On Flickr long long ago I saw an art wall where one of my contacts (I swear it was heatherjeany but I can't find the photo today, so I may be wrong) had taken all the small art she'd purchased, gotten similar frames and started hanging them all on a wall in her living room and I was inspired to do the same. I found a similar photo (at left) on Saídos da Concha's photostream. My frames are black, but the same general idea.

Over the past few years, I've purchased some awesome line art from Briana Lamar of Moonswallow, a mini quilt from Shelece, original sketches from Spookydaddy Toys, mini-watercolors from Lollipopart, and a lino-cut print from Rainy Prints. My criteria for purchase is reasonably simple... it has to be an original, water color or pen, and it has to make me smile.

Today I made an exciting purchase which has inspired me to get moving on this project and hang all the art. For many years I've been in love with J. Vincent Scarpace's abstract fish art- I found him randomly on eBay when I was looking for some affordable original art to hang when I lived in Providence. It was always just out of my price range, and by the time I had saved enough to purchase one... he was no longer selling them on ebay. He now has his own site Ipaintfish.com and sells sketches and painting, but still out of my price range. So today in my email box I get an email.... Special $3 sketches! ACK- I'm now the proud owner of two small 3 x 5 fish painting to add to my art wall! (one of which is pictured to the right!!)

So this weekend I'm going to frame up the rest of my prints and get hanging! Pictures to come!!!

The short answer is not as much as I had hoped to do, though some of it was productive.

-I signed up for the patchwork swap over at Lindamade.

-I had purchased a non-working sigma lens from ebay for my Sony Alpha. It was dirt cheap ($10 with free shipping) and the seller claimed he didn't have a camera to test it on, so it was "as-is." I figured if it didn't work I'd take it apart and see what was inside... And it didn't work as expected. Though none of the grinding sounds or other bad things that normally occur with bad lenses. Upon some further research, the lens I purchased (a 35-135 Macro) appears to be an old lens in gorgeous shape. The even better part? It appears to not really be broke, but that the older sigmas have firmware on the chip that just needs to be update. I called the service center this morning, and it's a FREE upgrade (and a $10 shipping charge). So all total- new macro zoom lens will be under $30!

-Started cleaning and listing some odds and ends on Ebay. Next up- cleaning out the studio to list on etsy.

I recently purchased the book "The Stumpwork, Goldwork and Surface Embroidery Beetle Collection" by Jane Nicholas from Amazon after drooling over it for a while. A friend of mine had sent me a link to it several months ago and it had been on my wishlist for a while now.... combined with about $10 in mechanical turk money, I splurged.

I have to start with the fact that having this book in my hot little hands makes me wish I had splurged when he first sent me the link! It's a lot more substantial than I first expected it to be- no slim crafty book here. It's 405 pages and hardcover, think reference book. Even better than just featuring the embrodery, the book is scientifically accurate as well and talks about history, taxonomy, and the people behind the love of beetles! It's absolutely intricate and detailed, and while I admit I bought it to drool over I may actually have to try my hand at a few of these to hang over my desk!

Jane also has a cool website Janenicholas.com where she's got books, kits, and galleries of her other works. Next on the purchase list, Stumpwork Dragonflies....

Wow.

One word sums up what I thought as I came across this glorious workspace today.

As many of you know, I'm a science geek as well as a crafty girl, and I routinely read Lifehacker. It's part of the gawker family (Gawker, Jezebel, etc) of blogs and they spend all day posting ways to make your life easier.

One of the features I always enjoy is the "Workspace Show and Tell" which routinely features gaming stations, HD theaters in home, etc. Think geeky paradise. They've got a group on flickr where you can post photos of a workspace or workspace makeover called appropriately Lifehacker Workspace Show and Tell.

Back to the photos I've een drooling over. So Lifehacker posts their show and tell today, and My first thought was that google reader made an error! no way! They featured a garage turned quilting studio~!

So- you can see the original post and details behind the redo at Atwater Village Newbies by way of Lifehacker's Show and Tell. You can also head over to flickr to view the entire photo set!

Anyone want to help me rearrange?