess Bride. And they really, really are.
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Post by joblackford on Sept 16, 2023 5:29:36 GMT
OMG the capybara set is terrible! I agree, they look like random brown lumps - wombats? guinea pigs? who knows? I agree that the sentiments are awful, and I'm pretty forgiving of bad puns. And this BS: "This super sweet and on trend 4x6 inch (12 piece) clear stamp set has brought the trend of real-life capybaras to life and ready for the holidays!" The trend of real life capybaras? what?! I did recently see/meet a capybara IRL for the first time. He was some kind of mascot for a movie production company, doing promotional work/eating grapes in the lobby of the movie theater during a film festival. I was surprised, I had no idea they were so big, but he was quite appealing - he snuffled my hand! Very soft snuffles. Capybara at the movies! by jo.blackford, on Flickr
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Post by joblackford on Sept 16, 2023 3:14:34 GMT
I forgot that this was the one where they posted one big long livestream. I jumped around and watched a little bit of Simon's and Kristie's sessions, and laughed at Justin's comment that as a beginner he thought that 2 stamps and an ink pad would allow him to make birthday cards for the rest of his life Now I want to buy that fox die, the fall paper pad, and all the solar and lunar pastes, even though I'm not a paste user.
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Post by joblackford on Sept 16, 2023 1:29:32 GMT
turns out some of the sessions I wanted to watch weren't on the schedule I was looking at. They were the live keynotes that streamed ?somewhere? in the evenings, so I missed them. I have no idea why they weren't highlighted/teased on the "what's showing now" schedule. I guess I should've printed the pdf and joined the Fbk group and signed up for text reminders (nope). Even though I know I didn't miss anything these people haven't shared all-day, every-day on their YT channels, at the end of the summit I feel kind of let down. I won't bother next year.
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Post by joblackford on Sept 15, 2023 22:11:52 GMT
I watched Kristie Marcotte's "homework" video, which was how to cut the papers for the card she was going to share, and concluded that I didn't really need to bother with this one. All it's going to do is convince me spend money (which I'm probably going to anyway - they keep showing me the most adorable fall fox dies). I'm busy watching the Get Organized HQ summit videos this week, and Justine Hovey launched her next "summit" about 5 minutes after her session at GOHQ finished... Hope those watching have fun with it though!
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Post by joblackford on Sept 15, 2023 21:31:11 GMT
I posted these in the October Daily thread already. The stamps are by a local WA state company, Sweet November Stamps. (She also does digital images.) I'm practicing scene stamping and coloring, which I'm not good at, trying to work with the Tombow markers I have. I wasn't thrilled with my first try, but I'll send it to someone anyway, maybe a kiddo. First try by jo.blackford, on Flickr The second try was better, especially when I went back and added some whiskers on Midnight the cat. I guess I need to add them to the first card too! I realized I have some big gaps in my greens, but next time I might try using greys for the background, or ink blending, or paper piecing. I'm also waiting on the TH moon stencils to come back in stock but I was pretty happy with my second try at creating my own moon. Whiskers added by jo.blackford, on Flickr
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