Kaminski's Creations (Small Business Saturday)

 Don't forget to visit all the small businesses for Small Business Saturday, including my own, Kaminski's Creations.

One Little Word for 2019

It's been a while since I blogged last.....things have been very busy. Between teaching, being a mom, my husband's health issues and running my Etsy shop, Kaminski's Creations, I never seem to find the time.

So with the start of a new year, I'll start off with my word of the year......purpose.

If you haven't heard of the movement called One Little Word, let me introduce you.

It started with Ali Edwards. Basically, it's a year long project where you pick one word you'd like to focus on for the year. Through her workshop, you are given prompts to explore your word. I did it previously here.

This year I chose the word purpose, because I feel like sometimes, I'm living my life on auto-pilot just to get through the days and am not really achieving much of a purpose (or not fulfilling mine).

pur·pose

/ˈpərpəs/

noun

noun: purpose; plural noun: purposes

1. 1.

   the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists.

   
   

   synonyms:

   motive, motivation, grounds, cause, occasion, reason, point, basis, justification More

   • a person's sense of resolve or determination.

     "there was a new sense of purpose in her step as she set off"

     synonyms:

     determination, resolution, resolve, steadfastness, backbone, drive, push,  enthusiasm, ambition, motivation, commitment, conviction, dedication; informalget-up-and-go "they started the game with purpose"

     
     

verb

FORMAL

verb: purpose; 3rd person present: purposes; past tense: purposed; past participle: purposed; gerund or present participle: purposing

1. 1.

   have as one's intention or objective.

   "God has allowed suffering, even purposed it"

   synonyms:

   intend, mean, aim, plan, design, have the intention;  decide, resolve, determine, propose, aspire So, I'll be sharing my exploration of purpose this year.  What's your word?

. 

Flat Iron Travel Case

Here's my most recent sewing project....a flat iron travel case (or curling iron). It's insulated with Insul-Bright so you can put it in hot and pack your bags without worrying about damaging your clothes. Available soon in my Etsy Shop...Kaminski's Creations. 

50% OFF Coupon Code at Kaminski's Creations

I can't believe it! It's been 5 years since I started my Etsy Shop, Kaminski's Creations!

I honor of this special milestone (and because I've been working on new items and need to make room in my storage closet), I'm offering 50% off your order with coupon code CELEBRATE at check out. 

All these beautiful fabrics need to be turned into something special. I need room y'all!

Family Initial

Unfortunately, we are one of those families whose last name starts with K.

I'm always envious when I see a family letter wall.

Group too many K's together. Bad! Really bad. So I decided to make this freestanding K to present our family.

My challenges...the letter K obviously. Materials....what I had on hand. This was part of my Christmas crafting challenge where I tried to use materials I'd had forever. This is what I came up with.

I started with a wooden letter K.

Pages of sticky backed aluminum  pages. And red and turquoise paint. And Embossing powder, distressing ink, heat gun and Sizzix boutique press. I had a ton of crap on hand!!!!!

Here are the metal pieces.

I put a piece of metal (I cut it with my paper cutter) to fit in my Sizzix folder.

I ran it through my Boutique machine.

I painted them with leftover Turquoise paint (acrylic). Lightly.

Once dry, I distressed them with an ink pad. I think it's a Ranger product. You just rub it across the top. While still wet.....

Sprinkle on the Embossing powder. Let the excess run off. 

Then give it a couple seconds under a heat gun.

It gets this crystalized affect.  

I had to cut and piece my metal to fit my letter K.

Picture Frames

I've had these wooden frames for a while now and didn't really know how I was going to use them.

So I searched in Pinterest.

Here was my inspiration that I found on Pinterest.

I opted to paint mine red because it was the only color I had enough of on hand to cover all the 3 frames.

I had these metal clips in my stash of supplies. I think I got them at Hobby Lobby.

After the paint was dry, I added a piece of scrapbook paper.

Here is a little trick I used to hang them. Get some tooth paste.

I did a drop on top and bottom of where the nail would go.

I held it against the wall.

Then added the nail.

The cool thing is, I can trade out the papers inside the frames.

So for Christmas, I'm going to use the papers below.

Don't forget to use the coupon codes

20PERCENTDISCOUNT for 20% off

and FREESHIP2017 for free shipping in my Etsy Shop.

Discount Codes for My Etsy Shop

Use the following coupon codes in my Etsy shop,

Kaminski's Creations,

to receive 20% off and free shipping on all domestic orders.

FREESHIP2017

and

20PERCENTDISCOUNT

Use these codes at checkout.

One Little Word

If you haven't heard of the movement called One Little Word, let me introduce you.

It started with Ali Edwards. Basically, it's a year long project where you pick one word you'd like to focus on for the year. Through her workshop, you are given prompts to explore your word. I did it previously here.

This year I chose the word aware, because I would like to be more focused on my family and the things that matter. Last time I created a journal to log my explorations. So I decided, why not another journal?

For this project, I was inspired by my new workout clothes I got for Christmas (seen below).

My hope was to use the sticky backed canvases from my stash of supplies for the covers. So I started to paint them and then this happened above.

So I attached them to cardboard pieces from scrapbook orders I saved, then painted them.

I just peeled a little off at a time and attached them.

Worked much better. I started with a base of light/bright orange. Let it dry about 10 minutes then started adding layers of darker orange.

Then I added some stenciling in a light blue.

For the darker blue I reversed the stencil.

And then I got impatient, and added the bottom stencil layer before the brushes were dry (I kept washing and drying my brushes). So this happened. EEK!

So I added a family photo and frame over it.

It's far from perfect, but it's my new journal and it's ready for me to explore the word "Aware".