WOYWW #319 - Seize the Moment and The Little Bits

Wednesday already?! Where does the week go? This is our weekly snoop at what other artists are up to. We'd love to see what you are working on... or accumulating. Both work LOL For all the details, check in with our sweet Miss Julia at StampingGround. 

This week, I am dedicating my WOYWW to dear Eliza. She left us all to suddenly last week. We were a lot alike. Like me, Eliza loved DOING. She seemed to always be busy. Her creativity and how she saw things always left me in awe - as you'll see from ther latest ATC to Julia when you stop over at Stampin Ground. You will be missed, dear Eliz, but we will continue to be inspired by your artistic legacy and zest for life. Blessings on you journey. 

My desk is full of the stuff from my shopping trip to Hobby Lobby last night (well except for the fabric to the left you'll see tomorrow and the paper trimmer in its near permanent home these days hehe)

The Memory Keeper was on clearance. I now have two - one for each of my granddaughters so I can start organizing their albums. the 12x12 paper keepers is what I went after. Those will hold the SU catalogs I showed you HERE. Aside from the Tim Holtz item I found in the clearance, I found the cute little bits in the jewelry isle. They are from Blank Slate - a category from Hobby Lobby as best I can find. There are ephemera pieces such as miniture playing cards and postage stamps. The whole Traditions line (which Blank Slate is part of) was all 50% off this week.

I also picked up a couple packages of 4x6 pocket pages from Snap only to discover they will not work in The Paper Studios Binder. I wanted them for a seed packet storage album but will have to use these in another project and pick up actual TPS next time I go... yet another unfinished task. :: sigh :::

So what's on your desk? Inquiring minds want to know :-)
Creative Blessings!
Kel

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Home Decor

While I was in Texas, Bob temporarily hung a sign in our bathroom that states 'Captain's Quarters'. He purchased the sign at a flea market type place in Bourbon MO earlier this year with the intention of hanging the appropriate sign (He is a boat Captain) in his Man Cave once it is finished - which will not be until we've moved me completely out of the space into the new studio. I kind of like the sign hanging in the bathroom and the sea/ beachy theme already matches the white/ seafoam blue-green color scheme. But I decided we needed something more than a sign to carry the theme through.

On a wander through Walmart craft department the idea struck me to make a new candle piece... one without a real candle. I know there are suppose to be ways to clean melted wax out of those jars but the glass is so fragil. So I opted for a 'pretend' (I disklike the word fake  hehe)  That day I purchased the sea shells and the 2 glass containers.

While my sister-in-law, Rhonda was here, we made a trip to Hobby Lobby where I bought the sand and the seashells. I wasn't in the candle shopping vein then... just crafting. When Bob and I went back a couple weeks later I found THIS blue L.E.D Flameless candle. The Electronic Flickering can be set to ON or has a TIMER and runs on 3 AAA batteries. I liked this one because of the timer and the batteries are easy to acquire and less expensive than the button batteries.

The completed project came out like this:

Not enough light to read by but with all the other lights out in the bathroom, the soft glowing flicker is very relaxing. 

Oh, and if you think I'm missing a scent, I use the night light style wax melt pots so I can pick the scent. I usually use an Ocean Breeze or Clean Linen for the bathroom.

Wishing you Creative Blessings on your week!

WOYWW #318

WHOOOO HOOO!!!

I'm not sure how consistent I'll be for the next few weeks but for now I am THRILLED to have a spot in the new space to play again. I have 2 projects going and while this might seem staged, it kind of is. I had to clear my projects off a temporary surface, set up a different temporary surface then put stuff back on. I'll shift stuff around as I work this afternoon but I wanted to show both parts.

The Left - is my Documented Life bag with immediate planner essentials. Most of those items will work for the Finding Your Voice class I started last week. Because my first book is about my early childhood years and I'm a child of the 60s, I chose girly prints popular in that time period. So there are two different Paper Studio slabs to work from. The solid piece under the small pad is the hardback book I'm altering. I'll be showing progress on Monday.

In the center you'll see I'm back to cutting the pages out of the thicker books (3 more in upper right) to make the SU embellishment boxes. I saw a sample in their (2012?) catalog as part of their layout and knew that's how I wanted to store my SU embellishments. I hope to show these to you next month when they are completed and filled with SU Embellishment goodness. 

I am excited to be back to window peeking in everyone else's studios this week. Remember to leave me your number so I can find you.

Not sure what this is all about? Love to see how other artists work? Check out Miss Julia's Stamping Ground (or the WOYWW 5 button on my side bar) for all the details!

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Project in Progress

Yep, I've shown you my project bag before... back when I first introduced you to the Documented Life Project. I'm still playing with that but last week I found something else to play in that will let me use the only tools I really have handy at the moment.

I signed up for a FREE class called FINDING YOUR VOICE. Kristin refers to herself as a Feminist Scrapbooker. I'd never heard the term but I like the way she thinks. This 6-week class is about learning to tell OUR story. We spend so much time telling everyone else's story through our scrapbooking, we fail to leave our own for future generations.

As a writer, I am all about finding my voice unique so that when people read my books or articles they know that I am the only one who could have told the story... just as we are the only ones who can tell Our Story.

While the class is free, Kristin has an entire line of products to go with this class and other adventures she offers.  You can buy the class KIT or you can order any of the items individually. I choe not to order the Kit because I have enough paper and other supplies to play with. But ordering helps keep the classes FREE or low cost so I ordered a couple of the stamp sets. I ordered CURRENTLY (which is discounted) and THIS IS MY STORY.  When you sign up for their mailing list, you get a FREE DOWNLOAD of the CURRENTLY hard copy that you can print off yourself. I wanted the stamp set so I could use different colors of ink.

I have been to a couple of the chats. Before Wednesday I hope to get my first lesson completed as well as make my cover for the journal. Just needed to spend the weekend clearing a little space.

How do you tell YOUR STORY?

SUMMER TRAVEL - What's in your Rolling Tote?

I know you are familiar with this bag. Many of you probably have at least one. I have two. One is for my good sewing machine. This one is my hotel travel bag. I was prompted by my sister to take pictures of this when we did our yearly Sister Weekend. She wanted to show her SO how prepared I am for a weekend.  I like having the comforts of home when I travel but have no desire to drive a motor home or pull a camper. Hotels, and their pools/ hot tubs suit me fine :-D

So let's peek inside.

I use the front zipper pocket for utensils:

Flat ware and a pairing knife (in the purple pencil box)

Can Opener

Cork Skrew

and for lack of room, I've included a tuna and a chicken snack boxes.

You can just see the beginnings of the contents in the main part. The nesquick container is my fluffy coffee mix. But here's what takes up most of the room...

If I'm going for 2 days or longer, I don't go anywhere without my Hamilton Beach K-cup pot, bottled water (those little 8 oz. chub jugs are perfect for single serve cups). The Baby Wipes Box has an assortment of K-Kups then I also have my Mocha Latte cups.

What's in your travel bag?

TANGLED THREADS & TECHNIQUES - Row By Row Experience

I make frequent visits to my local quilt shop, The Hideaway Quilt Shop, in Birch Tree MO. The owners and I have become good friends over the years. When I stopped by yesterday Jean told me about a new Shop Hop to take place from June 21 - September 8. What a Shop Hop this is going to be!

If you are not familiar with a Shop Hop, here's the quick scoop. A group of quilt shop owners plan an event to take place over a set time period. Each shop offers individual specials, and spotlights new fabrics and products. Often times there is a prize if you have your 'passport' validated at every shop involved.  I traveled through a Shop Hop back in 2011. You can see my post HERE. 

But this Shop Hop is going to be different from any I've ever been on. Row by Row Experience began in 2011 with 20 shops participating and has grown to include over 2500 shops covering all 50 states and some in Canada!

Each shop will have a FREE pattern for a 'row block' they've designed. Many will have kits for their unique block available. 

The Hideaway Quilt Shop will be participating for the first time. Jean designed this cute little parade of ducks for her row. She wanted something that would be perfect for even the most novice of quilters. Aside from having the FREE pattern and kits to sell she says shoppers can also select fabrics to make the row their own. 

Another part of this unusual shop hop is the opportunity to collect fabric license plates. Each shop has created their own Vanity Plate that makes theirs unique. Although for example a shop in Maine might have Quilty Pleasure for their vanity plate, the Missouri version belongs to The Hideaway Quilt Shop.

Shops will offer a variety of specials throughout the event. Jean will be rotating 20% off various items and doing demonstrations of techniques.

So what happens when you have all these lovely fabrics, patterns and completed rows? 

Each shop will be giving away 25 fat quarters to the FIRST PERSON to bring in a completed quilt made from a minimum of  8 different rows by October 31st. The quilt must be quilted, bound and labeled. 

While I won't be visiting all of the shops on the hop, I am going to look over the list and see how many I can cover near to me. I've already spied one on the list for Collinsville IL - yet another incentive to attend the stamp show there in July. Maybe next year I can wait til fall for my Texas trip and visit a few of those on my travels. 

If you take part in any of this shop hop, I'd love to hear from you and see pictures of the quilts you make.

Creative Blessings!

GETTING BACK ON TRACK - Schedule It!

This is what my original blog scheduling board looked like. A full sheet of poster board, grid off to accomodate the specific blogs as well as dates to post. While I liked being able to see what I had posted and for which days at a glance, I hated having to recreate this every month. 

So I created this! I used the same size of sheet of white foam core, gridded off and color coded to match my blog notebook (where I jot ideas for upcoming blog posts). Then I covered the entire thing with clear contact paper.

I use the color-coded strips of post its with repositional adhesive. As I schedule a post, I mark it on the blog board. For now, this hangs on the front of the upright freezer across from my temporary desk. But I already have a spot picked out for it in the new office. 

At the end of the month, I strip the post - its off and start fresh... except for the ones that repeat such as WOYWW for this blog and The Party List for the music blog. 

How do you keep your blog posts organized?