Blog watching

You MUST jump over to INK STAINS to check out an awesome giveaway she is having.   I do believe you would enjoy perusing her blog if you like to learn art techniques.  She is a consistent and interesting blogger and you’ll enjoy checking out her older posts.  I’ll take a couple of additional pointers in the consistency department.  I can say I am fairly consistent every couple of months in blogland.  I haven’t even been surfing and lurking lately.  That’s just plain sad around here, but I’ve been busy, busy, busy.

The studio is coming along nicely.  The ceiling is ripped out to the rafters.  It is pretty clean and I am getting ready for a big sale on May 7.  I’ve paused the construction so I can start digging out goodies and pricing.

I am sharing a couple of ladies doing what I would prefer to be doing myself…just enjoying the beautiful outdoors without a care in the world! 

Click on image, Right click and Save.

I promise to share pics of progress soon.  Take care and enjoy the spring blooms.

Easter ATC’s

I uncovered more goodies from the mailbox.  Woot Woot.  These three ATC’s were traded through Christian Paper Artists Group.  Each one is so unique and perfect for this special holiday.

The cards I created were duplicates of some vintage post cards I have and I reduced them for the ATC’s.  These chicks and eggs just represent new beginnings and rebirth.  I just love the graphics on old ads and postcards.

Another celebration that we recently shared in was the promotion of my son.  We were able to join him at the Japanese Tea Garden for the ceremony.  He is now a Staff Sargent in the US Army.  I am just bustin’ my buttons with pride for my favorite son.

As you can tell in the pic, we are not going to quit yakking just for a photo op!  Oh well.

Have a great Easter weekend.

Spring ATC’s

It is a summery kind of Christmas when you get this kind of goodness in the mailbox.  The Spring ATC swap I joined at The Art of Altering is a swap with 3 other people.  My first exchange has arrived and what a fun surprise to unwrap this card from a LOT of fringy yarn.

After all the reveal, here is this adorable bird and nest from Dawn Burrows.  Hop on over to her blog to check out her awesome creativity.

She also included a bonus gift of these tags she prepared.  I’ll be using these soon.  Thanks Dawn.

The cards I sent out had a flower garden theme.

The art goodness happens after hours around here.  During the daylight, I’ve been gutting a building to be my official studio in the near future.  Fingers are crossed.  I’ve removed a lot of sheet rock and a bit more has to come down.

This is a long shot of the room.  After all the sheet rock has been ripped out along with a truck full of dirt, dirt, dirt….I am now ripping off the support boards.  I just want the exposed rafters for now.

Next on the rip out list is this bad boy.  There are Huge nails holding this one to the cinderblock.  UGH!  I want this moved to another wall .  It’s not in a very convenient place for the plan I have in mind.  Shelving storage is nothing to be taken lightly around here and there is nothing Light about this unit! 

I keep looking at this mess as my workout program.  I have a stair climber with the ladder.  I use weights with my trusty heavy hammer and sledge hammer.  General aerobics are involved with the shoveling out broken sheetrock and loading trailers, etc., etc.  My arms have got to be more fit after this rip out project.  Phew, I’m tired just thinking about that workout.  I’ll take a break before I even go out to work some more.

Enjoy these spring days that are pleasant and I send prayers to those affected by all the horrific tornadoes.

Technorati Tags: studio,atc's,spring

Upcycling

Ok everyone...it was midnight and the creative bug attacked me. I had no defenses and had to succumb. Why, oh why didn't I go to bed earlier??!! The trek to the fabric stash uncovered an old dirndl skirt from the 60's/70's. It was quite a classic to be sure and made of upholstery fabric!! My dear grandmother used to scavange the thrift stores for old fabrics to use in her own projects. I brought this piece home (along with the huge tub full of goodies). She had a good eye for texture and color and I've pulled from that stash many times. Thankfully it was a long version and supplied me with a sufficient amount of fabric.

That is until I got to the back of the chair back. hmmmm, my mind was whirling with ideas..or was I numb from lack of sleep? You can see the hideous office grey peeking out. Did I remember ANY before and after pics? NOPE! Just to keep consistent with the forgetfulness dept.

I found some silk scraps and pieces of ribbon. Keeping with the upcycling mode, none of the ribbons matched, but were in the turquoise blue theme to tie in with the fabrics. I finished by 1:30 and hit the hay. I am loving this new redo of this plain chair and I got to clear out some more of that fabric stash. Yippee!

I also had finished putting my daybed back together in the afternoon. I redid the skirt a while back. The many layers of fabric at the seam was almost impossible for my machine to sew through. Beware when you sew 6 layers of home dec fabrics and 2 layers are gathered!

I have recycled some old doilies, table runners and hankies into all the pillows. Everything I used were leftovers from prior projects and I didn't have to purchase one solitary piece of fabric. I even had several of the pillow forms already on hand then used odd pieces of poly batting to stuff the others. I love these kind of projects for sure.

I know you may have noticed the drawer handle in the other pic. You're jealous of such fab hardware...I know, I know! I had plenty of selections and I stayed in my turquoise theme of course.

It is supposed to be this style, but, alas some of the pieces are missing. I will have to find someone to recast some replicas of this hardware. I can also see it become another of my own projects also. I'd like to learn to make replicas of this gorgeous hardware and some of the mouldings I have on hand. Perhaps later this summer that project may be complete.