Leanne Shawler, Artist

I have an update to my overhaul of my art space and it is also an opportunity to link to this year's Where Bloggers Create , hosted by Karen Valentine at My Desert Cottage . I found that I needed somewhere to put a palette/paint mixing place, and as the goal was not to use the icon writing space for anything but icon writing, I brought a piece of furniture that had been banished from the space for a few years, put some plastic wrap on it to protect the top and I'm currently using palette paper for the mixing. When I run out of that, I'll look into get some glass or perspex or something for the top. Here is that part of the space before: and after (apologies for the lighting, it was twilight when I took the photo): It's a pine bedside table that I painted and used for storage for a while. So if you haven't seen my overhaul that I did in June, you can see that at this link . And for previous instantiations of my craft room now art stu...

I've participated in Where Bloggers Create which is a blog party that shows off various creative spaces. I wanted to put them all into one spot for future reference. If you want to see my past entries, you can click here: 2009 in its barest of bones (I didn't participate in the blog party, but wanted to show in 2010 how my room, which is a small third bedroom, had looked before.); 2010 which is like a complete reveal with an additional post on my homemade hanky curtains ; 2011 after an overhaul of the closet (the doors fell off); 2012 , where I decided to show some "for real" pictures. 2015 , ditto "for real" pictures 2016 , rearranging and substantial changes to the space, and a small update regarding the corner with the easel

I've participated in Where Bloggers Create a few times, but not the last few years. If you want to see those, you can click here: in  2009   in its barest of bones (I didn't participate in the blog party, but wanted to show in 2010 how my room, which is a small third bedroom, had looked before.); in  2010  which is like a complete reveal with an additional post on my  homemade hanky curtains ; in  2011  after an overhaul of the closet (the doors fell off); in  201 2, where I decided to show some "for real" pictures. and in 2015 , ditto "for real" pictures I've played with various arts and crafts over the years: jewelry making, psanky, painting bird houses, etc and so forth. And I've settled down to three: art journaling, icon writing, and I'm currently exploring painting large canvas.  I discovered that I didn't have enough space on my desk to art journal (the current one is on the large side) and write an icon. I could set asid...

I am going to start out by saying, I could do with a serious purge of stuff. That said, I have so much because I've flitted from scrapbooking to 3D creations (birdhouses) to fabric creations to painting on canvas to art journaling. It shows. On the other hand, I've gone from working part-time to not working to working full-time, so I know there are projects I really want to get to. (Like the Madonna art display quilt from a swap I was in several years ago.) I've taken a break from this blog party for the last couple of years, but if you want to see how my creative space has changed and developed (just in case you haven't seen enough creative spaces for one day!), you can see: in 2009 in its barest of bones (I didn't participate in the blog party, but wanted to show in 2010 how my room, which is a small third bedroom, had looked before.) in 2010 which is like a complete reveal with an additional post on my homemade hanky curtains in 2011 after an overha...

I took a break for a couple of years from participating in Where Bloggers Create , although every year I lose about a day and a half of my life poring over everyone submissions. There is time to sign up if you want to share your creative space on your blog. On or around July 11 (which is when the party starts), there'll be a place on Karen's website to sign up as part of a link party. There are more details on how to do that on her site as well. So -- stay tuned! (And thanks to Sandy at Quill Cottage for posting about it!)

... but I succumbed anyway. After much going back and forth etc., I joined the masses of scrapbookers and project lifers and bought myself an IKEA Raskog cart. (Please note I ordered online as I really don't like the IKEA in-store experience.) Innit pretty? What sold me was that it rolled, so I can move it out of the way as needed. That and I had various baskets and things lying on the floor within reach as there wasn't room on my desk. (That's another story. I do have paper bits to file away.) This is what it is holding right now. Bottom bucket: small boxes containing tiny paper pieces, paper napkins to use in collage, AquaMarkers and ProMarkers (I don't use these much but when I do, now I don't have to go digging for them) and a bowl containing various oddments like a measuring tape, date stamp, sandpaper block, etc. Middle bucket: in the back are inks and pouches containing other markers/pens, watercolor set on the side, and Golden fluid acrylics an...

This weekend sees the return of the Where Bloggers Create tour   (see right sidebar on her blog) . I didn't sign up this year because I had nothing new to share (that I could think of). But when I realized this morning, thanks to feedly, that it was happening now, I had to chuckle to myself as yesterday, I was looking at shelves to get some more working space around my desk and yet keep everything close at hand. I'd also given a mini tour of my space to a friend this past weekend and realized anew how much stuff I have. Part of it is because I have flitted from one thing to another and part of it is that so much of it is pretty. I do need to take a look at what I have and decide what I no longer use and probably never will (like the bunch of ribbons I have) Here are links to past tours of my space .

This is the third time I've participated in the Where Bloggers Create party  and I know I will be wasting a lot of time surfing the list and looking at people's creative spaces. This year will be the first time I'll be using Pinterest to save the photos that inspire, and if I can figure out how to link to that, I'll do so at the bottom of this post, as well as post it separately. As my room hasn't changed much, I thought I would share what it really looks like week to week, between cleanups. If you want to see it all pretty, you can look at last year's offering . If you want to see a space that's looks like it looks like until I can't find something, read (or look) on! the work table: not just an insane number of Glimmer Mists, but sundry templates, stamps,  inks,  washi tapes, bits and pieces of paper. This desk holds a lot! paper stuffed into the bookshelves at left, paper and fabric on the floor from when I  put  together  the Fu...