About Kinney Laser Crafts & Woodworks

Hi Y'all! I'm Kellie Jo Kinney, Owner of Kinney Laser Crafts & Woodworks, formerly known as KJ's Art Venture. I started the business in March 2020 as a brick and mortar Paint Party Business. I am a Registered Nurse by trade, but was forced into early retirement after an unfortunate battle with a large tumor did permanent damage to my spinal nerves and sciatic nerves, so I had to find another way to make a living because standing and walking for very long is now not an option.

I opened the doors to my quaint little studio in our small rural town of Stayton, OR just THREE DAYS before our governor shut the whole state down due to Covid in 2020. Well, that sure put a hitch in my get-along I'll tell ya! I was completely closed throughout that summer as the world stopped functioning. I took that time to do some upgrades on the studio and finally scheduled my first Paint Party for September 15th, 2020. Well, you know what they say about best-laid plans...On September 7, 2020 (Labor Day) we experienced a worst case weather scenario - tinder dry conditions and 70-80 mph winds, coupled with a small forest fire some 50 miles away that had been burning since August - then add in the fact that the power company didn't cut the power when the lines started coming down, and by 7pm that evening, the forest fire had blown up due to the high winds and it raged down our canyon forcing everyone to evacuate. We were displaced to another city 20+ miles away for the next 10 days. The Beachie Creek Fire had fully engulfed our canyon and forced the evacuation of 6 towns and half of another one. The fire left the area devastated, and we had many family members and friends who lost everything but the clothes on their backs. Needless to say, that put a crimp in things for a while because at the same time, Covid was still an issue. I decided I needed to pivot my business if I wanted to actually stay in business since I couldn't have actual people in my studio due to "the rules". So, I bought a CO2 Laser and started making wooden DIY kits people could paint and assemble at home. I also focused on kids painting kits because everyone was pretty much forced to stay home and kids were bored! In that time, I also started making closing gifts for realtors and custom signs, ornaments, and home decor, like shelf sitters and tiered tray sets. As my (bad) luck would have it, 2-1/2 years into a 3 year lease, the owner of my building decided to sell the property and leave the state. I really didn't want to deal with another landlord, especially knowing my rent would go up significantly, so I got out of my lease when he sold the building, and decided to build my own woodworking shop on our farm so I could have everything in one place. So, on August 30, 2022 the studio got packed away and stored in a shipping container next to my house and I went about getting the shop built. That's a whole novel in itself, but let's just say it took 6 months longer than I had planned due to unavailability of contractors because of the ongoing fire rebuilding efforts, and it was thousands of dollars over budget due to the cost of steel and lumber tripling in this area. After almost 9 months of construction delays, I finally got the county to sign off on it, and I moved in and got to work the first part of May 2023. I will primarily be offering online sales here on my website and on Etsy, and will be offering paint parties in my shop utilizing the laser-cut items I make. I hope you enjoy my products as much as I enjoy making them! Everything is cut, painted, assembled, packaged and shipped by me. I am excited to take my business online so I can be at home for my son, manage our farm, cattle, and my 4 Australian Cattle Dogs! Happy Crafting!! KJ