christytomlinson

More Studio Sneak Peeks..

  Hello Hello friends!!! So today  i thought it would be to share with you the progress of my art studio... its still not quite done.. doesn't have any of my art supplies in it.. and my own art table isn't moved over yet.. PLUS I want to just create and put art all over the walls.. so let's just consider this a sneak peek? okay? Next week after thanksgiving.. I plan to move it all over.. so I will post probably the week after that with all sorts of FUN pictures!

 

so if you missed the sneak peeks last week.. here is the view from when you first walk in..

The white table you see, is the "guest" art table (one of two) it sits four, and the other sits four as well. So yea! 8 people having fun! wahoo! My art table will go right where that cream rug is.. and should be able for two people to sit at as well. I truly can't wait to start creating in that space!  The dresser that is yellow.. is like a curio cabinet.. full of tons of little drawers.. we got an auctions and then painted. Most of the furtiture we found at thrift stores and then re-purposed or re-painted it! Love it!
You can see the brick wall.. I started to paint it.. and got 2/3 the way up the wall and haven't finished. Yikes.. yes I will be finishing that next week. Then ben built me a mantel out of an old piece of wood he found. Lots of fun stuff.

This is a view from the left side looking over. The room where you see up in the right hand corner. that is called the "blue room" it has lots of blue storage pieces.. like an old post office box sorter, a metal industrial sorter for canvas (I painted blue), and  a blue file cabinet and blue old herb cabinet. It's also lovling called the "storage room". as it will have a big shelf on the back wall for big stuff that doesn't get used  much.. just more for storage. This room use to be the "Suana' room. We tore down the wall between it the main room.

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THis is just on the other side of the white art table. I found over the last 5 months some cool dresser and cabinets.. and ben  and Allie spent a day last week re-painting all of them. The blue cabinet, I wanted to do. So you can see that yesterday I grabbed a bottle of my favorite blue craft paint and seriously just started using my hands to cover it. Ben had literally JUST brought it in.. and was going out to get another piece of furniture from the garage and by the time he was back.. i had painted the top and one set of drawers. I didn't have a paintbrush.. so I just used my hands.. lol.  I was too impatient to wait and do it right.. I just wanted to see what the blue would look like. So yea.. gotta finish that now. lol

This is me doing it. Ben walks in and he just looks me and shakes his head.. and I am like what?? lol.. he took this picture and sent it to me.

(hahah.. seriously so impatient! )

 

 

This is a view into the kitchen area.. from the side of the white art table looking into the kitchen area. This used to be a large bathroom with a big romain tub in it.. but we tore it out, tore down the wall, and put in some old cabinets from the new/old house (Painted them green) and and now this is the Kitchen/Office.. sitting area. there are actually alot of comfortable "sitting" areas.. in my art studio. Three of them. I want when people to come over to TRULY be comfortable!  The red table is another art table for Guests and my kids. Its lower and will have benches under it to sit on (ben made some a few years ago for a big dinner table, but they are too long for this one. so he is cutting them down and then I will  spra paint them green I think). so those are coming!  The green cabinets actually came out of my kitchen in the old/new house. They were from the 1960's and SUPER outdated.. so ben brough them in, we spray painted them Green and built a new wood top for it. They turned out beautiful! Love re-purposing! I will show closer sneak peeks next week!

 

Another sitting area in front of the main front window..

Below.. This was our frist kichen table.. (the blue table) it was twice a big and wide.. and it was oak. Ben cut it in half for me, took the legs off and put them back on, and then painted it blue. The chair I got online (as well as the yellow seat above). it was on a deal of a day website I found earlier this summer.. and i used some money I had earned from my teaching trip to Sweden! they were pretty cheap too! the red chair was $150 bucks and then yellow seat was $180! so adorable! I had to get them!

 

This is the view from when you first walk in.. i have  large easil (one that I will use to paint big canvases on) right as you walk in.. and will swap out new art peices as I make them.. Next to it is the Yellow and Turquise seating area..

another thing I splurged on was rugs. I had a few I had used in my home that I had kept. but I really wanted the floor to be bright and colorful since I had decided not to stencil or paint the walls or floors. I kept the walls VERy nutrel with the wood walls and cream beadboard.. so wanted TONS of color in the furniture and carpet! That is why I painted all the furtnure bright colors! I think my family who saw it before in nice oak and wood pieces thought I was crazy when I said I was going to repaint it red, or yellow or turqouise.. but It had to be colorful! Its an ART STUDIO!

 

This is the blue room I mentioned above.. It was the sauna connected to this side of the pool house. So we left the wood slats and just painted it cream.  This is looking into it from the fireplace area. I have to say THAT is my favorite piece EVER!! the one on the left! it's an old post office box sorter! I got it at a local thrift store here in shelley called Treasures (actually I got EVER piece in my art studio from that thrift store except for the red dresser and my art table which ben built and my office table which was our old kitchen table. EVERYTHING else came from that store. It was $150! that is a sTEAL! I plan to make drawers for the slots and put all of my paint, inks, stamps, etc.. in it.

I found this adorable chevron rug to kinda fit the space too. Along the back wall, ben will build me shelves and I think I will have to paint them a light blue and then sand them down.. to go with the space! Or maybe do a pop of red? maybe? what do you guys think? we should do a vote and whatever ends up with the most votes. I will paint it that color.. so let's do it..  Post on the blog what color YOU think I should do?

Red, Yellow, Cream, Green, light blue, Blueberry Blue, Yellow or Orange?

Dying to find out how it will be painted! wahoo!

So anyhow.. that is just a sneak peek.. it will look SO much homeir and cosier once my messy art table is in it.. and all my artwork and the artwork I have been collecting is up.  I sent pictures to my friend Junelle and told her to PLEASE come have a "art weekend" with me so we can plan workshops for next year and she said "I am scared to go into it! I will get paint everywhere!"  i said.. GIRL! that is the POINT! I don't want this to look like a perfect cute little studio that no one can be comfortable in! I want it to be lived in and painted in.. and messy paint on tablers and floors. I already did one project on the white art table. Allie and I made wastepaper baskets. We mod podged fabric onto white plastic waste baskets we got at Walmart ofr $3.00. They turned out SO cute! ben asked.. aren't you going to put newspaper down on your new white art table? I was like.. NO??  lol  this is an ART table! It's being christened with Mod podge today! lol  and it was.. it was ALL over the table. Still is.. dried that way. and I LOVE it! :)

so anyhow.. that's .it I will take more after thanksgiving! okay? and seriously! if you have a vote on what color I should paint the shelves in the blue room.. tell me! I would love to hear!

Well.. better get working.. have a few things to finish up in the Winter Workshop! Week 2 starts tomorrow! If you haven't signed up for it.. you still can :)

have a WONDERFUL monday!

 

Happy monday.. lots of fun sneak peeks!

hey lovely friends.. you know how grateful I always am for all of you? so sweet.. this weekend I got a couple of emails and facebook message from people asking me if things were okay because you hadn't heard from me last week.. and I just wanted to say.. THANK YOU!! wow.. seriously feeling loved by you all.. concerned about me :)
You simply all rock!

and yes.. to answer your question.. I am doing wonderful :) just super busy... lol

Last week we were finishing up the workshop.. Wild Abandonment #2  and had (am having) some issues with videos. Or one video lol. Seemed as though I met my "limit" on capacity.. and while it's not a big deal.. you just request an upgrade.. it was the weekend.. and I was thinking today it would be fixed and then realized.. ITS a HOLIDAY! lol.. so yeah.. waiting waiting.. it's not my strong suite.

AN i have another workshop that starts TOMORROW..  A Whimsy Artsy Winter..  and I am stressing about that because it's on the same server and those videos won't load either until the capacity problem is fixed.. so I have my fingers crossed on THAT one! lol.. but it's all good!

AND on top of trying to get all of that done.. I had over 300 etsy orders to print, sort, pull, pack and ship.. (and still shipping.. ) from the week before.. holy cow I was overwhelmed and humbled by the amount of orders I received! I guess I didn't realize how trick etsy is to print out order.. with our Scarlet LIme System.. you put in the dates you want to print orders from.. click a button and it's prints ALL new orders.. Well.. yea with etsy.. not so much.  with Etsy you have to print EVERY order individually.. then once they area all printed, we had to alphabetize them.. THEN go through and find people that had two or more orders and staples those together, so we could combine those on shipping for the customers.. and refund shipping they overpaid.. and THEN go through and pull OUT the orders that all had pre-orders on them.. lol.. before we could even beging to working on just pulling the items. SO sadly to say.. we did get as far as PULLING every current order. Ben and I worked all day saturday to finish those up. NOW today he is packaging (with care) every order.. with so many breakable things.. yikes. And then tonight after I finish all my work here at the house.. I will go over and help him Ship them all. (print labels, etc)

Then tomorrow I start the task of refunding all of the overpayments of shipping.. lol. (which in my Scarlet Lime store.. it automatically weighs the package for me and charges you actual shipping costs.. etsy.. yea not so much.. it's a total guess lol)

yes.. holy cow that was a process. Ben asked me at one point " and what is the reason you didn't put your stuff in our Scarlet lime store? lol"   I said.. well I wanted this FUN place.. cute little etsy store where my customers could come purchase "my art".. not art supplies.. but my own personal art.. and etsy just seemed so "cute" and cozy. lol  I told him it was a "girl" thing.. and he wouldn't understand. lol. (But actually he does and was just teasing me).

SO friends.. if you have ordered anything from my etsy store from when I lauchned all my new products like mugs, and iphone covers, etc.. I truly apologize.. they are comign SHORTLY. and then all the pre-order stuff arrives this week and we get to do it all over again wednesday and thursday and friday! wahoo! Actually I had fun pulling those orders. It was a treat for me to see names I recognized order things that mean so much to me. I don't pull store orders, So I don't get to see the many of you that support us through our store.. So it was TRULY fun to see all of you that I know from my workshops :) THANK you again for your awesome support in my etsy store!

So THAT is why I didn't post on my blog last week.. I just was truly working hard.. every day all day and didn't want to waste time posting when I had so many things I needed to get done for all of YOU :) . xoxo!

BUt today I do have just a few minutes.. (while ben is packing all the orders.. i don't really trust myself to pack glass and ceramic lol)  So I thought it would be fun to show you sneak peeks of whats in store for my Winter/Christmas workshop that starts tomorrow! AND this week I have another sneak peek of another fun workshop.. The 12 artsy ornaments of Christmas No. 2 (2012) that will be debuting on WEDNESDAY!! (you are going to LOVE the line up of teachers this year!!!)

So.. anyhow.. can I share a sneak peek? would that be okay?
here we go..

so this workshop.. The Whimsy Winter Workshop..

 

is a 2 week workshop and it consists of two parts.. the first week is Christmas and Holiday.. and the second week is Winter and snowfriends..

Im not going to show you ALl that we are doing.. but here is a little fun peek at some of it :)

 

We have some Reindeer Friends..

Some snowmen friends..

Christmas Friends..

and more!!

 

AND SO MUCH MORE!!

that is just a PEEK! we also creating Santas, different types of snowmen, Birds, snow friends and we even have a segment for Christmas Cards and a Christmas wreath!

There is a ton of fun projects in this class.. PLUS some truly meaningful things as well. During the Christmas and Holiday week.. we take time to reflect on some of our greatest blessing and greatest gifts and what truly is important during the holidays. Some meaningful excersizes to stretch your soul for the holidays. It's going to be a FUN class.. and I have two guest artists doing projects in the class as well!
So.. if you haven't signed up yet! you have until tomorrow afternoon to sTILl sign up for the early bird price!

After tomorrow the price goes up to $34.95..

 so sign up today! You can read more about it here

! or sign up here! On this page..

so that is my fun stuff for today..

oh guess what ELSE happened last week.. Ben NEARLY finished my studio!! he only has the install the celing which I guess just came today! AND then the lights  in the art area. (can't install those until the ceiling is installed).. but he moved MOST of the  furniture in to it last week, as well as unpacked some of my pillows and blankets.. and yesterday we went over with the kids after church and watched a movie and took naps on the couches and floor of the studio.. while we got warm by the fire! AHHH! i can't wait to move into it! It's just really missing my Art table and all of my supplies!  I have to wait until this Christmas/Winter workshop is over.. I just do. I need to make sure my focus is ON this class and also getting those etsy orders out.. because I know I could totally got lost in my studio for days.. just unpacking  and organzing ALL sorts of art supplies.. and decoarting the walls with art that I have done or collected. I need to FOCUS.. lol. So I am trying to stay away from the new house this week.. cause the more I am there the more i don't want to leave! .. hey.. would you like a sneak peek of that?? why not? right? I will do another blog post next week with MORE peeks.. won't be the final reveal.. but something fun anyway.. (the final will have to be in early December after I move my red art table over and all my supplies..)

This is the view from when you walk in the front door (i still need to finish my brick wall.. lol)

The white table is one of the "guest" art tables.. my red table will go right in front of the fireplace on that cream rug.

I took a TON of more pictures from every angle but I want to save it for another post..

Okay.. here is ONE more peek..

but that's it! I don't want to show you the entire thing.. the space has "three" rooms to it.. The main room.. Art studio room, the "blue room (also known as the storage room) and the kitchen/Office room.
they are all actually open to each other. So it's one big great space.. but they all definitly have their own flair and purpose. So I can't wait to show you more!

Well.. better get cracking! Lots to do today!
Hope you join me tomorrow!! Please do! This Christmas Workshop will be so fun!

Big hugs and HAPPY monday!

 

In the Studio.. yarn Play

over the last few weeks I have had some time to play in my studio.. and one thing I love about mixed media is just that. it is Mixing all sorts of Medias to create art! 

Over last year or two.. I have noticed a huge trend in crocheting, needlepoint and knitting again. I mean I remember when my grandma or aunts would bring their yarn with them everywhere and while they sit and waited at the doctors office.. or at the part.. they would sit and make a beautiful scarf or hat or afghan.. then it seemed like when I became a mom.. it wasn't as cool anymore.. and it kinda fell by the way side. Then over the last 3 or so years.. it has TOTALLY come back in and not just for as creative play, but in fashion, home decor.. art.. you name it! At Barnes and noble there is a whole section on it! I tried MANY MANY times to learn how to knit or crochet and seriously. I don't have those skills. I am lucky that ben's family does and they have made me a lot of SUPER cute scarves and hats. Ben's mom even made me a purse! which I LOVE!  I have ALWAYS loved needlepoint and sticheries though.. use to create patterns for stitchery and sell them a long time ago. Love that the medium is being seen a lot more in art and creative play!  So I while I don't use yard and thread or twine to knit or crochet with.. I did find a fun way to incorporate it into my art!  Here is a few of the canvases  I made..

This just a simple flower our of yarn and paint on a canvas..

 

 
 I used a hot glue gun and used it to apply the yarn layers and tried to use different kinds of yarn to have different textures on it.

. 

 

 
The butterfly canvas was done using a mixture of bakers twine and yarn. so I had to use both a hot glue gun and DecoPauge!

 

 

This next one started out as me just creating a birdcage.. but then I thought it would be fun to accent the cage with bakers twine!

 

 

 
I wanted to try doing the scallop at the bottom too.. but I didn't have the patience! lol

 

 
This last one I did a combo of bakers twine, embriodery thread and yarn. Just made fun flower shapes and layered the designs to create some depth!

 

 

These were SO simple to create! TRULY.. I think this would be a fun art project for kids.. because you can use it with DecoPauge.. or a low temp glue gun!

It felt good to just get into the studio and have some creative play.. and use a different medium than I normally do! I challenge you to try it!

Happy Monday! 
 

Artsy Goodness

I have been SO dying to get back into my studio after all this traveling.. but have to tell you that all this traveling has also put a new desire in me to start creating more! And not just in canvas and art journaling, but sewing, and jewelry and metal and.. just be creative! SO.. I have finally decided what sort of challenge I am going to give myself this summer for the blog! I will tell you more next week when I launch it.. but boy it's going to be fun! A new series! Can't wait!

Speaking of art.. now that I have my own art space (meaning I no longer share the garage with our Scarlet Lime store, Beadstore and the kit club).. I have a lot of room to make the space my own. And to make it a space where my kids can create with me. It's just a single car garage.. and the older home style.. (you can see a vidoe of my current space here in this post). But It still is HUGE for me!. It's the biggest creative space I have ever had. I thought it would be fun to spend the summer "renovating" it. Making it more functional and a fun creative place to be in. I also want it to be very eclectic. I  want to try and 're-use" everything I either already have.. or find things that will work from thrift stores, etc. I feel like that would just represent me more. I  LOVE my art carts.. the current "organizational" source I already have. Will definitely be keeping those.. but I need more organization for other things too.  I need a place for fabric and jewelry and metals and woods and canvas. I  need a place for my sewing machine that actually functions as a sewing space. I need a space for me to do jewelry or other things that aren't "paint" related. I need a space where my kids can come and sit and be creative too.  I love spending time with them and they love art. I need to make sure I make the most of my time doing both. My art is what we do for a living.. so it's important for it all to have it's own space. To be more organized.   I also need a bigger art table than the one I currently have. It just doesn't hold everything I want to work on, it doesn't allow me to spread out AND it doesn't allow for anyone else to work across from me.

So  last week I started looking for a table in stores and I just could not find ANYTHING I liked! Most just looked way to new and had no more space than what I currently had. Then I went to my local "antique/second hand store" and saw this amazing kitchen island/counter-top. It seriously was ALMOST perfect!  It looked like it was a 100 years old and had all sorts of storage underneath for baskets, drawers, etc. I WAS IN LOVE. It was the perfect height, width and the perfect color! RED! But it was NOT the perfect price. It was $1200!! yikes!  I honestly stood there and stared at it for so long I think my husband thought he would have to drag me out of the store. I told him I NEEDED it... and he said. Um. Not for $1200 dollars you don't. And he was right. I would NEVER spend that kind of money on something like that. Heck I was thinking maybe I would find something for like $50 bucks or something! lol. But I just could NOT get this table out of my head, so my husband said.. why don't I make it for you? My husband is an amazing carpenter.. don't get me wrong, but he is just as busy I am and my first thought was.. um yeah right. It will never happen. So I semi-dropped it (except I kept sending him text every hour asking him to please please please buy it for me... or make it for me that night? lol) and it finally worked. He sat me down that night and said.." draw it up. tell me what you want it to look like and I will build it tomorrow" . I just wanted to kiss him right then and there! okay.. so didn't just want to.. I did :).   The great thing about building a table is that you get to modify the table to your liking. I knew I wanted all the bells and whistles that other one had,  AND the look, but I also need a space for my legs to fit if I decided to use a chair and I wanted it a big wider and more drawers and shelves. . After I got done drawing it.. he asked me.. "is there anything else you want me to build while I am at it?" I was like.. UM.. heck YES!.. how about a square art table (not quite a fancy mind you) for the kids.. and how about a sewing table/station.. and a "jewelry/whatever" station.. (I should have never visited the Gilded Life Girls Studio.. LOVED how they had a place for everything! lol)  So we drew those up too. The next day he went to work on the art table.. it's not quite finished.. but this is what he got done in 1 and half days..

 

I had him make it out of old barn-wood we had. It gave it a more rustic feel to it. I wanted an open space under the table. in the middle, for two people to sit or stand across from each other.

 

 

I wanted drawers on each side  of where I would stand, so I could keep small "go to" items in there. Like my favorite pens, or paintbrushes. Things I didn't want my kids to just get into.

 

 

I wanted shelving underneath, so I could put baskets on either side.. for storage. I wanted it enclosed at first.. covered maybe with beadboard.. but my husband suggested the open shelving idea.. he said it looked more antique because that is how they built furniture in the "olden" days. he was right. I LOVE the look! Can't wait to find baskets for it! I saw some cute open wire ones at the thrift store the other day..just need to decide if I want to see everything inside them or not!

 
He built the top out of wood slats that he cut down from larger pieces.. I had originally planned on buying a plexiglass piece to set on top of the table.. I am still on the fence about it. I kinda like the idea of working on a wood surface and paint getting all over the top of it from when I create each time. Kinda fun? Don't know.. haven't decided yet.

We still need to paint it (and I was SO set on the red.. but now I just don't know! I think White would be cool or even a blue).. Even the plain old barn-wood looks cool.. but I think I really like color.  I plan to paint it and then distress it again with a sander and chains so the wood still  shows through underneath.

 Ben also found this awesome catalog that has antique looking hand pulls and hinges. He ordered some to put on the drawers and hinges to put on the sides to even give it more character. I am also having him drill a few holes in the top for electrical cords, so I can keep all those cords out of the way (as I still will video tape from this table and will need my overhead lights and video camera.)

I just can't wait until it's done! Ben is leaving for 4 days.. so he won't get to finishing it for at least another week. But in the meantime, I also found these REALLY cool lockers! at the same Thrift store!

 

I bought two sets of them.. for $100 bucks each (kinda pricey.. but so cool!).They will be great for storing things that I don't want to be seen. AND I thought it would be cool to give each kid their own "locker" to keep their art supplies in. Plus seriously.. they are just so cool.
I want a lot of color in this space.. so that was why I was thinking I would do the table red..

I thought he could do the kids square table.. like a kelly or lime green.. and maybe the other two pieces he is building, white and  mustard yellow.

I got some REALLY cool things in Canton Texas last week.. at the antique/flea market. Two really old colorful quilts that were under $20.00 bucks each! and some cute colorful buckets, etc. I also have been picking up old rusted muffin tings and baking pans, for other storage too. I want a mixture of all kinda cool era's. The chairs I got (last october)from the same thrift store.. were $10.00 each. They are Grey metal bar-stools from like the 70's. They have black cushioned seats. They are SUPER comfortable and look SO retro. I think they will fit right in with all the "antique" looking furniture and metal lockers!  I will show you all of that stuff in another post(all my fun finds from Canton and the pieces I have been collecting). and of COURSE, keep you updated on the process! The garage is all cynder block  walls and exposed brick. So it kinda has a cool modern feel to the inside. I thought it would be fun to hang art on the walls and hang christmas lights from the ceiling, maybe even paint the floor or something fun. I plan on keeping the metal shelving I still have in there still. It's SO functional. Why change it? and my art carts.. from Sam's club. I know they are "guys" tool carts.. but they just work perfectly! Maybe if I get some time I will paint all the grey bins some kind of color? who knows.. the idea was just to create a really great space for me and my kids to create art and to also keep it organized AND functional. Which doesn't always mean "pretty". which I am okay with. I think good spaces have the both of best worlds AND I don't think they have to cost a lot either.

Okay enough about my new art studio... onto actual ART!
I wanted to share with you a girl I created recently..  It reminded me of my dad.. always giving. She reads..

She lived a life of Charity

 

I actually love how colorful she is! One of my favorite things about her. She's not afraid to be colorful.

Anyhow.. thanks' for letting me share my art studio space with you! And my art..

Friday I will post about the second part of my trip to Texas! The classes at the Gilded Life event AND Canton! Wahoo!

Happy Wednesday!