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Past Time Bears
After much consideration, I decided to go ahead and share my workroom with you. I'm embarrassed that it is always messy, and I really like neat and orderly - I just don't DO neat and orderly.
The first one is the computer area. That picture hanging on the desktop is a printout of the amazing graphic that Jane put together for Teddy Talk's first birthday. If you look closely, one of Dilu's gollies (Pepper) is sitting on the box that holds my monitor. The cat is my Manx - Miss Baby.
Second is at the opposite end of the room from the computer and is where I sew. Isn't all that natural light fantastic?
Third is just to the left of the sewing machine. As you can see, I have joint disks stored on the wall and ribbons in that little shelf thing-y. Stuffing is in the big bag on the floor in front of the shelf. That gray blob on the window sill to the right of the shelf is my Russian Blue, Pixie.
My work table is in the center of the room and where I do a gazillion things . . . cut out patterns, work on altered art boxes, make ATC/ACEOs, pay bills, etc. It has portable storage cabinets all the way around.
And last, but certainly not least . . . Miss Baby. We usually have a tussle when I need to do some sewing.
Back Road BearsOh, Sue Ann, I don't know which I want to do first...... dive into your scrap bin or dig through all your ribbon!!! How exciting to see where Past Time Bears and other creative things are born!
Laura Lynn... awesome use of space! I love all the clear containers on that narrow stand with your neck accessories in them! Very clever!
I'm still cleaning my studio..... :doh:
Wow, Chloe...way to go. No "Dusty attic" there! ...great space now. Me too on the "looking at it"...so far that is all I have done with my new space. Most of my crates are stored on the two closet shelves for now...mohair in the linen closet..... leaving my room very tidy. Wonder what it will look like this time next year? maybe we should do an update on this week in 2009..hahhaha...
Laura.... love the little clear jars on the CD stand...great idea. Must get me some of that.....
Sue Ann... mmmm..yep, me too... would love a nosey round that whole space for sure.... what a pile of stuff! ...
Apple Dumpling DesignsSueAnn...personally, I love your messy workspace. Look at all that creativity just flowing around in there. 
Clean desk (workspace) is the sign of a sick mind!!!!
Tami Eveslage Original Teddy BearsI really like neat and orderly - I just don't DO neat and orderly
Sue Ann this is a constant battle I have with myself too. I had to spend two days cleaning my bear room---even with all the storage space---, before I posted my pictures. I love your bay window! My kitchen has a bay window and I always say that my perfect dream studio would have a bay window.
Laura, your creativity shows in your use of space! I love the jars ion the CD stand.
I like looking at the details in people's work rooms. I love Lisa's Teddy Roosevelt marionette, and Veronica's dolls, and I'm admiring all the cute Teddy pictures Sue Ann has up.
Back Road BearsClean desk (workspace) is the sign of a sick mind!!!!
And idle hands!
Laura, your work space turned out beautifully. Chloe, yours too. I know how exciting it is to get organized and what a fresh start that feels like. I just cleaned off the bed in my studio last week (it was covered with scraps of ATC stuff and bags and paints and my recent Intercal mohair order) so I know first-hand how refreshing that can be.
Sue Ann, your work space positively INSPIRES. It's not messy, to my eye, at all, as much as it is stuffed to the brim with magical goodies I'd love to play with. I adore your disk storage method and LOOK AT ALL THAT RIBBON! Plus, I cover that much free work space. When I have to spread my mohair out to trace and cut I need to move to another room because my work area just doesn't have enough space. I love that peek into where you make all that beary awesome magic happen.
I love ALL these peeks! And I'm totally amused that for many of us, our critters keep us company while we make stuffed critters! Funny!
Chloe, I'm also impressed with the size of your bears. I knew they were about the same size as my big ones because I've read that, but somehow I always picture them tiny and elfin anyway.
Very nice photos, everyone. I'm just loving this. Keep it coming!
Hubby was so impressed with how much I'd cleaned up... he wants to get me a bunch of those stacking clear drawers for the closet instead of shelving for my current boxes :dance: Already got it figured out!
Little Bear GuyNow this is a First, Tami - for me. I've never seen a studio with 2 sewing machines!!!
Well I can't post pics of our studio, it is a total disaster at the moment. Bobbie we have four sewing machines in our studio, two regular machines, an industrial sewing machine and a fur machine. Not to mention two sergers and an embroidery machine and something called a coverlock machine (Steve uses the serges and coverlock machine when he's making clothing).
It's great fun seeing everyone's studio's , currently we have our mohair and synthetic fabric laid out flat on a a couple of huge work tables (gotta get that stuff hung up at somepoint). We just recently purchased some cabinets for the studio, someone was redoing their kitchen and we purchased all the old cabinets from them for $100.00 so we will have a ton of storage space when we get them set up. The room is about 15 feet by 22 feet and it barely contains the fabric and the machines 
.
big hugs
Shane
Oooh, I love seeing everyone's work spaces! I am sooo envious... I can't wait to move. I can upload a pic of what my studio use to look like. I want to get a house with a loft so I can make that my new studio.. I found one place that would have been perfect but was not in a very good area 
Anway, here is my old studio and while I was working on some bears. 
My sewing machines are on another desk around the corner.. there are storage cabinets along the one side and
I have all my fabrics in big trunks that I stack.
Bear Hugs!
Melanie
That's a huge space, Melanie! I see we're all plastic-bin-crazed. And also, that they all seem to come from the same place with pretty much the same design! Then again, how many ways are there to make plastic bins? I think I'm talking to myself at this point...
:)
Some people seem to work just fine without an "official" work space but I would lose my mind if I had to pull my stuff out and then put it away again every time I work. Do you have even a little corner to work in now, Melanie?
Teddybears SwedenI just LOOOVE to see all your studios! This is so much fun!
I just took some photos of a very messy teddybear studio of my own! I just didn't felt like cleaning it up today so you'll see it in all its glory . 
Ooh, pretty, Jennie! Just what I'd expect a studio to look like in Sweden. Light colors, lots of white, gauzy curtains. Love it!
Yeah, my old studio was huge... it has another whole room to it with my computer desk, doll house and more storage cabinets. I think we are all plastic pin Junkies.. lol... I don't know what I would do without them.. and the "bad" part is.. when one is full... we go out and get some more to fill.. lol.
I have a corner desk now to work at.. the lighting is sooo not good, but I have one of those fluorescent lights that has a magnifying glass in it and that helps alot. It is a functional little space though.. it just makes things more difficult (aka one tub of fabric 
.. oh the horror!.. heehee). Everything else is an hour drive away at my parents house.. which gives me an excuse to go visit.. but a pain when you are inspired and just wanting some ribbon or fabric dye. I'll take a pic of my little space when I get home, I'm even working on some new bears!
Bear Hugs!
Melanie
Wow Sue Ann, I'd die for your windows! What a Great space and your "helpers" are so cute heehee. Nice sewing machine too 
I have the same one.. or I think it's the same (#1+).. best machine I have ever used.
Bear Hugs!
Melanie
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)L, what editing software do you use that lets you type on the image like that? And draw freeform arrows?
I use Photoshop V.8 and have just begun to step outside of my Comfort Zone - the same old steps I do automatically to edit pix.
Photoshop has free online tips almost every week that one can subscribe to. I save every one but only yesterday decided to start to learn them. I took on the Pen Tool and Paths and 'cut out' a bear from its background and then added a Drop Shadow.
I tried to put text on it (in another Layer) but couldn't get it to work correctly.
Or to change the angle of the line that the text followed I had to go back into Paths (curves, spirals angles, etc... lines of text).
Enough learning for this week, but I still want to do Text on pix and put © and ® over the images like Watermarks.
It would be great if someone could work up an EZ tut on this for Photoshop!! I print out reams of Help Topic instructions but its still Greek to me until I've stepped-through the procss a few times.
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)I don't/didn't use the sewing machine for bearmaking.
For those of you using desks (computer & regular) and tabletops, don't you find the elevated positions very hard on your neck/shoulders/backs?
Sewing tables are much lower, usually having a drop down center so the needle bed area of the machine is level with the top. But that's still lower than a regular desktop meant for writing or table for eating.
How do you all accomodate this? Even for the bit of mending I do from time to time, I use the dining room table but push my computer desk chair up to it so that the seat can be elevated and allow my shoulders & elbows to drop to their natural position instead of being up aroud my ears somewhere.
That was a huge part of my choosing minis: spine damage that demanded keeping shoulders & elbows down and in to my sides, but my hand work could be raised up to chin/neck area and just drop my eyes.
I need to sew and read with my face looking straight forward.
I dont have m own studio boo hoo.I like to work on an old table by the window so I can see my garden and I always have a vase of flowers and my ancient deco lamp on the table.I should buy a special daylight one but I am fond of the old thing.My tools are all ancient and mostly sentimental.I have an awl thats 200 years old.All my supplies are in a huge pine dresser .I work ten hours a day mostly and like to be in the centre of things in the house.It will just be me and all the animals soon when my daughter goes to uni.I may move into her bedroom till she comes home but I am so used to being squashed in here that I probably wont.
This is Hayley making bodies for the head slying on the table.I make the heads then go dye fabric and do intenet stuff as she cuts out and tacks their bodies then I come back and sew them up and we stuff together.I am not looking forward to having the mundane bits to do again!!!
You all have lovely areas to work in.I think Sue has a very proffessional work area.
Back Road BearsOK.... here's my room... the too neat version...
View as you walk in... my 'work bench' is near the windows and the closer table is where I design, trace and cut bears out.
To the right of my workbench is my sewing machine... set up so I can just swing around in my desk chair from work bench to machine.
A couple of shots of my work bench
I have a double wide closet that is very deep... mohair on one side, accessories and what not on the otherside
My studio is on the second floor of our Cape Cod style home so it has slanted ceilings and this room has a little alcove that I turned into part photo booth and part brag corner where my Mimzy paraphenalia sits.
And this is the 'business' side of the room... desk, laptop, etc. There is a stereo and more shelving to the left of the desk and to the right, behind the door that goes into the room is my cutting table as I also do quilting (or I used to until the bears took over!) My felting wool is stored underneath the table.
And my bears are displayed opposite my work bench for inspiration. Also shown is my latest yard sale find... an antique wooden shipping box.... it was the writing that made me buy it!!!!!
Hi Bobbie,
I use a very basic photoshop program... Photoshop Elements. I think I have the first "elements" version - I installed in in 2004.
I got a great book that really helped me to understand this program - and it was NOT written by Adobe :crackup:
The Digital Photographer's Guide to Photoshop Elements by Barry Beckman
http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html? … ative=9325
Posts: 280Hey Bobbie. I have 2 or 3 sewing machines set up all the time in my work space. All of them are at different heights. One is set in a cabinet, so that it is level with the table top. For the others, I have a chair that I can raise or lower to the correct level. It makes a huge difference. Instead of hunkering down or straining to reach up, I can adjust to whichever machine I am using. Having a good chair certainly makes the back and neck feel much better at the end of the day.
Luann
Bobbie I so agree! When I designed my work station I had hubby build it to my specs - which is much lower than most standard "desks"! For exactly that reason.... neck and shoulders!
Teddybears SwedenShelli, that so funny! Maybe I use such light colours in my workspace because of all the snow in Sweden... who knows! 
Tami Eveslage Original Teddy BearsThese are so great!! I love the colors in your studio too Jennie
Daphne, yours is my favorite I think. I love all the natural wood and the slanted ceilings. Plus you have lots of space, and in one of the pictures I saw a familiar little face smiling at me!!
Waggle BearsI love seeing all of your work spaces. My sewing room is in a mess because of some remodeling we're doing and it has become a store room temporarily. It's a reasonably sized room but isn't utilized to its optimum. When we get everything moved back into the appropriate rooms, I want to paint a light color and reorganize my space.
Mostly my quilting things are there. I have bear stuff all over the place, but want to consolidate all my things in one room. I've already give away yards and yards of fabric and still have a lot and it takes alot of room to store. I gave away years of quilting magazines recently but want to keep as many books as I can. Ashley's tough, though, she makes me let go of more than I would if I was doing this alone.
I hope I can add my pictures when things settle out a bit. But I love seeing all your spaces. I could look through them over and over.
