Our new Queen bee and her groupies arrived today and of course you can never have this many females together and not have a little drama. This may be a long story so get some snacks ready.
My sample board of the cards for my Spots and Dots class. Sorry for the glare, I didn't take them out of the protective bags. I tentatively have the class schedule for Saturday May, 17 and 31. Once I get the green light I will post on my class schedule section. It was a fun class to put together and went much faster than it normally takes me.
I thought this was too funny as I was making the card this morning - stamper's humor. Toni (see my blog roll) posted a challenge to make a spinner card. I had to make one more card for my Spots and Dots class using some Penny Black stamps. As I was looking through my stamps to see if I had a front and back stamp (I don't) I saw my A Muse "aloha" stamp. Well if I remember correctly aloha means hello and good-bye. The Penny Black flower stamp look like a Hawaiian flower so I put the two together. I didn't even need my chocolate fix to figure it all out. Thanks for the inspiration Toni.
Another card for my "Spots and Dots" class. I used some of my new Copic pens. I know a lot of people just love them, but I'm still not sure if they are worth the price. They do work well but I also get good results with my SU and Marvy markers.
I've started designing for a new class - "Spots and Dots" last night during a creative slump.
Sample board of my Inkadinkado clear stamp cat class for Cranberry Hill in May. I think I will add a seventh card to the board.
My sample board for the new Cuttlebug class I will be teaching in May at Cranberry Hill. They look much better in person. :)
My sample board of the cards you will make in my Hero Arts background stamps class at Cranberry Hill. It feels like a long time since I've done a class! I made the cards on the simple side but really worked at adding different techniques to each of them. It was a little hard not to over embellish them, since I wanted to make sure you could still see the background stamps. I think I did all the card "rubber side" up which for beginners will be something new to try.
My very first guests into my new studio space were the "Cornflakes" - my card making group! It was a little chilly outside but once we got all the lights turned on it got very toasty. I now have to think of how I will cool the room down during the summer. No, I can't add AC - zoning issues. I did learn that I can't hear the door bell when I'm in the studio. I will have to fix that problem. 
This is the last thing Randy had to do for my studio. He custom made two steps out of oak (to match the flooring I have in my house) for the doors that lead out to the studio. We made them a little wider than normal to make a landing area. Randy said that he did all this "trick" wood working stuff and I didn't really appreciate all the detail that went into them when I started whine about going over budget. They had to be custom made since the floor and walls are not even. They did turn out really well and yes, Randy they are worth every penny.
Lucy has been acting like a bull dog when Randy and his crew were here working on my studio. She would stomp around yelling and stalking them. Randy installed the steps this morning and Lucy never took her eyes off him, even with the power tool going. She was so worked up that she wanted to roll Purrcy. Hopefully she will calm down now that my studio is done.
My sink is now in and working. We had several issues of finding the right size drain. Since it's from Germany, the hole is bigger than what it standard in the U.S. After that was done, Randy made a shelf for my mantle mirror. It's solid cast iron and made to sit on a fireplace mantel - it weighs a ton! There is a big bolt at the top to keep it from falling forward. At some point I will stain the shelf but I wanted to get the mirror up off the floor. Only thing left to install are my two door steps. Randy custom made them at his workshop but with the cooler weather it's taking longer for each vanish coat to dry. Hope to have them install in the morning.
This is Purrcy's favorite spot when I'm working in my inner studio. It's high enough he can see what's going on, not get stepped on and anyone passing by always gives him a ear rub. It's also right under one of the full spectrum lights so both Purry and Lucy like faux sunlight.
Since my inner studio is clean, I thought I would share some photos. Who knows when it will be this clean again! The large printer's cabinet holds all my loose stamps. People ask how I know where everything is. I work with my stamps everyday, so I just know what drawer to open. I got this printer's cabinet many years ago at a local auction house down in Pacific Grove. I haven't seen another this large since. Right across from that is my work table, were I design all my classes. After I have design the class, I go out to my new larger studio space and prep for the class. You can tell that I don't have many Stampin' Up sets for being a SU demo person. I sell off the old ones as soon as they are discontinued, since people can not longer purchase them. The only ones I keep are current. One of the best things I did was to mount two DVD holders from Ikea to the legs of my table to hold all my SU ink pads. I don't have any wall space in my inner studio so in creative moment I got out the drill. It has worked out great!
My son Chad is home on leave (currently serving in the Navy as an air flight crewman) for a month, before his squadron takes another tour of duty in the Middle East. This will be his fifth deployment and fourth time to the Middle East. We had planned to install a flat screen at some point out in the studio, so my husband could also use the room for his training session videos. Well, the boys went out and got one of those Play Station unit things and took over the studio space. The flat screen we ordered hasn't arrived yet, so one of Chad's buddies (Jon, a friend since kindergarten) had an extra high tech photo projector at home. Only in Silicon Valley do people have extra stuff like this sitting around. It's sort of what an over head/film projector use to do but now you can plug in your computer or in this case Play Station. You can make the screen as big as you want. Chad came bouncing into my inner studio space and said he was a really happy camper now. I asked that he stop "chewing" and I would be a happy camper too.
One more of the card I will do for my up coming classes at Cranberry Hill. It's a really simple design but it does take some time to make. All the Printwork images are cut out and pop dotted up. I love pop dots! It looks much better in person.
Another card for my upcoming Hero Arts Class. This is a really tame alter art look. Didn't want to make to "out there" and scare people away :) Bird is from AccuCuts.
One of the cards I will be doing for my next round of cards. Hero Arts came out with XL background stamps. This one is done on glossy paper with various inks rub on to make the background. I'm always inspired by Michelle Zindorf's use of this technique (multiple use of inks and shading) so I decided to include a card in one of my classes.
My studio is 99% done! There is a problem with the sink that I have (it's from Germany) not having all the hardware when I brought it. So, now I have to special order the parts. It's not a big deal and doesn't effect me from getting things moved in and filling up the drawers. Lucy and Purrcy thought it was their new play room and decided to play cat and mouse while I was moving things in last night. I have lots of nice comfy chairs for classes and crops. I still have the tables in the storage Pod, so they won't be in for another week or two. I did go over budget but it wasn't a total sticker shock. I told Randy (the contractor) that this remodel is my new car. :)
It's been a wild time at my house this week. We are finishing up the work (remodel) of my art studio and it's bee swarm season. We are on the call list for our local Bee Keepers Guild. When someone has a unscheduled bee swarm arrive in their yard, hopefully they call the Bee Guild to have them removed. Urban bee keepers (volunteers) come out and if it's a easy catch, will remove the bees and located them in a new beehive or a hive that needs more girls. The hive in the picture will be relocated to a new home up in the hills that has a wonderful lavender. 
I haven't done a lot of design work for my classes since the start of my studio remodel. Now that we are down to the last week and just the finishing work has to be done on the studio I can focus on my classes again. I'm planning on doing a "beyond the basics" class with the Cuttlebug embossing folders so I start playing around with different technique. I rubbed the ink several times over the whole embossing folder and when it came out of the machine, I was thrilled to see this alter art look. I didn't want to cover up the embossing so I picked the smallest sentiment I had.
I was given a GC to Borders a while back and I finally managed to get to the store last week. I thought I was going to just run in and pick up a copy the Take Ten magazine. I didn't find this issue all that interesting, so I wandered around the store. I ended up coming home with three books. Another cookbook on using slow cookers, a "what to do after college" book for my daughter and this book "House Lust". I was very surprised to find it to be a really entertaining read. It starts out a little slow but once I started I really didn't what to put it down. If you live in Silicon Valley you will totally relate to the book.
These are photos at the end of week 4 of my studio make over. There was a little drama over the floor but that issue has now been taken care of. During a weak moment at the beginning of this week, I said yes to having crown moulding put in. Randy (the contractor) said that this was the first time he ever put crown moulding in a garage. He had some left over from another job and wasn't charging me much to install it. It does look nice but after what I had to pay to get the new flooring in, I should saved my money. From the pictures of the floor, you can tell I have to do something!!! The lights, outlets and most of the trim work is done. Just a little more painting, finishing off the baseboards, installing the sink and I think we are done. Because my garage slants toward the street (they all do that), Randy will be building a base for my apothecary cabinet so it will be level in the garage. He will also make a valance to cover up the cables to the garage door.
I've done enough remodeling jobs to know that at some point something will come up not in the game plan. As Randy (the contractor) was getting ready to start prepping the floor, he noticed that it had been painted before. Now I know we talked about it and it didn't seem to be a problem at the start of the project. After some serious hours of research, I found out you can't epoxy over old paint. You have to start with a clean slat or in this case, clean cement. To do that now with 90% of the project done, I run the risk of messing up my walls. It could add another month to the project and could mean having to paint the walls again. O.K. I'm stressing and telling myself this was not a good time to cut back on my chocolate binges. At first I was going to just get porch paint and make big paint splash on the floor. That turned out to have some issues too, so I started looking for a flooring place that had something in stock and could be installed next week. After a long search I finally found a carpet store who will edge bind a low pile indoor/outdoor carpet to the size of my studio in the short time frame I'm working with.
This is the start of week 4. The final paint is going on the walls and the finish work will be done on Wednesday. I went with Home & Hearth for the walls and Shredded Wheat for the ceiling and skylights. I was told many years ago (during a very stressful remodeling project) that if I want the ceiling to look the same color but not make the sky light wells look too dark, to use half the amount of base color in the paint. Same color but just a lighter tone. From the pictures and in person you can't tell (unless you look really hard) that the walls and ceiling are two different color. Makes the room look like there is a lot of natural sunlight coming in from somewhere. The floor will be a light gray epoxy finish and hopefully be done by the end of the week. The weather has been a little on the cool side so it will take a little longer to dry.
This month my Stampin Up group (5 levels of upline people) will meet. We swap out card fronts at this meeting. The rules are that everything has to be from SU and something a customer can make in less than 5 minutes. Since I will be swapping with everyone (over 40 people) I go for a simple basic card. Not all the ladies follow the 5 minute rule, which is too bad. This card only takes a few minutes make, which would make a nice quick demo. Yes, I would have added rhinestones and a little touch from a Stardust pen, but SU doesn't carry those products.
It's now the end of week three for the work being done on my studio. The drywall guys just finished putting on the last texture coat - I can't remember what they call it and I don't speak Italian. Since most of the walls will be covered with art or display boards, it wasn't a big issue with me. Once I found out I couldn't get the texture I wanted in the time frame we are working with, I let them do what they thought was close. Overall it came out looking pretty good. I went with the light yellow tones - "Home & Hearth" for the walls, "Shredded Wheat" for the ceiling and skylights. I know most of the votes were for light green, but I had a dream of a barn made out of straw before I knew the lighter yellow was called shredded wheat. Since I will someday have a studio/loft in a converted barn, I took it as a sign to go with the soft yellow tones. Randy will start the painting and finish work on the walls, then the floor will get done. After that the sink and floor trim goes in. So far things are right on schedule.
Happy Dance time! The dry wall guys are back and started taping the walls this afternoon. We had high hopes that it would be done by now but I'm just happy it will be done by the end of the week. Once the taping is done the texture stuff will be put on by hand. The guys are so funny when I show them what I wanted done to the walls. They are Italian (first language) and they gave my contractor the look of "you've got a crazy lady here". Since most of the walls will be covered with art, I gave in and went with a normal light texture coat. Hopefully the painting will get started on Friday.
Visiting Michelle Zindorf's blog everyday, I'm getting inspired to try more background color blending. I had to make some sympathy cards for my card rack this morning and I wanted them to be quick. I added the thin paper curl to make the front a little more interesting. My Genesis paper cutter can cut just a hair off card stock so I started to use those shavings like ribbon on the other cards. It's surprising how strong the paper ribbon is. If I get time I will post those photos.
