Remember this?

Well here she is now!  With pics of my OWN kids - I know right?!  I painted it all black, and then couldn't find papers I wanted to put in the spaces, so I printed my own and worked a little modge podge magic before distressing and gluing on magnet clips!

In the picture above and also here:

you can see some of my junk stash. 

A (already black!) screen door I picked up during the town trash pick-up, adorned with the sheet music wreath I stole from above my piano ;)  In front of it is my $10 garage sale trunk (again, already black!) that holds a few of my huge fabric drops.  

The chairs on either side, haha, the one on the right was a garage sale reject - it was sitting at the curb, free, after a multi-day sale.  It's been sitting around waiting for a new life, and this was the perfect opportunity!  A coat of black spray paint and a recovered cushion (from our old dining room valance, haha!) and it's fabulous!  The other chair was an $8 thrift store find, that was a hideous putrid green vinyl.  More black paint and more old curtains and it's MUCH nicer ;)
Curtains were meant to be only drop cloth curtains but they shrunk HORRIBLY, so I cut up an old skirt and extended them.  Still now sure I love them, but they work!

Now let me show you the first wall gallery:

This is actually the FIRST thing you see when you walk into the new studio and I LOVE it!  Would you believe I had ALL of these already in my stash?  Even the window!  All got coats of black spray paint, and I used my cricut to put a beautiful saying about memories on the window (don't judge my application - still trying to figure that out!).  Aren't my clients ADORABLE?!?!?!?

On the other side of the front room is my "office area" - consisting of a row of cabinets (this used to house a coffee bar type area!  haha!) with lots of much needed storage, in addition to another wall gallery made of an 8-paned window and, you guessed it, more black spray paint!

There's my logo courtesy of Cricut and black vinyl!  wahoo!  Did you notice the lamp?  It's made out of a light stand that I don't use and a lamp kit - wahlah!

The next room is the shooting room.  Everything in here does double duty :)  First, the obvious shooting area:

This has already changed - that wall (under the papers) is now adorned with 100+ year old tin ceiling tile (droooooooooool).  It's FABULOUS!

Across the room is:

My ugly brown couch (but oh so comfy!) got a new (nearly no-sew) slipcover out of drop cloths (yay!) and combined with my fabulous old doors from a 1915 house, they make a great place to photograph families!

And then there's the console........this this is HEAVY........and was super ugly in it's 1970's (?) orangish veneer glory.  Nothing a nice few coats of black spray paint can't handle, and some roughing up with the sander!  Combined with MORE frames from my stash and I LOVE it - I had a newborn baby boy on there last week - yummy!

And last but not least, are my outside signs:

A couple of 1x12s and 1x4s fit perfectly to use the white glue crackle technique.  I used my cricut to cut me a stencil of my logo and tadah!

And here is my front door signage:

I cut the white out of "permanent" outdoor vinyl and placed it on the outside, then took a sheet of regular black vinyl and put it on the inside of the door.  I love it and it's worn GREAT!

Well, I think I've overwhelmed you enough with all this post after such a long break!  hehe...........I do have more - but it'll have to wait!

I HAVE actually been keeping up with DOING the weekly challenge, I just haven't been quite as good about blogging about them.

I grabbed a 3-ring-binder I had already and dressed it up with some white vinyl I cut with my trusty Cricut :)  Inside holds a ton of information and some forms that I'm trying out to see which ones best fit our needs :)

We actually have 3 spaces to our launch pad, all within about 2 steps of each other.

The first is this cabinet that I found at a garage sale last summer.  Inside the doors is a huge basket that holds all of our scarves, gloves, hats, baseball gloves, etc.  I'm still looking for the perfect baskets for the shelf underneath.

Second is the antique 5 paneled door that I hung sideways and attached 5 vintage door knobs and plates to.  Each family member has their own knob to hang their coat on, and there's a bench underneath to sit and take off snow pants, boots, etc.

And lastly is the paper station.  This crib spring holds work schedules, important school notes, lunch menus, etc., and magazines and misc papers go in the basket to be sorted.  This bench is also where I set my purse - it's out of the way but still accessible.

I'm still working on Week #3 (this week) so stay tuned!

Donna @ Funky Junk Interiors and Marian (Miss Mustard Seed) @ Mustard Seed Creations are hosting a "Copy Me" Challenge & Linky Party in honor them each hitting 4,000 followers!  Just mimic their style, post it up, and link to their celebration/party post!

First up for me, Funky Junk............since I crave many of the same things as Donna (rust, wood, junk ;) ) this was easy peasy!  When my end table in the living room busted awhile back, I knew exactly what I would do - and I instantly thought of Miss FJI! 

I bought 7 or 8 wooden crates at a sale last fall and they've been sitting in the garage waiting for me to get inspired ;)  I grabbed the two heftiest ones, flipped them upside down and WAHLAH!

The crate on the bottom was a milk crate, from Lucerne, with beautiful metal edges.

The top is an old (very worn) Pepsi crate.  Look at all of that wear and tear and use, gorgeous!

Up top rests a lamp, a galvanized something-or-other (?), and a thrift store frame with a V-day printable - just a touch of the holiday :)

Inside the galvanized something-or-other rests 2 old milk jars and 2 old canning jars (complete with zinc lids).  In this shot you can see more of the chippy, well loved paint of the old screen door that rests behind (it has one of those old metal "turn me" door bells and it works!  Great until the 4 year old rediscovers it!).  I left the screen in the door and hung a grapevine wreath from the chain at the top.

Let's drool take another look at the awesome texture and age in this vignette...........

Does that not just SCREAM FJI???  

Yup, I thought so too :)

Now to work on Miss Mustard Seed...........stay tuned!

I'm linking this post up to Funky Junk's Copy Me Linky Partay!