Season's Greetings!

Good thing we made our card a Season's Greeting card!
What with all the moving, unpacking, making cookies & presents,

decorating for the holidays, I'm amazed we got one done!

Whew! And how nice it was to be able to spread out!

So in case I didn't get a chance to tell you all,

I hope you had a happy holiday & will have a great new year!

Ron's looming? And Repair?

Guess who's sharing my studio with me? My DH has been seeing all the beautiful weaving here, knew I had a small laptop loom, & decided to try weaving!

He is fearless in his creativity!

And the other picture is some of his repair projects.

I love sharing space with him!

Before and After! Dreams come true!

We all like makeovers, right?

Well, remember this studio before?

Now here we are after...almost done. Just a few more things to add.

Here's a little tour around the room:

You walk in and to the left are wooden shelves filled with inspiration, materials to work with, art work from other art pals & some of mine in storage. Straight ahead you can see my light table where I do most of my sketching!

Continuing around the room, there is a wall devoted to all things paper, glue, scissors, etc.

To the right of that, on the next wall, are 2 tables.

The one on the left is for metal work & bead work.

The one on the right is for fabric, embroidery, sewing projects, etc.

Also some projects in bins up on top.

To the right as you turn the corner is my little table so I can have my sewing machine out all the time. And I can see over the loft to talk to my DH! As you continue on that wall is my computer section. Don't have it all set up yet. Need a new printer. Ours was ruined in the move.

And finally, before you leave the room is storage for Huckleberry Hut & Ron's envelope & card making supplies and finished projects.

And a few more things to unpack!

I have dreamt about this studio for years! It was on my life map. I'm so happy to now have room for all of my creative supplies! I've spent most of my time recently in the sketching, paper, & wire sections over the holidays!

How wonderful to have room to spread out! I am blessed!

Come make something with me!

I have SHELVES!

Here's my DH getting the standards ready for all my shelves. He's such a sweetie!

Here you can see some of the shelves up on one wall & standards getting set up for the next wall! It's gonna be so fun to fill up all those shelves so I can see what I have! I think I need more storage boxes! But that will come in time. I also get one more table!!! Everything will be in it's station. Can't wait to show it to you all finished!

Organized Chaos??? No such thing!

OMG!!! How is a person 'sposed to work during a move??? Thank heaven for that bed tray! I can keep beading/sewing projects on it & store it on the craft table, or move it to my light table & let the legs down to work on beading. Or, when I need to sketch, I can pick it up, move it to the craft table & work on my sketching! You don't even want to see the rest of this room! How am I gonna choose what I will take with me in my travels? I'm sure the rest of you artists understand wanting to take it all with you! So far I have a sketching/watercolor pouch, my sketchbooks, a colored pencil pouch, a sewing kit...now I just need to decide on what to put in that beading pouch! Any input would be more than appreciated! Whew!

Is it a journal? Is it a sketchbook?

Hi, all & happy Aloha Friday!
This post is specially for freebird. She commented about journals/sketchbooks, so I thought I'd share my stuff. It's not all neat like it shows in the previous post! :)

Here's a sampling of what I do. That big black "book" (lower left) contains my "morning pages"...the hour I spend getting rid of the "mitote" as suggested in "The Artist's Way". It's just a bunch of words. I go thru' about one every 3 or 4 months. The smaller black moleskin (upper right) is my watercolor sketchbook...the one I showed a couple sketches from in the previous post. Just mostly daily play sketches. The leather journal (lower right) is my life events journal. I paint/journal from the big events in my life in there. But the one I love the most is my "idea" book. It's the small green sketch book (upper left) that I carry with me everywhere! If I get an idea, it goes in there. If I get an address, phone number, receipt, whatever, it goes in there. If I ever get stuck, I go to these books!!! I have 'em lined up on my table & I just browse thru' all the ideas I've saved over the years. It's so nice! I even put a little sketch of a lightbulb by the idea so I can pick it out from the rest of the stuff! :) It's my most messy, loved "book" in the world! It's like that story about the Velveteen Rabbit! So, freebird, I bet your sketchbook is a Velveteen Rabbit that's loved alot!

Hurricanes, Tsunamis & Earthquakes...oh, my!

OK...a little late posting this week! Hurricane Flossie decided to scare us, but fizzled out at the end. Then Big Island had an earthquake. Then Peru had their earthquake & the civil defense was called out here for a tsunami warning!!! For all the prep & warning...nada. Zippo. Poof. But better safe than sorry I guess.

So someone said they envied my neat or tidy work space. Well, that's 'cuz I usually only show the small clear spot I bead on. I decided to show what's really around & behind me. Yes, that's a chair full of handmade paper that I have no where to file...and I sure could use the top of that table to work on, but it's a "holding area" for now...so is what's under it! AND completely behind me is a closet I don't dare open for fear all my supplies will come tumbling out! I guess I've just learned to be able to create in the middle of chaos. In fact, sometimes it's the only thing that can keep me calm!!!

Cheers all!