FRIDAY FREEBIE - Part 5

My husband can build things, though his work schedule (as you'll see when we get to the inside posts) doesn't always allow things to clip along at a steady pace. But his main concern with this build was being able to tie into the existing roof. There was a very narrow margin of error to clear the chimney with the tie-in. Even our contractor wound up having to come out and redo a section to fix a leak.

But as you can see from this picture, at this point we have trusses and the studio is connected to the main house.

Then the stripping of the rest of the roof began so that I could end  up with this:

Our entire house is now covered in this pretty forest green metal - which matches my garden shed.

Before the guys started on the addition, they built the overhang for my front deck and put the metal roof on...

Just don't look at the mess. The front entrance was still part of the construction catch-all zone hehe

Next week, I take you inside and introduce you to my handsome hubby.

INSPIRED - Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch - and a GiveAway!

Okay, some of you have seen this picture before.. And this one....

 

Sadly, the office still looks a lot like this... maybe even... dare I say... worse.  But that will all change soon. Mostly because I will be moving into the new studio... all 480 square feet. (The current space is only 150 square feet)

I am already planning to go through every bin, box, stack, shelf. No item will go untouched. But here's the thing... How do I approach such a monumental task without wanting to pull my hair out? Then I visited a post from fellow WOYWW blogger, Sandy Leigh over at Eat Write Dream Stitch. She has it going on!  

Aside from being a fellow blogger, Sandy and I share a lot of the same interests so I was captivated when I visited her blog this morning. I'd read a post and follow one of her links to a previous post. I was on READ, CLICK, REPEAT mode for over an hour.

One of her posts got my attention fast. FIVE SIMPLE RULES TO DASH YOUR STASH

Go ahead and check it out. I'll be here when you get back. 

One line cracked me up - but made total sense.  In essence, if stuff is going to take up space, then said stuff needs to earn it's keep. SERIOUSLY! I mean, would we let people live in our house without contributing something? Not me! 

But more importantly, her Five Steps gave me direction as I begin to prep for the move from the Dungeon to my shiny new office/ Studio. Creative Dreams is my DREAM SPACE. My day time office, my play area, my place to just be me. NOT be suffocated by STUFF!

1. I like the idea of shopping my stash. After all, my nearest craft store is a 2-hour round trip; 4 hour round trip if I go to the Big City. We all know I have enough. LOL

2. Use an under-used item more. I like my knitting loom (she has some. Told we have similar interests) I also don't use my embossing powders or my Cricut enough. 

3. Learning new ways of using some of my stash will breathe new life into them... and into my art.

4. Making money from my stash has possibilities. I was caught by a YouTube video the other day that I have talents some others might not have. Or maybe they would rather buy an item they need for their style of art rather than making that part themselves. I'm thinking Etsy shop by the fall. An extension of Creative Drams. We shall see. 

5. More time in the craft room is a plus. Though I don't spend a lot of time in stores, I do tend to work more and play less. That brings me back to the whole 'BALANCE' thing I'm striving for in 2015.

Do any of Sandy's rules apply to you? If you haven't been to her site yet, please go then come back and share how they apply to you.

Everyone who comments telling me how they can apply the 5- Dash rules will go into a drawing for something NEW to add to your stash.. We all like new toys :-D

Creative Blessings!

Kelly

WOYWW #295 - All Over the Place

Good morning, friends!
I have no clue why I am bright eyed this morning. After working over ten hours on my new book yesterday, I slept like a rock and was awake when the alarm went off. An attempt to go back to sleep was futile as my fuzzy Goddess cat kept head butting me. You see, when the alarm goes off she insists that I get up. Why? So she can have her treats then take over my spot. That's my girl.

Another WOYWW rolls around! WOW - time flies around here. Did you know that simply by going to Stamping Ground you get access to almost 100 Creative studios Every Week? And becoming one of the many on the tour is easy. Come join us! We'd love to have a peek into your creative space!

Okay, so making the rounds at Julia's Stamping Ground this week, on my stop you will see multiple desks. This is the dining room table where all the wet work has been going on. A bit staged as I threw the piece of background from the Documented Life Project Week 1 that I was not happy with over the one I will be showing on Monday.

Speaking of Documented Life - if you are in the group, please leave that in your comments. I want to compile a link list on my side bar to all of us who are playing.

Next stop is the living room....Brace yourself, this is a pretty scary area....

Yes, the tree is still up. I've been a bit busy trying to keep up with a couple of challenges and write the entire first draft of my new book in 30 days.... okay, I did not start until the 21st so only 10 days! I might beat my record of 18... which is how long it took me to write Somewhere Down the Line.

Anyhow, this is my 'staging area' as I pack up the old office in prep for moving into the new studio space sometime late spring. The tree will come down on Sunday then let the piling of boxes begin!

I know ironing boards are for ironing... and I use mine for that.. .most of the time. Right now this is SU Cardstock central. All of my 8.5x11 has been brought up from the filing cabinet. This was a good height to work from this past week. I also have my sterilite tub of adhesives and my Pooh container of bling along with remnants of the projects.

And lastly... some of you inquired about the Zodiac stickers from last week so wanted to give you a closer look. I purchased these years ago at a $ Tree. My husband and I are both Libra so I figured I could use them for something :-) I had thought about my Tim Holtz Tag then changed my mind.

That's all for me this week. I probably will not stop in for a chat with most of you until Sunday. I have until midnight Saturday night to write this book and I'm giving it every minute I can spare.

Creative Blessings!

Kel

TUESDAY TECHNIQUES & CHALLENGES

Butterflies & Tulips

One of my GOALS for 2015 is to take part in more challenges. I am in two between now and Valentine's Day. Well, this one is a SWAP and the other is a SECRET SISTER but they both are forcing me to MAKE TIME to PLAY. Something I did very little of in 2014.

This morning these 6 cards will wing their way to CO and our wonderful hostess, Susan.

Today's card is for the 'Friends' swap on SCS. Because my supplies are a bit scattered at the moment (Come back tomorrow for WOYWW to see what I mean) I had to cut the ovals by hand. I hated that but the best i could do at this point. I did not think about inaccessability when I joined the swap. And though they look a bit off here, they actually turned out nice in reality.

I CASed this card from MrsBoz on SCS. You can see the original (which is her CAS lol) HERE Also, please take a few moments to check out her blog HERE.

My kitchen stove covered with a cutting board became embossing/ cutting central with my Vagabond. The tulips are watercolored. 

Here's the Recipe:

A2 Card base embossed with Starry Night

Mats are cut from SU Island Indigo

Stamp Sets: SU Dear Friend and Simple Florals

Derwent WC Pencils: Grass Green/ Sap Green/ Dark Violet/ Deep Vermillion/ Deep Cadnium

Butterflies punched with the SU small punch from Tan Floral Tapestry by Paper Pizzaz

     I then added tear drop bling from Studio G/ Spotted Canary

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Tim Holtz January 2015

NOTE: I chose not to visit other tag links until I had mine completed. Now that mine is added to the fold, I'll be checking out some of the other creative tag artists. 

My first EVER Tim Holtz challenge. I have watched Tim all the way back to his early days of guesting on The Carol Duvall show. The man just flat out amazes me the way he thinks. I'm trying.

So I was determined I was going to jump into the 2015 Tag Challenge

I really liked the first challenge.Setting Goals is a big thing for me. I'm a strong believer in if you don't have a road map, you will meander aimlessly with no purpose. Life is too short. I want to do and see everything. I want to learn all that I can. 

My focus word for this year is BALANCE. I spent a majority of my time last year working. Very little to almost non-existent play time except for what I posted here. I wanted to change that this year without going the total opposite end of the scope. My plan is to find BALANCE between the two. My first tag of 2015 showcases this. 

Our Hobby Lobby did not have Tim's tissue paper. Instead, I bought a 12x12 sheet of music printed scrapbook paper. Music is the base of my daily existence so seemed fitting to use that here. I then took a piece of muted tissue paper and layered it over the top... scrunching while the glue was still wet to add texture. They also did not have the colors he worked with. Here's his list of color suggestions followed the colors I chose in Folk Art:

Tarnished Brass/ Antique Gold

Evergreen Bough/ Holly Leaf

Broken China/ Deep Ocean Blue

Pumice Stone/ Thunder Gray

Picket Fence/ Wicker White

Walnut Stain/ Nut Meg (they had this one but I chose to go with all Folk Art)

Rather than use Tim's Chat Stickers, I thought about the words that fit what I wanted to accomplish this year. Here's what I came up with:

expand

lose

creativity

write

play

research

grow

firm

Libra

spirituality

learn teach

I chose chipboard numerals. I covered them with Mod Podge then coated with fine gold glitter. When they were dry, I edged them with a gold paint pen.

I chose the key because those words are the KEY to achieving my GOAL of BALANCE in 2015 and the rest of my life. 

The ribbon is a piece of vintage seam binding. The color helps pull out the aqua tone in the ridges of the texture. 

I'm looking forward to the February Tag. 

Creative Blessings!

FRIDAY FREEBIE - Part 4

After the foundation had a chance to cure, Lanny and his team came out to remove the forms then the actual build of the Studio began. Here you see the three Ian's (that's Ian contractor in the foreground) beginning to lay the floor over the joists. 

Then the walls began to go up. Ian and little Ian were the only two working on the walls. When they were ready to raise the first one, Ian called me out to lend a hand. I helped raise the East and West walls. Ian made sure I was a part of this build every step of the way. 

Notice the two big window openings? There are five big windows in all. Four are 48 x 36 (2 on the East wall, 1 each on the South and West wall) and one (over my stamping desk on the west wall) is 36 x 36

For the first time I will have tons of natural light and cross-breezes. I'm not worried about too much heat from the south window over my writing desk as that end of the room is shaded by this gorgeous Maple tree. 

This tree is one of the first things I fell in love with when we looked at the property. The limbs on the ground are from having the tree topped out. We've already lost one big limb from this tree and we didn't want to risk losing another as that would mean the whole tree having to come down. Our tree man, Ricky (Ricky Pruitt Tree Service) suggested we try topping the tree out first. He thinks we can save the only Maple on the immediate property. I will try to remember to share a picture this full when the leaves are in their majestic finery. 

WOYWW #294

Another WOYWW rolls around! WOW - time flies around here. Did you know that simply by going to Stamping Ground you get access to almost 100 Creative studios Every Week? And becoming one of the many on the tour is easy. Come join us! We'd love to have a peek into your creative space!

Mine hasn't changed much from lasst week. That tag turned over is my Tim Holtz tag. I'll be posting that on Monday. Only thing new on the desk is the pink paint and the bottle of gel medium. I'm either using the pink to try and rescue the Documented Life Project Week 1 or I'm starting over with fresh torn book pages and new gel medium.

So what am I going to see on your desk this week? Leave your # with your comment and I'll hop on over.

Creative Blessings!
Kel