Studio/ Guest Room

I am so excited!! I have company coming in on Thursday and they are staying in the Studio! It’s the 2nd biggest bedroom and they won’t be as crowded as they would be if they stayed in the room that we usually reserved for guests. Granted this room doesn’t have a TV, so the other room is better for TV viewing.

This room is over the garage, hence the funky ceiling. It also gets extremely cold in the winter and hot in the summer. As you’ll see the A/C unit in the window and the space heater on the table.

Inspiration Board is a work in progress. And a wonderful place to put things I don’t want to lose. No, that’s not my guitar or keyboard. My son has taken a real interest in music over the last few years and this is his first guitar. I’m pretty musically inept, but love to belt out a Song or two as I sing along with my mp3 player. (much to my family’s chagrin….geez I really don’t get that)

My modest fabric Stash! You really ought to see my mother in laws!!! M.A.G.N.I.F.I.C.E.N.T., to say the least!

To the right of the dresser is my Current project. I’ll be appliquéing the flower petals and leaves to a tan pieced background. More later when I finish.

Some of my absolute favorite pictures of Family. The wonders of digital and scanning in old pics lets me have brand new pictures for just 19 cents from Walgreens. (If I really had my act together, I’d upload about 50 favorites and have snapfish print them for just 9 cents a piece.)……But that’s if I had my act together!!

I have had this rack for about 5 years. I had bought two at the time for only about 6 bucks each. I hung the first one right away in my bathroom. I have almost given this one to Goodwill about 3 times, but something inside said, “Wait, you may wish you had it someday”. And now, It’s someday....It’s a perfect spot for those dropper paints I told you about in this post.

I covered one of those big body length pillows about ten years ago with that striped fabric you see on the closer bed. Then my dear grandmother gave me a quilt she no longer uses that she had embroidered herself! I use what I love and I love this, however, so did the dog and the kids, so now there are tears to more than a few stitches and ink marks! Ah, well…..what can I say?? I’m so happy with those Deka Curtain wires from Ikea. I can now put all kinds of fun stuff up. And Look, that same dog has made her way into the picture. Good thing she’s on the floor, huh?

Thanks for stopping by and letting me share with you! Posting this here really helped motivate me to get this done! Pictures are clickable (become larger upon clicking them), if you want a better look. - Eden

Word Art

I got these letters last week at Hobby Lobby, I liked the cool font and hey, they were white!! What better color to embellish than white? So…. off I went to doodle them up. I was a little unsure how the finish would take with the paints I used. But it worked really well. Next time I’d probably lightly sand the letters prior to starting. Just so the ink has something to hold on to.

Oh- and these were 50% off last week! Gotta love a sale!

Below are the inks I used! I really like the dropper inks, I have a couple pearlescent ones (blue and green), which makes a pretty cool effect once dry.

So, I finished the A on Sunday, then on Monday I did the R, rolling right along I thought I’d be all done on Tuesday, with the T until……….

Dropper Danger!

The little blue dropper had a clot in it…..and not thinking I just continued to squeeze that little dropper until…..S.P.L.A.T…..

I tried to wipe it off!!! What was I thinking???

Instead of throwing the letter away, I just painted the bad end with white paint x 3 and thankfully finished up my T today! I’m now proudly displaying them in my Studio (you know, my college son’s room that I’m imposing on). Simple and Fun!!

I know this word isn’t all that original! I could’ve done my 2010 word for the year, if I had one picked out yet. I’m giving myself the entire month of january to decide.

I’d love to see what you make for yourselves! Actually I challenge you to show me what you’ve made for yourself and displayed. I will stop by if you leave me a link!!

Thanks for stopping by, Eden

Just a peek…..

Here’s a little peek of something I was working on this weekend! It’s almost done. I can’t wait to show you. I’m going to put it in my “studio” (a.k.a. my son’s room that I’m imposing on).

I thing I’ve realized something about Art/Artists. I am not really in that category, but I get so fired up when I can decorate with my “art”. When I can make a piece and display it somewhere where I can see it. Growing up and into early adulthood, I never made anything for myself. I’d always make things for others, give them away and not have something that I enjoyed to look at. I usually made things that I’d want for myself (who knows what the recipient wanted!!) Usually I’d have a reason for the gift, so it wasn’t like I didn’t give any thought to the gifts. Then if I made something for myself, it was small and simple. Kind of neutral, I didn’t want to make any bold statements in decorating or displaying. I mean what if it wasn’t appealing to my family? What if what I make falls apart? Or I outgrew the trend? But now that I’m indulging in this other side to my life, I find I want to make things for me, all the time. I want to show my personality in my creations. I also like the way things can be changed as you go, when I am responsible for the colors or the prints. I like that I have more options available to me if I just picked up some paint, or bought some cool fabric.

I think we “artsy” people need to surround ourselves with things that we love! Things that inspire our personal creativity. I think it’s like a pet and it needs to be fed. Visually fed that is! And it needs to be visually nurtured! Yes, it’s risky because it’ll cost some money in supplies or items that make us happy! It’s a little about opening up and expressing myself too! But when it clicks and things in the studio or in my surroundings take shape (even if it has a bit of wackiness), then it’s worth it! At least to me! And so far, DH (dear husband) hasn’t complained! Whew! Maybe that’s what I was afraid of!!

How about you? Do you display your art for yourself? What’s your experience with the people you live with?

Family Room Project…….coming along….

I’m slowly getting there. This is Step 2 of the BIG FAMILY ROOM project that is now…….COMPLETE R.

I need something on my teeny tiny mantle, possibly a tall plant or vase or something…..If anyone has any suggestions, I’d love to hear them, cuz it looks pretty darn barren there, don’t ya think?

After printing and hanging up my black&white pictures my Dear Daughter says to me, “Mom, you should’ve kept something colored on each picture, like with Gretchen’s scarf, keep it red”. Wow! Why didn’t I think of that? So the current group of pictures may get changed. I love her suggestion!!! Don’t you?

The above is Step 3 of the project which is now…….COMPLETE R. I appliqued our last name on some pretty white fabric (oh, about 4 yrs ago) and finally this summer I sewed the border on and had it framed. The border fabric is one of my favorites in my fabric stash, so i get to look at it all the time now!

And here is Step 4……………….what do i do here? Anyone? Anyone at all? I’m completely clueless. I do know that I want a light I can work under. I’m thinking about getting this Alang lamp from Ikea , I like this because it’s only 5 ft tall and it’s adjustable. I could possibly get two????? or I could get a couple wall/reading lamps similar to this. I have a big mirror that I could paint the frame black and put in this space. B.u.t……the couch isn’t centered on the wall, then would it look stupid if i centered the mirror on the wall? Ugh….no creative ideas for this place AT ALL!!

Progress

I really wanted to show you the magazine I got my inspiration from for my silhouette wall. It's Better Homes and Gardens issue Summmer 2009. I adapted their project a bit for the wall hangings by using Artists' Canvas boards, instead of Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF). The MDF would've been much cheaper but I felt it would've been harder to work with. At least with my Canvas boards I can take the fabric off and re-use them someday.

I also preferred the look of fabric than the look of decoupaged papers adhered to the boards. My way will take longer but I think it'll be worth it in the end.

I need to buy some more fabric for this project because some of what I used went into my Gypsy skirt. Versatile, yep, gotta love those versatile fabrics.



I think this wall that you see the Silhouettes leaning against will be a good backdrop for this type of display. I will need to make at least 3-5 more. Depending on the sizes I chose to use.

I really must FINISH something in this room. My energies are pretty scattered at the moment. Going to the beach next week and I'd like to take a couple silhouettes with me to applique. It should be easy enough to do and Lord knows I'll have the time in the car. If I can keep the car-sickness at bay while I stitch.

Progress......it's coming ever so S.L.O.W.L.Y.........