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