Grand opening day 1

So the night before my opening I went over to check a few things right before I went to bed, kind of assess and see what needed done in the morning etc...
and the lock on my front door jammed and it took over a half hour to get it closed and locked. For real.
In the pouring rain.
Yay.

It was the only half hour ALL DAY it rained but it got locked.
So I came home and called the maintenance guy who authorized a locksmith for me and then I called not 1, not 2, but 3 different 24 hour locksmiths. None of which answered their phone. Awesome huh?
I left a message with all 3 and only one got back to me first thing yesterday morning. He met me at the studio at 9 and got it all fixed but I was having a mini freak out and it set me about a half hour behind. Everything went off great though.

My sister made amazing cupcakes...

Aren't they beautiful? They were even MORE delicious!

She's really creative too! :D I think she needs to open a bakery.  Hmmmm..... maybe a future project.

One of my best friends came and did some facepainting

The kids did some chalking out front too!

I had a steady stream of people coming in throughout the day to say hi, be supportive and check things out! I'll get more pictures of the studio all done during Day 2 of my opening...
Everyone have a great day and thanks for coming on this journey with me!

The saga of the chalkboard calendar....

So while in the planning stages of the studio, I saw a chalkboard calendar. I fell in love with it and really wanted it... but it was $80, which was absolutley worth it, it just wasn't money I'd calculated into the budget. I passed but was kind of disappointed.
I talked to two of my best friends about it and we had the "You could make that..." with my response being, "Well yes, I could.... but  I'm probably not GOING to" conversation. We talked about it a bit more and I kind of shelved the idea because I didn't know that I had that kind of time.
Without my knowing  my mom decided to buy it for me for a studio opening gift, only to discover that they numbers were actually PAINTED onto the chalkboard. Um... that's not really going to work because not every month starts with the 1st on a Monday. So she told me and we kind of laughed and then.... it happened. The PERFECT frame happened to be RIGHT there and $3. So I acquired a frame that had a piece of pressboard in it and tada.

So, I refreshed the frame and created it myself. I already HAD the chalkboard paint and stuff from the other things. Everything you see here is permanent, but I left the month and days blank to be written on with chalk.

I am in LOVE with it. I am sooooooo happy with it and it fills in a spot by the front door perfectly.

The only left to do is write in classes on it! :D

Calendar....

I am working on my calendar.
This is as far as I've gotten... but, that's ok. I like how it's turning out.

It will have squares and the days of the week in permanent, space for me to fill in the month and then the squares will be 2x2 which is large enough for me to put class info in there.
There will also be a space at the bottom for "Notes"

Any other suggestions as to what it should have on it?

What features of your calendars do you love?

Wet paint zone

Chairs are high on my list of priorities for completion so they will be ready for the grand opening.
They're turning out super cute, but the colors didn't photograph very well.
This one looks like it's the color of melted mint ice cream.

 This one my daughter painted, it's actually gorgeous turquoise with a lighter blue on the rungs.

Love that it's all coming together. The chairs are going to be all seaglass type colors type colors. Honestly, I've second guessed myself 100 times on these, but I'm feeling pretty confident now.
These things are HARD I tell you!

I'm a messy painter. My family is comprised of messy painters and that's TOTALLY ok. :)
So the studio is a wet paint zone... and tomorrow my banner goes up!
THAT is going to be so exciting!

Chalkboard art...

I have a large number of chalkboard areas in my studio.. so getting my quotes and chalkboarding just right is high on the list of things to do. There are a couple that I'm doing permanently (because they'll be up high.. and I'm short) so I especially want those to be right.

So lots and lots of practicing.
I love the look of mixed fonts though, so I'll keep playing til I get it right.  I like this one but it's not just right.

I love the way wet chalk stays n place once you put it there! :D

I like the way the letters turned out but it was only for practice. I don't like all capitals on it.

I have a ton of quotes, yet I feel like I need more... because I haven't found one that is PERFECT so if you have a favorite quote or inspirational saying please feel free to share!!!! I'd really appreciate it.

Chairs!!!!

When I was talking about chairs for my studio, I had an idea in mind that never wavered. Everyone was sharing links with me and saying, "these are cute" and "These aren't too expensive and look solid" but um... I knew what I wanted and it was a very unique, almost Alice in Wonderland tea party look.
So, there's been a hunt at yard sales, thrift stores, vintage stores and craigslist for cute chairs.

They're all different... but they're wood, they're solid and they are the perfect choice for the look I want.

Except it would have been SO MUCH EASIER to order 20 chairs. LOL

They all needed primed before I can do anything fun. Is it just me or is priming boring? I love the way everything looks fresh and clean with white on it and I do love white furniture... but I think it's the anticipation of knowing how cute they are going to look that has me impatient.

Painting white primer gets boring quickly....

and there are a lot of chairs.

And the spindles.
Oh so many spindles.

They look super cute... but sheesh.
If I ever decide to redo these, someone link me to this post! LOL

I have 2 favorites. One isn't in these pics.
The other is this one.

Isn't it cute? It can't stay pink... it doesn't match (but I love it!!!!)
That's my water bottle cap, it wasn't stuck I was just using it while I was painting.

No fewer than 5 people tried to buy these from me while I was priming them. One guy I looked at and said, sure $500 because in my head I was starting to think that ordering some was a better idea.
I'm glad he didn't take me up on it though!

So that was my big project... and the next one will look like the rest of them primed, which isn't very exciting.. but then the fun begins.

I have 9 colors of paint. :D That's the only hint I'm giving you. 

What are you working on?

Busy, busy!

I had a very nice Mother's Day and I hope all of you had a great day as well!
Worked in the studio and finished my 2nd burlap wall.
While doing so... things like this happen, they always do. LOL

That's the adhesive. I use too much adhesive too.

And I also made this card for my mom.

My awesome and amazing kids cleaned my entire house. I mean, the ENTIRE house.
They made me a great card, but it's super special and just for me so I'm not going to share it, but my daughter tangled the front. 

It's really special. :)  I love those kids so much. They are truly the greatest pieces of art I ever created. <3 

It's always time to tangle...

So this is for the wall in my studio. I picked some of my favorite tiles and I've actually changed a couple, and swapped some around, but now it will always be Time to Tangle!

Little things are getting done and the studio is coming along nicely.
The clock is actually sitting on my floor... which as you can see looks pretty awesome!

It's consuming a lot of my creative time and energy so you'll be seeing a LOT of studio stuff in the next few weeks.

Hope all is well with all of you!

Make good art friends!!!

I have a studio!

Happy May 1st! Today I wanted to take a few minutes and share some of why I've been so quiet. I know I've been posting, but my posts have been lighter on content because I've had my hands full.

I am opening my own studio this month, the grand opening will be the last weekend of May, (May 30&31st) and should be a lot of fun.

The studio address is 3495 Delaware Avenue, Kenmore NY 14223 and I'll have my banner and such up soon.
I fell in love with the space and the light. As you can see from the pictures, the overall space needed a LOT of work.

So, we've been working hard and it's paid off. 

So if you're local and want to take a class... or you know you'll be in the area let me know!!!