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

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

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

CARD CHICKS - February

I guess I should have taken a picture of the envelope contents before the pictures. Will try to remember to do that from now on.

I am amazed at myself for being on time with these. We are to post our cards from the 21st-24th of the month. I've been on time once in two years! So bad of me.

This month's kit came from Barb. She sent a fabulous collection:
     2 images
     2 sentiments
     2 papers
     1 ribbon
     1 twine

The images are from Unity Stamps.

Here are the three cards I made:

I saw the diagonal patterned paper from Echo Park (A Perfect Winter) and instantly thought pocket card. I used the Tim Holtz tag die to cut out around the image, leaving enough room at the top for a snowflake from Jolees. I used Stampin' Blends to color the image. I think I used Pool Party for this one. light for the background of the cup and dark for the rim and base. The snow is covered in SU - Embossing Glitter. The sentiment is mounted on Basic Black.

For this one, I started by tearing the patterned paper in half, then used Cherry Cobbler to make the red in the pattern pop. I left the background of the cup white but used light gray over the snowflakes. Cherry Cobbler for the heart and Dk Basic Black for the coal. More Embossing Glitter for the snow bank. I cut the sentiment apart, dusted the edges with Cherry Cobbler then ran down the side.

for this last card I retore the edge of the patterned paper to give me the white edge. Mounted on Night of Navy.  I tied a bit of the bakers twine (SU-  Bermuda Bay) around the length of ribbon then glued that along the side.  The snowflake trim at the base of the image is part of the diagonal paper. For the image, I went through my printed/ stamped digis I've had in a photo album. I got these from Splitcoast friends when I was a part of the group in the beginning. The image is from an old SU set called Playing in Snow.

I had fun putting these cards together. One is already headed to the mail tomorrow as I owe a gal a card from our SMMR card exchange. Somehow I missed sending the card when I mailed Christmas cards. I think this one catches me up. Time to start thinking about the card I'll need for March. 

If you've never joined a card kit/ swap group before I encourage you to do so. While they can be a bit time consuming, they also force us to do a little Crafty Self Care... something I've promised myself I will do more of in 2019. After all, All work and no play......

Creative Blessings!

TANGLED THREADS - January Mitten Tree Project

Okay... as I type this, the pictures are side by side. When I post they come out one above the other. LOL
Interesting.

I have completed FIVE sets for the Mitten Tree Project. The picture on the right shows a complete set. I purchased the hat and gloves so all I had to do was crochet the scarf. I used a simple single crochet rib stitch (only crocheting on the front loop) and added the fringe.

I have 11 or 12 sets of hat/ gloves to work with. I need to count the number of orange gloves I have. I decided since we live in 'hunting' country, I'm going to get safety orange hats to match those gloves. The color will be a slight variation but the safety orange hats are required when hunting and many kids do youth hunt in the fall.

I still need to print the bag tags for these and find a 'holding' bag. I'd like to find a red collapseable laundry basket. I stamp the front of the tag with a snowman and 'Warm Winter Wishes' then 1 hat/ 1 scarf/ 1 pair of gloves is printed on the back.

I'll finish the 3 remaining black sets then move on to a new color.

Warm Winter Wishes!

Christmas Decorating!

I LOVE to decorate for Christmas. And this year I finally figured out why. Yeah, it's a lot of work but it all reverts back to my love of color. Colored lights, colored ornaments, shapes, sizes, textures... Decorating is an ART!

I do miss decorating the 200 yr old, 11-room Victorian I lived in up in Illinois. And there are so many things I just couldn't give up when we moved to a much smaller single story ranch house here in Missouri. There are days I wish I could put that Victorian on this 25 acre secluded lot. But that's not going to happen so I work with what I we bought all because we loved the location LOL

My favorite room in this house is my bathroom. The kitchen comes a close second and I'll share it tomorrow. I finally got the bathroom I've always wanted. Linen storage, a nice vanity, a big window for light and fresh air and a bubble tub.

The wall board we used is a creamy white with what looks like brush strokes of color in a sea foam green. But if you put blues with it, then you get more of a bluish tone than a green from the sea foam. So for Christmas I went with powder blues, white, snowmen and snowflakes.

With the linen closets flanking the vanity and a huge mirror to fill the space, I went simple accents. You can't see them actually in the picture but hanging from the light fixture at the top of the mirror, there are three of these snowballs spaced evenly across. The center snowball hangs a bit lower than the 2 outside. I still want to make a snowman cover for the hand soap pump.

The snowball candle holder in the top right of the vanity and again on the back of the potty is actually an antique glass potting jar. It's textured like a snowball. I've placed a jar vanilla candle in each one.

I also collect Pooh Bear... well, bears in general.. but these two Pooh Bears from the Disney store dressed as snowmen found their way in here. I didn't even think about placement when I put them on the potty tank. Honest!

And then there's my favorite spot in the whole room. The BUBBLE TUB! I've surrounded it with snowmen. The white lights hanging down either side of the window also work as a place to hang beaded icicle ornaments. All of the beaded snowflakes and icicle ornaments are from swaps I used to do with a Christmas Notebook group I belong to. There's still room for more snowmen at the opposite end of the tub and I'm always on the look out on after-Christmas sales.

Tomorrow I'll have pictures of my kitchen. The kitchen is all about what else... GINGERBREAD!