A Place For Everything

...though not everything is always in its place...!

I'm so delighted with my latest piece of studio furniture! My hubby made a paper organizer for me! No longer is my paper in a box in the floor to be tripped over. I no longer have to fear my preschooler will use my paper storage box for a platform and trample my papers to death. Nor do I fear my dog's toenails piercing the papers walking over them when I've left my box open.

Not only is it an organizer's delight, it also doubles as another work surface, and I surely can't get enough of those!!

See that carved elephant puppet on the table? I love him but cannot for the life of me figure out where to hang him. My ceilings are all angles and I don't have a nice corner for him to hang in. He looks out of place hanging anywhere else. I'm determined to find a spot for him.

Now my papers are literally at the tips of my fingers and I can see what I have. *squeals with delight*

AND...the top opens up for even more storage of smaller sheets of scrap paper! Oh bliss! I'm so fortunate to have a husband who is crafty.

New Curtains - A Tutorial

I made some new curtains for my studio. I had some nice curtains already, but got into a big sale in the fabric store. The fabric was $6/yard and the trim was 90% off! How could I resist?? So now I have some curtains to alternate when the mood strikes me.

I am not the best at sewing so when I say this was pretty easy to do, trust me--it was! First you'll want to determine how long to make the curtains. I hung mine about 1 foot over the top window trim and down to the floor, which required almost 6 yards. I used the full width of the fabric (which I think is 54") for each panel. So, I needed 3 yards x 2 (for 2 panels). I always get a little more than I think I'll need, just in case I make a bad cut or miscalculated somewhere. I can always make pillows with the scraps (which will be another tutorial!).

Supplies:
Sewing machine
Decorator fabric (6 yards, in my case)
Trim (6 yards, in my case)
Coordinating thread
Pins
Ruler
Fabric scissors
Tape measure
Clip rings
Curtain rod to fit your window

The first thing I did was try to straighten up the raw ends of my fabric as best I could. I laid the fabric out on the floor and used the grooves in my hardwood floor to guide my cuts. Then I measured my window once again to determine how long to cut each panel. I used 2 1/2-inches for the hem on both the top and bottom, so I added 5 inches to my total. I used my tape measure to mark where to cut.

Then I turned under the selvage on the sides of my curtains and hemmed them on my sewing machine. I used about a 1 inch hem on the sides. You may notice my curtain magically changes color throughout this tutorial. The photos above were taken with a flash and the ones below using natural light. The taffeta fabric I used has a sheen to it, changing from gold to olive depending on how the light hits it.

I use a glass vase as a trash receptacle and also to weight the fabric down so it doesn't slide off the table while I'm trying to sew. I'm challenged enough as it is, I don't need to be fighting the fabric also!

Next I measured 2 1/2-inches for the top hem and marked it with a pin along the entire length of the curtain.

Then I folded the raw edge up to the pin.

Next I gingerly pulled the pin out and folded again on the line where the pin was. Doubling the hem over like this makes a nice clean hem. I've found if you don't tuck the raw edge under (and I'm sure there's a technical term for that...I just can't think what it is...) it may start to unravel in the laundry and then you'll have strings hanging out of your nice curtains. I did that once with a pair of pants. :(

I pinned where to make my final stitches on the hem, measuring to be sure I had it even. My final hem is about 1 1/4-inches.

So here's my finished top hem. Repeat the steps above to make the bottom hem.

I laid my curtain panels out in the floor, making sure they were oriented correctly and pinned the trim on the leading edge (the inside edge where your curtains will meet in the middle when closed). One panel will have the trim on the left edge, the other panel on the right edge. Then I sewed the trim on with a zig zag stitch. (This panel really did change color! It's actually my old curtain, the alternate.)

And now, you have some lovely curtains which will astound and amaze everyone! Just attach them with your clip rings and voila!

I had some guests for a party this past holiday season and one lady asked me who designed my curtains! Ha!!

Fixing Up My Studio

Since I moved into my new studio space several weeks ago, I've been working on organizing and arranging things. This will be an ongoing process for me, so I will likely have a few follow up posts on this topic.

Here I am in my new space thinking about where to put everything...

I love my bright, sunny window! I had to drive nails in the window trim to keep the fleur de lis finials from bashing me in the head each time I open and close the curtains.

This tall, white cabinet was on the curb for the trash. My hubby picked it up on his way home from work one day, intending to use it in his garage. Heh heh! We see where it ended up, confiscated for my studio. It got a fresh coat of paint, new hardware, and I stamped this ivy design down the front door.

Everyone should have smoke detectors in their home and studio! Not lovely to look at, but a safety must- have. I thought about PhotoShopping it out (is that a verb??) but decided it would be a good reminder about fire safety. I also have a fire extinguisher in my studio. Hopefully I will never need it!

I found this orphaned drawer with the fabulous-cool lion hardware in a thrift shop. I wish I could have found the piece of furniture it originally went to. How does a drawer get separated from its place of origin anyway?? It has a big chip missing out of the front, but I think it just adds to the charm.

Stay tuned for more studio pictures. I have a wonderful new paper sorter to blog about! =)

New Studio Space

Ta-da! My new studio is finished and ready for business! The timing couldn't be more perfect since I'm introducing my new shop, Emerson Bindery. New shop - new space! Very cool.

Here is the main reason I wanted to move out of my old studio down the hall--this work table. My old studio (herein referred to as "Studio A", the new one will be "Studio B") was so long and narrow I had to push my work table to the perimeter of the room, which gave me only one side to work from as furniture was crowed on either side and I had the wall on the back side.

I was so thrilled to be able to use the entire table that I ran joyfully around it several times!
Another bonus is the closet, which is yet unfinished. All my stuff is in the floor until I get some shelving in there. I didn't have a closet in studio A and was using the closet from the spare bedroom.

The Dysfunctional Art Closet

If you're an artist, you have one of these. Unless you are Martha Stewart, in which case you'd better skip on to another blog and leave me to my pathetic self.

I am a very organized person, to the point of self-proclaimed obsessive-compulsive disorder. I drive my family crazy organizing everything. A while back I posted pictures of my studio. A lot of you told me I was far more organized than you, which left me puffed up and full of myself. Until tonight when I opened the doors to my art closet.

It all started with a trip to Michaels. I came home with some ribbon which was on sale, so I stocked up. The trouble with stocking up is where do you put it all? You know you'll use it (at some point--maybe 12 years from now, but you WILL use it), it's on sale, and if you don't buy it you'll surely find a need next week for what you didn't purchase today.

I have my ribbon organized by color in the little white containers on the top shelf. My drawers are nearly full, so it took me almost an hour to figure out the best possible arrangement in each drawer to accommodate all the spools. In the end, a few spools got kicked out but I got them all in. (Until the next trip to Michaels!)

While placing the white containers back into the closet, I thought about how difficult it was to get them in and out, so I rearranged the top shelf which took another hour. I moved all the fabric containers to the far ends and stacked them to the ceiling. That cleared an area in the middle and I can now get to my ribbon without pulling stuff down on my head and pinching my fingers in the drawers. Yippee! And look! I even have room for one more container!

This closet is still a work in progress. Some of you will think this closet looks very organized compared to yours, and maybe so, but that's just the top shelf. The bottom is a mess! We've been here just over a year and there are still some unpacked boxes in there.


You can't open the doors too fast or the mat cutter will attack you. Pulling anything from the floor results in an avalanche of pillows. I have no place to store my scrapbooks, so they're all in crates in the closet floor. And then there's the circus tent, which I fall over on a regular basis.

Why, oh why, did I ever buy that thing?! Because it was on sale, and you never know when your child may need a circus tent!

Next in the series of dysfunctional storage will be my side attic. Stay tuned for the exciting narration of that space!

My Studio

I always enjoy seeing pictures and reading about other people's creative spaces. I'm glad to have a room to call my own...it wasn't always like that. In our first house, I shared a tiny 8 x 9 room with the computer desk. If my husband was working at the desk and I was at my work table, we'd bump the backs of our chairs into each other! I utilized every square inch of my space, though.

I spend a lot of time sitting in this chair working on the computer! (Not the little blue chair, the big one! The little one is for my creative assistant.)

This is where the journals and my other works of art are born! I love my "new" floor lamp inherited from my grandmother. It's true vintage! And behold, I can see what I'm doing now!!

Here is the studio watchdog, hard at work! Don't let him fool you, no one can enter or leave the room without his knowledge. He sleeps with one eye open. Sometimes I try to sneak by him to get a snack from the kitchen. Just when I think I've been successful, he usually appears quite suddenly behind me in the pantry! "Whatcha got there, mum? Any to share?"

My sewing table (which is not often used!) and my "resource center". My husband built the bookcase for me. I got sick of the cheap store bought ones that warp under the heavy weight of my art books. I had to keep flipping the shelves over to bend them in the opposite direction! This bookcase is solid wood, and guess what? No warped shelves! Yeah!

My bulletin board, cluttered with inspiration and little gifts from friends!