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! 

~~ <> @ <> ~~

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 ~

 

~~ <> @ <> ~~

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! 

~~ <> @ <> ~~

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!

~~ <> @ <> ~~

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

 ~~ <> @ <> ~~

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. 

~~ <> @ <> ~~

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.

~~ <> @ <> ~~

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. 

~~ <> @ <> ~~

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! 

~~ <> @ <> ~~

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. 

~~ <> @ <> ~~

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.  

~~ <> @ <> ~~

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. 

~~ <> @ <> ~~

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. 

~~ <> @ <> ~~

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! 🤓

~~ <> @ <> ~~

December 2021 Done! 

My Positivity Journal 2020

Playlist

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 and click on it to begin the viewing. 

My therapist asked me to continue with the positivity journal. Since the last one became huge and deformed at the spine, I've decided to make a topsy-turvy journal in the bullet journal format. (Anybody remember the topsy-turvy dolls? I had one as a child very similar to this one.) Crafty Hodges on YouTube created her journals with one half of the year right side up and the second half of the year upside down and both halves met in the middle of the book. She said it prevented the journal from getting deformed like mine did. So I'm going to try it in a second composition notebook. 

Essentially a bullet journal is a homemade planner and a collection book of lists. The only planner part of mine is going to have a teeny tiny calendar and a list of gratitude's at the beginning of the "chapter" for each day of the month. I'm going to have similar things to what I collected in my positivity book last year - favorite things, good memories, quotes, and scriptures, but in addition to that, I'm adding 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" blocks of doodles (my requirement, not hers, as I only have so much space for images) as I will be following Marsha Baker's 365 Day Doodle Challenge all year long at the edges of the pages. 

I wanted to learn sketch-note doodling because I thought it would help organize the sermon notes I've been taking for the last couple of years, however, most of the sketch-note examples I've seen on Pinterest are what I call "messy." They are all over the page in a random fashion. Not exactly what I had in mind. As a person with ADD, I get anxious when I get lost in "messy," so I guess I need to find some layouts that I can compile in a hurry when writing down my Pastor's sermons. 

Also, since my journal will be flipped upside down, the envelope pockets in the last journal won't do, so I took some large mailers and cut them in half to make new pockets with flaps and then glued on solid cardstock and washi tape to pretty them up before gluing them to the inside back covers of the composition notebook.  The major theme of my whole book will be based on Mary Engelbreit, which as most of you know, is my favorite illustrator, so I will be using from my collection of ME paper items to decorate it, however, just so you know, I AM NOT cutting up any of my precious books (65 in my collection so far) to decorate the journal with. I'm using cards for the divider pages over scrapbook or gift wrapping paper and bits and bobs cut from packaging and other papers. 

Also, I wanted a bead charm to hang off the side, but if I hung it at the top, then when I flipped the book, it would be at the bottom of the book, but then I decided I didn't care until... the elastic string began to cut into the paper at the bottom of the notebook. My friend, Julie, who loves making books came to the rescue and suggested that I add the string at the middle of the spine, so I used my We R Memories Keeper Big Bite long arm punch to punch a hole and attach a flower eyelet to either side of the spine and then at the center of the signature, I used a pokey tool to punch holes through the paper to line up with the eyelets. I had to use a large eyed needle to thread the elastic through the holes to the center of the signature and tie that off. I cut the ends off about 2 inches or so and glued tiny punched hearts to the ends and added glue to the knot to strengthen it. It's down right cute now. 

JANUARY'S page themes are (an index is located on both halves at beginning of each section along with the color of the month - pink). Each circle tab will coordinate with the paper and I'm using a paper clip bookmark to indicate which month I'm currently on. 

JANUARY'S TITLE PAGE: is a Mary Engelbreit card front with quote glued to a piece of cherry scrapbook paper: "The most wasted day of all is that on which we have not Laughed." (Chamfort). At the end of each video, I will be showing you a card I made with my collection of Mary Engelbreit stamps. It's about time to put them to good use. smile! 

I'm going to continue adding the words from the journal that I'm willing to share to my gratitude blog here.

Click on the video tab at the top of this blog. It's a direct link to my YouTube channel so you can view the latest one. 

until next month, adios! 

P.S. When I uploaded my video to YouTube tonight, it was crisp and clear because I made the video at the recommended high definition. But I had difficulty with it after it was uploaded - sometimes the screen goes blurry. If you notice that, please contact YouTube about it. They may be working on bugs that I just haven't heard about yet. Another channel made a comment about that very thing on a video I watched recently, so I know it hasn't happened to only me. Thank you for watching my videos, reading this blog post, and going the extra mile by commenting! Blessings!

Update: Still don't know why the video blurs, but refreshing the video page helps to clear things up if you are determined to watch it! 

~~ <> @ <> ~~

I'm sharing a bit of myself with my church family by doodling coloring sheets with scripture on them every week. Here is how I display mine in my kitchen, in a document sleeve to keep it splash and jelly-proof, so that I can meditate on it while doing kitchen chores:

My therapist wanted me to share with somebody something I liked doing plus I was getting the same nudges from God to share too. I've learned a long time ago you can't win when arguing with God. smile! I didn't want to, cause this was something for me and it would be a lot of work. . . I thought of all these excuses why I didn't want to do it. But I gave up when I got the homework assignment from my doctor, so. . . I explained why I was doing this to my spiritual family, gave them permission to print off more if they needed to, and then I gave them some ideas of what to do with the coloring sheets. Here's some of the ideas I came up with. If you have another idea, please share down in the comments at the bottom of this post. 

• One of my homeschool friends is printing off a coloring sheet for every child in her family to color while she has family devotions.
• I take a clipboard, paper, a pencil box and crayons with me in a Mary Engelbreit tote-bag that another friend found for me at a thrift store when I go to the doctor or anyplace I have to wait. I either doodle or color. Come to find out, our associate pastor likes to color too and takes a coloring book and crayons with him when he has to wait somewhere. It makes the time go faster. Better than waiting for a pot to boil, so to speak. smile! 
• Give a coloring sheet to a neighbor. Many adults as well as children like coloring therapy. One of the ladies in our church came to me last week, wanting a new copy of a previous week's sheet as she "messed one up" while watching a recent sports game on television. I've made extra copies in case that happened or if someone missed out on a previous week's copy because they were out of town or ill.  
• Write a letter on the back and send it colored or uncolored to a pen-pal or a grandchild, etc. 
• Collect them and make coloring books for someone as a Christmas gift. Since I gave them permission to make copies, they can make more than one. 
• I also took extra copies with me to a monthly coloring club hosted by a local paper crafting store. One person took one sample sheet of all I had with me, but the other two ladies politely declined them, however, since they asked me how I have been (it's been a year since the last time I attended) I shared the good news about how God healed me from all the physical pain I experienced last year.  

See my FABULOUS FREEBIE tab above for printable sample coloring sheets. 

~~ <> @ <> ~~

FEBRUARY's video has been uploaded without a hitch on YouTube and the words are up over at my gratitude blog. Did you know that YouTube has free music you can download from their website for use with your videos? I didn't until another YouTube friend told me about it.  So this month I chose "Grace Behind the Curtain" by Silent Partner to create my video with. Did learn that Microsoft's Video Editor App doesn't have any way to edit the background music length, so had to get creative and get some up-close shots to pad and fill in the video so that the music would end at the right place. Creating and editing a video is as much a creative process as doing the actual project like my positivity journal.  Thank you for watching. Be sure to subscribe so that you'll know when my next video has been uploaded and click on the like button. 

~~ <> @ <> ~~

Everything has turned upside down in my world. We're in coronavirus lockdown. However, I know whatever happens, God is in control, working behind the scenes and I'm still alive! Thank you, Jesus!

One of March's highlights is that Mary Engelbreit is offering a FREE coloring sheet for us to color while we are at home. I have a smart printer which can resize the image from a letter size image to small enough for a card, so I printed two sizes. One is a coloring sheet for my positivity journal and the other is a "digital stamp" sized image for a card.

Since we are socially distancing ourselves, but still meeting together via technology, my pastor has agreed to link my coloring sheet offering each week on our church's website. Please feel free to join us in worship and prayer via our corporate worship page. 

• A great new coloring sheet idea! A girlfriend suggest that anyone could put two coloring sheets back to back with a piece of same size thin shirt board between them, laminate everything together and then give them as a gift to a child with a set of colored dry erase markers and a felt eraser or washcloth. 

~~ <> @ <> ~~

UPDATE (4/20/2020): I learned to do something new on my YouTube channel today! I added two playlists on the front page of my channel so that you can directly access my positivity journal and my doodle playlists without having to scroll through a bunch of other playlists under the playlist tab on the front page of my YouTube channel!  Hope it is helpful to you! 
~~ <> @ <> ~~

UPDATE (4/24/2020): Learned how to make linkie card devices for videos, so spent a few moments adding them to all my journal and doodle videos, however, if you don't see a link that you want, check the description box below the video. I still have some there as well. 

Also wanted to show you what coloring pencils I use. Since I'm frugal, I go for cheap, but not so cheap that you color with a canning wax stick  with barely any pigment in the pencil -- I've purchased some like that at dollar stores and had to throw them away. Buy a reliable brand. Prismacolor pencils are artist grade and expensive, I received some Fiber-castell for Christmas; heard Derwent is a good brand, but my everyday coloring is Crayola brand Twistable. The other set is from South Korea and they are like the Twistable's. Our homeschooling missionary friend sent the set to our son for Christmas one year. Her son and our son were pals here at home in the US. 

And I uploaded a video for Part Three of my Doodle Series this week. Please subscribe to get an email in your in-box to know when I upload a video. Be sure to click on "all". I found a book at Half-Price Bookstore that will be my next exercise in doodling scripture verses for Part Four called "Drawing in Black and White" by Deborah Velasquez. Never heard of her before, so this book should be interesting. I linked in her website up on the side menu. 
~~ <> @ <> ~~

April's Journal Video is done and uploaded to YouTube. Ran into a planning snafu - not all the stuff I wanted for a particular page came in through the mail, so I added a FUN substitute instead. One of the pages has tidbits of about half my washi tape collection!  Amazing how rolls of pretty tissue tape give such pleasure to paper crafters! And I couldn't find my ATC's that I was going feature in this month's video either, so I substituted again with some Mary Engelbreit coloring sheets I had colored in for 3-ring-binder's monthly dividers. Mine came from a coloring book that I received for Christmas, but Mary is offering some coloring sheets for FREE here. 
~~ <> @ <> ~

May's Journal video is up and rolling finally. Sometimes this is what happens in blog & YouTube land. You are working on something and you have it almost done and you are working on getting the voice over and music in and SOMEBODY bumps the desk and POOF! off into cyberspace everything goes! I was so NOT HAPPY! 

But then, I started over, even though I was NOT feeling it and I pushed through it, so it is DONE and uploaded to YouTube. I even have toe-tapping music from YouTube's free music library that accompanies the video. The music is what made it for me this time. I was telling a girlfriend that I try to learn something new each time about how to create a show and tell video, but I still have to work with the technology I can afford and stretch it to the max. 

When you log into YouTube, check your HOME feed or notification bell for new videos from your subscribed channels. I also sometimes find teeny tiny blue dots next to the channels I subscribe to on the drop down menu on the left side of my computer screen that indicates new videos. 

Also the Dylusions mushroom rubber stamp and Mary Engelbreit stamps I ordered from Rubber Moon finally came in and I created a similar Tunnel card design like Jennifer McGuire. And I also showcased some artist trading cards. 
~~ <> @ <> ~

JUNE's video is up on YouTube now! I have lots of project pictures in this month's section -- discovered I like Farmhouse Décor, so I began to mend, paint, repaint, stitch, declutter, sort through and I hauled 3 trash bags of stuff to the thrift store so far that doesn't fit in with the farmhouse look. My hubbin even began to help me with the projects. Be still my heart! 💓

I also have a list of FREE Printable Coloring Sheets for you over in the side menu that I doodled. I also created some more Mary Engelbreit rubber stamped crafts - a card, a candy jar, and an upcycled peanut cannister that I converted into Mom's Mad Money bank. It's going into the laundry room and it's for those coins and cash I find at the bottom of the washing machine. Not my problem if you don't clean out your pockets. It's MINE NOW! 😁

And I also discovered, while watching YouTube videos on farmhouse décor, that the blurriness of the videos may be caused by the pixel setting of the video. I always save my videos in the highest dpi that I can, but there is an individual setting on the video toolbar that can be changed by you, the viewer, so check the little wheel when you watch the current video and see what the pixel level is. Click on it to adjust it to the highest setting for the best clear viewing. 
~~ <> @ <> ~

My "Christmas in JULY" video has finally been uploaded! My gratitude blog post has been published! And I'm updating this blog post! YAY! June, July, and August here are usually hot and humid, but we've had a lot of rain, which tied up some of my crafting that needed spray-paint. Now the next project is getting out and taming the green, overgrown jungle in the backyard and dumping the pools of water that are harboring our pesky state "bird" (MO. Mosquito). 🦟🦟🦟

Pastor handed me two sheets of paper last Sunday that a member of our church colored and sent to him like a card. Remember I said that the members of our church could color them in and use them for stationary? Well, she followed directions! Thought I would share them with you. smile!

~~ <> @ <> ~ ~

AUGUST - Still working on my journal, but I finished one project - the first in a series of YouTube Creator Academy tutorials and graduated from the first one. Woo Hoo! And got my diploma! 

My poor left foot. I didn't see the heavy flashlight until it landed on my toes, nor did I see the desk leg reach out to grab my pinkie toe the other day and try to rip it off. One of my girlfriends told me that feet were made to move furniture. Neither the flashlight or the desk moved, but I sure did and I'm sure everyone passing by heard me yell. I thought house-slippers were supposed to protect my feet as well as keep them warm. So anyway, haven't felt much like getting up on them, so the August video is really, really late getting done. But done at last it is! Yay! 

~~ <> @ <> ~ ~

And then I jump right into SEPTEMBER. Well, maybe not jump. smile! Still protecting that left foot as much as possible, cause it's still kind of tender. I completed my 2nd Creator Academy tutorial tonight (9/17/2020) and obtained another "Letter of Completion." And watched a YouTube playlist from a teacher named Eddie Woo trying to Teach the Teacher about technology and YouTube. 😆

Saw some handy gadgets that I might have to invest in someday, if I can find them at the right price. Meanwhile, I did learn about lighting and some transitional effects that have been driving me nuts trying to figure out cause if my video editor has any, I haven't found them yet. And having to put on my thinking cap and taking notes -- what do I have already here at home that can give me what I need to add to my videos that can make them the best that they can be? One thing I learned is that videos should be at least three (3) minutes long. So what can I use to fill or pad my videos with -- maybe some up close shots? Far away shots? How can I add moving bits to my videos? Craft tutorials? I love the FREE music I've been obtaining from YouTube's Music Library. The creative wheels are beginning to churn! 💡

~~ <> @ <> ~ ~

OCTOBER is finally uploaded! Sometimes things don't go as planned, but you have to try, try and try again! Words from my positivity journal are here as well as a link to the video. I enjoyed listening to YouTube audio library of free music and sound bytes this month and compiled three small instrumental songs into one for my video. I also learned, after 3 tries to get it right, to add a link to the end of the video to my Positivity Journal playlist. Rejoice with me! I completed Marsha Baker's 365 Day Doodle Challenge this month! I also added in a 2 page spread of my favorite illustrator/card-maker! Guess who? Why you guessed! ME No, not me silly. Mary Engelbreit, that's who! I also learned this month about another disabled artist named Maud Lewis. She's the Grandma Moses of Nova Scotia. Before I forget, I also added a photo of cutting letters from catalogs and packaging to glue to my journal and other projects. Hope you enjoy the vid! 

 ~~ <> @ <> ~ ~

NOVEMBER'S video is online. Whew! I had planned to get my November Positivity Journal video up in a timely manner the first week of December, but my husband shared the coronavirus with our son and I during the Thanksgiving holidays. They got over it quickly, but it's still hanging with me, so not only did I not get November's up nor December's nor did I get all my planned projects completed, but hope you will watch what I do have for you. By the way, I'm grateful to be alive! I have had two visits to the ER, an overnight hospital stay because the doctors discovered blood clots in my lungs and two secondary infections as well as a positive COVID test. I also need a new c-pap, for my old machine is wearing out. If you pray, please remind God of my needs. Thank you!

 ~~ <> @ <> ~ ~

DECEMBER'S video is uploaded to YouTube! 2020 = The End!