MAKE IT - MAIL IT MONDAY - Valentines!

 Good morning, everyone!

I can not believe January 2023 is almost gone! Time to start thinking about Valentine cards if I want them out in a timely fashion.

Because I still haven't cataloged my stamps and gotten them put away, I'm pulling from paper pumpkin kits since they include stamps. 

This week, I chose the January 2022 Paper Pumpkin kit. 

The kit comprised of tri-fold cards that I just didn't get. Any way that you folded them put a sentiment of some type on the back. Really made no sense to me. So this week, I cut all the hearts apart. I used the diecut hearts to punch out smaller hearts from the larger patterned, vellum and Flirty Flamingo hearts. The only thing I added were Real Red and Flirty Flamingo card bases.

Here are the cards I came up with:

I used the heart duo punches from Stampin' Up!, giving me a scalloped background with a straight-edged heart. I layered those together then used the large Stampin' Dimensionals to give a little height. 

On the middle set of cards, I glued the first and third heart mats flat on the bade then brought the center mat up on the dimensionals.  The sentiment on the top right card as well as the heart bling were all from my stash. 

You can see how the cards went together in my video. If you watch the video on YouTube, please remember to like/ share/ subscribe and answer the question from the video in the comments section. Very much appreciated.

I'll post more this week as weather permits. We're do for ice this afternoon then snow the rest of the week. Bob leaves tomorrow so I'll be on my own to function should the power goes out. I'm good with that. 

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

REINDEER CLUB - A Little Late

Good morning, everyone!

This video was to have gone up on Wednesday but we were without power. I'm finally able to upload and post this morning.

First, a couple of pictures from our snow storm on Tuesday night - named 'Kassandra':

Pignut Hickory

unsure what these 2 are - pine trees in the background

One of my clothes lines with the dogwood tree in the background.

The dogwood lost limbs out of the top.

Tree limbs on the gazebo. 

We've been needing to replace this anyway.

Now to Reindeer Club - 

We're talking about Christmas Cards - specifically, LISTS.

Creative Blessings

~Kelly

 

CREATOR'S CORNER - Gayle Agostinelli

Good morning, friends!

If you work in mixed media or make junk journals, then you are probably familiar with today's guest. 

Gayle Agostinelli

Gayle is one of the most creative ladies that I follow on YouTube. I think one of her favorite things to work with are 'make aheads'. These are basic items you can make up ahead of time to either just pop into a journal as needed or, with a little extra embellishments, can be tailor-made to a specific project.  Let's hear from Gayle!

In 2016, my business transitioned from a bricks and mortar vintage shop, CinnamonT, to an online Etsy shop, CinnamonT.  I began my YouTube channel at the same time to share mixed media and junk journal making videos.  My guiding principal with my YouTube was to share kindness as well as creativity.

Gayle has such a sweet voice, highlighting her 'kindness'. 

Here's one shot of Gayle's studio:

Welcome, Gayle!

1 – What got you started on the creative path?

I’ve always created for as long as I can remember.  I did the usual kid art, drawing , cutting snowflakes and making clothes for my Barbies.  My parents always praised and showcased my creations.  I loved having their approval of what I was making!

2 – How has your creativity evolved?

I did decoupage and wood burning as a teenager.  Then crocheting and quilt making as a young adult.  I made my kids’ clothes as they were growing up.  I tried scrapbooking my kid’s photos, but it was too precise for me and I gave it up.  After the kids left home, I began jewelry making and mixed media art.  When I first saw junk journals on YouTube, I wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy it (remembering my failed attempt at scrapbooking), but what I found was I could incorporate every craft I ever done into the making of journals.  I love it!

3 – What do you enjoy most about your creative path?

I’d have to say I enjoy the incredible community of creatives that I’ve discovered through my YouTube channel.  They are my friends and my crafting buddies!  I didn’t realize when I first started my channel how incredibly important they would become in my life.

4 – What inspires you? 

That’s a tough one as SO many things inspire me!  The world around me inspires me.  Nature inspires me.  Funny story…I used the restroom at my hairdresser’s and the wallpaper was incredible hues of purple and grey.  I went straight home and took out my gelli plate to make some prints with the color combination in the wallpaper!  There is inspiration everywhere, if we are open to seeing it!

5 – When did you move from hobby to business and what initiated the transition?

As mentioned in my bio, 2016 was the year I went online.  I retired from my career in 2016.  When space and time open in your life, there is room for something wonderful to come in.  For me, it was time to devote to my art full time.  When my husband looked at all the mixed media canvases and journals I was making and said in dismay, “are we going to have these all over the house?”, I decided I’d better open an Etsy shop and sell my work!

6 – What do you love most about your space and would you change anything?

I just rearranged my craft room to have my journal making area under a window and have the space to pull everything I need during a video close to me.  Best thing I’ve ever done!  I also have a separate filming area for mixed media.  I love having the two areas to film!  I can leave the mixed media area all painty and messy without the possibility of ruining one of my journals.  My craft room is my happy place and, yes, I love it!

7 – What 3 things do you feel are important when planning a space?

1.      A place for everything and everything in it’s place.  I can’t create with chaos around me.

2.     Having what you need as close at hand as possible.

3.     Having good storage containers such as project boxes, project cart, bins, shelves, rolling carts, etc.  With good storage options, keeping like with like is so much easier.

8 – What is your best organization tip?

Tidy up often.  I tidy my work space at the end of every crafting session.  And I do a major tidy and sort after I complete a project.  I love to start every day’s work with a clean slate of a tidy work space!  I also put things away as I’m working, so my work space doesn’t get out of control.

9 – What is your best tip for anyone wanting to turn their craft into a business?

Work hard and be yourself.  It takes time and effort to create a successful business of any kind.  If you begin an online business, give it time to grow and don’t give up because it doesn’t happen overnight.  Engage in others’ online presence to support and learn from them.  Put your good energy out in the world and good things will come back to you.

Thank you, Gayle, for joining me in Creator's Corner today. You are always a pleasure. 

For a complete walk-through of Gayle's studio and her methods for organization, check out this pair of videos: 

Part One - the tour:

Part Two - at arm's length (within reach):

You can catch up with Gayle by clicking on any of the links below:

WEBSITE   ETSY   PATREON   YouTube  FACEBOOK   INSTAGRAM

MERCH SHOP 

Please remember to check out those links and subscribe to her channels. You'll love the content!

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

 

 

 

MAKE IT - MAIL IT MONDAY - Paper Pumpkin

 Good morning, friends.

We have a major snow storm headed our way but today is to be gorgeous so I'm hurrying to post then heading into the city for the day. Bob has plans and is going to hold down the fort. 

The January 2023 Paper Pumpkin kit came just in time for this. Hard to believe it's time to start thinking about sending out Valentines!!! Do you send out cards for this day of love?

Here's the kit contents:

Key to my heart design was inspired by the Locks of Love bridge in Paris. You can read about the bridge/ fence HERE

I made one of each card in my video (posted below) but here is a picture of what the cards look like when completed:

Here's my video:

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

FINISH IT FRIDAY! - New Project

Good morning, friends!

While I'm not 'finishing' a project, today seemed like the best time to showcase a project in progress.

I follow LineDotArrow (Natalie) on YouTube and joined her facebook group last summer. But with the whole 'can't promote other creatives while I'm selling SU' thing, I couldn't play and share what I was doing with Natalie's beautiful digitals. 

When she offered up a January challenge, highlighting a Vintage Slim Journal kit, I had to jump in. Vintage and shabby chic are my creative jam.

I don't have pictures yet but will link you to my video today. All the links for Natalie's channels/ etsy/ ko-fi are in the description box of the video. I hope you'll check out her pretties and subscribe to her channel. 

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

 

SPOTLIGHT THURSDAY - Gayle Agostinelli

 Good morning, friends!

I owe you a Wednesday post so I'll post both Week 3 & Week 4 of the #kcdjanjj23 NEXT Wednesday. But you can always go to my YouTube channel and catch up at your leisure.

We're shining the spotlight on Gayle Agostinelli. Remember, she will be our first guest of 2023 Next Thursday! I'm so excited to share with you.

Here's the video for today, making Triple Belly Bands for a single page:

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

CHRISTMAS CRAFT CHALLENGE - #sacs2

 Good morning, friends!

With eleven projects in my arsenal I thought I'd share another one today. With the cold air in a lot of parts of the country (did you see the snow in AZ?), I thought this tag was perfect to play with.

I used STAMPERIA - Cozy Winter. I added a double layer of Cathedral Lace ( Hobby Lobby), fibers I had in my stash and Crystal Stickles. I cut the tag using a Tim Holtz largest tag die.

In this side of the tag I cut the basket of gifts, the tree, and the individual presents from the fussy cut image sheet and layered everything. I added stickles to the ornaments on the tree.

For this side, I centered the die over the sentiment in the 6x6 paper pad and added stickles to the florals and cotton boles. This was actually the front. I chose the music sheet for the back based on the wording here.

I'll be back tomorrow with Week 3in the January Color Challenge. 

Creative Blessings

~ Kelly

MAKE IT MAIL IT MONDAY - Bo Bunny!

Good morning, friends.

I just realized that I mis-titled the post last Monday. Especially since I talked about cards LOL

So here we are, correct title and a new card.

I spent the past weekend working on a massive Christmas Creative Challenge for Spectrum Art Creations. Before leaving for a six-week tour of Europe Madi set up a list of forty-two challenges using the items we had purchased from them. We had to use at least 50% of the purchased product in each challenge. Out of the forty-two, I made eleven.

Granted, we had all of December then were given a requested extension until January 15th. But as you know, I spent most all of December cataloging all the SU paper pads. I was not going to leave that project partially done and move to something else.

#SACS20 was easy. All the components were in a kit from Bo Bunny called, NOTEWORTHY.  All I had to do was choose which elements to work with. I layered the flowers in each corner as well as the bird, added stickles and the card was finished. 

I'll be back tomorrow to show you another item I made from the list. 

Creative Blessings

~Kelly
 

SPOTLIGHT THURSDAY - Gayle Agostinelli

 Good morning, everyone!

I just realized I did not show you last Thursday's photo, so let me back up a bit.

We are starting the Creator's Corner back up this month with one of my favorite YouTube gals, Gayle Agostinelli. She is so much fun to watch and makes some of the most amazing things from scraps!

So each Thursday leading up to Creator's Corner (Last Thursday of the month) and including my interview with Gayle, I'm fashioning my own twist on things she does. Last week, I made a tag from a bubble mailer. I'll drop that video HERE so you can go check it out.

This week, she inspired me to make a tag out of packaging.  Well, I made a tag out of packaging from a $Tree product BUT... I turned it into a tag with pockets! I'm using her inspiring videos to make things for my #KCDJanJJ23 journal. I finally chose papers and am going to use Stampin' Up! retired Snowflake Splendor:

Here are the pictures:

I'm not sure if I'll get back in here before Monday of next week. Bob should roll in here about Noon and I still have stuff to finish up. The first weekend he's home always belongs to him. 

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

#KCDJANJJ23 Challenge - Week 2

 Good morning, crafty friends!

I am finally coming to the end of cataloging all of this Stampin' Up! paper. I should have a photo and an embarrassing number to share with you next week. In the mean time, there is still LOTS to do before Bob gets home tomorrow, so I'm making this short and just sharing the video link for this week's part of the monthly challenge!

I hope you're playing along!  Please share on your social media using the #KCDJanJJ23 so I can see what you're doing!

Creative Blessings

~ Kelly

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY

 Good morning, friends!

Every January I start out sending Birthday and Anniversary cards each month… for about the first three months then I fall off the wagon. I think I just get busy. The other reason is I haven’t found THE ONE… the one way in which I can be more organized about them.

I tried a file box with just index cards telling me who I needed to send cards to each month.

Then I got the idea to put them in a binder with monthly tabs and a gallon zip-lock bag behind each month to put the cards in. I never got the cards pre-done. Also, binders are really difficult for my small hands and some days the arthritis just won’t let me grasp something bulky.

This year, I have a plan. I’m going back to the box system. 

I am a flipper by nature. If you’ve seen previous posts on how I organize my stamps, you’ll get this. I like to flip through things to see what I am looking for.  The first system worked fine except for not having cards ready.  

I have a solution:

I have two of these boxes full of cards for all kinds of occasions but mostly Birthday and Thank You. I’m going to pull from these first. I am going back to the box/ flip style but I'll be using a shoe box with dividers for each month. I'll include the recipient list and start putting the cards/ envelopes behind each divider. I'll keep you posted.

Next week, we’ll kick back in with new cards for Make It Mail It Monday where I’ll begin building my stash for Thinking of You and Sympathy cards – two categories I have almost no cards ready for.

For the month of January, I have 7 Birthdays. 3 guy and 4 ladies. A couple of those were last week, but the thought will still be there.

Courtesy of Pixabay

Another thing to consider is that postage is going up again. Effective January 22, 2023, First Class stamps will go from .60 to .63 cents.

Here’s what I do when I hear this. I calculate how many stamps I need to mail the monthly cards and bills then purchase the Forever Stamps to get me through the year. I know not everyone can afford to do this but if you budget the amount in, you can save a big chunk of change over the course of the year – enough to cover buying the following year’s stamps. This kind of keeps you ahead of the USPS for a short period of time.

Do you still send cards? Please let me know in the comments below.

Creative Blessings

~Kelly

#KCDJANJJ23 Challenge - Week 1

Good morning!

As I set up this post I realized I had not posted the details about my monthly challenge here! I was sure I'd moved the video over. 

I've been busy, to put things mildly. I've spent the past four days cataloging over 30 paper packs from Stampin' Up! that never got cataloged - over the past 2.5 years!!! Geez. Was way overdue. That project is done and I now at a flip through my binders what paper I have. 

So quick note, I'll leave 2 videos today. The first will be the Monthly Challenge details and the 2nd is of the stick pull for Week 1.

Basically, we're doing a month - long challenge with your base colors being BLUES, WHITE, SILVER (or gray).  Then each week, I pull an art stick and that is one of the items you're to make. You have all month to complete any part of this project. Choose to do the ones that excite you and skip the others. No minimum requirements... just have FUN!

Challenge video with complete details:

Week 1 item:

I'll be back tomorrow to show you the 1st item going in my shop.

Creative Blessings

~Kelly

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! - First Project Details

 

Good morning, everyone!

I am so ready for a new year and to get back on track. I'm not sure what happened in 2022 but I just couldn't stay on the merry go round.

I've chosen my word of the year - CONSISTENT

My plan is to stay consistent on the following areas:

Blogging

Social Media Marketing

YouTube

Writing

6M4L - I'll explain in a later post

Today, I'm kicking of 2023 with a challenge I've wanted to play in for the past couple of years but I never seemed to get in on the ground floor.  

MEGJOURNALS offers a January and a July version of this challenge.

You'll find all of the details HERE:

Basically, you have a prompt every day of the month to do something in your journal. You do NOT have to play every day. You can skip prompts that don't jive with you. Other than that, it's just a time to let go and be creative as it comes.

The journal can be anything. If you go to Meg's YouTube Junk Journal January Playlist, you'll find all the several options from great creators. There are 29 collaborators in this project. 

I decided to do flat sheets then I'll put them together with binder rings.  

The other thing I'm doing is blending this with Madi's Spectrum Art Creations Christmas Challenge - which she has extended to January 15th.  There are 42 Challenges for us to do  - each one completed enters us into a drawing (for each number so 42 chances to win!)

I'll explain that part in a minute. But first, this is what I'm starting with:

For Madi's challenges we have to use at least 50% of products purchased from her in each of the projects.  I'm starting with the brown packing paper that comes in my orders. I'm going to cut each down to 4.25" x 6". Technically the working space will be 4x6 but the 1/2" gives me binding room.  I'm going to cut the mats from the brown paper, glue together in the center then stitch around the parameter.  The stencil, stencil butter, washi and Lyndi's Magical powders were purchased from their Spectrum Art Creations store. That stencil, by the way, is their own design.

Then I have all of this lovely ephemera to play with when doing the prompts:

Some of the pieces came in a box from my friend, Terri, in London. Others, like the book paper (Stamperia), the botanical cards, tickets and ephemera packs are from Spectrum Arts. I also have a box of clippings from the personal journal I did last week. 

Here's the video for that journal:

I will be back tomorrow where we will talk about Birthday and Anniversary cards for the month of January. 

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly