Clean House... Kind Of.

My sweet mom got me fitbit flex that recently arrived in the mail. I wear it on my wrist and digitally keep track of how many steps each day. Yesterday was my first day using it which also coincided with the day I declared to be my "clean everything out" house cleaning day.  I reached my goal of 10,000 steps by 4:00 pm.  I did not, however, clean everything out of my house. I have been super slow going with this process. Mostly because I hate cleaning. I really really hate it.  It's always easier to clean when I'm procrastinating something else. I guess I'm procrastinating taking photos for my etsy shop - another thing I hate doing. I cannot win!

 My living room is taking shape, though. I have been dusting and vacuuming, and swiffering and rearranging like crazy. My inspiration point now looks like this. Pretty minimal for me.

I got some great feedback from several people about ways of dealing with clutter in an organized way and not feeling like I have to give up a lot of stuff.  I know I'll never be someone who only has five things. I love things. I'm an artist... I make things! But I really like the idea of only having things that are truly special.  I'm trying to go through all my stuff and really think about what I have and why I have it and if I really need it.  It feels good to clean out and to move things around.

These two little cones were made by one of my best friends, Janey.  The one on the left was a unicorn horn she made for herself one Halloween. I loved it so much so she gave it to me. It goes perfect with the little conical art piece from her BFA show.

I'm in love with this little collection.  Jessica Robles drew those bunnies and I used them on the programs in my wedding. She then gifted me the drawing in a beautiful frame.

Janey made that little box house for me one year for my birthday.  Those books are Nicole Georges's and the kaleidoscopes make up my mini collection. The one on the left was handmade by Joanna Goss. The shell was from another best friend, Cameron.

I'm kind of a crystal and rock junky.  I love them. They are the most beautiful things ever made and it blows my mind that they are natural gifts from the earth.

This shelf is the bane of my existence. This used to be my favorite thing about the house... a built in shelf! Just like my childhood bedroom!  But once I started filling it up I could not stand the clutter it was creating.  It started to feel like it was too awkward of a space to put a lot of things so I am constantly rearranging.  I would love to take the whole shelving unit out and paint the inside with a pop color and then maybe add only a couple or three shelves back in, only I want them to be wood floating shelves.  My husband is not in to doing cosmetic changes so if I want to do this it's all on me. I'm a bit intimidated by the idea which is why I have done nothing so far.  Anybody want to come over and help me paint? I'm scared.

I've been hemming and hawing all day today over cleaning my kitchen and finishing up the living room. Can't someone else do it? My goal is to get my 10,000 steps in while finishing up these rooms and having free time tomorrow to get back into my studio.  The life of a housewife... ( :

Happy Tuesday toooooo yoooooouuuu.

A Home For Us.

Breaking news... We got the house!! We officially close June 29 which feels like forever ever away. I'll be married by then. I'm still in shock. We got the house that was our favorite. I don't want to show too many pictures yet because the house is filled with someone else's stuff but I do want to show this picture. This amused me from the minute we first looked at the house. This little "booth" is in the basement, I've been calling it the "kissy booth." This is the room where my studio will be so I'm going to have a booth. Who knows what I'll do with that booth.

I've been going crazy on Pinterest finding all kinds of inspiration. I thought I would share some studio room inspiration with you.

Source: bhg.com via Ann on Pinterest

Source: georgiapeachez.typepad.com via Ann on Pinterest

Source: brightwishes.blogspot.com via Ann on Pinterest

Source: bhg.com via Ann on Pinterest

Source: bhg.com via Ann on Pinterest

Tell me, blog readers, by sharing pics from Pinterest am I properly crediting where the pic is coming from? It seems like it is but I'm not sure. I want to make sure photos get their proper credit and I'm so new to this thing.

I'm super excited to be setting up a new space. What does your studio look like?

Home

I don't want to jinx anything but we are making an offer on a house!! And This is a picture of the livingroom/dining room. I'm super duper excited and scared and a million other feelings at once.

All I can think about is how I want a space in the house that looks like this:

Source: odetteny.blogspot.com via Ann on Pinterest

Yes, I joined Pinterest, finally, so I could get house ideas. I originally saw this beautiful picture on the beautiful blog Jikits. Pinterest is not as overwelming as I thought it would be. Follow me on there at abeautifulparty.

Anyway, back to the house. My toes are antsy with anticipation. I hope to know soon soon soon if this beauty will be mine. More pictures to come when things are more real.

I'm off work tomorrow, paper terrariums are in my future.

Exes and Ohssss....

Did you hear?

So I'm always the last to know many things in the cool internet world but just in case you are like me and are unaware of most things I want to share this amazing book with you. I first heard about this book coming out forever ago on someone's blog and I bookmarked it and waited and waited for the release date. Meanwhile I never bothered to find out that there is a great blog by Todd Selby that I could have been looking at every day. That blog is here.

So finally the store where I worked got the book and I lusted after it for several weeks until I finally bought it. The Selby Is In Your Place is a wonderful collection of photos of artists, musicians and other great personalities in their homes or studios. The images have really inspired me to get moving and create my owns inspirations. I also think I would like to start going into people's homes and finding their own creative spots. I always adore looking at homes on the outside, now I think it's time I stepped inside. So I would also like to start making that a regular on my blog. Can I photograph your home?

Here are photos that are both from the website and the book.

My home and studio

Our house is finally coming together and I finally got some new batteries in my camera. Since there are still a few messy spots in both my studio and the rest of the home I only took some detail shots and a few before pics. Here are some scenes from my studio. I have had the most fun setting this up.

And the following are images of the rest of the house. More to come.

The rug above came with the house but we ditched it for a light gray one. And our sink and bathtub? Green! Seriously. It's so funny!
I don't love the color of the cabinets so we may paint them as soon as we get landlord permission.

Huge backyard! This was the most exciting. We are hoping to have a garden soon.

That's that. I will get more pics once everything is up and going.

Hope you have a great weekend. I'm off for a whole wedding weekend, should be fun!

Reception!

Wow! I've had a really crazy and busy and wonderful week. Last Thursday was my reception for my show. Several of my friends and a bunch of my family all came to town and made it a grand occasion. Here are some photos from the reception. This is the last official week of school before finals week. I have a lot of loose ends I have to deal with which is a little stressful but after that I'm no longer a student. I'm not sure how I feel about that yet... So I'll leave you with photos....

This is my cousin in the house. She spent most of the reception sitting at the desk. A lot of people asked if that was purposeful. She was perfect in the home.

My friends stayed all weekend long. We ate too much food, went to see The Giving Tree Band, drove to the train station twice and had the best sushi in town. Yesterday I spent the day having friend/family withdrawals.

Wednesday all the graduating MFA grads are going to Chicago to set up for a group show that will be opening this Saturday. More details on that soon.

In the meantime I'm off to work on my Thesis and preparing for a big Etsy update!