Doodle Journal

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That . . and a Whole Lot of Impatience

     Currently, I'm working on journal topics for my writing students, and I just thought about this blog I'm supposed to be writing in from time to time, so I'm taking a little break to write a bit in here. If I don't do it now, I'll lose the thought in my brain because I've got a whole bunch of tasks I have to take care of for my six classes.

      Regarding the 100 Things Challenge videos, I'm anxious to upload all of them just to get them done, just to get them out of the way, and, most importantly, just so I can get on with my normal (or not so normal) everyday (not so everyday, especially during the fall and spring semesters) crafting. Ideally, I should've had them edited and uploaded many months ago, but that is not how I roll.

      I still have about 10 "Things" I have to edit. Some of those "Things" comprise several video files because, heck, I love to talk in my videos. The problem is, as the video-editor, I hate splitting the video a bunch of times, deleting the "talking" parts or speeding up those sections and throwing in some tunes because all that stuff takes time. During the semesters, I don't have that time to spend.

      Fortunately, the Fall 2019 semester is less stressful than last fall (2018) even though I have one less class now. Last fall's course schedule was very hectic; you probably already know that if you listened to certain videos on my channel . . . you know, the ones where I'm telling you about how stressful that semester was?

      The fall semester started last week, so I expect to be very busy with getting my act together: Setting up due dates for assignments and tests, creating a course calendar for each of my classes, and, oh yeah, teaching! Once the hubbub dies down (usually after Week 3), I can get back to video-editing. Right now, I have about six edited Thing videos waiting to be uploaded, but I'm uploading those one per week to give me time to get the work-related tasks done.

      Enough explaining and complaining! Back to the grindstone, as the saying goes. If you haven't yet done so, please, take a moment to subscribe to my YouTube channel: Tammi Naumann - The Crafty Cat Lady. Thank you!

The 100 Things Challenge

      Hey! How's it going?

     I apologize for possibly breaking my promise of writing shorter posts, but today's topic might be longer. Yikes! I'll try to keep this post short (but don't hold me to it).

      On May 14th of last year (2018, in case you happen to be reading this post in 2020 or later), I started the 100 Things Challenge. I completed the Challenge on April 7th, 2019. This is a challenge that Crazy Rebecca of danceswithpitbulls proposes to her viewers from time to time. The rules are simple:

1) Do 100 things – The things can be anything; they don't have to be of the arts and crafts variety.

2) There is no time limit; however, there is a lot of motivation to get it done quickly because of Rule # 3 . . .

3) You can't buy any supplies during the challenge, except for glue and regular (not designer, like washi) tape (I'm guessing you could buy other necessary items if you are not doing crafty things, like soil and fertilizer if your things are of the gardening variety, for example).

* We do not have to video-record our things; that was my choice because, hey, I have a YouTube channel, so why not?

      I chose to do mostly crafting things, except for two things that were related to my computer (stay tuned for that video as it's in the #70's range). The crafting things were mostly hacks. My favorite category of hacks is my I Have an Idea! (IHAI) because those ideas are usually modifications of tasks to make my crafting life just a little easier. I hope those ideas are beneficial to others, as well.

      I did bend the rules a bit when I had an idea about the Tim Holtz Ink Blending Tools and the Mini Distress Ink Pads. I had the blending tools, but I didn't have any of the mini ink pads.

      When I get an idea, it's like a craving. I read somewhere that cravings should be satisfied as soon as possible; otherwise, they will increase in intensity. When the idea popped into my head, I knew I couldn't wait until the end of the challenge to buy the mini distress inks. I bought a set of the TH Mini Distress Ink Pads so that I could try out my idea. That was Thing #22 (paired with an FiY, also related to the mini ink pads: Thing #23). I used the mini ink pads only for that IHAI & Thing. I did not use the mini ink pads until after the Challenge ended because I felt like I had cheated by buying the ink pads, a crafting item that was not a necessary one (not a glue nor tape item), and I thought if I used the mini ink pads for other than the idea, then I would've been continuing to cheat.

      If I ever take on the 100 Things Challenge again, I will have to make a few changes to the way I video-record them because, at this point, I'm still editing and uploading the Thing videos (less than 30 to go!). I want to be able to record the process, but I also want to edit and upload the Thing videos during the same week I do them. Right now, I feel like I'm playing catch-up with the Thing videos. A primary reason for the delay in getting these videos out around the time that I did them is that I was very busy teaching during the fall and spring semesters (fall 2018 was especially busy & stressful as you may be hearing from me in the Things videos I did during that semester). That takes a lot of my time; I have very little free time during those school terms.

       Thanks for reading! Have a radiant day!

Challenges

     Although it's been some time since I've renamed my YouTube channel (from simply Tammi Naumann to the spiffier title, Tammi Naumann – The Crafty Cat Lady), I am just now getting to posting blogs related to the videos I upload/publish to my channel. Forgive me for waiting so long!

     Hey! How's it going?

      Most of the videos I upload to my channel are of the crafting and mixed media variety. I also like to modify things; okay, let's call it what it is: hacking it. Lol! Sometimes, I post videos of my three cats: Stormy, Coconut, and Blue. I figure The Crafty Cat Lady was a good title for my channel's name because it's really a play on words. Crafty replaces crazy, and I do a lot of crafts. Crafty also means clever, and that is especially true when I have ideas about certain things.

      My talent for crafting comes directly from my mother. She was an excellent crafter and a hacker, of sorts. If she didn't like how something looked, she changed it, and if she couldn't do it on her own, she would convince my dad to change it. My mom would draw up the plans, and my dad would build it for her. My mom was also very good at drawing. If YouTube would've been a booming business when my mom was in full crafty swing, she probably would've had a prosperous channel, showing her viewers what she could do and how to do it.

      On April 7th of this year (2019), I finished the 100 Things Challenge (proposed by Crazy Rebecca Dances with Pitbulls) that required me to do 100 Things without spending any money on supplies (except for glue and tape, but none of that fancy stuff, like washi tape). I mainly chose the crafty/mixed media route for most of those things. I started the challenge on May 14, 2018. I did videos for all of the 100 Things. The problem I encountered was not being able to edit and upload them in a more timely manner (primarily, because of work). Now, I'm playing catch-up, trying to edit and upload the rest of the Thing videos.

      A challenge I'm working on now is to build my channel. Each video I upload is one step toward that goal. I still have a long way to go on that, but the challenge helped me a great deal. Once all of the Thing videos have been uploaded to my channel, I think I will try to upload a video every Saturday, which seems to be the best day for me to do that, whether I'm teaching during the fall and spring semesters or on break.

      Another challenge that I'm doing is not one proposed by a YouTuber. This challenge is something I need to do to help my channel grow. Thanks for watching! appears at the end of most of my videos. I don't tell my viewers to click the Subscribe button or the Notification bell. I don't suggest that they Comment, Like, or Share my videos. I want to change that; therefore, in subsequent video-recordings (after all of the Thing videos have been uploaded) I'll work on making those suggestions to my viewers. Since I'm rusty at stating that I'd like my viewers to comment, like, share, and subscribe, it's going to take me a while to remember to say all those things, so bear with me, please. While you're at it, please, comment, like, and share my videos, and don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel. Thank you in advance!

       My last challenge is to keep this particular blog going and to tie it in with my YouTube channel as much as possible. I promise that future entries will not be this long. I needed to talk about the challenges I've accomplished and the ones I still need to complete. Thanks for reading!