2013 Where Bloggers Create Studio Tour Blog Hop

 Welcome to this years "Where Bloggers Create" Studio tour blog hop, hosted by "My Desert Cottage." Welcome to my studio.  I took a lot of photos, so thank you for dropping by for a visit.
I live in an old stone farmhouse and it has a modern addition on it where I have my studio.  My studio is a place to retreat to and be inspired or just relax.  It is a place for my collections and creative fodder.

 Here it is.  Full to the brim with many years of finds and wonderful memories of time spent with friends. I like to work with antique items and enjoy creating as much as I do curating my finds.

                       A fun vintage chair offers a spot to read or watch an old movie.

 A wall of built-in bookcases is a most wonderful bonus and gives me lots of room to be organised. I like to group "like" items together for easy retrieval when creating.

                                            I even re-organized these shelves just for your visit today!

 Boxes hold all manner of things like vintage flowers, lace and trim, old eyeglasses and doll dishes.
The show ribbons were found long ago at a yard sale.

 For a while, I was finding old games everywhere.  You cannot beat the graphics of old board games!

 My favourite studio finds are two old dental cabinets.  Both were found locally, a couple years apart.

 This one had a terrible repaint job so my hubby and I stripped it.  I really like how it turned out and hope to strip the other one at some point.

 I seem to have had good luck in finding old industrial storage items.  The metal bins and large red piece perched on top of them are also local finds.  I love all the little cubbies and how they offer easy access and organized storage.  A little elbow grease and some fresh paint and they are like new.

 A modern cabinet holds gel mediums and small items while the filing cabinet is full of paper and ephemera. My son designed the red poster for a local music festival.

 The little bookshelves at the end of the bookcase are full of little books, found over the years. Most of them are wee devotionals.

 My husband built the boxes that hold the red drawers from Lee Valley.   They hold wood mounted rubber stamps.

 The old kitchen cupboards were found a couple years ago and fit in nicely with my hodgepodge of studio storage.  I love the salmon colour.

 Even though this little unit holds practical items there is no reason not to tuck in some colourful antique children's books and add a little banner to the front.

                  Rubber stamps neatly stored, labelled, organised and easy to find.

                                    Sorting through old buttons is a most relaxing diversion.

                           Hanging on a steel pole is a gathering of friendly Pelham puppets.

 Those who have followed here for a  while know that I just love old boxes filled with their original items, like drafting rulers or watch vials and optical lenses.

                                    More automotive salvage. This hold tags of all sorts.

 Little hardware drawers hold letters and a small assemblage I made a while back sits in front.

 I enjoyed making these to buttons covered boxes many years ago and decorating the heart shaped chocolate box with old lace more recently.

 I began these lace panels over the winter and hope to get back to them and complete the screen before the snow flies again.  I am halfway there with three of six panels complete.

 Wooden crates with odd shaped openings are perfect to display smaller items.

On my work table I like to have different containers to hold things.  Old and unusual storage just makes things more interesting.
                                                    
Two more marionettes waiting for fresh string.  I found the horseshoe when I was in grade two during a visit to Sanibel Island.

Well, I hope you aren't too worn out now.  Thank you so much for visiting!
There are plenty of other studios to visit, so you best be on your way back to "My Desert Cottage" to check them out.  You will find all the other participants down the right side of the blog.