Over 1,000 Hits!!!

WooHoo!!

My blog has been visited over 1,000 times. So for the 3 of you that have each visited 333 1/3 times . . . THANK YOU!! :-) Just kidding, I don't know who all is following, but thanks!! This has been/is a lot of fun and I am happy to keep doing it.

On the YouTube front, things are going well also. I have 33 subscribers and people from all over the world are watching my tutorials. YouTube has a lot of fancy "insight" tools to help you understand your demographic. I don't know how to work half of it. But I did figure this out.

This map represents where my videos are being watched. It goes from light grey (no views) to dark green (the most views). It is difficult to see in this wide shot but when I click on the individual regions I can see that my videos are being viewed in:

United Arab Emirates

Qatar

Kuwait

Iran

Pakistan

India

Slovenia

Great Britain

Poland

Germany

France

Norway

Sweden

Brazil

Venezuela

Malaysia

Phillipines

Japan

and of course all over the USA

If you don't already know, my YouTube channel is www.youtube.com/user/juliemichelle4.

Thanks again!! And please feel free to comment, complain :-), make suggestions. See ya' soon!!

Celebrity Servers

Last Night we had a fundraiser at Golden Corral. The Percussion section pre-sold tickets for dinner at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Then several of the kids were our waiters for the evening. It was a good time and the kids walked away with a few bucks in their pockets.

Christian and Co. - Sarah is standing on a chair and Christian is crouching down. Guess they wanted to try something other than being the tallest and the shortest.

I made TIP jars out of recycled peanut butter jars. I didn't realize how many we had! We made a lot of PB&J's during football season.

It's funny how a kid who has to be asked to clear the table at home will clear your plate every 6 minutes when there is $$ involved :-)

ID Badge Mini Album Tutorial

Outside Covers of Mini Albums

Inside of Albums - with and without pictures inserted

Today's video tutorial shows you how to make a cute mini album out of ID Badge Holders. You can find these little plastice sleeves in the office supply section. They're inexpensive and make a great display for your wallet size photos.

Have fun!!

Make and Take - Birthday Gift Card Holder

Recently Hayden and I went to a Make and Take. For my non-crafty folks :-) a Make and Take is where you go to a craft get together, learn how to make something and then take it home with you. They are so cool, and Hayden and I had a really good time.

The project was a gift card holder. I had seen pictures of one online, but never tried my hand at it. It was sooo easy, and fun, and they turned out super cute.

Hayden's (standing up) and my (laying down) gift card holder.

I was so proud of Hayden's creativity. He really went all out - inking the edges of his white cardstock, using two sentiments, making his candle multi colored, coloring in his sprinkles, and he even got his candle perfect. As you can see one of mine is kinda' floating. Oh well, I still like it.

Inside (open) view. You can decorate the inside too, we just didn't.

Another inside view. The gift card fits perfectly!

View from the top.

And the Winner is . . . .

Last night at the Stage Crafters Annual Awards Banquet, Jekyll and Hyde won "Best Show"!!

For those of you that don't know, I was one of the cast members. It was really neat to see that all of our hard work paid off. :-)

For those of you that are local and haven't been to a show, you have GOT to come check it out!! It really is a good time. There is just something about live theatre that is so different than anything else.

This year's lineup includes: Is There Life After High School (musical), Wait Until Dark, The Seven Year Itch, and 1776 (musical). A season ticket is only $60 and that gets you into all 4 shows. Or, you can pay by the show ($20 each).

Oh yeah, if you want to be part of the show, come on down!!!! We always need new faces for our cast and crew.

At the Banquet with the happy cast and crew of Jekyll and Hyde!!

Believe it or not, this is only about half of us :-)

Amusing Coincidences or The President Has Good Taste

I wanted to mention this in last night's post. But, I got too tired.

When it comes to choosing music and fashion it seems that Adam and I have something in common with Barack and Michelle.

Coincidence???? You decide

Julie and Adam chose the song "Simple Gifts" to be played prior to taking their vows.
Barack and Michelle chose the song "Simple Gifts" to be played prior to taking the oath of office.

Julie and Adam chose the song "At Last" to be sung for their first dance at their reception.
Barack and Michelle chose the song "At Last" to be sung for their first dance at their inaugural ball.

Julie wore an off white dress for her wedding.
Michelle wore an off white dress to the ball.

Julie's middle name is Michelle. . .

You see where I'm going with this.

Is it just me, or are they shamelessly copying us?!?!??!?

If Michelle starts calling herself "craftastic", I'm gonna' have to do something!

I hope you all know that I am totally kidding. Just thought these were neat and unusual coincidences.

Where Were You?

There are moments in life when you can vividly remember where you were when history was made. JFK's assassination, the moon landing, the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion, the 911 attacks. Today was one of those days.

Today, I subbed in a math class at Hayden's school. I had the privilege of watching the inauguration with 40+ Middle School students who couldn't understand why I had my camera out. I told them, first of all, do you not know me?? I ALWAYS have my camera out :-) I didn't really say that, but I did try to explain to them that this was a historic event and I wanted to remember it. A few of them got it, most just looked at me like I was certifiable. Middle schoolers - whaddya' gonna' do?

The whole school watched the inauguration. Some got to watch it live, others (who were at lunch or PE) watched it taped. I watched it both times with different kids. The kids were great, they managed to watch and still get their work done.

Where were you?

--------------------------------

Where was I:

JFK assasination - I wasn't born yet.

Moon Landing - I was 10 days old. They tell me they sat me in front of the TV to watch

Challenger Explosion - at home in Omaha, NE. I had stayed home sick from school that day.

911 Attacks - helping to clean up a campground (end of the season) in Wellfleet, MA.

Don't Throw That Away!

So, I've been recycling a lot lately. Turning old cans and containers into craft projects. Remember the comment about turning Band-aids into a card . . . I'm still thinking :-) But, I did manage to pretty up several tin cans, peanut cans, and even a ketchup bottle.

Christian played the music for my video and I used titles instead of a voice over.

See what you think.

Until next time :-)

High on Paint Fumes :-P

More fun in the Band Room today. I didn't actually paint anything, but I still managed to kill a few brains cells breathing in what everyone else was painting. I swept and gathered up random belongings, and took LOTS of pictures. We're making progress.

We had lots of help painting today. First of all we had two band parents/professional painters who gave us a tremendous head start by doing all three coats of the top green stripe and one coat of the bottom green stripe the night before. They probably would've finished all of the green, but they ran out of paint. They have been soooooo wonderful!

Today, armed with more paint, parents and students alike picked up rollers and brushes and knocked out another chunk of this huge job in short order. They did the white stripe in the middle, finished the bottom green coats, and tackled both the entrance and the exit. Tomorrow, we will let the white and black dry.

Monday, our two pros will come back in and put a 6 inch black stripe between the white and the black while we try to put everything back in some order before the kids come back on Tuesday.

The kids will be surprised about the new walls, and probably a little confused about the fact that we moved everything. It will definitely take them a while to find their instruments, textbooks, and random clothing. The textbooks and random clothing I don't feel bad about. Isn't that what lockers and closets are for? But, all those instrument cases do look alike. Oh well, hopefully they will get over it.

Our Progress

Back of the Band Room (Panoramic View)

Before we removed the cabinets (northeast wall)

After we removed the cabinets

After a lot of sweeping, vacuuming and painting

I wish I had taken all of these pics from the same angle. But, I didn't think of it at the time. Oh well, to get an idea of the perspective look at the air conditioner vent (the black hole near the ceiling).

Gift Can Tutorial

Here is my latest Craft Tutorial.

Did I mention how much fun I am having with these? :-)

It's a variation on a gift bag. It is a "Gift Can." It's made out of a recycled tin can, designer paper and leftover tissue paper.

Hope you like it!!

Long time no post! Today I'm back with lots to talk about :-)

It's the end of the semester and the start of a four day weekend (1 day off for a teacher workday and 1 day off for MLK day). Both of the boys did well this semester. Hayden got straight A's and Christian got a 3.0.

I have been busy lately making tutorials. It's a lot of fun. As you all know, I love crafting. Making videos that people are actually watching has been very rewarding. I will be posting two more this week.

I also spent some time this week auditioning for Stage Crafters next production - "Is There Life After High School"? I didn't get a part :-( But, it is NOT because of my age, as my children have been teasing me (the play is about people that have been out of high school for many years). It was disappointing not to be cast. But, I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Several of my friends did get a part and I will probably help backstage in some way. So, it will still be a lot of fun. If you're in the area come see it the first and second weekends in March.

Stage Crafters will be having their annual banquet next weekend at the Soundside. I will be the photographer again this year. I'm anxious to see if "Jekyll and Hyde" (the show I did last year)wins best show. I hope so, but I hear that "Godspell" is going to give us some tough competition.

We have also been busy with the Band Room Re-Do. We are on Phase 3 now.

Phase 1 was the removal and cleaning of all of the trophies

Believe it or not, this isn't all of the trophies

Before (top) and After (bottom)

Phase 2 was cleaning and spackling walls

Washing Walls and Hosing off disgusting A/C vents

Phase 3 was demolishing and removing the instrument cabinets

The kids with their "weapons" of choice

Before (top) and After (bottom)

Here is a funny video of some of the Instrument Cabinet Demolition.

Altered First Aid Kit Treat Holder/Purse Tutorial

Here's my second tutorial. This time I altered one the First Aid Kits you can find at Target or Walmart for $1. It turned out really cute. So, for $1 I got a really cute project and some bandaids too boot :-) Hmmmmm . . . maybe I can figure out how to make a card with the bandaids!! You laugh, but if you ask my husband he'll tell you - I'm only half kidding :-)

The outside of the Treat Holder/Purse

A sneak peek at the goodies inside.

Yummy! Now that I look at this picture. I guess I could decorate the inside too. What do you think? Necessary, or would it just take the focus off of the important part - the CHOCOLATE!

The Video Tutorial

If you click play and then click on the video again, it will take you to my YouTube channel where you can leave a comment. Which, by the way, would be really cool ;-)

2 Crazy Boys and a Dog

Christian got an "Iron Gym" for Christmas. As you can see he is enjoying it :-) He got it at the "As Seen on TV" store here in town and it actually is "as seen on TV." Shocking!! It seriously does "install" and "uninstall" in seconds and doesn't mark up the wall. You can use it for several different types of exercises Although, I'm not sure the company knows about the vampire bat exercise yet.

Here is Hayden with Lexxie. She loves to cuddle and sleep right next to people. This picture was taken while Hayden was in the office reluctantly trying to wake up for school. Hayden doesn't like for Lexxie to sleep with him at night. He says she moves around too much. I think the truth is that he moves and she has to adjust to him. Hayden has always been a very active sleeper.

My First Tutorial!!

I finally got my voice back enough to record a voice over for my first tutorial. Then I ran into editing problems (ie. I know enough about Windows Movie Maker to get me in trouble and had to wait for Christian to fix my goofs.) I learned a lot and will do some things differently next time. But, overall all I am happy with how it turned out.

Thanks to all of my family and friends!! I didn't have the patience to mess with the credits to much. If I had, credit would go to:

Adam - new 'puter to make this video on :-)
Christian - editing

Hayden - camera set up
Dawn - Pearl Ex (Christmas gift)
Sarah - Heat Gun (Christmas gift)
All My Craft Buddies - inspiration
All My Blog and YouTube Buddies - motivation

Happy New Year!!

Hope everyone had a safe and Happy New Year!! We had a great time at Connie Kay's Flightline Pub and Cafe. I took pics (of course), which I collaged into a digital scrapbook page. It was so easy!! Just what I need - another hobby :-) I was scrolling through some old emails and found a digi-scrap tutorial. Took me longer to find the 2 pieces of clip art (which are really cheesy - sorry) than it took to put all the pics into the layout.

I also managed to half way fulfill one of my goals. I filmed a craft tutorial!! WooHoo! It's only half done because my voice has been on the fritz since New Year's Day. Not sure why?? I'm not sick and I didn't even scream that much on New Year's Eve. So, I couldn't talk through the video. I should be able to do a voice over by this afternoon and have it posted by tonight or tomorrow. It's exciting, but also scary. Let me know what you think.