office

things around here have been crazy (hence the lack of a post yesterday). i received my plates for the snowman cards & kitchen cards and they look fantastic! i also got my first order of french paper yesterday...and cannot wait to print. i love paper...*sigh*

my photographer friend christine pobke also contacted me about printing some flat cards for her, so i ordered the plates & paper for that project too.

oh, and i'm researching & preparing to restore an antique book - a collection of shakespeare, publishing in the 1890's.

and preparing for art shows. did i mention i've been busy? :)

the nice thing about all of this busyness is that the more i'd doing, the more ideas i'm having - for prints, card designs, etc. and i'm feeling like i'm accomplishing stuff. that feeling alone is totally worth the lack of sleep.

here's a couple of pics of my recently cleaned office (i cleaned in preparation of my mac arrival...i know, i'm a nerd).

the office was actually a LOT worse than the before pic shows...it turned into a cardboard pig sty/storage area for a ton of random crap.

the center print is a linocut i did for a print exchange & the other four were picked from a number of print exchanges i've participated in over the years.

okay, time to get back to work!

weekend!

how was your weekend? i was pretty darn productive!

the office: i cleaned out the office (i.e. put everything in the hallway) and moved the monstrous desk into the garage with the much needed help of bfff & my friend. my friend & i also searched for a new desk for the room - something small but functional. we went to some thrift stores with no luck :( so we traveled to our local tar-jay and found a decently priced desk. we started to put it together...then took a dinner break, and afterward, bfff and i finished up the job. actually, it was more like bfff would put a part on and i'd say "are you sure that's the right part?" or "are you sure that's the right direction?" haha. here's the finished product:

it's the monstrosity's mini me

now it's just a matter of cleaning up the hallway of stuff, getting some pictures on the walls (since bfff put the kibosh on painting one of the walls blue), and getting it into working order. it's amazing how much bigger the room feels with that monstrosity gone.

i also worked away in my studio. got a ton of work done on 2 shop orders plus i finally took some pictures of a couple finished custom pieces:

large address book & small address book

photo album & box set covers

box set inside

inside of box

i was really happy with how all of the custom pieces came out. the box set was more challenging this time - i had to be a bit more creative with the paper, as i didn't have a lot of one particular kind. instead of covering the inside boxes with the parasol paper, i tried 2 different green hued mulberry paper & layered lace with gold & silver flecks over it. the result was SO nice. the colors on all the different parts of the project really came together to compliment each other. (the parasol paper has been so popular with custom orders too!)

i've also been shopping for a gift for valentine's day for bfff. it'll be the first one we've spent together in the same state - last year, he had to leave due to mt. redoubt's hissy fit. i have a couple of ideas, but since i know he reads my blog, i can't share them :) what is everyone doing for valentine's day? have any good gift ideas? guys are so hard to shop for!

office cleaning

i finally starting cleaning up the office a little bit. at the beginning, i could see about one square foot of carpet. now i can see that, yes indeed, there is actually a floor under all of that stuff. i managed to take down & put away the christmas decorations (before february - go me!) and rearrange the storage closet.

i'm debating on what to do with this ridiculously huge desk we have. it weighs a ton & is a giant pain in the ass to move. i'm thinking we'll try to sell it on craigslist. then i can get something smaller. maybe. i dunno. i'm indecisive.

i'll post before & after pictures of the office once it's done. in the meantime, here's a picture of my little helper to tide you over:

"mmm mystery sock"

before & after - bedroom

i apologize for not getting the pics up over the weekend. the days just flew by! bfff is back *hooray!* and our puppy can't let him out of his sight. it's the cutest thing. it is SO good to have our little family back together. i was scrambling to get the room finished before bfff flew in - so things weren't quite as tidy as i had hoped & not all the pictures were hung. oh well.

i remembered to take the before pictures after some things were already moved around and i had taped the walls. oops. at least i remembered this time. the room is a long rectangle - big, but awkward. as you'll see, there are 2 closets, 2 doors & 1 window, making furniture placement rather difficult.

here's the before pics:

on the right wall you can see closet doors

taken from the closet doors in previous pic

and the after pics:

bfff has been wanting an office area for quite some time, so i made an attempt to set one up, along with all of his "me" wall stuff. the bed & office areas are currently separated by vito's gigantic kennel, but hopefully we won't need that soon & i'll be able to put a shelf there instead.

the white lights were inspired from a picture i saw on design sponge (here). they add a nice little soft glow & looked better than i hoped.

in addition to the paint, i got a chocolate duvet cover (matches the puppy), new aqua sheets, & a little pillow (that vito has already decided is his).

vito posing & smiling for me

bfff's reaction was classic! after we got home from the airport, i rushed upstairs to get vito, plugged in the icicle lights, and closed the doors. bfff eventually went into the bedroom and exclaimed "HOLY ****! this looks GREAT!" hahaha!! definitely the reaction i was going for. i got a little nervous the day he flew with thoughts of "what if he doesn't like it? i don't have time to paint over it!!" i'm so glad he likes it & has a space to work now.

my studio space & office (aka storage room for random stuff) is a mess right now and are next on my list to revamp!

office hankering

with the two big shows coming up, i've been living and breathing art - books, cards, book board, paper, glue (not the kind with the fumes), needles, binding...

and i've been getting these urges to CLEAN and ORGANIZE the house. strong urges. like the ones you go with because you don't know when you'll ever be that motivated to clean something ever again. but i've managed to put them off.

bff and i have been talking about having an organized, usable office - as opposed to the dumping ground for paperwork and randomness for a lot of my stuff. a while back, i found these super cool pictures (it was either on hgtv's site or design sponge - if they are your pictures, let me know & i will gladly give you credit!) i was looking for some inspiration for an office that isn't drab and boring.

it's blue. 'nuff said.

i like the bright colors - although yellow might be a bit much for me. however, the use of wall space as storage (& as a desk) was pretty cool, especially since the room for our office is small.

this one is probably my favorite. i like the little splashes of color, plus the extremely organized wall space. makes me want to go out and buy a ton of office stuff.

bff & i will have to consider a few things - will we use this room as an office for both of us? and how will we make that functional? will we keep the giant (and extremely heavy, cumbersome) desk that his old roommate left behind? or start fresh? do we paint the walls? (i vote yes)

perhaps this will be my project after the shows are over. or maybe i will just catch up on tv & knitting. eh.