Where Bloggers Create 2013

Hello, and welcome to my post for 2013's Where Bloggers Create! This is my third year participating in what has become one of my favorite blog events: the sharing of so many inspiring creative spaces, sanctuaries, and escapes.  Many thanks to Karen at My Desert Cottage for hosting us, and for sharing ~her~ lovely creative space.  Make sure to leave a comment and link to your blog at the end of this post as I look forward to visiting you all!

My name is Michaele (pronounced "My-kul," like Michael Jordan), and unbeknownst to me, I've been a crafter, a maker, and a dreamer since I was very young.  These descriptors were easy for me to miss as a child, teenager, and young adult, since a lot of what I did looked like play: using my mother's scarves and game boards to create houses, pretending to be a shop owner, decorating a dollhouse, and swimming through picture books about the Royal Family, America's history, and jewelry.  My mother taught me how to knit, crochet, and do cross stitch, and she encouraged me to explore and discover, which perhaps explains why I love to collect and save little treasures: buttons, ribbons, special papers, handkerchiefs, photographs and ornaments.

As an adult, I've always had a basket of yarn and crochet hooks near the couch, with my special baubles and knick knacks tucked away, often unceremoniously in shoe boxes.  It wasn't until I married and began to move regularly (as per Uncle Sam's orders  since my husband was in the Army) that the desire to have my own special space developed.  I wanted a spot, even just a corner where I could touch, use, and enjoy the little things I found interesting and pretty, and I wanted immediate access to them: no more digging for shoeboxes in the closet!  Military housing varied from post to post, so I had a desk's surface in New Mexico, an extension of a kitchen countertop the first time we were stationed here in Kansas, and an entire alcove (what an upgrade!) next to the garage in Texas.  Back to Kansas, I had a crafty nook, a portion of the family room downstairs in a rental home until a flood forced us out, and then an office in our housing on post.  When my husband and I started searching for our forever home, we knew he'd have to have a lot big enough to build a shop, and I'd have to have a craft ~room~, no more nooks and crannies for me!  

Come on in and take a look around:

If you visited last year, you'll notice that my beautiful green chair now has a mate!  Stumbling across the second chair in a local antique mall, I knew the addition to my creative space was meant to be.  

Last Christmas I received my organizing bins, which I had originally planned to paint.  Being a kindergarten teacher during the school year, time got away from me, and the containers were full to the brim.  I believe this translates into "I learned to live with" the colors.

Each canvas drawer is full too.  Photos, adhesives, crafty garlands, holiday bling and vintage papers and ephemera all find their way into my bunting, collage, and altered art projects.  My card catalog houses spools of ribbon, with most other small bits and bobs contained in jars, glass dishes, or other recycled containers.  

My bunting bars are the best way for me to store and display party and holiday pennant decor, but I added a few more hooks to the wall as you enter my craft room.  Bare at the moment, twiggy branches wound with small twinkle lights are used for displays that change for the season, usually a holiday or two ahead for crafty inspiration.  Sometime next week, Halloween ornaments and cards will be hung, ready to inspire some pumpkin-y fun!

I love this room:

Thank you for visiting and for letting me share my space with you today!  Though not my profession, the inclination to create is much more than a hobby.  After teaching kindergartners and working with fellow teachers every week, I look forward to spending weekends, holidays and the summer amongst my treasures, using them to create something new and special.  

If you'd like to see what I create next, follow my blog via Bloglovin'.