Friday, April 27, 2012

MESSY WORKSHOP BLOGHOP!

Wow.. a hop that was seemingly made just for me :D
 Brenda Sue Lansdowne of B'Sue Boutique has organized this little hop, to show everyone that the picture perfect, everything-in-its-place, neat-as-a-pin workshop or studio... is a RARE thing  among us creative types :) And she's gathered 50 blogs to share photographic proof of their messy work spaces :)

For the record, I don't, or at least haven't up to this point, sold any of my jewelry. I make it for gifts and for myself :) I've always 'planned' on getting around to selling it... just ... you know... darn procrastination... ;) I'd also like you to know, that I have no one living with me to help contribute to my mess ( or blame it on), aside from two cats who make enough of their own mess, and one bird who is even messier than I am ;)

I found out about this just in time since I about to rearrange and reorganize and *gasp*clean, so I quickly grabbed my camera and started snapping. 

I would also like to thank Brenda sue for not making the 'clean' workshop a part of this... because I never did actually get around to finish cleaning.. or even really putting everything away.... I had it about half way done... you could see carpet and even some desk... really.... However...I got working again >.< O.o  As a matter of fact,  the place looks pretty much the same aside from the addition of a new cabinet on one wall to store some of my non-beading supplies, my buttons, my stereo.. and my new Boba Fett talking helmet ... :) ( hehehe... I'm going to take the stereo out and put my remote control R2D2 beside the helmet... lol ).

So... here is MY messy workshop :D

So.. first off, here is the desk, with the cheep-o cardboard 'cabinet' there ( the blue and white thing lol ). Jammed in those drawers were my envelopes, tissue paper, customs forms, bubble wrap, fake flowers, material, paints.... crap I don't remember what else... lol
 There's a press board cabinet beside facing the other way tucked under the desk  that is over flowing with papers, binders... more bubble wrap... and non-beading stuff. 
studio workshop chaos mess piles  crafting

Those bright orange things are collapsible storage boxes full of ... bits of everything from nail polish, to second hand beads and found objects, to craft supplies that never got put away... to gift bags, tissue paper... and more bubble wrap. Same goes for that box sitting there... you can see my little black mini drawer units that now house.. about half my buttons, lined up along the bottom of the desk, plus one stuck in the box there.
And of course... the mountains of stuff ON TOP of the desk...note that tray that looks like it's about to slide right off... I have three of those, plus a couple wooden ones. That one, is balanced on top of the one wooden one... and I believe one other white one. For those who know me and my love of skulls, the trays have pictures of skulls on them... beneath the beading mat, anyhow ;) 
And many more assorted drawer units jammed full of stuff, trays and containers and dishes full of beads and findings that never got put away... and my drill :D


Close up on the precariously stacked desk stuff...
desk pile junk beads crafting

 Here the side with one tray full of.. everything. On that tray I have a painters palette still holding beads I received from .. the fourth BSBP...? Yeah... the one in September :) Plus there's some stuff form my Talk Like A Pirate Day Challenge littered in there, along with some reclaimed beads and second hand jewelry I plan to tear apart and remake. That black thing is a double sided carry case I picked up at the dollar store for when I wanted to take craft stuff with me on the go...it's still there. Oh, no..I'm sorry.. it's migrated to the floor now >.< And no, it's not yet a 'carry case' .. it's just random storage, still.  On top is a basket... one of my former bead storage baskets, that  was holding a.. pack of ..hmm... think that was something I was using to make a mobile for someone... don't remember now. Whatever it was...I seem to have put it away... not sure WHERE, but... it's moved somewhere else , anyhow.   you can also see  a hint of the crap I have jammed in beneath the desk in behind the two storage cabinets there >.<

And for those wondering WHY I have a box of bird gravel on my desk... my bird Jo's cage used to sit just to the right there... where my big cabinet is now standing. Jo is out in the kitchen where he can go to bed whenever he wants and not get mad at me for having the light on.... for a little tiny bird, he has a very loud, ear-shattering squawk.

trays projects mess tools beads

Close up # 2 ... my 'almost work area' ... my computer monitor is just to the left, with the ONLY .. semi.. clear spot on my entire desk. THAT is where I work. I have a huge three corner desk, with tons of space ( once I clean up) .. and I work on a tiny little area by my mouse pad :)

Anyways,  there's tray #2 balanced on top of trays #3 & 4... the wooden one, #3, is hidden completely beneath it :)

You can also see some of my bead containers .. most of which are sorted by color... but there are a few that are bits of everything because...I had an empty spot and new beads so...tada :) I'll sort 'em out later ;)  Yeah that's nail polish .. and no, those two salt and pepper shakers don;t have anything in them.. beads wise or spice wise. I got them to see about moving some of my seed beads into them but.... too much room in the jars... makes me sad to see how empty they look... and I seriously don;t need to buy more seed beads to fill them up.


heart necklace fly wings

For those wondering, the top tray is holding my , then 'still in the works' FlapYour Wings project, with various extras and ideas .. and tools.  Here's is the finished product that came out of that mess .
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Alright.. so... how about the big picture?
studio desk mess chaos crafting
 The full view. 



... and yeah.... it still pretty much looks like that....  see...?

desk mess chaos studio beads crafting

Difference being... the big orange box is mostly emptied .. and there's now a 'still in progress' mask perched on top of my one beading mat... on top of a blue shawl.. on top of ..something.. on the one trays :D Oh, and there's an ugly chair sitting there stacked with stuff too...I had to move it from where it was and...I have no clue where it'll end up... just... not there lol

the cardboard drawers there, now hold JUST my mailing supplies.



storage stereo crafting supplies glass mugs Boba Fett



And here's the cabinet I told you about... with Boba :D  In addition to the assorted craft crap inside, the button drawers are there.. well.. four of them, right above Boba and the stereo. That white thing is a 'skull' bag someone crocheted for me as a gift... it's holding my fancy yarns and stuff. The others shelves currently hold my Batman, Xmen, & StarWars mugs & glasses... And up on top by that white cat...are two Animal mugs.. you know.. from the Muppets.. cause Animal is too awesome to have just ONE mug :D





So there you have it... MY Messy workshop :)  It's actually half my living room ( That's my fishtank tucked in the corner there on the left... I kill fish almost as fast as I kill plants, but mom gave me some guppies... and of course, now that I'd like to take the tank down and forget about having fish.. the little buggers not only refuse to die.. they're multiplying like crazy >.< )

Oh... and for the record... my bedroom is MUCH worse ;)

Visit some of the others and see THEIR messy work areas... I bet I'm the messiest ;) I wonder if there's a prize for that ... ? lol

MESSY WORKSHOP BLOG PARTICIPANTS
Brenda Sue Lansdowne
Robin Delargy:
Kim at Cianci Blue
Jennifer Jazwick-Smith
Mary Shannon Hicks
Tracy Swartz
Jacqueline Marchant
Lynnea Perry Bennett
Terry Matusyk
Laurel Steven
Dr. Brassy Steamington
Pamela Takeshige
Kris Lanae Binsfeld
Outre Art
Linzi Alford
Deb Davis
Tamara Jones
Harry Wood
Gerry Nickerson
Elizabeth Owens-Dwy
Georgene Lockwood
Charisa Sloper
Jennifer Justman
Beanzie
Mary Deis
Cheri Reed
Sondra Kolner
Sonya Ingersoll-Stille
Lori Anderson
Sandra McGriff     <- YOU ARE HERE
Shelly Joyce
Joan Williams
Kashmira Patel
Deb Beechy
Ginger Bishop
Kelli Jacobson
Natalie McKenna
Andrew Thornton
Mary Govaars
Kate Mulligan
Lisa Lodge
Tami Luchini
Monique Lula
Lee Koopman
Jayne Capps
Susan Lloyd
Cynthia Wainscott
Stephanie Amanti
Alicia Marinache
Sam Hamp
Lennis Carrier

50 comments:

  1. A REAL workshop! Bird gravel and cats! Too funny!

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    1. the more I try to organize and clean.. the messier it gets! lol

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  2. Now this space I can relate to. I like your jewelry too.

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    1. ty :D Everyone knows I'm messy. They expect a mess when they're brave enough to come over... if I have enough warning, I tidy...I long for the day when I can just close the door to hide this mess ;) lol

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  3. Isn't it amazing that such beautiful things come out of our chaotic spaces?

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    1. I seriously doubt it's actually possible to do much creating in clean spaces... where would your inspiration come from? Where do you get the ideas except from the piles of color around you? lol

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  4. LOL, you are my hero! You dared to show the ugly stacked chair! I did not show mne!

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    1. that ugly chair is the only chair that survived my ex. I've replaced all the other chairs simply because he broke them all.. he was a rather large man with a thing for plopping down heavily into furniture... rather wish he'd killed that one too >.< lol In my defense for buying the ugly chair in the first place... it was cheap and it wasn't like it had a long life ahead of it... or.. was supposed to have a long life ahead of it >.< I used to cover the back of it with a pillow case so you couldn't see it ;) lol

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  5. My bedroom is much worse too. Too funny. Gorgeous flap your wings necklace. Thanks for letting us see your space. Bead on.

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    1. I have one closet in my entire apartment... so half my bedroom is storage... and the closet and dressers keep growing outwards with piles of clean laundry that doesn't seem to want to put itself away so I can spend my time beading ;)

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  6. oh goodness you DO have quite a mess! LOL But how GENEROUS you were to share it with us, as well as the creative things that emerge from the chaos. That's what it's all about! And I think many of us will find it so comforting to know that we all seem to struggle with disarray and are doing a great job of things, despite it!

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    1. I think we create so well BECAUSE of our messes :) Seeing everything mixed in or close together is what catching our eye and makes us reach for those beads and put them together ;)

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  7. My husband just voted your blog as the best. It had nothing to do with the Batman, Xmen, & StarWars. Really, it didn't..... :) ~ Brassy

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    1. hehehe I'll have to do a photo day and put up pictures of my R2D2, the lightsaber I made... maybe even me in my Jedi outfit with the fx'd pose and all :) Maybe I'll even wash the little NightCrawler doll I made about a decade ago and give him a photo shoot too :D Plus..I just found my box of XMen toys at my mom's place, so I totally need to clean them up and set them up... think they're going to be taking over the rest of the shelf space on that cabinet :D

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  8. I enjoyed reading this post. Thank you for sharing. Though Animal was a close second my fav is Gonzo.

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    1. gonzo was alright... but Animal and Sweetums were always my faves :D My mom is strictly a Kermit girl... as a matter of fact, that's her screen name .. Kermie-girl :D hehehe

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  9. I enjoyed your post!

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    1. ty :) thanks for not tripping over my mess while you looked around ;) lol

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  10. All the best craft rooms have a cat or two in them. (just my opinion :)) I don't feel so bad about my mess now. Mine is so bad right now I can't even close the door to hid it.

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    1. My livingroom/studio door doesn't close either, but that's due to the extension cord that goes through it to plug into the outlet in the hall>.<

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  11. I really liked your blog post. I like the winged necklace you made.

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  12. You're braver than I am - I somehow managed not to take pictures of the floor where I also have stacks like yours! :)

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    1. Well.. you didn't get to see the floor under the computer part of the desk... or behind the far arm between it and my fishtank... and there was no close up of the piles of stuff jammed between the shelves under the middle and side of the desk ... lol

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  13. I like the Necklace you made, so beautiful!, and I can relate to your mess, your workshop and mine could be twins!, well now I cleaned mine, but that won't last long...

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    1. I cleaned mine.. then i messed it again... then I started to clean it and got distracted with making a new mess... then I got some new containers and started to organize and clean... and got distracted again, leaving an even bigger mess then before... I see a trend ..O.o hmmm lol

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  14. Love the necklace! Man, it's nice to see someone else is actively working on perfecting her Creative Crap Stacking - it is an art, dangit! :-)

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    1. it is! It's amazing how tall and tilted you can get a stack if you work at it ;) lol As long as you don't bump the desk... or have your cats go insane and start bouncing off the furniture... :D lol

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  15. Love the necklace and WOW you've got a lot going on there! :) I should have taken more snaps of my work area... it really isn't all THAT neat. ;) Thanks for visiting and sharing! Warmly, Tracy

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    1. I'm a multi-crafter lol My canvases for painting are jammed between the cheep-o cabinet and the desk drawer, too... forgot to mention them lol the problem with my mess.. is I get inspired to work on something then... keep seeing other things I 'really should finish' while searching for what I want for the newest project lol

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  16. This is great! Thanks so much for this tour of your workspace. It reminds me of mine in some ways. I agree I am the same way...I jump from project to project. : )

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    1. Some times you need to do something else before you can get inspired to finish an older piece .. lol

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  17. I would feel right at home in your workspace. And I also love your projects! The blue winged heart is fab!

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  18. I love how you stack your trays, guaranteed I would knock one over just for the fun of it

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    1. Oh.. my kitties do that.. they've perfected the art of 'bump and run' so they are out of range of getting hit by anything falling/flying off the tray and can give me their innocent' who me' faces :) lol

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  19. Who says the floor isn't for storage? Huh? WHO?????

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    1. The floor is a flat surface with gravity keeping things from falling off it.. therefore, it's perfectly suitable for storage :D

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  20. I gotta admit...I'd go mental in there. I know what would happen; instead of cleaning it, I would move to another room and take that over too. I do want you to liberate the button drawers so we can see in there.

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    1. lol well, it WAS getting cleaned up... but then things happened and cleaning took a back seat for a while.. then I started to clean and again... stuff came up and cleaning took a back seat. I've decided to invite my mom up for next weekend though, so that means massive cleaning week! lol

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  21. Loved your post! And I love your messy workshop - you can just tell that serious work gets done in spaces like these, can't you?

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    1. lol up to where things get so bad I can't find anything >.< Then I rant and growl and start moving things.. then I start putting things away... then I find what I was looking for and get distracted, leaving things as they lay again lol

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  22. Yes, you are good at stacking, too!! That seems to be a common skill among artists and crafters. Love your space, it looks well used. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. I think the majority of artistic types are good at balancing acts- whether it be our piles of stuff, or our lives versus our art... lol I know too many ladies who balance being wife/mom/artist/business woman/cleaning lady/chauffeur/tutor/cook

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  23. That is a really nice size room and a nice size pile of stuff to go along with it :) I love your Flap your wings necklace, really pretty. Thanks so much for sharing your space.
    Sonya

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    1. It's actually one end of my living room. Which means that my living room section is kinda cramped >.< lol but yes, I do have nice sized rooms in my place... just awkward sizes and layouts to them, but still... nice and big :) lol

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  24. I love that you were brave enough to show the floor and what lies under your workspace, I wasn't brave enough lol! Thank you for sharing your messy workspace with us! :)

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    1. Oh..no no no.... you don't see what's UNDER the workspace... you just catch a glimpse of what is blocking is blocking your view of the stuff that is under the workspace lol And thankfully, despite my trying to lighten it up, the bad lighting and red tone of the photo doesn't give you a good view of any of that crap >.< Sorry...I finally figured out the best settings on my camera to optimize the crappy lighting and get rid of the red tone to things...then took pictures somewhere else and had to reset it, and of course, forgot to change the setting BACK...

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  25. LOL I love it!!! Another procrastinater!!! =) I'm always saying "I'll do it later" or "someday" and well... yeah... still seem to be working on that and waiting... LOL

    Ooooh!!! Nice! A Bobba Fett talking helmet and a remote control R2D2!!!! I have C3PO and R2D2 Christmas ornaments on my tree every year!!! =) And how cool, I think we share the same stereo!!! LOL

    Loved getting to see all your lovely chaotic mess, Sandra! I think it's an awesome space to create in! =) Thanks for sharing it! =)

    Oh! And I still LOVE that necklace you did, just the way it is!!! =)

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    1. I have little ewok ornaments, as well as the ships.. although since I haven't put a tree up in the last couple years, they just decorate my computer or anywhere else I feel like hanging them up :)
      R2D2 was my ex's... when I kicked him out I took custody of R2 ;)lol

      As for the procrastination.. well... this week the mess gets tackled. The entire apartment :) Maybe not the work area completely.. but enough to give my mom access to the computer, anyways ;)lol

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