WOYWW #660

 Good morning, friends!

Wow... 660 consecutive weeks of visiting folks (well, not me personally, but in the grand scheme)!

Here is my 'desk' for the week:

With Bob gone I'm at the dining room table. I'm too ashamed to show you the work table at the moment but I need to whip that in to shape between projects by Saturday so maybe next week?

Top left corner is my flashdrive case on top of new address labels and a notepad. Next to that, an envelope from a music promoter with three CDs to review and artists to interview topped with the book I just finished yesterday -Their New Year's Beginning by Michelle Major. I need to see if I can get the previous books on my kindle and be ready for the next one in the series in February..

Top right is a pile of planner stuff I'll be working on this week, the usuall desk supplies and my water bottle. Almost finished with the caramel mocha latte. I've learned to make these myself and haven't had the sugary 'fluffy' I've been drinking for years in almost a month.

The only thing left is the budget planner on the bottom left. I need to finish up some budget things today and record a video. Yes, I'm behind. I should have recorded it yesterday but I couldn't put down the afore mentioned book. One of the reasons I don't read in bed at night is once I start, I keep turning pages til I'm done and it's 2 in the morning! Makes getting up at 5 or 6 a.m. really hard. 

That's it for my desk (and story) 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 

January Card Chicks - Winter Blues

Good morning

If you were here earlier looking for the card, I hadn't made it yet. 

Normally, I'm awake by 5 so I knew I'd have that couple of hours this morning to create while my video uploaded. So not the case! I slept in til almost 7. I hardly ever do that... making me behind from the time my feet hit the floor this morning. LOL

So here we go...

Maggie was our hostess for January and asked us to create a card using Dark Blue, Light Blue and silver. Well... that spelled snowman to me for January so here's my card:

I used Snowman Season from Stampin' Up! as well as retired Snowflake Spendor DSP.  The image and sentiment were stamped on Basic White cardstock in Night of Navy ink. Everything is matted on Night of Navy cardstock. For the silver, I used the Metalic Mesh Ribbon from Stampin' Up!.  I cut the length I needed then split it up the middle lengthwise for a narrower strip. I used part of the leftover strip to tie around the first strip about 1/2" from the bottom. (I know you can't see that very well, but if you click on the picture it should open up to a larger view).

I'll be back tomorrow for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. I've not played in awhile so I'm long overdue with a meet-up with those folks.. many from across the pond. 

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

AWESOME OTTERS VALENTINE!

 Hi Everyone!

I'm finally back to creating and it feels fabulous!

I'm starting a regular series on my YouTube channel called Stampin' Up! Sunday.

Saturday, I (loosely) took part in a winter 'creative retreat' hosted by my upline, Brandy Cox, an three other high-ranking dems - Connie Stewart, Jackie Bolbuis and Sharon Armstrong. I've watched all of these ladies create for years and blessed to have them sharing with all of us.

We had challenges at the top of every hour on Saturday. One of them was a Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge. 

Looking at a Tic Tac Toe grid - the options were these:

Top Row - RIBBON   FUN FOLD   DESIGNER SERIES PAPER (DSP)

Middle Row - STAMPIN' BLENDS   FAVORITE COLOR   BLING

Bottom Row - DIE CUT (or punch)   EMBOSSING FOLDER   FLOWERS

I chose from bottom left diagonal to top right - DIE CUT   FAVORITE COLOR   DSP

Here's the card I created:

While purple is my favorite color - Pink and Red are my favs when it comes to Valentines.

I started with a Real Red cardstock base, added DSP mat from SWEET TALK DSP  The larger background is the reverse of the heart lollipop pattern. 

The Real Red cardstock also mats the other three pieces. All with only an 1/8" border. 

The images from AWESOME OTTERS were stamped on Basic White cardstock. The sentiment was stamped in Real Red ink and the Otter in Early Espresso ink.

AWESOME OTTERS is one of the FREE options from our SALE A BRATION catalog when you purchase a minimum of $50 in product from any of our catalaogs & clearance (before tax/ shipping)

I used Sketch SC209 from Splitcoast Stampers - HERE 

You'll find other cards using this sketch by following THIS LINK

Here are the cutting dimensions:

Begin with the 5.5" x 4.25" card base.

Mat #1 - 

   DSP - 5-3/8" x 4-1/8"

Mat 2 -

   Real Red -2-7/8" x 4-3/8"

   DSP - 2-3/4" x 4-1/4"

Mat 3 - Sentiment

   Real Red - 3" x 1- 1/2"

   Basic White - 2-7/8" x 1 - 3/8"

Mat 4 - Otter

   Use SO SWEETLY STITCHED DIES (3 & 4 largest)

          Real Red - die #3

          Basic White - die #4

    

Use Stampin' Blends to color in the otter.  I used the following:

Otter - Crumb Cake duo

Fish - Smokey Slate duo & Color Lifter

Otter's eyes - Balmy Blue - light

Otter's nose - Petal Pink - light

Water waves - Balmy Blue - light

The Sentiment is from Sweet Conversations

I added three white enamel dots from Classic Matte Dots

REMEMBER -

Purchase the Sweet Conversations (stamp & die) Bundle PLUS Sweet Talk DSP and you may choose Awesome Otters FREE from Sale A Brations catalog.

You may also choose to purchase the entire Sweet Talk Suite which includes the stamp/ die bundle, the DSP, coordinating Embossing Folder, Ribbon, Embellishments and treat boxes! Check it out HERE

Want to put this card together with me?  Here's the video:

I'll be back tomorrow with the first Card Chicks card of 2022. Until then...

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

BACK TO CRAFTING!

 Hi everyone!

Coming in a bit late today. Actually, I hadn't planned on posting at all. Bob leaves tomorrow so I'm doing little things while he gets his bags ready.

So while he's doing his thing I thought I'd show you what I've been working on.

I didn't complete a single challenge with Dear Julie Julie last year. I'm surprised she still has me on her design team. I just couldn't get a foot hold last year. The studio was (still is to some extent) a disaster and not conducive to creating.

This year, I've already completed the first 2 mini challenges and am excited about doing journals. 

I have a plan.

This year, each of the challenge journals I make will be my personal journal for that month. Which means I'm going to have to jump into the challenge each month from the beginning. This month I'm lagging because Bob has been home and I've done very little creating - except for the two groups of tags above.

Each journal will be hard cover, using similar sized books from the $Tree.

For this month, I'm going with winter blues/ snowmen/ snowy theme. Incidently, we finally got our first real snow of the season last Saturday. GORGEOUS! I'll try to remember to show pics for PHOTO FRIDAY.

We are doing a JANUARY JUST JUNK JOURNAL CHALLENGE - Here's the video link to check it out:

For Mini challenge in the challenge 1.1 we were to make 4 tags using any size/ shape for our base. Add a journaling/ word/ playing card, a tiny tag, sticker sheet (preferrably from one that's been used from), washi tape, scraps from our kit and metal pieces such as bulb/ safety pins, paper clips, etc.   Anything left from the sticker sheet and the washi tape could be moved to our kit.

I made round tag bases to represent sowballs cut from Christmas cards in my kit. the word/ playing card is actually a round card from a game called 'Snowball' that I picked up in IA last winter (2020) when I went up to see Kassie before the twins were born. The mini tags were cut from SU Balmy Blue with a retired SU die. I used 2 blue and 2 white safety pins I'd purchased from Spectrum Art Creations live sale last fall. (psst.. I also bought red ones as I was thinking ahead to my July journal LOL)

So Mini challenge in the challenge 1.2 was to make 5 tags. I made 6 so that I'd have an equal amount in each of the 2 signatures. You cut out tags from (in my case 6) diffent papers then piece them back together with a different pattern on each tag base.  For this challenge we could use ANYTHING to make our tags... which means I could bring in some bling and scrapbook papers. I had some lovely patterned papers from a DCWV Holiday paper pad.

I used my Team Holtz tag die to cut the tags and the hole reinforcer from the same die set. The ribbon at the top is from scraps from my kit as is the darker blue puff in the corner. That's actually a body poof. Did you know when you toss those in the dryer, they get really shrinky? LOL You know, as you use them they get all loose but toss those puppies in the dryer and the edges shrink right back up! I used a dark blue pen to create faux stitching then added a blue snowflake confetti with a clear bling center. Anything we used, we could move over to our kit.

The rest of my week is about getting my planners in order - especially my social media planner. Rather than purchase 5 Slim Classic Happy Planners, I found a link for printables on Etsy so I need to print/ punch those out and put the planner together before I go too much farther. 

What are you working on? Share links in the comments below or tag me on Instagram @KellysCreativeDreams

Creative Blessings

~ Kelly

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

Courtesy of Pixabay

Happy New Year, everyone!

I am back and ready to create again. I always take the holidays off. Bob was gone for Christmas but got home a couple days before New Years. My time has been all about him. I am back in the studio a bit this week but not for long projects. Four hours a day is my limit as this is his last week home. Once he leaves on the 18th (which may be extended a week) I'll be back to regular schedule and ten-hour days.

I am sharing a video from YouTube about what I have been working on and what's on the immediate horizon. 

For now, I just want to enjoy this time with Bob.