The Studio House

Making creative things with my hands, head and heart makes me happy. Making things and giving them away, makes me even happier. I hope I can tell this story in my blog as well as it was told to me in person.

A little background information: I’ve been making these little swaddled baby dolls out of polymer clay and fabric for a while now. They are simple, cute and fit in the palm of your hand. I’ve made them as gifts, just because, and once did a class after school, showing elementary grade kids how to make them. My dear friend Kerrylynn and her daughters share this love of cute baby dolls with me. I’ve made them a couple swaddled baby dolls in the past and one of her daughters took my after school program. This all happened years ago.

Just recently, Kerrylynn (also a teacher) told me this story about her daughter Molly, in 5th grade:

One day during school, Molly came running up to Kerrylynn, so excited to tell her that while walking down the hall, she had spotted a bucket on top of cubbies, FULL of baby dolls that I had made. Kerrylynn said she was a little confused but also pretty excited, like Molly! (That part of the story made me laugh!) A little later in the day, Molly came back up to Kerrylynn, let down and said, “never mind, it was just chalk…”

Let’s just take a moment to break down the cuteness of this story…

1. The fact that Molly saw this bucket of items, and immediately thought I made a bucket full of baby dolls, is adorable! Probably imagining they would somehow be divvied up amongst the kids. If I were to guess, it was a semi-transparent, plastic bin filled with jumbo chalk in a variety of colors.

2. Both Molly and Kerrylynn were equally exited and then disappointed by the news! From a child and an adult, I felt both perspectives!

When she told me this story, we just laughed and “aww-ed” a lot! I was so touched. It is one of my favorite stories and so, I had to make this dream come true.

Here is a bucket, full of my hand-made, little baby dolls. I secretly dropped it off at their house with a little note. I really can’t even tell you how excited and thankful they were. They named each one!

This was just a simple project, an example of my art. I often contemplate what I make as an artist, wondering if it is important or worthy. Looking back, my work has always revolved around the importance of process and quiet interaction, rather than a finished product. No, these little dolls will not hang in a museum but in the process, I made some people very happy, including myself.

I have been working in my studio, making all kinds of cute things these days.

The quilt was a baby shower gift for my best friend, Leah. We’ve been friends since kindergarten! Each “saw tooth star” was made with fabric specifically chosen for her. The back was a panel I found at IKEA, years ago. It’s so cute! Her baby girl is due in August!

I made A LOT of fabric butterflies! Fabric pieces were sewn together, folded and glued into this really sweet, origami, butterfly shape. The pink batch was made to add to the potted plant centerpieces at Leah’s baby shower. The purple and gold batch was made for end-of-the-year teacher gifts at my kid’s school. You can see how they look in a plant. I attached each butterfly to green floral wire and stuck them into the dirt. They looked like they were flying around the flowers. I also added a flat pin on the back of the butterfly so they could be used for another purpose.

This is the tutorial I used for the butterflies . I used hot glue for the final step instead of hand sewing because it was a little quicker for me.

Have a peaceful day.

In November 2021, our middle school put on the first live drama production since the pandemic. I volunteered to be the chairperson of the costume committee which is a position that I have held in previous years. It was a unique experience mixed with both joyful and emotionally draining times. The costume committee, a group of 7 other moms (and 2 grandmother’s helping hands) and I worked hard to create and build a beautiful body of costumes. It turned out pretty awesome.

I love being part of the costume committee. I am given the opportunity to make my own unique costume pieces and see everything miraculously come together at the last moment. It also allows me time to work side by side with my own children and form bonds with the other costume moms (I haven’t worked with any dads yet).

To thank and celebrate the costume committee, I made each of them this small memory box filled with hand-made items to remind them of this particular drama production. I included photos of the original handmade costumes and my miniature replicas.

Enjoy!

My mother in law and I worked on Lumiere’s costume which happened to be played by my son which also happened to be one of my favorite costumes! Here are some photos that I took along the way. The candle sticks were made from scratch using craft foam, foam core, spray paint, clay, trim, shelf liner and hot glue. A lot of hot glue. I figured out a way to make them glow from within using flashlights. When the lights went down on stage, the candles gave off a soft glow, it was a crowd pleaser.

A recent piece of art, commissioned for our family friends. They wanted something special to celebrate the engagement of their son and future daughter in law!

materials: wood, polymer clay, paper, felt, sticks and paint

Beach glass is a sought out treasure today but when it was originally tossed, it was just a piece of junk, trash, unwanted waste. In my previous post, I mentioned my love for beach combing and that I was going to show work that included some of my finds. These beach glass shadowboxes have some cool history in them that I will include below.

The idea was not totally mine, I’ve seen similar ones online. I just loved them so much that I decided to create several and make them my own.

The art is nestled in a wood frame between two pieces of glass. I cut out a window in the piece of paper so that the translucence of the green glass (the leaves) could be seen when put in front of a light source. They look nice on a windowsill.

These pieces are special and unique because they were handmade entirelty by me and my husband. Nick made the frame from black walnut limbs cut from our backyard. He also cut all the glass from old windows we had at our house. The green glass was collected over many years when visiting our family in Western NY <3. A few, very special pieces of pottery I used were from my aunt, who is also an artist and gave inspiration to the naming of, The Studio House. Auntie Lu was an art teacher for many years and her speciality was ceramics. Several years ago she gave me all her teaching supplies. In these supplies were boards of small glaze samples she made by hand. Students could look at the board to pick their glaze before applying it to their piece (glaze looks very different before and after being fired). I just loved them so much and knew I could use them in future work. There are a few flower pots that I made from her samples. I will list them in the photo description.

Potted Plants on a Windowsill:

One of my favorite activities to do: walking a beach looking for washed up things. I could do this for hours and be perfectly content. Please follow my blog to see an art project that included some of these finds!

After a wicked storm in Rhode Island this summer while taking a small vacation with my sister and our kids, we found a lot of treasures washed up on the beach. My favorite piece is the blue plate with a tree on it.

Uranium glass pieces mixed in with some fresh water beach glass. You will know it’s uranium glass when it glows under a blacklight.

Striped rocks from Cape Cod, Massachusetts

and heart rocks…

After a year of doing virtual classes with the library, I was finally able to teach in person. First, outside at a local park during the summer of 2021 and then inside at the library, winter 2021.

Working with the “Tails and Tales” theme for the summer reading program, I chose an area of deepest importance to me, pet adoption! The kids adopted a couple pets from the “shelter” and then made a safe and cozy home for them!

I was asked to come up with a winter themed project for the library. Age range, 2nd-5th grade.

This was my PR photo for the library newsletter.

I recently brought up the beach house dollhouse from the basement where it was being stored for the last year or so. Now that I have my own formal art studio, I can have several projects going on at once. This dollhouse has been a running project. When I feel inspired or need a fun creative outlet, I do a little work in it. If you’d like to see the previous progress of this dollhouse, click here.

The house has changed, because my mood has changed over the last year…gone with the typical, predictable beach house style and in with a bold and bright new look.

One of my favorite genres of visual imagery, hands down, is cute pictures of animals inside their cozy homes. Nestled in warm blankets, safe inside while it’s snowy outside. A quilt, a fireplace and a good book near by. I could look at these kinds of pictures for hours.

I noticed these drawings in books as a child and more recently while reading with my kids. They make me so happy. I think it’s part: my undying love for animals and part: cute, small and miniature. Here are two examples from books we have at home. The Sleepy Book, a Little Golden Book Collection and I am a Bunny, by Ole Risom, illustrated by Richard Scarry.

And then I started looking on Pinterest. Here are some examples. (I kept in names when I could to give credit.)

I decided to make my own! A fox in a cozy den with his little mice friends. There is a string of solar powered fairy lights inside the box that I added into a glass bulb. They light up at night when it gets dark enough. This was a gift for my nephew.

Since the pandemic, my art programs at the library have gone virtual. What is a virtual art program? First, I come up with an idea, put together supply kits, and then make a YouTube video tutorial for the participants. There are some aspects I enjoy about this type of teaching and there are some things I really miss about in-person learning. As always, I love the brainstorming, planning and testing of a new idea. I also enjoy the process of assembling kits. I think this relates to my interest in process. A theme that regularly weaves itself into my own artwork. Of course I miss the kids and witnessing their innate curiosity and imagination at work. I love how they all start with the same basic supplies and come out with completely different creations! I was so happy to receive a few photos of some finished pieces (see in the “We People” gallery below).

Fall Themed, Nail and String Art:

We People: