Where I Create....

"Any day is the perfect time

to begin getting

organized,"

I say.

It's Party Time!!

Yes....the party day is finally here. I reorganized a majority of my creative space like an absolute man woman yesterday. I am not the neatest "picker-upper," so I had to devote a little time to share with less embarrassment.

I really appreciate Karen linking all of us to her blog. This is going to be even more awesome than last year. I can't wait to start visiting you all.

I got my studio about the time my daughter, Amy, moved out of the house to get married. I just never had the time or the energy to plan and organize my vast stockpile of goodies and then organize a space to actually say, "I have a room of my own!"

I had a desk that was a complete disaster. We bought it at a garage sale when I first got married, so it required about a week of stripping and staining and then varnishing. I am really quite proud of that accomplishment. Then I switched the rug shown here from my family room. This carpet is so much fun! I ordered posters from Shutterfly and framed them in poster frames. I can't seem to part with my magazines. I have Somerset issues from 1998!!

My husband, Chuck, tackled painting one wall my favorite shade of green. Then he built shelves to store my books, finished projects, and other doo dads. I sewed my own curtains to cover the tiny basement windows. There is so much I would like to do someday.

Because I have a lot of interest in sewing, knitting, and paper arts, here are a few photos of my work areas. Due to taking the KC Willis Collage Camp, my sewing machine was pulled out of the closet and I organized a sewing table near the back of my room.

Actually, I would love to own a cupboard to store my yarn. And I need another cabinet to store my rubber stamps with a little style. One of my future goals is to own a huge "inspiration board."

So today, here is my space. I wish I could really have you stop over and play with me. I love seeing all the talent and inspiration from all of you. I just love visiting everyone.

It may take me a while to visit all of you. I want to really fine tune my room so I can be truly proud of it.

Thanks, Karen for this great idea of opening every one's home and viewing our creative spaces. I am thrilled to be included.

Art Mail Envelopes

Back in the 90's, I often used to make handmade envelopes. I find creating these envelopes very stimulating! They are unusual, fun, and amusing subjects often appear in your artwork. Even now, I like to use old calendars, larger magazines, thick-paged catalogs, and even use those scrapbook papers that come in those huge paper pads that are just sitting around with not-so-lovely designs.

Envelope milling is a great way to recycle something that otherwise would be tossed aside as trash, but with a keen imagination you can create something "environmentally friendly" and beautiful.

By giving yourself a stash of envelopes that you have carefully made, you will find so many ways and reasons to use them. Can you imagine mailing a letter to a friend in a special envelope that may even bring yourself to correspond the old-fashioned way?

These pink envelopes with note cards were on sale at our local craft store, but these amazing royalty free decorative borders were purchased at Angela Harris' inspirational YourAngil Etsy shop. I love visiting her beautiful blog and her tags are just too cool.

It will be fun to find an old magazine at a garage sale and know that the work of its photographers and illustrators will longer be destined for the trash can. Your envelopes will be enjoyed and admired by you and their lucky recipients.

I have three templates. A note card size, a personal letter size, and then a business letter size. A very useful book called "The Envelope Mill" by Haila Harvey introduced me to this obsession of creating art mail envelopes. I am not sure if it is out of print, but possibly you can find a copy from Amazon or Ebay. Or, just make your own template to plastic.

In her book, she lists more than 50 ways to use your hand-crafted envelopes, including a handmade stationery set, reminder notes, coupon keepers, bank statement holders, recipe mailers, and trading card keepers.

Great magazines to get you started could be Victoria (wish I never threw mine away now), Vanity Fair, Veranda, Vogue, Food & Wine, National Geographic and those gorgeous Neiman Marcus catalogs at Christmas. Once you start making envelopes, the number of subscriptions may suddenly increase! Plus, you may never have to actually buy an real envelope again!

I think it would be fabulous to make a stash of envelopes by making color copies of my favorite magazines. You may need to line the inside to make them sturdier though. I would suggest spray adhesive on two pieces of paper, press the sticky sides together, and then drawing the template design on the two-paper thickness.

With a little pre-planning, I would love to make envelopes from photos of places I have visited, and then mail them from a vacation spot from where I may be sitting! A picture is worth a thousand words, or even a thousand miles.

Have fun!!

Nancy