Prairie Paper & Ink

Some YouTube Housecleaning

Hello everyone :)

As always busy busy busy here ;), but still attempting to get things done - lately more-so on my YouTube channel.

I finally uploaded a "channel preview" - if you're already subscribed to me on YouTube you won't have seen it - it's meant to somewhat explain what it is I DO on there to people that are totally new to me:

 

You can watch directly on YouTube HERE <-----click!

And something else I've been trying that I talked about on my FB page is uploading my videos as a larger file size. I always forget that a LOT of my blog readers and YouTube subscribers are not on my facebook page, so addressing things here is needed as well.

Lately I've been getting *some* "complaints" that my videos are "blurry" or they think I need to "zoom out more" b/c it's not crystal clear. Or that I need to purchase a HD or better quality camera.

Well for one thing I DO have a pretty good camera (one that cost me a pretty penny when I purchased it!), that DOES film in HD. BUT that is a MASSIVE amount of data to upload/edit/process/upload to YouTube, and not only is it the camera but my computer and my internet connection need to be top notch as well.

What a LOT of people don't realize is that I do this mostly as a hobby (AKA I'm not making near enough $$ to classify all this as a business - literally I make nothing when one figures out all the time I put into it - I do it because I enjoy it - I LOVE stamping and have learned to love making videos and sharing them with all of you). And I pay for EVERYTHING out of my own pocket. I saved up for months to buy the camera I have (and actually sold off a lot of my stamping stuff that I'd stockpiled for years), and saved up for a couple YEARS to purchase my iMac computer. I've been paying extra to my internet provider to have faster upload speeds (which sadly is being downgraded in a couple weeks b/c the bills are piling up and I won't be working as much soon!) in order to handle all the video files.

Up until recently I've been uploading all my videos as a "medium file" (it's just an option in iMovie - I honestly am not all that savvy on "tech-speak" when it comes to all this stuff - I do what I can), which isn't the "best" quality.

So after getting too many complaints I thought I'd *try* uploading a "large file" for my videos. It takes about 3x longer for my computer to process and upload to YouTube - and so far I see a tiny bit of improvement? And I haven't had any complaints recently LOL ;) ;).

I can honestly say that I have NO plans on filming and uploading in HD - at least not in the near future. It takes a LOT of time to film, then edit, upload, process, post, etc etc etc for every single video I do - and switching to HD would basically more than triple that amount of time. Time that I just don't have. And with a baby on the way I DEFINITELY won't have that much free time!

All that being said - I only thought it was time to better explain what all this is like for me. I'm not catering to the complainers (much *wink*), it was more of an experiment on my part to try something different. I've always tried to make my videos as well as possible and explain everything as simply as possible (which was the main point in my opinion), and I KNOW that you can't please everyone! It's a learning process too - my videos have come a loooonnnggg way since I first started making them - now I'm at well over 300 (hundred!) videos on my YouTube channel. And I'm sure they will keep improving as time goes on (I hope anyway).

It's also easier for me to type all this up here for y'all rather than try to explain the whole process over and over and OVER again to the people that don't understand and feel the need to criticize.

Thankfully the vast majority of my subscribers, my readers, and my Facebook fans are more than appreciative of what I do - and I appreciate all of you just as much. I also really appreciate y'all for sticking up for me when a "hater" does creep out of the woodwork, and for sticking by me when I seem to disappear for weeks on end when my "real" life tends to take over! It makes what I do on here worth it that's for sure.

And if you're still reading at this point THANK YOU ((((hugs))))

I have to head to work now (my "real" job that actually helps with the bills and puts food on the table LOL), hopefully I will have something more "creative" to post for y'all very soon!

 

Don't forget to check out my ETSY Shop! Prairie Paper & Ink on ETSY

Prairie Paper & Ink Facebook Page

Prairie Paper & Ink YouTube Channel

I'm on Pinterest too! Click to find me.

I'm also on Twitter now

aaaannnnddd Instagram as well - amyrysavy

 

Google Chrome Users

I posted about this on my Facebook page but people aren't seeing it and not everyone that reads my blog is on my Facebook page. I'm getting a lot of messages and e-mails about it so I'm posting here too just so y'all know I'm aware of thie issue:

**Google Chrome Users** - if you're having issues with my blog (not allowing you on and getting "malware" warnings) it's b/c of the Stamping Top 50 badge in the sidebar - apparently it's causing issues with every site it's on. I'm not removing mine right now as it's a pain to do and it's not a virus or malware of any sort. If you use a different browser you won't have a problem. Hopefully any issues will be fixed ASAP on the Top 50 site...

I'm going to fiddle and see if I can remove the badge just so that I don't get a bunch more messages and e-mails. I'm well-aware of the issue and there are a TON of sites that it's affecting (there's hundreds of us that have the Top 50 badge) but it's only to those that are using Google Chrome. If you switch to a different browser you won't have an issue.

 

Randomness - Where to find what I use in my videos

Hello everyone!

.

It was high time for me to post a video like this :). I have found that I'm replying to a TON of e-mails and comments etc and that I'm repeating myself over and over and over again :P I *think* I explain it better via video and "in person" rather than typing it up in an e-mail 500 times LOL!

.

 

As always to watch directly on YouTube click HERE <-----click!

.

From now on when I get comments/e-mails asking where I got such-and-such I'll just link to this video - b/c 99% of the time a person just doesn't know that I've already done all the work for you! ;) Saves us ALL a ton of time in the end LOL!

.

I have to run to work - I hope y'all have a fabulous day! :)

Don't forget to check out my ETSY Shop! Prairie Paper & Ink on ETSY

Prairie Paper & Ink Facebook Page

Prairie Paper & Ink YouTube Channel

I'm on Pinterest too! Click to find me.

I'm also on Twitter now

aaaannnnddd Instagram as well - amyrysavy

Search Function Added!

FINALLY!!

It only took me FOREVER to add a search bar to this blog (although I am sure at one time I had one and I have no idea what happened to it!) - and with over 4 1/2 YEARS of post to sift through when you're looking for something it should kinda help to have a search function.

If you're reading this in a reader (like Google Reader) you'll have to click over to my blog to see it. It's in the right sidebar --------> a little lower down.

Happy Searching! :o)

**check one more thing of my to-do list**

2010 Top Scrapbooking Blog Award

Although I don't scrapbook (well every once in a blue moon I'll put a page together - I would LIKE to do more - but I find it so time consuming and I make even MORE of a mess with that than I do when making a card...) I won an award for my blog!

I got an e-mail the other day stating that Prairie Paper & Ink won the 2010 Top 45 Scrapbooking Blog Award - how cool is that??

Definitely made my day :o)

So now I've got a little award down on the left sidebar there <------- and if you click on it it will take you to the page listing all the winners.

Housekeeping

Or rather the title should say "blog-keeping" if that were a word...

Anywho in the last little while I've started to do some "cleaning-up" around this blog (and have a long way to go I know) things have been sadly neglected for too long (and my post count these past few months has been sad too - I know!!):

I updated my archives which you can find in the sidebar to the right under the title:

Oldies but Goodies....

That's where I have all my archived posts sorted by month all the way back to when I started this blog (which in a few days will be 4 years!! It's hard to believe it's been going on for this long) - so that's a great place to check when you're looking for certain posts.

I am also in the process of re-vamping the So Many Blogs...So Little Time!! page - that's where I had a list of all the blogs that linked back to me and ones that I enjoyed.

It hasn't been dealt with in a LONG time and as I'm going through it I've found that a lot of blogs have changed addresses, no longer exist, have deleted their links to my blog, haven't posted in over 6 months etc etc etc so I'm basically just going through and updating the list and deleting - which is taking forever!

THIS though is where you (might) come in.

If you've got a stamping/scrapbooking-related blog and have a list of blogs in your sidebar/etc that you like to visit and Prairie Paper & Ink is one of them AND you're not already on my list then let me know!

Post a comment with the name of your blog, and the URL to your blog in the comment section for THIS post and I will add it to the So Many Blogs...So Little Time!! list here on mine :o)

Delay

I'm going to try and get the Friday Sketch! up soon!!

We got hit with a MASSIVE storm here - and no not a thunderstorm - but snow and wind gusts of 100km(60 miles) an hour.

Needless to say we weren't able to get to the city for Veronica's dentist appointment! We cancelled it and are stuck at home.

Tim attempted to go to work - but there's no visibility and I've heard there are a lot of pile-ups on the roads. We can barely see to the end of our (short) driveway!!

The power's been going out as well - so I wanna make this post fast just in case it goes out again!!

Hopefully I will be back later with the sketch and mebbe even a card or two - we'll see how it goes!

Featured

I just got an e-mail letting me know that one of my storage ideas (for scrap paper) was featured on the Crafty Storage blog - so I thought I'd direct y'all to that post:

Scrap Paper Storage

The Crafty Storage is a neat blog!! I've never heard of it before (since I opened my salon I rarely if ever have time to blog hop/surf - so I miss out on cool places like this! I'm definitely adding this one to my Google Reader though - storage/organization is another one of my loves - along with shoes, and stamps, and the color purple (used to be pink - and still sometimes is - but for several months now I've been obsessed with all things purple......)) but it looks like a neat blog to read!

So basically if someone were to ever give me a gift that stored things, was purple, and fit shoes inside (and if shoes were IN IT.....)they would have my undying love and devotion.....ROFLOL!!!!!!

And in case you're new to my blog you can check out all my storage/organization related posts here:

Organization/Storage/Studio

Special Feature!

Just a quick heads up to let y'all know that I was featured today on Amy's Stocking Stuffer blog. She had seen the post I did a while ago showing the Anya puppets I made for my girls and wanted to feature them so I said go right ahead!

You can see her post HERE <----click!

Featured

Just a quick FYI to y'all that I was featured on the Inspirational blog today! How cool is that??

You can check out the post HERE <----click!

Anyone seen my mojo?

Apparently with everything I've had going on lately I've lost my mojo. I've been working on the SAME card for I don't know how many days now and nothing is working. So instead of continuing to attampt to MAKE it work (sometimes that works for me - but right now it's not!) I'm gonna go do other things and pray I get some creative inspiration SOON!

On another note - I've been reading all the comments and e-mails regarding my videos - I am really glad that you guys are liking them! They're simple I know - and not the greatest quality (I just use my little Casio digi camera as I don't have an actual video camera), but I like doing them to be able to share and show things that are more difficult to show and explain with a post and pictures! So yes I definitely plan on continuing to post videos as I have time :o)

Lemme know if there's anything you'd like for me to do a video on, or something you'd like to see "in real life" - I have all kinds of punches, papers, stamps, ribbons etc etc etc and was planning on doing videos every once in a while that show JUST different products and whatnot as I know for me when I see something I like online and order it it can be totally different than what I thought when it arrives on the doorstep!

K I'll be back hopefully really soon with somethin' creative to share!

Craft Critique Valentine's Day Blog Carnival

Hey all you peeps out there in blogland! Just an FYI that Craft Critique is doing a HUGE Valentine's Day Blog Carnival right now.

You can check out their first post HERE<-----click!

A bunch of my posts are included (the third one from the top!) so be sure to check them all out for TONS of inspiration!!

I've Been Nominated!!

 

So I just got an e-mail - my Altering a Paint Can tutorial was nominated for the Best Gift Idea Awards over on the Tip Junkie website!! How cool is that?

You can see my original post HERE <-----click!

And if you'd like to vote you can go HERE <------click! The poll for voting is at the end of the post!

............................................................................................................................................

I will be back later on to post the winner of the Ribbon Blog Candy(once I get the number form Random.org it may take me a while to count to the right one!) - that will be later on tonight.

I also still plan on making a sample or two for today's ATS challenge (see post below).

AND I'm in the middle of uploading a short video tutorial onto YouTube (*hint* - it involves ribbon) that is taking FOREVER - I've tried several times and have been at this for hours now and it's driving me mad! Once I get it working I'll post it here.

Later peeps!! :o)

Comments - Something New

You all should notice something new with the comments on here. It's not a major change and shouldn't disrupt anything on here - they just look a teeny bit different and I can now actually reply TO a specific comment (something I've wanted on here for forever!! Will make things a lot easier for me I'm hoping!!).

This should be a really GOOD thing - and will hopefully make commenting here on my blog more interesting and interactive for all of us.

I do read every comment I get, and hopefully this new little feature will enable me to be able to answer most questions quickly and directly under the question so that it all is in one place (which is perfect for my OCD LOL!!).

**Don't forget to leave me any suggestions for tutorials and/or tool/product reviews in the comments of the post below this one! I look forward to hearing from you!!**

Hot Linking

I'm getting my Friday Sketch post typed up - but before I post it I wanted to link to these posts about Hot Linking.

Let me first say tho that I am in no way computer literate - I bumble around on here and figure things out by sheer accident. I do know that I have never hot-linked though - if I share images for inspiration at any time I first save the image onto my computer (right click, save to my computer, then upload along with a link to the original creator (and at all times if possible getting permission BEFORE I post!!) to credit them). I didn't even really know what hot-linking was until I read these bloggers accounts - and I'm sharing them here as I found them SO useful and they said it much better than I ever could.

Julie's Just Say "No" post (part 1 of 3)

Julie's More on Hot Linking post (part 2 of 3)

Julie's Paper Trufflez: Just Say "No" Part III (part 3 of 3)

Kristina's On Hot-linking and Stealing Images post (part 1 of 2)

Kristina's Hot-linking - more info & answering questions post (part 2 of 2)

If you read these in the order I've posted them you should be able to "get" what this is all about (I know I learned a lot through them!).

Does that mean that I don't want people taking images off my blog? YES. The ONLY exception to this is my Friday Sketch posts - the actual sketch (not the card) that I make for everyone is totally fine with me to save it on to your computer then upload it onto YOUR blog post with your creation and a link back to my post with credit. That I am happy with! Anything other than that I would prefer that you e-mail me to ask for permission.

I have had images and more stolen from my blog in the past (and used for personal gain) and it really sucks to be honest. I put a LOT of work into posting on here - making my cards/projects, taking the pictures, editing, posting, upkeep with this blog (which isn't free - I pay quite a bit to keep this blog going!!) and I do it because I love it. I love sharing my creations with all of you and love hearing from you. I read all the comments and appreciate every one (and try to answer all the questions as I have time as well!!).

So far I haven't really come across any instances of people hot-linking my images from here - but I wanted to post this just so that other's can be aware - b/c if you're anything like me stuff like this doesn't always make a lot of sense!! I'm just glad that Julie stood up and posted about this issue and Kristina did an excellent job of explaining more of what hot-linking IS and how to NOT do it.

OK I'm done blabbing about this :o) I'm going to get my Friday Sketch posted ASAP!! :)