CARDS AND OTHER PRETTIES

 Good morning, friends!

Kateri, one of the Spectrum Art Creations & Friends FB group moderators, went on a cruise to Europe last fall and took some amazing photographs. So she offered up a challenge for us to create something with any of the photos. Our deadline is today - her wedding anniversary.

I chose four of the photos to manipulate into pretties (at least in my opinion). Note that while I did do the castle on Friday and the other three on Saturday, I didn't wait til the last minute. I plan everything out in my head for days before actually creating the project(s).

Since it's Monday, let's start with the card:

The background is of a terra cotta roof. Do you see what's hiding between the tiles?  I also used a Vintage fashion paper doll from Spectrum Art Creations... similar to this pack HERE.

I created the font in word. I may swap that lady out for one backed in white rather than black but I wanted to help draw out the item on the roof.

Next I used a photo she took of some mushrooms:

I placed the photo to the back of the frame then printed a second photo to fussy cut out just the mushrooms. I distressed the edges of the fussy cut pieces with a brown ink then layered them on top of the background photo with dimensionals. At the base of the photo, I mimicked the ground cover with some dried moss and pieces of acorn then added a couple of plastic ants, Tim Holtz tiny bone pieces and a gnome charm. (If you click on the photo to enlarge the image, you will see the tiny gnome hiding amongst the ground cover). I added a lady bug to the larger mushroom.

To make the layers fit into the frame, I put a double layer of dimensional tape all around the parameter of the photo. The tape is hidden by the frame. This gave me a bit of breathing room between the glass and the display. I simply eliminated the two pieces of cardboard backing that were in the vintage frame.

Number three:

This photo was of one of the many beautiful art pieces Kateri saw on her travels. The owl seems to be warding off a crow/ raven flying past him. The raven is on the back side of the votive cup. I printed the image on vellum and adhered to the outside of a votive cup from Dollar Tree then added French Gimp Braid Trim trim from Spectrum Art Creations.  (Note: they appear to be sold out of the brown but I've linked the white, which you can dye any color)

Here's the votive with an LED candle:

Finally, the largest piece:

I loved the picture of this castle and knew I wanted add more dimension. 

I used a black shadow box frame. First, I printed the photo out at 8x10 onto photo paper and put into the frame. I printed out a second one on photo paper so that I could fussy cut out the bird. I mounted him on two layers of black cardstock, cut him out then set aside. 

The castle was printed again but on Vellum and left to dry for a couple of days. I didn't want the ink to move/ smear. When it was dry, I fussy cut out just the castle (away from the sky/ tree background) then adhered to the outside front of the glass with Aleene's Spray Adhesive. Then I put the bird in place over the one on the print with a strip of black dimensional from Stampin' Up! The dimension appears to change depending on how much or little the frame is reclined. 

I'll be back on Wednesday for the weekly blog hop. Wait til you see my work table!!! Before AND After shots coming!

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

WOYWW #728

 

Good morning, friends. 

Wow! 14 consecutive years of a blog hop is pretty amazing. I've made lots of friends. I can't let this anniversary without a Thank You to the woman who brought me here - Shaz Silverwolf. Sadly, she is no longer physically joining in each week but she will always be with us in spirit. 

Friends have come and gone. We've met new deskers along the way. Some of us (cough) haven't been here every week but the weeks we are we are left to question "What took us away?" and we're always glad we found our way back. Miss Julia made a comment this morning about being a Brownie Girl Guide. I am a Lifetime member of GSUSA. Her comment had me searching for this very appropriate song for this week's post:

Okay.. 'nuff of that. Let's get on with this week, shall we?

It's been a week. I've been working hard on the studio. In fact, I finished the work table... I'll show that next week with the new set-up. I also went through the 2-drawer filing cabinet and the paint shelf. Pitched a lot of stuff I've not used since the initial put-away when I moved into the studio almost seven years ago. Time to pitch and make room for the supplies I am using. 

So here's my desk this week:

You'll see remnants of the next round of cabinet cards that will post in today's video, as well as a selection of trims on the left I've been using for the project. Tucked just underneath the cards on the right was the scrapbook layout sketch that inspired the layout. Today's card is the one on the top. There's a sheet of stickers from Japan just above the photos. That is where I cut out the bundle of letters as well as the ink/ quill from in the bottom right of today's card. Here's a close up:

I'm working on ATCs. I make them in sets of 12 and aside from mine, a couple are already spoken for. I  will have a total of 9 left to trade. If you're interested, let me know in the comment below.

Bob's friend that had the triple heart bypass is home and doing well. When Bob gets off the boat this morning he's headed there to check up on his BFF and spend a couple days with him. Kevin is used to being active and I'm pretty sure he's going stir-crazy already LOL

No new flower pictures this week. I'm so glad I planted Clematis. I absolutely love them. 

With all the rain we've had, I've not done anything about a garden this year but I did spend some time weeding in the front flower bed in hopes of getting flowers for there. They didn't make it last year. 

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

MEMORY DEX MONDAY - Part 1

 Good afternoon, friends.

Had a rough start to my morning and my head still hurts. I did want to come in and introduce this new series I'll be doing on my YouTube channel the second and fourth Monday each month until the series is concluded.

Rolodex came into play in 1958. These were like the secretary's assistant. They contained all the contact information a secretary would need with a flip of a finger. 

In 2015, Heidi Swapp took rolodex up several notches, turning them in to a small way to create art and be a form of memory keeping. 

MemoryDex resurged a couple of years ago. I think this was due to people having more time on their hands and dug back into their crafting supplies. 

They seem to be making the rounds again. I've seen newer videos on YouTube and swaps being put together. I've also hear a lot of people say they have no clue what MemoryDex are or how to create them so I decided to put together this series.  I did an intro to the series HERE as part of the haul video. 

In today's video we go more in depth with the things you can use to make the basic Memory Dex, including what you may have in your own stash.  I hope you'll come play!

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

WOYWWW #727 - A Bit Behind and A Few Pictures

 Good morning, Crafty friends!

For those of you across the pond, I thoroughly enjoyed the Coronation of King Charles & Queen Camilla. I loved the mix of tradition and contemporary. There is a lot to be said for tradition. 

I do apologize for not getting round last week. That is usually my Sunday routine but since I didn't do anything but sit on the sofa in front of the television Saturday, I had to take a make up day. LOL I'll do better this week.

Let's start with my desk:

Leftovers from filming my Week 2 Challenge of the #KCDMayJJ23 series. Since the first Saturday of the month was National Scrapbooking Day, I am doing my take on Cabinet Cards and turning them in to 5x7 scrapbook layouts. I can attest to the fact that size doesn't matter in this case. Whether I'm doing a 12x12 or a 5x7, they take about the same amount of time. 

Here's a close-up of the card I did in this week's video:

I used digitals from an etsy shop - Weathered Textures and was inspired by THIS layout on Pinterest. I'm uploading the video for this as I type so if you want to see that, check out my YouTube channel later this afternoon. 

I'm dying papers this morning. I started with this:

This is the second round of soak for this ink cartridge. I've dyed papers with it once then dropped the cartridge back into water and it's been soaking since April 24th.

This is the color I'm starting out with this morning:

Finally, I think Spring has finally arrived. We've been getting rain over night giving us lovely cool temperatures in the mornings. I really need to be out in the garden. With the arrival of spring, I have flower pictures: 

I've always wanted Clematis and i have three beautiful flowering plants in my yard. The first one is Little Duckling. I need to look up the names of the other two.

 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

WOYWW #726 - Promised Tip for Christine

 Good morning, crafty friends.

After posting last week, I found my note to share links for Christine on what to do with those lovely UK card/ stamping magazines. 

I have a post for the project. I linked to Angela (aka Crafting With Jack) on her process. I hope you find this post helpful:

POST 1

Okay... on to the desk!

The box in the middle holds the things from my haul video I recorded yesterday (it's live on my YouTube channel now). Nothing else exciting. LOL

I've been busy as usual this week. With Bob's first week behind me, the twenty-one days are flying by. 

I've finished the April spring journal. I'll have the video posted here after it's uploaded an available on my YouTube channel. I hope you'll take a moment to visit and subscribe. I'm not out to monetize, just show higher up in the crafty rankings. Thanks! 

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

MAY COLOR CHALLENGE - #KCDMayJJ23

 Good morning, crafty friends!

Blessed Beltane, Happy May Day.... whatever you celebrate, I hope your day is awesome!

I didn't get any cards made over the weekend. Between planning out the Merry Merry Month of May (remember that little tune?), getting new words written on the book and spending a very large amount of money at the Spectrum Art Creations sale both Thursday (napkin sale) and the usual Saturday Live, I had a busy weekend. LOL  Be patient. some are coming, I promise.

With today being the 1st of a new month, I released the Color Challenge on my YouTube channel this morning so that's what I'll leave you with for now.  I should be back here tomorrow with a card. :: crossing fingers :::

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly