Success

After asking the question on many different forums, blogs and Facebook, after downloading different programs (sometimes with disastrous results) I finally got my clip loaded to You Tube. My thanks goes out to Immagine Productions for their quick and efficeint work.
As a brief intro, I will tell you that this clip is of me and 10 other little girls on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour. The date was December 29, 1957. I believe this was the last of the Amateur hour shows.

BTW, I'm not telling you which one is me, just have a good chuckle.

Frustrated

When I was a little girl, I went to dancing school. I was part of a chorus line of eleven, called the Snookettes (no snickering allowed). We performed in many places, the most famous of which was the Ted Mack Amateur Hour. The show was never played in re-runs and I had never seen it nor did I get to see the rest of the show when I was there as we had to stay in the dressing room.
There is a man in California who owns the rights to all of the Amateur Hour shows. For Christmas I treated myself to a copy of my show. WOW, what a hoot. I wanted very much to cut out my three minutes of the one hour show and put it on You Tube and Facebook. Two family members said no problem they would do it for me, but did not have any luck. I read all sorts of forums entries at You Tube and read that I needed some video editing software and that there were lots of free ones on the web. I downloaded Freemake Video converter. It was supposed to allow me to cut out my clip and upload it directly to You Tube. But instead, it uploaded the first 15 minutes of the show, Hazel Bishop commercials and all. I tried it twice, both with the same results.
As a last resort, I asked the question on Yahoo. My only response was for a $25 program that makes DVD.....Hello, I already have the DVD, I just want to cut 3 minutes out of it.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Merry Christmas

Mother Nature Decorates for the Holidays

I have not been feeling very festive this year and have done only the most minimal of decorating. I have not put up any outside lights and my giant outdoor wreath remains in the storage unit. But I have just noticed that Mother Nature has done some decorating for me. As I have mentioned in the past, there are an enormous amount of weedy vines growing everywhere and the pine tree in no exception. The current cold snap has killed off much of the vines (don't worry, they'll be back in the summer) and have turned them red.

The tree looks very festive and so does the ground around the house.

Sue Crazy

You have seen my Sunbonnet Sue 1930's Postcard,

I think you've also seen Christmas Sue

But have you seen New Year's Sue

or Valentine Sue

or St Patty's Sue

Somebody stop me....I'm on a Sue overload.

More Wallpaper Fun

I know what to do with left over fabric scraps  but what do you do with scraps of paper? Answer: you make a garland for your Christmas tree. I went to Michaels (because I had a 50% off coupon) and purchased a one inch hole punch. I also purchased a 10 foot roll of 1/2 ribbon (it was all of 50 cents). I suppose I could have used glue to attach all the circles but instead I used my sewing machine. This project took less than half an hour.

Good Score x 2

I've been looking for some fancy papers (without the fancy prices) to use for envelopes. It had been suggested that you try a wallpaper store, so I did. The lady was super nice when I asked her for some old wallpaper sample books. She gave me these two and asked for my phone number so she could call me when she has more.

As a bonus, this particular wallpaper has matching cotton fabric. The books have a usable size sample of the fabrics.

Handmade Ornaments

I have made tons of ornaments over the years. Some I have sold and some I have given away. For the past two years I have had some of my most popular ornaments for sale in my Etsy shop.
I have several different colors of a mini stocking.

This is one of my favorite because it looks good no matter what color fabric I use. It is easy to fill with small goodies or candies and makes a nice gift.
Who doesn't like a teddy bear?

And another cute little guy is a penguin.

 

I think they are pretty darn cute but I haven't sold a single one. I was starting to think I am the only person who really likes them...and then.... I got an email from a former employer. She asked if I remembered this ornament and she tells me  that she puts it out on display every year. It had to be over 15 years ago that I gave it to her.

I feel a lot better now.

Paper Crafts

As long as I'm making the card, I might as well make the envelope too. It took a long time, but I finally found the perfect envelope template. Fun, fun, fun.

Paper Crafts

I have wanted to make my own greeting cards for many years now, but I never quite got past the wishing and hoping stage. Some years ago, I even bought some books on card making including one on pop-up cards. Last week I purchased an envelope maker/template and I have to say I am pleased with the results of that. Now if I could find just the right paper .... but that's another story.

In the meantime, I figured it's time to at least try to make some pop up cards, after all, it does not require much, just some card stock (which I had) and a good pattern. I purchased the patterns for the 12 Days of Christmas, a bit ambitious  but what the heck. I have made the first 5 days so far. The fourth day of Christmas (4 calling birds) came out the best, although my work at this point is mediocre.