MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Crazy Brave

Somewhere along the line, when I put the book together, I got calendar pages out of sinc. This was supposed to be February's prompt. Given the subject though, I think the challenge fits any month of the year.

New Years resolutions are great when we make them. Goals are even better. The plan is to make this year the one where I am UNSTOPPABLE. Even though I may drift from my goals, I don't have to abandoned them all together - I pick myself up and get back to work. Falling off the wagon doesn't have to be permanent - unless I CHOOSE it to be so.

Well, I DO NOT choose that path. I'm stubborn that way. What I want to achieve may take a little longer but I believe in accomplishing what I start out to do... no matter how long.

Not the best picture. I just could not seem to get things in a flow yesterday. May have something to do with my first Monday with Bob back home. I did find my larger doll stamp and used her this time on a 2-page spread. My husband was quick to point out that my shoes are going the wrong direction... well, they weren't for the stamp! LOL Maybe I'm going to make this journey backwards. 

The shoes mark the path along the calendar year. You'll see that I have a GOALS image along the way - reminding me that if I'm not where I thought I'd be, I can readjust and KEEP GOING! There are several signs along the way reminding me DON'T Stop. This is part of My Story at the end of the year. The SUCCESSES, Stumbling Blocks and Drop-Off's along the way all make up MY STORY. 

You'll see a rainbow in the top left of the My Story image, then there's a smaller sticker. This is left over from my UndercoverWear days... a motivational sticker by The Booster.  The sticker says:

LIVE YOUR DREAMS

After I had all of the elements in place, I just played with my Recollections Watercolors. 

This isn't one of my best spreads but the message is there in spite of having an off day. 

SYMPATHY SUNDAY

If you've popped in within the past hour, you may have noticed only a partial post. I was in the middle of one over at my Stampin' UP! site and realized I needed to put a portion of that info on this blog instead. So here we go!

Beginning this week, I will use one Sunday per month to focus on Sympathy cards. While we don't like to need them, as my 'old soul' granddaughter will tell you, it's part of the circle of life.

NOTE: To see the first two cards in this set, please go to my Stampin' UP! blog HERE
Sadly, this past week I needed four of them. They were all in regards to the same person but because the kids no longer live at home, I wanted to send one to each of them as well as his wife.
Ron Booth was a character. We didn't always get along but when it came to my caring for his children, he knew I was the best. One time when the youngest decided to run away from home (she was 6), he called me. Last words she uttered as she stormed out the door - "I'm going to my Kelly. She loves me."  You see, these kids were family. We loved all three equally but held a special bond with one.

We practically raised the youngest. She'd been in my daycare since the age of 7 weeks... and most weekends, never went home. She'd fuss and whine about going home each night but when Friday rolled around, she somehow managed to stay the weekend. When Bob asked her what she wanted for her 5th birthday, she told him she wanted her own room. She got one, of sorts. One Halloween, she was dressed as a bride. I think she was 5 or 6. When they stopped by the house to show us their costumes, Bob took a play ring I had in the children's dress-up corner, knelt and put it on her finger.  Later, in the second grade, the kids each got to be Student of the Week. They were to bring pictures to display on the classroom door, depicting their life. The 'proposal' picture was smack dab in the center of the grouping. 

She has always been our Peaches.... but more importantly, she was her daddy's 'Pooh Bear'. So this first card is for my Peaches.

I was inspired by THIS  Pin from OCDcardLady on her etsy shop.

I used a retired set from Stampin' UP! called Love and Sympathy.

The DSP is from a suite retiring the end of May called Petal Garden:

Petal Garden Designer Series Paper Stack

144168    Price: $10.00 RECIPE: Card base - Sweet Sugar Plum Background Mat - Petal Garden Image Mat - Very Vanilla Flower stamped in Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive Sentiment stamped in Versa Mark then embossed in Gold. Sentiment mat punched from Very Vanilla and Sweet Sugar Plum with the: Everyday Label Punch 144668   Price: $18.00 To make the mat base, cut the sweet sugar plum label in 1/2 then position each piece just beyond the sentiment mat. I then added dimensionals.  The bow is from my ribbon stash and the pearls are retired SU. Card number two is for Ron's oldest daughter, Jessica. I loved the peach tones from Petal Garden for one of the sweetest young women I know on the planet. She's gone from short of despising her youngest sister when Kassie was small to now sharing a house with her. They do sister vacations and all kinds of things together - best friends.  The only time I babysat Jessica (as well as their brother Vinnie) was when the kids were sick. I would keep them through the whole 'sickness' phase so Josie didn't have to miss work. Kassie especially always wanted me to take care of her. The day she had her tonsils out, she asked her mom if they could stop and pick me up so I could be there, too. Yep.. they are my extended family for sure. While Kassie was my mini-me, Jessica always wanted to come to my house to craft. She loved coming in the door with an idea, knowing my knowledge and craft room stash would see her project to completion. So this is the card I made for Jessica: RECIPE: Card Base - Calypso Coral Background - Petal Garden Floral Mat - Pear Pizzazz - 3-1/8" x 4-1/8" Floral - Whisper White - 4" x 3" Ribbon - Pear Pizzazz Pearls - retired SU Sentiment punched from Pear Pizzazz and Whisper White using the decorative label punch (retired SU) Floral Image stamped in Calypso Coral, Pear Pizzazz and Memento Black - 2 step stamping method Sentiment stamped in VersaMark then heat embossed with gold.  My soul aches for this family's loss and wish I could be there for them, but these cards will let them know they are in our hearts and our prayers.  There will be a celebration of life for Ron in May and I'm hoping to travel up to be with them.  Creative Blessings!

THIS AND THAT - Card Chicks

Wow!

I sat here on Wednesday playing, trying to see how many cards I could get from everything in Forest Ranger's card kit this month. I got a lot! Six cards total! Four of them already will be going in the mail this week. I don't think I've ever put together this many cards from one kit AND mailed them almost as soon as they were made.  So here we go!

You saw the first one HERE

Here are the remaining with a few details about each:

#1 - I used a Pink Pirouette base, stamped the image from Fairy Celebration in Soft Suede then used the watercolor pencils. The patterned paper is from the kit (PaperStudios) cut with one of the Scalloped Square dies. I cut the center out since you wouldn't see that anyway and saved for another card. The brad, green polka dot paper and the ribbon were part of the kit.

#2 - This one I got a bit creative. I used the entire sheet of woodgrain DSP (The Paper Studio) on a Wild Wasabi Base. I used the Scalloped Square and Wilde Wasabi for the bird mat. The bird from Petal Pallet is stamped on Whisper White cut from a Stitched Framelit square. I used Soft Suede for the bird. The sentiment was part of the kit. The leaf stem is cut from Pistachio Pudding using the die from petal Pallet. 

#3 - Though the color is off, I actually used a Pistachio Pudding card base and for the Scalloped Oval mat. The image and the polka dot are from the kit. I used the Stampin' Blends to color the image. The sentiment is from March 2017 Paper Pumpkin

#4 -Another of my favorites.The striped paper and the flowers in the corner are from the kit. The flowers are cut from the floral DSP such as was used in the first card. I used Pretty Kitty Stamp set. The sentiment is actually 1/2 of a stamp in the set. The other part is inside the card that says 'to say hello'. Yes, I do cut my stamps apart. They offer more versatility and much easier than masking. The image and sentiment are stamped in Soft Suede and I've matted everything with Strawberry Slush on a white card base.

#5 - This last one is for another SCS group challenge - Stamp2Spend where hostess Ina challenged us to stamp on patterned paper. Remember that piece I cut out of the center of the mat in Card #1? Yep, I thought this the perfect place to stamp a dragonfly. 

I used the negative space from Card #2and the Timeless Textures stamp set to stamp both the dragonfly and the lacy pattern on the right side. The base and the ink are Wild Wasabi. The negative piece is from Pistachio Pudding. The dragonfly was stamped in Night of Navy then sprinkled with an unmarked bottle of glimmery embossing powder. I stamped with versa-mark, then the embossing powder. Once that was heated while it was still warm, I coated with the embossing powder again and repeated the process two more times to really let the dragonfly pop while still appearing to be a part of the flower background.  

On the inside, I stamped a linen-style texture stamp from the set and stamped in Pistachio Pudding then the sentiment, Every Little Kindness Makes the World Brighter in Night of Navy.

This card will be used to send a bank deposit in. I got a note from one of the gals at the bank today. We used to be neighbors. She wanted to let me know they enjoy the cards I send them. I thought that was sweet. She would like for us to chat and catch up. ... by phone! See - who needs facebook? LOL

Tomorrow I'll have a selection of Sympathy cards. I want to start posting them on Sundays. Sadly, I need three of them this week. A young lady who was like my own daughter and part of our daycare from birth to school lost her father to cancer this week. So sad. They were so much alike but the best of friends. She and her older sister share a house so I'll send one to each of them then one to his widow - who was one of my best friends for years. They also have a son. I may make him one and send it to his mom's address. 

So off to make sympathy cards. I'll see you tomorrow. Creative Blessings!

WOYWW 464

I'd like you to meet my timber kitty, Tabby. Tabby wandered into our yard from the back timber last summer. She is approximately 2 years old and weighing in at  8.5 pounds. Tabby fast became a indoor/outdoor kitty and is my shadow. Our only issue with her is since getting her fixed she has become very territorial and won't have anything to do with Goddess or Spirit. Goddess just gives her a wide berth but I can't have Tabby and Spirit (my 5th generation panther) in the same room unattended and a spritz bottle handy. We don't herd cats, we play musical rooms making sure we know where everyone is located before leaving the house.

Okay.. what you came to see:

Update on Bear. He took the last of his antibiotics on Sunday night but we can't get him in for surgery until next Tuesday so the doc and I agreed to put him on the pills to avert infection moving back in and having to postpone the surgery. 

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

TUESDAY - Card Chicks

Isn't this pup adorable? He's from a company called Your Next Stamp. The stamp is "Blossom". Very appropriate. Has a Bambi-esque appearance.

I started with the striped DSP then auditioned cardstock colors. I found SU colors Strawberry Slush, Melon Mambo, Cherry Cobbler and Blushing Bride worked well.

Next, I chose Sketch # 218 from Operation Write Home then tweaked it a bit by adding a mat under the focal. I cut that from Soft Suede at 3-3/4 x 3-3/8.

The sentiment strip dimensions are incorrect. I cut one 3/4" x 2-1/2",  used the banner punch from SU.

HAPPY EASTER is from the March 2017 Paper Pumpkin.

I had a blast making this card so as soon as I hit post, I'm going to slide the computer back and use up the rest of this kit. I'll post them soon.

WOYWW #463 - Bear Update

There's my desk.
All of  my tools are back in place across the back, laptop where I left it last night after typing up labels for the new SU cardstock colors. You can even see the clean sofa (except for dog toy) in the background. After uploading a video later this morning, the laptop will be moved out of the way to get cards made. I'm also hoping my Paper Pumpkin kit arrives today. It's all about the sea... anchor, life buoy, lighthouse, etc. One saying says 'You are my anchor'. I want to get a card made and tucked into Bob's pile of mail before he gets home tomorrow. He's been gone 45 days.

Update on Bear - On Friday I found what I thought was an abscessed canine so made a vet appointment. Monday morning's visit went very well. He doesn't have an abscess but a growth on his gum that is common in large breed/ older dogs but his canine is cracked. We figure that is what has been making him so miserable. Aren't we all when we have a toothache?  He is on an antibiotic and a pain med 2x a day and is more like my teddy bear. Other than the tooth issue, he got a clean bill of health. Once the infection is cleared up, I'll take him back in for dental work. I'm so happy he trusts me.

Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes for my precious teddy Bear.

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 - National Siblings Day

Finally getting into some Teapot Tuesday posts. April 10th was National Siblings Day. I had one person in mind for this card, but it wound up being for someone else.

I thought I'd pull out a set I'd not used yet. There are a few of those on my shelf.  I wasn't sure I even liked Hey Chick but I thought my eldest granddaughter would get a kick out of it. So I picked up the free set from the 2017 Occasions Sale A Brations.

For designer paper, I went with Botanical Gazette. A retired DSP from two or three years ago. I thought the honeycomb background held a chicken wire effect. After I had the card together I realized I could have embossed the Certainly Celery panel with the honeycomb EB folder. There's always more cards.

COLOR CHALLENGE - April

Can you believe it's time for the April Color Challenge already? Where is this year going!

April brings to mind, Spring... Spring Cleaning, Easter Eggs, First Flowers... So I found this image on Pinterest:

Soft, Springy... perfect for our challenge this round.

I chose to work with the softer pink/ lavenders this round. 

I went with Melon Mambo, Powder Pink and Wisteria Wonder. 

Painted With Love DSP carried 2 of these colors and paired well with the Wisteria Wonder.

Fairy Celebration seemed like the perfect stamp pairing with these colors:

And here's my card:

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 #462

First off, thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers for Bear. He is doing better:

Aside from his age (he's almost 14 - long life for his breed), I really think he got depressed from the nasty wet weather that kept him in his dog house for so many weeks at a time. The days he's able to be out in the sun, he does better. By Friday last week I truly thought we had hit the end. He had stopped eating. I had the vet come out on Saturday morning. Of course, Bear had eaten and was up moving around and wagging his tail, albeit a bit slower than he used to. Doc Mike said he seemed happy and to let him be happy as long as he had left. So that's what we're doing. Most days he has picked at his food, if he ate at all. Yesterday he cleaned up everything I'd given him. 

My desk this morning:

The fabric in the back corner will be put to use tomorrow. The brown and the dark print will become swags here in the studio. After over two years, I finally hung the brackets last week. The yellow and the blue print will be the spring cafe curtains for the kitchen. I won't need those this year, as I've already hung the summer curtains. Our local quilt store took part in their Spring Shop Hop last weekend so I got a a nice price on quality fabric. That print has all the colors of the spring towels/ dish rags I bought this year.

Okay.. to the right. That stack of Stampin' Up! sets are all the ones I lost in the retired  list. I dropped my 'current' sets by a third. I only buy stamps I know I will use so these will just go into 'general use' and will be showcased here and not on the SU blog. My everyday planner sits on top. 

Stuff in front, my laptop, fluffy coffee, SU planner and general office stuff. Oh yeah, and my morning fig newtons.

Since some of you think my desk is always clean, this is what it looked like before I started a deep clean of the space last Saturday:

I pulled everything off the desk last week, sorting/ pitching as I went. Stuff is sitting on the sofa now waiting to go back into place but thought I'd take advantage of the empty desk top to cut my fabric

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

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - En Masse Journal

Good morning, ladies.

I'll be back around noon with a progress picture but I wanted to get something here so you'd know to come back. I should have been working on this post yesterday but I was busy clearing off the work table. The space needed cleaned/ reorganized and I'm still on the hunt for those dies.  4500 steps later, the work table is completely clear. I'm going to glue the junk journal pieces into place, take pictures then load them on Kizoa. I should have that all done by noon.

In the mean time, if you con't remember the En Masse Journal, click HERE to go to the original post.

This is the pile I've been collecting for the past week. As I came across something, I clipped the item down then tucked it into the journal so I wouldn't lose anything.

I started by dividing everything out into categories:

Window Envelopes.

I don't include the whole window area. I just like the different insides. So I punched them out with my Fiskars Octagon punch.

After gluing them in, I realized I had two pages for this. One has them punched out with the banner punch. Not sure if I'll combine or just fill both. 

I did the same thing with company labels:

After gluing them all onto one page:

I realized I had separate pages for food labels and company labels. Oops. Oh well, they will fill up fast.

Postage stamps:

Became this:

While this might seem like an odd project to some people, this is an interesting way of documenting a life. With a flip-through future generations will see the type of products we used, stamps, and all sorts of ephemera that show how we lived, what our interests were, etc. This is our Smithsonian. :-D

Creative Blessings!

FRIDAY FREEBIE - Planner Find

While grocery shopping at Walmart a couple of weeks ago, I found these planners on clearance. 

Regularly $19.95, they were clearanced down to $5. Imagine my surprise when I checked out and they rang up at $3.50! WOW!

Don't let the '365 fool you. They are NOT Happy Planners. They are by CraZart - a company that sells a lot of different types of craft and activity kits. 

Okay, first off let me explain. I do NOT need another planner. However, there was a method to my madness. I DO need ARC rings for some ARC-bound. The closest place for me to obtain these was to either drive 2-hrs round trip to Hobby Lobby or order on-line and pay shipping.  I couldn't do either of those for the $5. At HL a package runs around $4.98. Then there are tons of bonuses in the kit:

Aside from the UNdated planner pages, there are:

3 Pocket Dividers

12 Monthly Dividers

72 Weekly/ Monthly Calendar Sheets 

10 Journal Pages

2 Yearly Calendars

75 Note Pages

6 Rolls of Washi - In MY planner color scheme!

2 sheets of date stickers

1 sheet of appt/ monthly, holiday type stickers

2 sheets of page flag, decorative stickers

6 binder clips 

6 - gel pens

WOW! That's a lot of bang for the $3.50 Even at the original $19.98, when you compare with Happy Planner - that's a bargain!

The Washi, Binder clips and Gel pens all coordinate!

Because they are undated and a steal, I went back and bought three more last week. 

They had other 'art journal' 'journaling' kits but they were $9 - and not near the bargain of the Planner.

I already know what I'm using two of them for. One is going to be my new Bill Organizer. When the girls come this summer, I may give one to Adrian and let her keep track of what we do throughout the summer so putting her summer memory book together will be easier. 

Incidentally, since these are undated, they'd make great Christmas or back to school gifts for later in the year. 

What would you use this planner for?

THURSDAY THREADS - Floss Storage

While digging out embroidery floss for those dish towel projects, I decided the time had come to make a change in my storage.

When we decided to move out here in the middle of nowhere, I wasn't sure what my shopping options would be for floss. So while working at Michaels and making use of my employee discount, every time thread came up on sale I'd buy about twenty five colors. I bought the bobbins, the number stickers that coordinated with the DMC colors and 2 big 3-ring D binders to hold the handy dandy bobbin pocket pages. 

They looked like this:

What I didn't realize was that having the pocket openings face the rings would become an issue when I wanted to turn the page. Every time I attempted to turn the page, bobbins would fall out of their pockets. Those handy dandy number stickers have come loose over the years (okay, so it's been 12 years. I know.. nothing is supposed to last forever but the knowing doesn't make the issue less annoying hehe)

Saturday morning, while I had the ironing board set up to press the summer kitchen curtains. (yes, I know spring is still refusing to arrive but it is after Easter - so summer decor it is!)

I decided to empty all of the pages and store the floss by Rainbow:

Here's an up close at the pretty Pink/ Red pile:

By the time I was finished, I had two full floss boxes:

As I went, I wrote the numbers in perma pen on each of the bobbins before the number labels became lost completely.  I also have a third box with the empty floss bobbins, marked with those colors I still need to acquire. 

One more task in the organization out of the way!

As to the dish towels, that process is taking longer than I'd hoped. Even with my cheaters, I'm having problems seeing some of the lines. I'm thinking of going back over them with a water color pencil. I'll try to have an update for you next Thursday. 

Do you embroidery? Have you found a way to store your floss other than in the bobbin boxes? I'd love to hear!

Creative Blessings!

WOYWW #461 - A different view

The dining room table is my desk this week. I'm pushing to get ALL of my blog posts for April written and scheduled by the weekend. I have a special treat in mind when I do.

Pile back left is an ARC notebook I need to work with as well as various notepads, my white chocolate Easter bunny - in progress - and my headphones. I've just finished talking to Bob on the phone. Pen cup, phone and coffee mug.  

On the right back - my dayplanner open and in use as well as some charting sheets for my blogs. 

Not sure how much progress I'll make today or tomorrow - which means Friday is going to be long day.

My Great Pyrenees is having health issues. He has a vet appointment in the morning. I'm holding out hope but at 14 years, the trip does not look promising. Send lots of good vibes, please. Not only is his name, Bear but he is my big wooly mammoth - a true gentle giant. Part Pyrenees and part Chow. 

In spite of my week, I'll try to get around to as many of you as possible by end of the weekend. 

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

BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES

I'm finally on track to share Birthday and Anniversary cards for the month.  I saw a video on YouTube by Dena Rekow on "How to Make Quick Cards From DSP". Shared the video on my WOYWW post last week.

This is one of those projects that exploded into a much larger project than I'd planned based on the DSP I chose to work with. I wound up with a total of 40 cards! I spent one day cutting everything then another day putting the pieces together. While this is a simple layout, if you're going to do a bunch, then it is labor-intensive but you have so many cards done and ready for when you need them.

This would be a great card for a class. Each person could select their own color combination and sentiment. You could have the circles pre-punched to coordinate with each color.

I knew I wanted to use the Fresh Florals DSP from the All Occasions Catalog 2017-2018.

Fresh Florals DSP coordinates with the 2017-2019 In-Colors:

I made whatever I could from each sheet of DSP. I wound up with six of each color combination - fronts and backs. Smokey Slate appeared to be the best background choice. However, I didn't realize I was almost out. Here are all the pieces cut out. I have a few left to put together once I order more of the card stock in April.

I wanted the actual floral for the focal point so used the flip side for the card base mat. 

Then I started stamping the banner pieces from coordinating card stock before remembering I had the ribbon in the In-Colors so I switched. Each color collection has some of the stamped banners and some ribbon banners

In the video, Dev staples her banner pieces together. I chose to do this as well, but felt they still needed a bit of stability. Mini glue dots left over from Paper Pumpkin kits was a perfect fit. I positioned one glue dot towards the far reach of the banner...

then stapled the left end:

After putting them together, I didn't care for the staple. So I got out my 1-1/8 and 1-3/8" scalloped circle punches from the Spring catalog:

Here's one each of all the color combinations:

Here are a couple up close:

DIMENSIONS:

Card base: 4-1/4" x 5-1/5"

Base Mat: 5-1/8" x 4"

Floral Base Mat - 4-7/8" x 3-5/8"

Floral Mat - 3- 1/4" x 4-1/2"

Banners - 3/4" x 4"

STAMPS USED:

Bloomin Love - flower on the Thank You card strip accents

Timeless Textures - flourish on the banner strips

Sentiments from the following:

Beautiful You

Your Inspiring

Eclectic Expressons