Christmas count down! 5,....4....3...2...

A wonderful day of shopping and people watching in Fort Collins with my husband and my sister.  A few more gifts taken care of but still not 100% done but almost there.  Yes, I am a procrastinator.  I do not like to shop!  I know, right?  A girl that doesn't like to shop.  Un-heard of! I did almost 90% of my shopping last year on Amazon!  Nope....not kidding.  I will give them credit.  Everything came early and in good shape.  Not one item had to be returned. 
On that note if you are a last minute shopper and would like a unique gift I still have several of my wall hangings for sale.  If you are in Greeley I would be happy to deliver.  If you are in Ft. Collins, Loveland, etc. I'd be happy to meet you 1/2 way.  They have a strip across that back that will assist you in hanging them.  I can give you suggestions on what to use! 
Each piece is unique.  No two are alike.  I use upcycled and vintage material, jewelry and jewelry pieces, found and flea market purchased items, handmade paper and hand-me-ups.  Each has a touch of love built into it.  I've learned a lot along the way and know that I still have more to learn!  If you look at some of my older posts you'll see my favorite foursome.  They each have something that coordinates with the others and would look beautiful if they were placed together in close proximity.

Here are some pictures of my work.  If you are interested you may contact me at kharen@comcast.net, leave me your phone number and which piece or pieces you are interested in.  I can't wait to hear from you!

New computer 1, Me 0

I had hoped that my new Dell would get me back on track but it kept shutting down!  I couldn't get much accomplished.  So, here I am with new computer #2...an Asus.  I know...never have heard of it before but so far so good and I am able to publish a few more cards.  I still need to get my fabric collage piece on here...maybe sometime this weekend.

Back up and ready to share!

Finally!  I have a working computer and can start posting and sharing again!  I have created a few projects and even tried my luck at a craft show (along with my very supportive sister).  I didn't have much luck...sold a couple of small pieces that I created awhile back...I even had them up at my office and grabbed them last minute!  My sister was the lucky one!  She brought her handmade cards and sold almost everything she brought with her.  I was so proud of her.
I should have kept a written journal to try enable me to remember what I've been working on but instead I guess I start fresh.  Fresh is good!  A clean slate.  Plus this would be the longest post ever if I played catch up.
I guess the biggest thing that has happened since I last posted anything is that I started a new job!  I work for a wonderful, family owned funeral home!  Yep...a funeral home (or service as we refer to it).  I am the Business Support Admin so mostly office work but I love working with our families when I get the opportunity.  I have very support and big hearted co-workers and we are a great team!  We have a great mix of experience and rookie-ness.  It keeps us all on our best game.  And our owners are the best!  Can you tell I love where I work?  I do!
So, crafting has gone back to a loving hobby and I do miss being able to just pop down to my private sanctuary and not have to worry about spending to much time there but I have done what I can.
I have put together a few more collages and have created several cards over the last few months so I will post a few here as I get the pictures uploaded but here are a couple of cards.  I'm loving Steampunk inspired items and have started small with cards. 

It's good to be back blogging, crafting, and yes....working;  and I even found a new really bad habit....Pinterest!  If you haven't checked it out you should!  But, be warned.  It's very addictive!

Creation out of Desperation

A couple of years ago I re-purposed a couple of straw hats for a birthday party with a hat theme. I received so many compliments that I thought maybe I could make them and sell them? How many times have we all said that! Did I make more hats? Nope. Oh well. But, that left me with an emergency supply to be able to create a hat to wear at a Mother's Day Tea my daughter put together for today.

Inspired by the Facinators at the Royal wedding my daughter also wanted to create something to wear and I think she created a very cute piece.

And, as I've said before, I am not the best at making cards but I think my Mothers Day cards came out pretty well. And this time I made five of them in less than two hours. Must be some kind of record!

Happy Mothers Day!

Vegas! Woot, woot!!!!

Just returned from a wonderful few days in Vegas where I laughed until I couldn't breath at the Blue Man Group, was in awe of the beautiful voices of The Phantom and was amazed by the abilities of the talent in LOVE by Cirque de Soliel. I had some amazing meals and saw some beautiful settings in Caesars, The Venetian (where we stayed), and the Bellagio. But, the best part of all was spending some alone time (away from home) with my wonderful husband. Thanks honey!

Card Challenged

As I've said in my profile I have a twin sister who makes beautiful handmade cards. She is currently participating in a challenge that has her making several cards per month.

I make cards on a "as needed" basis and I am horrible at it. Not so much in content. I think I do "ok" but it's not my best talent.

My four year old grand daughter even put me to the test this weekend and beat me hands down.

We had a family member who celebrated a birthday this past week and I needed to make a card for him. My grand daughter also wanted to make a card. I could tell it meant a lot to her so off to my craft room we went.

She looked around and spotted my punches. Circles, flowers, scallops, ovals....she wanted to use them all. I also showed her additional flowers she could "cut out" using the Sizzix machine. She choose the papers from my scrap pile and loved using the "snake tape thingy" (snail tape runner). In the meantime I was trying to create a card myself and was becoming very frustrated with my paper choices and design ideas. I know I obliterated at least six different pieces of card stock and tossed about eight different designs!

About twenty minutes into it my grand daughter was done and I hadn't even begun!

I showed her where to write "I Love You" and sign her name on the inside of the card and where to put the recipients name on the outside of the card and she was done.

Three hours later and with some inspiration from a card I saw on Splitcoast Stampers.com mine was completed! Yes....three hours later! Sad isn't it?

Angels and Butterflies

My first in a series of fiber art creations. I fell in love with the little girls in the photos and haven't been able to create without them! The next series will be in black, white and neutrals.

Time For Creativity

Time for Creativity.....Being currently unemployed you would think that I would have all the time in the world but over the last couple of weeks I haven't found the time to create. I did work on a couple of domino pendants and/or pins that should be a quick finish but that's about it.

My time has been spent entertaining my four year old (almost five) grand daughter for the last few days. I'd almost forgotten the days of not getting anything accomplished during the day because you devote your time to finding things for them to do!

She easy, really. At least one and one half to two hours are devoted to a movie. She loves her movies and is very picky about them! And she has had preschool or dance for part of that time. Day 1 was a beautiful day so we were able to go outside. Day w was kind of cool and overcast so we couldn't go back outside to reinspect the mole hills we found the day before. Today was snowy and cold after dance but the grocery store and princess dress up kept us entertained today (not at the same time). The most creative I got was to make a loaf of bread and even that wasn't much of a challenge with a bread maker. Still yummy!

So, even though time for creativity wasn't to be had over the last few days I did put my photography skills (limited as they may be) here is a picture of my grand daughter from day 1 of spending most of the week with Grams and Papa.

I'm also posting the pictures from a series that I created last month. Let me know what you think!

And so it begins!

With some pushing....or more like shoving.... here is my attempt at my own blog! My family has a blog that I post too on occasion (http://martifamilyandfriends.blogspot.com/) but this one will be mine, where I can showcase my own creations (or khreations) and bit's and pieces of my own thoughts and experiences.

So, like the title states...And, so it begins.

Over the last few days I began a project that was to be a birthday gift for my wicked step mother. Yes, I said wicked stepmother. She calls herself that! I would never, ever call her that!

This piece and a lot of what I've been creating over the last year are very inspired by a beautiful and talented artist by the name of KC Willis (http://www.lipstickranch.com/). Everything I've done in this medium I have learned from KC and this piece was made to almost mimic a piece she created. I didn't make it to sell. It was made as a gift for a loved one that I knew would appreciate the art and the patriotic value I gave it.

That being said, I also have to say this was one of the most difficult projects I've put together! It's big, 22x30, and required a lot of adjusting to get the stripes at least close to equal in size. KC teaches a class on how to create this flag. I did not take the class but wished I had!!! The big star in the upper left corner was a project all on it's own. It probably took me three hours to determine what I wanted to put on top of the blue ticking and I finally decided I couldn't do any better than what KC had already done. So, I created a similar (yet inferior) star and added some additional stars and buttons to give it my own flavor.

So, here it is! It's not my first piece but it is my favorite and I wanted it to be the subject of my first post on my blog.

Speaking of the blog...I'm sure it will be ever changing in topic and design. I went with the quick choices for now but hope to give it my own flair when I figure out how to make some changes.