Studio Updates

It got warm here, in a weird way one day it was 40 and then the next it was 86. I guess were missing the 70's this year. It's also been raining like crazy, and so I have basically had a mud puddle outside my studio door for a while now.

The plan is to have a cute little garden outside the door. That's as far as I have gotten...I have been scouring pinterest for ideas but for now I am overwhelmed with possibility so I will do nothing.

Well nothing except my little walkway, I knew I needed it. And with Ruby (in the previous photo) next to me the whole time, I was able to do some terracing. She helped me dig. She likes to find tree roots because they are buried sticks and when your a dog it doesn't get better than that.

So now I have a little walkway, I'm still collecting a few rocks to finish off the front. I'll keep you posted on the planting, if it stays warm much longer, I won't be able to stay out of the garden centers for long.

Have a great day,

Studio Redo, Converting the Garage into a Studio

I have been terrible about showing photos of my studio redo, it's been a very long process, because I have been working on my studio as I slowly redo it. Back in the fall, I mentioned it would be starting.... but now I am back with some pictures of the work we have done so far.

Let me back up and say, my old studio, as bright and pretty as it was had two big problems. The biggest of problems....no windows. I really was going crazy spending my days in a room without windows. See when we bought our house, my studio was here and not in the house. As busy and fun as it was to have the store and the studio, it was a TON of stress and not really where I wanted my business to be. Nik and I had lots of conversations on how to remedy the studio problem, moving vs. not moving, etc. We love our house and especially our yard, and we never actually used the garage for our cars. The last two years it had been full of camper parts.

So we decided that we would covert the garage in to my studio. Here's what we did to get the bones of the studio.

First things first, I painted it white. Oh ya, forgot to mention the second problem with my old studio was the color. It was beautiful too look at, but incredibly hard to take pictures in there. I am a huge fab of white backgrounds to make colors pop, so I decided the studio should have a white background. There's color coming, I promise.

We built a giant closet along the back wall. That will store all of my show displays, patterns, etc.

 Next, we put in a door, Nik and I were hi giving on this one. We have never cute a hole in a wall, let alone put a door in, we were very proud of ourselves. It actually was pretty easy after watching a few YouTube videos to get some help.

Feeling so handy we decided to put in a window as well. There was one already, but we added a second.

Then on to covering up the garage door.

I did not want the signs of a garage door, but I also wanted to be able to convert the studio back to a garage if we ever decided to move. Darn it! I am kicking myself for not taking pictures of this, but anyway, we left the door up. We had a garage door specialist come out and remove the tension from the door. We did this because my dad warned me that those springs can kill you if they pop, not something I wanted to deal with. After the spring tension was released, I removed the track and the opener from the ceiling. I put them those parts in the big storage closet. Then I sealed around the garage door and built a wall. I insulated and drywalled it, something else I had never done. 

It doesn't look like a garage at all! 

Heres' the view of the outside. I've got plans to turn this into a little terraced garden and sitting area. I am waiting on a warm up for that.

Stay tuned, I will be back soon with what I have been doing to the inside.

Have a great day,

Studio Re-Do and a Sample and De-Stash Sale

Lot's going on here at the Jennifer Jangles studio. I just wrapped up five big projects in August, whew! I can tell you that I filmed and edited a video class for The Sewing Party where I'll be teaching Nov. 8th, designed two fabric lines, and completed two other projects that I just can't tell you about yet. In the midst of all of that I decided it was time to move studios. What? Seriuosly, if you went through this blog and saw all of the studios that I have had....

Here's what has happened, first off all we considered moving last year for more space but we love our neighborhood and yard. Nik wasn't exactly on board with the idea either, but he was willing to consider it. So instead we decided that we would make this house exactly how we wanted it. First up was the kitchen, it's almost finished and then I will snap some photos. We didn't do the kitchen ourselves but the plan was finished the kitchen and then we would work on the rest of the house. We have a giant list in order of how we will do things but pretty much every room is getting something done to it.

Since the kitchen is almost finished and I couldn't be patient any longer I started on the studio. The plan is to convert the garage into my studio, it's warm here and we never park in it. My biggest problem with my studio was the lack of windows and the garage has one (right now). I have plans to put in a door and another window on that wall. I'll give you more details and photos when the time comes. As you can see I have a huge pile in the center for donations, yep this is how I've been spending my weekends.

I have been pinning all sorts of studio ideas over on Pinterest. This is my favorite and it was a garage before it was her studio. 

This leads me to my Sample and De-Stash Sale. I have some BIG business plans for the fall and I need to make better use of my space. First things first...I had to declutter. I have un-earthed so many beads from my book and magazine articles, 

so many pieces of jewelry from my old gallery, 

supplies from my old gallery, 

and lots of sewn samples of projects. 

It's kind of ridiculous and part of me wants to keep every thing but my practical side says I can't. 

I have been photographing, editing, and listing for three days now. I'm getting close to be finished and I have decided this sale will start tomorrow at noon EST. There are over 200 listings that will be in the Etsy shop. Tons of them are 5.00, can't go wrong with that price right? Just trying to clear the studio.....

I hope to see you there and i promise to keep you updated on the studio re-do.

Jennifer

Visit my Website, Etsy Shop, Blog, Facebook

Studio Clean Up and Organization

I can't believe I am showing you this picture...It's kind of ridiculous, this place is torn up. It's been quite a mess lately, actually every since I moved back from the gallery. It's bee quite a challenge to organize it and make it all fit into one space.

Nik hung some shelves for me, not that I couldn't do it, but in actuality, he's much better at hanging them straight. It woudn't bother me if they were a little bit crooked and it would be a problem once I started adding things to them. 

It's a tad sad though, because these metal shelves have been with me since 1996, when I started my business. Kind of crazy, they have been well used and they are starting to bend they have been so well used. They are in my garage now waiting for me to take them away. But for now I am too attached to take them. It's funny, because I'm not usually attached to things.

The truth behind the motivation for this whole studio organization was that a magazine editor and her crew were coming to my house to photograph and interview me for a magazine. Unfortunately, I got a call last week saying the magazine was going away. What? All this work and no pictures? I guess in the end it had this place needed to be cleaned up anyway.

So here is what I have done so far....

My beading area

Folded and rolled my fabric

Organized my scraps by color in baskets

Spiffed up my shipping supply closet

Made this counter my bead glazing area (still needs some work)

(Glamour shot of my yarn basket for fun)

One shelf is my Etsy Store and one shelf is my Jangles Store

It's starting to look a lot better. Of course now that the photographers aren't coming on Friday, how will I ever find the motivation to finish it?

Have a great day!

Visit my Website, Etsy Shop, Blog, Facebook

Design Studio Progress

Hey, Hey,

It's been awhile but I wanted to make sure I popped in and showed you the progress on the design studio. If you missed the before shots you can see them here and here in these posts. I am loving the colors and how everything turned out. I still need to add finishing touches but I had to start getting some work done out here! I will be designing fabric line number six in this studio, I am so excited.

I have paintings and other inspiration on the wall. I hope to have more treasures out here soon to inspire me. I am imaging these walls to be filled by the time I am finished.

 I made some curtains for the windows...

My paints are ready and I couldn't be more

Talk to you soon!
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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Studio Redo

 

Hey, Hey,

Quilt Market and Bead and Button are over, my Jolly Holiday buttons have been shipped and it's time to relax right? Not quite...

So a long long time ago I had this beautiful studio. It was in Studios magazine and it even made it into there Studios book. Then a couple of things happened. the rain came after a very long drought in Georgia which caused flooding in my basement along with many others here. It was fixed, I repainted and did my best to get it together. At the same time all of this was going on I was just entering the world of fabric design, buttons were being made, etc. My studio became too small or just not set up for what I needed anymore. I just focused on my away studio and left this one be.

It's been driving me crazy lately. I really want to have a nice sewing area, better storage, etc. Now if you haven't figured this out yet, I like to redo my studio more than most others probably do. It might seem flaky but really I think it's keeping things fresh, and most of all me inspired.

So here we go again. Wanna hang with me while I redo this one? and another one? Oh ya, big plans are starting to take shape here. I couldn't be more excited.

 

 Here's my official helper. If there is a lap she thinks she is supposed to be sitting in it and I was sitting on the floor to take this photo. Right now she's in my lap as I type this post. So first I cleared most of the room and then I found these snazzy and super cheap peel and stick tiles. And as of right now, I think it's the only thing I will be spending money on. The rest I can do with what I already have. Sometimes it's just about mixing it up.

Stay tuned for more,

Jennifer

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