FINALLY HEALTHY!

Good morning, crafty friends!

The first quarter of 2026 has been an adventure, for sure. I'm so glad all the injuries are behind me. Bob on the other hand is on the end of a foot injury. Lots of sitting for him for a couple more weeks at least, which puts one of my projects behind. Bug overall, we're doing fine.

As spring moves in, there is so much I want and need to do. I hope to get seeds started tomorrow. Temps are finally warm enough in the greenhouse. I only have about five days left of this moon cycle. Seeds need to be planted before the Full Moon. I have a busy week ahead.

Between cracked ribs, knee issues and sinus infection, it's been a rough month. Normally, those things would just be minor bumps in the journey but approaching 65, the bumps get a little bit more intense.

I did manage to take part in my first crafting collab. Participated with JJ with Joy on YouTube. She had some fabulous digital designers. Their makes were really pretty. I chose Before The Boom with Created By Tina and Spring Showers by Bee Happy Stationary. 

My first collab video was on March 17th. I started with Spring Showers from Bee Happy Stationary. I really loved this kit. Here's the first video:

You'll see final additions to the journal in the Sneak Peek for Before the Bloom HERE.

hen on March 27th, I had two videos, a Part 1: 

And Part 2:

I've also managed to keep up with Tag Tuesday. Including a couple of 'busted canvas' style tags. Just check my videos for those Tuesday posts. 

I'll have a new Tag Tuesday tomorrow working with a 6x6 paper pad. Instead of posting those on Wednesdays like I was doing, I'll be posting them on Tuesdays with the video link.

I hope you all are crafting! Share on Instagram and tag me  @KellysCreativeDreams

Creative Blessings1

~ Kelly

I'M BACK! - May Make A Kit Make A Journal Junk Journal Challenge

 Good afternoon, everyone!

Wow - an entire month plus since I was in here last. To say I've been busy is an understatement.

Shortly after my last blog post, Bob came home. His first week in I took the opportunity to travel to Iowa to see Kassie, Matt and the adorable 'grandbabies' I had yet to meet. Mia and Lena are absolutely adorable. While they are twins, I can tell them apart - for now hehe. Mia's face is a bit rounder. Lena also has a couple of beauty marks but one is covered with her clothes and the other you have to look really close to see. I took our retired recliners up to them. Matt has always wanted a recliner and in my honest opinon, EVERY man should have a recliner, especially when they work as hard as Matt does bouncing around in a field all day doing AG work. The chairs will be seven years old this fall but still in great shape. If the kids get another five years out of them to the point they can shop for their own, then that's a win in my book.

I also took them the end tables that Kassie grew up hiding her toys in. While they were almost twenty-five years old, there wasn't a thing wrong with them! I purchased them when I sold House of Lloyd eons ago. We take care of our things and they last seemingly forever. Kassie recognized them as soon as she saw them in the truck. Now Mia and Lena will have their own hiding places in a couple of years when they're toddling around. 

I only stayed one night with the kids before heading home. I stopped in Muscatine IA for 4 days and did nothing but work on Book 2 in my series. Was great to not have anything to focus on except the story. I've been back since May 2nd and only managed to write one night - while Bob was at a lodge meeting.

He left Thursday morning, but on Wednesday I popped a muscle (as in I heard it POP) while pulling weeds in the garden. I've not done much of anything until today except take meds and sleep. 

I have recorded a couple of videos having to do with collabs I'm in and the May journal challenge with Dear Julie Julie.

I'm really excited about this one:

A few things have changed since recording the video.

1 - in the mini challenge 5.2, Julie had us use a napkin then we could put the rest of it into our kit. With that new piece of information, I'm swapping out the napkin for something else (had it in my head as I was typing and it was gone by the time I got to that point in the sentence - LOL)

2 - The flowers are out and I have a package of multi-sizes of paper doilies from $Tree

3 - she's allowing us to bring in 1 more tool of choice. I'll know more about what that tool is over the weekend as I finally get to put my journal together. 

Next week (hopefully Monday) I'll catch you up on the journal progress. 

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

CATCHING UP!

HI everyone!

I will have pics in a few days. In the mean time, I'm using a MorgueFile pic of the Dallas Texas skyline. Although I'm not a fan of big cities, I fell in love with the mix of historical and modern architecture. All the building seemed to live in a harmony like I've never seen before.

I spent eighteen days traveling around Texas. The first seven I visited friends in the Hill Country, particularly the Llano area. Mostly for my work as a music promoter and entertainment journalist but my day job truly is more fun than work most days. I listened to live Americana music, ate awesome food and did a radio promo for my book and some of the artists I network with.

Then I spent a night in Belton TX as an overnight to see The Bellamy Brothers in Salado TX. I've known the guys for most of their career but we see each other so infrequently. I saw their performance at Johnny's Steakhouse and BBQ then spent some time on the bus. The visits are always too short and far between.

From Belton I parked my truck at a friend's house in Garland TX and she drove me into Dallas where I stayed at the historic Adolphus Hotel (a haunted hotel even). I had access to their car every day to take me back and forth to the Hyatt for the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention. I met tons of authors, learned some good points for improving my own writing and made new friends. As part of the convention, I took two field trips. One to the Ft. Worth Stockyards. The other was to the infamous Southfork Ranch in Parker TX. I'll share more info about those trips in the coming weeks as I get photos sorted (I took over 300 over the course of the 18 days!)

I returned home the night before Bob had to go back out on the boat. We have seen each other a total of 2 days since April 18th. LOL Absence does make the heart grow fonder.

So that tells you why there has been no creativity on this blog for awhile. Partly because my stuff is still in multiple places around the house. Bob's surgery still is preventing him from using power tools so no work on the office/ studio. Hopefully soon. His younger brother is going to come spend a few days and see what they can accomplish.

I WANT... NEED to create so will try to have something soon.
In the mean time... where would you go if you had 18 days to travel - ALONE!

Creative Blessings!

What happened to Wednesday?

LOL So, how many of you were asking that question? Or Thursday for that matter?

Bob and I got home from Eureka Springs Tuesday night very late. We'd walked all over the downtown area during the day then made the three-plus hour drive home. Verrrryyyy tired.

Wednesday morning when I would have been getting up and enjoying my coffee I got a phone call from a dear friend saying 'we're just leaving Ash Flat. We need directions to your house. Mind you, they were in Arkansas. They LIVE in Illinois and I didn't even know they were in the area. The dear friend actually encompasses an entire family of five (though the oldest girl, Jess, wasn't with them). But they all know the youngest, Kassie, is my baby. She has been from, the first moment she entered my daycare at 5 weeks old. She will be 16 in December. For those of you who've followed me awhile, you've heard me talk about her before. She spent three weeks with us last summer.

By the time they'd stopped in for an hour-long visit before starting their long drive home, Bob and I decided to just take the rest of the day to get household stuff out of the way. Stuff like lunch at our favorite chinese buffet, snooping through a flea market, seeing a movie and having dinner.. capped of with the grocery shopping trip. Getting this stuff done in what was already a late-start day would let me start the catch-up process today.

Of course, that meant three days worth of email and a blog hop I couldn't pass up. hehe. I still have the Recycled Wednesday project sitting here. All I need to do is put the 'wraps' on everything and glue it together. So it will be posted next Wednesday.

I also haven't made any more progress on the house book. I decided I needed to reorganize this room - not my usual stamping room - because I need my big cutting table to fine-tune the layout of the album cover before I can start on the pages. The room is almost finished. The cutting table declutter is all I have left. I'm praying for time to work on everything on Sunday and get a jump on next week's posts. Why?

Because my mother-in-law and her husband will be here on Monday for a week-long visit. One that includes a quick meet-up trip in Paducah to see my grandbabies. :-D

Does it every slow down? LOL
Creative Blessings!