CARD CHICKS - November

Last week was time to turn in our November Card Chicks creations. Suzy sent some great images and items. 

The images were from Stampin' UP! Always Thankful
Papers: Glitz French Kiss Script (burlap) from JoAnns, Paper Studio Gingham from Hobby Lobby and the Peach Brush Strokes from Recollections
Ribbon: both from The Ribbon Boutique (Hobby Lobby)
Paper Flowers: Fall Crafts ( Hobby Lobby)
Leaves from Suzy's old teaching supplies stash.

I colored all of the images with Stampin' Blends

So here we go!

Mounted on Early Espresso card base. I used SU Stitched Framlets and Scalloped Squares

Mounted on Crushed Curry card base. I added a 1/2 doily from Stampin' UP!

Mounted on Pumpkin Pie card base. I also added a strip of Pumpkin Pie card stock under the ribbon.

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Nano Postcards

Good morning, everyone!

I have to say I'm having a blast playing again. Especially in things that get messy, like today's mixed media project. - Postcards

I participate in National Novel Writing Month every November. The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days.... the length of the book, Moby Dick. This is to be a first draft, dump the story from your brain and get it down on paper. Perfection and editing are for another time.

Like most places on the internet, Nano has a massive amount of forums/ threads to connect with other like-minded people. One group I found this year was a Post Card swap. we are assigned 5 people to swap with. We send them a postcard with words of encouragement for the Nano battle. The postcards may be purchased or handmade. Well... we know which one I'm going to do! LOL

This was the front of my postcard. This swap gave me the opportunity to play with stamps I've not touched in ages!

I started with one of my favorite techniques - shaving cream marbling:

I swirled then pressed 12 postcard bases which I'd made by gluing 2 pieces of cardstock together using Modge Podge. They needed to be sturdy. One card was destined for Spain.

Lined up on waxtex on the ironing board to dry:

I sponged ink on the back side to tone down the white.

Finished and ready for addresses:

You'll notice the one in the foreground is different. That's because I messed up and put the images on the wrong side. LOL The rest are done the way I'd intended. 

As I said, I'm getting play time in again. Probably not a good plan since I'm supposed to be writing Book 2 but it's so hard to concentrate when Bob is home :-)

Tomorrow will be our monthly Card Chicks cards. I made three from Suzy's kit. Can't wait to share!

Creative Blessings!

FRIDAY FREEBIE - Fall Arrangement

Happy Black Friday, everyone!
I don't do the shopping like I used to. When we lived in Peoria, IL the only place I ever went to was JoAnns and Michaels anyway. Both of those places are now a 4-hr round trip. I'm content to sit Black Friday out. However, I may look at Shop Local Saturday tomorrow. We'll see.

In the mean time, I promised you the fall arrangement today. So here we go.

I have the fall arrangement on the high chair until later today when I kick into high gear switching over to Christmas. I'll be guesting on another author's blog for a series called Sizzle In the Kitchen. Since I have a Christmas book out and I really get into Christmas, Tierney James and I thought this would be the perfect time for me to visit. That means having my kitchen decorated for Christmas by Sunday so I can take pictures and get them over to her.

Getting things done this weekend isn't a problem as I'll begin the holiday baking next weekend.

Okay.. the arrangement. I started with the same wooden basket as the Halloween one. I just cut a new chipboard base to clue the floral foam to, making it easy for me to switch the arrangements out. Then I had $21 in floral and extras:

After cutting stems to length, I came up with this:

I have the arrangement sitting on the pressing leaf of my work table where I was working for this photograph. I hope to give you a full walk-through of my house next year, showing the arrangement in place. Right now, the room is a bit chaotic. ;-)

Here's a vertical shot that is a bit closer:

Like the Halloween arrangement, there is nothing on the back side. I'll have to wait until $Tree has their fall florals next year to fill in the gaps of both arrangements.

Now, it's time to think about Christmas!

WOYWW #494

Wow! We are only six weeks away from cracking the 500 mark! If you know of people who used to be a part of our hop but haven't played in awhile, invite them back! I'd love to see what they've been up to.

Before I show you my desk this week, I wanted to point out a couple of Friday Freebie posts. Some of you know I was working on a Halloween and an Autumn floral arrangement to place on my husbands high chair from when he was a tot. I have completed both arrangements and they are at the following links if you want to see how they turned out.

Friday Freebie - Halloween

Oops.. forgot, I can't share the link for THIS Friday because it's not live yet! LOL If you want to see the Autumn arrangement, please pop back on Friday.

Okay.. my desk for today is all about finishing unfinished projects. If you think this looks staged, you'd be right. But not for this post. I had set everything up yesterday for the Stampin' UP! post then had to leave to take Bob to the eye doctor. The kit is sitting just as I left everything without getting any crafting time in. I've remedied that and you can see my cards from the kit HERE.

Today is the November Paper Pumpkin from Stampin' UP! If you've not heard, Paper Pumpkin is a monthly auto-mail kit in a box. You get everything you need to put together 8-16 amazing projects. Most of the time the projects are card related. Sometimes they are gift bag/ box type items that are great for sharing with others.
Next week, I should be showing the last of the Christmas cards before the table undergoes a huge change, which I look forward to showing the first Wednesday in December. Crossing fingers here. hehe

For those of you celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow, I send you tons of blessings for a fabulous day of family, food and friendship. Our oldest granddaughter turns 12 tomorrow. Where has the time gone. Missing her like crazy but they are moving closer to us in a few weeks so I'll get to spend her 13th with her next year. In the mean time, just Bob and I but I am blessed to have him home for the holiday. With his job, we do not always have the holidays together.

That's it for my desk this week. Who's Miss Julia and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Stamping Ground  for all the details. 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.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list. 

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

FRIDAY FREEBIE - A bit behind

On my WOYWW post Wednesday I showed all the supplies for making two floral arrangements, one for Halloween and one for Fall, that never got done this year. But I did want to get them made as I'm in the process of going through all of the Halloween/ fall decor to determine what goes where in the house and what will go to the thrift store next week. I need to organize those seasonal items as I have my Christmas tubs, which I'll begin unpacking next week.

Here is a reminder of the items on my worktable:

I picked up the basket at Michaels during their 60% off sale back in September. I paid $8 and change. Not bad considering I'll be using the basket for both Halloween and Fall. The arrangements will be made to change out.

I chose the basket because I wanted to display it on my husbands high chair and prevent the antique (can I call it that without offending my husband?) from being a catch -all. During Christmas, the chair holds a mini Christmas tree. I'll need to figure out what to do for the rest of the holidays. Whatever I create has to fit on the tray. This basket was the perfect width and depth.

We were blessed to get this piece from his aunt before she passed away. Bob doesn't get why I wanted it. Men. LOL

After I did my WOYWW, I started with the Halloween display. I would have done both but I was a Styrofoam block short so I'm picking that up today and will show you the Fall one on Thursday of next week for a Thanksgiving post.

Here's the arrangement:

All of the floral pics came from Dollar Tree as well as the ghost, the jack o lanterns and the witch hats. The glittered twigs were from Michaels. The ghost is from Dollar Tree and is supposed to be motion sensored but I think he's blocked too much from the floral. 

I will be honest and tell you there is NOTHING on the back half. I ran out of floral picks, though I'm not sure how. There are approximately 12-15 picks of just the purple and black roses. While I'd like to fill in the back, I'm not sure if that would crowd the arrangement too much against the back of the chair. I may just fill the space in with sphagnum moss. I did reserve a few of the spider picks and glitter twigs to go in the back. Since it's after Halloween I'm not getting those florals this year so we'll see what next year holds. 

Basket - $8

Picks and foam blocks - $25

Ghost - $1

 The display was inspired by the Halloween door hanger I made last year. I had some of the roses left over so decided to run with the theme. Here's a reminder in THIS post.

Bob just texted. He is 5 minutes away. Gotta scoot!

Creative Blessings!

WOYWW - #493

Good morning, deskers!

Since my sister began radiation treatments, I don't get here as early as I'd like. I spend a couple hours with her in a chat room before she has to make the long drive to treatment. She is doing very well but we do enjoy our time together in the mornings. We chat about my book plot, our gardens, the birds, holiday plans, and find stuff for each other on Pinterest. We enable each other extremely well :-D

Today's desk may look a bit piled but in reality, there are only 2 projects there I'm focusing on The chip wood basket on the far left will fit beautifully on the tray of my husband's oak high chair... yes, the one he had as a baby. The chair sits in kitchen/ laundry room arch way. I want to put a display there during the holidays so it doesn't become a catch-all for everything else. 

I wanted to do 2 arrangements - one for Halloween and one for Fall that I could just switch out and interchange in the basket. Sadly, with everything else going on the end of September into October, they never got done. This week, my plan is to declutter some of the Halloween/ Fall decor and I need to know how these items will pack away... and they'll be ready for next year. So those two arrangements are top on my list for today.

You know... as I wait for Bob to come home. LOL He should roll in here around four this afternoon after having been on the boat for over 28 days. Needless to say, not a lot will get done around here the next day or two. Go figure. But maybe the minimal time I will have while he's running errands or catching the last 4 days of hunting season will encourage me to make the most of the time and get words written on Book 2. The scenes are in my head... just can't seem to get them to flow through my fingertips to the keyboard.

That's it for my desk this week. Who's Miss Julia and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Stamping Ground  for all the details. 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.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list. 

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

WOYWW #492

Good morning, crafters. I skipped last week as I was up to my elbows in apple pie filling. I hope to finish that project today then move on to apple sauce.
Not a lot of crafting as I've been battling a sinus infection, which I think is on its way out. Yay!!

So my desk this morning:

On the upper left of the TH mat, you'll see some mixed media postcards. I took part in a NanoWrimo Postcard swap last week. I make all of my items in sets of 12 so I have a few left over. If you are participating in NanoWrimo and would like one of these, please look for me on Nano - RainLyte - and let me know you saw the swap here. I have to reserve a couple for Angel Swaps but should still have 2 or 3 left for sharing with deskers.

Center of the mat are the easel cards I made for the September Christmas FB challenge. We were to create (4) 3-D cards. This month's (and our final)  challenge is to make (4) Christmas ornaments. That will give me a head start on the art tree I want to put up in the office this year. 

The rest is just this and that I need to put away. Oh yeah, and the ever present box of tissues. I don't know if I've gone through more tissues due to the sinus infection or the vast amount of Hallmark Holiday movies I've been watching in my lazy/ medicated state the past couple of weeks. 

That's it for my desk this week. Who's Miss Julia and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Stamping Ground  for all the details. 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.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list. 

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

WOYWW #490

Wow!  Do y'all realize how close we are to #500? We will roll over right after the new year. What a way to kick off 2019! I am so excited!

Okay... deep breath....

I have work space this morning! And boy do I need it. Several things to catch up on. The Paper Pumpkin will have to wait a day or two. I must get my four cards for the Christmas FB challenge done and uploaded TODAY! I'm going to use that new SU set you see on the top of the stack to the right of the Paper Pumpkin box. I'm going to do a simple easel card so four won't take long now that I have space to work.

Beneath that stack where the stamp sets are balanced you'll see a bit of lighter green/ blue cardstock peeking out. That is one of 8 card kits waiting to be put together.
Stack in the foreground left are past planner pages I need to file away.

Temps in the mid 70s yesterday, I put sheets on the line. So today, when it's only to be in the low 60s I need to get stuff moved around in the garden in prep for a delivery of 35 bales of straw on Friday. Time to get them in place and let them proof over the winter in prep for spring planting. I grow almost everything directly in straw bales.

That's it for my desk this week. Who's Miss Julia and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Stamping Ground  for all the details. 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.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list. 

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

WOYWW 489 - I'm Back!

Good gravy!
I haven't played in almost two months! But for good reason, which I'll tell you about in a moment. But first, the reason you stopped by:

Horrible, isn't it? This is what happens when you don't have time to do anything but pile. I see one small opening but I can't work with the clutter around me so that is my task for today. You guys know me and this is NOT me. But about that good reason I told you about. 

First off, take note of the brown and black box in the front right then go up and to the left from the top left corner of that box and you'll see a print out of 4 square pictures. The box contains bookmarks and the print out is of the inside front cover of a booklet I made as a giveaway at the writer's conference last weekend.... all to promote this lovely item:

AN OZARKS CHRISTMAS released in eBook on my birthday, September 26 then the print copy went live on Amazon two weeks later. Though this is my second book, I am most proud of this one. The cover artists (Sweet n Spicy Designs) did a fabulous job of creating a marketable cover that FIT THE STORY. This is the first in a 4-book series. I'm hoping to release Book 2 around Mother's Day 2019. If you'd like to find out more, here is the AMAZON link. If you love Hallmark Holiday movies, second chance at love stories or sweet romances, then I think you'll enjoy my book. 

Bob left Monday. I'm spending this week and next getting stuff caught up around here so I will be able to visit. I've missed you all!

That's it for my desk this week. Who's Miss Julia and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Stamping Ground  for all the details. 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.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list. 

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

CREATIVE CARD CHICKS - September

First off, as you can tell I totally spaced our Monthly Color Challenge. With that in mind, and the lack of participation, I am going to discontinue the Monthly Color Challenge. I would love to have seen people participate. Maybe that would have helped me remember.

On the other hand, if you've not seen my book cover on FB yet, I will be posting that here on Monday. So much creativity went into this book from a lot of people and I look forward to showing you.

But today, is all about our month Card Chicks group on SplitcoastStampers.

Sue was our hostess this month and she sent some lovely papers and images to work with.

Here was our note from Sue:
Creative Chicks, here is my challenge for September.
The image and sentiments are from SU Birthday Blooms, stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black on recollections white card stock. 
The DP is from SU Pop of Pink consisting of Melon Mambo and Basic Black. I've included Melon Mambo Baker's twine, the black and white twine was from my stash. The silver sequins are also from my stash. I included one piece of Melon Mambo cardstock.

Here is card #1:

I loved this black DSP for some reason. Not necessarily me. I pulled Stampin' Blends that I thought were perfect, not realizing they were a discontinued color until I pulled the matching cardstock from my retired shelf - Pink Pirouette.

I used the light and dark Pink Pirouette Stampin' Blends to color the image as well as Light Basic Black. The string is from a previous Paper Pumpkin and I added Basic Pearls (retired)

For both cards, I used the Oval Framelits.

Card #2:

This one took some playing. The time was getting late, I was tired but was determined to finish a project. Everything here except for the Melon Mambo card base and the piece large enough for the scallop mat came from the kit.

Some of the girls are super creative. Take a look at what Jeanette did with items from the kit:

Cre8tive Play

I'd like to say things will slow down but not for a couple more weeks. I'm trying to get the house ready for company arriving on Friday. My SIL (also my downline) will be helping me assemble 250+ promotional giveaways for me to take to conference on the 11th of October. We'll also be wrapping mini chocolate bars for my table at the conference.

To add insult to injury, I'm speaking at the conference and came up with a crazy idea to sell a companion workbook to my talk. I'm still organizing notes and compiling. Then there's the printing/ binding I'll probably be doing two days before I leave. 

So probably not a lot on the blog until after the 15th when I can breathe a bit.

Thanks for stopping by my studio!

WOYWW #482 - pictures

Welcome, friends!
Several pictures to show you, some based on comments from last week. Let's start with why you are here:

My space as I left it last night. I did all the prep work for a planner video I need to film this morning. I'll need to clean this morning before I start on cards.

Last week I showed you my new book ends unit and explained the unit had been made from cutting up a storage drawer from my old stamp cabinet.

This is the unit. The drawer is one of the deeper drawers - bottom right:

I turned the drawer so you could see how this came from a drawer. The back piece was either the drawer front or back. The underlayment piece  at the bottom.. was the bottom of the drawer. Bob cut the drawer in half according to how tall I wanted the item to be, then angled the sides of the drawer frame to create the book end. No additional nailing/ gluing/ etc involved. This could be done with any drawer from a nightstand or bureau.  Because I wanted this a certain height to accommodate the DVD cases I store embellishments in, that underlayment base is actually the back of the unit. 

Next we discussed carpet vs laminate.

I would really have preferred hardwood but Bob wasn't keen on putting that in. Didn't feel confident in doing so - silly man. Laminate was my second choice as that is what we have throughout the house. Because of the dimension of the room, we would have had a lot of waste. You know that wasn't going to happen! LOL So flare square carpet it is. If I think I'll be doing a lot of wet/ paint stuff, I can put down a drop cloth or work outside on the picnic table. This is really easy to clean... well, except for the glitter that gets in the pattern grooves.  

Lastly, pictures of happy mail. I went on a shopping spree a week ago last Saturday. Darn Tim Holtz and his new toys. I've managed to not buy anything every year when he does his fall releases. This year, I decided I wanted a few things. The antique wardrobe where I had my Yule tree last December will be a perfect vignette for a Halloween display. I'm still waiting on my big order from Simon Says Stamps. Many of the new items were not releasing until the 22nd.  However, JoAnns had TH items on sale 40 or 50% off... can't remember now but they also had $2.99 shipping on the entire order!

Well, the first thing that went into my cart:

I've been waiting on this since he showed it off in January. Some of you  may have ordered this. I don't want to think what you would have paid in shipping. Tempted to take mine to the PO just to see LOL

Well, since the shipping was already taken care of, I had to add a few more things:

Not holiday related items but things that were not checked off in my app.

Finally, I went over to Stampendous for these little jewels:

I have one but Tim said these will be discontinued, when they are gone, they are gone forever. Then he showed one of his new ideology hands holding the lantern and I had to have a couple more while I had the opportunity. Stampendous is the only place I found them still in stock.

Okay... one more thing - not stamping related.. kind of:

This is a 6-box Holiday sampler of tea from Bigelow Tea company. A small family-owned company shipping all over the world. My heroine in An Ozarks Christmas enjoys her hot tea in the evening. I found little pocket booklets made from scrapbook paper that would work great for giveaways. So I ordered 3 of the sampler gift boxes. I contacted Bigelow and they wanted to help with my promotion so they gave me a generous discount. I will tuck a tea bag (individually wrapped) into the giveaway as well as adhering one into the inside cover of each book I autograph for the hotels. 

That's it for my desk this week. Who's Miss Julia and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Stamping Ground  for all the details. 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.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list. 

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

TEAPOT TUESDAY - New Home

Two weeks ago, we were asked to make a card for a woman who had just moved into a new home next door to her daughter. There is a gate in the fence between the two yards so they can visit each other whenever.

I knew when I heard the challenge I wanted to use the Stampin' UP! set,  AT HOME WITH YOU. I even pulled the stamp set and put it on the work table. I just couldn't get to it.. until yesterday morning.  So while my card is going to be a bit later than the others, I hope she'll appreciate the thought.  I also added something from a new set in the Holiday catalog releasing September 5th - MANY BLESSINGS is similar to the At Home set but without dies. The potted flowers, basket of pumpkins and box of candy canes are the same size as the adornments in the original set. The only set back is there are no dies. Man, I could have used those cutting out two sets of the potted sunflowers this morning, but at that they only took about 15 minutes to cut both sets.

I started with a Soft Suede A2 card base. Then I cut a piece of Crumb Cake 5-1/4" x 4" and ran that through the Pinewood Planks embossing folder. 

The door is stamped on Whisper White then colored in with Soft Suede, Crumb Cake and Blackberry Bliss Stampin' Blends. The door handle is colored in Dk. Daffodil Delight and I added a gold brad at the top of the door handle where the latch is located. 

I cut the window panes out with my Xacto knife then layered a piece of Daffodil Delight card stock behind that. The door opens. I cut through the door, the embossed layer and the card base front so that you can see the white inside where it says 'to your new home' The 'to' is from Snowflake Sentiments. The rest is from At Home With You. I covered up 'on'. Welcome 'on' just didn't sound right LOL Of course, the Welcome is the welcome mat stamped in Memento Black on Soft Suede.

For the lantern, I cut out two, then used the window pane die to cut out to openings in one. I sandwiched Daffodil Delight between the two lanterns. 

The pot of sunflowers is from the new Many Blessings. I used Cajun Craze for the pot and edged with Soft Sued. The flowers have a hint of Pumpkin Pie beneath Lt. Daffodil Delight. The leaves are Granny Apple Green over top a touch of Old Olive. I stamped and colored the image twice. Then I cut the flowers and the single leaf stem from one of them. The full pot is glued flat to the card front. Then I used mini dimensionals to layer the bouquet, single flower on top. 

This is the first time I've used either of these stamp sets. I look forward to creating more cards with them.

COLOR CHALLENGE - August - Really!

Thank you all for your patience. To top everything off, we found out on Wednesday for sure that Bob was leaving Thursday. I'm glad I took the time off to spend with him.

So here's this month's color challenge:

I fell in love with these colors! So rich.

Here's the SU colors I selected:

Remember, you do NOT have to use Stampin' UP! products. You can use anything. These are just my go-to products. As you'll see in the embellishments, I keep forgetting I don't have to use current product on this blog.That's just where my mind always goes.

I started with the Basic Black A2 base. Used my Martha Steward lace border punch for the accent strip.  The flowers are from PRESSED FLOWERS and the sentiment VERY VINTAGE

I used the Darling Label Punch (available only through the box set in the link) to punch out the floral mats from Whisper White. I punched one from Smokey Slate, cut it in half then mounted under the sentiment mat so that I had a border top and bottom.

For the base mats under the florals I cut punched three, one from each Flirty Flamingo, Mint Macaron and Merry Merlot. Then I cut each one in half and off-set under the coordinating flower color. I used retired SU Share What You Love Artisan Pearls for the flower centers and the top right corner for balance.

Okay.. now the fun stuff!

I can't wait to see what you come up with!

RULES:

There aren't any rules. You may use any company product you like. My only request is if you use a stamp or something special, link to the company so we may add to our stash, too :-D

KEYWORD: KCC18APR

WOYWW - #481

My desk in all its glory this week. I've just finished some of the August Paper Pumpkin cards. Loved the prints I had to work with and in gorgeous colors.

Saturday, I started to clean the worktable and wound up stripping everything off, rearranging as well as shampooing the carpet. I haven't worked with this enough to find out if I like the arrangement but I think I do. Bob repurposed a drawer from my old stamping cabinet and made the  'book' holder you see center back. That's where I put the stamp cases that house current SU embellishments as well as my small self-healing cutting mat and my piercing mat. They seemed to always get buried before. I also have a spot now to stand my paper trimmer up and out of the way instead of always looking for a place to lay it but still keep handy.

Bob leaves tomorrow or Friday... probably for four weeks so I'll have mornings to visit again so should be able to get 'round to more of you.

That's it for my desk this week. Who's Miss Julia and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Stamping Ground  for all the details. 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.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list. 

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

COLOR CHALLENGE - August

I woke up this morning and realized today was the third Monday. Man is this month zooming by. Do you realize we are 4 months and 4 days from Christmas?  Yikes!

Torrential rain and storms here so I'm hoping this gets posted before I lose internet. If not, I'll be back to finish.

I did have to shut down. By the time the storm was over I needed to make a grocery shopping trip, come home to fix dinner.. and the day was gone.

COLOR CHALLENGE will run next Monday - August 27th.

WOYWW #480

Good morning, neighbors!

This is what I'm starting my day with. Stuff around the edges needing put away. The white binder is going to become my current SU designer series paper catalog, the brown binder is the beginnings of an October Daily project  using the new Bubble & Toil DSP Stampin' UP! is releasing in a couple of weeks as part of their Holiday catalog. I'll be doing process videos on that so please make sure to subscribe to my KellysCreativeStamping channel on YouTube so you don't miss those.  I'll be doing one for December Daily as well.

Those of you in the UK will recognize the latest issue of cardmaking magazine. All about the bee this time around. Beneath that a 50 ct. package of thermal page laminates. I saw a thing on YouTube for using these to create your own die storage pockets. The system I have, while it works, is bulky and time consuming. I'm a 'flipper' and my current system is a 'flipper' system of sorts. I'll be doing a short video comparison on that as well.

If you've done videos but have trouble uploading them due to size, I recommend ClipChamp. A fabulous on-line tool that will reduce the size of your video without interfering with the integrity. Since being introduced to this program, I'm finally able to upload videos. Yay!!

I've not touched revisions since getting home Saturday night. That's on my desk for today and tomorrow. If you want to see pictures from my research trip last week, they're on my author blog HERE.

That's it for my desk this week. Who's Miss Julia and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Stamping Ground  for all the details. 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.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list. 

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

WOYWW #479 - As I left things

Good morning, everyone!

I know I hadn't planned on playing until I was past this crazy deadlines but I was in a cardmaking frenzy on Sunday and this is how I left my desk:

I had invited the recipient of this week's tea party at Splitcoast Stampers. so needed to make sure I had a card to put up for Meredith. She is a cousin to the country duo, The Bellamy Brothers. Meredith lives in a care facility. She is 30 and has Sina Bifida. When I saw her on the guys' show, Honky  Tonk Ranch, I knew I wanted to shower her with card love.

Here's the front of the card:

If you want the details on the card, I have those on my Stampin' UP! blog post HERE

Bob is holding down the home fort while I'm camped out at Inn of the Ozarks in Eureka Springs AR. Today is all about revisions.

Wonder what I'm blabbering about?

That's it for my desk this week. Who's Miss Julia and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Stamping Ground  for all the details. 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.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list. 

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

TEAPOT TUESDAY - Let Your Love Flow

Good morning, everyone - from so far still sunny Eureka Springs Arkansas. Rain is to move in late this afternoon - about the time I'm headed for the dinner train research excursion... of course. LOL

I am playing in Teapot Tuesday at Splitcoast this week. Even though I'm 'on vacation' I had to participate because I'm the one who brought Meredith Gilmore to the tea party!

Meredith is cousin to the infamous country duo - The Bellamy Brothers. I've known Howard and David for over 25 years. When I watched an episode of their new tv show, Honky Tonk Ranch, the audience was introduced to Meredith. She has Spina Bifida and in a care facility. She is a sweet gal with a ready smile. She loves to make jewelry and catch up with friends on FB.

On the first episode of the show, the guys were debating about doing the show so they 'consulted the mermaids'. That inspired my card for this week.

Sea of Textures is a new stamp set this year from SU so I purchased that set and Magical Mermaid. The two sets are a perfect combination.  I used the swimming fish die and the Embossing Mat to create texture in the background

While the layers don't show up well in the photo, I've used dimensionals for the sea grass by stamping the image twice, watercoloring, then fussy cutting them out. I glued one flat to the card base then popped the other one up with dimensionals. I did the same with the coral in the bottom. To make sure the Tranquil Textures Sprinkles stayed in place, I glued them with dimensional glaze. The mermaid also has dimensionals. 

Here's the inside:

The episode with Meredith is the one episode I couldn't find on YouTube.. but here's the one that sets everything up, including consulting the mermaids:  

ON VACATION!

If you need me, I'll either be here or squired away in my room typing away madly to finish at least two projects. This picture was taken from the waterfall. At night, they pull down a screen and run a family friendly movie. And just beyond that big tree on the right is the enclosed gazebo where there's a hot tub just waiting for me after my long drive tomorrow, or longer days at the computer.

I've tried getting projects ready to run on the blog but between house stuff that needed done before I leave and the packing, there just hasn't been any creative time. Add to that the hot water tank went out today. I'll be traveling sans shower in the morning. So happy I'm not planning on doing much until I get to the hotel.

I won't be home until late Saturday evening, take Sunday off to catch up and spend time with Bob as by then he'll be in sight of getting called back to work. Time is precious.

By then I should have 2 of the major projects flowing and I can play again.  I really want to try Flow Painting. Bob even brought me one of his empty bottles the other day and said 'I thought you could use this'.  hehe 

He is so good to me. :-D

Be creative while I'm gone. I'll see you in a week.

Creative Blessings!

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Getting Started in Art Journaling

Good morning, creative friends.

I didn't get to my Wacky Brave Girl journal this week. Between helping an author friend fix multiple errors in her manuscript before the book released today and working on my own revisions there just hasn't been a lot of play time.

In the past, some of you have commented that you don't know where to start. So today, I've pulled a great beginner video from Dawn DeVries Sokol. She's a bit nervous in front of the camera but a wonderful teacher. The video below is an abbreviated version of the class she teaches on CraftDaily.  

I have one of her videos - Art Journaling- Pages in Stages - that I ordered from ClothPaperScissors several years ago and watch it whenever I need to get back in the art journal groove.  They offer a wide variety of videos on just about any creative process and often have great sales.

I'm working on my presentation outline today so I'll leave you with this video:

WOYWW #476

Quick post this morning, just like our dear Ms Julia prefers.

While this may look staged, it really isn't. The Stampin' UP! items are part of an unboxing video I did last night. Will post it below if you care to see all the goodies and some new products coming out in the Christmas catalog. I have all those lovely new Blendabilities to put in their cases (those plastic cases with the color dots). To the right is a stamp/ die set from Technique Tuesday. You can see it HERE. Something I ordered special for the Post Office Christmas card. THIS is the card that inspired me.  Beneath that is my 'tickle' from my secret Teapot Tuesday partner. She sent me not only a lovely card but an embossing folder I didn't have. That is rare indeed. hehe

Wonder what I'm blabbering about?

That's it for my desk this week. Who's Miss Julia and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Stamping Ground  for all the details. 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.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list. 

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

COLOR CHALLENGE - July

Bright colors perfect for any July 4th picnic! I knew immediately I wanted to use Pacific Point, Soft Sea Foam and Real Red

I used Sketch #142 from Operation Write Home

And came up with this:

My photo colors are WAY off with this larger digital camera. I'm really missing my small Fuji for the truer colors.  What appears to be a yellow is actually the Soft Sea Foam. The shorter banner in the middle is Whisper White.   The embossed background is from Branches & Leaves (Sizzix)

I used the stamp set COUNTRY BORN - part of the 30th anniversary collection from Close To My Heart when my bestie Brenda (pinkdisneychick) was with the company.

RULES:

There aren't any rules. You may use any company product you like. My only request is if you use a stamp or something special, link to the company so we may add to our stash, too :-D 

Okay.. 1 rule - no back-linking. Make a new project in any form. That's pretty easy.

KEYWORD: KCCJuly18

There's my card for this month. What will you create. Grab the button on my side bar for your blog, make something using the colors and link up below so I can see what you make!

WOYWW 475

Good morning, friends. 

Another hot day in the Ozarks is on tap for today. I really need to do some more yard work but that might have to wait... again.

My desk is the leftovers from a Christmas card I made for the SU blog yesterday. You can see it HERE if you'd like to peek. Not  my best work but limited on current Christmas until my order arrives today.  The card was for our Team Color Challenge. I need to get link up with my team leader today. Deadline is tomorrow. LOL

Also, for my mixed media friends, instead of cleaning my desk, I did a serious cleaning of my art area. You can see that post from yesterday HERE.

I have today's card to get up and will be linking up with the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. I got home too late last night to get the card made so that's next on my list. Good thing is, once I get something in my head the reality comes together pretty quick. I'll be using the Snowflake Sentiments set already on the desk. 

Speaking of challenges. This is VSN - Virtual Stamp Night weekend at Splitcoast Stampers. We start at 6 p.m. CST (?) on Friday night with 4 challenges posted - one each hour. Then we'll kick in again around 11 a.m. CST (?) on Saturday and go through til 9 p.m. with a new challenge posted each hour. We'd love to have you join us. HERE's a link to all the details. Sharon aka FoxyStamping is usually one of the challenge hosts. I'm determined to play this weekend.

That said.. if you want verification as to what a crazy woman I am, I invite you to check out THIS post on my author blog to see what I'm up to the next 8 weeks. Bizarre doesn't begin to describe what I have on my plate.  Don't let the content warning on the first page scare you. Unless you go back a couple of years, there isn't' anything risque. That is partially up there as a safeguard to parents against young people looking up 'romance' hehe. 

Okay.. done babbling. 

That's it for my desk this week. Who's Miss Julia and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Stamping Ground  for all the details. 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.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list. 

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly