Tuesday, November 22, 2016

My Journey As A Creative Designer - Woodworking and Beyond #1802: Getting Settled

I seem to have really slowed down with my blogs here these days. For those of you who are used to reading my posts every day, I promise you that I will get back to being here more often as soon as I can. It isn’t that I am doing less (I don’t believe) but that things have been spinning in different directions this year and I am sometimes unsure if my daily activities are ‘blog worthy’ or of interest to you all. Sometimes we just need to take a breath and regroup before we can forge ahead.

I had an incredibly busy weekend again. I spent a good deal of time in my shop cutting some wood orders on Saturday. I need to mention once again that I absolutely love working in my new shop. Every time I am there, I feel like a spoiled brat. I have ample space, it is clean and neat, and I have everything organized so that while I am working everything is where is should be. I even love my sound-cancelling headphones, which not only protect my ears but allow me to listen to my favorite music while working as well. I am truly thrilled with our setup and find a great deal of pleasure in filling my orders. It is not a chore at all.

It is quite an accomplishment considering that such a short time ago we were cutting from our kitchen. I think of the extra time to set up and clean and having to impose on Keith every time I filled orders and I am quite grateful that things have changed. It has been a lot of work to get here, but very much worth it. As I cut and sanded each piece, I couldn’t help but feel a great sense of pride for what we do. We have come a long way.

I was going to finish my cutting on Sunday, but I decided to finish sewing the upstairs curtains instead. We have five windows on the front of our house upstairs (three in the upstairs washroom and two in our bedroom) and while that part of our home isn’t used much, it was really (really!) time to finish making those curtains. I used the same faux linen fabric to make some semi-sheers that would still allow light in but offer us some privacy. I was fortunate that I had just enough fabric to complete them. Since we are not on that side of the upstairs very often, it was a low priority on the house projects but has been hanging over my head for several months. I finally decided on Sunday that I had waited long enough and it was time to “just do it”. So I spent the day doing that.

By the time I finished, it was evening and I decided to work on my “Day 10” of the “12 Days of Christmas” project by Lynne Andrews. I wanted to do something that was fun and relaxing. It was a good weekend.

Yesterday I finished up my cutting and the orders will ship out today. I also have my next scroll saw project cut and I will be working on the assembly and other stuff on it today as well. You will have to come back to see what I am up to in the next few days.

I did also want to show some photos of a lovely package I received on Friday from my dear friend Charlotte. Charlotte and I have become friends on Facebook through our painting endeavors and it was a wonderful and delightful surprise to receive such a wonderful package of ‘treats’ for no reason whatsoever.

I opened the box and was thrilled to see three bags of “specialty” M & M’s! (We don’t get these here in Canada.)

She sent peanut butter flavored, coffee, and even dark chocolate – all my favorites. It is wonderful to have friends who sneak up on you with treats like this. It sure makes me feel loved! But that wasn’t all …

She also made this beautiful plate for me. She knows that I just ADORE her cute sheep. They always put a smile on my face and Charlotte always spreads words of love and hope. I just loved this!

And then there was this tiny package within the package …

I wondered what it could be?

It was a little froggy domino! He immediately found a place on my message board next to my desk…

I will smile and think of Charlotte every time I see it.

What a great treat!

I found the perfect spot for the sheep plate, too! It fit perfectly right on the wall in my studio, where I spend most of my time. I love these shelving units and think that was one of the best decorating ideas that I had for my space here. It is so easy to change my displays of all the different art pieces that I made or was gifted and it keeps the room fluid and exciting.

I don’t have to keep putting holes in the walls and can display just about anything. (I got my set from Amazon at a very reasonable cost!)

By the time I was done with everything, it was time for dinner. After that, I decided to ‘play’ with some of my wonderful supplies. It seems that I have so many beautiful art supplies and I take very little time out to enjoy them if I am not doing something that is ‘work related’. It is about time that I start USING the wonderful supplies I have and enjoying them. Are there any of you out there with this problem? We see stuff we love and get all the supplies and there they sit neatly tucked away somewhere … One of my goals is to change that!

I decided to start another pastel drawing using my Conte a Paris pastel sticks and CarbOthello pastel pencils. I found my reference photo and sketched everything out. I began the background using the Conte a Paris sticks:

At this point, it looks like a mess, but I want you all to see the steps it takes to get to a good point…

By the end of the evening, the background was pretty much based in and I began working in earnest on the left side of the branch:

You can see the left end of the branch coming together. It isn’t there yet, but it is a start. It requires a bit of patience, but it is fun and relaxing. I will certainly keep you posted on the progress.

Today’s agenda consists of working on my new scrolling project(s). I will see where everything winds up this evening, but I hope to work on my 12 days or this drawing. We just need to see how the day goes.

I thank those of you who haven’t given up on me. For those who are new to reading, rest assured that there are lots of fun projects in the future for me to share. Having new ideas is never a problem with me. It is just that lately, I have been a bit overwhelmed by ‘life’ in general and getting organized in our new environment. Once I am settled in (and I am closer to that every day!) nothing will stop me.

It is another overcast and cool autumn day here for me. We certainly had our share of clouds lately But that is part of autumn, I suppose, and I don’t really mind it at all. There are a lot of great days ahead.

Happy Tuesday to you all!



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