Yay ! My shoulders feel so light again :) I've been working on my art room, removing unwanted-unused items and this time really making the effort to get my room the way I really wanted it --free from ugly clutter, etc...My desk was covered with so much crap, I could still work but found that my creative energy would get sapped so quickly, and I'd end up going into the living room just for more elbow space.
So now I can finally say that I am truly happy with this room, and I can really get to creating which will add to my Etsy shop ( and hopefully bring more people to it which will hopefully generate more sales ) --always got the brain turning lol !
Let me indulge you with these pics :) I'm hoping you can enlarge them to see better details. First one is actually 2 pics. which I merged together. There's my paint and varnish shelves, my wall 'o fav. pictures ( the bottom right one of the cabin was painted by my birth-grandmother Frieda. She never felt she was a real artist because she didn't go to art school. Such a shame, her works were amazing ! This pic. of hers was just a practice one ! ). There's my fav. set of colorful drawers, filled with riboons,beads,watches,tags,sanding paper,glitter,paint pens,doll parts,candywrappers,etc...On top are drawers filled to the brim with broken jewelry parts ! On my desk is a pretty canister in which I store my most used glues. A future project waits for my attention. The desk and brown bureau were in the back bedroom of my parents home, it's vintage and hails from the 1960's. But what I really really want is a pair of stainless steel 3 basket carts in place of the brown bureau, so I don't have to always get up and search through all my papers/china roses/game pieces/trinkets/charms etc...I can just roll the cart to me :) I'd also love a larger desk with a glass top, one day. More art goodies are held in the vintage copper flour/sugar/tea/coffee holder on the dresser as well as the 2 plastic white drawers ( these hold all my clasps,chains,etc...for making necklaces and brooches )
I look out onto the front road with a lovely large cedar in which I enjoy watching the birds flit about. There's a couple of Vogue mirrors/images, I'm a fan of Art Nouveau and Deco. I made the blue framed picture behind one of my parents vintage 1960's chairs ( will soon make some covered cushions for this chair, and will change the faded yellow footstool fabric to probably pink, woohoo ! ) The picture of the redheaded woman -behind vintage lamp-was created by a dear friend of mine. I've strung white lights above the chair, makes a pretty fairy-like effect at night. And there's my dear teddy bear. He's over 40 yrs. old and can still growl when you turn him on his tummy. Oh the number of times we've had tea together :)
This is another of my parents furniture. I believe my dad made this piece and for a long time we couldn't figure out where to put it ! We enjoy the more modern clean-lined furniture and I found this piece looked too 'old' in our living room, but I refused to give it up. Don't you think it looks great in this room ?! There's my grandmothers ( my moms ) chiming clock, my moms jewelry box ( which now holds some of my incense collection ), a pretty Italian vase holding more of my incense, my parents vintage windup clock, vintage egg basket with florals, my fav. Pot of Gold chocolate tin and lots of other sentimental doo-dads, including the one Spring Dolly I had given to my dear mom ( in front of cd player ). My dear friend gave me the wonderful Eiffel Tower wrapping paper. Inside each drawer: left one holds all my soy tarts CountryHearts on Etsy makes wonderfully smelling tarts which fill almost the entire house with luscious scent ), middle holds a variety of flowers and end holds all my candles ( mostly Partylite )
On the left is my collection of Somerset Studio magazines, they sit on top of an altered bread box which holds more S.S. mags. Behind these closet doors you'll find a floor to ceiling high grey military locker filled with boxes and more creative doo-dads, next to it is floor to ceiling plastic shelving which holds all my mail stuff ( boxes, bubble wrap, etc...) as well as sewing, spray varnishes, big box of future art projects and various memorabilia. Can you see the 2 clay swallow nests ? They were a very cool find at my parents next door neighbors garage sale a few years ago. On one of the doors hangs a bag full of more items for future creations.
My mom used to display her lovely silverware tea set on the bureau, it really gleemed ! The teapots, etc...are in the china cabinet but I wanted to keep the tray out to show off my own glittery delights :) Jar on left holds swarovski crystals and broken rhinestone bits, jar on right holds nothing but vintage chandelier crystals. Small jar in front was my moms cold cream jar, it now houses vintage keys. The pretty plate with glass is actually a candleholder my dear friend made, fabulous way to recycle those vintage glasses ! Table it's sitting on was also made by my dad.
Just a closeup of the bureau. One of my fav. tiny treasures is the wee woolly sheep on top of the Asian-style box :) Oh yes, behind the cupboards lie about 40 1930's National Geographic magazines, 1980's fashion mags., blank envelopes and cards, vintage box of ribbon bits and a big box of hardware stuff ( nails, washers, pic. hooks, ton of stuff more ). My fav. journal rests on top --cover design made by Anahata Katkin
Well there you go, a wee 'tour' of my studio. My next 'goal' is to purchase a small flat screen tv for the bureau, one that's under 20". I don't actually want to sit and watch the tv, just something that I can turn on and look at while handsewing/beading. Ellen is fun to watch, and I also really like that these flat tvs have music channels now, so I can wiggle away to the electronic music :)
Now I need to fully complete our guest bedroom downstairs, thank goodness it's almost done. And then I've got to finish my stinky sock brooches !
Stay tuned for more artsy-fartsy stuff :)
Isn't this necklace beautifully elegant ?
The child is part of a pocket sewn onto the 'quilt' piece, inside which was the necklace. Love the thoughtful details, such a delight
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After approx. 13 minutes in the oven, they came out like this:
And after several bites, we decided the Earl Grey Formosa ones were the better tasting. The chai cookies were okay too but they left a wee bit of a bitter aftertaste. Maybe next time I'll bake some with freshly brewed tea leaves ?
