Craftyminx

The Studio Before

I can't believe I haven't showed you the before shots of my big studio clean up this summer. I'm leary to show you this because I don't want you to think I'm a crazy hoarder, because that's what it looks like. But there's a little hoarder in all of us crafty types, right?

This was one of those instances where the room got demolished in wedding prep last summer and just didn't get cleaned up after the wedding and then the room became a catch all. I seriously couldn't do anything in there! Ok I guess I'll just come clean...

So that may just look like the desk is covered, but here lets take a look behind the desk...

I swear I didn't get rid of a single thing in this room. That was all just stuff that never got put away or stuff I thrifted and didn't have a place to put it yet. In fact, I have three tubs of vintage sheets in the garage now that were part of that waist high pile in front of my sewing machine. It's really hard with this room because it is at the back of the house and I'm the only person that goes in there. If we need to clean the dining room, everything just gets shoved into the craft room and forgotten. There were a couple of boxes of things that didn't even belong in this room they just found their way there. 

I can gladly tell you this won't happen again for a very long time. With the wedding I was working on at least 8 projects at once and supplies were taking over. I know this because I found all their remnants underneath the piles. Now I limit myself to two projects being out at once. If I finish or take a break, everything gets put away. It seems to be working so far. I'm also only thrifting things I can actually put to immediate use until I decide to sell some things off this winter. 

Those of you with pristine studios or crafting areas: what do you do to keep it looking nice and clean?

Thank you for not judging me too much ;) oh and a big thank you to Levi for coming over and helping with the big clean up! The room looks soo wonderful now and I'm so much more inspired to work on non-crochet projects now that I have a big clean desk to work on!

Here's a nice and clean photo so you can see how much it transformed.

Thrifted Thursday

I found my dream sewing machine y'all!!! I tweeted about this on Saturday and it has been a very long week waiting for Thursday to get here so I could share it with you. Are you ready for this?!

A vintage hot pink sewing machine!!!!

Anyone else have a dream thrifting wish list? I know plenty of thrifters who do. I have about 5 things on my list right now, one of which was a pink or teal sewing machine. I've been waiting for the perfect vintage machine for years! It was worth the wait.

So here's the story... My pal Staci was in town so we went to a few of my favorite thrift stores with Levi. I usually have a plan when I go through thrift stores, and it always starts in the bedding. But that day, the back room was calling my name so I told Levi I was heading back there first. This thrift store always has about 5 sewing machines in their cases back there, and I assumed they were all the ones that I had opened before, but I decided to peek in to all of them again any way. Levi was with me when I lifted the top off of this one. I squealed, yelled "mine!" and then picked it up to look for a plug in.

I said I would leave it if it didn't work. It was marked $50 but everything was 50% off that day and $25 was just too much for a sewing machine that didn't work, even if it was pink. Thankfully it ran fine. I'm sure it still needs to go to the shop for a tune up. And I need to find a manual. After searching online for the history of this machine, I only found blog posts from people who had it and couldn't figure out how to wind the bobbin.

The case needs a good cleaning, but the machine itself is in perfect condition. I'm not sure if I'll actually use this one very often, since I LOVE my singer, but this makes some pretty awesome eye candy and it's the same color pink as my studio. 

We were meant for each other.

Studio Tour!

I mentioned this in my answer vlog video #7 but today RobbieLee from Chickiedee featured my studio on her Studio Sunday feature. So pop in over there to get a glimpse into my brightly colored world.  You can also see all of my studio photos on this flickr photoset and see a little video tour at the end of Answer Vlog #7. 

Answer Vlogs - Part 3

These vlogs are answers to the questions asked in the Ask Anything post. Each vlog is based on a person's question/set of questions. Some are long, some are short and sweet. I'll post the question before the video so you can decide if you want to watch it or not. After the video I'll post any links I mentioned in the video.

Answer Vlogs - Part 1
Answer Vlogs - Part 2
Answer Vlogs - Part 4

Answer Vlog #6

Amanda Asked:
1. How long have you been crocheting?
2. You have a great eye for pairing colors in your granny squares- is this a natural talent or something you cultivated? (I ask because my own color sense is abysmal! Working with non-neutrals scares me!)
3. Does Sheldon have any crafty hobbies?
4. What's your favorite (and least favorite) thing about living in Oklahoma?

Creature Comforts color Inspiration posts
Style me Pretty Color Palettes
Emma Lamb's Color Palettes 
Pugly Pixel Colour Lover Posts

Answer Vlog #7

Melissa asked...

1. How did you and Sheldon meet?
2. What made you first start this blog?
3. How much time do you spend each day crafting?
4. Can you show us more pictures of your craft room, maybe at different angles?

 

The story of how Sheldon and I met and fell in love :)

My studio tour on Chickiedee

Prayer Candles from Sweetheartville

We have had my wonderful friend Staci and her husband staying with us this weekend so there was no time for posting on Friday. So you get these today. I think I have a full week of posts planned out too! I've just got to get busy tonight. Oh and Staci and I did a vlog together while she was here. I'm excited to share that with you guys! We might do one or two more today too. We've been thrifting this weekend too and yesterday I found my dream sewing machine. I can't wait to share that with you on Thursday. 

I Bought a Doll

I realize this means I'm on a downward spiral into doll-dom.

I've been wanting a Blythe for about two years now. With the wedding and Bella's vet bills and what not, I couldn't justify the purchase. I still can't justify it. But this vintage pose doll from Korea was $6 at an antique store in McAlester-- highly justifiable. She needs a little spot cleaning and a pose that doesn't make her look like she's in the middle of doing the robot, but she's pretty and I love her.

A little spruce up.

The south wall of my studio has been bare since I finished the re-design because it was meant for a peg board. However, time and money has not allowed this to happen yet, so I needed something on the wall. Especially since I was going to film some craft segments in there.

I painted a thirfted cabinet and hung up the artwork I bought at Renegade Austin. I love that the wall of Elsie's comic matches my studio :) I had to have Amy Hevron's "Woody the Bison" because it reminds me of my days at OBU.

I added some woodland creatures scrapbooking paper to the back of the cabinet to add a little something. I want this cabinet to be turquoise, but I haven't had time to paint it past the white.

Studio Complete!!

Before and after

It is finished and I am sooo happy with how it turned out. The painting took 4 days and I spent the rest of the week putting shelves and chairs together. Sheldon, Levi, Shannon, and my mom helped out soo much and I owe them all big time.

There are still a few things left to do, but it is about 95% finished. I still need to add the peg board and possibly paint some of the door with chalkboard paint.

The paint is showing up a little lighter in these pictures. It is the same color as the pink chairs. 

The shelves aren't as industrial as I thought they would be and they fit sooo much stuff. I love all of the space!

I also love that the table fits in the middle of the room so I can have friends over to craft. 

YAY!

Studio Progress

Paint from original to now.

We've had two big painting sessions. One for ceiling and trim and last night we had to do two coats of primer to cover the squares.  This pink is behr candy coated, it was my original choice for the room, because I didn't want to go to dark, but then I decided to go for it so the final color will be the watermelon pink. This is solely my room, so I want it to be completely me and the darker pink is my favorite.

We went to IKEA in Frisco on Sunday where I bought the chairs for the room and I found some cute curtains. They were $15 for two which is much better than the $80 that the tuxedo ruffle curtains at UO will cost. Plus they have  a print. With so many solid colors in the room, it will be nice to have a pretty print to catch the eye.

I'm picking up the shelving, lighting, and the peg board on Thursday. My goal is to have the shelving up and some of the room put together by Saturday. My mom is coming into town to make the muslin of my wedding dress so I need to at least have the sewing stuff together.

So this will be the last update until the room is finished. I want you to have the full effect of how different and wonderful it will be :) Wish me luck, this is quite the undertaking!