Author name: Karla Nathan

 

Welcome to my studio!  I'm showing (tons and tons) of photos of it today as part of Karen Valentine's  "Where Bloggers Create" party.

Last year, I was chosen as one of the winners of the tour, and my studio was supposed to be photographed for Where Women Create. But… I've worked with enough magazines to understand that things don't always play out as planned. I've done dozens of articles over the years for many publications, and I've also done quite a few that have never appeared anywhere.

It happens.

But I'm still happy to be a part of this tour and I'm glad Karen is hosting.

I'll start with the views from my desk, standing at my workspot and taking a few pictures in all directions.

I've shown lots of photos of my studio on my blog, so these might be redundant to you if you've been here before.

But there are always changes here and there throughout the room, so maybe you'll see something different.  I was looking through my post from last year and decided that the room is much nicer now.

Its still over-full, but to me it is less cluttery.   Not to my husband, he mentions the "H" word sometimes when he ventures into my space.  I always cringe, and start to justify my pretties.  I saw 3 episodes of Hoarders and can never watch it again, its just too spooky.

Yes, I have a lot of stuff.  But its good stuff!! And its organized, and I have plans for it.  (does petting it and saying "my precious" over and over count as a plan?)

But I have a feeling that I don't have to justify any of my pretties to my blog friends. Unlike my spouse, you guys "get it".

It takes stuff to make stuff! And I looooove to make stuff.

This side of the room, that I've shown you, is the working area.  I have one big square space, just under 1,000 sq ft, and I love every inch of it.

The front half of the room also over flows into work space, I usually leave my sewing machine set up there when I am not entertaining.  We use these two dining room tables for big dinners.

And they come in very handy when I do a tag book swap. Here is just the beginning of the tag piles that I'm stacking up before I start making the books.

But mostly, the front of the studio is just storage.

All of the furniture has to do double duty, and has to have plenty of storage space as well as being pretty.

And  its has to be cheap too. Every single piece is from a garage sale, flea, or auction, and I repainted and fixed it up.

The treat cabinet is very useful.  It holds a great deal of wallpaper up on the shelf, and under the table cloth, I store all of my paper plates, cups, etc.

And of course its always good to have sweets available on craft days!

The furniture isn't arranged in a way you'd do in your home. I clump the pieces together to seperate the room into different areas. I also use old doors and screens to divide the space.

To create an office, I grouped French doors around a faux gazebo made of salvaged porch columns.

 

The rug is actually painted vinyl flooring. Here is how to do it:

• Buy a scrap of heavy vinyl from a remnant pile at most flooring stores (usually under $10)
• Trim to the shape or size you want
• Flip over, and use the smooth bottom side to paint on
• Roll on a coat of BONDING primer (the label will say "will adhere to glossy surfaces", I use Glidden Gripper from Home Depot)
• Paint or stencil as desired (I hand painted mine like rocks and moss)
• Top coat with Minwax Polycrylic (or whatever product you like, I personally love this one)

Even Sugarwing's work area has double duty furniture.  Her block seats are also storage for play dough and coloring books.

She has her own cabinet full of supplies too, but I guess I cropped it out of this photo.  I took a photo of her corner, then when I edited it, I forgot that the focus was supposed to be her stuff.

This column might not be out here long. We are thinking of remodelling the kitchen, and it will possibly be used in there.

The dress form was decked out for Bird Song and liked the vines and birds on it so much, I'll probably leave it this way.

I've painted the stand, and wrapped the whole thing in grape vine that I cut off our fence.

While I'm talking about dress forms, I'll let you know that I'm having a giveaway for one of my Mini Dress Form online tutorials.

Leave a comment if you'd like to win one. If you have already purchased the $15 class, and I draw your name, I'll send you a kit of vintage goodies to make the dolled up dress form with.

Here is some good news!  A box of these little girlies are on their way to Somerset.  Its always an honor to be  in one of their publications.

Lets see, where was I?  Here is a bigger picture of the front part of the room.

We added onto our house about 6 years ago, and I didn't want the new part to look too out of place with the original old farmhouse.  So, I've tried to add details that give this space some age.

I trimmed these windows and did some of the baseboards myself to save money on the construction. Since I'm not a very good mitered corner cutter, I butted the boards up to these vintage bullseyes instead.  No mitering needed, and it ages the window.

Okay, this area might be one of the reasons my husband uses the "H" word when he comes in.

The buffet top sure is not going to be cleared to serve a buffet from anytime soon.

Its a bit full.

But I love my stuff and pretties.  Some of it is completed work, some is supply type stuff for future work, others are just things I like.

Having it out in the open where I can see it, reminds me to use it.

Although, sometimes its just plain fun to set up and arrange. Kind of like playing with a doll house.

This banner was one of my examples from the Bird Song weekend here at my cottage. I've had lots of inquiries about when the next is.  Well, we are still waiting to see what our remodelling project will entail. No one would want to be here during that! So, I am waiting to get things settled with the contractor before I plan anything. 

I'm hoping to do something early in November.  I'll let you know. The last one was so fun, I can't wait to do it again. I'd have had one already if our redo plans hadn't been so up in the air.

Beth and I wanted to do one in September, kind of a B&B weekend with just a few guests staying here with us and creating in our jammies at midnight, sipping wine, eating chocolate and playing with old wallpaper. Sounds fun doesn't it?  But I don't know if I'll have a kitchen then, so that is probably out of the question. 

Durn it.

But I do like the idea of a new kitchen.

This lamp shade was Debbie's project for Bird Song. 

And this is what I made in Lisa's class at Paper Cowgirls.

Well, I've been blathering on for a while, and still have what looks like about 300 photos yet to load. If you are still with me, maybe you'd prefer just some detail photos of the room, and not so much chitter chatter?

Because I know that there are a lot of studios to visit on Karen's list.

Isn't this pretty? Beth made it for me.

Here is a photo I did of my littlest fairy grand baby. I love having sentimental things around the room.

Like this watercolor of Sugarwings for the Grumpy Fairy book.

And gifts from friends, this is from Hope.

And this basket is from Lori.

And here is another gift from Beth.

She gave me this little wallpaper cabinet just this week.

The pink cup is from her too.  I have Beth gifts in every corner of the room.

Of course, this is one of the best things in the studio.

Its always wonderful to have my little buddies at my feet while I work.

(millinery)

Did I say that I was going to stop chitter chattering and just show photos? Then, I just kept chatting.

Sorry! If you are still here, I'll stop the rambling on and just leave you with the rest of the photos.  Enjoy the studio tours, and thanks for coming by to see mine.

  



  (Charlotte(Charlottes!)