I'll show you mine.......

So my Aussie traveling partner in crime, Seth, (Seth-o!), is doing a blog post party today encouraging bloggers to show off pictures off their "real time" worktables. While the magazines that show off studios are quite beautiful, they seem quite  "pristine" without a hair out of my place. I know others looked at the magazines and wish for such beautiful studios. But while beautiful, it is unrealistic to portray normal, average working studios as that pristine. While I would certainly love  for my studio to be showcased in such a magazine, I'm pretty certain, I would have to do a lot of tidying up and removing a lot of my "beloved clutter"; which doesn't really make it my studio then!

Anyway, hop over to Seth's blog to see the lists of participants and pictures of their "working studios". Here are my pics (but keep in mind that I gave it a good cleaning before leaving for Australia and haven't had whole lot of time since returning to aptly mess it back up!

 this was early this morning

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this was later in the evening after working all day on a few projects (please note THE BEER). Not sure I've seen that in a studio mag before!) So this is the table where I paint. I do tend to keep it pretty clean as I like a lot of free space on my table while painting. It's easy to keep pretty tidy by keeping my paints to the side in the wheeled caddy and my paint brushes in containers behind me. 

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This is my jewelry workstation. It is always a mess for some reason. Maybe because there are so many small components needed. I'll deal with this later.........

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and this is the table where my projects go into que while waiting to be finished. I do a lot of things in stages or run out of time and then they are in "que" til I get back to them or figure out how the heck I want to finish them up. It always looks cluttered. 

Pretty much I keep the floor of my studio quite tidy. For some reason a dirty floor drives me insane, so I do sweep it alot, get papers off the floor, etc.

here's an updated picture as the studio gets messier and messier (note tucker hanging out!)

Hope for Oklahoma

A couple of my cool facebook friends (the Heather's) ran a really cool auction a couple of weeks ago to raise funds for victims in Oklahoma, following the hurricane. With all the items donated and then auctioned, they were able to raise almost $9000! how amazing is that. I donated 3 pieces myself. 

Well the girls are starting round 2 tomorrow. I am donating this piece that I have called, Angel of Hope. The auction takes place on this page and you bid under the photo of the item you are interested in. You have to have a paypal address to bid. Visit their and like their page here. 

"Angel of Hope":

Angel of Hope is a mixed media hanging piece, measuring 12" long and 7.5" wide. She is made up a variety of objects because she represents the disentanglement of life after a hurricane comes through. Her feet are old spoons. I imagined finding them on the ground in the rubble afterwards. Her body is an Altoid tin and can be opened to view the inside, which contains a small painting, meant to illustrate the wounded voice to all that have lost so much. She has been soldered and her head (and old vintage bisque Charlotte doll part) has been anchored down with a screw. This screw now holds her together; much like the support offered by Hope for Oklahoma. ~kecia deveney

Where bloggers create 7/14/12

Karen Valentine, of My desert cottage, is holding her annual blog hop, where you get a chance to look into all kinds of artists studios. It's quite fun and you get to see some really amazing studios, which are always full of inspiration and surprises. I will be participating as well (as I think I have a pretty darn cool studio!), so stop by on the 14th to check out my studio and then hop along with all the rest as well!

2nd annual "Where bloggers create" blog hop

karen valentine, of My desert cottage, is hosting a blog party, "where bloggers create". it's a big blog hop, where everyone shows off their creative working areas. you don't have to have a big studio - it's about you and your environment and how you make it work for your needs. if you go to her link, you can see all the bloggers that are participating in the right hand column. have fun looking at all that inspiration!

My art is infused all over the house. i have a little spot in my room where i make jewelry. My bedroom is my sanctuary. it is part art, part gypsy, with a big fluffy bed with lots of pillows and decoupaged (by me!) little lights/lanterns that hang over the canopy. To keep the jewelry mess from impending into my sanctuary, i put up a rattan screen to hide it. this way if i am relaxing in bed, i'm not looking at my computer or stuff i didn't put away.

I also have a small studio across from my bedroom where i do painting, mixed media and mosaics. (this use to be dillon's room til he moved to the basement). it is a small, narrow room with a low ceiling, but it is a perfect art space. the finches live in that room sitting in front of the window in their vintage bird cage on top of a dresser i found on the side of the road.


i also have a section downstairs where i do my sewing and where i host workshops. i have stenciled and handpainted many of my walls, closet doors, my bathroom and more. my house is mostly decorated with flea market/vintage /thrift store finds. it is eclectic, interesting and fun. the most common thing i hear about my house is how comfortable it is. it is inviting and soothing. it represents my outlook on life.

so you see, my creative environment is all around me. i did a little video, which i thought might be easier than scrolling through all my photos! however, all my photo "stills" can be found here on flickr.

Wonderland Journal with Pamela Huntington

Well, we certainly had a lovely time in Pam's book class. we learned all sorts of nifty techniques, had lots of laughs, sweets and beautiful weather. couldn't have asked for a nicer day!

Acceptance

here's a doll i just finished that is going out as a gift for a fellow artist. i'd like to see this artist get a little break from the hardships she has had to endure lately.

Lemoncholy's policy sign for shows

my sign is here!

i asked my friend, Claire to make this sign for me after seeing some names she had done for one of the etsy shows at Om Baby. isnt it great? and yes, that's a little sneak peek at a section of my booth. hopefully more pictures tomorrow. i'm about to pull out all my jewelry and start finding spots for them through out the booth.

self portrait wed (SP wed) & new listings to website

"self portrait wednesdays": take a pic of yourself every wed and post to blog. check out the comments for this post (by katie kendrick) to see how "SP wed" got started. I keep meaning to do it , but always forget! so in case you want to join in, all you do is take some sort of self portrait every wed and then post it to your blog. some participants are Judy Wise (gotta get a class in with her) and katie kendrick (gotta get a class in with her too!) is playing as well. katie's SP's are cool. so here is my first SP. not super great or anything creative, as i am tired and just remembered it was wed! it shows me sitting at the computer working on my website. it's showing me in the moment, working hard. i figured that was appropriate for today! (note glass of wine by my side.)

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here are some things i added into the website this evening. wow, sitting at the computer loading in all the stats, descriptions, pictures, etc. has made me exhausted! but my goal is to do a little bit every day until all my jewelry has been listed. then i give myself permission to start making new things! i will take a break in the morning and enjoy the nice weather by going to one of our favorite flea markets, "Columbus"

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this is a picture of my little section in a store that is carrying my stuff (well, it's really a co-op). the owner and a few artists have come together to run this little shoppe in downtown Pt. Pleasant, NJ. the store is called "Sea and Green" and it's based on recycling and handmade. The owner, Rebecca, had seen me at an art festival (i refused to call them "craft shows") and ask me if i was interested.

Emily's Day Out - SOLD!

Yay, i added my first item to my website today!

Meet Emily -

At one time, Emily was a lonely little doll, found abandoned in a thrift store. After rescuing her, Emily was brought home and given a makeover. Her new look consists of new hair, new makeup and beautiful new skirt made of vintage lace and an antique button. Her torso was beaded with lovely teal colored amazonite rondelle beads. From clasp to the bottom of Emily's faux torquoise dangle bead, she measures 14". Her chain consists of various deconstructed sterling chain, vintage pearl links and one handmade cacoon bead, layered with vintage ribbon, blue tone seed beads and wrapped in sterling silver wire. Emily is a one of a kind necklace. She has been signed and dated on the back. Emily will be carefully wrapped and shipped first class in a padded envelope. check her out at http://www.lemoncholys.com/

Emily is SOLD!

Pif's

a few months ago, i put a note on my blog for 3 people who were interested in participating in a PIF with me. Basically you "pay it forward" to 3 people by giving them a piece of handmade art. the time frame was a year. the other night when i was busy making some mini snippet journals (pocket snippets!) to sell at Artnsoul in Hampton, i thought these would be perfect PIF's. these are the 3 i made special for my particpants. now upon receiving their PIF's they will pay it forward to 3 more people. "Snippets" are little fabric collages i make and will be teaching for the first time at Art is, in October.

first class at Art is, "Cherished Snippets"

Here are pictures from the first class i will be teaching at

Art is. we will be using snippets of leftover material, fabric, tapestry, tulle, lace, hankies, deconstructed material, etc. plus and image to create a fabric collage that we will use to create our own personal journal cover. i love creating these as they are very simple and a great way to upcycle pieces that your would normally just toss out.