WOYWW #383

That's my desk? What's on yours? When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Stamping Ground where Miss Julia has a long list of other studios you can peek into. No standing on an up-turned milk pail to look in the window. We open the doors wide and welcome you. We won’t touch.. just look. J  I can't wait to peek but we have a busy weekend ahead so I may be late again getting 'round. Please leave your number and you'll be first on my list.

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - World Cardmaking Day!

Image courtesy of DaysoftheYear.com

Did everyone play on Saturday? I did.  In past years I've always planned to do nothing but make cards on World Cardmaking Day but then I'd get household chores and whatnot out of the way. By then the day was pretty  much gone and no cards to show for it. I decided 2016 was going to be different!  I dove in right after breakfast and didn't stop except for life-breaks until after 10 p.m.

Most everything I made was to get ahead of blog posts for the Stampin' Up blog (where you'll find all the details for each card set over the next few weeks) but I thought I'd showsome of them enmasse here:

This first 'bakers dozen' Christmas cards were from a One Sheet Wonder pattern I have on my Pinterest Board

This set was from the Holiday Project Life set.

This was a design from my up-line, Brandy Cox - BrandysCards

And this last one is for a Pinterest-inspired post. I used Petals & Paisley's scraps

I kept crafting most of the day yesterday. I have 16 cards from a One Sheet Wonder to put together. Everything is cut/ punched. Just needs assembled and stamped.

I also made these adorable ornaments from Dazzling Diamonds Glitter Paper and the Merry Tags Thinlits. These are perfect for adding to a card without increasing your postage:

FRIDAY FREEBIE - Blog Planner

I am so thrilled to finally have this complete. I had one last year but the binder just didn't feel right and there didn't seem to be enough information or inspiration for me to actually put the planner to use.  As I've been studying planners this past year and finding a day planner that finally fits me and everything I need a planner to do, I realized what was missing from my original blog planner. Here's a picture of one of the planning pages from last year:

Nothing fancy. Just a sheet of notebook paper with the month at the top, the dates down the lefthand side. Monthly tabs were done in the color coordinating with that blog and each blog separated by their Washi Tape color code. Not real inspiring. 

I really like the feel of the new planner and see myself using the system on Sundays when I sit down to plan my week ahead.

I have to give a shout out to Melissa Ringstaff at A Virtuous Woman.org 

Melissa has an amazing array of printables both in her Etsy shop and for Free (such as this blog planner that I used).  If there is ANY type of your life you need a tangible way to keep organized, Melissa probably has the perfect printable. 

Now, here's my slideshow of my blog planner:

Blog Planner - Kizoa Video Editor - Movie Maker

I used a 2" binder with a viewable cover. The Cover, Spine, Filetabs were created from a filefolder set purchased at Hobby Lobby called Multi-Pattern Chevron. I used the same folders for my 43 Folders A5 binder so that everything coordinates. I'll use the same colorscheme in my DayPlanner for next year.

Next Friday I'll walk you through the individual components and why I've chosen to use this particular format.

So tell me, How Do You Plan?
Creative Blessings!
Kelly

WOYWW #382

I tried 3 times to bring this picture up rotated to the left. The picture shows vertically in the files but keeps uploading in horizontal. Thus is my morning. 

As you can see, the desk is quite full. Remnants of a weekend project I'll be showing later in the week on my SU blog. I'll link you to that one next week. 

For now, the Paper Pumpkin box still un-opened. I got caught up in a project and refused to do anything else until that one was finished. The book and CDs from Bill Anderson. I have that interview to transcribe and book review to get posted ASAP and a hodge podge of a little of everything.  Today is all about blog posts and the creating that goes with them. 

Speaking of blog posts, I have the blog binder finished. I need to upload the pictures to Kizoa in a slide show format but that is NOT going to happen right away this morning. My head hurts and I'm still working on my cup of cocoa. But here's a sneak peek at my visual blog board and why the Blog Binder is so important:

A full shot of my blog board. I can see all of my blog posts for 6 weeks. 

The board is made from a 24x36 poster frame that Bob put a sheet of flat metal into, creating a magnetic base. All of my date stickers, the blog post titles and the markers are made from strips of magnetic sheets used for vent covers. 

All of my blogs are color-coded. 

The magnetic markers are placed on a strip when that day's post is done

That's my desk? What's on yours? When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Stamping Ground where Miss Julia has a long list of other studios you can peek into. No standing on an up-turned milk pail to look in the window. We open the doors wide and welcome you. We won’t touch.. just look. J  I can't wait to peek but we have a busy weekend ahead so I may be late again getting 'round. Please leave your number and you'll be first on my list.

TECHNIQUE THURSDAY - Criss Cross Chopped!

A couple of weeks ago, I took part in Tickle A Teapotter. This is part of the Teapot Tuesday but on a month with five Tuesdays, we are given the name of a fellow teapotter to send a card to. This month's hostess is a fan of all things FoodNetwork, especially CHOPPED.  I am also a fan of the show. I spent several days with the card in my head, planning everything out so that I could bring the components together.

I knew I wanted to do a Criss Cross card. You can find the tutorial HERE on SplitcoastStampers tutorials.

Since I didn't have any basket weave patterned paper left, I used what is more of a birch bark print from a retired SU DSP - Frosted Lodge. I matted the paper against SU Soft Suede.

One thing that will get a contestant chopped quicker than anything is lack of seasoning. I used the S & P border strip from retired SU DSP - Domestic Goddess. The bowl with the 'adding' ingredients is also from that collection.

For the inside card, I borrowed graphics from the Chopped website.
The front of the mat shows Host, Ted Allen, announcing the basket ingredients to be used in the Entree round of competition. I used the mini curly label punch (Retired SU) as the tab for the card and accented with a timer cut from the Domestic Goddess paper:

As in chopped, once the 30 minutes is over, the Judging begins:

Will you be chopped?

WOYWW #381

My desk hasn't changed a lot since last week as I've been working on my Blog Planner binder. (I'll be showing that in a separate post next month) I should be able to wrap that project up this morning then move on to that orange box that arrived yesterday. That is the September Paper Pumpkin kit from Stampin' Up. I've seen peeks on YouTube and know I have Halloween goodies in there to play with. 

And as promised, here is a better picture of my Girl Scout memorabilia shelf. This is above the East window in my office. In the far upper right you'll see a brown box (there's a little chalkboard propped in front of the box). That contains swamps from a Leader Camp. I finally found a shadow box frame at Dollar General yesterday so I can display those items. 

That's my desk? What's on yours? When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Stamping Ground where Miss Julia has a long list of other studios you can peek into. No standing on an up-turned milk pail to look in the window. We open the doors wide and welcome you. We won’t touch.. just look. J  I can't wait to peek but we have a busy weekend ahead so I may be late again getting 'round. Please leave your number and you'll be first on my list.

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - New toy!

While in Springfield over the weekend, I decided I needed a book fix so a stop at B & N was on the agenda. Aside from the 2017 Writers Market and a New Age book for research, I had to cruise the craft magazines. I have subscribed to one of the UK magazines in the past and have only not renewed simply because I'm trying to budget my spending better. Instead, I'm going to buy one when I go to the city if one catches my attention.

I fell in love with this bicycle build a die and the stamp set for basket fillers was just too cute to pass up.

Here's a close up of the cover to show all the other goodies you'll find in the mag.

The cover shows one of the adorable ways to use the set. Also I just noticed this morning that there is a FREE Digi Download of a Fairy. How did I miss that while looking through the magazine at the hotel the other night.

And here's a close-up of just the stamp/ die set:

Just too cute, right? I hope to have something with this coming up very soon.

A bit about me. If you do not already know I am severely OCD. I can not work on ANYTHING until EVERYTHING around me is in order... even things that do not pertain to the project. If you think it drives you crazy due to lack of posts, imagine being in my head! LOL  

For one thing, I need visuals. I spent all last week working on a magnetic blog board so I could see the big picture. I just need to finish typing up the blog planner binder pages this morning, print them out then I'm ready to start laying out blog posts for the rest of this month and all of next. I'm super busy the first 2 weeks, including being gone to a writers conference I've attended every year for the past 20 years. Then Bob is home the last two weeks of October. National Novel Writing Month starts on the heels of him leaving. 

With all of that coming up, I do not want to leave the blogs behind. I feel I have too  much to share. So, thank you for your patience as I try to reign in my OCD.