Where I Create (Where Bloggers CreateII)

With My love for Creating & Sharing, I have an equal love for anyone willing to share with me. I absolutely adore the Book/Magazine (Where Woman Create) I can't tell you how many times I go through it, and spot something new, I didn't catch the first or second time, as well as those amazing quotes, spaces and Oh those ladies, how they so Inspire me to give anything & everything a try, and make you believe you can do it, so grateful to Jo for her Wonderful gift of Hope,Inspiration & Encouragement.
Once i jumped into blogging, how so excited i was to come across Karen's (mydesertcottageblogspot.com), So Charming, Creative, and when I saw she was hosting this Sharing Party of Bloggers with (Where Bloggers Create II) I just couldn't stand it, had to join in and so thankful for her willingness to share-encourage sharing, & Inspire so many of us (mostly me)...
If you haven't visited my blog before, My name is Karryann, my blog is Gracefully Vintage,
named after my passion for anything & everything vintage & my love for grace & style.

I have always loved old furniture, & after one time paying over $300 for a piece to be upholstered plus material  & cost of chair I realized I can never do that again. And so it began my hunt for old pieces I could practice on. Soon I had a garage full of projects, wingbacks, french arm chairs, ottomans, & slowly turned into side tables, dressers and so on until we could no longer park in garage.
With the encouragement of my husband I began to rent a small amount of space at a little shop, while i kept my Bookkeeping job on the side for safe keeping, then moved to more space loving it even more & finding along the way that what I truly loved most was, sharing what i was doing & how i did it, as well as creating something out of nothing. I was able to quit my Bookkeeping job to give more attention to what I really thrived off of which was seeing the transformation of a forgotten broken down piece into a beautiful shabby darling or seeing someones eyes light up when they grabbed an apron I made or found that one piece of furniture in that exact fabric they had been looking for- I just LOVE that.
After moving to  another shop where I got more space & allowed to work more with customers, all of which i just soaked up,  an opportunity came up for my own shop, and while I debated, I remembered the quotes I had read , one from Karen's own Blog about "Following your Bliss, and Doors will open where you did not think there would be doors", or "Make What you Love, What You Do",  or "Do what you love, and you will never work a day" and so with my husband & children's push (shove) I jumped into uncharted territory with my own little shoppe "Gracefully Vintage".

So here is my Creative Space (our front living room) you know the one, you never really use it, kind of there for looks only. Well I have so taken over ours. My amazing settee, that i left the way i bought it, wanting to keep the History with it. The vintage sewing machine, vintage frames and fresh flowers all of which draw me into that room. I wake up & walk down the stairs and can't wait to get started for the day. With the big windows that look out onto our front yard/court so I can peek out & watch over my kids as they play and I sew.

My husband built me the tall cabinet/shelf to hold my fabrics, and the hutch was for a computer- I painted it black, added the rods to hold all of my ribbons (that I love so much), & store my embroidery machine & extra sewing materials.

With some of the pieces i re-finish or re-upholster I just can't bare to part with them so they end up becoming a part of our home like this one, that now has fabric inside and on top of.

A friend of mine who is always so upbeat, encouraging, & inspiring gave me that sweet little dress form, and I love it. I keep it at home with me to use for measuring aprons or dry the crowns I make, it reminds me of her and her happy spirit, it makes me smile every time i walk into the room.

On that darling black armoire I have an old Vintage Frame i made into a Burlap Cork board (which i make & sell at my shoppe) and i really just love them, I also have an old antique glass top that was from a small antique table i did once, I added "gracefully vintage" to it and hung it as well. I just adore my little crowns-party hats, so they are usually all over the room, the shoppe or in the process of being made, I love the whimsy look they have and feel to each one.Loving all that glitters & sparkles these unfinished Crowns end up becoming part of my Creative Space. 

I also have pictures of my family all of whom are so encouraging & helpful and put up with my furniture everywhere-fabric left out-unplug my glue guns(when i forget) or straighten up for me while I am at the shoppe working.

Within this same room is my sewing desk (an old french desk i found) I fell in love with it & made it my sewing table, the legs the frame work all of it i just love, and of course i like those unique eclectic pieces so had to have my chair in cheetah fur.I had this thread holder attached to the side of hutch-next to sewing machine-so they wouldn't fall off, and be easy to grab.

Behind the desk is a vintage gun hutch (smaller version of the one at the shoppe), I store all of my trims for aprons-party hats-crowns in there as well as extra ribbon, bobbins.

The Yellow wingback was that first chair I paid so much money to have someone else re-upholster, so I guess you would say this is my

Biggest Inspiration piece- the one that caused me to start re-upholstering for our home and then for others, and it is where my husband or kids sit and talk with me while i sew.

On the other side of this small formal living room that is really only 12x8 is the walkway from the front door into our home- there rests my beautiful Buffet my husband bought me for our 11 anniversary.

The buffet is one of my favorite pieces- My husband encourages me everyday to do what I love, even if it means P&B and Jelly for dinner because I'm so busy with the shoppe or lets me blog until 11 pm- so when I look at that or use it, I am reminded how lucky I am.

Above it is my inspiration board, i made, it is tacked with cut outs of prints of pieces i would love to make, reminders, things given to me, a drawing my daughter drew me, & pictures.  I have all of my buttons-trims-lace-fur-pom poms -beads in glass jars on the top ,as well as the paper I use to make crowns & with some portraits of our children from a few years ago. The drawers are filled with extra staples-nails-for upholstery, plain buttons, Velcro, thread, piping, stamps i made, notes and more fabric.

At the end of that walkway-is our kitchen/dining room-and where an old antique vanity sits with a vintage dining chair, cork board & my dear laptop where I blog-email-or print. I have it right between the kitchen & dining room and next to our family room-so even when I'm working-blogging-emailing I am in the middle of what is going on in the house, with kids or husband. I can run to the dryer to get clothes out and back to work, or add to dishwasher and back to computer or get up to check on kids in pool or see what is so funny on T.V. as they all are laughing. Having it in the thick of our household allows for me to work at home and not be left out either.

OK so it may not look like a creative space-but this is a "part" of our garage & where i store all of my loves- my furniture-old frames-paint-lamps & so on. I can go out there & think of all of the things I want to make, or could make or hope to make or get started on. My heart truly pitter-patters at the thought of starting a new piece-whether it is a Cute Custom Crown, Frilly Apron or Upholstering a Chair.

My last place I create is my shoppe, I wanted my shoppe to be a place that I look forward to going, a place where i could be there all day, and be able to get work done. So I have everything I need there, my cricut machine, glue gun, tons of craft paper,trims,furs, ribbons-So many times I look up at the clock and it is time to go, the time passes so fast. It doesn't feel like work at all. I have this place where i go & get to share my love of furniture, fancy hostess aprons,painting furniture, making Crowns or Party Hats, taking personal requests or custom orders for sewing-painting-or upholstery or little girl parties and I know how lucky I am.

 My passion for creating, sharing has lead to my own little shoppe and an amazing world of blogging friends who I adore, and look forward to meeting  at each post, and I can only hope along the way at my shoppe, out in my front yard painting, or on my blog I can inspire or encourage another woman to follow what she loves, you never know where it will take you, But start with that Creative Space that makes you want to be Creative.

Don't Forget to go to My Desert Cottage's Blog and check out all the other Creative Spaces with the 2nd Annual Where Bloggers Create II Party.