Don't Open Emails From ME!!!!

if you get an email from me with an attachment or link or heck, any email that diesn't say "don't delete me" in the subject line, DELETE IT!!! So sorry my email acct got hacked. What a pain in the butt.

My New HOPE. . .

CHEST - okay it's not "new" but it is becoming "new" again! Here's it's story. . .

About 10 years ago I bought this old Lane hope chest at a garage sale while Gary & I were vacationing in California. I bought it for $10 and had hoped to do something with it for my scrapbook room at my old house. That never happened. Then, when Bryanna got engaged she asked if she could have it to store her new china in it. I of course said yes and it went to her new home. The china came out of the chest eventually and this little hope chest got buried under a pile of stuff in her garage for the next 6 years.  

A few weeks ago when I got serious about the new studio I asked Bryanna if I could have it back. So on Thursday Darwin & I dug it out of their garage. When we unburied it I found it had some "issues" that it didn't used to. The bottom had dry rotted and one of the casters and a chunk of the wood had fallen out and the bottom would have to be replaced. I think Darwin thought it was a lost cause but I was not detoured. That very day I got it home and measured the bottom and headed down to Home Depot for a new piece of wood, 4 new legs, some wood glue and some screws. I had the Home Depot guy cut my wood for me and I was ready to get home and tackle my newest project! As I put my $22 piece of wood in my trunk I realized it was split! So back in I went to get yet another piece of wood. As luck (or God) would have it, the guy that helped me was busy and so another young man helped me. He was a little unsure and asked an older gentleman to help him/me. The new man decided I needed a $35 piece of wood. I was a bit disappointed, but figured I was still getting a great deal on my "new" piece of furniture for my studio. They spent quite a bit of time cutting the wood to my exact measurements. And when they were finished they asked if I wanted the scraps (you have to pay for the whole piece not just what you use out of the piece) I told them yes, since I was paying for it. Then I said "unless you want to charge me just for the piece I had cut?". They looked at each other, grabbed the scraps back and threw them in a bin and said "okay". The younger of the two asked the older what to charge me, the older of the two said "give her the special deal".I thanked him and as the younger man & I walked up to the cash register I asked what the special deal was? I was not prepared for how special this deal was. . . it was .51cents!!!!! That's right, after tax I paid .56 cents for a $35 piece of wood that I took 80% of!!! I had to hug and thank both of these men. And as I walked out of the store I had to thank God for making this so easy and so joyful for me. It was another one of those moments that I talked about earlier today about how God gives us the little desires of our heart!

As soon as I got home from Home Depot I got started on my replacing my bottom. It took me a little bit of time, energy and sweat to get that bottom out, but I did it all by myself! I was so excited to just slip my new bottom in and get it "glued & screwed" so I could do the fun stuff - sanding & painting. But sadly I had mis-measured and my .56 cent bottom was 1/4" too wide! I just couldn't bring myself to go back to Home Depot and ask them to cut it again. So I called my friend Judie's husband and asked if he could fix it for me (he has a whole wood shop at his house). He is a nice guy and said yes, I could come the next day. So I loaded the chest and the wood into my trunk so he could measure it before he cut it for me so I didn't have to bug him again. As luck (or God) would have it, Ken cut my wood for me and then even glued and screwed it for me - he even used clamps and everything, thing I would not have done! Once it was glued he even attached the hardware that the legs screw into for me. I left there so happy and so thankful!

Here is my little Lane chest that was built on February 13, 1971 ( you can find this info by looking at the serial number). I really wish I would have taken pictures before I got the bottom in and the legs attached, but that's okay.

 The cedar is in great shape on the inside

 My plan is to add these wooden letters to the front of the chest once it is all painted. There are 6 little sections on the front of the chest that they will fit perfectly in.

 Tonight I got started on all of the sanding and painting. Of course I painted it black but I left the ornate trim just washed with the black so that the wood shows through.

Even though the cedar was in such great shape, I painted it black too. There are a couple of reasons why I did this. One, I hate the smell of cedar - always have. And two, because sadly, when I broke out the bottom I found that even a 40 year old piece of Lane furniture that calls it's self a Fine Cedar Chest" has a substructure of MDF!!!! Oh my, really? My hope and my prayer is that all of the formaldehyde has gassed out in the past 40 years of being used and stored in hot garages. But to be on the safe side I am painting and sealing every bit of the chest - no natural wood top on this piece of furniture like on the other pieces. If it becomes a problem I will just get rid of it. But I am having faith !

 Here's a close up of the trim & new legs

They whole chest still needs another coat of paint and it needs to be varnished (I hope my varnish arrives tomorrow - I had to special order my fav varnish last week because I couldn't find any locally). And of course I need to get my letters done. But I am very happy with how it's turning out.
So that's the story of my hope chest, my newest addition to "The Room that God Built"!

Till we meet again. . .

The Room That God Built. . .

this is what I am calling my new & improved studio. It truly is the room that God built. As I said before in another post I have been praying to find furniture on the side of the road - and I DID! I have been praying that I could do the work that needs to be done and so far I HAVE! I have prayed about every little detail that has gone into making a new space that I can both create in and be  healthy in.

Being a Christian my whole life, it should not surprise me, but yet it still does when God gives you the most simple of desires. You know those little things that are not "important" in the grand scheme of things, but just those things, or moments that make life easier, more joyful. And in this world of disease, and hunger and war, to think that He has taken the time to grant me these little wants, amazes and humbles me. Because of this I wanted to do something that would always make me remember what a blessing this room is and how my God cares enough about me to answer my prayers. So I made this canvas last night. It hangs just inside the door. You can not miss it when you walk in.

I wish I could have gotten a better photo so you could really see all of the depth of color and texture in this piece. (If you click on the photo you can see it better and see more of the color and texture.)

I matted the main image onto some torn up and roughly painted cardboard to give the piece more depth and texture. The image is an old abandoned winery in Italy - wasn't Christ's 1st miracle to turn water into wine? Maybe this room is my miracle?

 Just the title here and some f the details

 I used another scripture on this piece that has been on the tip of my tongue for a couple of weeks now. . .Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart"

 I added this little image of  Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam Fresco from the Sistine Chapel. I thought it more than appropriate and just the right finishing touch to the canvas.

So this is my newest addition to the studio.

Just another thought before I close:
During the past 19 months while my studio has been such an issue and my health has been such a burden, I kept asking "what lesson am I supposed to learn?". But honestly I never sat still or was quiet long enough to get an answer to my question. Maybe this is the lesson. . . to have more faith, to put God FIRST in everything (even the small stuff), and to learn to pray and be aware and grateful for the answers?

Till we meet again. . .

Knock Knock. . .

Who's there???

It's me of course! I just wanted to share with you what I did this evening. . .

No, not more furniture (actually I did work on another piece today but I forgot to take pictures) tonight is yet another canvas. This is the 1st piece made especially for my new studio. It is called "ASK, SEEK, KNOCK". I chose to make this canvas because this scripture has been floating around in my head all week.

 I just adore this vintage image of this little girl saying her bedtime prayers!

 I hope this doesn't upset anyone but I bought an old Bible at a thrift store for .50 and tore out 2 pages in Matthew for this canvas (the scripture is Matt 7:7). I stamped some eyes and a question mark on the Matthew page and added a G-45 door knob that I painted and distressed to represent the seek, ask & knock in the scripture.

 Here is the whole scripture written out - it is about prayer and God's faithfulness to us. It means alot to me because each step of the way in making this new room has been a faithful answer to prayer. I have started calling my new studio "The Room that God Built" .

 I love how the door knob turned out - I added an old rusty skeleton key with part of a broken rosary chain and a little bronze cross hanging from it.

This was a really fun piece to make - I had so much fun with the background paint colors and the process of getting the paint on the canvas. Each layer of paint, ink & paper was just too much fun! These canvases are like a little mystery - you think you know where it is going to take you, but it always ends up going quite a bit differently than you planned. I love the color palette here - it is what I am planning for the whole room - reds, browns, some oxidized blue/turquoise and of course black!

I hope you enjoyed seeing my first piece of art for my new studio.

have a great weekend

Till we meet again. . .

OMG - Another New Studio!!!

It's no news that my studio has become quite the issue over the past 18 months. And I have become weary of not having a space of my own to work/create in! I store everything in my studio but all of my work is done at the kitchen counter, dinning room table or on the floor in the family room. None of this is the end of the world but I am spoiled I guess and for the past 10 years I have had my very own room to retreat to, to create in and to just do what I love to do. So we have been tossing around the idea of switching rooms here in the house. In other words I would turn my original studio space into the girls' playroom and I would take over their room. This is all well and good, but I need all new, all real wood furniture to make all of this happen. I have a TON of stuff and I need a ton of storage. I have also had a TON of medical bills and other studio related bills so the funds for purchasing this new furniture are not really available to me.

I see all of these HGTV shows where people find these old pieces of furniture on the side of the road and they take them home and refinish them into lovely treasures. I personally have never seen any great old furniture sitting on the side of the road! But I believe in prayer and I started praying that God would help me find some of these lovely treasures! Well, God is so cool and this past Saturday I was at my daughter's house and we were standing at the kitchen sink doing dishes and I looked out the window and what do you think I saw???? That's right - there was old furniture sitting on the sidewalk in front of her neighbor's house! I grabbed Bug and headed down the street to take a closer look.There were several things out there but the 2 things that caught my eye were a solid oak entertainment center (circa 1980) and a sweet little solid pine cabinet (also circa 1980). I knocked on the door and asked if I could have/buy it and they told me I could HAVE it but I needed to hurry because a donation truck was on it's way to carry it off. Bug and I ran back to the house where I begged my dear son-in-law to bring the truck down (NOW) to pick it up for me. He left the food on the grill and off we went. The little cabinet went into the truck easily but that solid oak entertainment center was another story! It was way too heavy for me to help lift it up into the truck, but God loves me and the darn thing was on WHEELS!!!!! So, I pushed that thing down the street and up my daughter's driveway until Gary could get there to help load it up and bring it home.  

I was so excited and that evening Bryanna and I sat together at the computer looking at Pintrest for ideas on how I wanted to paint and alter my new treasures. She also mentioned that I should go on Craig's List to find other pieces. I have never been a fan of Craig's List, but when I got home I decided to take a peek. Wouldn't ya know it I found the perfect solid oak book shelf from the same era. But I closed it out and said I shouldn't do it. The next morning I woke up still thinking about that "perfect" bookshelf. I prayed about it and by that evening it was sitting in my house! So for the past couple of days I have been refurbishing furniture and having the time of my life! Below are my new studio's treasures. . .

 This is my Craig's List bookshelf just the way it arrived at my house on Sunday. It's pretty big - over 6ft tall and 3ft wide and 20" deep. Lots of storage on the shelves as well as the little cabinet doors underneath.

 This is the cute little cabinet I found while visiting my Daughter's house. It is missing it's hardware and is a little dirty but in great shape!

 This is the entertainment center that I pushed half way down the block in my daughter's neighborhood The big space that the tv sits in has doors that slide out to hide the tv That will eventually hide my paper racks, but still keep them easily accessable. The tall skinny drawer that you see there is for VHS tapes and cassette tapes. It will soon hold ink pads and paints. And who knows what else will be stored and displayed in this great piece!

                                                 

This is the book shelf now that it's been painted. I LOVE IT!!!
(the walls in the new room are tan so the black will show up - I know it's a bit hard to see against these black walls)

This is the sweet little cabinet, partially finished. It needs a little more varnish and the doors put back on. This piece will hold my Cricut machine and all of my cartridges. It's like it was made for it - my machine fits PERFECTLY on top!

This the hardware I bought for my pieces. I bought wrought iron hardware and then refinished them. Lots of rusty red and turquoise and a little copper going on here. The first piece is before I refinished it.

This is my current studio - I am showing you this so you can see my table that I bought a while back. It was my inspiration for the paint job I did on my "new" pieces. I thought about painting it all different colors but then I looked at my table and decided this was the perfect way to go. It would update my 1980's treasures and help the room look a bit more cohesive (even though I am trying for a more eclectic look)

I sold all of my white furniture this week (except for the office chairs if anyone is interested in them) and it will be all be picked up in a week or so. This gives me a little bit of time to finish up my pieces and get my studio all packed up again. Man, am I sick of packing up this room!!!! Now I am praying for a desk and a couple of chairs. Oh yeah, and some imps to come pack all of this up and set it all up in the room next door!

I hope you all have a great 4th of July!

Till we meet again. . .

Art Journaling 101

I am not sure what's going on with me these days, but my style of art is transforming. I have always been a creative person, I started out as a little girl coloring and making my own Barbie clothes. As an adult I have dabbled in sewing, I have stamped, scrapbooked, done photography, tried my hand at writing and done some altered objects and some book making. I have even done some doodling and "tangling". But in the past several weeks I have found a new creative outlet, mixed media canvases. I must say that of all of the artistic endeavors I have pursued over the years this latest one has brought me the most joy. I am not sure why that is, but it really does. I have started to realize that I cannot keep creating these canvases because I will soon run out of wall space! This has lead me to consider art journaling. It's the same basic process, but easier to "contain" if you will. So, Sunday I ordered myself a couple of mixed media journals and I have been counting the days till they arrive! While I waited I bought the most recent Art Journaling magazine (as well as the one before it) and have been drooling over all of the beautiful art work contained inside the covers. I have spent hours on the computer watching video tutorials and reading up on techniques and products in preparation for my goodies.  

Today my journals arrived! I finished up the obligations I had for the day and then got started on my very first art journaling page. I have to say that the "art critics" in my home have very different reviews of my "new style" of art. My Mother hates it - her exact words were "its messy,  morbid and dark". My husband on the other hand Loves it and thinks it is "so cool"! What do you think?

 This is the full spread
The pages are 9x12 so its a substantial size. You can click on the photos to see them bigger.

 A close up of the left page

I used vintage anatomical illustrations and a 1920's photo of doctors & a cadaver at Harvard Medical School in which I changed all of the names to the names of my doctors.

 A close up of the right page

Another vintage anatomical illustration, and the same heart with a peony growing out of the vessle that I reversed in PSE to mirror the one on the left page. And I love the praying skeleton! The scripture reads " I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26"

I can see where my Mother (77 years old) can think it is "messy, morbid and dark", but really its not all that morbid - it tells a story I wanted to tell and allowed me a place to not only be creative but to express my feelings. Yesterday I had yet another doctor appointment. It did not go well! After an hour long wait in the "big waiting room" and then another 35 minute wait in the "little waiting room" I was a bit annoyed. When the doctor finally arrived, acting much like he was god and being very condisending I had had enough. I left the office VERY angry and he knew it. I do not think anyone had ever had the nerve to cut him off as abrubtly as I did or to just walk out on him! I have a nasty temper that I rarely ever let out and until recently did not control well once it was "out there". But I was proud that I was able to control it yesterday - no yelling, no obscenities, no squealing of tires in the parking lot. Not that I didn't feel the desire to do those things! Instead I quoted scripture to myself under my breath as I walked (quickly) out of the office and as I drove (safely) out of the parking lot.

The whole time I was driving I was hoping that my new journal would be delivered a day early and that I could lose myself in some healing and reflective art when I got home. This would not be the case and I would be forced to wait to get all of my feelings out onto paper. So this piece, my 1st entry in my new art journal, tells the story of my frustration with my health problems and my doctors. It tells the story of the faith I struggle with and yet completely rely on through all of this.

I am glad I had to wait a day to create this - it really would have been "messy, morbid and dark" and more if I had done this last night.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my latest piece of art - I would love to know what you think of it.

Till we meet again. . . . 

P.S. I promise I will get some vacation photos and stories up soon.

Hot Summer Special!!!!

Hey friends, I just wanted to let you know I have a couple of extra kits that I am putting on sale for more than 50% off (+ shipping). This would be a great way to spend some of these HOT summer days! You will get to create a great project without having to do all of the cutting and gathering - just plunk yourself down and start creating!

So these are the two different kits I have for sale right now. . .

"My Life Is A Circus"

UPDATED - all 3 of the Circus kits are now sold.

 This was a $60 class and I am selling the kit for $27.50!

I have 3 of these available. You will get all of the supplies needed to complete the project (minus, adhesives, inks and stamps) as well as all of the written instructions, supply list and photos.

You can click on the photo below to see more images and info on this project.

 "Form and Function of the Industrial Strength Woman"

This was a $110.00 class and I am selling the kit for $55
 (this is less than the cost of supplies!)

I only have one of these kits available.You will get all of the supplies needed to complete the project (minus, adhesives, inks and stamps) as well as all of the written instructions, supply list and photos.

I hope you will take advantage of this summer special. If you wish to purchase any of the above kits (or any of the instructions listed on my "Kits & Instructions" tab at the top of the page) just send me an email at GArbonzobeenz1@aol.com and I will send you a Paypal invoice right away.

Have a great weekend and try to stay cool!

Till we meet again. . .

You can click on the photo below to see more images and info on this project.