Studio-Ikea Shelf

Studio Peak! This is an IKEA shelf I recently installed above the pegboard that sits on a side counter. It holds MOST of my Prima flowers! I haven't finished putting the flowers in the Starbucks Frappuccino bottles (holding star box up). I am really not sure I WANT to put flowers in them - it might be hard to get them out!

Don't you love the color of the walls? It's so cozy-feeling. It's kind of a mauve/rose color. Hard to describe. The color shows a little pinker than it is on my monitor. I like Victorian colors and styles. The room was white but I just could not handle white walls again! I just went to Lowe's, picked the color and went for it all in one day. I do love it! We've been here 8 years now and I still do.

Zentangle Space

I have cleared an area - about 1 square foot - on my desk (actual desk, not virtual) for my Zentangle box and my pen box. This area is JUST for a ZT in progress! I plan to keep one in progress in the spot all the time. It encourages me to ZT and keeps the space just for ZT. If I don't have a square or ATC in progress in the spot, I will put STUFF there. BAD.

We have a disease in our family called " flat-surface-itis". ANT flat surface is subject to infection! We also have "Pile-itis". And the piles just sit on the flat surfaces for indefinite time spans.
I haven't QUITE got the cure figured out, but some things help. If I give my DH a basket - and designate it for "stuff" he will use it. However - when it gets FULL it tends to breed OVERFLOW. UhHUM.

I point out how EASY having a task basket makes GATHERING (yes, another disease) stuff to be put away. It's the actual PUTTING AWAY that is the problem at this point. Do you think anyone would EVER consider putting objects away to begin with??? My excuse for this is - I'll get it LATER, I'm too busy right now (translation = I'd rather do ___ than take the time to put ___ away). Too easy a habit to fall into.

Yes, we are collectors of STUFF. (Which puts me in mind of George Carlin's "stuff" bit - very funny guy. He is missed). We outgrow our designated spaces and then pile UP. We (and mostly I mean "I" here) - am terrible about collecting - DH calls it pack-rat-itis - and my Dad was worse! We have so much STUFF there is not enough space to store it. We have garage sales but then we see something "shiny" in the stores and home it comes. (Again reading the "we" as "I").

Since we down-sized our house several years ago, the amount of stuff is less out of necessity, but it creeps up on you. Now, my DH can be just as bad about the diseases. He doesn't collect as much "stuff" but, his piles are awful! It's paper, it's coins, it's more paper. I'm still working on this habit he has of keeping ALL the mail (including envelopes) in piles. He has a designated BOX for his stuff - keys, phone, etc - on a table by the door. However, the WHOLE TABLE (lamp? what lamp? porcelain rose? what rose?) has become PILED. (there's a table?) LOL!

Now, I AM an organized person. As long as there is a spot to put something, it will go there. Even if that is "eventually" - once the "pile" it comes from gets too far out of hand (as in falling over/off).

I must admit I am the worst of us. I love to collect art supplies. Even those things that most people do not consider 'art supplies'. Rusty metal pieces, rusty bottle caps (used in collage/assemblage), old books with no covers (used for text clipping), old tinkertoys, boxes of dominoes (necklace pendants), bag of old eyeglass lenses (thank you optometrist), well, you get the picture. And you can't just throw this stuff out because you never know when you might want to use it in an art piece. I just try to contain it all in my Iris Cart or Alex cart drawers. And fail at the attempt. More about the Studio space later.

I read this thing once and heard it on TV, too - SOMETHING OUT BEFORE SOMETHING IN. I do try, but it doesn't always work! In fact, it hasn't been working AT ALL. Yarn just seems to follow me home all by itself..... At least it's not CATS.

Now I admit - finishing some of these projects would help. More about this later, too. Right now, FALL is coming and I feel the URGE TO PURGE coming on! Time to fill trash cans and boxes to go!

Monday, rain and staying inside...

studio shot
Originally uploaded by bren47

Thought you might like to see another studio shot. The typewriter was my Dad's and it sits on top of an antique Singer sewing machine cabinet - machine is inside. My Aunt gave the cabinet and machine to me after I helped her with some stuff. I always did want it!

The closet doesn't have a door - gets in the way - the room is too small. There are books on Elfa shelves in the whole thing - you can't see the left side - it's a walk-in - but there are also most of my bead boxes on the shelves, too. And notebooks of scrap papers and ephemera and collage stuff in general. I just love page protectors. You can see everything you have! Not that I actually have EVERYthing where I can see it - YET. I'm working on that.

My Studio

studio shot
Originally uploaded by bren47

I love my Studio - it's MINE all MINE! No one can come in unless invited. No one can mess with my STUFF. Even the cat has to be allowed to come in!

This photo is a collection of containers atop an antique chest of drawers - which houses some tools, misc small items and incense in the bottom drawers. It smells sooooo good when I open a drawer. I love sandalwood.

The BIG containers hold yarn scraps (in case of repairs or for tags), some small mirrors, marbles and glass drops - with eucalyptus leaves coming out the top for decoration. A collaged tin can holds my watercolor brushes and it's covered with an upside-down plastic soda bottle. Cuts down on dust. Sitting in the front is an undecorated pen pot. I filled the inside with paperclay after making a hole for a pen to sit. I plan to paint and collage the outside and put some moss in the top area. A decorated pen (seen leaning in about the center of the photo - flower that goes on it in a clip) will go in the pot.

There's an antique medicine bottle, a bottle holding various kinds of elastic "yarn", a glass holding tiny bottles, and an ink pad - use it alot.

I think it's fun to look into people's studios. I'll post some more peeks later or you can go to my flickr an see more. Hope you enjoyed this peek!

Smoke Gets In My Eyes

I am sitting in my studio and cigarette smoke from outside keeps getting in. The wind has been blowing from the east (the side of the house where the smokers live) for months now -along with all this weird rain. I have been putting up with this and I am FED UP!!!

This house was built in 1976 and we still own it - are in the renovation process now. We watched it being built but didn't know then what we know now about insulation, etc... There is very little of it in these walls!

The smoke keeps getting in and coming through the AC vents. I can't figure out how to stop it. I just have to keep wishing the wind would shift! Or the people would go to sleep! Speaking of.... that's where I'm headed. Early day tomorrow. What I hope will be my last physical therapy session for my shoulders is at 8 am. More about sock progress later....