Paper Source Grand Opening, Princeton, NJ!
There is never a dull moment in my life, I always find an adventure and have a story to tell, whether its a new art piece I created, Cadbury our resident rabbit eating carrots from me, DJ our Dog frolicking around the garden, a new event or store I found, I always find something to talk about or do. If there is an adventure waiting to be embarked on, I will find it.

Geralyn Grey aka Greetings From Geralyn invited me to the Grand Opening of the Paper Source Store in Princeton, NJ (One of my favorite locations, just so much to see and do, many of the buildings have a European feel and look preserved in time)!I almost never give up an invitation, unless I have other plans. If you invite me, I will come, for this artful journey I brought my mom along, who I might add won one of the giveaways at the store, she was soooo happy.
Once inside I began to drool, literally of course, one step inside a Paper Source Store and you might never be the same, its complete eye candy for the artful soul. After having an incredible moment of art excitement I quickly spotted Geralyn at the store and went right over to her, she had invited me to the Grand Opening and each day I waited with baited breath to go!Notice the rows and rows of gorgeous paper sheets, I wanted them all, and they were reasonably priced which makes it that much better.Now this is what topped off my day, seeing my book in their store, Altered Art Circus is available at all Paper Source Stores, this happended to be the last copy that day, How excited was I! Notice the bunches of forget me knots in the background, you guessed it, they were all mine, LOL!Here is a picture of the wonderful Denise and myself, with her copy of my book, so exciting. Denise is a wonderful flower artist making handmade felt and paper creations!Notice the circus paper in my hand and my filled basket of artful wares!This Grand Opening was so much fun, between exploring for treasures, talking with old friends and meeting new ones, not to mention beautiful weather and a short drive, the day couldn't have been more perfect. During the event I also met Chavonne Lenoir, who is the owner of Glamorous Life Events, which plans and creates that special event. We clicked right from the start, she was super nice!Then I had the pleasure of meeting one of Geralyn's friends who is a teacher in NJ, at Montclair Museum and her studio is located in Orange. Look at Denise pictured between aisles and aisles of paper bliss.Here is another glimpse inside my new favorite store! For those of you Boston and Cali Girls, I know you have had Paper Source nearby, but for me and the rest of us NJ-ites, this is the first NJ location, now located on Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ! I am so happy its here, and will be making more frequent visits to my new treasure haunt! Did I mention there is a cupcake shope around the corner called: House of Cupcakes, well I did some cupcake buying there too! For more information visit:
Paper Source http://www.paper-source.com/
Geralyn's Blog: http://greetingsfromgeralyn.blogspot.com/
Denise's site: Http://stores.shop.ebay.com/pin
Chavonne's site: http://www.glamorouslifeevents.com/
House of Cupcakes: http://www.thehouseofcupcakes.com/
Auroratique (my mom's blog): http://auroratique.blogspot.com

My Studio Transformation!

I'm not the biggest fan of re-organizing, why? because I get so involved in it, that I lose creating time as a result, lol, however it is good exercise, LOL!

Over the past 5 years I have seen my studio and new location really evolve as I have evolved as a person, as an artist and a designer. My first was located in a small room at my mom's old house, the walls were lilac/grey shade called Twilight, the shelves were basic white from home depot, each shelf was lined with my books by theme and filled with my fave goodies. These shelves reminded me of my childhood and some were filled with those memories encasing my 80's smurfs, sea-wees, strawberry shortcake and rainbow bright, the others with my vintage loves: old fairy books, alice in wonderland, steiff, kewpies and other old pieces.
My desk was basic and had a memory board with atc's and artsy swaps attached to it. The closet was turned into a desk area and workspace with my computer. It served its purpose, but I was not complete.

My studio at this time wasn't a showplace, nor did I want it to be, I wasn't decorating elaborate vignettes, just filling the shelves and organizing by basic rules, themes, height, size and color. Then my parents were moving, and the studio had to be re-located, to my house, which I was reluctant to give up one of the guest rooms, but knew it had to be done. Here is where my journey was about to begin, I would declare myself the traveling gypsy artist, now I would have 2 locations for the studio, my parent's new place and at my house, LOL!. Its not so bad, honestly, it gives me time to create with my mom, incorporate the help from friends or their children for shipping and orders (this can be chaotic, LOL!) and time for me at my house, my secret world. The extra room became: The Fairy Apothecary Shoppe of Artful Magic. I completely switched in my colors and themes. I kept the walls neutral and bought rich black shelving. I have always loved the Pottery Barn look, just not their prices, so I searched and found that Wlamart offered me the best budget: $28 per 6 1/2 foot deep shelving in rich black, bout 3 of those sexy shelves, next I rescued a buffet piece in black from Homegoods, it waqs damaged, the pull out drawers were broken, so my price: $50, not $450, Glenny fixed the drawers and put putty and paint on the scratch. Now it holds all my rubber stamps inside of it. Now began the organization, how can I get this studio in shape, to give me a feel good and inspirational feel, after all this was going to be my Fairy Apothecary Shoppe. I started to do what everyone does, fill my fave eye candy collections in jars. Then I began to dedicate shelves to my vintage bottles and glass bulbs/orbs layered inside glass containers, overflowing for the look of magical crystal bulbs, LOL. I just love glass stuff, when the light hits this shelf I get a prizm effect, like a giant rainbow. Anyone remember the prism seen in Pollyanna with Hayley Mills????Next was to find a piece for some of my papers, I was given a freebie from the inside of an armoire, with wheeled sliding shelves, Glenny and I painted it and turned it into a faux Printers cabinet, price: $0, now I had to decorate the top, with more sparkle and tinsel collections, oh and some of my fave dollies.
Next was to fill up even more jars with my fave thing: Shells, I love love love shells in all shapes and sizes, they are truly one of Mother Nature's Magical Treasures, they are gifts for us to enjoy, one trip to a beach and boom, free artful treasures, or for mere pennies, pick them up at the store.Now since this construction of the studio at my house, my collections have grown, and so have my artful experiments. Now we are adding cubby 12inch by 12inch shelving and a wall length table with some shelving underneath, the closet is getting 2 more shelves and items will be transfered to wrapping paper wrapped office boxes for practical storage and with a nice appearance. Everything is getting moved around, The Fairy Apothecary is now going to meet the Carnival, the studio will now be The Carnival Fairy Shoppe of Magic. A big top ceiling top will be created, a circus tree, new lighting, and a new doll display. Lots of pinks, reds, creams, vintage aqua/sea foam greens, silvers and sparkle are being added.
The studio at Mom's will also be re-done more for her with a regency and victorian feel, with tea and romantic tones. Now I've begun the mental task of finding new storage solutions and organization, stay tuned for the complete transformation.
Some quick recommendations:
1. Visit Walmart or Target for fabulous, cheap and reasonable storage solutions such as shelves, tables, glass bottles, jars, boxes and baskets, and more
2. Dollar Stores for more jars, boxes, gift bags for holding fun stuff, wrapping paper, dishware and silverware, plus other artful supplies.
3. Homegoods, TJ Maxx and Marshalls for fabulous furniture and items at a discount
4. Ikea for even more reasonable finds: Furniture and Accessories.
5. Spring Cleanup drives around your neighborhoods, you never know what is being thrown out and its free.
6. Town recycle centers for more finds: Books, Magazines, Furniture, etc.
7. Salvage Yards
8. Rummage Sales, Garage Sales, Church Sales, Flea Markets, and Book Sales.
9. Ebay and search for local pick-up, Craig's List and the Newspaper.
10. Friends and Family freebie's
11. Home Depot and Lowes
12. Offices, stores and companies getting rid of furniture, and again it can be free.

Hope these shopping locations work for you to make over your studio or start a new one!

Studio Additions: New Antique!
Hello all,
Just when you think everything is in place, boom, you get a surprise, dear friends of my mom's own a wonderful tea shoppe in NJ and were giving her an antique hutch that they didn't have room for, well my mom, can't fit it, so they have given it to me for my studio and let me tell you, its a vintage beauty.

To some distressed wood, is boring, but to me, it looks like it came straight from an olde apothecary shoppe from the turn of the century, a wizard shoppe, a magical shoppe, so vintage and when decorating with silver glittery things, bottles and glam, this beauty will compliment my studio which I have themed: The Faerie Apothecary Shoppe!

Glenn wants to re-finish it, but I kinda like the scratches, gives it more of a natural distressed look, some character, What do you think? Well my new piece will be sitting in the garage until I get back from Silver Bella, then I will be able to devote serious studio time, as I have choosen to not do any swaps, or big deadlines until the first of the year. I've done that so I can update the websites, the stores, work on the zine, take care of things I haven't been able to get to, like finishing my product line items, and preparing for new books.

To test my antique I added some new hat box pieces I made for Silver Bella, by placing them on its shelf and photographing it, I really liked how they looked in there, now I will be envisioning what treasures to store in there, I'm toying with dolls such as my new Vintage Charlotte inspired doll line

or vintage glitters and apothecary bottles, or will it be a specimen case, not sure yet. But when I get it complete, I will share with you the pictures.

Starting Tomm. I will be running 2 blog giveaways, the first is to celebrate my birthday which is Nov.16, and Glenny's is Nov.15. As a surprise to one lucky blogger I will be sending them a free Collage Cd: The Vintage Greeting Card Collage CD, which is available in my web store, etsy and ebay.

Stay tuned for the details tommorrow!

Have a magical night!
Lisa!