Tween Camp..WHimsical Houses Day 2

On the second day of art camp we further explored the Whimsical House theme but went 3-D. Here's a glimpse of this day:

Lunch on the porch both days was a treat. Nobody ever hangs out here with me but the dogs. It was nice to have a pile of teen girls out here with me.

I found this idea on Pinterest...then it turned out to be my art friend V. Originals! She is an amazing artist. I loved sharing her work with my kiddos and inspiring them with her creations.  These are going to be super cute hanging in the girl's rooms. The 3-D wooden houses can either hang or sit on a shelf. Mine is on my art desk already.

Next week is all about long legged birds. I've some fun ideas up my sleeve and some projects evolving as I see how uber talented the group that signed up is! Seriously, I love camp. They ALL want to be here. They are ALL out of the running through the mud school mode (me too). I forget how much school takes creativity out of kids lives. There simply is no time for art anymore. These middle school kids are lucky to get art once for 9 weeks in the year. How can one possibly live a year without art? Right? Which makes my wheels start spinning that maybe I should start offering once a month "open studio" for tweens. Have them come and just make stuff all day. Oh lawsy...here I go again with the ideas.

Today I spent getting ready for camp next week. Friday is my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary. 50. 50!!  Good grief. That is amaze balls. So we are having a family gathering here then headed to the LAKE all weekend. I can not wait to get myself in a float in the lake with a beverage of choice. (I have a lake drink love.  It's called dark and stormy....look it up guys. Oh boy is it yummy!) And if the lake is high enough I'll do a little dock jumping (I'll be sure to share a video of that!). Oh boy. This is gonna be a great summer!  Awesome art camps, little Lake trips and eventually sand in the toes. Woohooo!! And of course an e-course!!!!

Tween Art Camp...Whimsical Houses

Tuesday and Wednesday marked the first 2 days of camp for the summer. We had the best time creating in the new space! Both days the girls in attendance were super sweet and crazy creative. Two traits I love in the studio. Magic tends to happen when they all want to be there and they all have creative brains swirling. I think it helps not having school to distract their brains into thinking too left sided. Summer is a chance for the brain to relax and crack wide open to exciting new ideas. Creative ideas!  So here's what we did Tuesday:

He was in the middle of it all ALL freaking day. And Lily just sat under my feet pouting. That's usually her spot. But as soon as I put him down and said sit Lily she'd run off. Such a woman. In this photo he is totally looking down at her mocking.

Oh my girl...I just love watching her create.

I threw the pillow idea in kinda last minute. I had this stack of pre-made canvas pillows that were screaming "paint on me". I finally had a group small enough to use them (And I knew they wouldn't mess them up. Painting on fabric is not easy.) I love the way everything turned out!

In fact, truth be told I didn't want the group above to leave! And we worked until the very last second. Perfect way to spend a day. I was so motivated that Mailey and I made leather wrap cuffs that night. I never make jewelry anymore so it felt good to just make something new. Make something period. HA.

Studio Helpers

Lily was so glad to have me back in the studio in the yellow chair. She loves sitting squished next to me in it while I paint.  That is until.....

Little toot decided he might want to try my lap out in the yellow chair too. She pouted from then on out in the night. Poor Lily. She loves her brother Lawrence so much. But this chair in this studio is her special time with Momma. And he was messing with it. I might keep it our special time. Next time that is.

Around Here Lately

It seems I start every summer out with a little "project". Little. Right. Why I feel the need to reinvent the wheel every year is beyond me! I finally get time to breath but really can't because my creative space was literally suffocating. I totally forgot to take before photos. And should have. Because unless you've been down here you really can't grasp the magnitude of this adventure.

So this summer I'm hosting all my summer workshops down here. As much as I liked hosting the classes in my personal space, I quickly found it didn't work well for transitioning and making art for me. Plus it became a huge dumping ground after Kirkwood. I really can not create until the space is a happy space anyways. Someone recently couldn't believe that as a creative person I crave order. Like being creative automatically means you are messy? I have actually found that most artsy people I know have the same sense of urgency to clean and purge before they are able to really be creative. We may like our stuff, but my stuff is in order!

This was a ladder view of the "tool room". It's a room the entire length of the house but narrow. Prior to this clean out it had on one end my show displays and a bunch of junk(seriously). All the walls but one are sheet rocked already. Here's what I did:
1. painted the 2 ft concrete wall...put some "Great Stuff" in the cracks and still need to trim out(they were outta the wood I wanted for trim)
2. trimmed out the doorway and windows. painted that. hung a piece of vintage trim over window. hung cute curtains.
3. painted all the walls except the one without sheetrock. I need to hire someone to hang it on that wall because I just can't stand the unfinishedness of it. plus I want to hang a white board for teaching.
4. strung twinkle lights
5. vacuumed spiders gallor
6.  hung rainbow tissue paper flowers up
7. cleaned out and took to the dump an entire van full of crap

 This is just half the room. Sorry all the photos are kind of blurry. I think my eyes are going because I thought they were clear until uploaded here! HA

Once this part was in order and ready for my kiddos, I turned to and put my original desk and chair back into the studio in the middle of the basement. I've already been painting too! It feels amazing to have the space back in order. And I can't wait to teach in the other space next week. It gave me plenty of time for the swimming pool with the kids with giant Project #1 checked off the list!

Yeah for order. And clean studios painted sunshine yellow. Actually the color is Pale Honey at Home Depot. It is my favorite yellow ever. And since I bought like 6 gallons of it to paint something somewhere in this house I just keep painting with it. And it's still not gone. One day I want to paint the outside of the house this color. It'd be so pretty yellow!

See ya later in the week with what I've been painting.  Happy Tuesday!

Are You a Doer?

Are you a doer?  Would you like to be a painting doer?   Then join me for one of these upcoming amazing ART WORKSHOPS!  Woohooo.....

Tween Girls:  Young girls 5th grade and up are invited into my home studio to create a one-of-a-kind necklace pendant and acrylic painting on wood.   The necklace will have a chain and gift wrapping.  These workshops are perfect for gift making.

DATES:  Monday, November 25th:  9:30-1:30  (please provide a sack lunch)
                Saturday, December 14th: 10-2  (please provide a sack lunch)

Adult Folks:  Young at heart but over the age of 18 come on and join me as well in my home studio for jewelry making and painting.  Again, perfect for gift giving this holiday season.  Necklaces will have a chain and gift wrapping.

DATES:  Sunday, November 24th:  1-5PM  (bring a snackie)
                Sunday, December 15th:  1-5PM  (bring a snackie)

WORKSHOP COST:  $65
HOW TO RESERVE A SPOT:  email me:  jennihorne@ymail.com

I do hope you'll join me in making a memorable gift this Holiday season. 

The Studio Overhaul! Day 2

Lots of pictures for you today!  I had no idea how to go about finishing off this room, but I had a vision.  I literally had a measuring tape, heavy hammer, lots of finishing nails, pencil, skill saw(You know one of those hand held saws that has a blade that jiggles up and down to cut?)...and LOADS of determination.  Loads.  For day 1 I started with all the trim work.  It was actually really fun.  Like putting together a puzzle!  One huge lesson learned though.....make SURE the wood is flat, has no warping or twists.  It makes for trim that so doesn't want to lay like it should.  And is very frustrating.  You hammer one end, the other end pops off the wall.  And vice-versa.  Oh well.  That's what chalk is for, right?

I was most proud of the way the windows turned out.  They required a ton of pre-finishing with the Great Stuff (which is super awesome!!) and chalk.  The windows having not been finished very well were extremely drafty.  Now, they are not!

 I found this heart in the wood of one door frame.  A good sign no doubt!!

The other drafty issue was where the concrete semi wall and sheet rock joined.  This is only on the exterior wall and half the interior left wall.  Again, I Great Stuffed it and added trim on top.  Then I added chalk on the top and bottom of the trim for a super seal.

I had no idea how to finish off sheet rock with tape and stuff to create a smooth wall surface.  So instead I joint compounded the walls to look like plaster.  Yep.   Cool trick, right?  We did this at The Vintage-Flea a lifetime ago, so it was in my bag of tricks already.  And quick.   I did all the trim and joint compound layering on day 1.  Already it was feeling better to my little creative heart.

On the second day, after getting more trim wood from Home Depot I painted the walls with Pale Honey. Turns out the paint at Home Depot has primer in it!! No way....awesome! No wonder it goes on like a dream. So an hour later I had the whole room painted!

Next was painting the concrete.  This was not what I expected.  It looked a bit like cottage cheese after one coat, and was hard to edge the bottom.  So three layers of white later and tons more chalk later it looked done.

So, what does an artist do when she makes a mess on the floor with concrete paint?  She makes a scallop boarder, that's what!!  I love, love this detail in the room now!

I debated the floor issue for a spell and decided that honestly the cold floor needed carpet.  Outdoor carpet is very durable and came in a lovely shade of gray.  For lighting I added some twinkling lights!!  At IKEA I plan to purchase some floor lamps that can be moved around according to where I am at the time.

Day 3 came and went like a blur.  I hurt from finger tip to finger tip...my wing span that is.  So at the end of Day 3 I was still in a mess.  And pooped.  Turns out I had a ton of stuff I want to use in the space.  It's almost overwhelming though visually.  So I need to edit.  Edit.  Edit.  Not my forte.  Because I want to use it all!!  I got all the boxes unpacked and everything in a home....but it took until day 4.  And that day was after taking a 2 day break!!

 Graham Cracker has already found her spot in the room.  On the pink couch.  Dang I love that pink couch!

Here's the finished doorway.  And yes, the shape is on purpose.  There will be a clothesline between the posts for favorite pics and inspirations!  Also I am adding curtain doorways.   Turns out the doorways are very thick and oddly wide.  In other words, a real door would cost a fortune.  I like the idea of the soft doorway anyways.

Next up:  The FINISHED SPACE!!!  Wooohooooo!!  It may be next week though before that post is ready.  I am still tweaking the room.  And have managed to make a jewelry making bomb on the table.  I've got deadlines to meet!  I want to show it off done. :)   So be sure to keep coming back peeps.  And if you ever, ever want some help designing or creating a space to be creative, don't hesitate to email me your questions!  I am always eager to lend a hand!

I will share this....today when my 9 year old came down and my finished ceiling pizaaz was up she went, "WHOAAAAA!!!  Mom!  Wow.  I like that!!"  It's good.  Puffy heart good.  (and yes, that was on day 5...it has taken a while to finish. hehehe..)

The Studio Overhaul! Day 1

When we moved into this house in August I was already in full swing with the new teaching job (7:30-4:00 job), was in the midst of preparing for the biggest show of my life and getting ready to teach out of state for the first time.  Yep.  Lots of BIG things were happening within a tiny snapshot of time.  And I wondered why I lost so much weight!  (I've put all that weight back on this holiday for sure...maybe plus some!) We had a few options for where to put my studio space.  But for some reason I really liked this basement space.  Mostly because I could really spread out into different spaces for different projects and not have to ever worry about putting a thing away!  Woohooo!!  So upon moving in I quickly set up shop and made it look as appealing as possible.  See here:

Cute, right?  And I should be so very, very grateful that I have a family that supports my artsy ways and let me have as much space as I have.  I should be able to create away in such a space.  I should be happy and content and eager to make artsy stuff in this space.  But I wasn't.  I hated being down there so far away from the family.  It's cold, a little dark and I can't hang anything up because the walls weren't finished.  In fact, Mailey would drive me nuts coming down asking when I was coming up.   Nuts. 

My old space, although much smaller, was beautiful.  Well, see:

It was the sunroom attached to our kitchen.  Right in the HEART of the home.  It was bright and cheery and oh so fun to create away in.    So...........once the Christmas decorations had all been packed away I started in with a plan to finish off my basement room.  Me.  All by myself.  I think it was a bit of a "I'm gonna prove something to any and everyone that will listen."  But nevertheless, I have now created a magical studio space that is sure to inspire all who will be joining me on this creative journey. 

So today I share the plan....the next share will be the construction...and last but not least, the finished room. oooooo...giant puffy hearts peeps.  GIANT!  Here were the things driving me batty about the state of the room:

This was the wish list I wrote out on my graph paper pad:
1-trim out doorways and add curtain doors
2-trim out windows
3-joint compound texture the walls
4-add trim between concrete and sheet rock
5-add LOTS of Great Stuff to keep the cold out!  And chauk.  Lots of chauk.
6-paint the walls Pale Honey
7-add twinkle lights and paper lanterns to ceiling
8-paint concrete short wall bright white
9-create a lounging nook so Mailey can come down and hang with me
10-create a u shaped workspace
11-locate cool vintage couch for lounging nook
12-spend less than $500
13-figure out some flooring to warm the floors up
14-inspiration board over desk area

So that was it.  I measured the doors, windows and walls and headed off to Home Depot to purchase the goodes.  It was hilarious...I literally couldn't step without someone in that store asking, "you need some help mam?"  I guess a blond chick in her super cool Boden raincoat with a large cart full of joint compound, paint, trim wood, nails and chauk seems suspicious?  In fact, while checking out the gentleman behind me said, "You don't look like the sheet rocking type."  Huh.  And just what does that look like sir?  Of course I didn't really say that.  But they did see me in that store 4 times in 24 hours.  The manager even came up to me and said, "You must be working on something big.  We've seen you in here a bunch the past two days!"  I told Tiffin it was the raincoat.  It is sweet.  I spent right at $350 so far.  I have a trip to IKEA planned for Wednesday to get the last few things I need.  Pretty good coming in under budget!  I'll share the process tomorrow with you guys!!  See you then.  :)

The Studio Tour!!

OK.  Way too many boxes and a storage unit later, I think everything is in the studio!  Wooohooo!!  I love it down here in the basement.  And although it's an unfinished room, it feels rather cozy.  And the ceiling height rocks!  Once I get everything hung on the walls I think you'll not even notice the rawness.  For now though, I've got to get to work.  So I am done "nesting" down here and ready to go.  Let's take a peek, shall we?

So you enter the rooms through this little vignette.  Of course I had to make an entrance.  With an orange curtain.  And my mannequin Bertha with the OPEN/Closed sign from my old studio.  Love.

This room is going to be for painting and sewing.  It also has all the white cabinets the previous owner left behind chocked full of supplies for all my projects.  Everything that was in the old house garage and studio is now neatly tucked away in those cabinets!! 

I am super excited that some of my favorite pieces are now out of the garage and storage.  Like this flat file!!

I intend to use many of my display pieces in the room so I can see what I have and what I need.  Right now, looks like I need to paint.  This is all I have in stock.  Yep.  It was a good show season!

Of course little vignettes make it cozier feeling.  The pencil portrait I did as a child.  I found it in the move.  So sweet.

 Yes, I do know how insanely lucky I am.  Yep.  Smitten with this house.

Off the painting area is a giant work room.  I've set up my press area in here(because that's where all the plugs are).  Which is important to the success of the upcoming Country Living Fair.  The 250 frames I picked up and $1200 order from the sublimation company are all a part of the big picture too!!

All my display pieces have a shelf now so I won't buy something I don't need.  Well, in theory anyways I won't buy anything.  I do like my display pieces though!  It is nice having everything out of storage.  The bigger display pieces like the grids, tables, tent and shelves are in a different part of the basement.

And last, I was trying to figure out what to do with this area when it hit me....JEWELRY.  I am thrilled to not be using the painting table for this anymore because the soldering is messy.  And it's a perfect height for standing and stamping.  You can see in this photo how the rooms connect as well.  The other side of this room I've promised to my husband.  Yeah, I know.  I'll be sneaking over that way too.  But for now I am pretty contained. 

And most definitely content.