My Messy Studio(s)

So, Brenda Sue Lansdowne asked for artists to participate in the Messy Studio Blog Hop and I raised my hand.  I am lucky to have taken over several spaces in my home and to have a family that understands and tolerates my messes.

One of the questions Brenda says she gets is what can someone who has no dedicated space do when they want to make jewelry and be creative.  I started to make stuff when I was a kid. I always had beads and yarn and fabric swirling around me! I don't really remember how I stored stuff back then, but probably in Tupperware containers and plastic bags in my bedroom.  As I got older I used old cookie sheets and paper plates for my seed bead work.  I could slide a plate full of beads and work in progress into a big zip lock bag and put it on a shelf in a closet.  And I had some tubes of beads and maybe a small plastic container with some stuff...pretty much it fit into a small tote that I got out when I wanted to work on it.

Since I sew as well, in my apartment I would set up on the dining room table and have to put it away after every use.  When my husband (at the time) and I bought a house I was thrilled when we turned the formal living room into my craft area.  I bought a fancy sewing cabinet for my then two machines and a desk to work on.  When I moved to Cincinnati I got a room on the first floor of our house for my MESS as he called it.  That way I could close the door and he didn't have to look at it or complain about it.  I had put beads to the side for all the sewing I was doing, so it was full of sewing machines, fabric, thread, ironing boards and my desk and first computer.  Little did I know then how important a computer would become in my creative life!

Yes, that relationship ended and I bought a condo of my own...with a room for me to use.  I met my current husband and he didn't mind my creative mess.  We married and eventually sold our homes to build the one we live in now.  There are days it is less messy and there are days when it is more messy.  Originally the office space off the great room was supposed to be mine but I found I didn't like working there..felt like I was separated and not spending time with my family which now includes a son.  So now it is his office space and the desktop is in there while I sit on the couch with the lap top.

My work space(s) have expanded and contracted depending on what is going on in our lives. Right now they are pretty expanded!  It kind of started about 4 years ago as my work began to evolve from sparkly, seed beads and crystals to where it is now.  I had a car accident 2 years ago and when I started to create about 6 months later my esthetic had taken a left turn and I also found some of my mentors/supporters.  I began to actively pursue my jewelry designs as a business vs as a hobby to get where I am today - already talking about 2013 shows!

So I've kept you waiting long enough....

Here is my wonderful cabinet from The Original Scrapbox Company.  This is how it looks when it is cleaned up for a picture...

Lovely isn't it?!  This is the ideal situation.  I can fold the table down and close the doors and roll it to another space.  I love it because this is in my family room and I can be working, cooking, washing clothes and watching tv with the family all at the same time.  The light is great here as well for my designing.

Here is what it looks like this morning...

I got more stuff since the neat picture

I am in the process of reorganizing my storage so the little metal ones are empty as I combined them nto the box

No rhyme or reason for this ...just need to put it away

yup, the floor and more boxes in a cool rack I got on clearance. I should have bought the other one!

But that's NOT ALL!!! Here is the kitchen counter annex and the kitchen table annex.  Notice the cookie sheet?  Yup I'm still using it...

Now for my lower level studio...yes I have one.  We have a large basement with a bedroom/bathroom family room but I took over a corner when I started lampworking and enameling.  We recently consolidated my sewing stuff there as well.

my corner

glass rods and enamels are supposed to live here

As you can see..the enamels took over the last month

Before I fire up my torch again I have to clean the whole table up

Obviously, I haven't been sewing since this is neat (and that is a bead loom on the right)

a lot of this is my fabric stash, embroidery thread and my art show props

So I am one of the lucky few to have a lot of space.  And yes I do clean it up, and was going to before this blog hop was on my radar and then I just had to take the pics first.  It is a never ending job as I create furiously and mess up and then reorganize so I can mess it all up again.

Go check out all the messiness!  Here is the list 

MESSY WORKSHOP BLOG PARTICIPANTS
Brenda Sue Lansdowne
http://www.bsueboutiques.typepad.com/
Robin Delargy:
http://looloosbox.blogspot.com/
Kim at Cianci Blue
http://cianciblue.blogspot.com/
Jennifer Jazwick-Smith
http://hudathoughts-jennifer.blogspot.com/
Mary Shannon Hicks
http://www.uptwnsh-fallingintothesky.blogspot.com/
Tracy Swartz
http://tracyswartz.com/category/blog
Jacqueline Marchant
http://jaacquelinesjewels.blogspot.com/
Lynnea Perry Bennett
http://designsbylynnea.blogspot.com/
Terry Matusyk
http://pinkchapeau.wordpress.com/
Laurel Steven
http://laurelsteven.blogspot.com/
Dr. Brassy Steamington
http://drbrassysteampunk.blogspot.com/
Pamela Takeshige
http://www.crittersandthings.blogspot.com/
Kris Lanae Binsfeld
http://www.cherishdesigns.wordpress.com/
Outre Art
http://theartistspaintbox.wordpress.com/
Linzi Alford
http://www.magpieintheskyspoilheaptales.blogspot.com/
Deb Davis
http://naturaltreasuresbydeb.blogspot.com/
Tamara Jones
http://irrysistablejewels.wordpress.com/
Harry Wood
http://www.oscarcrow.blogspot.com
Gerry Nickerson
http://gersgems1.blogspot.com/
Elizabeth Owens-Dwy
http://www.thepolymergeek.blogspot.com/
Georgene Lockwood
http://sylvanavintagedesigns.wordpress.com/
Charisa Sloper
http://www.blog.obsidiansoda.com/
Jennifer Justman
http://soulsfiredesigns.blogspot.com/
Beanzie
http://the-vintage-heart.blogspot.com/
Mary Deis
http://mdeis.blogspot.com/
Cheri Reed
http://creativedesignsbycheri.blogspot.com/
Sondra Kolner
http://scrappybydesign.weebly.com/index.html
Sonya Ingersoll-Stille
http://www.dreaminofbeads.blogspot.com/
Lori Anderson
http://www.prettythingsblog.com/
Sandra McGriff
http://skyescreativechaos.blogspot.ca/
Shelly Joyce
http://www.aujourlejour-shelly.blogspot.com/
Joan Williams
http://www.lilrubyjewelry.wordpress.com/
Kashmira Patel
http://sadafulee.blogspot.com/
Deb Beechy
http://beetique56.blogspot.com/
Ginger Bishop
http://lilmummylikes.blogspot.com/
Kelli Jacobson
http://creativemoonjewelryandthings.com/
Natalie McKenna
http://www.grubbi.co.uk/
Andrew Thornton
http://andrew-thornton.blogspot.com/
Mary Govaars
http://mlhjewelrydesigns.com/
Kate Mulligan
http://mulliganstewjewelry.blogspot.com/
Lisa Lodge
http://pineridgetreasures.blogspot.com/
Tami Luchini
http://ssprocketsmetal.blogspot.com/
Monique Lula
http://www.moniquelula.com/blog/
Lee Koopman
http://stregajewellry.wordpress.com/
Jayne Capps
http://mamasgottodoodle.blogspot.com/
Susan Lloyd
http://designsbysusan-dbs.blogspot.com/
Cynthia Wainscott
http://www.exoticperujewelry.blogspot.com/
Stephanie Amanti
http://www.stephaniesjewelrybox.blogspot.com/
Alicia Marinache
http://www.allprettythings.ca/
Sam Hamp
http://hampgirl59.blogspot.com/
Lennis Carrier
http://www.windbent.net/

Long Time no Blog!!!

Wow....has it really been over a month since my last post?  I guess I have been a busy woman.  I had so much fun doing the Bead Soup Blog Hop, and now I am getting ready for the Messy Studio Hop.  You will all get to see where the magic happens.  HA HA~  I always seem to start out with a more organized space and it somehow turns into the Blob that ate my house.

So, since you were last here I got 2 new puppies.  Yes, I got talked into 2 puppies by a certain boy and my husband.  They are beautiful Chows, a brother and sister.  The girl is Cynder Ella and she is black and the boy is MuShu Pork and he is a cream.  Guess now you want to see pictures...

Cynder is named after a character in the Skylander Game and MuShu was the dragon in Mulan.   The Pork come in because he is a little (not so little now) piggy when it comes to food.  They have been a handful!

The very next week my husband Terry had to have a wrist surgery called a carpectomy.  He was a crazy cinder block breaking martial artist in his younger years and unfortunately he is suffering for his excess now.  The ligament that held in the bones was like the elastic in an old ladies underwear....ALLL stretched out.  They took out 3 bones and the ligament and he has been in a splint for over a month now.  He worked from home, but since I am not used to having someone here working I wasn't able to pound on metal and torch stuff like I usually do.

Lucky for me 2 of my bonus kids came to help out their Pops during their Spring Break.  Logan and Dutch, two of my husband grandsons.  They mowed, cleaned gutters and did pretty much anything we asked.  The next week my son Justin was on Spring Break and the next week is what I came here to write about!

NEW YORK CITY and Philly Bead Fest!

So, this was my view as we drove into the city on Friday the 13th! Thanks to my new friend Heather Marston of CSW Designs for driving the bead van into the city from Lancaster PA.  She also has an Etsy Shop HeHe Beads.  We met on the Painting with Fire Ning and have been chatting for over a year.  She had been trying to talk me into coming for Bead Fest and the NYC bead buying trip was a bonus.  Then she added a super secret bonus that Barbara Lewis of Painting with Fire would be going with us.  How could I resist!

We picked up a cast of characters along the way into the city.  Barbara and her husband Jim are just a delight.  They hugged me like they had known me forever!  Heather drove like she was a native and I navigated along with the GPS.  We parked in a garage near our first stop CJS.  There is no way to describe this place!  It is wholesale only, so bring your tax id. 

The owner Carl and his lovely daughter Elyse. He took us on a tour and then said "don't mess anything up".  That was funny..I don't care who you are!

Here are some pictures of what you might see.

 Finally here is the whole crew at the end of this part of our shopping spree

We are all smiling because of all the bargains we got.

Here are  a few pictures of my stash

And this isn't all of it!

The next stop was York Beads...Czech Glass heaven! I could have spent a much longer time there, but we had a schedule to follow. Here is a picture of the beads

Then on to Tinsel Trading Company a Ribbon Boutique and a whole lot of other stuff.  Yet another place to spend the day in.  While we were there a courier came in to pick up an order for Martha Stewart!  Yes THE Martha Stewart.

I picked up some beautiful ribbons here to use in my Garden Bracelet Series

We left and headed to Metalliferous another adventure in digging treasure.  Just remember to write the number of items and cost on the plastic bags or they will send you back into the racks to do it!  LOL  they must have said that a million times while we were there.  But seriously, very great staff.  

The owner gave us a few more suggestions of places to go, but it was getting late.  We slid in sideways at Beads World.  They had a lot of everything...prices not as low as some of the other places but marvelous selection of beads and chains and gemstones.

 

We ended up in Times Square and bought some gifts for the kids and found a great restaurant for dinner.  Then there was some snoring in the back seat and I kept Heather company on the drive home.  We got back to her house exhausted but happy.  

We spent the next day in Lancaster walking up and down and checking out galleries and shops and even grabbed a whoopie pie at the farmers market.  The we headed to Philly to Bead Fest and dinner with Barbara and Jim and a few of the Painting with Fire crew.  We had a great time and Jim is already planning my trip to Florida to visit them in their new home.

I can't believe I am saying this...but I can't wait to do it all over again!