Studio Number 2

Please don't tell my husband, I'm taking over the house. Even though, I think he has pretty much figured this out, I'm not going to acknowledge it. :)

Remember this studio? This little room is supposed to be a workshop/tool storage room. It's off the side of out garage and is a funny shape. It's six feet wide and probably 20 feet long. It was Niks office, then my making and glazing studio, then Nik's office again, and now, yes, I'm getting it back. How did I swing this? I have promised a canned ham trailer for the backyard...someday........ for his office.

So anyway...Nik had the very smart idea of making this a design studio. This room has windows! My other studio does not and when you spend all day there it can make you crazy. I spend a lot of time on the computer, so why not put my painting and computer in the room with all of the windows. So I decided to make this room my "creative studio" This is where I will come to be inspired to design and paint. I have decided to do it up fun and maybe not so practical as my other areas.

When Nik had the place as an office the second time, he painted the walls and the floor. I was originally going to paint but on a whim, decided to leave it how it is. I did add a little more color. I painted the trim this yellow/chartreuse color. It's the color of our family room, I also found enough trim board from the previous owners to trim out the room. Wahoo!

More on that ceiling tomorrow....it's the reason Nik moved out.

Have a good day,
Jennifer
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Studio Progress

  I told you this one is going to be a tricky re organization to get everything to fit. I love stations. I like to have a station for each of my "usual" jobs. That way I don't have to clean a surface off to start something new. I love to re-use and the doors from my first quilt market booth have become table tops. I think I have six in all. So I have put most of the furniture in. Now I am going to spend some time thinking about where each station will fit before moving everything.

These are the areas I need most:
Sewing
Ironing
Beading
Shipping
Invoicing
Designing
Painting
Product Storage
Bead and Button Making and Glazing

If you missed my interview with Mark Lipinski about my studio you can still listen to it here.

You can also see my original studio here in Inside The Creative Studios.

I'll update soon!
Jennifer


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Good News, Bad News

Monday!, ugh...ugh, fighting a sinus infection here and not feeling so great. I also have some news that is probably going to disappoint some folks. Might as well deliver it as I am already feeling crummy.

 I am closing the gallery. Over the past year I have found that I am not needing that much space.  Katie, my employee, had an adorable baby Juniper, so she has been with me as much, and to tell the truth, I am not a big fan of fixed hours. I guess since I've been self employed for 15 years I am used to doing things when I want to do them. I have always loved working from home, I get to see my boys more and I don't mind wearing jammie pants all day.

However, I am going to miss all of the great people who have come in to the gallery. This was definitely the hardest part of making the decision. I have already promised lunches and get togethers with some. If I haven't seen you lately and you're just getting this news, please keep in touch. I don't want to say goodbye.

For those of you folks who aren't local....nothing else is changing. I will still be making beads and buttons, designing fabric and more. You'll just be seeing different studio shots.  If you read last weeks post about the new floor that's the start of a very big studio move.

I'm cleaning out as I go, I have piles for donating, for a garage sale, for Habitat, and for a de-stash sale. My piles are getting big, my home studio hasn't been organized in quite awhile. It's taking major reorganization to get it all back in one, well, two spaces.

More studio progress and pictures tomorrow...
Jennifer

Visit my Website, Etsy Shop, Blog, Facebook, or Studio and Gallery

What's going On

  Hello, Hello,

Man, I have been meaning to blog all week but the batteries were dead in my camera. I could never do a post without a picture. It took me until today to remember to charge them. But now they are good to go. I quickly snapped a few shots around the studio for this post. I'm going to take more pictures later today and then I will be good to go for blogging again.

So what's up? Happy Friday...wahoo. I have been working every Saturday at the gallery for the past month but this Saturday Katie will be working. I am really happy to have the day off.  Even though, I will still be dropping my boys off because they have clay class there. Here's a picture of some of their pots.....

 Aren't they the cutest things ever? Lisa, the kids clay teacher, has the greatest projects planned out for them. They also made the cutest turkeys, they aren't glazed yet so I'll show you them later.

And the stars in the above pictures...they were for a customer. I always have some painted and ready to go in the gallery. But Tiffany wanted a whole row of stars for her kitchen above her windows and doors. We lined them up to see how it would look. I am ordering more stars to paint today, it looks so dang cute, I am going to need some in my house as well. Love them!

Holiday projects start next week! Yikes, Katie and I are scurrying around to get things ready. I have so many things to add to the website and Etsy shop. I am working on finishing up some projects as well. I am doing my best to be organized, you know carry my summer of organization in fall. I just know that probably in about a month it will all fall apart when the holiday rush becomes reality. I'm doing my best to stay calm until then.

I noticed over at Etsy they are having their holiday boot camp. If you're a seller of any kind needing to get ready for the holidays they have some great suggestions. Because I am crazy, I do most of the planning in July and August when things are slow.

Happy Friday and see you soon!
Jennifer

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Holiday Projects, A Must Read

They are coming! Yippee... I wanted to have one of those countdown clocks telling you exactly how many weeks, days, minutes,etc. that were left until the first project would go out. But it turns out, I am having some java script issues. It's not serious...I'm going to be alright. :)

I am going to do it the old fashion way. October 6th is the day! That means there are only 27 days until they start! Wahoo again!

If you aren't familiar with my annual Holiday Project newsletters then I will give you an idea of what you're in for. If you have always received my holiday newsletters, I advise you keep reading because there are new things being added this year. First of all, this is my fourth year of projects. I think I might do bullet points for the rest of my explanation.... Here we go.....

                  * A new project every week for ten weeks, to get you prepared for the holidays
                  * New work every week
                  * A sale or special every week just for newsletter subscribers
                  * Freebies
                  * A give a way every week
                  * Lots of fun!

You say you need to be on the mailing list? Sign up here at the bottom of the page. To entice you a little more, any new subscriber between now and October 5th will receive a coupon for 25% off your first order. Once you sign up I will e-mail you the code.If you already are a subscriber and your bummed about not getting the coupon....how about a giveaway to cheer you up?

Leave me a comment here at this post and you will be entered to win a big ol' stash of New Holiday beads. They are beads that will be debuting in the first newsletter so unfortunately I cannot show you the prize. But above are some snowmen and trees to fill in their place.

I will randomly choose a winner for the give a way on October 6th.

When you leave me a comment, I want to hear....are you making your holiday gifts? Will you be sewing or beading them? I love, love, love to read what you're up to so thanks in advance for the comments....

Have a great day,
Jennifer




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Stuff, Lot's of It

Hey, Hey, Happy Tuesday!

Check it out! Snowmen and Christmas trees! Eeek! You all know it's my favorite time of the year. I love the Holidays! It may seem a bit early but every August I start working on my holiday projects, new beads, and gifts. I just pulled some other, brand new, Christmas beads out of the kiln that are so dang cute! But unfortunately I cannot show you yet. Yep top secret until the first holiday newsletter. I think it's October 6th if I remember correctly.


This post has so much random stuff, hence the title. Check out this caterpillar Nik found last night in the woods in our yard. I had to look it up, it looks super scary. It's a Hickory Horned Devil Caterpillar. I guess it's rare to find one this color, who knew? It turns out this guys is perfectly harmless but there are other caterpillars that bite ans sting. I did not know that either. I should have listen to more of my moms "nature talks" when I was a child. She was a science teacher and loved to teach and being the rotten(or typical) children my brother and I were, we would roll our eyes and mock her when we would try to teach us something. My poor mother...

Okay, back to pottery... pretty mugs just out of the kiln....

And last but not least. Pottery to paint! I am sure I mentioned that we are having classes starting in a few weeks. A few nights we are going to be open for paint your own pottery night. You know, bring a group of girl friends or your date and come paint. I looooove to paint, it's my favorite thing ever! I wanted to share the fun with some of the local pottery or paint loving people.

To make a long story longer, a nice woman from dealmobs came to my studio a few weeks ago, (it's a really cool "groupon" site) and I signed up to have a discount for paint your own pottery night, you know, good advertisement, right? She gave me an estimate of how many people I would have buy the coupon and since I am totally new I wasn't even expecting that number. Well, it turns out in that one day I sold four times what she had estimated! Wahoo, that is exciting. I looove that so many people want to come and paint pottery. Of course that means a lot of last minute bisque ordering and class adding. I have the bisque as you can see above.... oh it makes me want to come site and paint all day. Open studios times have been added and we are going to add even more this week(check out Facebook for the latest). Whew! But oh so much fun!

Have a great day!
Jennifer
Visit my Website, Etsy Shop, Blog, Facebook, or Studio and Gallery