Craft Room Update

A year ago I put up a post about the transformation of a spare bedroom to a craft room for my rubber stamping hobby.  The craft room is finished, and I forgot that I promised I'd post a picture of the completed craft room.  So here it is!  (See below)  I stitched together 3 photos in Photoshop to get this full picture, so it is a little distorted, but it gives you a good overall shot.

I took this picture several months ago, before the closet doors were put up (storage area to the left of the picture) and before the sink was installed.  You can see the hole for the sink between the studs to the left of the craft table. 

The table is 8' long and 28" deep.  I have plenty of room to spread out when I'm making cards and other craft hobbies.  I love this room.  It overlooks the back yard and pasture, and I get morning light through the window.  It's a very peaceful room, and I've been making lots and lots of cards.

Project Done!

It's done! I have a few odds and ends to do yet, but for all intents and purposes I’ve finished building the benches and potting table on my front porch. I still have to paint the benches and table, and clean the deck and then paint it too. But I finished inserting the last screw at 7:30 last night, 4/24. Lord knows when I'll get around to painting them all. That's for another day! I had a blast building this stuff, and now my deck looks so cool.

The long photo above is a composite picture I did in Photoshop, stitching together 6 photos, so the perspective is a bit off. It makes the bench on the right and the table on the left look considerably longer than they really are. The picture was taken from the gate leading onto the porch from the driveway. It makes my deck look huge, but it does give a decent panorama, if somewhat distorted. And yes, the wall and door really are purple. Here's a better picture, without distortion:

The long beam across the top of the benches will be used for hanging plants. The table on the left with the small bench on the end will be used for potting plants and for potluck dishes during barbecues (Think July 4th!). It will also come in very handy when lugging groceries from the car. Instead of leaving the slider open to the elements while I troop back and forth carting grocery bags, I'll be able to deposit all the groceries on the table, first, then once the car is emptied, I'll whisk the bags inside in one fell swoop.

The next picture is actually 2 photos stitched together. You can tell because the deck planks don’t line up. However, the benches are in proportion in this picture. I think it will look really nice once I get it all painted and have flower pots hanging from the beam.

I’ll probably build a gate to go between the two benches, and install handrails for the steps leading down into the side yard. But that's for a later date. Right now, I'm dreading picking colors to paint the deck and benches and table, because it will be one of those exploding projects. To backtrack, I have a new roof that clashes horribly with my house color. When I picked the roof color, I thought it would go well with my taupe house. I was appalled when the roof was done. It's reddish brown, and clashes horribly with the taupe. So I have to repaint the house. It needs it, anyway. But trying to decide on a color is so trying, and I can't paint the deck and benches until I decide on my color scheme for the house. Then I'll be able to find complementary colors for the deck, etc. And then (groan!) I'll have to repaint the cinder block wall and my intricately painted door, because purples will most certainly not go well with anything in the reddish-brown family.

WIP - a Work in Progress

I have several WIPs around the house. The term "WIP" stands for Work in Progress and rightfully belongs to the writing world, where it refers to the manuscript you're working on. For me, it means a whole lot of unfinished projects. Currently, it means the overly-ambitious deck project I'm working on, and which keeps expanding at an alarming rate.

I blame it on the miserably cold and wet winter and spring we've had: unrelenting rain and a spring with hardly any sun at all. It kept me indoors to the point of dementia. And every time we had a rare day or two of good weather I went screaming outside to roll in the dirt in my garden or some other equally physical activity.

So when the forecast a few days ago said we were going to have several days of exceptional weather, I roared into Home Depot and bought a bunch of pressure-treated lumber so I could build benches for my front deck. Then I decided to build a taller bench in one corner, to use as a potting table for when I repotted plants. Then I decided it needed to be longer, so it could double as a table for holding side dishes during barbecues. Then I decided I needed two benches, not one, since I was going to have more barbecues, meaning more people needing places to sit. Then I decided to add a third bench to the end of the potting table. Then I decided I needed to have a place for hanging plants to decorate the deck, so I hoisted a 13-foot beam above two of the benches and bolted it into place.

I'm envisioning a Babylonian Hanging Garden, steaks on the barbecue, the clink of ice cubes in glasses of Sangria, and good friends sprawled comfortably on my brand new benches while the sounds of Stevie Ray Vaughan waft from the stereo. My neighbors will sit in their mean shacks, green with envy, salivating over the delicious smells emanating from the barbie. Or so I imagine. If I ever get this WIP finished! That's a picture on the left of what I've done so far: 2 benches and the overhead beam (it's not really bent--I stitched 4 pictures together using Photoshop) The potting table will go on the left wall where the lumber is stacked. I still have to add backrests to the benches, and complete the arm rests, and then once everything's done, I'll paint the deck and benches.

I'm terrified of what I'll think up next! I'm still working on the bench project, and I have to say that it's coming along nicely, though I sometimes wish I had an extra hand for things like holding up one end of a 13-foot beam while I bolt the other end into place. On the other hand, I . . .

Oh, wait! How about if I put arm rests on my benches? Yeah, I need arm rests. And maybe I could cut out holes for cups, like they do in movie theaters!

What about you? Do you have any WIPs? If not, I envy you! *g*

Making Beautiful Cards #7

This card was made using two stamps and one color--eggplant. First, I stamped the lace background, then sponged more eggplant color around the edges. Next, I stamped the goddess, then carefully cut out the image and glued her to the lace background. Then I glued it to lavender cardstock. I like the simplicity of the card.

Making Beautiful Cards #6

This is one of my more unusual cards. The "bubbles" were made by combining equal parts water and liquid dish soap, and then adding tempura paint. Then you take a straw and blow bubbles in the mixture until the bubbles foam up and form a large mound above the rim of the bowl.

Next, you place a piece of paper on top of the bubbles and press gently down. The result is what you see on the left. When the bubbles pop, they leave a lovely impression on the paper.

I love these bubble images! They are fun. They have depth and look almost three-dimensional. And they make interesting images for cards.

Making Beautiful Cards #5

Here's another card I made using blue card stock. The horse part is stamped on glossy paper, which absorbs the ink so incredibly that it ends up looking and feeling like a photograph. You absolutely cannot smear the thing once it's done, even if you run your finger across the checkerboard surfaace.

I inked the checkerboard stamp first, then used a paper towel to rub away the ink from one part of the stamp. Then I stamped it on glossy paper. I then sponged a small amount of topaz ink off-center, for drama. Next, I stamped the horse.

Then I glued the glossy card onto dark blue paper, and glued that to the blue card stock

Making Beautiful Cards #4

This card I made for my best friend, Carol. Oddly enough, the darling little dragon blowing out a candle was a freebie given to me when I purchased some other rubber stamps at a stamp show. Vendors often tuck a little freebie in the bag with your purchase. It's a nice touch, and while the freebies are often something I wouldn't normally purchase (like the little dragon), I frequently end up finding many uses for them. This dragon is my "birthday" stamp. I've made many birthday cards with it.

Everything except the smoke is a stamp. The dragon and candle are one stamp. The stone floor is another. I made the smoke by tapping a Q-tip on my ink pad and drawing the smoke freehand with the Q-tip. Then I added "Happy Birthday Carol" with a gold ink pen.

Making Beautiful Cards, #3

This is a card I made for my friend, Jacquie Rogers, who writes totally fun books about faeries and dragons, and pirates and such. I printed out a copy of her most recent book cover and designed a card for her. She promptly commissioned me to make a couple dozen more! Now I have a sideline doing author cards featuring their book covers.

Making Beautiful Cards #2

Shock! I'm back the next day with another card to display. Not much news in my life except to say that while unloading groceries I opened a bottle of new shampoo I'd bought and sniffed it to see what it smelled like. Got a dab on my nose and wiped it off. Now I can't get the perfumey smell out of my nose! Have scrubbed & scrubbed with tissue. Headed for the shower now. Hopefully the smell will stay in my hair and not my nose.

This card shows my love of the Asian influence in art, and also my love of combining textures and patterns. Oh, and my love of monochromatic color themes.

Making Beautiful Cards

Confession: I am a rubber stamper. I make cards. I used to be an artist in my former life (oil, watercolor, pen and ink). And while I no longer have time for art, I still crave that creativity outlet. So I do the next best thing. I make cards.

I used to look down my nose at stampers, considering them second class citizens compared to REAL artists. Also, I was secretly afraid that if I got started, it could easily become a passion. But a client kept telling me how much fun it was and one day, she sent me a couple of rubber stamps and a set of ink pads. I was doomed.

Since I've been so darned busy, and haven't had time to post regularly to my blog, I thought I'd try posting pictures of my cards. At least it won't look like a barren desert here. The card above is one I'm particularly proud of. The Asian cat and Asian writing are stamped in a dark purplish-maroon color called "eggplant." The bands of color in the background were made using a sponge and Q-tips.

The images I'll be posting will be compressed, because Blogger doesn't like big files, so the pictures won't be the highest quality. But hopefully they'll give you a good idea of the types of cards you can make with rubber stamps. I'll try to post a new card every few days or so, schedule permitting.

What is your hobby? Any artists out there?