Third Time's A Charm

....I hope.

I have my entire upstairs completely torn apart right now. I always forget to take before pics,arrrgh!@!%$!@! But thought you'd enjoy seeing the mess I've got myself into anyway!

I decided yet again to move the room that will end up being my "Studio"!

I've decided to make the room most of you know as
"The Beach Room" into my Studio.
I know, I know....but I'm not getting rid of
the beach room, it's just moving is all.

The next two pictures are of most of the major furniture from the beach room in my hallway. A big mess!!!

This cubby hole of a closet was my first work station, you can still see my Pretty Little Things shelves in there......now Troy gets the closet for a while. As you can see my entire upstairs is a wreck, it's slowing leaking into every nook and cranny! When finished this room will be Troy's computer room/music recording studio/guest room/exercise room!

This room was my second attempt at creating a studio but I just had way too much furniture, it was cramped, dark and I just couldn't get my muse. Now it's totally torn apart, getting packed for the move down the hall! This room will become The New Beach Room.

Yes it is, third time is a charm! This beautiful open, light, airy room will be my new Studio! Yea! It was a beautiful beach room but will be an even more beautiful Studio. I will post more pics as I get stuff done. My Studio won't be done for well over a month, we are leaving in a week for a two week vacation to Hawaii! Yea! Perhaps I'll come back with some new additions for "The New Beach Room"!

I'm having so much fun, this room is going to be great, I'm so excited!!! Yea!

My Studio

I am so excited, I finally moved the bed out of "My Studio"/Guest Room and so now I can actually call it My Studio with out the quotation marks and back slash! I will be working on getting it set up in between all the projects I have going on and I thought I'd share the process with you start to finish!

STORAGE

Right after AU last year Jackie sent me a picture of a ribbon storage idea she found on the web. It was a mannequin and they had tied the a ribbon around the waist to make it look like a skirt, I think it was less than a week later Gabrielle was born! She is one of my favorite things in my studio. I tie and untie ribbons, lace and fabric scraps as I buy and use them so her "outfit" is constantly changing. Thanks for the idea Jackie!

I added more shelving to the closet.

I always forget to take before pictures so here is a

midway pic and after pic of the front of the closet.

And a before and after pic of the end of the closet.

And yes, I did all of this all by myself,well,
with help from my trusty nail gun and jig saw,
my husband states it best....
"you are the girliest Tom Boy I have ever met."

LIGHTING
Again, forgot the before pic, so I took a pic of the box. I got this chandelier at a Lowe's clearance sale about two years ago for around $25, original price $250. But I didn't want a black one so I took it completely apart and painted it. The wiring that ran through it was black too, all the metal covered it up except where it went through the chain from the top to the ceiling. So I made a little tube out of some silk fabric and wa la a cream chandelier. I love it and all the crystals are genuine Swarovski so it's bling is BlingGirl approved!

This was a salvage yard find. It reminded me of a crown and me being the Queen that I am I could not resist, and heck it was only $10! I had to rewire it as it had just been cut out of the ceiling from where ever it came from. Instead of making it a chandelier I made it a lamp. I found the crystals at Carole's, The Ribbon Lady's store. They are crystals that came from a chandelier from one of the imploded casinos here in Vegas. I think I've had the crystals hanging on there 12 different ways already and am still not sure that this is what I will settle on.

Next up is going to be a new work table, I've got a couple ideas, but I think I want it to be at standing height, I usually end up working standing up or sitting on the floor, so I think counter height....and painting, I'll be painting the whole room, inside the closet and probably the Jack&Jill bathroom that is connected to it, I'm thinking....pink...no...green...no pink...will post more pics as I get stuff done!

New Favorite Tee

I got a new T-Shirt and loved the saying so much I made a digi image with it. I used my new pen mouse thingy to write Love, Mwah and draw the peace sign heart.

Enjoy!

If you want to buy one for yourself,

go here.

Teaser

I made these cupcake pincushions for

my Mom and Aunt out of ribbon & lace!

They are just so yummy I had to share!

Last month my "First Wednesdays" Club started a charm swap.

These women are amazingly creative!

I still have not had a chance to make mine

into a bracelet yet but it's on my list to do!

Our next swap is in February,

a romantic theme, here is a teaser for the girls.

I know there has got to be an easier way to do this!

Oooh but I can't wait to get them finished,

I think they are going to turn out great!

It's A Girl!

Make that two girls! Corinne & Stephanie are both having girls!

Yeah! I have to get busy making Baby Bling!

Karma

Eye Candy

I don't have much time today

so I'm just going to post a little
Eye Candy!

Things I've made at or since

I got home from ArtUnraveled.

Resin Charms

Instructor ~ Sherri Haab

Carved Rubber Stamps

Instructor ~ Traci Bunkers

Wire Crochet

Instructor ~ Susan Lenart Kazmer

Sterling & Copper Ring
Made from Sheet Metal & Wire

Instructor ~ Susan Lenart Kazmer

Rock & Etched Copper....Ring or Pendant...Not Finished

Instructor ~ Susan Lenart Kazmer

Woven Sterling Wire Bracelet

Instructor ~ Susan Lenart Kazmer



Things I bought at ArtUnraveled.

Purse Mirror ~ Traci Bunkers

Acrylic Pendant ~ Wynn Studios

Glass Blob Pendants ~ Beth Quinn Designs

"Fairy Queen" Tin Box
Sorry, I don't remember the vendor.

Buttons, Ribbons & Fabric ~ SAS Fabrics
You can buy fabric by the pound!!!

Lots of Other Goodies
Mostly from Hannah Grey & Vintage Charmings

Pencil Ring ~ Susan Lenart Kazmer

This is my favorite thing I bought! When signing up for classes I just signed up for the classes that looked interesting to me, I didn't know who any of the teachers were so that wasn't a factor in choosing my classes. But when someone asked, who's teaching your classes, I looked and I had signed up for almost all of my classes with the same instructor, not planning it or even knowing who she was I feel like to really lucked out and got one of the best teachers there!

After my first class I went back to my room and told Amanda about this ring, I loved it! Susan had been wearing this ring all week long & I had been lusting after it all week long, telling Amanda about it over and over again! In my second to last class someone asked her about pricing. She gave this ring as an example, this ring was one of her favorite pieces and although it was not terribly difficult to make or have a lot of precious metals, it was one of her favorite pieces and would be priced in the hundreds of dollars if someone really pressured her to buy it, where as something that's more difficult could cost less....you get the picture.

In our last class Amanda & I along with a few other people were still there after class got out, Susan had taken the ring off during class and it was sitting on the table. Amanda was admiring it and told Susan how great it was and how I had been lusting after it all week. I said "ya, but she won't sell it" and her response was "ya, but I'd sell it to you guys", without hesitation Amanda handed me the ring, remembering what she said about hundreds of dollars, I took a big gulp and said "how much?", her response "for you guys [pausing] $45". I don't think I've ever whipped out my credit card so fast, I wanted to pay for it before she changed her mind!

Some of you are going to look at this ring and say "I can't believe you paid $45 for that ring!" and the rest of you will understand that when you find something that you love the cost is only part of what make you decide to buy it. Now would I have paid hundreds of dollars for the ring? HELL NO, but I fell in the love with the ring on the first day of classes and was already planning on how to make one for my self when I got home. Having taken all my classes from her, learning so much from her & getting a TON of inspiration from her, and lusting after the ring all week long, to me $45 was a steal!

I just have to say, if you EVER get a chance to take a class from her, even if you are not a jewelry artist, TAKE IT!!! She is so inspiring, just being around her lifts you up, she so willing to share her knowledge as a jeweler, she encourages everyone & makes you feel like what ever it is that you create is awesome & beautiful. So far, hands down one of the best teachers I've had since I have started taking jewelry classes.

I really have to run, gotta get ready to go rock out with Joan Jett!

More later.......

A.R.T.

~A.R.T.~
Artist Road Trip
It's finally arrived!!!! I've been planning my trip to attend Art Unraveled since the beginning of February, and finally on Monday the adventure began!

Amanda & I drove from Las Vegas to Phoenix arriving just in time to attend a short "Make & Take" class, which turned out to be anything but short and absolutely incredible! We learned how to use an amazing new product, a UV Resin. It's a one part resin that cures under UV light. We applied the resin to these images let it sit under the UV light for about 5 minutes and we got these wonderful translucent resin images! They were really cool at that point but I had to add some Bling! So we added more resin to the backs of the images and added glitter!!!! Once I shape up the edges it will be about 1" square, the perfect size for a pendant!

In the second photo there is a piece of paper behind the bottom half & I held the top half in the light to show you the translucency.

(The rose is just to cover up my ugly thumb holding the charm.)

A side note: the Instructor for this "Make & Take" is from Las Vegas and Amanda & I both knew her helper! What a small world.....go to a new place, meet new friends & see old ones right from your home town!

My first class was yesterday morning. We started off making resin paper, in the photos below I put a newspaper behind the resin paper to show you how translucent the paper becomes when you add resin to it. On some of the papers I wrote out script others I stamped on, some I added glitter to...again with the glitter! And others I just left plain. These papers can be used for many kinds of art projects.

(The paper is on top of a garbage bag because the resin is still drying, I can pull it right off once it's dry.)

Later in the day we shaped wire and added some resin & paper to create pendants and charms. Once the heart is completely dry I will drill a hole in the resin paper and make it into a pendant.

I have not decided if I am going to turn this into a bracelet or necklace but it's the same concept except I added words to into the different layers of the resin.

The next two photos I took to show you how cool these look when they are not laying on a flat surface, they are translucent. In each photo you can see right through the top piece and see the piece behind it. The heart is only 1.5" from the top to bottom & the round one is about the size of a dime about 3/4" wide. I think these will be really cool as charms!

My class last night was learning how to make stamps & stencils from common objects; she uses everything & anything; the bottoms of flip flops for stamps to empty birth control packets for stencils!!!

That was all exciting & fun but my favorite part was when we learned to carve our own stamps! Both of the stamps in the photo are carved out of cheap rubber erasers. We sketched our image and transferred it to the eraser and used a carving tool to make our own stamps! I thought the eyes were not good enough on the first one and so I tried to fix them & then she turned out bug eyed so I quickly made another one! I am amazed at how easy this is to do!

I have another class tonight and two more on Thursday. Stay tuned I'll be posting more of my creations later in the week!

MWAH!!!

Recent Projects

Okay, finally!

For all those far away, here are some of my recent projects that I keep telling you about, now you can finally see them!

Lots of Love

I had a great Valentine's Day!

a

I got pink roses with pink heart beads

from my friend Colleen;

I got white roses &

this very Mandy bracelet &

dinner at one of my favorite steakhouses,

Del Frisco's, from Troy!

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I made Troy this very manly bracelet.

It's a Full Persian Chainmaille weave using

sterling silver jump rings & black rubber rings.

I think he really liked it,

he wore it last night & again today.

a

I hope everyone had a Valentine's as good as mine!

XOXOX