Moving my blog

I have played the field, so to speak, with different blog platforms. I have finally decided to settle down and commit to WordPress to host my blog.

There are many reasons for my decision, but for me it came down to two things, 1)photo wrapping - you can set how text wraps around your photos easier in WordPress, and 2)it's what I use for work, so anything I learn in WordPress I can apply it to work & home use.

So, if you would like to follow me to my new home, it is http://carrietown.wordpress.com

Book Suggestion for Craft Studio Organization

While planning out my studio rehab, I have found these two books to be invaluable. They contain many beautiful photos and suggestions for many different kinds of studios. From sewing, paper, jewelry and photography, you will get a million great ideas for organizing your own space. From tiny nooks to spacious barns, you won't be disappointed.

This links to Amazon where you can purchase the books in new or used editions, with their ever popular free shipping for orders over $25.

Where Women Create by Jo Packham

Organizing your Craft Space by Jo Packham

If you were to purchase only 1 go with Where Women Create it walks you through the craft spaces of famous and not-so-famous artists. Organizing Your Craft Space gives you practical suggestions on craft storage and isn't quite as inspiring, but they work really well together.

Mosaic Address Panels

This summer I undertook the largest mosaic project I have ever attempted. Last year my parents built a new front porch for my little brick house, and this year I wanted to continue to work on the home’s curb appeal. My front door is painted a pretty British racing green with matching wooden screen door, so I wanted something to flank both sides while displaying the address numbers.
Inspired by the craftsman designs of Frank Lloyd Wright, I first sketched out the design on graph paper, and then converted that to Excel spreadsheet to create an installation guide.

My original plan was to make the panels flank both sides of the door and go all the way to the ground. After realizing that the cement backerboard came in 3×5′ sheets, I redesigned each panel to be 1.5×5″. I ordered whole sheets of 3/4″ tiles in the Kaleidoscope Color Grove Glass Mosaic series from Mosaic Tile Supplies. I chose the colors, Flax as the background, with accents of Lipstick, Caramel, Stratosphere and Portland.

Once the sheets arrived, I flipped the Excel image because the tiles arrived on face-mounted sheets, meaning that I would be working on the sheets from the back. I cut out the tiles from the Flax sheets, and then replaced them with the other colored tiles, using masking tape to piece the squares back together. So, basically I was creating large quilts of tiles. I then applied tile mastic to the backerboard and applied the tile squares to the board, leaving a two-inch border for the MDF trim. Once the tile adhesive dried for 24 hours, I then removed the paper cover soaking the paper and carefully removing the tape and paper. I then grouted the panels.

The hardest part of the process was drilling into the bricks on the house. My father was generous enough to assist in this process. He installed screw anchors and then was able to screw the panels directly onto the wall. He then covered the screws and raw backerboard with MDF trim painted to match the house trim paint.

Here are the final result after installation.

2-Hour Shadowbox Project - Apple Crate

While cleaning out a cupboard, my mother found a collection of small apple and apple related items (you tend to receive such items when your last name is Applegate). She didn't know what to do with them, so I volunteered to make a shadowbox for her. Since I have been working hard on my studio renovation, I didn't want to spend too much time on it though, so I gave myself a 2 Hour limit on the project.

I had picked up this wooden shadow box a while ago at the dollar store. I wanted the final piece to resemble an old apple crate, so I didn't even bother looking for the wood stain in the garage. I watered down some brown acrylic paint and washed the entire piece. That took about 10 minutes, and I left it to dry for a day or two...out of distraction, rather than necessity. When I came back to the project, I sanded the edges to simulate wear. I also heavily sanded the imperfection on the back to make it look more distressed and vintage.

I did a quick Google Image search for apple related illustration, and saved them to my hard drive, I scaled them way down and the largest image used is the apple crate label on the back--I then printed these.

I found some scrapbooking paper that had old map images and other ephemera, I measured the interior cubbies and decopauged these squares into their space. I then decopauged the apple images along with other tiny scraps into individual cubbies.

Once those dried, I hot glued the wooden apples into place. I then decopauged dictionary scraps to the outside of the piece. I did this to tie the disparate elements together and to create dimension. I then decopauged the apple crate label to the back and hot glued the Scrabble tiles to the top along with the last tiny apple crate. I cut out the word Applegate from my business card and attached that to the bottom as a kind of signature.

I don't know if the entire project was exactly an hour, but I had time left over on whichever of the Thin Man movies I was watching to put away my craft supplies.

My mother was pleased with the result, and the apples got a new life in this small shadowbox.

CarrieTown Studio Clean-up Part 2

I still have to mop before I take all the photos of the studio re-do, but here is a sneak peak.

Doesn't this look nice & organized? Everything has a home. The vintage looking labels have contents written in pencil so I can erase if I put new contents in the containers.

The black floral case was a carrier for first aid baby dolls in a previous life. I covered it in fabric and it is filled with those little jewelry boxes filled with cotton.

The vintage suitcases have also been covered, but this time in decorative paper. Gently used tissue paper is in one, which leaves three more for future storage.

I even found a use for the vintage card catalog case. Large shipping tags in one, microscope slides in the other. The plastic drawers store those delicate vintage books that are too delicate to stand on a shelf.

My jewelry supplies now have a home in this gorgeous red tool chest. I originally purchased it as a TV stand, but I love it for jewelry stuff. It will be so inspirational to open this drawer and select pieces for my statement necklaces.

Believe it or not, this is the after picture. All the baggies hold beads I don't use often, but they still need a home.

There is even room for a recliner in the new studio--Bobby is very pleased to have a new place to sleep.

Studio Clean-out Update - The Mosaics Cupboard

As promised, I have started the great studio renovation of 2012. I spent a lot of time evaluating how I work best and what I wanted out of a dream workspace. I realized that about 70% of the storage is taken up by mosaic supplies, but 70% of the projects are jewelry & paper. So, I am trying to make the studio more conducive to jewelry and paper all year long.

Project #1: The Mosaics Cupboard

When we built my studio seven years ago, we installed used kitchen cabinets purchased from a recycled building materials store. Then I proceeded to stack tons and tons of plates in these cabinets for 'future projects'. I realized when I start a new mosaics project, I don't want to spend time cutting plates into tiles, I want to just open a box of pieces and get started. So, I spend $14 at the dollar store and got plastic bins to store shards and pieces. I don't know if I would trust liquids in these bins, but they work great for storage! I also downloaded these labels from Cathe Holden and printed them on full-sheet label paper. I have made the conscious decision to hand write the labels to save time--even though my precious Brother P-Touch is fab, I need to move forward, rather than take the time to type and print, etc. etc.

This photo shows the glorious promise of organization, peace and harmony that will soon reign in CarrieTown.

However, getting to that place means sorting, sorting, sorting

This is the first of many donations piles. Many items will go back to the thrift store from whence they came.

More bins with labels...and a bored Bobby in the background. 

The next steps will be to organize the bins and to continue to discard unrealistic plates--those plates that are heavy ceramic which are hard to cut by hand, or ugly plates which will never become mosaic projects. I am also going to consolidate all the mosaics storage to these two cupboards which will leave the open shelves for more attractive storage.