I just got an email from Linda Bauwin saying she had achieved her million dollar goal.  I asked her how many people had achieved that level of sales in their company, and she said she is the eleventh person to have done so.  That is quite an accomplishment and one she should be really proud of. She had asked them to do a very low key affair, and I’m sure this is a very emotional time for her.  I can’t imagine working so hard for something and not having your husband there to share it with.  I hope she has a really lovely time and shares some photos on social media with us.

I went to Michael’s yesterday and they had their craft paint on sale for 3 for $1 and I already have more than I need, but I have really been thinking about getting out the thing I bought from Stampendous that is similar to a gelli plate. I’m not sure how long these pages take to dry or if I need a drying rack .  I don’t know much other than how to make them.  I bought some really fun foam stamps to use on it, because I really want to put my pages in my art journal once they are done.  Should I just use inexpensive card stock for these pages or computer paper?  These things are a mystery to me.  I’m going to watch some more YouTube videos.  I’m looking for a video called “Gelli Plates for Dummies.”  Do they make those books anymore?  They were genius.  I need someone to tell me step by step, exactly what and how to do this.  Then I’ll be ready.  Maybe I’ll get that clothes drying rack that’s never been used and put gelli prints on it.  It’s a plan.

 

I am so behind on Easter card tutorials.  I have an idea for one with the Misti using Cyndi’s templates.  They are different shapes that you use with the Misti to stamp in a circle or a square and I wanted to show viewers that they are available free on the internet and how to use them.

I have so many cute Easter stamps too, and I really want to get them out and use them and I just keep getting side tracked, “Squirrel.”  For those of you that have never seen the movie “Up”, there’s a dog in it that gets distracted by squirrels.  It normally takes less than a squirrel to distract me.  My friend Linda says “ribbon” instead of squirrel, because she knows ribbon always throws me into a frenzy.  My plan for tomorrow is to get serious about Easter cards and to put together things that I keep promising I will mail, but just keep forgetting.  I also need to get some videos loaded before the week starts because I’ll be volunteering at the college Rich and I graduated from on Monday and Wednesday, so I’ll be too tired to craft when I get home.  I really need to get serious about my plan and tomorrow is going to be video on top of video until I feel like I’ve accomplished something.   I really hope I get something to turn out well or I’ll be even more stressed on Monday.  Yikes, I need to get serious about making videos.

My YouTube original mentor is Linda Bauwin.  She’s a Stampin’ Up representative and has her own YouTube channel.  She’s the “Card”iologist of cards.  I met her at a stamp show before I started my channel.  She was so gracious and so lovely and friendly.  I asked if I could email her with questions and she allowed me to do so.  Of course I did.  And not just a few.  I think I probably drove her crazy with my quest to learn everything about YouTube in a small amount of time.  Around the same time I met Linda, she had lost her husband who was her everything.  Linda is now approaching $1,000,000 in sales for Stampin’ Up and that is a HUGE accomplishment and takes several years and a lot of creative selling to obtain.  Linda just put up a video of a tower card and I copied it on a video asking viewers to consider helping Linda reach her quest.  I really hope someone does.  She certainly deserves something good to happen in her life and I hope we help her get there.

My husband had a mentor whose mantra was “If you help enough people get what they want, you will get what you want.”  I can see how that would apply in the business world, but in my world if I help enough people get what they want, I’ll be happy, and that’s plenty.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!   It’s been a good day.  I have met a fellow You Tuber named Carol Held, that is a pretty talented crafter.  I’ve watched a lot of her videos and her editing is really great.  She uses a lot of great techniques that shows her true experience in this genre.  Tupelo Designs have been looking for new design team members so they put it out on their newsletter.  In order to qualify, you need to have been on You Tube for a while, have so many followers etc.  I thought of Carol right away.  I really like her site because she doesn’t try to sell anything and is in it for the love of crafting.  She doesn’t even advertise on her site.  Go Carol!  So I submitted her name and they contacted her this morning and told her she had been accepted.  How exciting for her!  I was really happy when she called me and told me she’d been accepted and that my nominating her was one of the nicest things anyone had done for her.  It was sweet of her to say, but she definitely deserves the recognition.  She does great work and really knows and understands what she is doing.  She really makes me laugh when I watch her videos, especially the ones where she needs to drink some “juice” which is Coke.  She isn’t anything like you would expect a YouTube crafter to be.  She’s a little bit older than I am and she helps her husband run a plumbing and heating business in her free time.  In addition to that, her husband is a minister and she speaks to ladies groups all over the country.  Here is the unexpected part.  She and her husband each have a Harley and they ride everywhere.  How great is that?  I’m happy for Carol, as she’s been a great help to me in answering all of my freshman YouTube questions.  And she’s friends with Lindsay, the Frugal Crafter.  Maybe Carol doesn’t know that Lindsay and I are besties (in my head.)  I’m happy for you, Carol!

I’ve gotten really encouraging responses to my mixed media tag.  Apparently I was doing something right, although mixed media is still a concept I’m not entirely comfortable with.  I am comfortable with making boxes and got the greatest compliment on one.  I made a box for a video on how to make a box any size you want.  I left it on my desk and today Rich said, “Is the box on your table for a video, it’s really great.”  He rarely says anything about my little projects, so I was really pleased with the compliment.  I felt so much more comfortable making and explaining the box than I did with mixed media.

Changing the subject now.  I spent the day at the college we graduated from and found some books they were giving away, in Spanish.  How much fun is that?  I got three or four and thought they’d be a lot of fun to use in cards and in my art journal. I’m pretty happy with my find.  Of course the students had no interest in these books.  Too bad for them!

I’m pretty sure I lack confidence in my artistic abilities when it comes to mixed media.  I say this now because I just finished explaining in great mathematically detail, how to create a box of any size.  I had absolutely no problem doing those calculations, but hand me a blank tag and let my imagination run wild, I freeze.  Maybe if I took a personality test, it would tell me I am analytical instead of artistic.  I’d buy that.  I really felt like a fish out of water doing mixed media.  I think it must be a matter of practice.  I guess time will tell.  In the mean time, I made a great box with little or no hesitation.  I’m pretty impressed that I can make a four sided paper box with a lid.  No artistic talent necessary.  Apply within.

Let’s talk mixed media.  I’m not really sure how to tell if you are good at it or not.  I’ve seen some mixed media that looks like a kindergartener made it and then I’ve seen some that looks like an artist made it.  Who or what determines if it is good or not?  Therein lies the reason my art journal is empty.  I just don’t know where to begin.  Is it pure artistic genius, or can anyone do it?  Is it learned or do you just instinctively know what media to apply next?  I’m really at a loss.  I had a viewer ask about me doing some mixed media and so far I have two tags that I’m working on.  To me one looks bad and the other one looks worse.  Are they redeemable or are they trash?  How do I know when to give up and decide I just have no clue?  Could it be a matter of adding more layers to make it look better?  I just don’t know.  It’s not like there’s a class where you learn how to do things like this.  The tutorials I have found are all so diverse and they all basically tell you to do what feels right.  Nothing really feels right to me.  Maybe I am better at creating something with a plan and mixed media seems more unplanned to me.  Yikes, I need someone to give me a clue.  Can I buy a vowel?  Phone a friend?  Take Potpourri for $200, Alex?
The only clear way for me to be able to do mixed media, is to basically copy someone else and I just can’t do it.  I need to get a clue.  It’s only a tag for heaven sake.