Spring cleaning, new projects & vintage goodies

I spent all weekend cleaning my "studio" (aka our dining room) and organizing everything. It looks great (well, better than before!) and it feels good to see the floor again! My oldest watched the baby so I could really get some uninterrupted clean-up time. I am so ready for the rain to end and the sun to shine! And what better way to start off a new season than with a clean and organized art space. I was even able to get a few projects started. This mini basket was inspired by Artful Thursdays with Julie Collings (see the tutorial here).


I keep a basket full of spring themed items out for display to keep me inspired and ready to create when inspiration strike (or when the baby goes down for a nap!). It makes clean-up easy (just put everything back into the basket for later!) and it's a great way to keep me inspired and excited about current projects or ideas.


Even my middle daughter got in on the fun and started a few mini Easter baskets of her own. So cute!


I love the butterfly and paper lace punches by Martha Stewart! We used the paper lace strips and fuzzy pipe cleaners for the handles of the little baskets and she filled up her baskets with butterfly cut-outs. Precious!


On a whim last Friday, I attended an estate sale and found a few fun and interesting items. Perfect for spring themed projects! Vintage books, bags of ribbon...love it!

I love this tattered and worn children's book. The illustrations are sweet. I know I'll be able to recycle it into another project. And below is a sweet card that is filled with spring-themed poems and illustrations of birds. Lovely!


And Etsy always provides a wonderful assortment of vintage goodies, too!

The studio is clean, my basket of spring-themed materials is ready...all of this is just in time for starting an artistic journey. I joined the Artistic Mothers Group, hosted by Trudy Callahan. Everyone is welcome to join. The group is based on the book, "The Artistic Mother" by Shona Cole. Each week we'll be working on projects from the book and posting our progress along the way. I can't wait to get started and to see everyone's creative process!

Studio Recovery

Ok, I let my studio get into a total state of chaos!! For weeks, I just let it sit there...piles of random supplies strewn about the floor. Projects started and unfinished...supplies haphazardly stuffed into paper bags all around the room. Ugh! It got so bad, I was dragging supplies into the dining room and taking over one corner of the table. I know we've all been there.

Inspired by Chrysti Hydeck's video tour of her studio and organizational tips (thank you!), I decided something had to be done! I don't know if it's the nesting instinct finally kicking in or the fact that we were housebound due to the rain. But I finally mustered the courage and energy to dig my way out of the mess! It all starts with baby steps. If you've found that your studio is starting to look like a rat's nest or a tornado swept through it, just sit down in the middle of the chaos and start making little piles of things that go together.

I started with whatever was on the floor and went from there. I sorted things into like piles and then began to store them from there. I also put two grocery bags nearby: one for trash and the other for recycle.

After about two days of digging and sorting...voila! I could see the floor and I could locate any item in my studio without grumbling or frantically searching through endless piles of chaos! Maya helped celebrate the "new" studio with a little mosaic project while I flitted about the room, putting every last little thing where it belonged. (It helped that I already had somewhat of an organizational system in place)

Baskets and drawers for little things all grouped in some kind of theme (adhesives, inks and other misc stuff in the baskets...brads, eyelets, small punches, etc in the drawers)

I picked up this wire rack at a thrift store and used my pretty Cavalini folders to store my collage sheets and clip art. I labeled them by their source (ex: Artchix, Paper Whimsy, Crafty Individuals, etc) so I can always go back and order more.

I love these magazine holders...most of them were purchased real cheap at IKEA. Some come from Target (on clearance ONLY...don't pay more than $5 each for these!) I use them to store magazines and craft books.

My table could use a little work still...(looks cluttered, but there is still plenty of room to work. Right now, my daughter's mosaic frames are drying in the middle there). I keep some pretty ceramic latte bowls full of colorful things just for inspiration. (You can pick these up in all sorts of colors for just $4 at Anthropologie) I've got empty spice jars filled with buttons, ribbon scraps, colorful staples, etc.

My wallpaper lady can breathe again! She is my muse and watches over me while I create. (I made her last September at a 2-day class with Anahata Katkin).

So don't lose hope if your creative space has turned from inspirational to intimidating. It is possible to dig your way out! And it's not as bad as it looks. I thought for sure I'd be shoveling through crap for DAYS before I saw any progress, but I could see the floor within minutes. So if you're in the same boat, just jump in, crank up some of your favorite tunes and go for it! It's worth it in the end. Now I can't wait to get back into my studio and start making more messes! This time, I might learn to put things back when I'm finished and try to clean up at the end of the day (hard lesson to learn...even at my age!) ;)

I would love to see photos of your studio in a state of chaos, in-between, or totally fabulous! Please feel free to share.

Studio Update...COLOR

Fun colors, I couldn't resist! I picked up some Twinkling H2Os at my local Papersource. Spent some time with Maya in the studio experimenting.
A bin full of funky yarn is my dream come true. And a wooden box full of junk.
Maya's little feet. Her toes criss cross and curl up when she's in the middle of an art project!
Happy Birthday to me! :) I turned 31 on April 24. Raul gifted me with a mini suitcase filled with fun goodies. :)
Random snapshots of COLOR splashed throughout my studio. Spent last week rearranging and adding more bits of ME.
Maya's collage below. I love her swirly signature on the bottom.
Finding bits of color here and there. My stepmom and her gal pal found a super cool THING out in front of our favorite shop, Fine Things in Arnold, CA. It's for hanging jewelry (I think!) and so I draped all my necklaces over it. It's got two sides, so it'd be perfect for an art show. Some day! :)
Feelin' blue when I collaged this in my art journal below. I'm currently in LOVE with Adirondack reinkers washed down with a little water and mixed in a teeny spray bottle ($1 at Target in the travel section). I bet they're much like the Adirondack color washes (already diluted in little bottles--might just get those next time!)

What's on My Project Table

Well, Artfest is just around the corner (I'm still in total disbelief) and I've been challenged by Heather of Paper Follies to post what is currently on my project table.
Currently, I'm working on a postcard swap for Alpha Stamps hosted by Lenna Andrews of Creative Swaps. (See the resulting works of art here.) I'm cutting it close to the wire (like usual!) but it will be out in the mail by Monday (cross my fingers--I mean, cross my heart!) :) I thought I'd also post my daughter Maya's project table, which sits right next to mine.
Currently, she is working on an altered book! She was inspired by the altered book I brought home from a recent RAFT workshop I took last month and decided to start her own.
Her art is so precious, it warms my heart! Right now as I write, she is at the table playing with paper punches. I enjoy making art with her and I'm glad we have something special we can share with each other.

My Studio/Art Space

I was up until two in the morning last night caught in one of the rarest of all artistic moments--I cleaned up my studio! (Raul refers to these nocturnal bouts of energy as "hamster mode", after his childhood pet hamsters Nietzsche and Einstein who would suddenly decide in the wee hours of the night that it was the perfect time to shuffle their shredded paper and woodchips from one end of the cage to the other) I wish I had "before" pictures, but I think I'll make the clean studio the "before" and then take some pictures a few weeks later after an artistic episode and that will be the "after." :)

I'm really proud of my studio. It's a small room in the back of our old craftsman home--I think this room must've been added on years later or it was once a sun porch or utility room. It's kind of lopsided and two of the walls consist solely of windows. When we first moved in, I claimed it as our room and the kids were in the front two rooms. I like having windows for walls. It's actually something I had wished for once! (More proof wishes come true!) Later, everyone switched rooms and Zach ended up in the back and the girls shared the middle room. After Brielle moved to Washington to live with her mom, I had another major cleaning/re-organization frenzy and moved Maya into our room, Zach to the middle room (where he started off) and the back room was cleared out and used as a storage room for my art stuff. Target had a sale that week on storage items (coincidence???) and I picked up two 3x3 cube-like bookshelves, colorful storage bins, and smaller drawers to keep the little things in.


The next week I started wishing for a large drafting table or work table and, like magic, my friend down the street had a whole bunch of extra tables sitting in her garage and let me pick TWO out to take home! :) One of them was a very large, very nice drafting table that I use as my workspace. The other was a long table I use as my "office" area. The drafting table even came with a very comfy, tall swivel chair. Awesome.


As soon as I started moving art stuff into the room, my daughter, Maya was right there, asking questions, offering opinions ("I think the table would look good over there, mom. It would maximize your exposure to the afternoon light."), and encouragement. After everything was in place, I moved her special table and chair (a gift from Grandma Jo and Grandpa Cort) into the studio and arranged all her art supplies at Maya-height. She loves her own special art space and you can often find us in there working side by side on our own little projects. This totally keeps me sane, too, because if there's one thing an artist mom knows, is that it is almost next to impossible to get anything done with a toddler/small child around...unless they have their own art studio to play in! :) (Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses DVD works, too.)


The lighting in the back room is great. It goes through all kinds of different phases throughout the day. The afternoon is when it gets the best light, and the view couldn't be better--ok, it could be of the ocean, but let's not get picky--(or spoiled! Wishes take time...I'll have the ocean view soon!) I really do believe wishes come true. Some people call it praying or asking the universe or putting intentions out there to achieve some goal or realize a dream. I believe it's all of those. If you have a dream or goal start small and big things will start to happen. It sounds totally cheezy, but I think it's true. My art studio was there all along. I just had to start thinking of it as a reality and I made it happen. I don't know what we'll do once Maya gets too big to share a room with us...My wish is that we'll have our own house by then. But if we don't, I'll find a new artspace. It's all there right in front of me.