I worked all evening on my quest to become Jennifer McGuire.  I made a bunch of cards using her monochromatic ink technique and they came out really great.  I’m so happy that my first attempt is a success.  I worried that I’d have to scrap the whole idea of becoming Jennifer McGuire in early January, and that’s no way to start the year.

I found another of her videos that I’ll be working on tomorrow.  This becoming Jennifer is not easy, let me tell you.  I hope everyone reading this and watching my videos will realize that this is all in jest.  I just want to improve my card making skills and this is the path I’ve chosen to do it on.  I wouldn’t want anyone to think I’m obsessing about Jennifer.  I think she’s a great card maker, but have no aspirations to actually become her.  I felt the need to clarify my “becoming Jennifer McGuire” idea, as I didn’t want anyone to think I am crazy obsessed with her.  I might be a little bit crazy, but I’m definitely not obsessed.

Tomorrow, I think I’ll work on an ink layering technique that she does that looks really fun.  No, it doesn’t require the Vagabond, but I think you’ll be really impressed with the results if they work well.

Now to some sad news.  I was working with the MISTI on the multiple card projects today and used a stamp cleaner on the stamps inside the MISTI.  For some reason, I thought the pink grid was printed on top of the MISTI so when you clean the inside, you won’t wipe off your grid.  Not so.  The pink grid is printed on the inside of the MISTI where your stamps are placed.  I’m telling you this because A. I wiped off the whole center of my grid lines and B. I don’t want it to happen to you.  I’ll figure out a way to recreate the grid lines using a Sharpie, but I’m still bummed that I did something so thoughtless.  Oh well, live and learn.  I’m sure Jennifer McGuire has done something like that in the past as well.  Oh, who am I kidding, I’m sure she hasn’t, that was pure Sandy Parker.

 

I think I rambled way too much in this video and I really am sorry that I was so unfocused.  Here are the key points when making a travel journal.

1.  Put your contact information, plus an emergency contact person’s information inside your journal.
2.  Keep the journal in your carry on with a couple of pens that write and a glue stick.
3.  Keep a daily log of your activities, the restaurants you went to, what you ate, and anything else you might want to remember.
4. Put tickets from plays, postcards, maps, business cards from hotels, restaurants and stores in your journal so you can reference them later.
5.  Date your journals.
6. Put special photos on the inside of your journal of pets, kids, etc.
7. At the end of the trip, write your favorite moment for each participant and your top three foods you ate and where you ate them.  We both always add these notes so we have them in case we go to that city in the future.
8.  If you have any bucket list items, record them inside each journal until you’ve accomplished them.

I finished the set of coasters I was making for my girlfriend today and she really liked them.  She’s not a craft lover, so the fact that she liked them said a lot about them.

I also worked on the first of my “Jennifer McGuire makeover” videos.  Since my resolution is to become Jennifer this year, I thought I better start the year off with a bang.  I worked on a monochromatic look card and will continue making them tomorrow as I made a lot.  You use the MISTI and stamp several card fronts with the same images in white ink and then stamp over them with an ink that matches the card stock.  I didn’t realize how long it would take me to find the paper, corresponding ink, cut the paper and stamp them with the MISTI.  Oh, and I stamped and heat embossed the sentiments as well.  She made ten of these cards when she did it, so I was shooting for at least that many, considering I will make a lot of mistakes along the way.  I really want them to look like something Jennifer would make, so I’m trying to take my time with them and really do a good job.

I know that she plans out her card to the nth degree, and I’m not that kind of card maker, so that’s going to be one of my first steps in becoming Jennifer.  Plan, don’t just fly by the seat of my pants.  I realize that she does voice overs on her cards, but I don’t plan on doing that as I think it loses the personal element.  People seem to love the way she does her videos, so maybe I’ll reconsider the voice over at a later date.

I don’t plan on making this my “job” as she calls it, so that’s another component that will be missing in my transformation.  I plan on making a lot of Jennifer inspired videos, but won’t be doing advertisements or linking to products that people can buy so that I make money from the sales.  I simply want to be a better and more refined card maker, is that too much to ask?  I guess we’ll all have to stay tuned to find out, won’t we?

Have I been on a rant about my New Years’ Resolutions for 2017?  If I haven’t, you’re pretty lucky, because I’ve been talking to myself non-stop about them.  I think most people stick to ideas like losing weight or keeping their house clean, those just aren’t my style.  My house might be  little bit horrifying, but at least I can still walk though the rooms without falling down.  I’m exaggerating.  My house isn’t normally horribly messy, but my craft room definitely is.  I’m already off topic, geez!

So this year, I decided it would be a lot of fun to make a couple of really crazy, off-the-wall resolutions that are kind of pointless to others, but important to me.  I want to turn into Jennifer McGuire.  Not literally and definitely not her organized personality, but her crafty side.  I think she is extremely talented and I think I could be her if I really put my mind to it.  I’m not kidding you or myself.  There’s absolutely no way I can be even a tiny portion of Jennifer McGuire, but it’s my resolution, so I’m sticking to it.  I really wanted to be Lindsay, but she’s gotten really serious about her painting, and I definitely can’t paint, darn it.  If you know me, and you probably don’t, you should know that this resolution is all in the name of fun.  I want to get better at making cards and who better to learn from than Jennifer McGuire.  I’d also love to be Kristina Werner, but my handwriting is horrible, so I’ve had to cut her from my list of possibilities as well.

My second resolution, and this one is definitely doable, is to use my Vagabond.  Not just once a year, I mean actually use it.  Make cards using embossing folders and crafty techniques that require dies.  If I’m going to become Jennifer McGuire, I’ll need to get really good at using dies, that’s a given. My cards have been missing some great dimension and inspiration, simply because I haven’t been using the Vagabond.  Have you ever seen any videos where the crafter doesn’t use a Big Shot or a Cuttlebug at some point in their video?  No, so I need to get serious and use the tools I’ve bought for myself.

My third and probably the most important resolution, is that I am going to do whatever it takes to grow my channel to 3,000 subscribers by the end of this year.  I’m not talking about people who subscribe just to say that they did.  I mean people who subscribe because they actually want to watch my videos.  How will I accomplish this feat?  Glad you asked.  I’m not really sure, but I think it starts with asking each viewer to discuss my channel with one friend and ask them to check it out and possibly subscribe if they like it.  Every great accomplishment starts with one step forward, and that’s what I’m going to do.  I’m planting one foot in front of me and asking all of you to do the same.  Maybe there is one video that you think will resonate with one of your friends/family.  Email it to them and ask them to check it out.  What could it hurt?  Well, it could hurt, but I hope it doesn’t.  This third resolution will take all of us to accomplish.  I can’t do it alone.

 

When I did the first video, I forgot to add pockets onto the pages I added in the back.  I cut a piece of matching cardstock to about 4 1/4″ wide and then put it in my paper trimmer on an angle to make a diagonal cut.  I save the leftover paper and cut it on another diagonal to fit over the first and used tear tape on the bottom and left side of the second piece of paper to create the business card folder. .
The 4 1/4″ piece was scored at 1/4″ on the bottom and left edge (tallest edge) of the paper.  I folded it under and put tear tape on the 1/4″ piece making sure that none of the tear tape hung over the edge or it will stick to anything you put in your pocket.  I cut the notch out at the bottom corner where the two score marks make a tiny square.   You can make another set of score marks at 1/2″ on the same places you made the 1/4″ scores and that will create a really thick folder where you can hold a lot of papers.  I chose not to do that as I wanted my folder to fit well inside my planner.  You will put tear tape on the long side and bottom scores of your pocket and glue it to the planner. I also embellished the red page where the business cards are placed.
I’m really glad I added this step to my planner as I’m sure it will make it so much more usable and handle almost every scenario she plans to use it for.

I realize I said to cut the paper to 4″ in the video, but it should be 4 1/4″ to take into account the 1/4″ score line.

Happy New Year! Rich and I are hoping each and every one of you has a happy and healthy 2017.  I’ve been watching a YouTube channel called”the Frey Life” about a young woman with cystic fibrosis and the day to day struggles she and her husband face because of her disease.  Over the years, I’ve had a lot of people talk about my arthritis in terms that I can only describe as pity.  My response has always been that there are so many people with things that are so much worse than this.  Watching this young couple battle this terrible disease reminds me how true my statement has been.   I know a lot of people consider my arthritis and the pain I endure as overwhelming, but I consider it manageable.  I have the best support system I could ask for in Rich, and know that whatever happens, I can handle it.  I’ve been tested by this disease more times than I can say, and I continue to believe that I am lucky.  Things could be so much worse.  Watch one VLOG of the Frey Life and I think you’ll agree.

Onto a happier subject.  I decided that I have been lazy from the holidays for far too long.  Today I decided to do a few videos.  I added the pockets that I forgot on the planner I made and put it into a second video.  I think it’s important that there is storage and intended to add the pocket, but just forgot.  Darn it.

I also made a short video showing the travel journals we’ve made and the differences between mine and other peoples.  Maybe it will help the people who want to make a travel journal but just don’t know where to begin.  I’m not saying mine is rock star quality, but it has some nice aspects.

And my last video, which takes a few days to make, is a set of Scrabble inspired coasters for my girlfriend who loves the game “Words with Friends.”  We played it a few times and I realized that I’m not a thinker or strategist, I just throw down the biggest word I can make with the letters I have.  Oddly enough, that’s the best way to lose.  In order to win, you need to have an arsenal of very small words with big value letters in them.  For instance,  “qi” is a word.  It comes in really handy when you can land it on a triple word score or a triple letter for the “q.”  I’ve never heard of the word and decided I’m not going to spend time learning a dictionary worth of words I’ll never use just to win a game.  I’d rather use all of my letters on one word and feel like I’ve really accomplished something.  Let’s just say that “words with friends” isn’t the game for me.  I’m more of a Monkey Gems kind of girl.  Wow, I completely went off the rails and forgot to explain the craft.  I took Scrabble letters and made four four letter words that compliment each other and glue them onto a piece of cork.  Once they are dry, I’ll cut them out and spray them with Polyurethane and voila, a gift is born.  Our friends have a lake house, so I made the coasters themed around the lake and living there.  I think she’ll like them, at least I hope she will.

My good friend Elishia, who is also known as WanderingDreamer555 on YouTube.  Here’s the link to her channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgU5KYlVnMO7R-dY6tUZQNQ

Elishia is a lovely lady with a terrific sense of humor and she and I share an intense love of all things crafty!

My cousin Shelli made me her very first handmade card and my sister, who has vision problems, made me a card for my birthday as well.  I loved all of my cards and the wonderful things Elishia bought me.  I’m so lucky to have such great friends and family.

I got the nicest comment today from a lady named Lin.  She said she thought I should have a much larger following and although I wish it were so, it’s kind of hard to accomplish.  I think the main problem is that a lot of people are uncomfortable watching my hands.  I’m ok with that because I know they aren’t pretty, and people will choose manicured perfection over damaged hands every time.  I think I would probably do a lot better on an audio channel because then people wouldn’t see them.

I’d love to see the channel grow, but probably not for the reasons that some of you might think.  I’m not on YouTube to make money, as I’m paid by the company I worked for and they won’t allow me to make additional monies.  I won’t do advertising (unless YouTube puts it there without my knowledge,) for the same reason.

I’d like to see the channel grow faster because I would love other people with physical limitations to know that there are options for them and that they can be productive and find hobbies that help them feel fulfilled.  I thought that word of mouth among people with physical issues would grow the channel, but not so much.  I had a small but intense hope that people without physical limitations would enjoy the content and share it as well.

I’m terrible at social media, so the channel also struggles to grow because I’m not on a lot of the media sites.  What I need is a fairy godmother who would know how to grow this channel and make it visible to the population at large.  How do we do this?  I’m not sure.

I have contacted a lot of groups for people with physical limitations but have never gotten a response from them.  A C Moore contacted me to highlight my channel on their social media and then I never heard from them again.  The owners of Rubber Stamp Tapestry have been my biggest advocates, helping get the word out about my channel from almost the very beginning.  I wish I could find other small craft based companies to find my channel and recommend it.  I’m not sure what companies would be open to the suggestion.

Maybe by asking every viewer to ask one person to watch one of my videos, possibly their favorite video.  If one person asks one person, the channel grows quickly and for the right reasons.  I don’t want it to grow because I put it on a wish list for subscribers.  I want it to grow because people respond to it and like the content.  I think I’m asking too much.  How do you convince people that something that is not visually appealing, is worth their time and energy to watch?  It’s a tough challenge.  If you have an idea, please let me know.  I would love to have ideas.  Maybe I should make that my New Year’s Resolution.  Resolve to grow the channel by figuring out what it will take to do so.  Wow, that’s a big one.

 

I finally gave away the last of the framed art I made from Dollar Tree items, just when I was beginning to think they would just keep multiplying.  Every time I go to a Dollar Tree, I find more ornaments that would look cute on a frame, and you know where it goes from there.  I think I made a total of seven, but have the supplies to make at least three more.  I really need to stop.  I realize the holidays are over, but it’s amazing how many cute things are still available in stores and at great prices..

I had really great response to my planner makeover.  I thought people would appreciate it as it makes planning a very simple process since the calendar includes everything you need to do your planning.  I was never a great planner when I worked.  I had a system that I heard about early in my career and I’ll just call it “touch it once.”  The name says it all.  If you open an email, you need to have the time to do whatever the email required.  If you opened mail, you took care of it and it was done.  The thing that’s great about this system, is that you never have a pile that you keep moving from place to place.  You either don’t open the email if you don’t have time to work on it, or you make the time to handle it.  My time management skills really took care of themselves because I never moved things from pile to pile.  I used boring meetings to make myself lists of things I wanted to get done and then actually did those things as soon as possible.  I worked with people who used the planners that were super popular in the late 1990’s by Franklin Covey.  They were based on a book called “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”  Don’t bother to read the book, as it made absolutely no sense to me.  We were asked to read it and somehow I went from habit four to habit six without knowing what four and five consisted of.  All I remember were the people who used those leather planners.  They were really beautiful, but more importantly, the thing I remember most was that they had “to do” lists that they just kept moving from one day to the next without ever scratching anything off of their lists.  That would have made me absolutely crazy.  If I made a to do list, I took the time to actually get those things done.  Maybe not all of them immediately, but I made sure I did get them done.

It seems like the planner phase today is more based around how cute you can make your planner.  Is that planning anything?  I’m not sure.  It might make you feel better about what you are planning and there’s definitely a benefit there.  I’ve seen people plan “me” time and “happy” time.  I feel sad that people are so busy with their lives that they have to plan for these things.   Lives are so busy today with kids and all that children entail.  I’ve never had kids, so don’t know how I’d handle them, and I’ve always been in awe of people who could balance family, careers and spouses.  I’m sure it’s not easy.  Maybe they should give themselves a star in their planner when they actually get some sleep.  Now that’s a plan.

I’ve been trying to wrap up everything I need to do by the end of 2016.  Primarily this means that I want to make sure I document all of the discounts that crafting websites are offering currently, and make sure I document them on the blog for 2017, but early enough that people should be able to budget for their crafty wants and needs.  I didn’t know that so many different companies would have so many different offers and by keeping track of them, it will allow viewers to streamline their shopping.  For instance if they know simonsaysstamp.com offers a much bigger discount than another site, the shopper  won’t have to go from site to site to find the best offer.  It should hopefully be a time and money saver, at least that’s my goal.

I finished the video for the modified Dollar Tree weekly planner for 2017, and it should go online tonight.  I’m hoping it’s not too late for others to make one for themselves.  If they have already bought the supplies, it shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours (and that’s longer than it should take) to make it.  I meant to add a pocket to the inside, but decided the zipper pocket I added should be sufficient.  I’ll ask my friend who I’m making it for to let me know if she wants the additional pocket, and I can always add it later.

I’ve been watching an older Jennifer McGuire video of a card with sea life, turtles, jellyfish, seahorses, and I started thinking about how cute they would be in an underwater card.  So I checked into the set of stamps she used and they were from Hero Arts.  Naturally they were from a kit Hero Arts sold last July and no longer had in their inventory on their website.  I looked everywhere online I could think of, and finally called Hero Arts directly.  They checked their inventory and had one set left.  (My luck doesn’t normally work like this).  So I ordered the set and am looking forward to getting them and making some underwater cards to send to friends and family.  The moral of this story is that I have to stop watching Jennifer’s videos, as I am powerless to just say no.

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve had viewers ask for a video on different inks and one on the best small tape runner.  I have been buying the tape runners whenever I see a new brand, and I am working with my friend Elishia, to make sure I cover the best ink brands.  I have several types and brands of inks, but no hybrids and need to get familiar with them before I make the ink video.  Otherwise, I think I’m pretty well set with inks and just need to keep purchasing tape runners.  You would be amazed at how many different brands and types within each brand that I have found.  This video might make my wet glue video look like a walk in the park.

Oddly enough, when I looked into the origination of “walk in the park,” I couldn’t find it, only the definition, which is pretty obvious.  Walking in the park is easy and very doable.  With that being said, hopefully both videos won’t be extremely difficult to make, but I never know until I make them.  I guess we’ll wait and see how it goes.