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Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Reflections on New Years Eve

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!!!
I have been spending the morning refecting on 2019 and planning for 2020.
Despite my two hospitalizations, I have been well pleased with the past year. I enjoyed card making and teaching as well as teaching Cricut classes at JoAnn's and Micheals. And, just as I was hoping to expand my teaching capacity, I met someone who offered me a perfect teaching venue. I was able to join Creativation and am currently making arrangements to attend the convention in Arizona.
So, all in all, 2019 has been a very good year.
As is the norm, I am thinking about my New Year's resolutions and what I hope to accomplish. My biggest goal is to become confident in my video making and editing skills. I started making videos three years ago, but have not mastered editing. I was excited to join Melody Lane's class on doing live streaming and even tried one. I was so traumatized by that attempt that I was afraid to try again. So my plan and hope is, that this time next year, I will be the proud producer of a weekly Youtube offering.

Here's hoping that all of your New Year's wishes come true.

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

I Can't Believe I Made the Whole Thing !

Two days ago I posted about my resolution to turn all of my embellishments into cards. Well, I am proud to say that, today, I made 19 cards. Nine 4.25 x 5.5, three 5.5 x 5.5, and seven 5 x 7.

If I have the energy I will start on the notecard size. Otherwise, I will complete that tomorrow.

I kept my vow to complete the layering on the inside of each card except for the stamping, as I want to be able to personalize them when I am ready to use them.

YEAH ME !!!


Monday, December 23, 2019

Review of We R Memory Keepers Foil Pens

I am in love with the We R Memory Keepers foil pens. I must admit I was quite resistant to trying them. Early in my transition from scrapbooking to card making I bought the We R Memory Keepers original foiling pen and found it awkward to use and got inconsistent results. When the foiling machines came out I immediately became enamored and had to have one. I love it when it works well but get frustrated by having to manage the embossing sandwich. In addition, the foil stamps can be expensive, so I had to question why I would need to go back to using a pen. Well, thanks to Tuesday Morning and the half-price deal, I gave in and bought two pens. I watched a youtube on how to connect them to my Cricut and plunged right in. I used my GoPress and Foil gold foil and the results were perfect the first time. I used it again last night with equally great results.
What makes this GREAT is that I don't have to buy more "stuff" because I can use designs that I already have through Cricut Design Space. So, while I have no intention of abandoning my Go Press and Foil machine, the WeRMemory Keepers pens will be the more frequent choice.




Saturday, December 21, 2019

New Years Crafting Resolutions

As I spend yet another day cleaning and organizing my craft room I am inspired to make some New Years' resolutions in order to gain control of a very limited area containing far too much STUFF


Although I have made some headway about organizing in the past weeks I keep running into the same problems: Paper scraps from preparing for my monthly card class
                          Embellishments made from Watercolor Wednesday and Kit and Clowder


I actually have a very elegant system for paper handling, thanks to Totally Tiffany, but neglect to use it efficiently as I get so wrapped up in crafting



I  hesitate to make cards out of my premade embellishments for no good reason at all. I think I am under the illusion that I will use them as inspiration pieces. But in the years that I have been crafting, I don't think I have ever actually done that. LOL

So the new deal is: Clean up after each card
                               Make a card out of each successfully completed embellishment

For future consideration: putting together card kits to sell or use as rewards. At this time I have far more cards then I will ever use. Despite being an avid card maker I seldom actually send cards!

I would love to hear your suggestions for clutter control you use in your craft area.








Monday, December 16, 2019

Preparing for CREATIVATION

This will be my first time attending AFCI  and I am so excited. Room reservations have been made. I watched the presentation on preparations for first-time attendees. And so excited at the thought of meeting all the crafters that I have been following for the past several years. I am also hoping to meet crafters from my local area of York, Pennsylvania so that we can pool our resources and perhaps form a local support group that would continue past the conference.
 

Sunday, December 8, 2019

New Location For Teaching Cricut



I will be forever grateful to Joann's for giving me the opportunity to teach Cricut in their stores, but the time has come for me to relocate to a site that provides a more flexible schedule and the ability to design my own programs. I was fortunate to be invited to teach Cricut classes at Charmed Again, a new consignment store located in York, PA. The owner has assured me that wifi is readily available and students should have no trouble connecting or staying connected to the internet.