Getting the studio organized

So, as you could probably tell from my post a few days ago, my studio is a veritable hodge-podge of furniture and DIY storage. Are you looking for pretty pictures of an IKEA craft studio where everything is painted the perfect shade of pink with little tags attached to wicker baskets and specialty shelving holding a myriad of supplies meticulously arranged according to size, shape, color and use? Sorry. Nope. Not here.

Don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge those fine people with perfect studios but when it comes down to it, if someone said, "Hey, here's $5000 to make your studio pretty and perfect." I would say, "Thank you, but I'd rather take that money and my hubby on a really great vacation to someplace tropical." It's not that I don't like spending money - I just don't like spending money on fancy furniture. A bookcase is a bookcase is a bookcase. It doesn't matter to me what color it is or who designed it as much as whether it fits in my space and functions adequately like a bookcase should. Why spend $200 on a bookcase when a $10 one from the thrift store does exactly the same thing?

I guess that's how I feel about my studio space. I like it that I have a bunch of hodge-podge furniture with nicks and scratches and peeling paint somehow pieced together to form this space that acts as a hub for both crafting and running an online business. And now that it's almost organized (still have some stuff to move out to new homes), I am starting to feel like I can breathe in here! Creativity and claustrophobia are NOT happy bedfellows!

So, I am going to share with you some more photos of my studio space today - such as it is. I hope you enjoy this little tour. :)

I'll start with the only in-progress photo I managed to take. I was moving the 24-drawer steel cabinet and had to pile the drawers someplace. It's a heavy cabinet even without the drawers in it!

This is what I now see when I walk into the studio... it's so wonderful to have a clear path into the room. Often, in the past, I felt like I was stepping through an obstacle course! The table is gone, the chair has been moved into the center of the room and a side table with storage inside sits along side the chair. If I want a table to work on, I have a 4' x 2' folding table I can bring out as needed - actually, you might notice it leaning against the dresser on the lower left. Anyway, this open floor plan means I can set up the space as I need to.

Here is my hodge-podge north wall. But it holds lots of fun stuff! Some of this still needs to be relocated or sold so I can move my favorite books back in. I mean, it is a bookcase, after all...

Now, I only show this photo because I have not been able to actually use this door for a VERY long time - I had a folding desk in front of it piled high with stuff. Stuff is gone, desk is gone, door can open and close - AMAZING!

On the east wall is a large vintage dresser and on top, a collection of baskets, bins and drawers that work amazingly well as a unit. 

Here's the entrance to the walk-in closet (still a disaster! I'll get to that soon...) and my photo/shipping area.

And my standing desk...

So, the 24-drawer cabinet got moved to the corner along with another smaller steel cabinet. I know you still can't see it! I have a rolling desk chair that I'm not convinced should go away quite yet so that is sitting in the space between the desk and the cabinet. On the chair are boxes with "overstock" from the clean-out that I will be posting for sale on Etsy and eBay. Hopefully, all that stuff will be on its way to new homes and I will finally be able to take a picture of the cabinet in all its glory! :)

You might also notice some empty wall space! Holy cow! Room to grow...

This photo just shows off the latest piece of artwork to come my way! This shrine was made by my good friend Stephanie Failmezger - I traded a woven necklace for it. She did a series of shrines dedicated to threatened/endangered species - this one is dedicated to sea urchins whose bright orange roe is considered a delicacy and thus, over-harvested.

Here is my shrine space, of sorts. I don't sit in front of it and meditate or anything but I do love lighting candles and all of the objects mean something to me. Besides the pillar candles (which I buy only at thrift stores), I also have 6 various holders where I burn tea lights. Needless to say, I go through LOTS of tea lights!

This fountain, on semi-permanent loan from my friend Mary, is one of my all-time favorite things!

Above the candles, is a display with rocks, bones, feathers and mementos of people, places and events. I used to have two of these (remember that newly-empty wall space?) but culled things down to fit into one unit - I even have some empty spaces for new artifacts!

Here's a shot along the west wall.

Here, I used the space behind the door to hang up my ukuleles and Irish whistles (in the Owl bag). I have actually started practicing again! Easy access makes all the difference!

The side table next to the chair holds my yoga mat and weights. Since clearing out the space, I have room to do morning stretches in privacy...

... except for the dogs staring at me! The chair is temporarily covered with stuff I had on hand. I would like to make a cool patchwork cover for it - we'll see... Anyway, I had thought to ban the dogs from the chair because of the dog hair and the digging but couldn't do it. They seem to be happiest hanging around while I work and I like having them there.

So, I am far from done. As I said, there are still a few errant boxes of stuff hanging around and the closet is in dire need of a good hoeing-out but it's SOOO much nicer than it was.

I'm not sure why I felt the need to share this on my blog. Maybe some of you will find inspiration in my space and realize you don't have to have thousands of dollars and made-to-order storage to build a space you enjoy being and creating in. If you surround yourself with things you love that inspire you - I believe you'll have the beginnings of a space in which your creativity will thrive.

'Til next time! :)

Studio re-do (again!) and organization

So, it's actually been suggested that I bury my studio in stuff because I love to organize crap. This may actually be true... I have often thought that it would be fun to help people clear out clutter and get what remains organized - sort of like Clean Sweep (one of my all-time favorite shows - I miss it!). A big problem with that is I would end up bringing half of their stuff home! Also, I could only do it if there were a guarantee that I would not have to clean up anyone's filth (like you see on Hoarders... (I have tried to watch that show... can't do it! It makes me nauseous just thinking about it *gag*).

Anyway... I decided to tackle my studio mess this past week. I've been psyching myself up for it since the New Year and my resolution to put a moratorium on buying craft supplies or vintage stuff. Seriously, I AM NOT GOING TO BUY ANY ART/CRAFT SUPPLIES OR INVENTORY FOR MY ETSY SHOP IN 2017!! I'm doing my best to ignore the little voice in my head saying "yeah... right..."

I did take some "before" photos - I had already cleaned off the studio table, so they were "slightly-less-than-before" photos but I think you will get the idea re: the amount of stuff I have in a relatively small room.

Here is my table - usually piled so high with stuff that I can't see the top of it - amazingly clutter-free! Next to it is one of my favorite pieces of studio furniture: a 24-drawer steel cabinet I bought when a local store was clearing out their surplus office furniture. A literal steal at just $40 which I happily paid and whistled all the way home!

Here's a shot of it (or what you can see of it over the box of crap sitting in front of it!):

The drawers are color-coded and stuffed to the gills with pretty things like ribbon, lace, silk flowers, beads, etc.

 Here is a shot of the North wall - again, piled high with stuff. You couldn't even walk through because of boxes on the floor. I'm such a slob...

 Here is the walk-in closet. I keep inventory overflow in here as well as craft show stuff (tent, displays, etc). It's always a bit of a mess. Anytime I need the tent (which leans against one of the back corners) I have to move 10 things out of the way first. *sheesh*

 Here is my photo and shipping station. It also looks pretty good because I'd cleaned a bit before deciding to take some pics. Underneath are bins with shipping supplies, a file cabinet where I keep my accounting info (one thing I DO keep organized! Must be my banking background...) and a plastic bin where I keep the cordless drill, staple gun and yarn winder.

 My desk, elevated so I have to stand - it's easier on my arthritic body than slouching in a desk chair.

The "dog chair". Our dogs, Freckles and Ogie, like to hang out in the studio when I'm in there and this chair is their domain. It's a mess! Under the cover are layers of dog hair that I couldn't get out of the upholstery if my life depended on it. I threw some fabric over for a make-shift cover but it's all dug up - my dogs like to dig! Because of that, the seat cushion needed replacing a while ago - it's now just a pillow in a quilted sham.

Stuffed in next to the chair are my ukulele's which I never play because I have to relocate the dogs and the chair to get to them. Not conducive to practicing...

 I did finally get Ogie to lift his head to say "Hi" but, as you can tell, he wasn't too thrilled about it. He's much friendlier in person. :)

So, those are my "before" photos. Stay tuned for some "in-progress" as well as some "almost-after" to come later!

See you soon... :)

Thrift Store Booty!

I have been pretty busy this holiday season (as, I'm certain, most of you have). I work at a local independent book store which, thankfully, has been incredibly busy with sales and orders so extra hours are on everyone's schedule. I also work as a Production Runner for the local performing arts arena and have had more work than usual which is always good!

This all means that I spend fewer hours in the studio doing the thing I like best - creating! It also means that household stuff gets forgotten about most days. Well, yesterday I finally HAD to go shopping for the necessities like, you know, toilet paper and food. Little things like that... Lucky for me, the grocery stores are in the same part of town as my favorite thrift stores! Yay! Nothing makes going food shopping during the holiday season more pleasant than to stop off at the local charity shops to see what treasures might be hiding there.

Anyway, I scored some really fun Christmas items - some I love just as they are and others I plan to dismantle and salvage the pieces or use in some Christmas themed crafts. It's probably a little too late this year for me to actually sell anything Christmas-y but it will be good practice for next year!

The first are these awesome, wooden reindeer! Obviously vintage or, at the least, inspired by mid-century design. I think I will be adding these to my growing personal collection of vintage Christmas decorations.

Next were these vintage floral picks - not sure what to do with these yet but aren't they cool?

Then I found this wall hanging with brass bells, fabulous millinery stems and chenille cording. These will be dismantled and the pieces added to my stash of stuff to use in the future.

We have a little charity shop which seems to be the only one in town that truly honors craft supplies. They put EVERYTHING out for sale and you get a great deal if you have the patience (and enough money in the parking meter) to dig around for a while. Here are some sweet bits and pieces unearthed yesterday. I love the little trinket dish - so pretty!

And this stack of Christmas cards!! Woo hoo! These are not for sending out - I'm going to use the graphics as inspiration or for backgrounds to other projects.

I also made a quick stop at Dollar Tree. Not only did I discover that they sell Coconut Milk (a staple in our house for those nights when curry is on the dinner menu) but I did pick up a few sparkly supplies along the way.

And, finally, a little something just for me! This scarf is a beautiful shade of orange (my favorite color!) mixed with a purple shade I can only call Mulberry. It's HUGE and square-shaped making it incredibly versatile. I'm looking forward to having an opportunity to wear it soon!

So, that's the booty I picked up for just not very dang much money yesterday. Now, it's time for a quick lunch, a shower and off to work! Have a great day!

Shadow Box Christmas Ornaments!

I love the shadow-box-style ornaments I've been seeing on Pinterest and have decided to give it a try. During my travels over the past couple weeks I have been gathering supplies...

I found some star-shaped baking tins while on an antiquing road trip with the girls a couple weeks ago. The miniatures I've had hanging around for quite a while. The mini glass ornaments were a lucky find at a local thrift store! A whole jar full for $1!! You can't beat that!

This sweet German songbook was picked up for a quarter at another thrift shop. It's in pretty bad shape - most of the pages are loose - but I think those loose pages will add a nice touch. Not sure if I'll decoupoage them or add folded elements to the inside of the ornaments...

And finally... floral stems from the dollar store to add a bit of sparkle!

I'm running out of time today but I'm planning on staying home tomorrow, drinking hot chocolate, watching Christmas movies and making ORNAMENTS! Can't wait!