Thursday, March 31, 2011

It was a FABulous Friday!

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Did you catch our new show on Creative EdVentures? On the first Friday of the month at 9 pm Eastern beginning tonight we have a new show called PaperMood with Fab hosted by the wonderful Fabrizio Martellucci.

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Fab is an amazing paper crafter who has been sharing his creativity with us during our Come2Chat times.

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Tonight he showed us some great cards using paper punching and stitching as well as a very cool bargello technique I had seen the other day while surfing some blogs.

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If you weren’t able to be at this fun and inspiring show live, check out the playback for it:  http://www.linqto.com/PlaybackRoom.aspx?roomname=creativeedventures&name=SingleExplicit_2011_04_01_19_59_34_887

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The above pictures are of Fab’s most recent projects during our Come2Chat times.  If you want to see the great projects he did tonight, be sure to check out that playback link!  Be sure to check out Fab's blog too at http://papermood.com.

The Artist’s Creed

This is truly lovely.  I feel like maybe I should watch it every day (or recite it myself) before I sit down to create.  “You are here to co-create the world…”

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Last Night on In the Zone: CAKE!!!

The theme for last night’s In the Zone show was the number one Billboard hit for this week in 1950 “If I Knew You Were Coming I’d Have Baked a Cake”.  Joining hosts Robi Cohen and Cyn Gagen was our very special guest Eileen Hull who shared a great project using her Sizzix Bigshot, one of her amazing Sizzix scoreboard dies that makes the cutest cake box and believe it or not, aluminum foil!  It was so adorable and would make a great little favour or centerpiece for a 25th anniversary celebration. We were also lucky enough to get a sneak peek at her newest dies, coming out in June.
Eileen’s product, the cake die:  http://www.sizzix.com/product/2164
Another take on using the die:  http://eileenhull.blogspot.com/2010/05/sizzix-scoreboard-blog-hop-cake-die.html  This was part of a blog hop, so while you’re there, check out the links to other projects using this cake die.
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Robi once again is taking advantage of her surroundings while away on vacation in Florida and has made a dirt cake out of sand.  It’s super cute and makes an adorable way to present the recipe for making an edible dirt cake to someone as a gift.
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My contribution was a fanciful slice of cake made from Styrofoam and covered with all kinds of flower petals and botanicals.    I placed these variegated petals on in such way as to mimic pink layers of a cake with a yellow filling.
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I also showed this other project I made, this time to look like a mini cake (also made from Styrofoam) using scrapbooking paper, paper diecuts, and some little crocheted flowers that I folded in half to look like scalloped icing decorations.  Check out the playback link to find out how to make these projects and learn about other great options for them!
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During the show, one of our faithful regulars shared pictures of a real cake that she made over the weekend for her daughter’s birthday.  Check out this gorgeous cake made by Leslie Rahye!
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You might want to check out some related projects as well:
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Here is project I did nearly 2 years ago for the birth of my beautiful grand-niece.  Tutorial is here:  http://cynchronicity.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/baby-clothing-bouquets-and-diaper-cakes/
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Here is the cupcake stand I made:  http://cynchronicity.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/more-cupcake-stands/
I have three cupcake projects (including the cupcake above) featured in a free e-book from Favecrafts.com.  Here’s the link to my blog post where you can find out the details:  http://cynchronicity.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/woohoo-fave-crafts-and-cupcakes/
I thought these projects were pretty cute too:
A nature themed faux cake http://www.free-craft-idea.com/nature/cake.shtml
A stack of hat boxes decorated to look like a wedding cake and that function as a “depository” for wedding cards     http://www.favecrafts.com/Wedding-Crafts/Wedding-Cake-Card-Box/ml/1
Here’s the playback link for the show if you’d like to check out the fun project tutorials: 
http://www.linqto.com/PlaybackRoom.aspx?roomname=creativeedventures&name=SingleExplicit_2011_03_28_20_00_44_333
Join us next Monday at 9 pm Eastern for our “Butterfly” theme.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Have You met the FABulous one yet?

And by the FABulous one, I, of course, am referring to Fabrizio Martellucci, the newest member of the Creative EdVentures team! Fab has been a frequent participant at our shows and recently has begun sharing some of his card-making with us. 
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During our casual Come2Chat times, Fab has done a couple of craft demo’s for us and on Wednesdays, we have the Fab card-making challenge, where he uses Claudine Hellmuth’s Scrapbooker’s Creativity Kit to get inspiration for the theme of his card and then creates it within an hour.  He shows us his process as he goes and shares helpful hints with us and his cards are always gorgeous!  These triangle cards are some of his recent creations on the show.
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Soon, Fab will be taking on an even bigger role with Creative EdVentures, when on April 1st, he launches his own show! The show will air on the first Friday of every month at 9 pm Eastern and will be called PaperMood with Fab.  I can’t wait to see what wonderful projects Fab will be sharing with us next.  You can see him on Come2Chat which airs on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at noon Eastern and I sure hope you’ll join us for the kickoff of his own paper-crafting show!

Show links:
on Facebook:  http://apps.facebook.com/creativeedventures
OR on the web: http://linqto.com/rooms/creativeedventures

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

In the Zone Monday March 21, 2011

Monday’s In the Zone show theme was Penny Lane, the #1 Billboard hit for this week in 1967.  Boy oh boy, did we ever give ourselves a challenge in this theme but I think Robi and I really did a good job in pulling it off.  Robi made the cutest piggy bank while I went a slightly different direction with penny rugs.
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Penny rugs were first made in the 1800s by thrifty women who tried to use up every little scrap they had at their disposal.  They would save wool and felt bits from coats, clothing, and blankets until they had enough to create penny rugs out of them.  They’re called penny rugs because pennies were often used as the tracing templates, being a size and shape that would get the most out of every bit.  These “rugs” that were created weren’t generally the kind of rugs you place on a floor but more often were decorative items for on shelves, beds, and even walls.  I made coasters!
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Here’s a little more modern take on the penny rug.
If you missed the live show, here’s the playback link:  http://www.linqto.com/PlaybackRoom.aspx?roomname=creativeedventures&name=SingleExplicit_2011_03_21_20_00_08_502

Today during Come2Chat Time!

Today during our chat time, I shared a few of the background techniques that I love to use and referenced some of my favourite technique books.  The books I showed, which are pretty much my “bibles” as far as mixed media work goes, are:
Collage Discovery Workshop by Claudine Hellmuth
Collage Discovery Workshop: Beyond the Unexpected by Claudine Hellmuth
Artist Trading Card Workshop by Bernie Berlin
Collage Unleashed by Traci Bautista
Taking Flight by Kelly Rae Roberts
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One of the techniques I showed today was a crackle method using Elmer’s glue.  The picture above is of the smaller crackle while the one below is of the larger crackle.
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Both of these crackle methods are from Claudine Hellmuth’s Collage Discovery Workshop: Beyond the Unexpected.
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This is a peeled paint technique using Vaseline.  This one comes from Claudine’s Collage Discovery Workshop. (can you tell I’m a HUGE Claudine fan?  I get to go take some workshops from her IN PERSON in May!!!)

In the Budget March 22, 2011

Last night was another In the Budget show on the Creative Edventures network.  In the Budget is a show hosted by Cyn Gagen which features budget friendly crafting ideas.  Last night’s theme was Easter.
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The bunny candy cup is based on a design I saw in the most recent issue of Crafts and Things magazine.  The egg carton chick candy holder is from a design I saw on the following blog: http://paperplateandplane.wordpress.com/2011/03/19/easter-egg-carton-chicks/
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For the carrot favour box, I used a template from Mirkwood Designs: http://www.ruthannzaroff.com/mirkwooddesigns/icicle.htm She used this template to make icicle favour boxes but by stamping and colouring it orange and adding some green yarn to hold it closed, it takes on a carrot appearance that’s perfect for Easter dinner table favours or in Easter baskets.
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The crucifix is made from ordinary clothespins.
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You can adapt this to make a standard cross without the figure on it as well.
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This Spring/Easter wallhanging or door decoration is based on one that my daughter made when she was in Girl Guides many years ago.  I believe the original design came from Pack o Fun magazine.  It’s made from craft foam but can easily be done out of construction paper or cardboard.  I added some details to it with puff paints.
If you’d like to see the full craft demo’s, check out the playback link of the show:  http://www.linqto.com/PlaybackRoom.aspx?roomname=creativeedventures&name=SingleExplicit_2011_03_22_20_00_03_292

I don’t have a show next Tuesday because I’ll be heading over to watch the amazing Andrea Currie on Craft-tastic Live http://www.andreacurriecrafts.com.  The following week, on April 5th, it’s In the Home and I’ll be sharing eco-friendly ideas for house cleaners with you.  Hope you can join me!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Come2Chat Challenge #2: Cardboard Classic

This past week’s challenge was to recycle some cardboard into something practical and useful.  Once again I’m blown away by the incredible creations people submitted for this.

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Look what Fab came up with!  Is this not gorgeous???  http://www.papermood.com

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Genelle submitted two items; first is this super cute coupon bag.

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And then this adorable Spring sign!  http://creatingthehive.com/genvoss/blog

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Check out the amazing book that Leslie http://leslierahye.blogspot.com made based on a design by Wenche http://wenchespapirverden.blogspot.com/2010/11/tutorial-pa-bok-eske.html

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Look at this incredible desk organizer that Amanda made, complete with drawer!  http://www.ajsartsanddesigns.com She’ll be demo’ing a super cool paint technique on this on her show this Thursday, In the Paintbox with Amanda Marks on the Creative EdVentures channel, http://linqto.com/rooms/creativeedventures at noon Eastern.

I went a slightly different direction.  I have a BIG stack of these file folders sitting around – they are too big for my filing cabinet and some have been lightly used, so I’ve been upcycling them into my projects.  In my classroom, I would make tons of games in file folders for my students to place in our various learning centers around the room.  It was something that they could easily carry to a table or their desks and didn’t take up much room to store.  They were also inexpensive and easy to make and so I could have a big variety of them on hand.

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Here is the Nine Men’s Morris game I made from one of the file folders, some scraps of scrapbooking paper, and some scraps of ribbon.  I punched the game tokens out of scraps of scrapbooking paper that I glued to scraps of cereal box cardboard to make them a bit sturdier.

Now…..drumroll………………….for our new challenge, Disc-o Party (thanks Leslie for the great name!) due Monday, March 28th (preferably by noon so we can share them during chat time!):  I propose that you create something out of old CDs, DVDs, cases from CDs or DVDs, or old floppy disks that is for a party.  It can be any aspect of the party that you wish as long as it’s party themed.  And…….GO!!!!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Creative EdVentures Crafty Chat Times

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at Noon Eastern (11 Central, 10 Mountain, 9 Pacific), Creative EdVentures has started opening up our chat room for casual times where we invite all of you to Come2Chat with us! These are casual times where in general, we don’t plan any demo’s ahead of time; we simply open up our studios to show you what we’re working on at the time.  We encourage chit chat – talk about what we’re working on or talk about whatever’s on your mind at the moment!  If you have a webcam, you’re welcome to come into the speaker’s box and show us what you’re working on as well but if not, just sit back and enjoy!  No webcam is needed for you to watch and participate in the text chat.
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On Wednesdays, our dear Fabrizio has started a new feature during these chat times.  He is using The Scrapbooker’s Creativity Kit by Claudine Hellmuth (http://www.collageartist.com) which contains inspiration cards that are sorted by colour and word.  Fab draws a couple of cards from this kit and this serves as the inspiration and direction for a greeting card that he completes during the one hour chat time.  It’s so much fun to watch a complete greeting card come together right before our eyes and we learn so many great useful tips that we can apply to creating our own cards!  The picture above is of the card that Fab created this past Wednesday.  http://ihearthotoffthepress.blogspot.com/2011/03/birthday-greeting-card-under-hour.html
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Here’s the progress on the art piece I’ve been working on during the chat times.  This is (or perhaps was) a picture of my dog that I’ve been altering and blinging.  She now has some alcohol inks, glitter, and flocking added to her body.  I built up the nose area with crumpled tissue paper and then a thick bodied paint applied with a toothpick.  I scratched on some thin black paint around her eye area and then blobbed on some Tim Holtz Distress Crackle paint (which I have the worst luck with – I think the key is to never buy it in winter) just above her nose.  As predicted, my daughter thinks this piece is “strange”. On Monday, as requested, I’m going to show the crackle technique that uses white glue as well as a few other quick paint techniques that I love to use.  Hope you can join us! http://linqto.com/rooms/creativeedventures

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Ok well, you didn’t actually win a chicken dinner but you did win a package of assorted crafting supplies!  And the winner is………………….
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BAMBI!!!!!!!!!  Please send me your mailing address and I’ll get the package sent out next week!

Toilet Paper Roll Crafts

Our first craft challenge was to make something Spring themed out of toilet paper rolls and the ideas that everyone came up with were GREAT!  I meant to share these links to other tp tube projects with that post but forgot, so here are a bunch of projects I’ve found from around the internet.  You know, when I used to think of making crafts from toilet paper rolls, it was always children’s crafts but check out these links and you’ll see that the humble tp tube has now become quite sophisticated and can be used for not only adorable kids’ crafts but really lovely adult ones as well!

An adorable Spring egg nest (perfect for Easter eggs) and napkin ring
http://highoncraftblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/toilet-paper-roll-craft-egg-nest-and.html
Sweet pincushion
http://michelemademe.blogspot.com/2010/07/tutorial-toilet-paper-tube-pincushion.html
A darling family of bunnies
http://www.craftsbyamanda.com/2011/03/cardboard-tube-bunny-rabbit-family.html
Pretty cuff bracelets
http://www.flipflopsandapplesauce.com/2008/08/cuff-bracelets-from-toilet-paper-rolls.html
Easter bunny
http://childmadetutorials.blogspot.com/2011/02/paper-roll-easter-bunny.html
Puppy – seriously, you have to see this blog…she makes such cute stuff and the things she can do with tp tubes!!!!!!!
http://childmadetutorials.blogspot.com/2011/02/paper-roll-puppy.html
Shamrocks
http://childmadetutorials.blogspot.com/2011/02/paper-roll-shamrocks.html
This tree is quite amazing!  I think I’m going to make one to hang in my living room!
http://childmadetutorials.blogspot.com/2011/03/paper-roll-twisted-oak-tree.html
I <3 this wall decor!  Geometric and modern!
http://delicateconstruction.blogspot.com/2011/02/paper-towel-roll-wall-decor.html
Cute little bird feeders that kids would love to make.
http://www.creativejewishmom.com/2011/01/toilet-paper-tube-craft-bird-feeders.html
This is a Christmas village but you could easily make it for Easter or anytime!
http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2010/12/make-a-recycled-cardboard-tube-christmas-village/
These flowers are beautiful. 
http://designbynight.blogspot.com/2010/08/paper-towel-roll-flowerstuturial.html
If you hung this in your home, I bet no one would have any clue that it was made from toilet paper tubes.  It is gorgeous!
http://allthingspaper-annmartin.blogspot.com/2011/02/faux-metal-wall-art.html
A variety of cute animals – they used them for Valentine’s Day but they could be used anytime.  How about a whole zoo of tp tube animals?
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2011/02/toilet_paper_tube_valentine_an.html
A really novel idea – pixel art made from cardboard tubes
http://yayeveryday.com/post/7692
Finally, you have to see what these artists are doing with paper tubes.  Intricate dioramas, amazing faces, and more – you just can’t imagine how stunning these are!
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2009/10/26/toilet-paper-roll-art/

Friday, March 18, 2011

Come2Chat Challenges on Creative EdVentures

We’ve begun having some weekly challenges on Creative EdVentures and boy are they fun! This past week’s challenge was to create something Spring themed that included a toilet paper tube.  Here are what the participants made:
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An adorable Easter wreath from Amanda Marks http://www.ajsartsanddesigns.com
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From Dawn Taylor….isn’t this a great organizer!  I love the detail work on it!
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From Fabrizio Martellucci  - Look at the sweet tree he made from the toilet paper tube to adorn this lovely frame!  http://www.papermood.com
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Genelle Voss makes these gorgeous bracelets from tp rolls!  http://creatingthehive.com/genvoss/blog
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Leslie Rahye does such beautiful work!  Check out the mini album and sour cream container favour pouch she made from toilet paper tubes.
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I did a take on a little craft I used to do each Spring with my Kindergarten students making cute little Spring birds.  The head and body are formed from toilet paper rolls that I painted.  With the kids we usually used strips of construction paper for the wing feathers and then they would draw on faces or cut out pieces for them from paper.  In this case, I decided to use magazine paper for mine and just so happened to find a Sweet and Low ad with these lovely pink birds in it.  I was able to use pieces of the background to make the wing feathers and then I cut out the head and tail to add to my bird.  Then I cut out the chest plumage, making little feather like shapes and gluing them only at one edge so they would stand out from the chest of the tp bird and give it some dimension.  With the kids, we would attach a rubber band that we had cut in half to the head of the bird so we could hang them up and then when you pull down on the rubber band, letting it spring back up, it would look like the bird was flying, with its wings fluttering in the breeze created!
Our next challenge is to create something from recycled cardboard – cereal boxes, corrugated cardboard, whatever!  The trick is that it has to be something practical.  Now, we’re interpreting the term “practical” pretty loosely here – ideas like doll furniture, books, regular furniture, and such have been tossed around.  The idea is we want something that goes beyond the merely decorative (ie something like my bird up there wouldn’t work for this challenge).  You have until Monday March 21st to show us what you’ve got.  You can email photos of your project to creativeedventures@gmail.com and we’ll share them on the Come2Chat group and can create a slide of it to upload into the room at the time of the Monday Come2Chat show at noon Eastern.  Or you can share them directly on the page and I can create the slides from that.  Of course, if you have a webcam, you are welcome (and we’d be thrilled) to have you share what you’ve made during the chat show LIVE!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Monday Night’s In the Zone- The Big 5-0

Did you miss Monday night’s Live Interactive Webtv Crafting show In the Zone hosted by Robi Cohen and me, Cyn Gagen?  If you did, you missed our best show ever!  Our theme for last night was FIFTY because today I turn the big 5-0 and in three days, Robi does too!  We thought it would be so much fun to celebrate our birthdays on the show.  We invited some special guests to join us for the show too.  We didn’t really tell them what the theme meant – just let them guess and interpret it any way they wanted to.  Lisa Fulmer (www.lisalizalou.com) came on and shared a gorgeous memorial album she made for her dad and showed us some wonderful techniques to use in our creations.  Check out the photos of it here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/lafemmepapier

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Andrea Currie showed us how to make a fun and funky candleholder out of 49 bottle caps and 1 can lid as well as a cool necklace out of 50 bottle caps (“Look, it’s not even enough to choke you!” – inside joke…watch the replay and you’ll get it!).

Check out the Youtube video of Andrea's fabulous bottlecap luminary:





Leslie Rahye came on and did a little “Things that are older than Cyn and Robi” tribute to us that was fabulous.  It was a takeoff of this classic scene from The Cosby Show.

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Robi shared with us a very special gift she has been working on for me.  I had tears in my eyes when I saw how lovely this book is and I can’t wait to see it in person.  She has clearly put a lot of time and thought into it and I appreciate it so much.

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I also shared one of the gifts I have made for Robi.  I found this vintage heart shaped muffin tin at Value Village and was debating whether to use it for for actually making muffins and cupcakes or for making art.

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The other day I saw it sitting on the table and I knew instantly that not only did I need to use it for art but it had to be something for Robi.

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I used it sort of as a shadow box of sorts, adding different elements to each section.

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I “distressed” the tin with alcohol inks.

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The words that I added with the silver alphabet beads are ones that remind me of Robi and sum up what she means to me so perfectly.

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If you missed the live show, here’s the playback link so you can check out all the fun and silliness!

http://www.linqto.com/PlaybackRoom.aspx?roomname=creativeedventures&name=SingleExplicit_2011_03_14_19_59_50_347

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