Day 15 and 16

The good thing about plans is that they are just that plans-they can be changed and frequently do in my world.  Yesterday I'd planned to just hang out and work on a project before work and as I'm laying in bed contemplating if I wanted to stay in my nice warm bed a little longer or get up, put in a load of laundry and work in the studio I got a call from my friend and owner of Assemblage Studio.  She had a flat tire, the auto club wasn't able to come for at least 1 to 2 hours and she had a couple of ladies coming into the studio to complete a project. She asks "Can you open the shop for me?" After a brief discussion I was up and out of bed getting ready to go to the shop...plans changed-not gonna hang in bed today...I guess I was meant to work on a project today (not lounge in bed)! One of the things I love most about working at the shop is I can work on projects while I work-the best of both worlds...work and play!  I packed up a few supplies and headed off to open the shop, stopped at Starbucks for a venti (it was gonna be a long day-had to work my "real" job when I got done at the shop), and settled in for a day of art and meeting lovely new people.

I got to the shop, did all my usual opening stuff-turning on lights and music, filling the cash register, opening the door and then settled in to work on my latest page. The ladies showed about half way thru my page, worked on their project a beautiful memory box for one of the ladies grandparents.  As they worked we chatted (shocking I know...I'm such a quiet person after all! LOL). I always love to hear if this is a customers first project or how they got into doing projects-every story is always so different but also comes down to one similarity- Love.  Either love for art or for the person the piece is for or even for the piece itself. It always amazes me how art brings so many different people together. The ladies finished their project, went on their way and I was back to working on my page.  It still needs a few finishing touches but overall I got thru most of the work, whether I had intended to or not.

My nearly finished page

Today I woke excited, I knew I wouldn't really be completing a project but I'd be prepping for a project I'd been looking forward to for a while.  My friends daughters are having birthdays and I missed the party last weekend because I went to Chicago with the boys to see Stevie so I thought I'd plan a little birthday surprise for them.  We're gonna have a paper doll birthday party tomorrow! I received the Cricut Paper Doll Dress-Up cart for my birthday several years ago and love it and I think the girls would have a total blast dressing up paper dolls and watching them cut like magic.  I dug through my studio for paper, embellishments and all kinds of fun stuff and packed it all up. Then I had to do a test run-I'd used the cartridge before but never with the Gypsy and I had to make sure I knew what I was doing before I was surrounded by 3 squealing girls waiting for their new paper doll to be cut and I didn't want to be standing there clueless-took a few cuts to get it right but I think I might have it down now.  Really can't wait to have fun with the girls tomorrow!

The beginning of my paper doll-ready to be embellished

Don't forget the party at Assemblage tomorrow 4p-7p. Hope to see you all there to celebrate 5 wonderful years with Teresa!