WOYWW #885

 Hi Crafty friends!

Before I go any further, I want to offer condolences on Neet's passing. She will be missed but watching over us. I never received ATCs from Neet but I'd love to swap this year. 

I've been gone seemingly forever (okay, only since February). I've been swamped.

So my desk this week is a short video of the current state of my studio. Was a disaster before I had to start planning for the annual junk journal retreat, then things got left out that I'd pulled from and when I got home, all the stuff I acquired at retreat got added. 

Everything had to go on hold as I canned #40 of potatoes, #10 of hamburger and #20 of breakfast sausage. 

My garden is almost all planted and I can start in here.

Full disclosure... if clutter is a trigger for you, don't watch. LOL Just know I have A LOT to do before I can get back to crafting.

Next week, I'll try to remember to share what I brought back from retreat, though will probably also be a video with a photo of the cleared desk.

That's it for my desk (and story) this week. Who's Miss Sarah and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Sarah’sCraft Shed for all the details. Miss Sarah 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 #854

 Good morning, crafty friends!

I should be able to get 'round to everyone before next week. I'm still not home rom the writer's conference and a visit with my sister.

Here's my desk this morning:

After the conference closed on Saturday night, I headed to  my sister's on Sunday for a short visit. Now I'm at the hotel getting a bit of work done before heading home this afternoon.

For those of of you who asked about the tags. I finished the tag ring on my crafting retreat last month. Here's the video flip-through of that and the pocket letter page I did for the collection:

I will be doing a follow-up post tomorrow catching up with the tags. I had them done (filming 9 videos last Wednesday!) so I could get them posted on IG and scheduled the videos to post while I was away. If you're interested in those, please pop back tomorrow or that post or you can see them on my IG. Look for the #31daysohalloween hashtag.

That's it for my desk (and story) this week. Who's Miss Sarah and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Sarah’sCraft Shed for all the details. Miss Sarah 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 #852

 Good morning, crafty friends!

Coming in late this morning. I got home Monday afternoon, spent yesterday with Bob with the exception of making a short video. Bob left this morning for 5-6 days to visit friends in IL and IA so I'm on a mad cleaning spree.

I had a great time on the crafting retreat. There were four of us including the hostess. One of our group drove up for just one day to play with friends. She needed the day.

Then I spent five days at the hotel working on my book. Only a few new words but I have an order going forward. I'm hoping for a Mid-May 2026 release. Positive vibes appreciated. ;-)

Question: Do you clean better when you are the only one in the house? 

Here's my desk:

The item in the top left, in front of the tool caddy, is an iPad holder with a magnet sheet for catching all of my dies when I'm working on a project. No more losing them on the desk!

Here's the tag you can't see very well:

I'm doing 31 Days of Halloween here, on my YouTube channel and on my IG account. Crazy, right?!

The background is washi tape and the item in the center is part of a thrifted treat box.

I have a theme schedule for every day of the week. Tomorrow is 'Thrifty Thursday'. Whether I'm using items I've thrifted or 'thrifting' from my stash. I have a full list of the Daily themes in the description box of each of the videos. Here is the video for Day 1:

That's it for my desk (and story) this week. Who's Miss Sarah and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Sarah’sCraft Shed for all the details. Miss Sarah 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

TAG TUESDAY - Cioa Bella - Sound of Autumn - Part 3

 Good morning, crafty friends!

No actual picture of the desk this morning showing everything I played with yesterday for the video. Getting through the video was enough as I dealt with a migraine. But, I do have a video. 

In the video you'll see me mention that I couldn't find my Merry Cafe stamp set so I could make some dangles that said Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice. I found it. I just looking in the right box of stamps. Because it said "Merry Cafe" I kept going back through Christmas until I remembered it also had fall and other seasons. So, when I looked in Mixed Seasons - there it was. LOL I might just move it to Coffee Cafe with the die set so I'll always find it. Coffee, is a FOOD GROUP after all. 

Here's today's video:

Since I'm in an autumnal season for everything, I've been featuring autumn-themed reads on my author channel. Today I'll be reading Golden Days In Autumnville to post a review tomorrow. You're welcome to stop by - The Writers Zone

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

MONDAY MAKES - A Little Different

 Good morning, crafty friends!

No card today as I spent all day yesterday reorganizing my paint unit.

I've been using this cabinet as my paint storage since putting the studio together about 11 years ago.

The cabinet was originally one of the wooden stamp displays at Michaels when I worked there. We were down here working on the house when they did a store revamp. One of the other teachers secured the three units for each of us (the 3 musketeers). 

I removed all the shelves from the bottom half (below that wider cross -support) and set a 2-drawer filing cabinet in there. That helped stabilize the unit as it does have a solid open wood base.

So, yesterday I stripped everything off the unit, decided how I wanted to display everything for easy access and repositioned the glass shelves. At some point, I'll take stuff off the shelves one at a time and give the glass a good cleaning. Yesterday was just about getting stuff organized.

Shelf to Shelf/ top to bottom:

Sparkle Mediums from Imagination Crafts

Gilding Polish from Creative Expressions

Mixed Media Pastes/ Butters

Crackle Paste/ Mediums/ Misc. alcohol inks

Alcohol Inks/ SU paintable inks/ puffy paints and glass quill

Homemade Paint Sprays

Remaining four shelves of Acrylic paints 

Below the support bar, sitting on top of the filing cabinet I have my Lindy's Magicals and supplies to make Lindy's inks and watercolor pallets.

Curious as to the filing cabinet drawers:

They old painting supplies, spray paints, etc. 

I'll be back tomorrow with another fall tag using the Oh Nuts! stamp set by MayMayMadeIt that I picked up on a haul last Thursday. If you want to see that haul video, click HERE.

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly 

MEMORIAL DAY TRIBUTE - Whisperin' Bill Anderson with Old Army Hat

 Happy Memorial Day -

I want to share this video from an artist I interviewed several times. Please remember what today is all about.

~ Kelly

WOYWWW # 816 - I'm Back!

 Good morning, crafty friends!@

I have missed you all so much.

I left the blogs & YouTube back in July to focus on getting the craft room in order rather than adding to the chaos on a weekly basis. Oh, I was still creating but not for those platforms but mostly for challenges trying to win/ earn more free product. LOL Go figure!

Before cluttering my desk up yesterday I made Valentines from a past Paper Pumpkin kit. I'm determined to work through all of them this year, get them out of here and the stamp sets in with the rest of my very organized stamps.

VIDEO

The chaos is still here but I finally have destinations for everything and am slowly getting areas in order.

Here's my desk as of this morning but will be cleared by this afternoon. 

Obviously not staged for the photo LOL. This all came off the window ledge I'm going to show you next. I will sort, pitch and find a new way to store everything here as soon as I finish this...

I wanted to move my paper sewing machine over to the crafting corner so it's available for sewing around tags, journal covers, etc. Before this it was on the total opposite end of the room in the sewing corner. I have a fabric machine for over there.

The empty unit to the right of the machine is where my ink pads go. I'll also fill in the stamp pad slots above with most used ribbon spools then the rest will go in the ribbon drawers on bobbins by color.

To the left of the machine is a Recollections organization piece I think is going away. Just takes up too much room. I'm going to try moving it to my journaling corner but if that doesn't work then I'll put it in the thrift box.

That's it for my desk (and story) this week. Who's Miss Sarah and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Sarah’s Craft Shed for all the details. Miss Sarah 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 783 & A Short Video

 
Good morning, crafty friends.

Looks like another rainy day in the Ozarks. Bob has the truck loaded and is headed home. One trip down and five to go.

NOTE: I have ATCs done. they were a bit delayed in posting due to Memorial Day events here. I hope to get them mailed tomorrow or Friday.

I meant to post last week but was a bit out of sorts. I'll put a video and further explanation at the end of the desk.

Speaking of:

This is my desk as I left it yesterday afternoon following a collage tag video (posted to youtube Tuesday afternoon)

I love how these mini tags came out. They were inspired by Margret at SevenPlaza.

Now... where was I last week? Recovering from a cyclone. If you'll watch the video below (posted by Jordan Hall), you'll see that on Memorial Sunday, a cyclone hovered over my house. I have time stamps in my comments on the video (KellysCreativeDreams)

All is well here. Barely a twig out of place. Can't say much for the business and house a mile west of me. While the house wasn't damaged, every tree in direct proximity to their house was uprooted. The business lost their roof, moved a couple of vintage cars and scattered said roof along the 4-lane highway for a mile. A friend of hours lost his shed and roof on the tornado that came through on Saturday morning.

In the 18 years we've lived here, we've had to go to our shelter four times... two of those were last weekend!

That's it for my desk (and story) this week. Who's Miss Sarah and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to
Sarah’s Craft Shed for all the details. Miss Sarah 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. 

Be safe, Be prepared, Be blessed!

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

TRY IT TUESDAY - Make Your Own Enamel Dots!

 Good morning, crafty friends!

For Try it Tuesday, we're making our own enamel dots using products you probably already have in your stash.

You'll see in the video the ones in the jars are made from sparkly colored glue sticks run through the glue gun. The others are made using three different styles of 'drop' mediums. 

I hope you get out your toys and play! Then let me know how you did in the comments below either here or in the video.

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

#TryItTuesday - Twist on a Gatefold Card

 Good morning, crafty friends!

Last week, I jumped into the hashtag, #TryItTuesday. Madi started doing it and I thought this what a great way to tag team... then she didn't do one last week! There are several creators using the hashtag, though, so do a search on social media to see what everyone is up to.

I needed a card for Madi's Spring challenge and one for my SMMR COTM group. 

I started with THIS <--- click  - video from Junebug Creations on YouTube. She need a simplified version of a gate-fold card. These go together really quick. You could use up patterned paper quickly doing Mass Makes - then just add the sentiment as needed.

First, the stamp set I used:

I've had this set about 10 years or more. If you recognize the company, please let me know. 

Then I chose this 6x6 paper pad a friend gifted me last fall:

Apologies for the glare. Overcast here yesterday morning meant I had to use all the lights. There isn't a company name on the pad and the papers are one-sided.

This is the card I made:

One of the things the gal from Junebug did was when she cut her DSP, there was a strip left, just enough to decorate the envelope. (since there technically isn't an 'inside' to this card.

Using the same concept, I made this card for the Spring Challenge in the Spectrum Art Creations & Friends Facebook Group:

I used paper and journaling card from Graphic 45 Fairy Wings, blue braid trim, butterfly from trim and Sunburst stickles. For each challenge item we must use at least 3 items from our SpectrumArtCreations purchases. 

If you want to see how this came together, along with another card I made and the measurements, check out the video below.

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

MAKE IT - MAIL IT MONDAY - It's Been A Week!

Good morning, everyone.

I'll try to get caught up in here tomorrow or Wednesday. 

Bob came home on Wednesday, then we decided I'd spend the weekend in Springfield for a 'sister weekend' with my sole surviving sissy, Dona from Crazy Lady Creations. That meant getting videos through tomorrow recorded - six in total.  

We met up with one of the crafty ladies from our junk journal group then spent the rest of the day in Springfield doing a little shopping, visiting an Antique Mall and enjoying an enormous dinner at the Smokin' Crab. The place is a bit expensive because the seafood is based on current market prices. For Bob and I it was a treat. My sister and I both love seafood and I knew no one in her family would ever take her so it was our day. We were on the go for twelve hours but it was an awesome day we'll both remember.

I have pictures on my phone to share with you guys, but don't have time to resize/ edit them this morning.  Probably a long post on Wednesday. I only have a couple of hours left at the hotel before I have to check out and need to finish up a planner project so the next of this quarter and all of the final quarter of 2023 run relatively smoothly. 

I'll leave you with video links for now if you want to catch up:

Tag Tuesday - another tag for the journal - https://youtu.be/BpZnXkDRuYw

Color Challenge - Guest Checks - https://youtu.be/R-I4YQOaZL4

Finish It Friday - More Guest Checks - https://youtu.be/olRISTfmdBY

SACs Saturday - Wobblers! - https://youtu.be/U-UIYMPw0z0

I'll have a post tomorrow but probably mid-afternoon. 

In the mean time, here is today's Make It Mail It video:

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

MAKE IT - MAIL IT MONDAY!

 Good morning, crafty friends! 

I feel like I'm finally making progress around here. From the entire multi-stack of paper pumpkin boxes I'm gradually getting through them.

Okay, so I just started yesterday with today's post... but hey, it's a start!

This kit was from December 2021 called LOTS OF PUN:

Here's a picture of the kit:

This kit is available on Ebay as of this posting.

I made all nine cards as instructed in the directions except for two. I switched them up a tiny bit to fit my needs. That's one of the great things about Paper Pumpkin. Their direction sheet is just a guide. Make them as they were designed or mix things up. You can always find alternative ways to use a kit by searching the kit name on YouTube.

Keep in mind, I'm not a PUN kind of person but these cards are really cute: 

Here's the video for today:

Since we're working with new colors for the 3KCDSEPTJJ23 Color challenge, I'm hoping to dig into some of the kits to use items for both the #tagtuesday posts as well as journal elements. I hope you'll come back to see what I create. I'm always open your suggestions, so please leave a comment. 

Which of these 3 cards were your favorite?

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

MAKE IT- MAIL IT Monday!

 Good morning, crafty friends!

Okay, today was supposed to be a Memory Dex card. I'll be doubling up on the next go round. Between Bob being home, celebrating our anniversary then a bad hotel experience for me over the weekend, just wasn't in the 'cards'.

However, I did have four cards made up for the Mintay Challenge with Spectrum Art Creations so that's the video and pictures for today.

I had to use Mintay papers/ products purchased in July/ August. Earlier this month I purchased two 12x12 sheets from the Bird Song collection and two 12x12 sheets from the Secret Place collection. I kind of mixed and matched everything around.

I've already done 4 projects I'll show you on Friday. For now, here are the four cards I made. I needed some general Thinking of You kind of cards:

Each card began with a Soft Succulent card base and one of the journaling cards from the collection. I used a stamp from one of my Paper Pumpkin kits, added velvet ribbon and pearls from Stampin' Up!

If you want to see the walk through, here's the video:

I'll be back tomorrow with tags from left-overs.

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

#KCDAUGJJ23 - Inspired by Tracy Easson - Week 3

 Good morning, crafty friends!

Yep, I'm late again. 

I fought a good portion of yesterday trying to get the video for this week to upload. The video stuck in processing for several hours. I tried multiple things to make the video process but nothing worked. I finally gave up and dove into projects I have deadlines for - without giving yesterday's post another thought!

I'm trying the video again this morning in Firefox. If it works, I'll come back and add the link at the bottom of the post, as usual.

In the mean time, here's this week's project:

I used THIS stamp set from her Soul Whisper's collection . This is one of my favorites!

I made a postcard from a food box, covered with the Winter collection from Maja Designs that I'd purchased from Spectrum Art Creations over a year ago. Three of the colors for this month's challenge were in the background paper. The girl is cut from one of the 6x6 sheets and brought up on dimensionals - with the wings in the background.

I did this in full on the video:

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

LATE TRACY EASSON PROJECT

 Hey all!

Man, this month is flying by!  I don't think it helps to have Bob only gone two weeks ... and home only two weeks.  Last week was Bob's first week home and I failed to post Thursday's video here... so check out what I did for Week 2 and Week 3 will be here tomorrow!

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

INSPIRED BY TRACY EASSON

 Good morning, crafty friends!

This post should have ran yesterday but after a rough night sleep Wednesday night, I just could not get the things done that needed.

We kick off our Inspired By series this week with stamps from Tracy Easson. Tracy is a fabulous artist from Scotland and a member of our WOYWW blog hop group. You can see her blog HERE.

Tracy will be in our Creator's Corner on Thursday, August 31st.

For this week's card, I chose to use two of the sets from her large collection.

BELIEVE

SOUL SYMBOLS

I absolutely loved both of these sets.  While SOUL SYMBOLS is more of a 'star' theme, I thought they'd make beautiful snowflake/ Christmas images, too. 

What is a 'soul symbol'?  Basically, a sigal assigned to your birth month. You can read more and find yours HERE. (NOTE: the sight is AD heavy)

My soul symbol, or sigal, is a FLOWER.

If your soul symbol is the flower, you have an incredibly pure and lovely heart. Wherever you go, you spread a great deal of happiness and joy. You embody tranquility, adding elegance to a boring environment. The kindness you exude encourages folks to take a break from their hectic lives and appreciate the peace.

Your lovely heart and soul are your unique selling proposition and you never compromise on that, no matter how hard life gets or hurts you, You always emphasis your inner fortitude, positivity and beauty.

Now that we know more about soul symbols... here's the card I made this week:

Because I had to work with the August colors:

I used colors from my Lindy's Magicals - Industrial Chic collection. I used Time Travel Teal, Rusty Lantern Lime and Shabby Turbine Teal. I brought the Mango Melody in by using some vellum from a retired Stampin' Up! collection and mounted everything on Balmy Blue card base.

I hope you'll check out the links I've provided.  In the mean time, here's the video where I put the card together in 'real time'.

I'll be back Monday with our Memory Dex card of the week!

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

MAKE IT MONDAY - Back to Business!

 Good morning, crafty friends!

You would not believe what I was able to accomplish in the past couple of weeks. Thank you for your patience.  I still have a ways to go as the sofa bed will remain out until after the first week in October. In the mean time, while everything is sorted by category, a lot of items are positioned strategically around the room waiting to be put back once the sofa bed is folded up.

No card today. Instead, I have a project I've had in the work for a couple of months. I didn't like the the way the project was taking shape so I sat the pieces aside. Sometimes you just need to let a project breathe before you find the right  direction.

Here is a group shot:

The Spectrum Art Creations challenge called for us to do something with a napkin we had purchased from them. I loved this castle napkin and knew what I wanted.

I started by painting the coasters blue so that the sky in the background would have that tone. Instead, the blue overtook the image. After several weeks of contemplating, I flipped the coaster over, put a coat of white chalk paint then applied the napkin. MUCH better!

I cut the butterflies from panels of the same collection and glued them to vellum to give them a bit of stiffness. I show you in the video linked below how I made the antennae. I added quotes from a Tim Holt chat book.

Here's a close up:

I'll be back tomorrow for Tag Tuesday!

In the mean time, here's the video giving you a view of several items I have in the works:

Creative Blessings

~ Kelly

CHRISTMAS IN JULY - Let's Get Dotty!

 Good morning, everyone!

Coming off a busy weekend at an on-line writer's conference. Great convention and was nice to enjoy everything from the comfort of my home. With Bob's schedule, I have a difficult time paying for in-person conferences in advance. Most don't offer refunds. At least via zoom, I can plan ahead and enjoy.

This week, I played with the embossing dabber I purchased from Spectrum Art Creations. This is a super simple card that requires the dabber and your choice of embossing powders. I used Gold, Silver, as well as Red and Green glitter embossing powder.

All of the purchase links are available in the description box of my video.

Here's the cards I made:

Simply apply the embossing ink with the dabber, giving you the dot, then add your embossing powder and heat. You need to do one color at a time, otherwise when you dump the excess powder off, they'll all run together. 

Card Base - 4.25" x 5.5"

Embossed mat - 4" x 5.25"

The embossed mat is added with dimensionals, as is the sentiment. 

Here's the video:

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

#KCDJulyJJ23 - Inspired by Ardyth!

 Good morning, everyone!

I'm fresh off of a two-day migraine thanks to weather changes and trying to catch up. I also have a writer's conference on line starting today so busy busy busy... as always LOL

If I've not told you before, my guest artist this month is Ardyth. I so love her simplistic style with basic tools. 

For today's video, I followed her 2-minute cards idea using a stencil. I hope you enjoy!

Dimensions for the card:

4.25" x 5.5" white card base

4" x 5.25" patterned paper for mat

3.75" x 5" white cardstock

You'll also need:

1.75" x 1.5" piece of the patterned paper 

1.5" x 1.25" white cardstock

Links for products (if available) can be found in the description box of the video:

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

MAKE IT - MAIL IT MONDAY!

 Good morning, crafty friends!

Today's project picture is not the best as it's a screen grab from my video. I filmed the video before leaving on Friday for a writer's weekend but failed to take a picture of the card. I'll try to remember to come back and replace it proper when I'm back home.

I'm still using products purchased from Spectrum Art Creations so I can get more entries in the monthly drawing challenge in the facebook group.

I was inspired by the Down Under sticker book from KaiserCraft. You will find the book HERE - and it's on SALE!

Here's the video so you can see how the card came together and a much clearer picture, overall:

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly