Interview on About.com

A big thanks to Tammy Powley for this fun interview!
There is some interesting info in here ;)

Lisa Niven Kelly, The Techniques Master

By Tammy Powley, About.com Guide

Pimp My Bench...wooo!

This post is copied from my other blog at beaducation.com :)

Every day when I get to work, I sit down at my desk with a mug of Chai tea and begin the day with a glance around my office. Having no shame, I will share with you what I used to see:

I'm lucky enough to have a personal office with a built-in "Creative Workspace" and I had allowed that whole corner of my office to turn into a dumping spot. It was cramping my creativity big-time! 

The first step is admitting there's a problem, right? The second step is taking action!

PIMP MY WORKSPACE!

I considered buying a proper jeweler's bench, but instead I kinda made my own. My tabletop was a solid wood door, so I had our contractor, Dave, come in make a rounded cutout. Voila!

As you can see in the "Before" photo, the wood door was resting on IKEA storage cabinets. Functional, yes. Fashionable, not so much. So I had Dave attach real table legs. This worked great! The table is incredibly stable, it's the perfect height, and I have more space underneath. Only one problem -- the legs were ugly. Fabric and a staple gun to the rescue!

I have been collecting fabric for awhile (I don't sew...but I might someday - ha!). I cut the fabric in strips wide enough to wrap around the leg with a little overlap and folded the ends over before stapling it to the wooden legs. I had no rhyme or reason to the patterns or lengths, I just kinda went for it.


I really love how my new table turned out, and for a fraction of the cost of buying a generic jeweler's bench! Now... what to do with all those tools?

I always struggled for the perfect way to hang my hammers so they were out of the way, yet accessible. Pipe sleeves and spray paint solved my problem!

My main goal when redoing this space was to have all my tools organized in a smart and attractive way. Hammers had their new home, next came the pliers. An old quilt rack with shelf was the perfect solution. I painted the rack and lined it with contact paper to protect the painted wood from getting marred by the jaws of the pliers. This holds more pliers than one can possibly need (which is saying a lot coming from a tool addict like me!), and holds them at a perfect arm's reach.

I loaded this tool cabinet from Harbor Freight with files, drill bits, etc... 

A few finishing touches included stapling on some beaded trim ('cuz why not, right?) and hanging a few decorative hooks from Anthropologie. The real piece de resistance included spray painting over 20 picture frames and filling them with favorite images from my collection of Alice in Wonderland books. Dave installed my Italian light and BAM, I was in business.  

Finished product -- I LOVE IT!  I am giddy every morning when I come in and see this inviting workspace. I can't wait to create, create, create!

Vamos a la Playa!

This year for Spring Break, we headed to a beach house in San Diego for a very RELAXING vacation. Yes, that picture is 3 bff mommies and SEVEN kids. The men stayed home. Relaxing you ask? Yes, it really was. We have hit that stage where our kids are self sufficient and we no longer have to watch them like mommy hawks!

The sunsets, the sisterhood and the joy of kids has me super inspired and charged.  I came up with 3 new designs while walking on the beach. Bring it summer...I am so ready for more sunshine!

First Beaducation Design Challange

We have been having some fun at work over at Beaducation.  Work and fun often go hand in hand in our office!
We had our first (of many, I am sure) Design Challenge!  Woohoo!
We started with this.

To see what we made, hop on over to the Beadyo Blog.

DIY Project! Make Your Design Stamp Holder for $3!!!

Pulled this one over from my other blog at Beaducation.com.  Who doesn't love a good DIY project :)


Last week we received this inquiry on Facebook from our pal Keona. Great question Keona!

Unfortunatly, no, we don't have a holder for some of those larger design stamps....but that question got my creative juices flowing. I too hate the fact that all my beloved design stamps get to stand tall and proud in a holder, while the larger stamps have to lay on their side like they are napping.

I love a challenge! The first thing that came to mind was floral foam. I headed on down to JoAnn Fabrics (just a hop and skip from our office) and bought a block.  It worked great, but it was messy. The foam kinda flakes off all over the place. I formulated a new plan, tested it out and LOOK AT THIS, a custom Design Stamp holder that cost me $3 to make!

Here is how you can make one too!  Head on down to the craft store and dollar store for a block of styrofoam or floral foam and a baking tin or some sort of box (some dollar stores might have both).

Use a knife to cut the foam to fit nice and snug into your container.  Place a stamp (image side down) at desired location in the foam and hammer them down (use a soft head hammer like a Plastic Mallet) until 1/3rd of the stamp has sunk into the foam.  Repeat for all the stamps.  Perhaps leave some space for future stamps.

I know what you are thinking..."Hey wait a second, what is that writing on the side?".  Well, since the container I chose was metal, I couldn't resist stamping on it (yes, I stamped it before putting in the foam).  Again, bring on the challenge! I had to build a strong stamping surface in the container so I busted out my Sandbag, Bench Block and any available piece of wood that would fill the left over space. I didn't get regular and strong resistance so the stamping came out uneven (depth-wise) and it was a bit awkward, but it worked! I used the Wackadoodle Uppercase and Lowercase.

Other ideas...

• Cover the foam in fabric and cut a hole for each stamp.
• Paint the foam.
• Use decorative scrapbook paper to cover your foam.
• Use a beautiful Kleenex box as your box and just cut the top off.
• Use one of the many DVD boxes in paper or even bamboo from The Container Store.
• Use a soap tray and cut your foam to fit.
• Make your own wooden box with plywood. 

We love a challenge, and we love to save money. More DIY projects soon :)
And remember, Facebook is a great place to ask a question. We promise you will get a quick and thorough reply :)

Sweet Savings over at Beaducation.com

Beaducation.com is having a Cyber Monday SALE!  We chose our most popular category... Sterling Silver Blanks.  Great time to stock up on some of those fun shapes that you have been wanting to try!  Sale is supposed to start at midnight, but Paul and I are pooped and we want to go to bed!  There is a bit of manual work to be done to post a sale.  We just finished...happy shopping...nighty night!

This sale is good on in-stock products only.  Sorry, no rain checks.

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