A Space to Call My Own

Empty craft corner

Ever since my husband and I have been married, I have wanted a craft area. In our first house, I was fortunate enough to snag one of the spare rooms. However, within 6 months we decided to rent the upstairs of our house and I lost my room. I moved my ever growing craft stash to a little closet and nook downstairs but it was a big hassle to do any projects. It was taking more time to find supplies and putting them away than I was spending working on projects. Our house was often cluttered with my supplies; I had papers and pens stacked on the mantle, the dinning room table, the dresser in our bedroom...basically any flat surface. It didn't look very nice and we were both frustrated by the constant mess. The positive side was, my husband became aware that a craft space would have to be a priority if we ever moved out of our house.

Three years ago, we moved into a newer house, with a little more room and space for me to set up a craft area. It was a storage room in the basement and I loved it. It really felt nice to have my own place to put crafts and to leave projects out to work on later. It had no windows and I shared it with golf clubs, luggage and boxes of childhood mementoes, but I had a desk to lay everything out and leave it to work on later. It meant I could do some creative things in shorter periods of time without hassling with set up and clean up.

In the Fall we moved into our current home, which is approximately half the living space we had before. Our building is divided into 3 sections: the apartment, the "middle room" (which we hope will eventually become a commercial kitchen and entertainment spot for farm socials), and the garage. For now, there is a corner in the middle room and a closet that has been designated for my craft space and supply storage. It's a nice space with a fairly large window and enough room to put at least two work tables.

The craft space now

The other night, as I worked trying to get everything set up, it became painfully obvious that I really have too many things. In my heart, I want to be more of a minimalist, but when I start going through my collected "treasures", I can hardly even consider getting rid of things. Seriously, some day I might really need the hundreds of bottle caps and wine corks I've collected. And all those pieces of fabric will surely come in handy when I decide to take up quilting! What's a girl to do?!

Storage closet in it's current state

I was feeling overwhelmed by the task of organizing my things and making it a functioning work area. I began daydreaming about what my dream "studio" should be. First of all, my dream is to have a separate building located on the far end of our almost 50 acre property. I envision myself packing a backpack with supplies, a change of clothes and snacks. I would hike off on Friday night with the understanding that I would return on Sunday night.  No one would be allowed to bother me unless there were a medical emergency involving blood and guts or maybe if there were a fire - but only if it crossed to my side of the creek.

This fantasy studio would have lots of windows, a couch for napping, unlimited storage and huge tables to layout multiple projects at once. It would have electricity (of course), heating for winter, air conditioning for summer, wireless internet and a bathroom with a large, deep claw foot bathtub for soaking my cares away. Each wall would be decorated with inspirational art of bright colors with beautiful design. Every art supply, and project would remain exactly where I had left it no matter how long it had been there. Thee would be no hunting for a pencil, pen, scissors, glue unless I had misplaced it.  The studio would be quiet when I wanted quiet and full of classic rock when I needed music. There would be an affectionate, handsome, well behaved tom cat lying around to keep me company if I were to get lonely.

These two, as adorable as they are, do not meet the minimum requirements of being "well behaved". They are the reason I have to  make sure everything is sealed in containers or bolted down so nothing is destroyed during their "All Star Wrestling" episodes.

The reality is, I'm lucky to have any space at all and even luckier to have a husband who understands that I have a need (aka burning desire) to be creative. So, I'm going back to work, to downsize my ridiculous amount of "stuff" and to make my area inspirational and functional. Most of all, I'm going to work on having a grateful heart and appreciate the things I do have. I'll post some photos after I finish organizing.

Have a great day!

Latest Treasuries

I'm pleasantly surprised and very thankful that my neglected blog and Etsy shop continue to get some attention and recognition by people who build Treasuries. Here are two of the most recent.




and...



Be sure to stop by these shops and see all they have to offer. You my find a perfect way to spend your Christmas money!

2011 Coming to a Close

Almost every blog you see lately, people are talking about how quickly 2011 flew by. Maybe it's cliche, but really, 2011 did fly by in a flash. This has been one of those years where so many things happened for our family - many changes and new experiences - that it couldn't help but go by quickly.

This was not a very productive year as far as creating new art, though. With moving and starting a farm, spending time making art was not on the priority list. Right now, most of my art supplies are packed in boxes, awaiting their new home. I hope to get a studio spot set up within the next couple of weeks. Then hopefully, I'll spend some time doing art again. I miss it. I miss having ideas and taking time to implement them. I miss selling things and talking to people about things related to art and creativity. I feel that ache in my soul every time I see something I made last year or when I think of things I want to make, but don't have the time to right now. I never want to get to the point where I don't make time to do something creative on a regular basis.

I'm looking forward to 2012 and hoping I will find more ways to incorporate art into my daily life. I hope to write more and be a little more disciplined in my blog writing (yeh, I know, you've heard this from me before).  I appreciate that you have continued to be on my "follow" list. I hope 2012 is an amazing and wonderful year for you.

Happy New Year!

Another Long Pause

Many things have been happening on the new farm. As I type, we have a new high tunnel that is being built, 40 chickens that need to be processed, a new compost bin that needs a lot more organic matter, a messy house and a couple of experimental garden beds that need more logs/sticks and organic matter. I'm also going to start a separate farm blog, but every time I sit down at the computer, I'm either distracted by Facebook or too tired to write any entries.

I'm so grateful to be living in the country and working toward growing food. So far, the things I do here feel like they have more meaning than any other job I've had. It hasn't hurt that the weather has been amazing and the tasks do-able. Check back with me this winter when I have to find ways to unfreeze the chickens waterer, shovel the 300 foot driveway and find a way to get tons of snow off the high tunnel so it won't collapse!

Here are some photos of our place:

The "skeleton" of the high tunnel. Dan is working on anchoring it, then we'll put plastic over  it. The plan is to start growing veggies this winter

Hugelkulture bed with my little "helper" chewing on the sticks

Our neighbor Buzz, who decided to come visit one Sunday morning. We don't have cows of our own, but this guy is so cute, it makes me want to have a few of my own!

Our Current Big Distraction

This is a view of our land from where the barn is being built. The old barn beyond the hay bales belongs to our neighbor.

Last July, I wrote a post announcing that my husband and I are planning to start farming (you can read the post here). Since the decision to become farmers, our lives have been filled with workshops, classes, reading and talking about farming - pretty much non-stop. Our 8-year-old son, on more than one occasion has said "I think you two are taking this farming thing a little too far". Maybe we are, but he hasn't seen nuthin' yet!

Currently, we are trying to get a barn built. The barn is divided into 3 sections: a 900 square foot, 2 bedroom apartment, a middle section that will eventually serve as a place to host events and a big storage area that now houses our tractor. (Eventually the tractor will "live" outside under a covered area behind the barn).

The construction of the barn has been a slow process. We started planning sometime in the Winter, which turned out to be unusually cold and snowy, then Spring was unusually wet and now this summer seems to be unusually hot. All of these things seem to have some sort of effect on getting our barn finished. But it's ok and I want to share some photos with you.

Working on staking out plumbing and all that important stuff.

South side of the building. The window on the left is a bedroom, window on right is the living room.

Front of the building - all nice and "airy". It was really nice when the roof was put on and the walls weren't up yet. It was so nice to sit and feel the breeze blowing.

The front of the building a couple of days ago. The rocks piled on the front porch are going to be mortared onto the lower three feet of the front. Right off the front of the porch will be landscaped flower beds.

My husband has been working on insulating the inside, the past couple of days. Today I helped put up a few strips of insulation, but decided I needed to leave before I got too overheated (I'm a heat wimp). The heat index was supposed to be 107 degrees. I'm not sure what the actual number turned out to be, but it was hotter than H-E-double toothpicks! I've got a good man - I'm so thankful for him.

While I was stapling insulation, these suckers kept buzzing around. There are several of them in the windows of the barn. I used to think they were called "horse flies" because they liked to hang around horses. Now I know they are called "horse flies" because they are big enough to actually saddle up and ride off into the sunset!

Finally, I'm leaving you with this photo of the beautiful sunflowers I planted. I didn't want your last memory of this post to be of nasty ole horse flies! 

Thanks for stopping by and looking at the barn progress. I'll keep you updated.