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Follow the White Rabbit …or Frohe Ostern

Happy Easter and welcome to the Easter blog hop! Today is the day when we tumble-down the rabbit’s hole and hop after the White Rabbit. The rabbit hops from blog to blog, from country to country all around the cyber scrapbooking world!

Although the countries and styles vary and designers participating had a free choice what to create for the hop, the pieces of art have all something in common. If you’re familiar with Alice in Wonderland, you might remember that the White Rabbit, which Alice followed and found the Wonderland, had a pocket watch. So in this hop the common theme is the time piece. You can find an interpretation or a way to incorporate a clock in every creation! Inspiring, right?

So please hop along and remember to leave a comment at every stage! That way you ensure as many tickets for the raffle as possible. You’ll have just a week to participate (to April 8th at noon GMT) for the giveaway put together from donations from 7 Dots Studio, BadgesFolie, Garn&Mehr, Stromsvigt and Wycinanka.

So enjoy the hop and find the inspiring Wonderland of scrapbooking!

So here is my take on the Follow The White Rabbit Easter Hop – I was inspired by the cute logo so I had to use this for my easter cards :)

Supplies: Theresa Collins Stationary Noted Paper Collection, Autumn Leaves Stamps, Prima Marketing Clock, Liquitex Acrylic Ink, Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L E-Z Squares, Ranger Archival Ink

So now follow the other links and comment in order to be able to win one of the awesome prices :)

Here are the hop stops:

Happy Easter for those of you who celebrate Easter and a wonderful day for all of you!

hugs

nat

Über*Media is my series of online workshops that is dedicated to different kinds of media that cross a variety of materials. I also teach project based online workshops which you can find here.

Nat

Comments (70)

Paula

April 8, 2013 at 12:33 pm | #

Beautiful cards, I love the fresh colors!

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kiala

April 8, 2013 at 12:32 pm | #

Surprising and lovely bunny card!

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Milla

April 8, 2013 at 9:31 am | #

Love this!

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Cecilia

April 7, 2013 at 10:33 pm | #

It´s a funny rabbit. I love your work always

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Helen

April 6, 2013 at 5:29 am | #

Such a fun and happy project. Happy Easter :)

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Anski

April 5, 2013 at 11:08 pm | #

Looks amazing, really fun how you used the logo! :)

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scrapvat

April 5, 2013 at 9:12 pm | #

This is the coolest little bunny ever… love how you created it. Awesome!

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elina.

April 5, 2013 at 8:29 pm | #

Cute Easter cards! I like especially the one below. :) It actually reminds me of an old childrens program, Kössi Kenguru, in Finland! :)

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Ellihe

April 4, 2013 at 8:32 pm | #

Funny bunnies & nice cards :)

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Sofia.V

April 4, 2013 at 6:01 pm | #

There’s cute, fun and creative at the same time!

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lehtipollo

April 4, 2013 at 12:57 am | #

Ooh, fantastic and so creative!

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Svetlana V

April 3, 2013 at 5:20 pm | #

Cool project! Thanks for sharing !

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versq

April 3, 2013 at 12:56 pm | #

First time visiting your blog. Thank you for inspiration! :)

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Екатерина_М

April 3, 2013 at 9:40 am | #

хи-хи)) парусник))) это же зайка))))
а на лодочу все же похоже))

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Екатерина_М

April 3, 2013 at 9:38 am | #

красивый парусник)))

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linda trapp

April 3, 2013 at 3:50 am | #

terrific card, love the composition and color choice

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Denise Bryant

April 2, 2013 at 11:46 pm | #

Love your mixed media card!

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laura m.

April 2, 2013 at 5:28 pm | #

Lovely card! Thanks for sharing :)

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eilaeila

April 2, 2013 at 5:04 pm | #

Hey hey hey Miss Sunshine! Hope all’s got with you and your auntie M. Ha ha you got me here, thought I’d find one of your fabbo mixed media canvases! these cards are so so cute, really love the graphic sails and sweet colours. Hope your long weekend was a really good one!! xoxoxoxox

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Miharu

April 2, 2013 at 12:50 pm | #

So great… :) Beautiful!

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Only One Page or…Viva Las Vegas Stamps

Art Journal Derwent Artbars Derwent Inktense Blocks Ranger Distress Paint Stamps

Here is my second project as a guest designer for Viva Las Vegas Stamps. I created an Art Journal Page

I totally fell in love with the Map Background stamp and when I created a transfer of a photo of Yosemite I thought that the Map Background would fit perfectly to the theme and that the roads itself would make perfect connections with the branches that transferred. I used the Bird Head to make connections and also because it had the same visual map feel to me.

I stamped with black Ranger Distress Paint which generated a nice resist to the Watercolor and the Derwent Artbars and Inktense Blocks I used over it.

Other Supplies Used: Liquitex Gel Medium, Liquitex Acrylic Ink, Deli Paper, Ranger Distress Paint, Derwent Artbars, Derwent Inktense Blocks, Schmincke Watercolors, Graphite Marker, Prima Canvas Letters, Markers

Have a wonderful day

nat

n*Lab Tales – Today featuring Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Paints (nathaliesstudio.com)
It Made Sense to Her…Art Journal (nathaliesstudio.com)
Space Age Bachelor Pad or…Art Journal Page (nathaliesstudio.com)

Nat

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Weckruf (Wake-Up Call) or…A FAST Forward Making off a Canvas

Acrylic paint canvas Collage Hamburg Liquitex Heavy Body Paint Liquitex Professional Paint Markers Liquitex Professional Spraypaints Mixed Media Video

The image of this window with some landmarks of Hamburg kept coming up when I was sketching things in my art journal and on my iPad. So I figured it was time to finally just put it on a canvas.

Here is a FAST Forward Movie of the Making off (it is not a step by step tutorial- although most steps are extensively in there ;) ) – I hope you enjoy it. I have a List of all Supplies used below

I had lot’s of fun playing with the new Liquitex Professional Paint Markers – loved that there are so many ways to use them and the colors are just to die for .

Liquitex Ultra Matte Gel Medium

Liquitex Heavy Body Artist Acrylic Paint

White Gesso

Liquitex Professional Spray Paint

Liquitex Acrylic Paint Marker

Liquitex Freestyle Paddle Brush

InLinkz.com

and
24cmx30cm Canvas
Loads of old Book Paper

I have some other ideas for this image – color wise etc…so you might see this coming up again in a different look :)

Would you like to see more fast-foward videos in the future?

Have a wonderful day :)

Nat

If you want to learn different techniques for art journals and mixed media canvases using Acrylic Paints, Gesso or Acrylic Inks come and take my Über*Media Online Workshops.

Nat

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A Good Day or…Spring Texture Canvas

Acrylic paint canvas Easter homedecor Liquitex Acrylic Paints Liquitex Professional Paint Markers Liquitex Professional Spray Paints Mixed Media Norwegian Reindeer Moss Paint Texture

It was time to get some spring feeling into the house. Outside a constant freezing cold breeze alternating with snow flakes make it hard to believe that I am on track with the right date. I might have missed something…probably spring was just postponed this year ;)

I had a lot of fun playing around with some stuff I had at hands though…so that made up for the weather.

A different kind of texture…making me happy..I am just a dork when it comes to texture- LOL

Used: Liquitex Professional Spray Paints, Liquitex Acrylic Paints, Liquitex Professional Paint Markers, Liquitex Gel Medium, Signo Pen, Birch Panel, Norwegian Reindeer Moss, Eggs, Feathers, Branch

I am ready dear spring…VERY ready…

Wishing you a gorgeous sunny spring day :)

Nat

Yosemite inspired Texture Canvas (nathaliesstudio.com)
Texture Grunge Flowers (nathaliesstudio.com)
Texture Galore or Summer Canvas (nathaliesstudio.com)

Nat

Comments (23)

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I have no time to be creative …or…Boredom Creativity

Art Journal Creativity Digital Art

Something I hear often is that people say they have no time to be creative. “I wish I had as much time as you to be creative” …Really? Mhhh …ok- well…I am also doing this as my living…so I have to constantly actually make time to be creative. That is another argument though. I say there is always time for creativity if you really want to be creative.

(above: boredom time at doctor’s waiting room…view out of the window…kind of ;) )

There is lot’s of times where I die of boredom…waiting at the doctor, waiting at the airport, waiting for the movie to continue during the advertisement block, maybe even during the movie, my traveling time, commuting time, being on hold on the phone…gosh there are so many examples…everybody has such boredom times. I figured these times are PERFECT times to be creative! I take out my art journal or my iPad and just play drawing and painting. It is my Boredom Creativity.

(above: boredom time in plane…actually there is nothing more boring when the blue and grey lufthansa interior in the airplane…unless you start playing with it painting)

Am I good at drawing? NO I am not.

Do I care? No I am not.

Do I enjoy playing around? Yes I do.

Do I learn stuff while doing this? Yes I do.

Do I make the best out of my time to be creative? Yes I am.

How do you spent Boredom Times?

huge hugs

nat

Nat

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Don’t Tear Down This Wall or…Viva Las Vegas Stamps

Berlin Berlin Wall East Side Gallery Rubber stamp Stamps

Pretty stoked to be the guest designer for Viva Las Vegas Stamps this month. This layout was posted last week and there is another one on next week :)

I used the Charred Wood Back Ground Stamp to create my own background for a grungy layout. The layout is about the East Side Gallery – a tiny remaining bit of the Berlin Wall that was painted by different artists in 1990 and now unfortunately is supposed to be torn down to make room for some luxury flats. Some of you might remember some of my photos from this blog post here- where I had visited Berlin with my friend Julie.

I love to create my own backgrounds using stamps to emphasize photos or the feelings and emotions that go along with photos. For this background I had stamped the background with the awesome Charred Wood Back Ground Stamp and embossing powder and then used Wow Bonding Powder and Foil on top. This created a kind of resist. So when I sprayed some Dylusion spray inks over the stamp image and texture of it got fully revealed.

Other Suppliess used: White Cardstock, WOW Bonding Powder, WOW Foil, Versamark, Ranger’s Dylusions Spray Inks, Liquitex Professional Spray Paints, Heidi Swapp Chipboard Letters, Rose Moka Journaling Cards, Posca Marker, Zig Journaling Pen

Have a wonderful day

nat

Nat

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15 minutes plane rides, fairy tales and shadows or…Luxembourg Sightseeing

Abbey of Echternach Echternach European Union Gëlle Fra Luxembourg

As promised I show some pictures of my half day sightseeing tour with Lydia in Luxembourg. Luxembourg is the 7 smallest country in the European Union – but oh it is a beauty. From Hamburg I flew in a small airplane, landed in Saarbrücken (still in Germany) after 1 hour and 10 minutes, when about two-thirds of the passengers left and we flew for 15 minutes (no kidding) with five people to Luxembourg.

Official languages are French, German and Luxembourgish – making it interesting to read street and shop signs, as there seems to be no consistency as to how languages are displayed. Sometimes you have all three, sometimes you have a street sign warning you in french that there is a curve ahead, just to be followed by a german sign telling you to slow down.

The first sightseeing stop on monday was Echternach where we went to the Abbey of Echternach which was founded around 700.

This sculpture fascinated me- especially with the shadow !

I fell in Love with the windows- I love the pattern – I am sure you will see it somewhere again ;)

Echternach is located at the River Sauer, you walk over a bridge and you are in Germany- so I went for two seconds ;) (note the entry sign with the unofficial abbreviation of Germany…very outdated)

From here we went to Luxembourg City. This is a fortification also called Three Acorns in front of the Museum of Modern Art. Actually this is almost all that is left of the fortification. It was super pretty- and each of the towers had an acorn on top.

This is the Gëlle Fra – luxembourgish for the golden lady which is a war memorial.

Very fairy tale like are some of the views- I was amazed at all the old buildings, some built into the rocks- and it was wonderful having Lydia as a tour guide as she knew so much about the city and history.

Loved this old tower called hollow tooth

And there is a last view of the old part of Luxembourg before I head out to my weird bus-stop-like flight back to Hamburg ;)

And the moral of the story…Luxembourg is definitely worth a trip. I am so happy Lydia talked me into staying a day longer after the workshops to do some sightseeing!

Hope you enjoyed the little journey with me .

huge hugs

nat

Workshops at J.P. Morgan in Luxembourg (nathaliesstudio.com)

Nat

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Workshops at J.P. Morgan in Luxembourg

Acrylic Paints Luxembourg Mixed Media Pan Pastel Workshops

Last weekend I had the pleasure to teach 3 workshops at J.P. Morgan in Luxembourg. I was invited by the Social Committee and it was so much fun. It was an amazing crowd of people- very international and with lot’s of languages involved. I was sticking to my two- English and German…my attempt to learn Luxembourgish was poor ;)

We had a really great room…the canteen- which was PERFECT for a workshop – lot’s of light, lot’s of tables, lot’s space, lot’s of yummie snacks ;)

The first class was my Yawp PanPastel Class on Saturday afternoon and we dabbled into a lot of techniques and the students loved playing with the different yummie colors and techniques.

Heating guns were used in wild west style to get the techniques rolling ;)

Sunday morning I taught the Über*Media Acrylic Paint Class first. We covered lots of techniques and made a big pile of background pages for art journals. Not many pictures here- obviously I forgot to take pictures

Next up was the Season /Texture Canvas Class. It was awesome. Most of the students never worked with Acrylic Paints..some even stated to never have held a paint brush in their hand (hard to believe- I know) and they had so much creative fun!

Everyone was very open to try out things, but the best was…they had no finished picture in their head when they started, which made them more open to try new things – I loved that.

So we had a little Monet inspiration going on here

and some Pearl Jam inspired texture galore here

and some rainbow light fun here

and awesome texture flower bouquet inspiration here

some real awesome flower application/transformation here

beautiful text textured flowers here

and a whimsical flower spin here

Here is a group shot with the happy ladies- some had to leave earlier- so there is a lot missing on the photo

Thank you so much everyone who took the classes- it was a wonderful weekend with you and you inspired me a lot too :)

Thank you also to the J.P. Morgan Social Committee for inviting me and to Lydia for inviting me to her home and taking more than good care of me ! You are fab!

I will show you some of my sightseeing pictures in Luxembourg next…what a beautiful little country!

BTW – if you are interested in having me come and teach at your event, store or for a certain private or company group – please feel free to contact me !

You can also check out my In -Person Workshops here and see if I am close soon to where you live or check out my Online Workshops here to take classes whenever you want.

Have a gorgeous day

hugs

Nat

Workshops in Sweden – Stockholm August 31-September 1, 2013 (nathaliesstudio.com)

Nat

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n*Studio Organization Part I

artist studio Letterpress Letterpress printing organisation

As hinted before I am going to write a bit about my progress in re-organizing my studio.

It is kind of weird: I studied law and I always worked very structured and clean at the law office. I was known for going through unorganized areas of offices and telling bosses, colleagues and trainees that there should be never never ever a pile of files with unclear content or without to-do-steps. Very german-like telling them they could die in a car accident and I would not know what the heck is going on (believe it or not they still liked me- LOL – or at least that is what I think- hehehehe)

Anyway- my studio…total different thing. My studio is a MESS. Not in dirty mess…in “I can’t find the right place mess!”. My friend Julie tried to reorganize me eh the studio a bit going in her organization way when she visited me a while ago- but the thing was…it didn’t really work for me. It worked better and it was a good start but it wasn’t MY perfect organization. Time to tackle this again…because let’s face it…it is my work space an average about 10 hours a day- so…

Let me tell you how I found the perfect storage first…

When I went to the flea-market a couple of weeks, I found these letterpress blocks which I in itself eyed closely and bought ~~a couple~~ lots of. They were beautifully placed in this array of drawers. I somehow had this urge to ask the nice seller “so…those drawers, what are you doing with those?” To which he replied, that they actually belonged to a cabinet, he didn’t bring to the flea-market but plans to sell too once he sold all the letterpress blocks.

I asked what he wanted for it…and he named a prize that was really low. In fact the price made me think that the cabinet probably looked pretty bad. Despite the fact the price was low, I decided against further inquires, because even the low price was still something I had to chew on about. Imagine me for a whole week thinking to myself how stupid I am, what an opportunity I missed out on and dreaming and researching about letterpress cabinets. My husband the usual very mindful person actually gave me the push “You should buy it- let’s go to the flea market next saturday and see if he is there and try to get it”. And so it was.

I was a lucky ducky…that is all I can say- the cabinet belonged to an old tool school teacher who loved this cabinet from the 20s/30s and took good care of it. He taught kids how to print letterpress posters and when he retired had to move to an elderly home he had to sell everything. Knowing this background story makes this even more treasurable (is that a word?) for me and I wish he could know that his beloved cabinet got a home where someone equally loves and treasures this cabinet. I also was super lucky that the cabinet fit perfectly into the ONLY possible spot in my room- between a pole and a wall and with still being able to open the drawers which are quite deep without ruining a doorway (also known as “entering the American Zone” or my husband’s studio)

Let’s finally get to the organization part…I probably lost half of you already…but ok…you know I can’t contain my excitement for this. I wish those cabinets would be still built – yes! Because they are AWEsome- this cabinet is mall and look at all those drawers and they are thin and deep. Perfect for storing stamps:

Perfect with all those tiny containers which were for the metal book setting letters. I filled several drawers with found objects and embellishments. Being able to finally see them…it is like an inspiration drawer…open…spark…take…create!

Tapes …they lived in a box- some of them untangling, making it hard to control them (I might have control issues- LOL)

Oh wait…there was chipboard and canvas elements…

Letterpress, stamp- and lino-carving tools

I do not use a lot of ribbon, but what I knew I would use some time was dangling from a hanger…hated it (I know it is a strong word- but yes…true)

some of my Prima-Educator stuff…not perfect- but better when I had it before in boxes – I am still thinking about this.

the die cut tools – perfect… I was surprised to find some of them- ahem ;)

And as to not leave you with the false thought of a perfectly looking and wonderfully organized super duper power artist studio…here is the rest of my studio. Pretty much looks worse when before- hahahaha – because I started to pull stuff there out of the drawers and had to put it somewhere in between. It is now about organizing the paints and tools I use all the time. I will keep you updated in another post…hopefully soon ;)

BTW – I left the labels of the letterpress on the cabinet because I somehow think it adds to the charm of it…but maybe it might be better to label it with what is in there- LOL.

What do you think I should do – leave the labeling as is?

Have a gorgeous day

Nat

Comments (63)

Susan

July 13, 2016 at 2:51 pm | #

That is a fabulous find. (The letterpress cabinet) I would very artistically label the drawers with the contents. But keep the original labels.

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Viki B

October 20, 2015 at 5:56 pm | #

Your studio is awesome! I love that cabinet!!! I wish I could find one for a reasonable price but around here. They are so expensive. I have been looking for one for years.

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Sally C.

January 18, 2015 at 7:07 am | #

Leave the labels or take them away? I would definitely leave them in place — they are nostalgic and probably tell their own story. But, knowing me — always wanting everything identified — I would make my own small, but accurate, labels with my good old Dymo, and place them down the LHS of the cabinet.drawers. I LOVE the cabinet and would be so thrilled to find something similar. Well done.
Gruss! Sally in France

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Nancy

June 10, 2014 at 1:27 pm | #

Great cabinet. I do not know if it has a copy write or not but you should have them made and sell them. Everyone wants one, including me.

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Denise

September 21, 2013 at 4:23 pm | #

Oh what a great find! That was such a blessing. A friend has some metal cabinets wit draws like those. Jealous! I love your said io, so bright and cheerful. My favorite thing though is your blog photo – you full of joy and laughter in front of a painting. Never saw a more perfect representation!

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Colleen Dequaine

July 14, 2013 at 5:37 pm | #

Beyond awesome!! And, leave labeling as is. What a find, I am jealous!

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Shannon

July 7, 2013 at 8:22 pm | #

suggestion for paint storage. I thought this was pretty spiffy. http://tracywburgos.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341cd89c53ef0192aaef3c39970d-500wi

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Lisa

March 26, 2013 at 7:37 am | #

what a score, that cabinet was made for you !

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Cindi

March 19, 2013 at 4:47 pm | #

I’m raising my hand! I would love a cabinet like that! What an amazing find, the contents and the cabinet! WooHoo! You are a lucky ducky! And it fits so perfectly! I would also be torn as whether to keep the old labels??? I like the suggestion to keep them and use them as ephemera, or do a page about the chest and include them there. On the other hand, soon you probably won’t need labels, at least for the most used drawers, so you could leave the old labels …. Tough decision! Let us know what you decide, and keep sending organization pics. I can use all the help I can get!

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nydiart

March 19, 2013 at 2:33 pm | #

Keep the labels! There is history there! maybe make a chart on the side with what is in your drawers.. A mini drawing of the cabinet with the drawers written on and labeled! That is a great find! Congratulations! i love your studio! Mine is a HOT mess! Sooo…I am looking forward to your future entries!

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Pam Fairchild

March 19, 2013 at 2:19 pm | #

This is wonderful. U have cabinet envy. You were lucky that he still had it. Obviously it belonged with you and your appreciation for it would make the gentleman very happy. I’m sentimental so I’d keep the old tags.

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- Pam Fairchild
  
  March 19, 2013 at 2:21 pm | #
  
  I meant I have cabinet envy. LOL
  
  Reply
basementgal

March 19, 2013 at 11:05 am | #

I am so envious you can not imagine. It’s like a whole studio worth of stuff in one place (well not really a whole studio). It’s cleaned up really well. I’m now on the look out for one of my own but I doubt I’ll ever find one at the right price.

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