 guys, we are sitting outside of one of the dollar trees near my house and we are going to participate in Cindy Utter's $10 dollar store mark making tool challenge. So I'm gonna head on in. I'm gonna try to film where I can, asking for forgiveness, not permission. So we'll see what happens. And I'm gonna see what I can see and find what I can find and I'll be right back. That was harder for me than it's probably gonna be for the rest of you because I already have a lot of mark making tools from the dollar store. So I had to try to find things I don't already own. I found some things and I think we're gonna take a couple of new twists on Cindy's challenge. So I'm going to go back home with my stuff and we will get to the table and we will get to work and I'll show you what I'm gonna do. All right, I'll be back. Hi guys. All right. So let's see what we got at the dollar store, shall we? So I got a few things. I got a, you know, a bug swatter. I got this car cleaning microfiber mitt thing. This is a, you know, a bow for the top of a gift or a present. This little facial brush, plastic champagne glasses. A couple of toy, different kinds of toy cars. These rubber bracelets. These cookie cutters with a, they have like a plastic or silicone top and they got plastic bottoms. These coasters and I did spend more than ten dollars at my eye. Dental tools. I got these sticky felt things for the underneath your furniture so they don't scratch your floor. And then I got some beads. All right. So I bought more than the ten dollars and some of these things we're going to, I'm going to turn it. I'm going to take this whole challenge one step further and I'm going to turn them into something that is more of a stamping tool other than what they already are. So I'm going to do that right now. I'm going to speed forward through the process and all you're going to need for this are the stuff that you, the things that you bought at the store. Some scraps of cardboard. Like this is a box that we got in the mail the other day and some glue. And I'm going to do it. I'm going to show you what I'm doing. I'm going to speed through it and then we'll be back when they're dry to make some marks. All right. I'll be right back. Okay. I've made something we can use as a stamp quote unquote out of some of the objects we bought at the dollar store. We're going to let the glue dry overnight and we will be back to make some marks and make some impressions. Again, I'm going to put a little bit of a twist on it and do it my way, but I'll be right back with that in a few minutes for you and a whole day for me. Hey guys, how are you today? All right. So we are back for you. It's only been like a second for me. It's been overnight and all of my new mark making tools are dry. The ones that I glued up, everything dried. Well, see, except that one. So this one's going to be interesting. So we're going to probably throw these cut bits I cut away. The rubber in these did not stick to the glue, which is odd, but these things happen. So I didn't cut them all up. So we've got a few left. So we'll use them as is. We tried, but our beads stuck really well. You kind of never know when you do these things. We have this one, this one, and this one. So we are going to make some marks with the stuff we got at the dollar store. We're going to do it a little bit different way. Yeah. So I'm going to get out. We get these financial statement like books in the mail that we probably should read and we don't. We just toss them out. Well, we were tossing them out, but they actually have kind of nice thin paper, like Bible paper. It reminds me of Bible paper. It's really thin and it makes nice collage painted collage paper. So we're going to be making some marks on some of that today. And we're going to be doing it a couple of different ways. And one of the ways we're going to be doing it is on the jelly plate. I also have some deli paper. All right. Let's make sure we're zoomed out. All right. So we are. I've got some PBO studio acrylics and turquoise blue. And this tube is almost empty. So we're going to see about using some of it up. And I'm going to just squeeze out some onto my jelly plate. That's probably too much, but that's okay. And we're going to basically use the jelly plate like an ink pad to make our marks and to practice with our tools and what kind of marks they will make. I'm going to start with this one. So this is the gift top thing. So I'm going to just do this with it on the jelly plate. And then I'm going to do this with it. You know what? I was thinking I wasn't going to like that, but I was wrong. Huh. Who knew? I kind of like the marks that that makes. Let's move some of this stuff out so I can move my paper up so you can see what I'm doing. So I kind of like the marks that that's making. Who knew? All right. Well, so we have marks on our paper, but we also have marks on the jelly plate. Keep that in mind. That's going to be important in a minute. We're not going to, we're going to leave that the way it is right now. We're going to come in with another mark making tool. Let's try the champagne glass. And you know, this glass came in a pack of like six. So if it cracks like it just did, it doesn't matter. And I have lots of things that make round marks. So you know, I didn't really need it or anything, but that's okay. It was part of the challenge. So that makes fun marks. I wonder what the bottom will do. And I did just crack the bottom. So yeah, same kind of marks, different size. So that's interesting. So maybe you're at a wedding or something and you pick up a champagne glass, it'll make marks. All right, set that aside. Let's just flip this over and start a new page. These are kids' cars, right? Kids' toy cars. This is something I knew would make an interesting mark. We used to do this when I had my daycare business all the time. It makes fun mark. All right. So now this is pretty marked up here. So I'm going to take a piece of deli paper. Look at that. It's a fun paper. So let's start fresh here. And let's try some of our, let's try our beads. You know, you would, I would have thought that the big beads would have made a bigger spot, but they don't. They make a tiny little dot. That's an interesting thing. So frequently when I'm at the dollar store, I do this kind of thing and I buy different kinds of tools and I take them home and play with them and make marks with them. And I have a big box full of sort of homemade mark making tools. And the ones that I like, I keep. And the ones that I don't, I just toss out. It's not like they cost me a lot of money. Those are interesting. Let's try something else. Let's try some of these cookie cutters. Oh, those make a nice mark. I kind of wasn't sure what was going to happen with that, but they actually make a very nice mark. Huh. Okay. Who knew? Let's try our little facial brush here, which makes it interesting like, this is what I know I'm going to keep because I can see using this on a canvas to make marks and blend paint. That's nice. I like that. Okay, I have these braids. We have the bracelets. So let's do this and let's put them on here sort of randomly. And let's take our deli paper. So we have that, which is interesting. And I'm going to hang this up. And then we have these, of course, which we can bring over here. We can rub in and get it an impression. I doubt we're going to get anything. I think these are something that's going to go in the trash. Ah, they're okay. They're not my favorite. I don't know if I'll be keeping those. All right, we have this on here though. This is interesting. So let's pull, let's pull a ghost print. Hmm. I don't know. Maybe I'll keep them for using on the jelly plate because that's interesting. Some things make better marks on different things than others. So some things are going to make a better stamp and some things are going to be great on the jelly plate. So if you're using your jelly plate for a kind of an ink pad or a paint pad, then you want to have a little more paint on there than usual. All right, here's our coasters. These are coasters. Sometimes I glue a bottle cap to the back of these and it makes it easier to lay it down and lift it up again. Oh, yep, that makes an interesting mark, both as a stamp and on the jelly plate. So I like that. Let's try one of our dental tools. I really liked when Cindy used these dental tools. I thought that made an interesting mark. And I have one of these for cleaning my tongue, but I'm not going to use that on the paint after it's been all over my tongue. Ew, that's gross. So I bought a new one at the dollar store. Yeah, I like this little tool a lot. Let's pull a print from the jelly plate. Interesting. I'm going to pull a ghost print because I like the way that looks still. A piece of dried something on there. Okay, I'm going to put some more paint on there. Flip our page in our book here. This is for cleaning cars with. And I think I might have one of these already somewhere, but that's okay. And it makes both an interesting texture on the jelly plate and one interesting kind of a background thing on the paper. And then next let's try our other car. Maybe you've got little kids at home and they have, you know, hot wheels and stuff they're not playing with anymore. I have cars already, but I'm going to add these to my collection. I want to put, now this is really, because this was a bug swatter, a fly swatter. It's too thick and it's too detailed to use as a stencil, but you could push it into the paint like a stamp and then do that with it. And see, that's actually interesting. Can you all see that right there? That's, it got, that's very interesting. And let's pull that over here. It leaves an interesting pattern, a background pattern as a stamp. I thought it might and see, look at that interesting texture you get on the jelly plate. I like that. Okay. So that's a keeper. Toothbrushes are great because you can, you know, flick wet paint onto your piece with them. They also, you can do, you can scrub paint around and stuff. So that's going to be a keeper. It's not necessarily going to be a mark-making tool. It'll probably live in my paint brushes, but I'm going to be keeping that. I don't know about these. I might put these with some of my bookbinding and other miscellaneous tools, or at least the pick, the mirror I'm not sure about. Let's put some more paint on here. And let's use our felt pads that were from underneath the furniture, or meant for underneath the furniture. Oh, see, I would have thought we would have got more impression from that. And we're getting almost nothing. Okay. So this might be something that, let's try it a different way. I need a brush. My allergies are making me crazy today. Everything's blooming. Let's see if I can get some paint out of the tube. I need some paint. There we go. All right. So this might be one of those things. Let's try it this way before I chuck it all together. Now these felt pads are absorbent. And I've done mark making tools with a couple of different things that are absorbent. And while the first couple times you use them, you get an interesting print, you have to let like one or two coats of paint sort of dry on them to get a good print. And that way they're not absorbent anymore. Yeah, see, and this one is definitely one that you kind of have to paint the paint on, rather than using it on the jelly plate to get a print. Yeah. Although it's not my favorite, I've got to admit. And this one's going to be the same. This one's going to be a paint in the neck. I'm not going to even paint the whole thing up. Yeah, it's going to be a paint in the neck. This is why usually when I do stamps like this, I do them at a craft foam. What else did I get? I think that's all. Did I use everything? I think so. So let's, oh, I have, no, I have a couple more things. Okay. So one of the fun things on the big beads, they had these like connect this connector thing on it that I thought might yeah, make an interesting circle mark. I have a lot of things that make circles, but you know, it's, it's, this is a fun, interesting one. And then we have these other cookie cutters because they came in a set of four. Oh, and this was the lid to the facial brush. Oh, yep. See, that makes an interesting mark. It's not packaging like Cindy used, but it's definitely interesting. I guess it's kind of packaging. Yeah, these cookie cutters make good marks, both on the jelly plate and on paper. And for the most part, I like my tools to be something I can use in multiple applications, not just for one or the other. Get the most bank for your buck, so to speak. So there you go. I was, I hope that you take up the challenge to go to the dollar store, buy 10 items for $10 and see what kind of mark making tools you can make out of them and what kind of marks you can get out of them. That's it for today. Don't forget the most important thing. Go out and have a great day and do something nice for yourself because you deserve it. And I'll see you later.