Scrap for Joy: June 2010

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

First Fishing Adventure!

I am going to be away from my computer for a week (which will be hard) but before I leave you I wanted to show you some wonderful pictures of Charlie's first fish!

In May, we traveled to Maryland to spend a few days with our son and daughter-in-law and our #1 grandson Charlie....age 2.5.

Ever since Charlie was born, David has said he couldn't wait for the time when he and Charlie could go fishing together. (Please note: David is an avid fisherman and I know of no one else who can spend an entire day with a line in the water and not catch anything.

I always tell him that it's about fishing, not about catching :)

Last fall I purchased a kiddie fishing set for Charlie that included a rod and reel and some plastic fish. The fish have magnets in their mouths and at the end of the fishing line is a magnet so if a small fisherman were to get the end of the line fairly close to the plastic fish...the fish will almost jump up to the line. The box said "for ages 3+" but because Charlie is ~~the smartest 2.5 year old in the world~~, very bright, I figured he could easily handle this set. Well, not only could he handle it but he played with it for an entire day...catching the fish and throwing them back into the cardboard lake in the livingroom. He would get so excited when he could reel one in! Then we discovered that the line could also catch refrigerator magnets so we fished for those, too. We laughed all day as he caught and released.

Charlie fished and fished until he was plumb tuckered out!

The next day (a very hot and humid day!!) Papa and Charlie's Daddy decided to take Charlie to a small lake within walking distance of their house. This was gojng to be the real deal!

They fixed up a bamboo pole for Charlie and set off.

It was hard for Charlie to get the rhythm of fishing for real fish. At home, he needed to shake that line around until the fish mgnet connected with the line magnet. Now, Papa and Daddy were telling him to keep his pole still. Even with all of the jumping his pole around, Charlie caught a fish!!!

Charlie, you caught a REAL fish!

Go ahead and touch it....

I don't think so Papa!

I'll just stand NEXT to it!

Having a cold one before heading back!

We love you Charlie!

Now do you think that next time you could help Papa catch a BIG ONE?

xoxo

Joyce

Saturday, June 26, 2010

What This Blogger Was Doing For Weeks Before The Blog Party!

First of all, I must tell you that I was completely overwhelmed by all of the visitors who came to this little blog and left the kindest and most thoughtful comments on my Where Bloggers Create II post.
Thank you to all who took the time to visit here. I hope you know that you're welcome anytime at all. I loved seeing so many (I didn't quite get to the entire 450 but I skipped around a lot) inspiring craftroom/studios and I have taken notes and bookmarked spaces to ~~steal~~ borrow some great ideas. The sincerest form of flattery, right? I have met some wonderful new friends and my faithful buddies were right here cheering me on...I love you! Now because everything I do has to have some humor injected...I give you this...
I promised I'd show you what my "creative space"looked like 2 weeks before the big reveal...

Just keeping it real for you!
If I can clean, rearrange and reorganize my space...anyone can!
I'm loving this look so much more...

xoxo

Joyce

Friday, June 18, 2010

Where Bloggers Create II

It's time...my palms are sweating...I've been working hard for 2 weeks now...cleaning, sorting, arranging, rearranging, organizing, reorganizing, tweaking.....oh, you get the picture. I am joining in with 300+ bloggers who are showing their craft room/studios today. I didn't get everything completed that I wanted to but I don't think we're ever actually "finished", are we?

Last year, Karen Valentine hosted a blog party called, Where Bloggers Create. It was inspired by the fabulous book and magazines in the Where Women Create, series.
You can read about this year's party here.
The list of participants for this year's Blog Party will be available here tomorrow.

I signed up to participate this year partly as an incentive to get my room in order and also as a way to publicly say a big thank you to my wonderful husband, David, who started all of this rolling 3 years ago.

For Christmas, 2007, I received a beautifully wrapped gift from David. (This was before I was blogging and therefore, no pictures) It was a letter, telling me that he had arranged to take time away from his office in order to to do all the brute work necessary to transform one of our guestrooms into a craft studio for me. I had been working in our unfinished basement up to that point. I was overwhelmed by this thoughtful and generous gift and started right away to choose paint colors, flooring and furniture that would be needed for the space. The following pictures are the construction phase. Please note that they are photos of photos and the quality is poor..I just wanted you to get an idea of the beginning of the project...

first we ripped up carpeting

then painted ceiling and 9-inches at the top of the wall in a creamy white...

then taped and painted the lower walls a latte color...

taped again for the pink stripe...it's hard to see the details in this photo..

The carpet was installed (by professionals)....NOTE: I would never put carpeting in a workspace again,

we should have chosen laminate or hardwood...

(This was my first project in the new studio...I photographed it on the floor. You can see the carpet close up.)

Then the few pieces of furniture were put into place...

(These photos make me laugh when compared to the room today)

There was a lot of work needed to prepare this space and David worked hard to make everything just right. I love it! My work table is butted right up to a double window so I can

watch the birds and squirrels frolic while I work.

My room today...

I will show you around the room starting at the doorway and going in a clockwise direction...

(The solid oak table top was made by a friend and is attached to telescoping legs from Ikea..I stand when I work so the table is at 36-inches high. The skirt and valance were made by my friend Joni using one pair of Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic cotton drapes from Target. I loved the colors! It is attached to the table with velcro)

I have a tiny paper ~~hoarding problem~~ collecting issue-yikes!

(A Pampered Chef Tool Turn Around holds all of my everyday tools)

(The pink colander was the color inspiration for the pink stripe on the walls)

More stamps, trims, bags of all kinds and tags.

My first piece from Elizabeth...thanks dear friend!

(Standard drawer units from Target {$11.99}, painted taupe and labeled using cardstock and computer generated labels for stamp sets and embellishments. There are 18 drawers here.)

(I would be lost without my BigKick! I use it all the time.)

(I bought this at an Antique shop...it's called a Nun's table...a bedside table I think. Lots of storage.)

(A lingerie chest...more storage places for "stuff")

(The closet door and room door both have shoe storage bags with clear pockets for punches..there are more punches in the lingerie chest....are you figuring I need a "help" program yet? The boxes house ribbon, seam binding, envelopes, lace and chipboard)

I've taken you around my room...now I will just highlight some interesting items I have on display. Remember that you can click on any picture to enlarge. You may recognize your artwork in my room.