Creative Workshop Moodboard and Inspiration

Ready to see the updates on my creative workshop?? It’s been a slow and ever-evolving process to include all of the things I want in the studio space, but also not overcrowding and making it impractical. 

The last thing I want to to try to shove everything in a tiny space and have one medium take away from another just to include it.  There are just so many things that I can think of to make.  I want to make a pile of all my creative stuff, and then figure out a way to make it all play nicely together in a weird garage corner. 

For as long as I can remember I’ve been a maker. Some of my first memories are of my babysitter and me coloring and crafting.  My mom would watch Martha Stewart with me when I got home from Kindergarten and I loved both watching her make and trying my hardest to replicate it.  I was a perfectionist, even then.

Before long my mom, who is also a creative, had signed us up for a craft show.  We were making beaded safety pins for your BUCKET HATS (!!) and backpacks or wherever you wanted to pin it.  Some hung together to make a rainbow or an American Flag.  Some were just one large pin with a pretty pattern. 

We did this for hours, beading and brainstorming in our basement of a creative workshop. Well, my memory is hazy but looking back it seemed like hours because we worked so hard.  We only did one craft show but it was a great memory selling our creations. 

As I got older, both my mom and my grandma on my dad’s side taught me to crochet.  My mom had made blankets for all of her kids, and had given me a few lessons with my own yarn. 

My grandma was a sewer threw and threw.  She was always making quilts or cross-stitching or crocheting. My cousins and I would get her crocheted goodies during birthdays and holidays.  At the time it was no big deal, but looking back I like that we have that in common.  When she passed away, I took over for her sending my family crochet dishrags and scarves during Christmas.  I tradition that I still do to this day.

My Grandma had also had gotten me my own cross stitch set once for Christmas and spent some time teaching me.  I still have that kit somewhere with all of the tea cloths – halfway finished – reading “Monday” “Tuesday” “Wednesday” with flowers and animals.  

From there I was avid about painting my room, starting my own projects, and doing my own art. I have always been very into animals and can remember countless times when working on my neighbor’s horse farm that I asked for clean the tack rooms… HA! I loved the vintage vibes and seeing all the old horse gear.  Reorganizing, cleaning, and making cool hang-out spots was one of my favorite things to do.  

In school, we learned how to sew, and I was naturally good at it.  It seemed simple enough.  My mom promptly bought me my own sewing machine and cabinet for Christmas, and I made a few pillows, one t-shirt quilt, but mostly mended my clothes.  That’s the same sewing machine that I have to this day! It’s discontinued now, but this one is a good option and is on huge sale right now. It will sew just about anything except for leather. 

You can read about my time working in a leather shop here. 

When I eventually moved out on my own at 19 I figured out that I was extremely poor and that I could also make my own stuff if I was inspired enough.  My millennial hustle took away most of my time for art for fun and left time only for art as practicality.  

The practicality took shape in the form of dumpster diving old pallets and furniture, and an Esty shop for my excess of crochet items that were beginning to pile up. 

A maker.
Now, I get to live my dream job where I get to plan out all my projects and make them to my heart’s content.  Unreal. 

This space may seem like a silly few pieces of furniture but having a space to create is my rhythm in life, and my happiness. 

In a dream world, or I should *affirm* in my future, I’ll have my dream creative workshop.  That workshop will have a special place for every medium – furniture, leatherwork, crochet goods & shipping, sewing tables, painting areas, and more recently a photography area so that I can share my creations with all of you.