New Year and New Things

Studio Changes

2015/16 saw a lot of changes in my little Boxoftrix studio.

  It has taken a lot of thought of how I use my little studio and what areas were not really working 

I started almost a year ago, but its done now and it just feels so much more spacious!

My sewing machine is perfect in this corner with the light pouring in from the front and side windows. The new shelving units with fabric drawers provide great fabric storage and additional work surface that gets a lot of light for my little ironing board.

Fabrics sorted 

More units on the back wall and a shelving rack in the corner
 for my jewellery making equipment, next to my workbench.

and can comfortably share my angle-poised lamp with both work spaces.

 I'm sitting in the middle of the studio now, with everything to hand, it's such a lovely place to be again...... :)

 

 April's dolls house is back in it's original position by the door,

I kept one of the basket drawer units for threads and haberdashery, its handy with the castors on.

Boxoftrix Studio 4 yrs ! Post 200

It's 4 years since I moved into my little studio

 I though it was time the windows got some attention.

 I have been making little lengths of paper bunting.
I liked Dotty Angels similar creations which she made with book pages and fabric hearts.
I wanted to use my sheet music and also got out one of my boxs of greeting cards,

did I say I never throw any greeting cards away......

rather than cut the paper I tore out the rectangle shapes,

 I cut out some of the pretty pictures from my greeting cards and glued these onto both sides.

I stitched the rectangles onto a lengths of  twine.

this is one of the side windows

you can see them a bit better with the blind down.
I bought the ceramic mushroom mobile a few years ago from a craft show at the border country fair I had a stall there too selling my jewellery and couldn't resist, I love the tinkling noise of the ceramic, I think actually it might be porcelain, I wish also I could remember the name of the maker.

This is a heart hanging I made from an old wire coat hanger and some dance wear fabric scraps that a friend gave me, they are stretchy and shiny and bright on one side. Ideal for this project.
 I got the idea for the heart style from pinterest but I will give credit and the link to the tutorial and lovely blog from where it came Sarah @ Red Gingham

I hung a glass bauble I have had for a few years now, another a craft show purchase this time in Dun's, I cant remember who made it either (sorry)

My daughter April bought me this cute caravan bird box for Christmas.
After 4 years, my little studio now has pretty windows,  I don't know why I waited so long
so happy 4th birthday Boxoftrix Studio
and happy 200 post Boxoftrix Blog :)
Thanks for taking the time to follow my ramblings, stop by and read occasionally and comment when you get the time, every comment really is valued and appreciated.

Yvonne x

Studio Update

Since finding Pinterest I have admired so many craft rooms, studio spaces, creative corners and been amazed at some of the clever ideas that some people have come up with for storing stash and making it all look so beautiful.

I prettied boxes
with some lovely paper from Ikea and these free printable labels,
Charlotte's first shoe boxes, and other boxes collected along the way. They look so much better wrapped in pretty paper dont you think ?

spiced up some jars

with the free round labels

removed shelves
BEFORE

and replace it with two old pine shelves

which I painted white

AFTER

( the little cabinet to the right was added a while back to display some of my miniatures)

When I initially set this area up I imagined I would sit there and work so would need leg room and under the worktop but I find I'm usually standing, or can sit sideways. I decided to replace the tall wheeled basket drawer unit (shown here in an older picture)

with another small one with 2 large plastic bins, fitting this and the one that used to site alongside my sewing table into the space.



added labels

I just laminated some wrapping paper with the printed labels on top.

I wrote on them after laminating, with a thick permanant marker,

 punched holes and tied them with some shiny cord to the basket drawer fronts

It all looks so neat and I haven't lost any storage but I have gained floor space which is nice.

I use one chair between both here and my sewing table and have acquired one with wheels :) from Harry after a bit of musical chairs .... he did end up with a nice one too and we are both happy

 along to the right is my jewellers bench, I used to have the tool board on the back wall and the mirror on the side wall, this works now better having swapped them over.

This is where the mobile drawer unit used to sit after I got the jewellers bench

but now its a bit more roomy, it also means I can set up my easel which my Dad made for me when I was at college

 this old pine shelf  used to hang in the kitchen of my first flat..... a few years ago now

I thought I had given it to a friend sometime ago and regretted it, then was delighted when I found it in the loft at Christmas time while looking out decorations

 more painting.....

two of coats of eggshell later

and the perfect place for it, now holding freezer paper ribbons and more jars.

I claimed my table space back again which was building up with projects
and tidied up underneath it
My little table top got a coat of paint too, I'm thinking decoupage......at some point :)

Hope you enjoyed my little tour

thanks for stopping by

Yvonne x

Sunny side up

This light and magnifier that clips onto my floor stand broke a few months ago,

 bought about 4 years ago on eBay along with the stand so, not sure how old it is. I'm hoping I might be able to pick up a new clip for it but I have forgotten the name and make of the lamp. Its a good lamp and the magnifier is very powerful......I found that out when this happened!

 to my chair in the studio at the window and the sun came through it.........after that I made sure it was kept covered in its little pocket for safety.

If I manage to get a new clip I will keep it at my sewing machine table but I have decided I needed something a little less weighty and more portable for use on my stand and my hoops.

My mum gave me some money for Christmas and I knew just what I wanted to buy!

After a little bit of research I bought this great little clip on sewing light / magnifier

It's called a Mighty Bright Vusion Craft Light

as soon as it arrived I couldn't wait to try it out , it's so lightweight and easy to use on the hoop and it clips on to its own weighted magnetic base for sitting on a table.

I have been using to sit in the evenings and do a little more on the 28 squares.

Feeling quite pleased today even though its raining and very cold outside, booked a couple of sites for trips away in the caravan .....looking forward to those sunny days!

Studio re-shuffle

A shiney new year and after a bit of a wander around those wonderful ideas on Pinterest

I decided to give my studio a bit of a re-shuffle, I wanted to do a 3 way swap

With  my cutting/work table,

 my sewing machine table

 and the worktop along the back wall. 

I felt that as I spend most of the time at the cutting / work table it would be best situated in the middle of the room where the sewing machine table was and that the worktop would serve just as well at the door where the table was under the fabric, button and bead stash. This would leave the back wall free for the sewing machine table.

 I got a bit of time in the evening a couple of days ago to get in there and do the swap around.

Two hours later I had managed to re-shuffle it all and then realise that it was all terribly wrong!

It was midnight, I was exhausted and I could see so many things that were 'not' going to work in my favour, so I put out the lights and closed the door on it.

I mulled the whole thing over in my head for about an hour and I realised that with the sewing machine desk in the centre of the room I could see the garden and it has always been very comfortable there, keeping an eye on Charlotte playing and helping daddy in the garden. Changing this would mean having my back to the view the windows were actually placed to accomdate the sewing table position and moving it would cause more negatives than pluses.

So I came to the conclusion that  it wasn't a re-shuffle that was needed but a clearout. 

 Yesterday I put it all back and decided to loose some more things and add some things,

 Im still working on it but its getting there, and Im looking forward to a new look and more storage in my studio.....more pictures soon!

Thanks for stopping by I wish you all a happy, peaceful and creative 2012

A little corner of my studio

This little corner of my studio is so much busier these days so I took some more pictures.....
Remember my little shelves, they are filling up, not all are new purchases I might add, most have been hiding in drawers and bags and baskets now I can see them all and be inspired to use them more often in my work.

I added a little spice rack shelf, another charity shop find, painted white, it cleared the top shelf above, 

better used to store these little chunkier ones, perfect for mixed objects

I stole this idea noticed when I visited my sister Theresa in her little Bizzy Blue Bee studio she was using her mug rack to hang all her scissors on while mine was lurking under my jewellers bench looking, and probably feeling totally unloved and unwanted .... :)

its perfect and simple, they used to hang out in all sorts of places, around the sewing machine cluttering up the table, under fabric bundles in the thread caddy, or under the samples and stash in the shallow wooden tray on the table............. now I see them all....thanks Theresa x

I knew these boxes were perfect for my little scraps when I spotted them in Poundland

the lids are hinged too which makes it so much easier to access those little scraps

I'm thinking I need 2 more........ for my sheer fabric scraps and my lace pieces.

I'm using this space so much more now, I love it! .... and it keeps my sewing table free of clutter.

Fabric and beads stash

I have been clearing out and managing to spend a lot more time creating in my little Boxoftrix studio, however all the lovely pieces I'm working on are for Christmas gifts and so I can't post pictures just yet. however I want to show my lovely shelves. Old video shelves retrieved from the attic cleaned up and painted white.

Hung up on their side they make great storage for my collection of smaller pieces of fabric. These have all been stashed in drawers until now, out of sight they do not inspire at all but here on my little shelves they speak to me and I have now so many projects filling my sketchbook waiting to be made!

The little shelf in the middle is one that has been in the family for quite some time, I think my older brother made it in woodwork class at school ...it has been painted every colour under the sun, I painted it pale blue when it was in my boys room, I like the colour so just kept it blue. Now its being used to house my little button jars (Asda herb & spice jars) and my seed  bead stack pots.

The little jars along the top are baby food jars............I knew they would come in handy for something eventually! it was fun stuffing all the little pieces of ribbons, lace, cords and dyed yarns in a colourful fashion and I couldn't believe that I emptied a fair sized storage tub in the process.......now I can see so much at a glance and all of this is right above my newly aquired cutting and ironing table. (our old dining table)

Jewellers Bench ~ Silver work

 Back in June I posted about having a clear out in my workshop getting ready for change and never got back to posting the pictures I have taken.

This is my Jewellers bench, a birthday gift from Kevin Last year which for a couple of reasons has sat unused. However its up and running now and I enjoyed working on the first little piece to be sawn, hammered, soldered, pickled, stone set and polished on it!

It has been so long since I had worked with silver I was so out of practice. I need more days of playing around at my bench.

Here are some pictures of some of the silver work I did at college.

I have never shown these pieces on my blog before.

 Iris pendant which is hand made in silver with a silk hand embroidered insert. 

Iris brooch which has a machine embroidered insert.

Thistle brooch also with hand embroidered insert

Silver swirl brooch with silk fabric and machine embroidery on soluble fabric & added beads.

As you can see I really enjoyed mixing the silver with the textile I'm hoping to do more of this sort of thing again now that my jewellers bench is up and running.

It's turning cold here in Scotland, I felt I needed to brighten up my blog and give a brighter look, hoping to hang on to that summer feeling for as long as possible.........