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| I wondered if I'd ever see the top of my work table again...... |
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| Things have been pretty messy here in my studio. Trips to the $1 library book sales and to Scrap have left me with stacks of books piled up on the floor and boxes of rubber stamps... but really, enough was enough... This is where the books were stacked up on the floor... |
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| And look at them now! I sorted and tossed, put boxes of books out front on the sidewalk where they were scooped by by passers-by. And I still have all these beauties -- loads of French dictionaries, lots of Atlases, typing manuals, Chinese and Japanese dictionaries and books, medical books, books in Russian and all kinds of other languages.... I think I still have plenty to play with -- and now they are all lovely and organized. |
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| Finally got a nice spot to put my beautiful Japanese boxes. They are filled with paper treasures. |
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| Vintage Japanese calligraphy |
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| I am really enjoying being in my studio more now that I've picked it up and organized things. And, my friends can come over now too. You know who you are. You're all invited to come and play. Type on the typewriters, stamp with rubber stamps.... I love company. |
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| I even found things I forgot I had - like this old, blue metal box - perfect for my collection of vintage daters and some paints. |
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| I still have some stacks of things... |
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| The Rolodex Files |
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| Two of the (Five) Typewriters |
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| I even tackled the big closet! It is looking pretty good, don't you think? I have been thinking of opening my own Esty shop but I see a lot of folks sell directly on Instagram and I am thinking that might be a lot easier.. |
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| My foreign language flasg card collection from all those library book sales... |
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| Come on over and I'll make you a cappuccino and you can read.... |
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| The other room....yup...my studio is big! This is the room in the back and I cleaned that one up too. How good am I? |
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| Cappuccino Break I think I deserved a cappuccino break after all that cleaning. I'm not even finished but I have the worst of it over with. Unfortunately I did fill up a cardboard box with STUFF I didn't know what to do with and now I have to figure that out. And I have two giant shopping bags filled up with free stuff for the SF Correspondence Co-Op swap table this coming Sunday. Now I can get back to the art business -- I have so many projects going on -- altered books, travel journal prep, altered passports...on and on....and mail art.... is it any wonder things can get messy? The Vintage Paper Fair is coming right up. Need I say more? You KNOW there will be vintage paper showing up here in the studio.....the only question is how much? So, I'm back to work and I'd love to hear from all of you out there. Hope you enjoyed the cyber-visit and I also hope some of you will come over for a real visit soon. We can make things and have show-and-tell and drink cappuccino. It's only 61' in SF and if you want to cool off, come over! SEND GOOD MAIL -- GET GOOD MAIL & MAKE THINGS! |
WOW!!! -- that's all I can say! Sending mail to you today. Have a good one. xo
ReplyDeleteI hope that's a GOOD WOW, Connie!
DeleteYour typewriters look beautiful. I looked on instagram too. How do you clean them?
ReplyDeleteHi Brenda -- so fun to see a new name pop up here. That typewriter on the right was a $10.00 find at SF Scrap and it was really dirty. There were two spots I thought were rust. I cleaned the little cutie up with a baby wipe and even the "rust" spots came off -- so I say go for it with a baby wipe!
DeleteYou. Are. Our. Craft. Goddess. Love how you are using your space and the great design you bring to your home. Living vicariously. xoxoxo
ReplyDeleteYou are so funny, Playa Paper -- you aren't so bad yourself!And that isn't actually my home -- it is my studio. My home is another story entirely!
DeleteI can't imagine your space was ever as bad as mine is right now...overwhelming!
ReplyDeleteIt does give me hope, though, after seeing yours all tidy!
Thank you, for inspiring!
Dori -- Oh, I bet it was just as bad.....stuff was all over the floor...and the table was piled high....it is a whole lot of work to pick itall up and put it someplace but I think it is worth it.....
DeleteWhat an amazing effort to tidy up like that. I am so horrible at it. Every now and again I am looking for something, then come across something else which is always fun. If I'm ever in San Fran again I would love to stop by and see all those great books, cards and goodies in person.
ReplyDeleteFinnBadger -- That would be so great! You can come over and look to your heart's content! And there is a lot to look at.....
DeleteI changed the entire layout of my studio and it's better than ever, and there are 2 tables and 2 office chairs now. And the carpet is vacuumed, first time in ages, must be something in the stars, lining up the Aries B cleaning impulse?!
ReplyDelete(And no, of course I didn't vacuum, I got the child next door to do it foor me!)
My fave blog post ever, gurrrl! Change the capuccino to a cocktail and I'm there!!
Cool -- glad you liked it -- and ok, you can have a cocktail....if you're good....xo
DeleteHere I was thinking I would send you a note via snail mail only to discover (again) that I don't have your address anymore! Oops. I would love to be able to write to you occasionally... may I have your address please? (via email) Thanks! Your studio looks amazing, I wish I lived in CA so I could come over and play. :-)
ReplyDeleteWell, yes, I wish you lived nearby and you could come over too. Post a comment with your email (I won't publish the comment) and I will send you my address, ok? Love to hear from you.
DeleteOne day I will have a studio like yours! Although I doubt it will ever be as clean, haha. Thank you so much for the tour.
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome, TomoyoHime!
DeleteThis is really impressive, Pamela. What a herculean effort you put in. I wish I lived closer, because I am in love with your work space and would give anything to spend a full day with you. The ideas we would bounce off each other and the art we could make from recycled products would make me so happy.
ReplyDeleteI love coming to your blog because you are one of the few people I know who doesn't cite products that are purchased in craft stores, but work with found and discarded art. That's my kind of art, too!
Elizabeth - so nice of you to say - I don't like blogs trying to sell products either. I believe in creative re-use and I prefer the look of re-cycled things like old paper in art. I like trying to figure out new ways to do things. I've been using ink pads to color paper pages lately and it is fun and easy. So, I appreciate your comment. And I wish you could come over for a day and play too!
DeleteWow! Your studio looks great! I have to hand it to you--that sounds (and looks) like it was a lot of work!!! But it must feel so much better now. Thanks for letting us have a peek.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cindy -- yes, it was a lot of work and hours of time and I was getting a teeny bit cranky but I'm in pretty good shape now. I spent yesterday working on pages for an altered book -- and a bit of mail art.
DeleteWauw you did a very nice cleaning up , should do that myself too but postponing it , and a pitty I don't live in your neighbourhood as I love cappuccino a lot .
ReplyDeleteDebora - where do you live? Don't feel bad, I postponed the cleaning for a long time too. We'd rather work on art, right? Thanks for much for your comment and looking at the blog.
DeleteI'm proud of you. I have been procrastinating about cleaning my living room and finally got fed up and finished yesterday. We live in a small apartment and desperately need to get rid of some things. It felt so good to declutter and I was proud of myself for forcing myself to get it done. Wish I could've shared a cappuccino with you, though looking at your books and fun stuff around the studio, you may not have gotten rid of me :)
ReplyDeleteTimdani -- cleaning up seems to be going around. A few of my friends are doing it too. You could come have a cappuccino and look all you want! One reason I cleaned was that some friends are coming over next week and I wanted them to be able to fit inside without falling over piles of books.
DeleteYour work room looks amazing! I can see how it is an even more inviting space now that you know exactly what goodies you have in there. I sure would have loved to walk by your home on the days you had those boxes sitting by the curb. If you want to ship anything from that big box off to me, well, you know I wouldn't turn it away...heehee!
ReplyDeleteAndria -- I wish you walked by on those days too.......I have two very large bags for my mail art group's swap table......but I did buy two $1 Altas books today.....
DeleteYou sure have some great things. Wish I could drop in and have a close look.
ReplyDeleteI like Etsy better than Instagram as a shopper. Etsy you can go to a "shop". I lose thing on Instagram especially since they changed the way things don't come in order.Why not send us from Insta to your Easy shop?
Thanks very much -- wish you could drop in too. I like Etsy too but it seems like a lot of work to set up and maintain a shop and IG is like a pop-up or a flash sale.....but I know what you mean.
DeleteWow! Good for you to declutter and organize like that!
ReplyDeleteThank you, shams -- now people can come over without me freaking about about the mess.....
DeleteSo impressive! This is inspiring me to clean up my 1m3 :-) No matter how small or how big your working space, it ALWAYS get cluttered! Gorgeous pictures as usual....
ReplyDeleteThank you Madame Marie -- my table is looking more cluttered now -- but i am making things!
DeleteThanks for sharing the photos of your tidy studio! I too, have been doing some organizing but I have much more to do. I soaked postage stamps and did some sorting recently. This weekend, I've been doing a major postcard send-out. Send mail to get mail!
ReplyDeleteI sent you some mail last week -- it has been a long time I know. Hope it cheers up your mail box, Garci!
DeleteYour space is amazing, you've inspired me to look for a bookshelf for all the books I have stacked on the floor, on shelves in my basement, and stuffed into filing cabinets. Maybe if I get them organized, I'll use my supplies more!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your pics.
Thank you, tandoll - I am feeling pretty good about it now. I do think you will enjoy having your books shelved - and it is easier to get at them. I always seemed to want the book on the bottom of the pile!
DeleteYou are VERY impressive! And your readers seem to be in the same mood. I am not a fan of organizing but I will try to take some inspiration from you because I certainly need it!
ReplyDeleteHi Cheryl! I am not the clean-up-and-organize type either but sometimes you do what you've gotta do! I was tripping over piles of stuff. Thanks for reading the blog and commenting!
DeleteHi Pamela! I love that you share photos with those of us who can't be there in person to see your wonderful things. I chuckled a little when you mentioned the box of stuff you don't know what to do with. I love to organize things, and I always end up with the "I don't know what to do with pile", too. To me, that's the hardest part! You did a great job. Also loved your vintage daters...so neat!
ReplyDeleteWell...Michele I still have my "I don't know what to do with this stuff" box sitting here....I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one. I love my vintage daters. They are all from Scrap but sadly I haven't seen any there in ages.....lucky to have the ones I do.
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