Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Something up my sleeve...

I just wanted to give you a sneak peek of one of 
the projects I've been working on....DRESS FORMS!  


They are one of my most favorite things! I can't
wait to re-do my full size dress form, but for now I'm
working on two different tabletop models.

The smaller ones have wooden forms, bases & tops.
I wouldn't have minded the muslin fabric that they came with,
had it not been printed with the corset.  I'm torn as to how
I want them to look.  Should I go Shabby Chic, or my usual
dark & industrial? I only have two, so maybe I'll do one
of each. Until I decide, they're on the back burner.


The larger ones have fiberglass forms.  The bases &  tops are
wooden. They came with a variety of not-so-fabulous fabrics; the worst
of which was the Pepto Pink glittery fabric. My daughter loved it, but I'm not
a big fan. It did not break my heart to tear the stuff off, but what a mess!


Even down to the fiberglass, she looks better!

I wanted them all to look like antique, even though they're new.
I love the way they're turning out. They are all unique, not one is even remotely
similar. I have 1 done & 8 more in various stages of completion.   




I plan on putting them on Etsy some time 
in the near future, if I can manage to part with them, that is!


Stay Tuned for more...

--Karen--

Monday, March 19, 2012

Vintage 50s cabinet re-do

I picked these cabinets up at our local salvage yard
for a song and worked all weekend trying to get them cleaned
up and painted so I can actually start using my craft studio again. 
The last straw was broken when I found myself working on my mannequins
while sitting on the toilet (the seat was down and my pants were not)
due to the lack of work space in my studio.


Not bad, right?  Wrong.  Take a closer look.


   
After what seemed a lifetime of peeling shelf paper, scrubbing
and scraping, they're looking a little better, but I've had it.  At least for now. 
Painting can wait another day, I guess.  I don't even have energy for any more pics.

My hands are completely shot.  If I wasn't so embarrassed, I'd
show you a picture. Next on the agenda: getting my nails done!
 From now on I'm gettin' me some gloves. Yuck!

--Karen--
       


Sunday, March 18, 2012

Restoration Hardware Inspired Stencil Art

I have signs & letters all over my house; you
can pretty much read the walls in every room.
I figured, why should my new studio be any different?  

I was excited when I saw these Zinc Letters at Restoration Hardware
a few months back. Well, that is until I saw the $16 price tag FOR EACH LETTER! 
That's $416 + shipping! All I can say is...  NO WAY, NO HOW,
but thank you for the inspiration!


Imagine my delight when I found these beauties a few weeks later at Michaels
and in the $1 bin, no less! They aren't quite as big, but they are
metal and they are stencils and at only $26 they are mine!  


Trying to be budget conscious, I only purchased enough letters to spell 
"INSPIRE", which I hung on my pegboard over my old work space.  
The more I thought about it, the more I kicked myself for not buying 
the whole alphabet.  The following week I broke down & headed 
back to Michaels for the rest of them. Duh. I know. Don't say it.

I didn't have a frame big enough for all the letters and I didn't want
 to spend any more money, so I opted to use my work space pegboard
 to display them and get a new piece of pegboard for my tools. The
stencils look cool on the pegboard and using it saved me having to figure
out how to hang them in a frame and still be able to use them.  Besides,
I'm not going to be able to use the pegboard for my tools until
I'm done refurbishing the cabinets for my work space.

I spruced the stencils up a bit by spray painting them black and
grunged them up really good with some steel wool.  They were originally
brown, but so is my pegboard, and we can't have that! I cut some of my
vintage looking scrapbook paper and stuck it on the back with scotch tape,
in case I actually want to use the stencils.  Wash 'em up, re-stick
the tape, and they're back to being artwork.


 
Here's the finished project; after my hubby cut my 
pegboard down to just the right size! The star used to be a night
light cover until the bracket broke off.  I knew I'd find a use for it. 


Here's what the whole corner looks like after adding some cool decor.
Don't mind the unfinished drywall; the painting can't be done soon enough.
The nest/candle holders came from Label Shopper, the artist mannequin
hand came from Michaels, the calendar blocks came from
Hobby Lobby and the rest is from local junk shops.





With these new additions, I'm starting to warm up to the new studio
space. I can't wait to get the walls painted. I'd say some shade of brown 
for sure.  Are you surprised?  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The work space is next on the agenda.
Can you say vintage 1950s metal cabinets?

I can say its a pain to scrape off two
coats of shelf paper that have been there since the '50s.

Then there's that gorgeous 1970s yellow paint...
but that is a whole other story.  Till next time!

--Karen--






Finished...Craft Studio Letters

AS PROMISED...

But don't mind the ugly gray wall color & the holes in the wall;
I still need to spackle & paint the new space! I really like the way they turned
out, but I think they need a frame around them or something.  What do you think?




So, maybe now I'll be inspired to get the rest of my craft Studio set up. 
I'll show you the new space soon.  I wish I had thought to take
pics of my old space before I had to move everything, but 
I didn't think I'd have a blog to show anyone back then...

--Karen--



Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Preview...Craft Studio Letters

Thanks for checking out my new blog! 
I guess I'll start off with one of my favorite things... LETTERS.

I've been feeling a little bummed out about having to move my craft studio, which 
means having to DOWNSIZE my space.  It also means having to tape & mud 
some unfinished drywall and paint the whole room. And the carpet...I don't even 
want to go there. It's awful and I can't afford to replace it anytime soon.  Ugh.  

Anyway...

I've looked everywhere for some artwork that will make me love my 
new space and inspire me, but its just not happening.  


Since I couldn't find that perfect something, I decided to make it myself.
I found these 8" paper-mache letters at JoAnn Fabrics for $2 each and
ordered some neat vintage papers from Scrapbook.com for around
$1 each. Add $6 or so for some Mod Podge and I'm off to CREATE!  

I'll post pictures of the finished product soon!

--Karen--