A Studio of My Own

I have been a crafter my whole life, as far back as I can remember.  My mom keeps everything I make, framing my earlier works from grade school as well as later handmade items.  My dad still wears the shirt I made for him in high school; it's made from wild cat fabric with those little kiddie lion buttons.  He was and still is proud of it!

When my husband and I bought our first house over 23 years ago, there was no doubt that I needed a room all to myself just for crafting.  There was a formal living room at the front of the house that we converted into a studio that I used to craft, teach classes and have my craft club friends over.  It was chock full of crafting supplies and I spent many many wonderful hours with my friends in that studio.  After 13 years in that house, we moved abroad for 10 years, leaving all my crafts behind.  I sold or gave away most of the crafts supplies, keeping things that I treasured or that wouldn't "go bad" while I was out of the country.  

Renting abroad gave us little room to have a studio.  I took up jewelry making along the way and at first that didn't take up too much space.  But, do you remember the name of this blog?  Yes, I have to have everything!  Still I didn't have the room to have my own space.  Once we moved to Germany, I started paper crafting again, took some ceramic and sewing classes, and continued with the jewelry making.  We had an extra bedroom that I quickly outgrew so when our landlord moved out, we rented his 2 room apartment downstairs and converted it into a studio.  Unfortunately, there wasn't any heat in it, so I rarely worked down there.  I just used it for storage.

In March 2012, we moved back to the U.S.A.  After about 8 months of renting we felt confident to buy our second home.  The search was on...online.  After looking at hundreds of homes online, researching neighborhoods and figuring out what we really wanted, we contacted our agent and started looking in real life.  Guess how long it took us to find our current house?  One day.  We found it online, looked at the house the next day, and signed the papers the day after that.  We had a long list that this house fulfilled for us, a big kitchen that opened into the living area, a 2 car garage, plenty of bedrooms for visitors and most importantly...a big formal dining/living room that would be the perfect studio!   It's got a long way to go before it's done, but its coming together as you can see!

All Things Great & Small

At any given time, I am wrapped up in at least a half dozen obsessions, uhm, projects.  Here's a few: homemade granola, our new rescue puppy, balancing MY budget, organizing my home (mainly my studio), getting ready for Christmas, specifically Christmas presents, and make-up.  Some I finish and move on.   Most I lost interest in since I have the attention span of a pea.  And then there's the odd one or two that will hold my attention for. ever.

Right this minute Buster, our new rescue pup is trying to chew on the computer cord. When I scold him gently, he pretends he's licking his private bits.  He thinks he's all sneaky that way.  I LOVE and ADORE him.  Period.  Raising a puppy that needs some special care can be taxing, to say the least. But I don't know what I would do without this craziness in my life.

                                                  Buster Dawg at about 14-15 weeks old.

My Life Is An Obsession

As early as I can remember, I had a love affair with something.   My bear & my sister's bunny were probably my first obsessions.  I loved my bear and coveted the bunny.  I took that bunny every single time my sister turned her back and I carried it by one of it's ears.  The bear lost an eye and both of them lost most of their fur.  My momma would sew bits and bobs back on.  She would add back the stuffing that was lost, but the fur was just gone.  They were both, all but bald.  However, I still loved them and to this day, about 44 years later, I still remember them fondly.