Archive for the craft studio Category

15 Before 2015 : Taking on the Challenge!

It’s only this year that I have discovered the wonderful blog of Lisa Jacob, Market Your Creativity. I took an online class over the summer with Lisa and she was full of fabulous insights. In a recent post she encourages people to write a list of 15 goals to accomplish before the end of the year… I have decided to give it a go since I haven’t done much goal setting this year…! So here we go, these are a mixture of personal and professional goals, in no particular order:

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1.Do a complete Fall cleaning in the house. With my last exhibition and then getting this website ready, house cleaning (which was never my forte I must admit) was put a little on the back burner… Say no more.

2.Find retailers to wholesale my line of prints and greeting cards. It’s something I had in mind for a while! I even have a webpage for it…

3.Write a list of Goals for 2015. I’m usually good at it but I don’t think I did it last year… 2013 and 2014 have been a little quiet since I became a mum and I want to be more prepared and focus for the coming year.

4.Put some systems in place to be better organised for 2015. From accountancy to supplies order, I have a constant feeling of being all over the place…

5.Take part in the annual Wine & Art event in the Malton, Killarney. Always a lovely night out and with the proceeds going to a local charity.

6.Take part in the Christmas Craft Fair in the Killarney Outlet Centre. My prints and jewellery did quite well at this fair over the years, and I like to pick a few presents there while I’m at it!

7.Do a MAJOR clean up in the studio. Seriously. I can’t see the table anymore.

8.Launch my new series of inspirational prints. Judging by the reactions I’ve had on Facebook, they should be quite popular! I will organise a pre-order very soon.

9.Create a Gift Guide for Christmas. Something I would send to my subscribers, with suggestions for your spouse, your work colleague, your best friend etc…!

10.Do up a Marketing Calendar. (Thanks again to Lisa Jacob for this one!) Something that  will include the different holidays, when to send newsletters accordingly etc…

11.Start going to the pool with my son. We’ve had a nice summer so plenty of playing outside but with the winter setting in it would be a great activity for me and him, and he loooooves water.

12.Get to 2000 fans on Facebook. I’m getting really close and with your help I will get there!

13.Have a successful holiday season. With a combination of gallery sales, craft fair sales and online sales…

14.Make Christmas truly magical for my little boy. He was still a baby last year but he’s a little curious toddler now and I can’t wait to see him discover all the magic of Christmas!

15.Host a fab dinner party to ring in the New Year. We are receiving the whole family on my partner’s side for dinner on New Year’s eve, it’s the first time that we are hosting this traditional event, which usually involves everybody staying over, lounging, watching movies and have a few drinks. A little daunting (7 adults and 7 kids) but I’m looking forward to it!

Do you fancy taking up the challenge too…? Please feel free to let me know!

Studio Tour… Finally!

Studio Tour... Finally!
I have been promising this post for quite a while so I apologise for the delay..!
As you know, I moved house back in January… With the arrival of my little man, I needed the extra space and an extra room altogether, and this was a golden opportunity to really think through how I would like my studio to be… Here is how it turned out:

Studio overview..! Yes, it is baby toys you see at the bottom right 🙂

Pinterest was of course a great source of inspiration, and the “artist studio” and “craft studio” threads were devoured.. I can’t stop looking at these, honest! Budget being “as little as possible”, I ended up on my beloved Ikea website, and planned the whole studio around what they had available…
 

It was like Christmas morning when all this stuff was delivered!

Basically, the working surfaces are LINNMON tables, the cubic bookcases are EXPEDIT and the bookcases on each side of the window are BILLY wall shelves turned sideways…

My huge belly slowed me down a bit but I managed to do it all…!

The unit on the left is a wardrobe which was already there, it houses my bigger items like blank canvasses, empty boxes for wrapping etc…
 

“Une place pour chaque chose, chaque chose à sa place”

The main part of my studio is this window facing surface, which is where I paint to have maximum daylight… All my tubes are in simple euro store baskets.  Did I mention the view…? 😉

The beautiful countryside a few minutes from Killarney…

The next “station” (where my laptop is) is the jewellery making surface, although I haven’t made any yet since I moved here.. (Just starting now for Christmas!) All the pretty boxes above the shelf contain the different little components and tools to make my pendants, earring etc…
 

I love my red polka dot chair cushion from Penney’s…

Then you have my very handy studio couch… Since I’m renting, I couldn’t just get rid of the single bed that was in the room, so I pushed the bottom of the bed under the table, put a long cushion against the wall and now it’s a handy size couch perfect for daydreaming and taking a rest to play with William, (and the studio doubles up as a guest room when needed).
 

Spending some time with my little man…

Under the main tables I have plenty of space to slide plastic containers, and bed side cabinets holding more crafty supplies.

Last but not least  is my printing  and wrapping station which I am quite happy with… All done with inexpensive shelving from Argos and Homebase, with the exception of the white surface that is sitting on top of the shelves. I had it especially made for the space so it’s the most expensive (€50)  item in my studio furniture believe or not! I wanted it to match the surface of my main tables…
 

So there..! This is where I spend whatever time my little boss is letting me, be it during his nap or when he is happy out on his activity mat on the studio floor. My new studio cost me about €300 and a little elbow grease and was well worth it, and all the different components would be easy to move and adapt to a new space when the time comes.

Do you have a space for creating..? Feel free to share a link in the comments if you like!

Amélie 🙂

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