Create, Love and Dream ATCs

Been a little late for updates for this month as I was quite busy lately with several activities for the past weekends. Trying to strike a balance and has been making an effort to plan my time well. There are a lot of things happening around me and I'm very glad to share they are good things. It'd also mean I'll busier for a very different set of reasons, as well as transiting into a new phase in life. More challenges ahead I should say and I may face some adaptation stress which might not be a bad thing. Rather, it'd mean I need to be more disciplined and have to constantly keep my emotions under control. Nonetheless, it's still something positive to look forward to and I'm super excited about it! 😂 

Moving on, sharing here my latest project today in relation to my recent YouTube channel trailer. Decided to do up these ATCs to portray the message I've been wanting to bring across and what it really means by "Creating the Dream". It has been an amazing creative journey so far. And I've witnessed the creative progress in me during these past 4-5 years, which has moulded me into a better thinker and person; an experience that I never acquired during my past working life. 

Create, Love and Dream are terms that I always want to use them as frequent as I could to remind myself why I'm into this journey. Regardless of what kind of art or creatives you are in, the desire to love the work you do and continue loving it makes the dream possible. Hence, creating is more than just a journey itself. Loving it makes the journey more complete and fulfilling. It's also my greatest pleasure to invite everyone to join me on this journey together, not solely to share my works but also to encourage and inspire as much as I could. Likewise, I'd also love to be encouraged and inspired as well and that's the whole purpose of wanting to do this.

I had bought this Tim Holtz ATC mover and shapers die many years ago thinking it might be useful in the future. Very unfortunately, this die has already been retired and is hardly available online. It took me this long to finally get to use this for this project. Well, it's always better to use them now than never. A great amount of supplies I used are actually within my existing stash that I've kept for very long especially those ornate frames chippies, mulberry leaves etc. I'm aiming to have a nature feel hence I added quite a number of "leaves", "straws", "stones" and "foliage" to make it as if you are entering into a tropical rain forest. I hope I've gotten the feel correctly. Notice there's also some dew on the leaves as well?

As much as I could, whenever time permits, I'll try my best to do up a tutorial. And here is my first tutorial for this month of February. I hope this will provide some interesting ideas and inspirations. An extensive list of supplies I used for this project can be found at the bottom of this entry. 

List of supplies used for this project:

• Graphic 45 Nature Sketchbook 8" x 8" paper pad
• Graphic 45 Botanical Tea cling stamp
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink in brushed corduroy (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Tim Holtz Distressed stain in tarnished brass (Scrapbook.com)
• Smooch pearlized ink accents in molasses (Scrapbook.com)
• Pale gold acrylic paint
• Prima Marketing straw jute
• StazOn midi in spiced chai 
• Viva Decor pearl pen in magic transparent
• Acetate sheets
• Dusty Attic chipboards (upper alphas, lower alphas, mini corners, mini flourish)
• Woodland scenic underbrush in light green
• My own stash (leafy ribbon, jute straw, mulberry leaves, fern clear stamp, ornate frame chipboards, micro styrofoam)

Graphic 45 Throwback; An Unseen Project - Voyage Beneath the Sea Bathroom Decor

Alas!! As I flipped through the drafts, I took notice of this one project I had done up for Graphic 45 during my term with them. Oh how I miss those days with Graphic 45. Till date their various paper collections and staples still occupy more than 70% of my stash, thanks to their generosity. Therefore, for today's throwback I decided to do up a blog post about this unseen project that's long overdue and never get to share in Graphic 45 blog. 😢

Though I was very attracted by the steampunky mermaid on the main page of Voyage Beneath the Sea paper collection, I especially took notice of the seahorses and the arch frame instead. This gave me an idea of a pair of seahorses guarding a pearl. Eventually, I turned them into a piece of bathroom wall decor, which I think it would certainly look good when placed above the toilet bowl. Imagine the seahorses are splashing some glittering water each time you flush your toilet. Alright, it may sounds a little too much of information here. But, that's probably one unique aesthetic concept you could consider. I do find it rather cool, don't you think so? Oh well, to each of its own...

To hold the decor, I'd need some sort of hook. Instead of a usual conventional hook, I grabbed one of the shabby chic ornate metal key holders and improvised it so that it can be hang onto the wall. A final touch of some patina gilders paste certainly adds some marine feel to it. And it's all ready to be hang!

Sadly, it seems that most stores are not longer carrying this paper collection and we can only wait for Graphic 45 to relaunch them as Deluxe Collections. Nonetheless, below are a list of supplies (not a lot though and within what I can remember) I had used for this project with links to where to get some of them:

• Graphic 45 Voyage Beneath the Sea 12" x 12" Paper Pad
• Graphic 45 Shabby Chic Ornate Metal Key Holders
• Prima Marketing Shabby Chic Round Ornate Resin Frame
• GSL Miniature Steampunk Corners and Borders
• Baroque Art Patina Gliders Paste
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Brushed Corduroy (Amazon, Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Own Stash (brass chain, seashells and pearl)

#Ernestephanie

So far, it's very likely this is the most simplest and shortest project ever completed in less than an hour, with limited tools and supplies on hand. I made this well wishing card for a lovely couple who is going to get married this March. 

Today is a day for the bride-to-be after weeks of planning. Together with a few sisters, we organized a bachelorette party for her. And part of the programme was to do up a page for the couple, which forms part of an album for her retention. Most of the supplies are from my stash, which I gladly contributed for this party. If it's not due to this event, I wouldn't have dug out my Pion Design papers. Oh! How much have I missed for the past months no knowing these treasures I've in my stash?!? Nonetheless, I managed to do up something without any creative plan in mind. And this is solely on random mode - unprepared, unplanned and just jump in and do it!

It was indeed intriguing and interesting to do up a project as such. Without much other crafting tools with me such as 3D foam dots, glossy accents, etc. (the only tool I've was my precision scissors!), this is purely putting my creative mojo to a test. It felt so much like a sudden quiz where only nutty professors will provide, though we probably have been warned before hand. Still, at the end of the day I did enjoy the process and crafting together with my other sisters (whom probably don't have not much crafting background) together which made such a gathering a rather unique one. 

I hereby wish Ernest and Stephanie a blissful marriage ahead... God bless!!!

#Ernestephanie 

Inspiration Partner with Ephemoire

Long since past my previous DT work with Alpha Stamps, I'm going to work with Traci from Ephemoire as their Inspiration Partner. Will be offering realistic project ideas and tutorials this time round. One advantage on using digital art and collages is that you don't have to make physical purchases and you can customize them to suit your various projects. 

Therefore, do continue to stay tune with me as I'll be posting more ideas and tutorials over at my YouTube channel. Do subscribe if you haven't to keep yourself updated. 

Meanwhile, have a great week ahead and I shall see you very soon with a new project.

Cheers!!!

What's Cooking in my YouTube Channel?

Just 2 days ago, I received an email from YouTube about some important update (or I should say changes) to the YouTube Partnership Programme which is also reflected over at their blog. I was told that my channel has no longer meet the new eligibility requirement for monetization, i.e. I'll not be paid via those little advertisements you tend to see popping up in my videos. My channel will be free of advertisements after 20th February and no longer a YouTube partner. 

Alright, perhaps it's not exactly a piece of good news to most of the YouTubers who didn't meet the new requirements (which has set to a minimum of 1,000 subscribers and 4,000hr watch time within the past 12 months). The moment I read that I'm one of them who will be affected by the new change, I was indeed shocked at start and have a sense of injustice within. First, making videos isn't an easy job to begin with and I believe everyone who does it put in a lot of effort in making those videos available online. Second, it's only natural for YouTubers (regardless how small we are) to get some form of revenue for the work we do, and monetization is one such channel to get paid in a way. Therefore, when YouTube announced this new change, it's only within common expectations that most of us will get upset (or even angry) over it.

However to me, after reviewing and assessing the new change, it turns out to be rather mix - neither good nor bad. We are given a notice period before our partnership with YouTube gets terminated unless we are able to meet the new threshold requirement within the next 30 days. As I looked into my channel stats, even I could gather everyone within the community to subscribe to my channel, to hit that 4,000hr watch time mark within the next 30 days is far TOO unrealistic (and close to impossible) because I was in hiatus for close to 2 years and it's only in recent months I started to upload new content to my channel. I do feel an "Arghhhhh" within my heart and wished I had been more regular previously so as to maintain my partnership with YouTube. But that's too late to cry over spilled milk. Before I start to get my emotions running high like most affected YouTubers and jump on the bandwagon, I took a step back and look at this issue practically. 

There's always 2 side of the story and people in general don't make decisions suddenly without a basis. For the benefit of doubt, I trusted that YouTube has been actively observing the market and had done series of surveys and market studies before making such changes. And it's only natural for them to make decisions that won't hurt their interests while preserving the interests of most YouTubers. There's isn't a one-size fits all policy; some will benefit while some will certainly lose. I guess such a move is likely to encourage YouTubers to create more original and engaging content, which I think it's a push factor to get people to work towards a goal rather than just setting up a channel to make money. The positive side of this change is that the termination of partnership is not going to be permanent, and YouTube is making this open to everyone who meets the new threshold so it's not the end of the world. 

Should anyone of you ask me did I really earn from monetizing my channel? The answer is NO. I only earn like a few cents and dollars till date, not even close to $5! In fact, I earn more via my blog in comparison to my YouTube channel despite I get more views and followers on my channel than over at my blog. As I did some ground research on some of the crafty YouTubers who monetized their channels, one of them earn an estimate amount of $40 for ~100,000 views for one of her videos that went viral. But that's like 2 years ago, things might have changed. Some only manage to earn between $100-$200+/- monthly after obtaining 20-30k subscribers after working on their channels for over a period of 4-8 years. Seriously, after looking at all these, I honestly don't see a need to be upset or angry with YouTube for such a change. YouTube don't just merely pays you solely on your subscribers base, they also look at your engagements with your audiences, in particular how much time your viewers stay on to watch your videos. Meaning to say, the more hours your viewers stay on your videos (better if they stay through the entire video and finish it), you will likely be paid more. It only makes sense in this way and that's the whole purpose of making videos. You want your viewers to watch your entire video (from beginning to the end) otherwise what's the point of making videos?  

Right after this has been announced, a lot of YouTubers actually called out for help. I don't deny I did try by placing my links in the comments section pleading for help. I do get some subscribers at the end, but not view time. Some even spammed on some of my videos without watching the content, that I need to delete off some of the comments. Honestly, I don't really like it. Simply because even I might meet the new threshold by 20th February to maintain my ability to monetize my channel via this means, I do know deeply within there might not be genuine subscribers who has the intention to follow me through. That's not what I want. I do want to engage with my viewers and that's the main reason why I want to create more videos to inspire and encourage people via the work that I do, not just getting more subscribers and views. Though I deeply appreciate the level of support and help within the community, I decided not to do any form of shout out for this further. Rather, I want to take this positively and build up my channel genuinely even it's back to scratch again. Even is to win, I'd want to win my viewers' hearts legitimately and sincerely. 

After much thoughts, I decided to create this very short trailer/teaser for my channel after taking some of the useful lessons and tips from the YouTube Creator Academy. As I was planning on my trailer video, I have an intention to create some cinematography by filming some nature scenes within my area. At the end, I decided to use one really old video I took while trying to film one of my fashion teabags in action. Very seamlessly, I manage to blend it into my Botanical Teapot Wardrobe project, which is one of my Graphic 45 2014 DT Call Final Submission projects. This makes it even more significant because that's how my very first YouTube video came about. Botanical Tea is just one of my favourite paper collections and Graphic 45 is launching them as deluxe collector's edition pack!!! How could I ever want to miss this (though I still have some of them)?

Since I've set my mind and heart to do this, it's only natural for me to want to do it well and give in my very best. It's ok that I don't have 1,000 subscribers for now, what's really important is my inspirational content and that's what I'm aiming for. Going back to ground level it's not really that scary, rather it's more about taking this journey all over again and not be afraid to fail. The ability to learn how to get up and bravely take on the journey is what makes your life interesting.

"Courage is not simple one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." 

~ C.S. Lewi's Screwtape Letters

Join me and embark on this creative journey together. Subscribe if you love what I do and would want to get inspired and encouraged. I look forward to live, learn, love and laugh together with you...