Blogging? What's That?

Wow. Feeling a bit ashamed. I can hardly believe how long it has been since I have blogged.
Well, there's only one way to change that and that is to get started again, right? So here I am.

I've missed blogging. I've missed my readers and all your lovely your comments. But as often happens, life, as they say, "get's in the way". Things have been a bit crazy and unsettled but all is falling into place now. I'd love to share with you what iI've been up to. There will be lots of pics and even a contest for some crafting goodies coming up, too :-)

But for my main "news" I'll start with this:
Remember my studio?

And do you remember this post about how I reorganized my room?
I loved my room. It was so wonderful finally having a space of my own to create in. No more having to use the dining room table or wonder which box held my embellishments or designer papers. My stamping obsession had gotten out of control and I really needed a room. When my daughter got married and moved out, I grabbed the opportunity her empty bedroom offered and had my wonderful contractor get to work!

It was a special place not only for creating, but I always felt a connection between this room and my Mom. Not long after my daughter married, my Mom passed and since she had so hoped I'd be able to have a studio some day I paid for the project with my inheritance from her and always felt it was like a gift from her to me. Maybe that's silly, but I always felt that she somehow knew she gave me my wish and was close to me when I was creating in there.

Well, nothing lasts forever, but I must say I thought I'd have had my room for much longer than I did.

The room has all since been changed: all the cabinets and countertops and shelves were taken out, the walls repainted and it is now a bedroom again. For the same daughter that used to have it. What else can you do when your "child" (no matter how "old", she'll always be our "little girl") needs to come home? Sadly, she discovered (among other things) that her husband was unfaithful to her and her "marriage" was done. There was so much hurt and pain that he caused her;  the very least we could do was open our doors to her and bring her back home: home where she could once again know what it is to be living where she is unconditionally loved, supported, valued. And where she knows she can trust. This is where she needs to be. And although we wish the circumstances were different, we love having her back. All four of our kids under the same roof again. Life is good! :)

Okay, enough of that. My precious daughter is home with her family... and we are adjusting to more bodies in the house: our adult son also just moved back home, too. And, we have 3 precious kitties who have come with them- to live in our 2 dog household ;-)

But as for a creative space? Well, truth be told I really had run out of room. Despite loving my studio, I had become quite cramped in that room. It measures about 9 1/2 feet by 14 feet. And once I started my ETSY business things really got jam packed in there!

So... where to go? Well, having the most awesome husband ever, he came up with the idea of us turning the garage into a new studio for me! Goodbye to his hopes and dreams for a "man cave" and hello new studio! We have a 3 car garage, so we kept one side (the space for a single car) for storage, and converted the 2 car side into my new room.

I can hardly wait to show you how my new, larger (19 1/2 feet by 20 feet) space turned out!

Here's a couple of old pics of how it once looked:

Like pretty much everybody I know in Southern California, no one uses their garages for their cars, lol, we use them for storage- and pack them full of stuff!
So, we have been weeding out, donating, and throwing stuff out like crazy!

And my contractor has been kept quite busy! I love this shot:

Yep! Trips to Ikea are always fun... especially when they end up like mine did with my contractor filling his truck up with lots of materials for my new room :)

My next post will have more pics of how things have since developed. For now, here's a sneak peek:

I hope you'll visit me again soon to see how things developed. It is my hope that I will be able to inspire you with some ideas for your own creative space, too. I know how much I love looking at other people's pics of craft rooms; hopefully you'll enjoy mine as much :)

Please leave a comment if you care too- I always very much enjoy them! And don't forget, I'll have a giveaway coming soon as well.

Until then, I wish you many blessings~
Sarah