Wowser, within one short week of blogging here THE NESTER posted a comment on my blog! Imagine my delight and surprise! OMGoodness, I am so not worthy of the honor... Seriously, she is such an inspiration to so many of us time challenged perfectionists as well as to the no craftiness whatsoever gals. She has a mantra that I love "it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful" and while my OCD tendencies ladden personality won't allow me to hot glue trim to a curtain it will allow me to take a few short cuts here and there, all of which THE NESTER treats us to daily, wonderful short cutting tips that save money and time while imparting a meaningful, personal style to our homes and projects. Who doesn't love that? And she's got a unqiue spunky straight talking style to her writing that is downright charming. Did I mention she's a tiny thing with three strapping handsome young sons and a beefcake hubs? OK I should hate her but I challenge anyone to still hate her after reading her bloggy goodness, you can't, it's impossible, she's just too darn sweet and funny!
Anyway, I'm pretty sure now that I have only two readers, me and The Nester, but should you have found your way here by some cosmic computer glitch, trust me, go check out THE NESTER, she rawks, like totally, ya know?
Friday, May 16, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Flowers, flowers, everywhere flowers
I love my job. OK there I've admitted it. For the last two days I've been in the floral dept helping the floral manager reset her stems. First off I love her but she hasn't a clue what she is doing with her relay (technical term our corp office calls the actual moving of stuff around). So I've pretty much taken over and I'm telling her what to do which won't come as a surprise to my friends. Now the absolute best part is I'm chin deep in floral stems rearranging them to their new little holders so they are all beautiful and color coordinated. What fun! Even if they are silk flowers, still it's total eye candy and has me daydreaming about making gorgeous wreaths and things. Now today it will be back to my dept, fabrics, for me because it's been neglected for two days and I need to straighten things up and write me order up for next week. I can definitely see me looking at some Floral Arranging for Dummies books in my near future!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Remanents
I was so bad yesterday! I couldn't resist buying a few pieces of fabricy goodness to fill up my stash...Think browns and blues... oh yeah tre' trendy. Now if only I could manage to get them made up into some cute summer tops. My goal today is to cut out my pattern pieces... We'll see how I do.
Monday, May 12, 2008
stamp hutch cover up
Keeping the phrase "it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful" firmly in mind, I finished up my panels intended to cure the visual clutter of the stamp hutches while also providing a back drop for hanging my framed poster. I'm a little concerned the turquoise blue is a tad brighter than I would have liked but considering my only other choice was light blue I think this was the lesser of two evils. Still loving the black and white scroll print now that I've bordered the top of the panels with it. My hardware was a bit tough to get in place, those hutches are hard to drill into, but I did it without any help from my Mr.
On to the table skirt!
On to the table skirt!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Visual clutter in my creative space
I noticed right off the major differences between scrap rooms on twopeas is visual clutter. Some rooms are definitely bargain basements, lots of plastic storage containers in mix matched colors, lots of supplies piled up and no overall cohesive design plan while other rooms look more like designer rooms with trendy paint colors on the walls, fancy Ikea cubby hole shelving units, small fortunes spent on matching basket sets and the obligatory "CREATE" or "ART" letters. But visual clutter was hidden inside those baskets and decorations had a definite theme of color coordination as well as overall style.
I can't compete with those super star designer looking rooms and I'm not sure I would if I remotely could. But I cringe when I see those bargain basement rooms as well. Poor women! I know, I was one of those, everything in plastic three drawer chests stacked in every available square inch of my space threatening to topple over at any moment. So where's my happy middle ground...My lovely space to create...How do I put it together so I'm a designer look studio space on a bargain basement crafter budget? The answer for me lies in taming that visual clutter!
Stamp hutches are a wonder, they can hold a ton of small supplies but visually it's a train wreck no matter how neatly their contents are arranged and displayed. I had a semi-serious Sizzix collection going on, lovingly stored in Sizzix black towers and as my space is limited those towers consumed entirely too much of my precious counter top. I moved them to the floor under a table and guess what? I never used them, out of sight, out of mind syndrome. Towers were quite the investment for me but sometimes you have to just have to suck it up and make the tough decisions. For me it was emptying out the towers and storing my dies in my stamp hutches. Nine empty towers later I have reclaimed my counter top and no longer have to dig under the table to find a die. Progress. Of course my dearest Mr wanted to know if the towers were going to live by the back door now... Of course not darling, I'm going to move them soon (yeah right, like where?).
My answer to the visual clutter of the hutches is to hide it behind a curtain. Being the queen of the save I had the perfect black curtain rod stashed, it's long enough to accommodate the 60 inch wide hutches. I love curtain ring clips and snapped some up from Hobby Lobby in a Fleur De lise design, perfect touch to go with my Eiffel tower votive candle holder, my scrappy chic shopping bag, London clock and sign, not to mention the darling Eiffel tower fabric curtain I made for the door window. Off the remnant table at Hobby Lobby I snapped a large piece of black and white cotton apparel fabric, perfect to go with my turquoise blue broadcloth I purchased to make simple panels. I'll use the b/w fabric in small doses as it's more expensive and since the broadcloth is a solid color more soothing to the eye. Once my panels are made I'm going to hang a poster print of an antique Paris map over the hutches in a frame I dug out of my attic. I was going for the art work hung over the bookcase look but in this case the "bookcases" will be my fabric covered hutches. Next I'm planning to sew more panels trimmed in the b/w fabric to skirt my plastic banquet folding table under the hutches. Then I'm seriously considering panels on a tension rod to hide the space between my base cabinets where I have my paper rack stashed.
My counter top clutter was another issue, it's hard to get around it because even with cabinetry, space is still at a premium and careful thought has to be given to how tools and supplies are used. I know to keep my most often used items near me so I've got those in drawers next to my work space as well as tossed in baskets on my counter top for easy access. My ribbon I've sorted by color and put in mason jars which are lined up in a neat row across my over the sink shelf I use to increase my counter real estate. Visually it's borderline clutter but I'm hoping once I have everything else in place that it will look more on purpose like a design feature vs visual clutter.
The rest of the counter space is taken by three wicker canisters filled with tools and supplies, two cropper hopper file folders filled with stickers and various papers, and some other things awaiting a home. Once I'm able to get those few odd pieces stored then I think the rest will be OK. So its curtain time for me and hopefully I'll get those panels sewn up in record time as I'm anxious to see my ideas become reality.
I can't compete with those super star designer looking rooms and I'm not sure I would if I remotely could. But I cringe when I see those bargain basement rooms as well. Poor women! I know, I was one of those, everything in plastic three drawer chests stacked in every available square inch of my space threatening to topple over at any moment. So where's my happy middle ground...My lovely space to create...How do I put it together so I'm a designer look studio space on a bargain basement crafter budget? The answer for me lies in taming that visual clutter!
Stamp hutches are a wonder, they can hold a ton of small supplies but visually it's a train wreck no matter how neatly their contents are arranged and displayed. I had a semi-serious Sizzix collection going on, lovingly stored in Sizzix black towers and as my space is limited those towers consumed entirely too much of my precious counter top. I moved them to the floor under a table and guess what? I never used them, out of sight, out of mind syndrome. Towers were quite the investment for me but sometimes you have to just have to suck it up and make the tough decisions. For me it was emptying out the towers and storing my dies in my stamp hutches. Nine empty towers later I have reclaimed my counter top and no longer have to dig under the table to find a die. Progress. Of course my dearest Mr wanted to know if the towers were going to live by the back door now... Of course not darling, I'm going to move them soon (yeah right, like where?).
My answer to the visual clutter of the hutches is to hide it behind a curtain. Being the queen of the save I had the perfect black curtain rod stashed, it's long enough to accommodate the 60 inch wide hutches. I love curtain ring clips and snapped some up from Hobby Lobby in a Fleur De lise design, perfect touch to go with my Eiffel tower votive candle holder, my scrappy chic shopping bag, London clock and sign, not to mention the darling Eiffel tower fabric curtain I made for the door window. Off the remnant table at Hobby Lobby I snapped a large piece of black and white cotton apparel fabric, perfect to go with my turquoise blue broadcloth I purchased to make simple panels. I'll use the b/w fabric in small doses as it's more expensive and since the broadcloth is a solid color more soothing to the eye. Once my panels are made I'm going to hang a poster print of an antique Paris map over the hutches in a frame I dug out of my attic. I was going for the art work hung over the bookcase look but in this case the "bookcases" will be my fabric covered hutches. Next I'm planning to sew more panels trimmed in the b/w fabric to skirt my plastic banquet folding table under the hutches. Then I'm seriously considering panels on a tension rod to hide the space between my base cabinets where I have my paper rack stashed.
My counter top clutter was another issue, it's hard to get around it because even with cabinetry, space is still at a premium and careful thought has to be given to how tools and supplies are used. I know to keep my most often used items near me so I've got those in drawers next to my work space as well as tossed in baskets on my counter top for easy access. My ribbon I've sorted by color and put in mason jars which are lined up in a neat row across my over the sink shelf I use to increase my counter real estate. Visually it's borderline clutter but I'm hoping once I have everything else in place that it will look more on purpose like a design feature vs visual clutter.
The rest of the counter space is taken by three wicker canisters filled with tools and supplies, two cropper hopper file folders filled with stickers and various papers, and some other things awaiting a home. Once I'm able to get those few odd pieces stored then I think the rest will be OK. So its curtain time for me and hopefully I'll get those panels sewn up in record time as I'm anxious to see my ideas become reality.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
My creative space
What do you call your creative workspace? Do you call it your studio? Or project room? Or craft room? Or scrapbook/sewing/knitting/junk room? I started out calling mine my studio but it sounds pretentious which is part of the attraction, wanting to instill a sense of importance to my creative pursuits but when it's also the room I'm washing laundry in it seems rather assine to call it a studio. Studio conjures up visions of a light filled lofty room with lots of canvas and art supplies scattered about and that vision is about as far from my reality as you can get. I'm in a 8 foot by 12 foot room off the enclosed carport. I have a single ac/heat vent, salvaged cabinets, water heater, no window as it's covered by stamp hutches, sub flooring, and a decided lack of molding. Not exactly the artsy fartsy mental image you'd have when you hear it referred to as my studio.
Since it's inception, the room has undergone a major transformation. Originally it had nasty brown shag carpet with bleach stains by the washer, a 12 foot ceiling, walls and ceiling were in bead board, a water pipe coming out of the floor in front of the single window, the washer and dryer were on opposite sides of the room and there was a single section of white ventilated shelving for hanging our clothes.
A friend's kitchen renovation netted me some 20+ year old cabinets that had seen better days. We removed the old carpeting, replaced the rotting subfloor, lowered the ceiling and sheetrocked the entire room, built a platform for the washer and dryer so they could be side by side, replumbed, removed the old pipe, installed a ceiling fan/light fixture along with an electrical outlet, and installed cabinets along one wall to serve as my storage/work area and more cabinets over the washer and dryer for storage. I spent a year with naked drywall and no countertop for work space but I was thrilled at having my own little space to create in and spent lots of hours looking at scrapbook rooms on twopeas daydreaming of my own stylish decor I'd have some day.
I originally thought I'd want my room to have a prim theme and feel with antique white distressed cabinets and brick red and gold accents, calico fabrics and country crafts to decorate with. Last Mother's Day I asked for my room to be prepped so I could paint it. My husband sanded the sheetrock mud and my cabinets along with hanging my two stamp hutches I got from Hobby Lobby when they redid their rubberstamp aisle. I totally changed my mind about the white cabinets and painted them a lovely chocolate brown color. The walls were a caramel yellow. And he bought me a piece of salvaged counter top for $10. Finally I had a proper workspace. I sewed a red skirt for the waterheater and bought some decorative pieces on clearance at Hobby Lobby. My studio....!
Then I did something that even I couldn't have predicted... I quit scrapbooking. I lost my mojo for it. I quit working in my room, pretty much quit daydreaming about and turned my focus towards my sewing. My paper got dusty, my hutches collected a few webs, and my countertop was cluttered with all sorts of junk. Welcome to the laundry room!
This feeling of apathy has been with me since vacation last year. Within two months of having the major components of my room in place finally I quit scrapping except for making a few Christmas cards the creative side of the room pretty much has been unused.
I felt some guilt. I felt at a loss to explain my feelings. I just simply fell out of love with paper crafting. I think deep down I was disappointed in myself. I finally got a space of my own with cabinets, I had a huge stash of supplies to work with, a counter top, I spent effort painting the room and cabinets, a little money to decorate it, and this was the best I could come up with? Lots of visual clutter and no strong sense of decorating direction. I simply failed to create a space that beckoned to me and inspired me to create. It was ugly and blah and I was ashamed of my efforts.
Months passed. And suddenly I felt the stirrings of longing. I wanted my own space dang it! I had this room and it was sitting unloved and unused, my creative space and I failed in creating it. With a new creative vision for my room I spent National Scrapbooking Day last weekend redecorating my scrapbook room. I painted the walls "spring waterfall" a lovely shade of blue, I purchased hardware for my cabinets finally, blue ceramic knobs for the doors and silver cup drawer pulls, and I got a brown rug to cover the sub flooring until I can get vinyl floor covering. I kept my London clock and sign, added a spice rack I painted black, some flowering garland, bought a case of mason jars to display my ribbon and button collections. Basically I'm creating a space that calls me to create, a space I enjoy spending time in even if it's doing the laundry. I'm not finished with it. I'm still sewing some curtains to skirt my work table and hutches but I'm well on my way to having a lovely creative space. Maybe now I can call it my studio without inwardly cringing at my own pretentiousness... Actually I don't feel this need to project that sort of image anymore. My room can stand on it's own merits and doesn't need a fancy schmancy label to justify it's existence or to glorify it's real identity. It is what it is now, a space that reflects me and my tastes. And important thing I learned from another blogger on here, The Nester, it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful... And it is beautiful now, unfinished but still very much loved and reflecting the joy I feel when I'm creating.
Since it's inception, the room has undergone a major transformation. Originally it had nasty brown shag carpet with bleach stains by the washer, a 12 foot ceiling, walls and ceiling were in bead board, a water pipe coming out of the floor in front of the single window, the washer and dryer were on opposite sides of the room and there was a single section of white ventilated shelving for hanging our clothes.
A friend's kitchen renovation netted me some 20+ year old cabinets that had seen better days. We removed the old carpeting, replaced the rotting subfloor, lowered the ceiling and sheetrocked the entire room, built a platform for the washer and dryer so they could be side by side, replumbed, removed the old pipe, installed a ceiling fan/light fixture along with an electrical outlet, and installed cabinets along one wall to serve as my storage/work area and more cabinets over the washer and dryer for storage. I spent a year with naked drywall and no countertop for work space but I was thrilled at having my own little space to create in and spent lots of hours looking at scrapbook rooms on twopeas daydreaming of my own stylish decor I'd have some day.
I originally thought I'd want my room to have a prim theme and feel with antique white distressed cabinets and brick red and gold accents, calico fabrics and country crafts to decorate with. Last Mother's Day I asked for my room to be prepped so I could paint it. My husband sanded the sheetrock mud and my cabinets along with hanging my two stamp hutches I got from Hobby Lobby when they redid their rubberstamp aisle. I totally changed my mind about the white cabinets and painted them a lovely chocolate brown color. The walls were a caramel yellow. And he bought me a piece of salvaged counter top for $10. Finally I had a proper workspace. I sewed a red skirt for the waterheater and bought some decorative pieces on clearance at Hobby Lobby. My studio....!
Then I did something that even I couldn't have predicted... I quit scrapbooking. I lost my mojo for it. I quit working in my room, pretty much quit daydreaming about and turned my focus towards my sewing. My paper got dusty, my hutches collected a few webs, and my countertop was cluttered with all sorts of junk. Welcome to the laundry room!
This feeling of apathy has been with me since vacation last year. Within two months of having the major components of my room in place finally I quit scrapping except for making a few Christmas cards the creative side of the room pretty much has been unused.
I felt some guilt. I felt at a loss to explain my feelings. I just simply fell out of love with paper crafting. I think deep down I was disappointed in myself. I finally got a space of my own with cabinets, I had a huge stash of supplies to work with, a counter top, I spent effort painting the room and cabinets, a little money to decorate it, and this was the best I could come up with? Lots of visual clutter and no strong sense of decorating direction. I simply failed to create a space that beckoned to me and inspired me to create. It was ugly and blah and I was ashamed of my efforts.
Months passed. And suddenly I felt the stirrings of longing. I wanted my own space dang it! I had this room and it was sitting unloved and unused, my creative space and I failed in creating it. With a new creative vision for my room I spent National Scrapbooking Day last weekend redecorating my scrapbook room. I painted the walls "spring waterfall" a lovely shade of blue, I purchased hardware for my cabinets finally, blue ceramic knobs for the doors and silver cup drawer pulls, and I got a brown rug to cover the sub flooring until I can get vinyl floor covering. I kept my London clock and sign, added a spice rack I painted black, some flowering garland, bought a case of mason jars to display my ribbon and button collections. Basically I'm creating a space that calls me to create, a space I enjoy spending time in even if it's doing the laundry. I'm not finished with it. I'm still sewing some curtains to skirt my work table and hutches but I'm well on my way to having a lovely creative space. Maybe now I can call it my studio without inwardly cringing at my own pretentiousness... Actually I don't feel this need to project that sort of image anymore. My room can stand on it's own merits and doesn't need a fancy schmancy label to justify it's existence or to glorify it's real identity. It is what it is now, a space that reflects me and my tastes. And important thing I learned from another blogger on here, The Nester, it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful... And it is beautiful now, unfinished but still very much loved and reflecting the joy I feel when I'm creating.
I'm back
I've been blogging on various sites for years, mostly 360 and myspace running a close second but lately I've lost the thrill of blogging. 360 is doomed, myspace is what it is, and the other sites just don't do it for me. So many of the blogs that I visit daily are on blogger and I've had this blogger account since '06 but never took the time to figure it out. Here I am... Looking for a new place to share, new people to share with, and hopefully in time I'll get used to this format. Maybe I can bribe my son to fix my template so I'm all cool and pretty like the other blogs on here, until then this is it. Just me and my ramblings.
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