Dashing through the snow.

Amazing!  Just amazing how time flies by.  October came and went and it's now 1/2 way through November with Christmas right around the corner.  Thanksgiving will be held at our home this year.  It has been a long time since we've had it here.  My husband has started moving things around and finishing up those little things that never seem to get done.  Ahhhh, the joys of retirement.  I, on the other hand am focused on work for one and getting some projects started and or finished.  I am bound and determined that next year I will participate in a craft show or may two.  There was one last year I missed due to gallbladder surgery.  I was so disappointed but it has allowed me to refocus and know what I need to do for next year.  This one in particular is held every other year with a quilt show hosted the alternate years.  So, that is my goal and have plans.  Now to just get to creating!

My most recent creation was putting together my costume for Halloween which we spent in New Orleans!  It was amazing.  Lots of creative costumes and interesting people watching.  They were very much into the holiday.  The French Quarter was highly decorated and packed from curb to curb on the night before and Halloween night.  We went to dinner in costume which was a lot of fun, garnering lots of attention.  It rained which "dampened" the "spirits" a bit but still an enjoyable evening.  We spent 6 days in New Orleans walking, looking, eating, river boating, cemetery inspecting and I took a lot of photos.  I will share a few here but took more than 300.  Thank goodness for digital!

Today I completed a tag with the guide of the November tag on Tim Holtz's blog.  I missed October but hope to finish out the year with the challenge.  I also pushed though and created 10 reindeer boxes for a co-worked who loved them so much last year that she wants to give them out herself this year.

Now to start on my Christmas cards! 

 My sister and my husband.

 Me and my husband.

Me and my husband 18 years ago!

Me and my husband - Steampunk

 Picture of me.

My dad, Phil and step-mom Jane

November tag - Tim Holtz Challenge

Reindeer boxes, still waiting for candy cane antlers.

Insert Evil Witch Laugh Here

Sorry....I couldn't help myself!  Although there isn't much evil in me, all that know me understand that I am crazy about Halloween.  Work schedules and busy weekends in the fall somehow keep me from overdoing my own home in scary displays.  I know, I know...if it's important enough I'd find the time and I have in the past..just not much over the last couple of years.  Last year I had my gall bladder removed and even though it was suppose to be simple it kept out of work for almost 10 days and down for a good 6 weeks! Ugh.  I hope to have a better display this year.  A lot of people have sent me this photo on Facebook of skeletons crawling up the side of a house.  Ah...they know me so well!

Last week I attended Ghoul's Night Out at my favorite Stampin Up consultants home.  It had been a week at work and I started on the project but was actually enjoying visiting with the wonderful girls and my sister who also attended.  So, instead I took the projects home and completed them on my own and with my usual Kharen flair.  I knew it would have to have a few extra details other than what was in the kit and I have to say I'm pretty happy with it.  No offense Michelle T.  I love spending time with you and having you as my Stampin Up consultant!  I really did enjoy the time.  So, here is my completed Witch's Hat.  I should have bought another one!  I had so much fun with it!
Most of the product is on the front and sides of the hat.  I didn't go all the way around but I did use almost all of the leaves in the kit.  I also made the acorns dimensional by taking 3 of them, folding them in half and attaching them side to side and strung twine through each of them.  It's hard to see them in the photos but love how they came out.  I did ink the front sides of every leaf and just kept placing them until I was happy with the layout.  I hot glued everything!  I wanted to make sure it was secured for a long time.  I even maneuvered the burlap into the position that you see by tacking it in place with the glue gun.  I added the skulls, sunflower and orange daisies, additional orange and tulle ribbons, spider and spider web and some green leaves.  I had to stop myself there!  I also made a little burlap bow wrapped with twine...no waste! Until the next blog post Ghouls!

Honey Hues

I love that the Tim Holtz tag challenges have given me a good reason to get back into my craftroom with a purpose.  Not only am I participating in the challenge but working on other projects.  There's a reason my blog is called Kharen's Khreations....I can never seem to land on one project or medium to work in!  If you scroll to some of my earlier blogs you will see some wall hangings that I did a couple of years ago.  I had a wonderful instructor in KC Willis to learn how to make these.  Sadly, she doesn't do them any longer but her heart has taken her to more important and heartful adventures. You can find out more about her and her "pet" project, although much, much more than that, you can find her at https://www.facebook.com/lightshinelakota?fref=ts.  I miss creating with her. 

So, at the request of a co-worker I created a wall hanging of his brides father, centered around a photo he provided.  For the sake of lack of time and a better picture (for now) I am posting a quick photo of the wall hanging.  Ugh...I promise to replace it with a better picture of the final product plus maaaaybe a step by step of how I did it.  I'm not much on tutorials....at least not yet.

 So, the wall hanging took me all day!  But I was bound and determined to create my second Tim Holtz tag (September challenge), so here it is!  I didn't have the type of modeling paste that dried clear so I improvised and although you can't see it in the photo it the honeycombs do shimmer a bit.  I also really struggled with the swirling of colors...it just never worked for me.  It didn't help that I don't have the blending solution or the specified type of paper but I did ultimately like the color that I ended up with.  Getting into that fall feeling and here's my tag!

 

OK....a much better photo(s) and a finished product.  Very happy with the results! I did reign that wayward leaf back in.

 A little closer view.

 Don't you just love the leather on this?!  It came off of a piece that I found at a flea market.  My husband said it was a corn husker.  It wrapped around your hand and wrist but doesn't it look like a little fisherman's bag?  And the upper right hand piece came off the same apparatus. It has a metal piece on the underside of it which makes it very sturdy but the leather on it is yummy!  The organics on the left were the final piece.  It was exactly what it needed!

A close up of the "jewelry" near the bottom of the hanging.  I call it jewelry because it's kind of like the necklace on the piece. The little fish was a find by my husband while he was fishing. Perfect! And then the little ruler...a nod to the size of the fish caught.  I had some copper wire that I wrapped around the ends to give a little more somethin' somethin'.  Enjoy!

 

Lighting a fire.

A friend and co-worker got married yesterday and I took my granddaughter Claire with me as my date.  She was excited about going and was so inquisitive about the ceremonies and why certain things happened during the course of the proceedings.  Her curiosity was adorable.  Her Mom is getting married next year so it was a good experience for her.  She was the perfect date and we both really enjoyed ourselves.  It was also a very sweet and special wedding held in a creative space (coffee shop/church) and there were lots of handmade touches including a beautiful metal sculpted tree that the groom father made for the couple.  It even had their initials "carved" into it.  I didn't get a good picture but take my word for it...it was something they will treasure for a very long time.

After the wedding we came home and she wanted to "play" in my craft room.  Once there I asked her what she wanted to do.  After thinking about it for a bit she decided she wanted to make a puppet.  Ugh...sewing.  It's not my forte. I do have a sewing machine but it's used mainly for card crafting and fiber arts (as shown in some of my previous posts).  So I asked her to sketch out what she was thinking of.  "Well", she said "I want to make an angel puppet".  Knowing that her Mom was going to be picking her up shortly I said we could start on the body of the puppet and go from there.

After some discussing I realized she was after more of a doll than a puppet.  Again, I said we would get a start and go from there. Our first attempt didn't work.  Nice shape but too small to fit her hand in.  Did I mention sewing...ugh?  So, we went bigger.  It still wasn't working out and it looked more like a ghost than anything.  So I told her a little about some voodoo dolls that I had seen on Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/54465476720762465/) and within the short amount of time we had the puppet ended up as a ghost/voodoo doll with some button eyes and a hand drawn stitched mouth and then it was time for her to go.

Our short amount of time inspired me to get back into my craft room today and make a voodoo doll of my own.  No true voodoo here but I did make it similar to the ones in the link I posted above.  Maybe one of these days I'll be able to come up with designs of my own but for now I have to settle for the talent of others and recreate in my own fashion.  I thank those and will always link in my posts when I remember where I found the Pin-spirations!

So, here's my date (she reminded me of Audrey Hepburn) and my not so voodooish voodoo doll!  Thanks for visiting!

Inspired by greatness!

As I've posted many times I am a huge fan of G45 but I am also a lover of all things Tim Holtz.  I'm not sure if I've mentioned his products before in my posts but I do use them often in my cards and crafts.  I follow him on Facebook and Pinterest as well as anyone I see that posts and/or pins anything by him.  So, I finally am getting up the nerve...and yes I'm nervous...to take one of his challenges.  I actually have a lot of his products that I've never used so I challenged myself to use all Tim Holtz.  Wellllll, I came close.  The figure is from an old paper doll book I picked up at a flea market several years ago, the ribbon is SU and the words that I cut out as part of the background are a Cricut product.  I don't have a lot of die cuts that are words, not do I have a lot of stickers that are words.  I'm sure I could have typed them out but I find that I am word challenged and nothing really came to me.  I'm sure it will later but I wanted to get this posted before I chickened out!  So, here is my tag (also my first tag ever created) for the Tim Holtz August 2015 challenge.  Be kind!

I also created my first spool, also inspired by a posting on Pinterest and yes, using G45 papers.  I posted a picture of this on my FB page and had some really nice comments.  I love the way it came out and am starting on my next one.  I found the spools at the flea market and they are so great that I hated to cover them but if I don't start using the goodies in my craft room I'm not going to be able to get into my craft room!