For the past few weeks I've been working on a simultaneous remodel and destash here in the studio.  Essentially my studio went from fairly organized to an absolute mess to starting to resemble something really amazing.   My dining room table on the other hand is a freakin' mess!!! I have boxes piled high in there for my soon to be craft/yard/junk sale.   For the past 43,506 years I've been absolutely fascinated by the Tiffany blue color only for it to become the IN color.  I'm not sure how I feel about everyone loving MY color, but I guess I'll live.   I have these amazing blue metal bins that I got from Target about 5000 years ago.    I decided to cover them with Blue Ocean Breeze by Krylon.   I ♥ them more than I ever thought I could.   Here's a before and an in-progress.  I LOVE the pop of green ribbon.   I seriously want to marry it!

Before: U.G.L.Y.

After: Beautiful! :)

Then because I fell in love with spray paint, I decided to paint all my little $1 buckets that I got from Target! :)  I used Banner Red from Krylon.     I used a Cropodile to add ribbon holes to some of the tins.

I also painted some Ocean Breeze color.

Then I decided to add paper to my clear Ikea storage bins.  Again I labeled with a tag and coordinating ribbon. :)    Swoon.   Now you can't see my messy fabric.   

Cropper Hopper paper files with ribbons ♥ I'll label them as I organize.

I might even paint more of the photo boxes.  I haven't decided yet. That gives you an idea of the current wall color.

It's no secret, I have a studio full to the brim with art supplies. I love to create in there with my Daylight and Ott lights, optimal space, and endless supplies.

I also like to get out of the house, especially when I've been cooped up with my children all summer long. One of my favorite things to do is head to my local coffee shop, ahem.... Starbucks, and spend an hour listening to my tunes and working on art.

What's a girl like me supposed to do. I'm not used to having to pick and choose from my supplies. I recently got a Copic 72 marker case and I was pretty bummed about it cause how could I possibly choose only 72 markers???? Before a recent trip to Starbucks I simply grabbed the markers that were on my desk and stuffed them in the case along with my multiliners and literally ran out the door with my case and my sketch book. It was actually nice not having to weed through all my markers.

This summer I spent quite a bit of time working on various things to organize my supplies.

This first one is a copic swatch book.   I have a Copic Color chart that I've colored by hand, but I find when I'm looking to match colors to a particular pattern paper, it's very difficult as the color boxes just aren't big enough.  I was searching and searching for something else, when I came across Michelle's blog at Purple Onion Designs.  Off to work I went.  I started by opening a spreadsheet in Excel. The top line is the color code, under that the color name.    After printing and cutting out, I punched holes.  I then colored three lines, the top line is one layer, the second is two, and the bottom is three layers.  This provides a great representation of color.   I then punched a hole in the corner and put them on a binder ring.

A little more than 20 years ago I was a sophomore in high school.   I was an aspiring artist eager to learn everything I could.   I would take core classes during the summer so that I could have more art classes during the year.   It was at this time that I made my very first HUGE art purchase.  I went to the art store and purchased a set of 60 Prismacolors. Now, I didn't really use them as I preferred to work in watercolor, charcoal, and graphite pencil.  Occasionally I would pick them up and doodle, but I never really did much with them until now.

All of the pieces in this post were created with Prismacolor pencils and Odorless Mineral Spirits.


And now a glimpse of my studio.  On my desk I have my pencils and my copics within reach.

First of all, let me start off with such an awesome organization, MACS.  MACS is all about helping children through difficult medical problems.  One of the challenges by Simon Says Stamp was to create a card for MACS.  At first I thought, ok, I'll do it for the challenge.  The more I looked at the children on the MACS site, the more I wanted to help.  My goal is to make at least 3 cards a month for each of the MACS kids being featured. 
Here is my card for little Emily, yes you can see her address, that's the point.  Mail a card to her yourself!!!


Next up, my buds over at Paper Craft Planet were asking me about my Copic Sketch book.
I took a regular artist Sketch book by Canson and added tabs to the top, every 10 pages or so.  The Copics will bleed through the paper, so I took a piece of Gina K's 120 lb Pure Luxery cardstock and cut it to fit. Whenever I color, I put this cardstock behind to catch the bleed.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. :)

And I have way too much to share. I can't wait until tomorrow to post!! What can I say?
First up I wanted to share my studio space with you.  In April of this year I did a little remodel of my office.  Michael's was having a sale on their storage cubes and so I did it. I bought 12 of them! I just realized that I didn't take any pictures of them. I guess that will wait for another day.  We spaced eight of the cubes across a 10 foot wall and then installed a precut counter top.  I have my area separated into craft and computer with the printer dividing the two sides.  I only took pictures of the craft side to share today. 

These are my copics. I have them sitting right on my desk in their original containers.  The tags show which color families are in each box. My "E"s and kinda spread out through all the boxes. 

This is where the magic happens. :)  On my desk I have my Daylight lamp which is a life saver!!! I can't imagine not having one!  I have two little shelves above my work area holding flowers and cards.  Above that is my Making Memories Embellishment Center full of goodness!  The poppies on the wall are from Ikea. They are really cool!  My walls are a light green apple color.  I accented the rest of my studio in poppy red.  It looks very cool. :)  Peeking out from under the counter is a stack of older rubber stamps in boxes with a baby wipe canister sitting on top. 
I worked on three cards yesterday.

This cute little card is from a very OLD CTMH set called Nantucket Retreat.  I colored with my Copics and used the W1 to blend.
Next up...

This little beauty was created for Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #10.  Are these colors just scrumptious or what???? The first thing I did was head over to Papertrey Ink and download their Copic Color Chart.  I then checked off which markers I had and then for those that I didn't have, I looked for a close match.  Here are my recipes:
Pink (*R20, R32, R35)
Orange (*R00, R02, R05)
Brown (*E35, *E37, E57)
*indicates that I didn't have the color suggested, so I replaced with a close match. I colored the buttons and flowers in the hair with sparkly Gelly Rolls.  I had a small mishap when I smeared the buttons on the pants. Would you have noticed if I had not pointed it out? I also added Gold Stickles to the brads on the paper flowers.
Thanks for looking! :)
S