I look at other You Tube sites and see that they have 10,000, 20,000, 100,000,200,000 and 1,000,000 subscribers and am completely amazed by those numbers.  I’ve only been on You Tube for a little over two months and I have 205 subscribers and am thrilled and astonished.  I realize that we are talking about every computer user in the world having access, but I can’t believe that 205 people are interested in watching my videos.  I am so grateful and just want to take a moment to thank you first two hundred and five people for watching and believing my videos have something worth subscribing to.  I’m hoping my content gets better in 2016, and that I get more feedback about what people would like to see and that I finally get really good at staying in frame.

So thank you to the first two hundred and five subscribers.  You’ve really motivated me to be better, faster, stronger.  (For those of you born after the 1970’s, that’s from the opening sequence of the $6,000,000 Man.)  I’ll give it everything I’ve got and hopefully we’ll continue to grow and try more crafts and expand all of our horizons.  Hey, thanks for watching and for giving me those thumbs up.   You have no idea how much I appreciate your support.

This morning I had some free time while Rich was at the gym so I decided to work on a craft I’d been meaning to tackle.  I’ve watched a bunch of videos that involved using duck tape to make pencil cases and coin purses etc.  I thought the chances of me actually being successful at pulling the duck tape off the roll and cutting it straight and then applying it accurately were almost non-existent.  To my surprise, after I mastered getting it off the roll (you don’t want to know how I did that), it really went pretty smoothly.  I’m really happy I tried it because now I know I can work with duck tape (that’s the brand I used so I know it’s not duct).  I foresee more projects that involve duck tape in the future–I eventually might be the queen of duck crafting..or maybe just the princess. or someone close to the royal family, I’m not sure how far down the chain I can go.  So once I was done with my craft, Rich took down all of our Christmas decorations, only to discover that Bella (our four year old golden retriever) had tossed a toy into our Christmas tree and then broke the whole bottom section of the tree trying to get to it.  Needless to say, it’s time for a new Christmas tree.  I looked in the very few stores that we have locally and found nothing, so we drove 50 miles to the nearest larger city to shop for a tree.  You’d think you could still find trees, but no, not so much.  Even in a store called The Christmas Tree Shop, there were three trees and two of them were white.  Not really my style.  Luckily though, there were great bargains to be had at Michael’s on Christmas things (unrelated to trees) and A.C.Moore had a 55% off coupon that worked well for me (also no trees).  The thing I love about buying end of season items is that next Christmas I will have completely forgotten what I purchased and it will be exciting and new.  I buy a lot of gifts this time of year and it’s always a surprise to me when next Christmas rolls around.   So no new Christmas tree but a big bunch of Christmas stash for next year..all in all, a good day.

 

I watched a You Tube video today by Lindsay, The Frugal Crafter.  She was talking about coming up with a word for the year.  A word to live by and to focus your life around.  It’s not a goal she said, a goal is something more specific.  The word is something that you are aspiring to.  Her word is “uplift.”  She explained why she chose her word and what she wants to accomplish with it.  When I read the comments below, there were two disabled crafters who are from England and one wants to start a You Tube channel for disabled crafters and the other was offering for her to meet her group of disabled crafter friends on Facebook.  I’ve never responded to a comment from someone else before but wanted to do so this time.  Lindsay asked for others to share their words and I had already come up with mine.  My word is “give.”  I want to give encouragement to others, inspire others, help others to accomplish their goals, and in turn help myself to feel useful and fulfilled.  I introduced myself to both women and hopefully one or both of them will visit my website or this blog.  I’ve been so lucky to meet some really wonderful and inspiring people since I’ve been on You Tube.

Before I started the channel, my only concern was that I have read the comments that people leave on videos and they can be horribly hateful and I didn’t really want to have to be confronted with comments like those.  So in my first video tour of my craft room, I laid it on the table and explained the purpose of my channel and that if my hands bothered the viewer, they needed to watch another crafter.  I said it at the beginning and the end of the video.  I felt compelled to let them know that I knew they were out there and I was prepared for the comments.  What I have seen so far is that people have been wonderfully supportive.  The comments have been really heartbreaking honest, encouraging and sweet.  I feel like I am getting so much more than I am giving when I do these videos and I am so fortunate to have found this outlet for “giving.”  So my word for 2016 is give and I am 100% committed to it and to the people who watch my videos.  Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read one of my blogs or watch one of my videos.  You are giving me purpose and I can’t ask for anything more.

I’m not sure about you, but one of my biggest pet peeves is watching You Tube videos where the crafter isn’t in the frame when they are crafting.  I vowed that I would figure out a way to know where I am in the frame when I am doing videos and I wouldn’t be one of “those” You Tubers.  Unfortunately, our tripod system doesn’t allow for me to really be able to see where the frame is.  So now I am one of “those” You Tubers and hate it so badly that today I decided I had to trash two videos because I’m out of frame more than I am in frame.  And here is where my problem is.  I was going to make a mark on the counter so I knew exactly where the “frame” would be.  But every time I touch the camera, it moves the “frame’ to the left or right.  Every time I change the memory card or batteries, I move the “frame.”  Every time I bump it with my head I move…you get the picture.  I wish I could come up with a solution but we’ve already replaced the tripod, the camera, the software and the computer he does the post-production work on.  I think it would be great if we could use one of our bigger cameras that you can turn the video screen and then all I’d have to do is look up and I’d know I’m in the frame.  Of course I have absolutely no idea how to work that camera so there’s probably another learning curve.  And of course I’d have to talk my director, producer, editor into giving up said camera for this purpose.    I guess the bottom line is this.  For now I’m destined to be one of “those” You Tubers, darn it.

I was asked by Rubber Stamp Tapestry to review their stamps to determine if they work well for the disabled crafter.  I was thrilled by the opportunity and hope that I am able to do an effective job  evaluating their stamps for them.  I am excited by this opportunity because it not only allows me to evaluate their product, but also gives me the chance to help them make their product more effective for the physically challenged crafter.  It’s one of the main reasons I started my You Tube channel.  I haven’t been crafting for very long, but what I found early on is that it is very difficult to determine which product works best for me.  I buy a lot of repetitive products until I find the one that is most effective.  I’ve been trying to do product review videos because I am hoping I can help others avoid buying repeat products to find the “One.”  It is amazing how easily we can be tricked into buying more than one of anything.  I have so many tape guns and tape runners and glues and adhesives and the list goes on, only to attach item A to item B.  It’s just glue for heavens’ sake.  It shouldn’t require rocket science to stick one thing to another.  And yet I continue to buy more and more glues, glue sticks, hot glue sticks, glue guns, and the list goes on.

My hope going forward is that I am asked by both consumers and vendors for my opinions on products because chances are good that I have either not found the “One” of that particular product that works for me, or I have and haven’t done a tutorial on it yet.  I really want to help others avoid the repetitive buying I’ve done and this is a great first step toward helping other disabled crafters find products that work well for them.  I’m thrilled to have the opportunity and will be giving my opinion to the Rubber Stamp Tapestry Company in the next few days.

Rich uploaded the video of the memo boxes I made for my friends Mary and Beth.  The video was long but looked great.  And then somehow he deleted it from You Tube but thinks he still has it on a memory card. Yikes! The ups and downs of You Tube life.  I just made that up. There are no ups and downs, just ups.  We’ve had a good time learning how to do things and although we haven’t perfected the site, it’s getting better.  I’m starting to feel more comfortable with doing things off camera when I don’t feel I can easily do it on camera.  For instance, you cannot believe how difficult it is to tie a bow on camera.  More importantly it has nothing to do with my arthritis.  I’ve watched a ton of crafters who can’t do it either.  It makes me feel a lot better about myself when others can’t complete such a seemingly simple task.  I have a bunch of bow making apparatus’s  (is that the right word?) and should use those, but I’m just as uncomfortable trying those on camera as I am with using my hands.  I’ve got a new goal for 2016.  I’m going to master the art of the perfect bow.  No, I’m not going to make it right off of the roll of ribbon, I still think that’s beyond me.  I do think though that I can make a bow that others will envy.  I’m changing that goal.  In 2016, I’m going to make bows that others envy AND I’m going to make them on camera.  I know, I shouldn’t make a goal that I can’t achieve, but what if I can?  What if I make the world’s greatest bow?  Maybe that should be my goal.  I might be getting ahead of myself.  Ok, my goal will be to make a bow I’m proud of and on camera in 2016.  I can live with that.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 250 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.