Yay! I've hit a YouTube Milestone!

YouTube Update!

8-21-2023 - 156 subbies and 100 videos. YouTube said my first 100 videos are experiments in filming. 

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Things are happening at YouTube. Software is being updated with a new look, buttons are being moved around and everyone will have an unique handle. At this point, I have 114 subscribers now and a Community tab. I was hoping to get the Discussion tab back because I was hoping to have my own forum there. As many of you know, I've been a moderator at a homeschool forum at a defunct website called Old Fashioned Living, and have participated in two other forums at Club Posh and Splitcoast Stampers. I posted a photo on my Community Tab - check it out! 

My original YouTube URL will still work - https://youtube.com/c/DoloresJRush

but my new one will reflect the changes happening at YouTube = https://youtube.com/@DoloresJRush

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Originally posted on: Friday, July 8, 2022

Rejoice with me! I made an YouTube milestone! I have 100 subscribers! Never thought other people than my friends would enjoy watching my content. Boy was I surprised when I received an email from YouTube last week stating I had reached the 100 subscriber mark. 

I really enjoy the video view counts and the comments because I would love to build a little community there, you know like an old-fashioned internet forum! I know how the subscribe button works. It has a little notification bell that works three ways -- 

When you click on the Subscribe bell, the little black bell level will notify you of all the videos I upload. The white bell means that you get notified once in a while when I upload a video and the slash bell can be used just to bookmark my site, but you won't get notified when I upload a new video. I used to be a moderator of the Parlor forum at the defunct website Old Fashioned Living and have been a member of two other forums at Splitcoast Stampers and Club Posh and now I have my own blogs. I miss that forum discussion part at YouTube. My video is like the beginning of a forum thread and the comments below are the discussion part of a thread. While I like praise, I also like chatting with friends. The internet has been great for making new friends, people I probably would never have met in my physical world. 

Let's party! YouTube Celebration video! Join the subbies rejoicing with me below in the comments! Woo Hoo! Thank you for subscribing to my channel! 

My youngest sister-in-law picked up this plaque at the Crackerbarrel restaurant gift shop last week to show me and we both laughed. 

Then I took a photo and sent it to a friend from my homeschooling days. I told this friend a few days before SIL found the plaque above that I sometimes feel like a square peg in a round hole and she told me that we can be Square Sisters together. smile! So, if you don't mind a kooky friend, come on over and subscribe on the black bell if you have a mind to and jump right in and make a comment. That would make my day special!

Am I a Gudrun Girl? Yes and No!

Yes, I'm a Gudrun Girl as far as her fashion line goes! 

When I was diagnosed with drop foot several years ago and a leg brace was added to my wearing apparel, I discovered Gudrun Sjoden's clothing line on Pinterest. Just what I was looking for. Leggings plus fashionable, comfortable wearing apparel. I loved her bright clothing in the patterns I like most - calico type florals,  checks, dots, and stripes. 

No, because her clothing does not come in my size. 

So, I emulate her fashion as far as I am able. I do like black and white the most and so far, that's about all I've been able to find, clothing wise in my size that I can afford. I shop for my clothing at  1/2 of 1/2, thrift stores (have a couple of favorite spots), Walmart, and if on clearance or sale, online at Full Beauty Brands. Occasionally, friends will give me a bag of clothing if they know my size or accessories they think looks like me. 😁

Two other pluses that I had never thought of before until I discovered her clothing line was that you can wear a short sleeve dress all year long and then layer it during the winter. First time I was actually warm enough during the winter in my drafty old farmhouse cottage. Second is that you can wear different patterns together at one wearing, if you keep the clothing and accessories in all the same basic colors. 

The layering during the winter can be not only sweaters, but also long sleeve t-shirts over or under a dress. Long sleeve t-shirts can make a dress appear to be a skirt under the shirt or if you wear it under the dress, the dress looks like a jumper. Also what we used to call culottes,  can be worn over a pair of leggings and under a short tunic dress for another layer. You can wear decorative infinity scarves in the winter to keep your neck warm and necklaces in the summer to keep your neck cool.

What we call a sleeve-less tank-top summer dress can also be worn summer or winter. I don't like my batwings (extra skin under my upper arms) to show, so wearing sleeve-less dresses are out during the summer, however, I learned that I can wear a short sleeve top over it during the summer to make it appear as if I'm wearing a skirt and a long sleeve t-shirt under it during the winter as a jumper. 

I wear compression stockings and an orthopedic built-up shoe now instead the brace, although the built-up shoe is as stiff as the brace was. The compression socks I can buy come in two colors - black and beige. I do not like brown, so black it is! And the orthopedic shoes comes in -- guess what colors? You've got it, black and beige! 

So when I began to build my wardrobe, I chose seven (7) colors that go well with black - black and white, black and grey, black and red, pink, turquoise and lime green. I also chose 4 of my favorite patterns that I mentioned above. However, after shopping for several years pink, turquoise and lime green were hard to come by, so I've changed my colors again. I've kept the black and white, but also added red, white, and blue. Teal was the easiest blue-green color available, but it's not my favorite blue-green. Teal is on the green side of blue-green and turquoise is on the blue side.  So far, it's been easier to find the red, white, and blue, but I usually discard the garment if the fabric also has another color beyond the ones I have chosen, because I don't want to throw in another color into my mix. 

I pulled out everything in my closet and anything that didn't go with my colors or pattern choices went to the thrift store for somebody else to enjoy. It has taken some time to build up my wardrobe. 

I do have one piece of Gudrun Sjoden jewelry. No, it's not a necklace. See if you can spot it in the photos below.  Click on the photos to enlarge them. 

These are just a few of my favorite dresses. See how I can mix and match shirts with the tank/jumper dresses. I'm constantly scouting out apparel and accessories when I go shopping. 

And, my wardrobe may be doing some more changing in the near future. According to google, you must lose 10 to 15 pounds (about 1 stone, UK measurement) to change clothing sizes and I've lost nearly 25 pounds since the end of January. I'm currently on four medical diets - Possum Patty calls it the Freedom Diet - sugar-free (hypoglycemia), fructan-free (low-fodmap), caffeine, carbonation, citrus, dairy, mint, garlic/onion, tomato-free (GERD/gastritis), and the Mediterranean diet for fatty liver disease. It's been a balancing act, let me tell you. Just because it's gluten-free, doesn't mean it's sugar-free, but I let myself have a treat ever once in a while.  

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New Journal Ideas

I've been wanting to compile Shannon Green's En Masse journal for some time. She based it on another gal's paper scavenger hunt journal and suddenly it was a thing on YouTube. Linda's Mixed-Up Mess and I are each doing one. So, I've been working on compiling a list of my Favorite Things. Finally completed it tonight. (Click here)

Some gals on YouTube said they just couldn't get into it, and I told them that perhaps they didn't have the right list. Perhaps if they wrote down a list of their favorite things, perhaps they could "go for it" better. 💡😁

So, I'm preparing another composition notebook, adding washi tape to the edges in a rainbow fashion. My list begins with a rainbow of colors - first the three primary colors, then the 3 secondary colors, and black and brown. The composition notebook has 100 pages, so I divided up the pages for the eight colors and then found a Bible verse that mentioned each of the eight colors. For that page, I'm creating a coloring sheet to illustrate the verse. Perhaps I'll even color the page in. 

Learn from a mistake I made today (3/9/2022) -- print off a sheet of your categories and glue it inside the front cover of the notebook before you begin, then be sure to write down what you are collecting for each page lightly in pencil. I goofed today and forgot a category. I had to add it at the end, because I have already begun gluing stuff into the book and I couldn't pull it up, because most of the glue had already set. Having worked as a volunteer page in a library, I like working in alphabetical order and have all my categories typed in alpha order. Or maybe I'm just OCD! 🤓

I've gotten all the washi tape added to the edges of the paper. The reason I add washi tape is to strengthen the edges as they get thumbed through a lot. I allowed 1 sheet of paper for each of the categories and guess what, I've got left over paper, so put on my thinking cap and decided to add "two" more gluebook ideas I've been batting around. 

When our son was of preschool and kindergarten age, I was a volunteer page at our local small town library and community center. We got involved in almost all the activities that went on there which included a children's literary reading club. Our son asked me to teach him to read before he went to kindergarten, so to begin, I purchased a "school kit" consisting of a writing tablet, a No.2 pencil, glue, markers, a magnetic alphabet, clear contact paper, and several pieces of colored poster board which I cut down into 13 "place-mats." I knew in order for him to read, he needed to know his alphabet. He wasn't much into coloring books, but he loved stickers and rather than having stickers he was rewarded with at Sunday School all over our walls and frig, he had a safe place on the place-mats to put them. I wrote one letter from the alphabet on each side of the place-mats and when he received a sticker, he had to tell me what that item was and then find the appropriate place-mat to stick them down on. When the place-mat was filled with stickers, I covered that side with clear contact paper, so that he could use it under his plate or bowl. He was so proud of those place-mats. And he was ahead of his kindergarten classmates for I learned that the school system where we lived then, didn't teach the children to read until their first grade year. 

So, to take that idea, I decided to create an alphabetical sticker-book in the 2nd part of my composition notebook, one letter per page. I have a bunch of stickers left over from other projects and then bought more at ScrapsKC.com, so if I get tired of the one En masse glue book or run out of stuff to glue in, I can have a sticker-book to work on too. 

I counted pages and I have a few left, so my third idea was create an Americana glue-book. YouTuber Heather C. has an Americana junk journal that she is creating for a friend's July wedding, so...have to flesh out that idea a bit more, but on that patriotic theme. 

My husband likes the idea I fleshed out for the Americana part of the book. We have a postcard show coming here to this area in June and he found 2 postcards, one from two states, at our local Crackerbarrel Restaurants, so I shall be collecting postcards and stickers from each of the USA states and US territories until I run out of notebook pages. I've already begun adding red, white, and blue washi-tape to the edges and scrapbook paper to the pages as background. I also compiled a little checklist to add to the pocket in the back of my en masse book. I compiled it, not in alphabetical order, but as they came into the union. It's called Country Pride! 

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I need to finish my "Doodling Through the Bible in Black and White" Journal. (playlist here.) I ended with Amos and the next "chapter" of coloring sheets runs through 10 more books of the Bible. I have the first two coloring sheets done. Just need to get on the stick and finish. 

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I've been really enjoying creating my Dolly art journal pages, so think I'm going to continue making those. I bought an old planner that was on clearance somewhere and I'm going to use it for my zetti-doll art journaled pages. (Flickr album) I've been collecting a whole stack of Dolly dresses from throw away can labels and small boxes, arms and legs from woman's clothing catalogs and I keep playing with a Photo Booth App to create funny faces for Dolly. I also have been collecting sayings and quotes from books and the internet that would be appropriate to go with Dolly's dresses. Finished uploading my last one in my positivity journal Saturday evening. I get tickled every time I see the one above and my husband enjoyed it as well -- telling everyone at our last family get-together that I was going to use it on an art-journal page. They all rolled their eyes. Of course, with the Rush men, you've got to be a little bossy, or you'll never get anything done around the house, cause they have their own agenda which doesn't include the four letter word home W-O-R-K.  You know, if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy! 😁

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I also thought about doodling an alphabet book based on Bible verses, similar to the "R" coloring sheet that's in part 3 of the "Doodling Through the Bible in Black & White" playlist. (see above for link to playlist). I don't know if and when I will get that done, perhaps after the other Bible Doodle Journal is completed. 

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Well, this is a good start for 2022. When you want to know when I upload my next video, be sure to subscribe and click on the notification bell "all" on my YouTube channel and YouTube's notification bell system will let you know when I've uploaded a new video for your watching pleasure. Be seeing ya! 

My Positivity Journal 2021

January 2021 Divider & Front Spread

My YouTube Positivity Journal Playlist

Words

Note: Playlist is set up like a series of chapters. Each month of my journal is a chapter. Click on the link and go to the chapter you haven't seen before to watch it. Or watch the whole playlist from beginning to end and see how my style of journal and video making has evolved. 

JANUARY -- Doing something different this year. I called a time-out -- to take a wee break while I recharge my creative batteries and to  learn new journaling techniques. For instance, I've been watching some Dyan Reaveley videos to see how she makes backgrounds for her art journaling pages, for I want to add in some to my journal too. I'm making it a blend of several types of journals. The best thing I did last year in my journal was to prepare it ahead of time, giving myself 6 spreads per month plus one extra page, with three pages devoted to the requirements of good memories, quotes, and scripture and then whatever else I wanted to do in the rest of the spreads. I watched a lot of bullet journaling and planner videos to list their ideas and did the same until I began running out of ideas at the end of the year. I was late in video making because I was struggling to come up with more ideas to fill in pages. Then I got Covid and didn't feel like messing with either my journal or video-making. I practiced giving GRACE to MYSELF and uploaded them when I could. That was a struggle too - allowing myself GRACE -- a foreign concept to my way of thinking since I usually beat myself up mentally for being less than PERFECT! 

I felt so good though, when I finally got November and December's videos made and uploaded.  I'm taking the best ideas of the last two years and creating something new -- a Table of Contents with assignments for each page, however, I can put my imagination cap on and be creative within those page assignments. I've made up to 6 months worth so far and if by mid-year, if I've changed my mind for something else I want to remove or add-in, I can do so. Oh, and since I use a skinny elastic hairband to keep my journal closed, I've added in divider tabs at the top of the composition notebook to keep the tabs away from the belly band. In 2019, I had divider tabs on the side and used a belly band sideways and the tabs got squished. Last year, I put the divider tabs on the side and used the elastic vertical and the page side of the journal became deformed under the pressure. So this year I will see how the top dividers work out with a horizontal belly-band. 

To prepare journal - 

This composition notebook is from Walmart and has a sewn in signature which makes the journal strong. Some journal makers go through their notebook gluing pages together for strength, however, I glue pages into my journal. The left side of one spread is for writing and the right side of the spread is where I'm gluing in cardstock cut down to size. A spread consists of two pages facing each other (see above photo) and the fold in the middle is called a ditch. 

Adding washi tape to the side edges of the pages make them stronger, for they will be thumbed through a lot. Cut down 12 sheets of scrapbook paper for the front dividers (6 3/4 inches x 9 1/4 inches) -1 per month and glue in, allowing 6 spreads plus 1 page between the months. I have purchased six humorous cards so far from Dollar Tree to use as a pictures on the divider pages.  The table of contents was added to the inside cover. Then I cut down a 2021 calendar that my husband obtained from Half-Price Books to add to the diary page and glued in the word "LOVE" underneath that I cut from some packaging to remind myself that "LOVE" is my theme word for the year (Jesus LOVES Me). 

The glue I'm currently using is Elmer's Craft Bond and I use lots of it. 😃

COVER: Baa! The Lamb of God

Here's my table of contents for the first six months:

1. Divider Page (theme "friends;" most of the cards came from the Dollar Tree)

2. Daily Calendar

3. Pictorial Diary (I was inspired by Dyan Reaveley's "done" diary) 

4. Scripture

5. Art Journal Page 

6. Quotes

7. Art Journal Page

8. Good Memories

9. Art Journal Page

10. Prayer List (it's good to pray for your friends and family) 

11. Glue Book page (tea envelope collection)

12. Poem (either mine or someone else's that I enjoy!) 

I used most of what I had leftover of scrapbook paper that corresponded to the farmhouse décor theme behind the cards on the divider pages and then found two paper packs of scrapbook paper on sale at Michaels and Tuesday Morning. The one at Michael's is called "At the Barnyard" by Recollections and the other is Country Kitchen by Steven Duncan/Echo Park Paper Co. It has a retro kitchen feel to it. I took out all the pages in both that have the small embellishments and cut them up to put into a zippy bag, so many of the small embellies that I will be using to decorate my journal will be from those two packs, however, I have also found some cute farm-type signs on Pinterest and have printed them out on my Polaroid photo printer. I like that the printer paper converts into a sticker. Santa was nice to me that year. smile! 

I will also be using not only rubber stamps and my doodles in the journal, but stencils as well. And I have been practicing a faux calligraphy font template that I found on the internet by hand as headers on my pages. 

If you've been following me for awhile, you know that I will be posting the crafty stuff from the whole journaling year right here in one long post, so come back each month to see what I've added to this post. Thank you for following me. I enjoy my craftin' bliss! 

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February's Video is Finally Uploaded. My first art journal page was inspired by a quote from Bob Goff's book called Live in Grace-Walk in Love, the second by Stephanie Ackerman and the third by Dyan Reaveley. 

With ADD, I have a sensory issue. I don't like clothes that itch nor do I like the rough textured surface of acrylic brush- painted papers, however, I tried acrylic paint with Dyan's technique of using one of Tim Holtz's sponge applicators and I really like it as it is soft and smooth to the touch. 

I used three stencils from my stash to continue Dyan's technique of layering images, one of them being Tim Holtz's cross-stitch stencil, one was an alphabet stencil (brand?) and border blocks (Plaid?). Dyan Reaveley's coloring girl die-cut came from my friend Julie in a swap. The mushrooms are Dyan's Dylusions stamps and the flowers are Posh Impressions. I colored them in with water-based brush markers. The sentiment strips came in a baggy I got at the thrift store, so I don't know the brand. And whoa, I wrote a poem for my glue-book tea envelope page! 😇 

Tea Envelopes are red,

Tea Envelopes are blue,

Tea Envelopes are many colors

When brand new!

I like them red

I like them blue

I like them many colors,

To share with you.

~ DJR ~

 

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YouTube Analytics says that my five most watched playlists are:

Dolores' Positivity Journal

Dolores' Doodles

Dee Gruenig & Posh

Mary Engelbreit

And my newest one: A Year of Joy 

Thank you for making that so! 

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I'm working on the March video. Can't seem to get the music placement just right. I enjoy the creativity, but didn't know I also had to use math to figure out what music I can use where. I grew up singing in church and school choir, but never paid much attention to how long each song was. And an additional challenge is figuring out what songs sound good together. I told the hubs today, I've never really noticed what music and sound effects has been put into a movie to add emotion. I just enjoyed it.  I created a poem to go into the video like the last one. It's a cinquain.

tea

hot water

steep plant parts

many flavor blends of

white, green, black and herbal

Yum!

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I began a new post with Farm Animals Sayings and Quotes for Art Journaling, ATC's, Cards, and Scrapbooking!

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Last month, I included a live portion in my March video. But now my technology is giving me fits, so I can't do a live portion in April's video. Technology is wonderful when its working. Not so much when it isn't. So guess I'm going to have to put on my thinking cap and work around it. This month, I began my video with some slides of what us card-makers used to call serendipity paper and now what the collage makers call collage masterboard. I dug around in the clear zippered bag that I keep all the snippets of paper that reminds me of and stamp off's of Mary Engelbreit's rubber stamps and collaged a bunch of paper together to make new paper that I can use  in my positivity journal. I'm also following Linda Vater's Bucket Brigade challenge with food plantings in galvanized metal buckets on YouTube. I've got lettuce and kale planted and we bought a tomato and hope to get some cucumber planted in the last tub. 

This month I also wrote a haiku for my tea poem:

tea Camellia blooms

leaves picked, dried, and roasted black

steep, scented, sip, smile

~ DJR 

By the way, I'm on the hunt for sayings to use with my zetti art doll journaling pages. I'm looking at Pinterest, but that tends to be a little overwhelming and I get distracted by all the pretties. smile! Julie sent me one. Not gonna tell you what it is for that's for next month. All my dollies will be wearing labels of some sort. Like this month, Dollie is wearing an evaporated milk label. She's also is wearing my face put through a photo booth app and I used an acronym that my husband used to call me. 😁 He told me to quit putting myself down because I was a BBW~ a Big, Beautiful Woman!  Click on the photos to enlarge if you can't read it. So if you have a positive saying that might coordinate well with a label, leave it in the comments below. I added last month's zetti paper doll for you. I'm not cutting up magazines for the arms and legs, but women's clothing catalogs that I get in the snail mail. When I run out of those, I have a paper doll rubber stamp that I can use for appendages. 

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MAY VID:

I was watching a video recently about JOY by Ingrid Fetell Lee. Look her up on YouTube, she has been taped several times speaking about the subject. Anyway, she talked about colors and things that bring you joy. Carolyn challenged me to find the word JOY and I've created a playlist that contain three videos so far. Each video holds about 50 snapshots I've taken of JOY's that I and my husband and others have found since last Christmas (2020). I suddenly realized I could also have moments of joy and delight. One of my moments this month was catching sight of a mama goose strolling down our road with five goslings all lined up in a row following right behind her. I have no idea where she came from, but I was pretty sure where she was going. We have a lake at the end of our road. I jumped up and grabbed my camera and walked quickly out to our front porch to get a snapshot. After I developed the picture, it went right into the photo diary section of my positivity journal. 

My hubby wasn't too sure about my paper Dolly having my face, nor it being oddly messed up in a photo booth app, however, he was sure enjoying the saying I found for June's Dolly and shared it with his family during Memorial Day weekend. He had a good laugh about it and isn't that what a positivity journal should have -- a little humor?  By the way, I updated my Flickr-1 Account. I'll be sharing my zetti dolls there as well as many other paper art dolls that I've created over the years.

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June's Short Video is live! In June, my laptop computer died of old age, crashed and burned, along with all my files, which included three videos I was compiling. Thanks to John, my husband's brother-in-law, my laptop was rebuilt and I've been busy trying to work out the bugs and get used to some of the new apps that he put on it. Have gobs of emails to work through as well. 

Since my video is so late, I decided to try the new YouTube shorts format. Some things to remember:

• Even though YouTube shorts videos are supposed to be 1:00 minute long, make it 59 seconds long. They tacked on one second to my video while my video was being uploaded and processed. 
• 20 (3 second) slides make a 60 second video. 
• YouTube said we can use a 15 second music clip from popular music to accompany our videos without copyright issues, however, to by-pass that, I just found some copyright free music from YouTube's free audio music library. If you fall in love with the music I've added to each of my videos, look in the description/info box under each video for the title and artist, along with any shout-out's to people that I mention in my video. 

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July's video is finally done! And uploaded to my channel. Although a little late for spring cleaning, that's what I've been doing. Spring cleaning my kitchen and replacing all the plastic and wood items we've collected in the last 30 years of marriage for stainless steel and glass. I'm in the middle of a GI workup and have already been diagnosed with lactose and fructose malabsorption. I have an endoscopy scheduled for September. Possum Patty from Pencil-vania calls it the Freedom Diet - free from dairy and free from the usual American fruits. I'm allowed berries and melons except watermelon. There is also a part of the fructose diet that is gluten-free. I'll be happy when I can get heart-burn free. 

My video is a tribute to black and white television. Did you know that RCA began selling black and white television sets to the American public in 1939? Colored television didn't come out until the mid-1950s. My dad purchased our first game, Atari, to use on the television when I was a senior in high school. When Mr. Rush and I were first married, our first television was two TV's stacked on top of each other. His aunt gave him a black and white portable television set that had a picture but no sound and a neighbor down the street gave us a console television that had sound but no picture. It also had no remote control, so we had to get up to change the channels on both TV's in order to watch anything. We were just happy to have television. Before that, all we had was my radio. Young Love!  It wasn't until we were married several years before we purchased a rent-to-own VHS machine from our local grocery store and now I'm creating my own videos and uploading them to YouTube.  Amazing! 

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August's video is up! I've had computer issues all summer and medical testing, procedures and surgeries, so finally getting around to uploading videos. I also uploaded a shorts video yesterday with JOY's that Possum Patty from Pencil-vania sent me. Her most pressing question was -- was I responsible for the rubber ducky named JOY in one of Maine's harbors? Nope, but I thought it was funny that she recognized the word on the chest of the duck while watching the news about how the duck showed up in the harbor one night. 😂

My video includes a tutorial on how to create a collaged master-board or what we called in the cardmaking world, serendipity paper tag for a pocket on the picture diary part of my journal. Some of the paper I used came from Happy Mail from Possum Patty and some of it was scraps that I saved from other projects. Hope to get September's video up soon, perhaps tomorrow. But first a follow-up doctor's appointment. I had a cataract removed in my left eye and two stents put in to help keep the pressures in my eye even a week ago. I was diagnosed with pigmentary glaucoma several years ago. This is me - click here. When was the last time you have had your eyes checked? Don't let glaucoma (or cataracts) steal your eyesight. 

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September's video is live!. I had two requests this month -- a friend wanted me to begin my video with my face and for that we had to order a backdrop stand for  I didn't like what I was seeing behind me. Hubby ordered it from online Walmart on Saturday and it came on Monday.  I found out that a twin size flat sheet in my favorite black and white buffalo check/gingham fit just perfect and my creative mind got to thinking about what other things I could use as a backdrop -- other twin sheets in interesting patterns?, a green screen tarp?, a quilt top (wonder if I can find one at the thrift store that doesn't have a backing yet?), a tablecloth or a decorative shower curtain. I saw some really nifty ones on Amazon and eBay for sale, but I'd rather not spend more than the cost of the backdrop stand. I'm frugal, what can I say! And the other person wanted me to show them how I draw my coloring sheets or Grace cards, so have both in this video. Almost had a disaster right before I began filming though and that's when you have to get creative. My clip-on lamp broke, so will have to replace it but whew, I found a replacement that worked this time. The light and shadows were a little dark, but hopefully a new lamp will shed some new light next time!   Oh, and before I forget,  I also added a sound effect to my video this time. Listen for it! I had to do some juggling between my voice, the music and the sound effect and some of the video was a little glitchy, but it's gonna fly! 

Update: YouTube has removed the Discussion tab from people's channels that have less than 500 subscribers, which grumped me out. But what can you do? I used to be a member, then moderator in the Parlor at the website called Old Fashioned Living. Anybody remember that forum? I am/was also a member of Splitcoast Stampers and Club Posh's forums.  I was hoping to get enough people interested in beginning a forum of my own on YouTube, but guess I'll have to begin a thread with a video on my channel. Like I said before, I like praise, but I also like conversation, so if you want to talk to me, you can in the comments below this post or below each one of my videos.  

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I have a new JOY video up and now October's Positivity Journal Flip-through video. I'm still learning how to edit. It's hard work to come up with creative ideas of what to do in a video, but also how to edit them creatively. And if they are boring or long to you, I'm sorry, I'm doing the best I can, however, I'm open to hearing your ideas about what you want to see (providing they are good and clean ideas). I have two upcoming procedures, one in a couple of days and another one right before Christmas and somehow I pulled a muscle in my lower back while doing some work in the kitchen, so have been nursing that with hot water bottles and cold packs. And car rides are the worst! You don't realize how much your lower back absorbs shocks from road craters and sharp turns until your back doesn't. Mine spasms in pain. 

The best thing though, in October's video, is the Swap and Glue Challenge I participated in with Possum Patty of Pencil-vania. I sent her some images and she sent me some and we created a gluebook page with what we were sent. You'll have to check out my Happy Mail playlist for those particulars.

And I am really enjoying my twist on Teesha Moore's art journaled dolls. I even have Possum Patty making my version of zetti-dolls. See my YouTube hashtag #djrpaperdollart I uploaded another page to my Flickr photo album (see left side menu for link) and I rearranged the front of my channel. Some of my most popular playlists have been added there, however, I have more under my playlist tab. 

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Copy right Claims for Music on my Videos: I learned today who has put copyright claims on some of my videos. When I began recording and editing my Positivity Journal videos in 2019, I used the music that came with the Microsoft App Photo & Video editor that came on my computer. I figured they had okayed it with the powers to be, however, I soon discovered that they had different names for the music than it was listed as on YouTube. As soon as I received the copyright claims (which is different and less severe than a copyright strike), I sent feedback to both Microsoft and YouTube, protesting my innocence and telling each where I got the music. Hence, each one of my videos has the editor I use and the title of the music and composer if I know it down in the description box below each video. 

Anyway, each of the four 2019 videos that received a copyright claim to it means that I cannot get revenue from that video should I ever get to the place where I can monetize my channel (I must have 1000 subscribers plus a certain length of viewing time). I use YouTube's music and sound effects from their free audio library now.  

The claimants are:

AdRev

Hexacorp LTD on behalf of ScoreAScore

Naxos of America 

The reason I dug into my channel today is that a YouTube friend took music lessons on her electronic piano so that she could eventually play well enough to record music for her videos. She found some sheet music in the public domain, meaning that it was published at least 75 years ago and played that music for one of her videos. Now she has a copyright claim against it by some German company claiming that she infringed on a copyrighted recording of the music their company made in 1944. If that music became public domain 75 years ago, then it became so in 1946. IMHO some sneaky and stinky shenanigans goeth here. 

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November 2021 Short! After several months of health issues that included a couple of endoscopies and surgeries, I decided it was time to quit being lazy and finish up my positivity journal and upload a short show and tell video! 

And when I complete December's flip-through, my positivity journaling days will be over and on to new and better things, such as: 

I joined another #swapandglue with a YouTube friend named Linda Dee. We sent each other paper images through the snail mail; she's completed her collages on video, so I have that video to do! 

And Linda and I will each be doing an en masse journal (idea by Shannon Green). I've already have begun collecting a list of items I want to look for to glue down in a new composition notebook, so that video will be coming soon as well, and I've been going through my stash and pulling some things out to send some happy mail to Linda's Mixed-Up Mess! 🤓

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December 2021 Done! 

Happy Mail Opportunities!

Looking for opportunities to send a RAK (a random act of kindness) via snail happy mail? Below are listed some ideas for you. I get as much pleasure sending a card as receiving one and it doesn't matter to me whether I send or receive a card that's a commercially made or a handmade one, as it is the thought that counts, right? 

For instance, I make cards and have had some designs published, but if I'm shopping at our local Dollar Tree, where cards are sold for 50 cents and I see a design I like, I'm liable to send a few of those out too. 

1. Are you catching events like anniversaries, baby and bridal showers, birthday, get well, graduation, holidays, sympathy, and weddings for your friends and family? Write the event down in your planner or on your calendar to help you remember to send them a card or letter. 
2. Contact your favorite card or craft magazine and ask them if they have the address of a charity to donate cards to.  Or ask your favorite rubber stamp company if they know of one. Here are two called Letters of Love for the Elderly or Operation Christmas Cards for Our Troops .
3. Send firefighters, your mayor and city council, police officers, or a soldier a thank you card for their service. 
4. Send a letter to 12 people this year, one a month. Tell them you are grateful for the positive influence they have had on your life and be sure to tell them what it was. I once sent a card to a former teacher who I heard had been diagnosed with cancer. She wasn't one of my favorite teachers nor was I her student pet, but she did teach me how to type and I thanked her for teaching me that skill, for I am using it today as I type this post. 
5. Mail a sunny physical card via snail mail to a neighbor on the right and to the left of your residence.
6. If you are listed in a church or club organization directory, send a card to the people just above and below your name and address. 
7. I once had the ladies in our church shower my mother with cards the day her birthday fell on a Sunday.
8. Send a card to a secret sister or pal or send a handwritten paper letter to a pen-pal. 
9. Send a decorated recipe index card to a friend's collection of recipes. Make it extra special by catering it to their dietary needs. 
10. Surprise your boss and send a card to them. (or send one to a co-worker).  Praise them for a job well done! As the saying goes, catch them doing good! 
11. A friend donates small cards to her local meal-on-wheels and nursing home. 
12. Address a local picture postcard (or tourist brochure) to "You," slip it into a slightly larger food zipper baggie and tie or duct-tape it to a brightly colored helium-filled balloon. If you wish for a reply, slip a business card inside baggie with a post office box return mailing address.  Pray over your happy mail and send it on its way by letting it fly away. 
13. Send a note-a-day of love to a friend who has just moved away for 30 days. I once did this for my BFF. She was a military wife and mother to several small children at the time. She said all those wonderful cards delighted her as she received them daily in the mail and she felt loved and less alone as she gazed on them scattered around her new home several states away. 
14. Have a shoebox party (no. 2) and designate all or half the postcards made and signed to send to a city mission for the homeless or missionaries your church supports. Have the party attendees donate postage stamps along with their shoeboxes. 
15. Send a thank you card to your custodian or maid service, daycare providers, dentist, doctor, dog groomer, hairdresser, your mail carrier, a nurse, your pastor, your Sunday School teacher and so on for their care of you. 
16. Surprise a friend or family member and subscribe to an old-fashioned magazine for them. My sweet husband subscribed to the Country Sampler Farmhouse Magazine for me last year. I didn't know he had done so until I received the first issue. Then if you like the magazine, send a Letter to the Editor and include several of your favorite local shopping stores or mail-order catalogs in your town. I have had several of those published in various magazines over the years.
17. A former pastor of ours had a signing party at church. Once a month, in place of a regular Sunday evening service, we gathered around tables in the fellowship hall instead of in the sanctuary. He brought a list of names/addresses, boxes of cards, pens and postage stamps; we brought snacks, and we signed and sealed cards to mail out to birthdays of the month, members who missed services, missionary links, shut-in's, visitors and anybody else that pastor believed needed some cheer that evening.  

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Any of the posts labeled "Card" here on my blog will give some ideas of card design, but I also have some favorite posts that accompanies this snail mail idea list, such as:

18. A cartoon about All Occasion Cards 🤓

19. A Christmas Card Exchange idea

20. Card Storage 

21. A Doodled Zine 

22. Need some Sentiments for Cards? Here's some "Farm Animal Sayings for ATC's, Art Journaling Pages, Cards, and Scrapbooks" 

23. Or would you rather use a poem? I've got lots here at Splitcoast Stampers website in a forum thread called "Need a Poem?." 

24. We are a former homeschooling family. I created a unit study about the mail service for our son and along with it, he did a community service project at the same time. Here's the Paper Postcard Unit Study.

25. Quick Cards Designs

26. Tips on How to Watercolor the Art Impressions Way

27. Happy Mail Envelope Ideas!

28. You Are Invited to Tea 

29.  I have a Happy Mail Playlist at YouTube. It contains videos of snail mail that I have sent to friends on YouTube. I enjoy making my friends happy and delight in watching their appreciation and joy for the goodies.  There are general hashtags on YouTube for happy mail also, such as this one -- #happymail  

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Not every card or letter will need inserts, but if you would like to add something extra special to one, here are several ideas for those. 

1. For instance, we know of a young single mom who was in a serious car accident last year. Her grandmother asked that we insert Walmart Gift Cards into our Get-Well cards.

2. I taught toddler and primary Sunday School for several years. I sent coloring cards to my students about once a month to once a quarter. My kids were tickled to receive happy mail sent to them in care of their parents and sometimes I inserted small gifts such as artist trading cards, commercially printed Bible scripture trading cards, bookmarks, coloring sheets, coupons for food treats, church business card magnets, SS class photos, seed packets, sticks of gum, etc. 

3. A nice monetary tip (15% of your total bill is customary) for your waiter or waitress.

I invite you to add any ideas that I haven't thought of as yet in the comments below. As the Bible says, it is more blessed to give than to receive.  (Acts 20:35). Grace and Peace to You!