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Opportunity Knocked

When opportunity knocked I was in my bathrobe, had bed head, and in desperate need of cover up makeup.  But no matter what you are wearing, when opportunity knocks, answer the door.

I love reading Julie Fei-Fan Balzer’s blog and was so excited when I saw she was looking for people to submit fast forward videos of themselves art journaling.  I had never done a video.  Opportunity knocked and I answered.  So, now came the fun part – figuring out how to do a video.  Just 10 easy steps.  Okay, not so easy, but there were 10 of them.  I had always wanted to be able to do video and now I can thanks to Julie’s opportunity.

1.  Spend a few minutes going “what have I done” after getting a firm deadline date from Julie.

2.  Search the house for the kids’ Flip video camera.

3.  Experiment with how to use a tripod to get it in position to film a journal page coming to life.

4.  Respect how creative so many bloggers have been in positioning their video cameras, because that is a whole lot harder than I imagined it would be.

5.  Finally find a solution that works using old wood from the garage and duct tape. Thanks to my daughter who is the master of all things duct tape.

6.  Start a practice video with a journal page.

7.  Edit  and fast forward the video in iMovie. Spend way too much time goofing around and playing with the titles.

8.  Find a bucket of patience and a mountain of respect for those who do videos on their blog frequently.  It takes forever for videos to transfer from the camera, to import into iMovie, and to finalize.

9.  Get a YouTube account and figure out how to upload the video.  Thanks to my other daughter for showing me the easy way and pointing out I already had a YouTube account.

10.  Enjoy the video and realize I still have plenty to learn about making & uploading videos .

Since this video I have done a few more. You can check them out by clicking on the blue  “Watch me on YouTube”.

{ 22 comments… add one }

Leave a Comment

  • Cynthia March 9, 2012, 8:10 am

    YOU ROCKED IT. Seriously. That is one awesome page!! And your video looks like it was professionally produced. And hurray for duct tape!! 😉

  • Amy Smith March 9, 2012, 8:50 am

    Love your page! The colors are some of my favorite!! Lol I thought I was in a league of my own…….i put up 5 trees at Christmas! You’ve got me beat! I love Christmas too…..we decorate all over the house! I love red!! Thanks for sharing your art!

  • Patricia March 9, 2012, 8:53 am

    What a beautiful page, thanks for sharing, awesome video!!

  • Carol March 9, 2012, 9:13 am

    Wonderful journal page ~ love the colors and wording and video is fun and well done ~~thanks, namaste, carol (A Creative Harbor) Happy weekend ^_^

  • Diane March 9, 2012, 9:25 am

    Love your spirit and video. glad to find you….

  • Cris March 9, 2012, 9:29 am

    I am so glad you answered the door! Otherwise I might never have “met” you. I think you are hilarious as well as inspiring and just plain fun. Thanks so much for sharing.

  • Paula - Buenos Aires March 9, 2012, 9:38 am

    Being able to watch the process explains so much. It´s the best teaching/learning tool.
    Awesome pages, so “complete”. Lovely colours and cool quote.

  • Ketsia Elie March 9, 2012, 10:14 am

    Great Job! and what would we do without those kids? Congratulations on your first video.

  • Ginny March 9, 2012, 11:15 am

    Carolyn, you are awesome. The kids you teach are so lucky to have such a positive and enthusiastic teacher. I loved the video. Not only did I learn a lot in a short time but it was so much fun to watch.

  • muriel March 9, 2012, 11:31 am

    Hello from France! I came across your blog via Julie Fei Fan Balzer and after a few seconds I realized you were THE ONE whose coloured and stamped artist tape in Somerset Studio so inspired me! I received my copy last week and browsed through it, then I came back to the article you contributed and had to play with my tape, inks and stamps immediately. I am so pleased with this technique! Thanks for the inspiration through the videos too.

  • cat @ sea.sky.stone. March 9, 2012, 3:27 pm

    Love the page, love the vid, and just so you know…thanks to you I am now a tape-makin’-machine. Thank you so much for sharing all your brilliantnessitude!

  • cindy b. March 9, 2012, 5:29 pm

    AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • julie March 9, 2012, 7:41 pm

    Beautiful page! Great video! Thanks so much for being a part of Art Journal Every Day!

  • Julie H. March 9, 2012, 10:18 pm

    I’m so happy to have found your blog after reading your post on Julie Fei-Fan Balzer’s blog. I’ve spent way too much time tonight paging through your old posts…you are SO inspiring!! So many of your posts really resonated with me (fear, inner critic, etc). My daughter made flowers with duct tape tonight…now I need to make artist tape! Thanks for sharing your journey!

  • Valerie-Jael March 10, 2012, 1:36 am

    Love your pages, and the video is a wonderful idea! Well done! Hugs, Valerie

  • iamrushmore March 10, 2012, 7:09 am

    Well done! your video is fantastic – the angle, the lighting, the titles are all perfect. The finished page is gorgeous (need to go play around with gesso and cut outs and stencils and spray ink RIGHT NOW). and congrats on being featured on Julie’s blog. You’re on a roll!!!

  • Rita McGregor March 10, 2012, 3:42 pm

    Congrats!! I have no clue how to alter videos at all. I just film them and post them. I will have to learn about editing one day. This was great!! 🙂

  • Stacy March 10, 2012, 6:54 pm

    This is a great video! Hope you make more, although it does sund time consuming.

  • Jenny Petricek March 11, 2012, 3:52 pm

    Hi Carolyn! What a lovely journal page–perfect for how I’ve been feeling lately, as I’ve navigated some major life decisions. The idea of where you’re meant to be is where you are is so powerful. And what a great vid! I enjoyed having an insider’s look at your process and technique, particularly the stenciling! Way to go!:-)

  • Nigel March 12, 2012, 8:12 am

    Fantastic page and well done for having a go 🙂

    There’s nothing which can’t be sorted with duct tape. “Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together.”

  • Lorinda @ Everyday Endeavours March 12, 2012, 10:11 pm

    Beautiful page and thank you so much for sharing your process via your super fabulous video! Way to take the leap and give it a try!

  • Karon March 13, 2012, 6:36 pm

    I LOVE these pages!! The colors, the message, all just beautiful. This was your first video? You are a natural. It was GREAT.