7 Layer Studio

Spring Has Sprung

 
My favorite thing(s) about Spring are the flowers!

 
So of course I was thrilled to see the daffodils and jonquils bloom in my yard.  Then Steve brought home these lovely red tulips for our anniversary, and it was a perfect punch of color for a springtime bouquet!

 

The delicate beauty of even the tiniest details are amazing.
 

 
I love how the light shines through the papery thin petals...translucent elegance at its best.

 

 

Bet you can practically hear the birds singing.  Happy Spring, everyone, and if springtime hasn't come your way yet, may it grace your world soon!

Am I Sounding Like A Broken Record Yet?

 
Soon...soon...soon I will be done and can start making projects to post about...

Holy Macaroni this has been a long and drawn-out process!  It doesn't help when I keep changing my mind about the wall color.  Or when I change the lights from incandescent to bright white and my lovely, soft greyish aqua turns positively pale turquoise.  Ack!  What a distressing realization that was.  But since I had already painted 3 coats on those walls, I'm done.  Too bad those new floodlights were so crazy expensive ($8 each, and there are 12 lights) or I'd switch them out.  I wanted the bright white for accurate color when I work on projects, but I sure like the warmer lights better. 

 

ANYWAY, at least I finally have the crown molding up!  I was able to cut and install the shorter pieces by myself, but after hanging one long 12 footer on my own, I decided to wait until Steve could help me hold the pieces up.  Things went much faster after that!  I've decided that I will never pursue crown moulding installation as a career.  The cutting part isn't bad (it's actually fun) but all the patching, caulking, and careful painting is irritatingly time consuming - it took 3 or 4 days in my spare time just to do the crown molding and paint the walls!  I'm probably just on edge because I have so many more things to do other than this, but until "THIS" is done I can't do much else.

 
So I will continue to smash and chip away the tile in the adjoining bathroom (which still has to be gutted, but we're not going there yet) so the studio flooring can continue on into that space, and...

 

...patch all the huge gouges in the cement floor (I have no idea why the floor looks like a pock-marked war zone, but it sure does) so I can lay the flooring down, install floorboard trim, and be done already!  Our handyman friend can come install the doors after the floor is in, and then I can trim them out and paint all the doors, and THEN I can finally put the room together.  You've heard it a million times, I know, but we really are getting closer -- I promise.

I promise....I promise.....I promise.....

 

The Post Which Spans 2 Holidays, Some More Jewelry, and a Studio Update

 
Goodbye, Valentine's Day.  I never did finish photographing things for Heart Day, but it's time to move on.

 

There's always next year.  By then not only my studio, but the entire basement will be finished, and hopefully the dilapidated master bathroom will be gutted and reconfigured by then too.  That depends on how much income I generate this year though.  Anything's a step up from nearly zero!  :-)

 
Speaking of my studio, here's a current update of things!  After spending so much time and effort on redoing the wiring, which took several weeks, we decided (meaning I requested and Steve finally agreed) to go ahead a hire somebody to do the sheetrock for my studio area.  There just isn't enough time for us to be fooling around with sheetrock when I have such a tight timeline for everything.  I've GOT to get my studio back in order so I can find things I need to work on the huge pile of projects coming up.  The ceiling should be retextured tomorrow, and then I get to paint the walls and ceiling, patch the gouges in the cement floor, install the flooring, put up crown molding and baseboard trim, install the built-in storage system on the far wall, and move all my stuff back in.  Oh - and paint the doors once they get installed.  Piece o' cake, right?  Right.

 

In the meantime, St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner!

 
 
So of course I had to deck out my dining room in green.

 
That's a styrofoam ball, cut in half, with moss hot-glued to it, in case you were wondering.

 

I have just one each of these darling plates (wouldn't they look so good en masse on a big table?) so before I put them up on the wall I had to take these shots.

 

I just love graphic patterns put together in fun ways.  Not that you would have ever noticed.

 
 
They finally made it up on the Wall O' Plates...

 
...and I had to sneak some blue in there because I didn't have enough green plates.  Close enough.

 
Making jewelry, I've discovered, is addictive.

 

Hello, my name is Shelley, and I'm addicted to making jewelry when I should be working on my patterns. 

At least I'm almost done constructing my booth for QuiltMarket!  Just have to do a few final things and then paint it.

 

Just one more piece....just one more...

How can I help it when I still have leftover beads?  Can't just let them languish in a box forever.

 

I made this set as 3 separate necklaces that I can wear independently, or for a more dramatic look, combine 2 or 3 strands together.  Way too much fun.  Now I want to make a similar set with charcoal-colored "pearls"...wouldn't that be lovely?  Oh, the possibilities.  But... Earth to Shelley....time to get back on track.  Maybe next week.  Or 2 months from now.  Depends on how soon I get my studio whipped into shape and when my fabric comes in!  Hopefully I'll have good news about both of those things soon.