My New Studio Space

Hello Lovelies!

 

As many of you know,we just recently moved, which meant packing, packing,packing!And Unpacking! 

Quite frankly, I didn't think I would ever get through all of our things, and to be honest, ( I am still working on this process...) but, it has been such a delight, to have a new space to decorate and display all of our treasures.

For some reason, everything just looks better in the new place, than it did before. Strange how that works.

 

Me and the Mister have been working hard at getting my studio put together.

YAY!!! 

I just realized the other day, that I have not created art since November of 2013. OMGoodness! Hard to believe. How does this time go by so quickly?

It's more challenging these days, to just jump in, and blast through a project like we used to do. And, before, we didn't have a little one to care for, or schedules. Just 2 fur babies. But now it is so very different, since were given the gift of caring for Little Ms. Mae.

So... you just do it when you can, bit by bit until you get there. This has been the most difficult thing for me. I am an instant satisfaction kind of gal... so I guess the lesson for me to learn, is to slow down and be ok with that.

(This lesson too, I am working on.)

 

I just cannot hardly contain myself, with getting my space back.

It's hard to explain, not having this creative space.

It's like I have had my wings clipped, and now I am beginning to fly again. I can't wait to share some of this new little treasured space with you.

The fun challenge, is that this space underwent quite the transformation from the dark cold garage it once was. And though it's not perfect, it's perfectly perfect to me! This was the scary Garage room BEFORE. Yikes!!!

 

 

I came up with this interesting idea to adress one of the walls in the space.
You see... this wall is actually the garage door, on the back side. It really needs to be taken out completely, and turned into part of the existing house, but, since we are in a rental, and it's the rainy springtime here in Oregon, We just made do. Hence the phrase,

 "Do what you can, where you are, with what you have."

 

Anyways, back to what I started saying about this wall...There are no studs in this wall except on the ends, so I  needed something intersting and pleasing to the eye. So, as I stood on the ladder painting one evening, it came to me... what about burlap???

Why not???

 It's light weight and easy to apply with spray adhesive, and I think it would look amazing. By George that's it!

 

So what do you think??? 

 

 

 

 

 

A nice way to organize all my vintage seam bindings and misc. was to hang this shoe organizer over the unsightly furnace, and it can be easily accessible with the see through mesh pockets.

 

I added some vintage cream, cotton lace, under the chairrail trim to finish it off. And you know what? I couldn't be happier with the results. It's coming along nicely. Still have a bit to go on getting it all organized, and polishing up the rough spots. But it's a start. :)

 

 

 

 

Speaking of using what you have.. The paint color in this space,I could not exactly say what the color is, as we used up 5 partial gallons of paint that were leftovers from our other house, that varied from shades of cream to tan, and mixed them all together into a 5 gallon bucket. The newly made color, came out a lovely straw color. All in all, a win win. Now I am 5 cans lighter that I have to recycle! :)

 

Now, all I need to do is fit all of my stuff in here, right?

This space is about 1/2 the size of the old spare bedroom that once was my studio.

I can do it!  

I think the finished measurment is 13' x 8'. Pretty tiny, but I have no complaints.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's been like Christmas ,opening up boxes of my favorite happy precious things...

 

Lots more to do, I will get there.

It will be fun to share the progess, and hopefully I have it finished before Christmas. "Snicker..." Seriously. I hope to be settled soon, and I shall be quite happy here.

 

Take Care..

~Susan Xo

 

 

 

 

 



Happy Valentines Day!

Hello Lovelies,

 

Just wanted to wish you all a

 

Happy Valentines Day!!!

 

I have a lovely collection of Vintage Valentines Cards, however, they are all still boxed up. Just  waiting for the completion of my studio. Hopefully that day will come soon.

 

I soooo miss making pretty things, it's been such a long time since I had glue and glitter all over my hands.

 

I have started patching holes, and texturing the walls in that space, so with lots of luck, I'll be moving my treasured things in real soon.

 

 

I have been really enjoying the new kitchen here at the new house, lots of counter space, and great for baking and cooking all kinds of yumminess.

Mr. Sweetness, certainly doesn't mind being the taste testing, guinea pig. LOL!

 

Last week we celebrated Mr.'s Birthday. I started the morning off with a lovely mushroom and spinach Quiche.

 

I was really having a craving for mushrooms, so I left them big, and sautéed them first with a dab of onion. Added spinach, ham, and mozzarella cheese.

I also used a bisquick biscuit crust.

Turned out Yummmm! 

For dinner, I made a fabulous seafood bisque. It was superb!

I may have told you the story of our deep love for bisque before, but we certainly do love it! We drive 140 miles for bisque at one of our favorite restaurant's. And this recipe comes as close as I have ever had. So needless to say... blissful heaven.





I will share the recipe for this delicious bisque if you want to give it a try... It's wonderful.

 

~Seafood Bisque~

 

1 pkg. imitation crab flakes

1/2 lb. fresh salad shrimp

1 can cream of celery soup

1 can cream of asparagus soup

1tsp.chicken bullion

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. Marjoram

1/2 cup onion

1/2 tsp. parsley ( I used fresh)

1 tbsp. Pepper

1 Tsp. butter

5 cups milk

 

Sautee onions in butter until clear, add condensed soup with milk and add dry ingredients.

Constantly stir for 20 minutes, not letting it boil. And that's it!

Super easy, Super meaty, and Super yummy!!!

We paired a few lobster tails with the soup, for a little something extra. 

 

 

And to celebrate today's day of Love...

 

 

Strawberry Cheesecake cupcakes!!!

We had some help from baby Kaia Mae too.

She was the cheerleader for this festive occasion.

 

 

 

 

She love shaking that bottle of red-hot's like a rattle. I think at one point, red-hot's were hitting the ground as fast as the dog was eating them up. We all seemed to get into the decorating of these cupcakes.

They did turn out delicious.

 I just hope some of our friends help us eat them all.

 I certainly don't need more than.... maybe 2.

Tee Hee. :)

 

Meanwhile, my days are filled with lots of baby love...

 

 

 How do you celebrate Valentines Day? Do you go out, stay in, or have any special traditions? I would love to know.

Until next time Take care, and Have a Beautiful Day!!!

~Susan Xo







 

 





Hello Again....I'm Back!!!

Hello Lovelies!

I have missed you... seem like so long ago since I last blogged, I have my hands full.

We got moved... well almost.

Lots going on ... Lots to share...

 You see...

As of October 4th we have been blessed with the full time care of our granddaughter Kaia Mae.

Mom's taking care of a few things right now, and having some difficulties.

Little Kaia Mae needed us.

When she came to us, she was just 3 1/2 months old. And with her coming, so did the questions.

Can I really do this? Am I capable? Am I physically able? And the most important question of all, what will happen to her if we don't.

I could not have imagined my life with a baby, now at this age. We were empty nesters prior to her coming, for the past few years.

 

Enjoying the fruits of life, and it's many splendors.

 

Things are so very different for us now...

Joyful moments and snuggles, the sounds of a baby cooing, and crying at times, in the background, and seeing life's many splendors through her eyes, and the joy these little moments bring to her, seeing these things for the first time.

It is pretty amazing.

I still have lots of things to do, it just takes a little longer to complete now, and my days are pretty full, and so is my heart.

 

I will admit, some days are extremely challenging, and I wonder if I have the patience for all of this, and then, on most days, they are filled with fun, and making some wonderful memories.

I will just enjoy each moment I can with her, while we have her.

 

You know....Sometimes, life just has a way of making things interesting for all of us.

 

We can't prepare for it, it just is God's plan for us right now, and that's all I know.

And all I can do, is the best I can do.

 

 

Meanwhile...

Construction projects are still taking place in the new place, was hoping to be completed before we moved in, but, remodeling a whole house in 30 days is a little wild. Thanks goodness for Mr. sweetness and our good friends, that made it possible for us to at least get in 12 days before Christmas. So we will continue hammering it all out as we go.

It's a small little house, though a little bigger than our previous home.

It's cozy, and getting more comfortable, the more we add ourselves to it.

It has been quite the transformation indeed.  It's not a fussy perfect house, just simple, comfortable, and "lived in. "

I think the house was built sometime in the 1940's.

We kept the upper cabinets, and added some hardware pulls to the fronts, and added a nice crown molding to the tops, to spruce them up a bit. I still need to decorate that area above the cabinets. I'm sure I have stuff to do that. Hee Hee. :)

Ohhh! And do you notice, we have a dishwasher now! It's been at least 15 years since I had a dishwasher. I feel like a princess!

The bottom cabinets are new, and give me wonderful storage for all my stuff. And gosh... I have a lot of stuff!

Do you really need 5 styles of cake pans, two kinds of muffin pans, and various other sizes of pans, cookie sheets, electric skillets, waffle irons, fancy electric cookie makers, quiche pans, tart pans, and the list goes on... LOL! Geez.

Well... at least I have a place for it now.

We just couldn't believe how we had all that stuff in the world's tiniest kitchen we had before.

 

Here's a quick shot of the work in progress kitchen. " Don't pay attention to the boxes, and construction supplies on the counter." lol! Still adding our baseboards to the room too.

 

I love the space, it's twice the size of our other place. The bar is a reconstruct, repurpose project we are working on, soon, it will have bead board on the ends, and our tile will be done too. I will do another post of some of the work projects at a later time.

 

 

I LOVE the floors!

They are soft and warm, and feel great on your feet. :)

 

The room has such great light!



 

 

These are a few oils that my mother painted in her High School art class. I LOVE them!

 Tonka likes it too!

 

 

I have tons of boxes hidden behind the shutters until I can get to them. :)

"Don't mind the baby blanket and the boxes in this shot. "

 



 

 

 I will snap a few more of the bedroom and the bathroom, once we finish those projects up, and they are worthy of a photo! Ha!

 

Here is some of the "before" house pics.

Yikes!!!!

kitchen...

 

 



living room...

bedroom...

 All those old heaters had to be torn out and tons of drywall and floor work.

 

The icky Bathroom...

Laundry Room...

The floor had rotted through and a new subfloor had to be put in.

You can see the funky blue ahead... that will be my studio.

Someday..... sigh.

 

CRAZY!

Cardboard ceilings, really?

It amazes me how some people live. There was someone living up there in the attic space.

I don't think the people here before us EVER cleaned. Pretty gross.

But, with a vision, lots of elbow grease and  new materials... it's coming along nicely, I think.

We have a very large back yard. I have plans for a garden this spring, and we will be putting in a concrete patio. Right now, it's very plain. But we will fix that, once the weather gets nicer.

Well, I enjoyed sharing our new space with you, I promise I will share more soon.

Until then, Enjoy every moment, and Have a Beautiful Day!

Hugs,

Susan Xo