Blast from the past

Well, I managed to dig up some oldie moldie photographs from about 20 years ago!  I mention in my About page how I grew up going to craft fairs with my mom and grandma.  We made all sorts of things back then.  My mom made afghans, berets, baby sweaters and booties, among a whole ton of other things.  My grandma did a lot of plastic canvas.  I also mentioned how I was making paper beads before they were cool.  😉  Well, lo and behold, I actually have a couple pictures of those beads.  Here they are on the top shelf in this photo.   They were made from wallpaper.  I would go beg the wallpaper suppply stores for their old sample books that were headed for the trash.  They were kind enough to let me have them.  I remember I had a lot.  It made for a very wide selection of colors.

Handmade Stuffed Animals from the early 90’s

What’s amazing to me about this picture is how I totally forgot that I used to make those stuffed animals!  That was kind of a pain trying to sew through that fur.  (Plus I’m sure I broke a few sewing needles.)  And I have to laugh when I see the basket on the bottom shelf.  My mom used to make cobweb dusters that you put on the end of a broomstick.  It was a knit or crochet (not sure) “sleeve” with a pompon on the end.  We got a lot of “what are these?” questions when people would pick them up to examine them.  Let your mind wander to the gutter for a moment and you’ll realize it could double as a sock for a you-know-what.

After the stuffed animals and paper beads, I moved on to cross stitch and that was my focus for quite a while.  Here are a just a couple of the pieces I had done.  The top one was a wedding sampler that I would personalize after purchase.  This photo was taken at a booth we had at a craft mall in Greenfield, WI.  Eventually I learned how to cut my own mat boards so I could finish my pieces on my own vs. having to go to a gallery or craft store and have them do it.

I apologize for the blurriness…the original photo wasn’t so good!

Cross-stithced pieces I made in the 90’s

Oh and here I am in my tye-dyed looking MC Hammer pants (thank God you can hardy see them, what was I thinking, and I wore those things a LOT!) and a horrid never, ever, EVER again perm.   And of course I’m standing proudly in front of my wallpaper beads.  🙂

Stop! Hammer Time! Here I am a craft fair back in the 1990’s

Hey!  I have that red ribbon bonnet pin cushion on my beading table right this very moment – so some of these things have stood the test of time!

Oh the good ol’ days!  I have no idea what happened to all of those beads, either.  What didn’t sell probably ended up in the trash.    One of these days I’ll try the same concept with copper sheet….not having to get my fingers all sticky and gross with glue is a plus.

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A Glimpse Inside My Studio…

Here’s the first installment of a Glimpse Inside My Jewelry Studio

I will try to post these periodically to give you the inside scoop of what a jewelry designer’s studio is all about.  I’ll warn you now, it’s sometimes pretty out of control.  Viewer discretion is advised.  😉

A jewelry designer’s studio tends to get a little crazy.  When that creative mood strikes, it takes over and organizing and straightening up usually fall to the wayside.  In March of 2013 I decided my jewelry studio needed an overhaul and I’m pleased to share with you the results. (And yes, that’s a cat litter box you see in the photo…the cat and I “share” a room because we have a dog (that the cat doesn’t like) and dogs will eat ANYTHING if you know what I mean.  Plus, it’s a rather horrific experience chasing him around the house with it in his mouth.  EWW!  Having to account for space for the cat’s things provides a challenge as space is a premium with all the stuff I have in this room!)

My old jewelry table setup (top left) was a little precarious.  I was afraid my hubby may find me buried under it one day if I wasn’t careful when I went to take something out.

My NEW jewelry table  is still organized in my “climbing up the wall” fashion.  But this time it’s a lot more stable!  I used white closet organizer cabinets and cubes (I’m a pro at assembling those suckers now!) so at least now I’ve got one unified color scheme and not a mish mosh of things I scrounged up.   This area is always a work in progress, however.  After I started working at the new table, which is several inches higher than the previous one, I needed a new chair (bye bye green electric company office chair, you’ve served me and Miss Kitty well) .  I also realized that my setup didn’t allow for a whole lot of work space, so it has actually been rearranged since then and it’s working out much better.   Also, shortly after my big jewelry studio reorg happened, I got into working with metals and soldering and realized I didn’t have enough room to fit that in.  So I added a “penninsula”  to expand.

And as a side note, seeing these photos of my nicely organized, clean studio is making me feel really guilty about what a mess it’s in right now.  But not guilty enough to make me go clean it.  😉