Paper Dish Update and Vlog

Making Backgrounds and Thumbnails for YouTube Videos (via PowerPoint)

I Have An Idea! Junky Art Journal

Doodle Journal Update

     I'm still trying to figure out the new YouTube Studio. To share my Doodle Journal video, all I had to do was press a button to create a new blog post where the video link automatically appeared here in Blogger. Now (and last week, too), I can't seem to get back to that place. I have no idea where it is; however, I suspect that it's in the new uploader section, which I'm still not comfortable using. Anyway, here's my latest video that I just published on my channel: https://youtu.be/foIMJeGqXYY.
     It's related to the Doodle Journal video, so it's appropriate to mention it here. Enjoy the video!
     If you like it, give it a thumbs up, make a comment, share the video, and subscribe to my channel. If you've been watching my videos, but you're not sure you'd like to subscribe, you might notice that I upload a video every Saturday. That's my schedule during the semesters; when the college is on break (e.g. Spring Break), I usually upload more often than once a week.

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!