He believes

I ached for a space of my own. I think I have since I was a little girl. Being a middle child...well you probably know what I mean.
I have a workspace on one side of a 10x12 office in our home. It is my studio. It began crowded. But, it was great after working on our kitchen table for a couple of years.
First I had to get rid of a sofa and side table, bringing in a writing desk to work on. I then quickly added two wire shelves to store my bins.
It was adequate. I designed a lot of pieces on that desk.
But, you know I soon outgrew all of it! Things started piling up on the floor. Folders, projects, beads in plastic baggies, paper sacks full of goodies. I'm not saying that still doesn't happen.
But, not nearly as much.
Last summer, just after our anniversary and right before my birthday, my husband asked if I wanted a carpenter who had been next door doing work for our neighbors, to design a work bench for my studio. What? Mean it? Why....YES!
So, he and I sat down and designed a huge work bench/station. I still can't believe it! It is incredible, and it was completed at the end of September.
It has a tower on each side of the center work table, with double pull out trays that are 18" deep and are like the ones you might find under your kitchen cabinet. In fact, there are 6 pull out trays in each tower, just to my height, then above that are three additional deep shelves, making it 7' tall. It is a total of 8' wide. My work surface/desk, located between the towers, is 4' long and 2' deep. It is the best present I could have ever gotten.
At that point, this very point was when I knew..... he believed in me. In my passion for art and my jewelry. It isn't that he really didn't. It's just that he has known me for 30+ years. He has seen me go thru stages and phases of more things than even I can remember. But, it was at this point, with this very act, that made me believe that he believed. And, for that I am so very grateful and so very blessed!
It has changed my creative world.
I have often wanted to share it with you since then. If you knew me....really knew me, you would know that I wanted everything to be perfect before I let you into my new space. To show you just how gorgeous it is. How useful. How perfect! And, it is. But, I came to realize that my space is never perfect. This is something I share with my students, as I work thru my own thoughts on perfection. Perfection is just an excuse not to try. To not do it. It can be a huge stumbling block in our artistic worlds.
So I share all of this with you, saying there is still always something on my floor, and pieces all over the desk. But, it is okay. This is my work station. It is the place where what has been spinning around in my head, comes out. It is my space. My little part of creative Heaven.
And, IT is perfect!(Click to enlarge the picture)

Just this last Spring, my daughter and I found the cutest little pink chandelier in Warrenton to hang right under the shelf that spans across the top! It is just the right size for the space I wanted it to hang in. Right above it is the long shelf that holds the towers together. All this was securely built in place, but we made sure it could easily come apart, just in case we ever decide to move.
I know this top shelf should be full of supplies, but I am such a collector, that instead it holds some of my books. With no particular reason these few are here, as I have so many more in an armoire in my spare bedroom. It is also my little vignette full of beauties from friends. Fellow artists whom I adore and love, and/or have made trades with! Other pieces may be from swaps. And some I bought, because I took their class and truly appreciate their art.This jar was also purchased this past Spring, at Marburger Farms, and it holds hollow quail eggs I bought from my good friends,
Agnes & Carla in Tent W.This little girl, which you might have seen on my sidebar, stands in the back leaning up against a vintage baking rack. She was made in the class I took with Stephanie Rubiano, called Magnetic Personalities. Those are real waxed butterfly wings which Stephanie showed us how to do that day! What fun!
Right in front of her and to the right, is the space that holds one of the pixies I bought from Stephanie. I am in love with vintage baby pictures. I have quite a collection of leather baby shoes, along with vintage cabinet cards of babies, so Stephanie's pixies are very precious to me. Just left of this collection stands a gift received in an art exchange. It is a tiny chair, made by none other than a fellow class mate of mine in the Stephanie Lee class I took in California a year ago, Connie Freedman. She makes the most unique art seats, and mine is called "Rambling Rose". How appropriate is that?Now on to the top shelf of my tower to the right, holds a couple of gorgeous pieces one of my mentors, Diana Frey, gave me this past March when she came to Houston for Adorn Me! I have been so blessed by this lady, as she helped answer my questions when I first decided to submit pieces to the Stampington magazines.
She is truly, truly a good friend, and art sister to me.Isn't this the most gorgeous bottle that Diana soldered? And, of course she added some divine hand-dyed silk & ribbon she is famous for sharing, maybe from her designer Robin Kaplan.

And, look at this journal she made and also gifted me that day.
I am in awe of her many talents.
This is a trade piece from another friend, as well as the art which hangs down each side of my two towers. All made by a beautiful artist from New Mexico, Paula Snyder.
So, what's in the towers? You might see anything from cigar boxes full of ink pads and rubber stamps to several sizes of shipping labels. You can never have enough shipping labels! I have oodles of ribbon and vintage seam binding. This is not even a glimpse of my stash, but it is the only lot on my shelf at this moment. Some may be sitting next to my sewing machine in another room. The rest is....you guessed it. In a paper sack on my floor waiting to find a home on one of my shelves. I can't possibly show you all the gemstones, beads, crystals, pearls, vintage jewelry, brass filigree, found objects and findings that are crammed onto my shelves. Trust me, I have filled every inch of my pull out drawers with either a vintage jello or candy mold, muffin tin, tiny box, glass ramekin, cigar box or plastic bead holder. All called to hold my precious goodies.
Vintage rosary chain.
Rows of vintage rhinestone screw back and clip on earrings.
Brass filigree, both vintage and new.A grouping of vintage mother of pearl buttons and freshwater pearls.
A large sterling silver mold full of typewriter keys.
And, then you might see some of these things on top of my desk
(right now).
Right under one of my two Ott lights, sits the gorgeous frame my dear art sister, Riki Schumacher, made and gifted to me in an art exchange. This picture reminds me just how much fun we had in Stephanie Lee's class last year at Carol Park's Studio in North Hollywood. Riki is truly another great friend, art sister and mentor.
We call ourselves the three amigas!
There is always work in progress.
Etched cuffs that have been oxidized, ready to be sanded, and then layered to perfection!
And, then there are some tools of the trade.
Pliers lined up like colorfully dressed soldiers.
A basket of favorite sanding blocks, sand paper and pads.

I could share more, but if you hung in this long, you are way better than I!
Hope you enjoyed seeing where I create. It has been a long time coming!
I am surely blessed.