Faux Woody Goodness

A big hold up on moving forward with the studio planning was trying to figure out what to do with the floors for the house. We have a small game room upstairs that's carpeted but everything else is tile, concrete or Ikea laminate. Finally, I think we've decided to go with tile that looks like wood. Rolland's become a tile expert at this point and I don't mind grouting so it seems like the best DIY approach at this point. I love how easy it is too keep clean but looks like wood. Sophy can run wild without worrying about doing any damage.

These inspiration images from Houzz make it easy to see how pretty it could be. Now I'm ok with ripping the house apart and moving forward with all our to do's. Maybe keep that a secret from the husband for now though...

Houzz

Love the texture feel of this one but mostly we won't be hovering above it since we're not vampires or super heroes. I would agree to either as long as we're the wealthy sparkly faux vampires who live in gorgeous splendor of the Pacific Northwest or Iron Man/Woman. Sophy with that palm exploder would be a nightmare.

Houzz

This one is to remind me how we can do the transition space.

Houzz

We're heading out for a little antiquing with the fam in Oklahoma for a couple of days. I've got my studio list and can't wait! Pretty sparkling vintage goodness will be mine!

Bad desk new shrine

This is how my desk looked when I came into work in the studio this morning. Yet, it seems like I need the mess to get things done but I think this was the breaking point! I did manage to create this shrine in the chaos and now have several pieces that require glass and soldering so more pics later once I can get to the workbench past the Christmas decorations!

The little bottle is filled with Bombay ink (teal) that swishes like a snowglobe when you shake it.

Light at the end of the tunnel!

The room is almost inhabitable again! My husband remarked on how much bigger it appears and I'm thrilled that I can find everything when I want it. I'm adding a few photos of sample CD's I'm playing with to see what I like. My brother is a musician and I would love to get the cd collages to where I"m happy with them as they'd make a nice gift for him.

I'm still struggling with finding the hours in the day... do you think they'd notice at the office if I set up a little mini-studio - a little gel medium, some great vintage finds and a few odds and ends to alter and I'd be set. Maybe since were basically paper free my overwhelming large scrap pile would get noticed. It's something to ponder!

As for the cd's I've just been adding paint, pearl ex, gold leaf and stamps until I find something I like. I want something more ethereal than heavy layers of collage but I'm not quite there yet. Oh well, it's fun just playing and as long as AOL keeps sending me free trial disks I won't run out of canvases!

Studio space clean out update

Two large bags of trash and 4 unnecessary rubbermaid containers later, may studio is slightly more organized but still in desperate need of cleaning. The husband and I have spent the weekend doing some clean out of our separate spaces. He's been going through his game room and organizing all his stuff while I"ve been doing the same in my area. We've decided to have a garage sale and my sister-in-law and mother-in-law have graciously volunteered to come help us. This is a huge offer since my sis-in-law is a 2nd grade teacher and they wouldn't be able to come down to help until JUNE. In. Texas. This won't be pretty.

I removed two large bags of trash and several contains that turned out to be helpful in terms of clutter vs actual storage so I'm definitely making progress. The thing is that all this cleaning has made me realize that I'm stuck on the notion that I have to be surrounded by tons of things to be creative. I've amassed all of this stuff that I can't even see and expect it to inspire me. I'm really going to make a conscious effort to try not to buy things unless I really love them or I know exactly what purpose the object will serve. I've done a lot of collecting of things that I "could probably use" vs "yep, gotta have some of those plastic baby penguins...(as a for instance)".

On an arty note, I've been working on soldering my slides for my swap and I have to say that could be going better. I think I've been adding too much solder and it's pulling the foil off the slide. Not sure what the problem is but it's unfortunate timing since we have family coming in next weekend for 4 days so the studio space will have to fulfill it's supporting role of second bedroom so my time crunch is on to get the space back together, solder figured out and deep cleaned for my mother-in-law (no garage sale can't happen now as this is purely a pilgrimage to shop... plus, it's 91 already here).

Yes, 91 in March. Gotta love Texas!

Mid-winter cleaning

I've been trying to get my studio space back under control. For now, it has to do double duty as a guest room but it currently has trouble holding all my stuff and the bed. It's a project I've been trying to get into shape for a while now but I keep finding myself sidetracked by projects. I'll find something sparkly or half-started and will settle in to finish (or start!) and stop the cleaning. Not to mention the necessary trips to IKEA for organizational supplies. These are my new favorite containers!

I've allowed myself to get sidetracked to make a domino necklace ... I may be beyond help!