Where I play

So many of you have asked to see photos of my studio and I hope you won't be disappointed!  I've lived in this tiny bungalow for almost 2 years now....and it's taken me that long to get my art supplies organized.  But I think I'm there!!!  Keep in mind that this is a 9x11 bedroom!  And I have it about as jammed full as you can, but there's still space for me and 1 other person to play!

This is looking in through the door.  The window is on the north side of the house.  I use the Jetmax cubes that Michael's carries.  

It's pretty hard to photo such a small room, so this would be the next section going to the right of the first shot.  The cubes give me so much storage and I've got my dolls in glass cases on top of them.  Mom's paintings on the walls.  There's a very small TV hooked up to netflix.  We also have all of our DVDs on the home network so I can watch any movie on this little TV.

I have my desktop covered with non-stick craft sheet.  I love this because I can simply ink all over the place!

This would be the south wall (closet)

and the rest of the wall to the right of the closet.  I added slat board pieces to the walls, something new for me.  It made my ribbon storage so much fun and now it's out in the open where I can see it.  The row of CD cases are clear acrylic stamps.  The 2-tiered "lantern" is made from paper that's been folded and cut.

below the ribbons, more cubes for storage.  My bow-it-all and a zutter cutter are out in the open where I can easily access them.  The black tray is another ribbon holder system.

 

Going back to the left, there's a small section that's behind the closet doors when they are open.  I put slat wall there with 3" shelves coming out.  It is a perfect place to store all my silk dye inks and supplies!

inside the closet I put up 2 of those 9 cube storage things.  Each cube here is a foot square.  With the fabric boxes on top, I get so much storage in this closet it's hard to believe!  I have tons of fabric in these cubes and all of my doll repair supplies.  On the top are doll wigs, shoes, hats, clothes...so much stuff.  But it's all nicely organized and out of sight!

Now over to the west wall.  More slat wall with a shelf going across the top.  The netting has twinkle lights in it...just for fun.  I mean, if you are going to play....why not play where it's fun?  I just love looking up at all the little dolls and things on this shelf!

The other end of the wall.  I found paper trays to put in the slat wall and love it!  My cricut is out on top, but when I move it, this becomes my photo staging area.

And I love these flat files.  Boy!  Do they every hold a ton of stamps and other items!

Here's the top part of the west wall.  I have plenty of space to use my die cut system on the big shelf.  Love that!  And the old laptop is our media server for the house.

and here's the bottom part of that wall.  Tons of storage.  The 12x12 files along the bottom hold my genealogy files.

Back to the north wall, I have my sewing desk set up and ready to go.  The glare doesn't show the beauty of the gorgeous stained glass window Colleen made for me years ago.  I'll have to photo that in the dark one of these days.

You really have to look everywhere in this room.  For instance, under the desk, on the left side is a metal panel with magnetic bins stuck to it.  They house eyelets, snaps, all kinds of "littles" for sewing.  I love that idea because I can just pull them off and use them and when done, stick them back on!

Here's a close up - not even a foot wide, but fit that space just perfect!

So here are some of my storage solutions.  I do love stickles but had no idea I had this many bottles of clear stickles until I got them all in one spot!  That red button - all my lights are on a single switch - just press that and they all come on at once.  You need great lighting in a room this small and crowded!

If you can see in the upper left of this shot - I've got buttons stored in glass jars.

I used plain steel rods for my ribbon spools and twisted velcro strips at the ends to hold them in place.  So far it seems to be working just fine.

Of course, there's always going to be a skeptic who will think the insides of my drawers are a mess.  Nope, for once they are completely organized!  This drawer holds just my silk ribbons.  I love using them when I'm restoring an old doll - so I need lots!  :o)

The flat files hold stamps, inks, glitter, H20's and oversized paper.  This is my distress ink pad drawer.  Well, a few other things tossed in there for now.

They are the perfect place for wood mounted stamps



The top drawer was deep enough to put almost all of my cling back stamps on cards cut to fit the height of the drawer.  I love this system for storing my cling back stamps.  Between these and whats in the CD cases, I have over 1000 stamps - and that's after downsizing!

I love the little divider trays you can get to go into the jetmax cubes.  Makes it handy to sort out my reinkers, inks and dyes.

I also use them to sort flowers.  But I love the little clear buckets as I can simply pull them out to go with me to a crop.

In the deeper drawers (the cubes have either 2 or 3 drawers per cube) I'm storing my misters and other products.

Finally, I've borrowed this idea from Jenn Dove.  I'm using magazine holders to sort leftover scraps of paper by color groups - great for card backgrounds!

So there you have it - my studio in a nutshell.  Next up - I'm going to insulate the 8x12 shed out back that I'm calling a "cottage" and convert it into a room for my outdoor crafts.  That will include dichroic glass, metal clay - all the things that need to be fired in a kiln.  I already have the glass saw and grinder set up and plan to try out the kiln tomorrow.  It's going to be a great space for the crafts I don't want to do inside the house!  After all, this is just a bedroom!  :o)

Hope you've enjoyed the virtual tour.  If you have questions, feel free to ask.  I have now used these jetmax cubes for about 6 years.  I loved the configuration in our old home, but I think what I love most is that you can make them work in any space you have!  And no, jetmax doesn't pay me to say that!  LOL!!!

A world lost in 4 generations?

Tuesday night, I finally found "Tuesday Night Live in Jerusalem" on TV. Channel 366 if you have Direct TV, or look for JLT. Ari said that most Jews today are only 4 generations from being devout. That all you have to do is start to study. I happen to think that applies to the rest of us as well. 4 generations ago, our ancestors were all pretty religious in one way or another. I think we have lost a lot. I've written already about how language was lost in my ancestors in just 3 generations. Along with language is customs, culture, photos, memories and stories.

Today I start a journey that I've not taken before - scrapping a story that is not related to me in any way....other than the fact that Dad owned a Texaco station in the place the story took place.

I've gotten just a few emails from you all asking about genealogy and how to get started. So, here are my thoughts. Interview your parents and your grandparents. Ask cousins, aunts and uncles what they know. Oral histories are the best place to start and 9 times out of 10, you can prove the oral history with legal documents.

Next start with the 1930 census. It's the most recent available to us. Join ancestry.com or another site that will give you access. Worth every penny! If your grandpa was 40 in the 1930 census, then look for him as 30 in the 1920 and so on. Don't bother looking at the indexed names. Take the township where he lived and look at each individual name. I swear....people could not write and today, the people doing the transcriptions don't have an ounce of logic! LOL!!! Newby is NOT Neuman, no matter how you look at it. But I know, it's just a job and they are in a hurry. So, tip #1 - look at each page of the census. Usually, family lived pretty close together, so if you find someone with a similar name, start looking real close!

Tip # 2. Anything in writing is only as good as the person who took down the information and we all make mistakes. But look for the obvious. 2 sisters born 6 months apart....probably something written down wrong.

Tip # 3. Think about spelling. No one knew how to spell and mostly did it by how it sounded in earlier census records. Moore could be Moor, More, Mohr, Muir and so on. Clark could be Klark or Clarc or Klarc. And then add accents. My ancestors came from Germany. Haus became House. And in one census, it is written Hauce. Hmmm....Not sure about that one!

Tip # 4. Until about 1917, you could change your name anytime you wanted. To anything. We didn't have driver's licenses, etc. In my family, the story was told that 2 brothers got mad at each other and the one changed his name from Kerr to Karr. Sure enough, that is exactly how they are in the 1930 census!

So, when you find something, don't just write it down, do something with it. Today, Kathy came over and gave me an almost full day lesson in the cricut. WOW!!! I have been having fun using my jukebox and Design Studio. Amazing technology. We'll see where I can take it.

Note, just click on the photo and it will come up in it's own window. IF you are a descendant of the colony, feel free to print and make your own scrapbook as you follow along with the stories here.

And please email me! I'd love to hear from you! jlowe54@gmail.com

Saul Baer, Sal Baur, Baruch, SB....he changed his name on nearly every single document found. He died as S. B. Milstein. I have decided to say that his name is Saul Baruch Muhlstein because that is the name I found on the ships register which is the earliest document found.

Last tip today, invest in some type of software. I use Reunon for Mac, but have used Familytreemaker in the past as well as other packages. I kept everything by hand for years and still have boxes of stuff to enter into my computer. OK, it may never get done. But remember, I've been doing this off and on for over 40 years. Loads of stuff to scan!

Build a family tree and add to it as you find new information. A tree in itself can help you find people and I'll talk about that next time. And really, I plan to scrap my way through part of the story of Cotopaxi, but as I do it....look at the layout. Can you tell what is store bought and what I made myself with the cricut? Kathy showed me how to merge different elements together and I think I may just go crazy combining diecuts! You will have to look hard to see that the flourish and star in the upper right corner are one piece with other stars layered on top and below them. Truly gives great dimension to a page!