To Chrystel with Love

In 2013 HR gave me this box of screws.

   with this note    

 

Two years later, here is my gift. (During this period he also built a screened porch while working full time and doing all the other things on my perpetual to-do list.)

Let’s begin with the area where I do a lot of planning and blog posting.

In the photo below, notice the slat wall, designed by HR himself.

All of the boxes and shelves can be moved and rearranged on a whim as demonstrated my by lovely assistant (and granddaughter,) Camille. Certainly that is a plus for a crafter with serious AADD!

HR did not make the colorful box collection but did put a cleat on the back so it too can be moved. It was the inspiration for my color choices. 

This is where I can get down and dirty with charcoal, paint, glue, you name it. 

A somewhat clean area where I can work with paper.

Another HR exclusive design provides three times the space for my stamps.

Love, love, love it!!!!

Let's move over to where the sewing takes place.

Directly across from the sewing machine is a cutting, laundry folding, and gift wrapping table,

that conveniently folds down when not in use (that rarely happens.)

So there you have it, a Christmas gift that was created with love by a very talented husband. 

Progress Continues

Progress on the studio continues, the counter tops are installed.

Next HR will make shelves and bins with cleats in which I can store all of this stuff.

But that will have to wait until we return from Florida next weekend. We will be bringing a granddaughter home with us. I think she will like sorting and organizing my craft stash. 

Yesterday I had a great time at Ephemera Paducah making a Word of the Year sign to hang over my computer area. I left it for Kristin to pour resin over it once this monsoon has ended. 

There will not be a post from The Underground next week as we will be using our energy and HR's talents at our daughter-in-laws' home in Navarre, Florida. 

And the work goes on.

We are making progress. If the weather cooperates, new counters will be installed this weekend. Why is the weather a factor? The entrance to the studio, which once was a garage below our 1930-something home, has a significant slope. It has been covered with snow and ice for the past two weeks, until I was able to scrape in clean yesterday. This is the only way to get large items (like the cabinet below and the 6 and10-ft counter tops into the studio.) As I write this post, there is a steady downpour of rain which is predicted to turn into ice and up to 8-inches of snow. My optimistic friends assure me this accumulation will melt in a day or two. Fingers are crossed!

About this cabinet;

I asked HR to build something to hold my portfolios and large drawing pads and with a shelf to store my drawing box. This is what he came up with; a 72-inch cabinet with four shelves, three are adjustable. His rationale; “I knew you would want more storage space and I would just as soon build it now than later.” Does this man know me or what? 

Studio Upgrade Progressing!

Crafting in The Underground has nearly come to a halt as work progresses on the update. I have cleared the counter space enough to make some cards which I will show you later this week.

I wanted to share with you this neat slatwall designed by HR (Handy Randy.)

He will make custom shelves, bins, boxes or whatever I think I need to store my paints, tools, mediums, pens, etc.

A cleat, like this one, will be attached which will allow me to move them around on the wall as my needs change; a big plus for someone with AADD! 

After spending the afternoon painting, the slatwall is now a soft yellow. Soon the entire studio will be ready for “show and tell!”

By the way, premade slatwall systems that use metal hooks are available, but HR thinks they are not as sturdy or as flexible. I think the wood cleats will look classier than the metal hooks.

Still crafting?

No, I have not been locked in The Underground.

No, I have not abandoned my arts and crafts passion (Although with AADD that could happen, I guess.) 

No, I have not created a master piece and retreated to a secluded island. 

I have been in and out of The Underground, jumping from one project to another as I try to focus on sorting and packing up one side of the studio. (HR is ready to finish the studio update!!!!) With AADD, it is so easy to be distracted as I discover supplies I forgot I owned and half-finished projects.

I have done a little work on the stairwell;

have started on the risers, not sure where or if this is going;

Assignment: Use conte' to draw two things that do not go together.

turned in my first drawing assignment of the semester (I really do not like assigned drawing) 

have done a couple of pages in the Live Richly art journal

It is about the process, right?

and took two road trips to watch/hear our granddaughter in  band concerts. On these trips I did some Zentangle and practice some lettering techniques from last month’s Mixed Media Club.

I brought home a rock tumbler (a one of those it-sounded- good- at- the- time gifts for the granddaughters. I think the noise didn’t go over well with their mom.) I want to give it a try with polishing polymer clay beads. If you don’t hear from me for another few weeks, it could be I had to leave the neighborhood; or it could be I was distracted again. 

Suggestions please.

The studio upgrade continues this week as I painted the stairs to The Underground. What should I do with the risers? Something artsy. I am open suggestions.

Prayer Flags and Cards

So nice to come above ground and spend some time in the garden this week. With the early daffodils at their peak and the tulips in full bloom, I am pulled between the garden and the studio for the use of my free time. I want to be both places!

It is the season and I had the pleasure of introducing prayer flags to a local garden club at Ephemera Paducah on Thursday. They had a ball with the stamps, stencils and paint!

 

I think some were surprised with their artistic talents.

 

 

 

 

The Prayer Flag Project has become popular with our local garden clubs; I look forward to seeing the little flags flying in gardens throughout the city this summer.

 

 

 

Back in The Underground, I made cards for the RubberMoon blog and wrote my first ever post ever as a Creative Design Team member. Want to see them? Hop on over to their blog and take a look! These will go to Operation Write Home.

The press release for the OWH card making event scheduled April 19 at Ephemera Paducah went to the media this week. Our first ever OWH event, we have no idea how much participation to expect. We are encouraged by the interest shown by the media. Kristin (owner of Ephemera) and I did an interview this morning for the local newspaper and Kristin has one scheduled with our local NPR station.

Also, this week I created a somewhat belated thank you note; often I have to weigh timeliness against handmade; for this couple, handmade won. This one was especially fun as I used a map from an outdated atlas and vintage lace from a stash my mother-in-law gave to me.

 

 

Classes have resumed after spring break at PSAD. We are now into charcoal drawing. I love it, but it is quite messy. With my AADD, I know I will have charcoal smudges everywhere! I am trying very hard to remember to not leave the easel and work on a card or flag without first washing my hands. And what about the white base and drawers on the new cardmaking station ….well fortunately charcoal washes off easily!

Speaking of the cardmaking station, Handy Randy added a pegboard and paper roll holder this morning. I love the free newsprint end rolls from the newspaper but they were a bit awkward to use. Not anymore!

I am off now to do a bit of organizing!

This Week in The Underground

A great deal of time was spent in The Underground this week; very little time was spent creating.

As you may have noticed, I have tweaked the blog a bit, getting ready for the RubberMoon Creative Design Team adventure. You can now see what I look like; thank you Mark McCoy!  Mark, a professional photographer, lives next door; how lucky is that! In fact I am lucky to live in a neat little art community where folks just help one another. We have a little group called Social Media Salon; we get together each month and over a bottle of wine, we discuss the ins and outs of the ever changing social media. This past week my blogs were critiqued and thus I am tweaking. Thanks Rachel Biel and Rose Hughes for sharing your professional experiences.

Handy Randy finished the paper craft base cabinet; so of course, I had to organize the new space.

 

 

This week was spring break at Paducah School of Art andDesign. When we return to class on Monday we will start charcoal drawing and I am very excited! I did a little charcoal work in one of Juanita Gillium’s classes at The Art Room a few years back. I loved it! This is from the class.

I did take a bit of time and played with my new stamps from RubberMoon. Can’t show you what I am doing but it will be on their blog in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, hop on over to their blog and see what other artists are doing with the cool RubberMoon stamps.

Also, this week, I have been planning an event with Kristin Williams at Ephemera Paducah with which I am very excited.  Don’t want to share it just yet as we are in the planning stage. But I will tell you, it is a project in which participants can give back to those who have given so much. Keep in touch, details coming soon!

This Week in The Underground

This Week in the Underground

Most of the time in The Underground this week was spent painting me, the floor and the base cabinet. (HR says he always buys extra paint when I am doing the painting.) Messy as it/I was, the base cabinet for the paper craft area is completed and waiting for the counter top to be installed.

That would have happened today, but it would have been very treacherous for HR and me to carry the counter top down this slippery slope.

 

We live in a 1930 something cottage style house where originally the garage was in the basement; it is now my craft studio. There is a concrete slope, formerly the drive, to the entrance to the studio. It is in the shade so even with the warm temperatures of the past couple of days, it still remains snow and ice covered.  

The studio update will remain on hold next week as we head to Florida; no not for a relaxing beach vacation but to lend a hand to our daughter-in-law and granddaughters. They moved into a new house this week and HR’s skills and tools are needed for the fine tuning. I get to cook, do laundry, drive the girls and anything else they might need as they get settled. Actually, some of my studio time this week was spent in my kitchen preparing food to take. Love cooking for our girls and, of course, that too is a craft.

When we return, I hope to see some daffodils and hellebores blooming!

You can keep up with my garden as it wakens from this long, cold winter over on my other blog, Chrystel's Potager.

 

Phase I of Studio Upgrade

The Paper Crafting Area

Let me show you the plan!

 

Designed by Handy Randy, using Google SketchUp; How fortunate for me, he loves designing projects!