Creative in Chicago: a decorating blog

A Year of Teenage Art

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:56:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

Chicago teen recently brought home the results of the art classes she has taken over the last year. She has had great instruction, lapping it all up, and has created pieces in different mediums... here are just a few.

I can almost smell these lemons painted in acrylics

This surreal composition was done in colored pencil, I love the vibrancy of the escaping parrot.

and finally a self portrait in pencil

During the year her work was featured in two separate art shows...I am a proud mama!

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Contemporary Circle Fabric Collection

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 20:55:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

Buying and selling houses is such hard work. Just four weeks after the sale of the sibling house and after many, many hours trawling through realtor.com, I was faced with oodles of paperwork and administrative tasks to purchase another abode. We closed on the property last week and the furniture which got hurriedly put into storage is being delivered today. Phew!

So I have had hardly any time for "creative therapy" but I seem to reap the rewards of a break, as when I do get going again, ideas just fly out of me.

I have been dabbling with the idea of designing fabrics for a while now and thought I'd give SpoonFlower a whirl. It is a website where you can upload your own designs and have them printed as fabric, wallpaper, decals and even gift wrap.

So I have been working on a collection I've called "Contemporary Circles"

Here is one of my designs turned into gift wrap

and another as wallpaper

I want to come up with some better names than just green circles or random circles ...I and happy with the naming of Frog Spawn and hard boiled eggs though!

Through my Spoon Flower account I get a store front

...my designs are not quite ready to sell as I need to order proofs to check out the colors/repeat etc but I plan to have this rolling soon.

I'd love to know what you think or if you have any ideas for fabric names.

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Purple Allium Explosion

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Fri, 24 May 2013 21:13:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

It will be the third summer I have tended your garden and I am at last seeing the results of my labors.Your garden had great bones when we moved in with a lot of boxwood and yew hedges, and while they are a pain to clip, they do give the garden great structure. However there was an almost complete lack of any color from perennials (apart from a single patch of peonies - see how I split these up and propagated them around the garden)

But things are looking quite different now. This week there has been an allium explosion.

I'd actually forgotten I'd planted these as I mixed them up with tulip bulbs I planted in the fall. My tulips are gone but the same bed is now filled with these beauties

They are a spectacular bloom and I felt compeled to lie down on my front lawn so I could shoot them from below against a fantastic blue Chicago sky. I am sure my neighbors think "that English lady in the brick house is a little odd". No harm in giving them a little fuel.

ohh and there are some pretty bleeding hearts too ...

What's happening in your garden?

Love from

Creative in Chicago
XX

Three Easy Tips for Combing Fabrics

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:30:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

I have just made some new throw pillows covers for the sofa in your sun room, don't they make you want to sit down and have a good laze with a cool drink in your hand.

I spent ages in Jo-Ans picking out the fabric and I am really pleased with the way the fabrics compliment each other so today I thought I'd share with you a few easy tips for combing fabric.

Color Palette

Home in on a common color

Fabrics with a common color work well together. To see each of the colors that are used in your fabric take a look at the color key printed right at the edge of your cloth. My fabrics shared very similar greens (No 3)

Pattern Scale

Vary pattern scale

Combing fabrics with a similarly scaled patterns is a bit dull, nothing pops and the result is flat. The effect of a large scale pattern like that on the left pillow above is enhanced when it is combined with a more subtle smaller pattern...like the simple stripe.

Pattern Design

Look for a common design element.

Both of my fabrics have a vertical line component - on the stripy one it is obvious and if you look at the other fabric there lots of shorter vertical lines. This design element serves to really unites the fabrics without being matchy matchy.

When sewing these covers I added zips so they can easy be changed out/washed etc. Tutorial on that coming soon.

Love from

Creative In Chicago

XX

Blossom Art

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:45:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

It is snowing in my garden today ... snowing blossom that is....but hey in Chicago you never know.

I couldn't help myself, I collected some fallen petals and used them as my medium for creating a piece of art...albeit a piece of temporary art.

I took a shabby old terracotta pot, plugged the hole in the bottom with duct tape, filled the pot with water and then floated my petals on top. I picked a shabby dirty pot because I wanted to play off the purity of the petals.

Voila!

I don't like to toot my horn but at high resolution these photos were amazing and I am seriously considering using them to create some more wall art.

Of course it won't be the first time I have created pieces from usual objects, I built an orb from driftwood and framed sea glass

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Free Blooms

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Wed, 15 May 2013 02:31:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

1 pair of secateurs + 2 minute walk around the garden = Beautiful jug of free blooms.

This lovely little spray are simply boughs of blossom and they smell divine. I love the simplicity of just plonking whatever I cut into a simple white jug. I am a lazy flower arranger!

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Spring Color: Tulips in Action

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Tue, 07 May 2013 21:11:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

When I left last week to pack up and supervise the move of the sibling house, Chicago was still rather cold and decidedly lacking on the spring front. St Louis on the other hand was warm and really very summery ... a welcome change from the Windy City.

However on my returned I was thrilled to see Spring has indeed sprung and was greeted with a garden full of color. Yippee, the hours I had spent on my knees, planting bulbs in the fall, had paid off!

I really love dabbling in the garden, it is creating on a completely different level...but you have to be so patient to see your results and keep your fingers crossed that your effort does not become a "banquet buffet" for deer or other garden pests.

So before anything got munched I rushed into the garden with my camera and took a few snaps. I love these tulips

and these pansies were grown from seed last year...and have spent the entire winter outdoors. I am amazed they survived.

What's happening in your garden?

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Bye Bye Sibling Townhouse

noreply@blogger.com (Chicago Web Designer) — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:57:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

The sale of our lovely St Louis townhouse, which we called "The Sibling" (you are our main house after all) went through today. It was on the market for only 30 days and bought by the first people who looked at it ...it really was a lovely house and so much fun to decorate. I won't bore you with why we sold it.

I used a mood board to put together the look for the living room

created a serene beachy feel family room

Gave the master bedroom a more personal touch

Chicago teen wanted a day-glo orange bedroom so seeing as you are only 15 once I obliged. Put your sunglasses on for this

It only had a weeny kitchen but take a look at those goreous wood floors.

We are going to miss you sibling!

Anyone else give their house a name or am I a nutter?

Love

Creative in Chicago

XX

A Free Printable Greetings Card: Abstract Triangles

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 20:01:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

I had a sudden desire to create a graphic with triangles this week and after 20 minutes on Adobe Illustrator I had designed this.

It is the sort of thing I love to let my eye wander over, it has a 3D quality that can be viewed in many different ways.

Because I designed it as a vector I am able to scale it up and down without any loss in quality and am considering creating a great big canvas to hang on the wall.

In the mean time I used it to created another free card you can download ( CLICK HERE)

Print it on a thick card stock using your desktop printer and you have a card you can send to anyone, male, female, young or old.

If you download it please let me know by commenting on this post!

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Cupcake Frosting for a Rainy Day

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:36:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

Was it too much to ask that your basement stay bone dry after 3" of rain in a 24hr period? At least it was only a small puddle that was easily dried up with an a couple of old tea towels ...but still!

Chicago teenager likes to bake, especially when it is raining so last night she trashed the kitchen ( really!) and whipped up a really yummy batch of cup cakes complete with a rather unique frosting.

Don't they look sumptuous!

The frosting recipe was from a baking recipe book that belonged to my Welsh granny and was titled "American Frosting"

Well, having lived in the USA for over 17 years and eaten many cakes in that time, I can truly say that I have never come across this taste or texture before. It was a cross between meringue and marshmallow and lets just say there aren't as many cakes on the platter now as in the photo.

So I thought I'd share the frosting recipe with you

Ingredients

1 egg white
4 tablespoons water
few drops of vailla essence
1 cup (or 8 oz) of sugar

Put the water and sugar into a sauce pan and heat on low until the sugar is dissolved and reaches a temperature of 240 def F. This takes about 5 minutes. Whisk the egg white until it is very stiff then gradually add the hot syrup whisking all the time. Whisk until the frosting is thick and creamy, this takes about 5 minutes.

Spread immediately as the frosting sets very quickly

Enjoy

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Abstract Art and Photoshop Filters: Arty Farty Friday #35

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:33:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

The abstract pencil art I shared with you last week actually got finished and just in time for Arty Farty Friday today.

I am really quite pleased how it turned out but dabbled a little further in Photoshop to create three additional looks from the original piece.

To create this one I used the glass filter

This one was generated using the stained glass filter

and on this one I went a bit crazy with the liquify function.

Which one is your favorite?

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

An Hour with my Box of Pencils

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:32:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

It has been a crazy month for all sorts of reasons too boring to go into here but there is nothing like a bit of creative indulgence to help me unwind.

I was searching online a few days ago looking for a picture of an octopus... I had a sudden desire to draw one (yes I know I am weird but my days have been filled with tricky coding and I wanted to soothe my mind with something visual). I never did find an octopus I liked but instead found an interesting approach to creating some abstract art. (details here)

So I plonked myself down in the sun room with my sketch book and a box of Inktense pencils and enjoyed a delicious hour of creativity.

As you can see I I am not quite finished yet and I don't think I will be in time for Arty Farty Friday.

Chicago teenager joined me in the sunroom, but her form of relaxation is a little different from mine. Oh to be that supple!

What you been up to lately?

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

12" of snow and I have flowers in my garden

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 01:09:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

I am trying to cheer on Spring but an 8" snowfall yesterday has rather put a dampers on my dreams. I can't wait to get out on the garden and start dabbling with seeds and flowers.

My garden might be covered in a blanket of snow but there is one flower that can endure the Chicago winter. The beautiful Hydrangea.

It looks stunning dried

Defeats all weather odds

And flowers profusely all summer long

My favorite flower

What's yours?

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Abstract Art for a Dining Room: Arty Farty Friday #34

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 10:00:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

I am a slow decorator. I began the journey to transform my dining room quite some time ago and made good progress with some custom artwork- watercolor abstract paintings. But I only created two paintings when the walls cried out for three.

Behold, I have at last cracked open when watercolors and created a third!

Here is a little closeup

And here is the full thing

And finally framed and hung on the wall

It completes the set

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Look into my eyes.

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:51:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

Chicago teenager had some oil paints for her birthday and had a first crack at them this week.

This is her first attempt at oil painting - she painted this face from her head!

I am an impressed mama and she has not even finished the painting yet!

What do you think?

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Tissue Pom Pom Garland

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 20:53:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

So Chicago teenager has just celebrated a birthday and had a bunch of her friends around to help her celebrate.

I made tons of edible goodies - (check out the Teen party ideas pinterest board I put together for inspiration ) and Chicago teen decorated the dining room. She made this lovely tissue pom pom garland

It is such a fun little project and with a bit of patience easy to do...stay tuned I will share with you soon.

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

A Website Shake-up for Creative in Chicago

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 23:52:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

This blog has grown at such a rate that I have been having a hard time finding old posts that I have written, and if I am having a hard time it is fair to say anyone who is visiting is not having an optimal visit either.

So I have applied my professional web design skills and given this blog a navigational makeover.

I have kicked things off by reworking my navigation bar. It now contains all the post categories, configured as a drop-down function so I could fit everything it.

I also integrated a search function into the navigation bar...it used to sit rather lost and lonely in the side bar.

Lastly and have modified the home and category pages so each post is now in summary format ..making the whole blog easier to scan through.

I have a few more modification to make but in the mean time I hope you like it!

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Perfect Snow for Snowmen

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 19:29:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

The snow we had last week is almost all gone but while it was here, it really was the perfect snow for building snowmen...or in our case a beautiful "snow lady".

I am so pleased that Chicago teenager doesn't think she is too old to do this. I don't think you ever get too old to enjoy this sort of fun. Our beautiful snow lady was built on a patch of virgin snow we found while out walking in a local forest preserve and attracted quite a lot of attention from the skiers zooming around on their blades. One couple of ladies spent a good five minutes photographing it and giving Chicago teenager design tips...she was having none of it! She was so pleased with her beautiful creation she posed with it and said.. shock of all shocks.. " You can use the photograph on your blog!"

We had a fun walk and had another great photo opportunity with icicles which became fangs...I am not allowed to share that photo but I will leave you with this little gem.

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Chicago Snow

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 03:33:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

Well it seems that February is dishing us up a helping of snow and while our 8" is nothing compared to the 3' predicted on the East coast it is enough to make me grateful that we have one of these beasts.

Even with a snow blower clearing the drive is still quite a work out...but I did have enough energy left to dig my camera out of my pocket and snap a few photos.

I do like the photo opportunities offered by the white stuff.

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Fun Felt Art for a Kids Bedroom: Arty Farty Friday #33

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 12:00:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

Back when Chicago teenager was a babe in arms I was not much of a decorator but I did produce some fun artwork for her sunny yellow bedroom. It was unearthed the other day in my grand sort out of framed art lurking in the basement.

It is super easy to make and you could select any colors to match/accent your kids room decor.

What you will need

A selection of felt squares in colors of your choice
A larger piece of felt for the background - I chose black as it really made the primary colors I used pop.
Elmers glue
A pair of small sharp scissors - I think I used hair cutting scissors!
Picture frame with matting

What you do

Cut your backing felt to be a little larger than your frame matting.
Cut simple circles from your colored felt then cut them again to add petal shapes. You could make all the petals the same sort of shape or mix things up a bit as I did
With a dab of Elmers glue stick the petals in random fashion to the backing felt.
Snip small random shapes of felt in a contrasting color for the flower center. Stick on with a tiny dab of glue.
Cut out leaf shapes - I used two shades of green for this and stick down to fill in any large gaps.
Frame and hang.

I really wish I'd had photographed her bedroom, as I said it was a sunny yellow with random stencils of butterflies and flowers dotting the walls. I made curtains and all her crib bedding .. maybe I was more of a decorator than I thought! This piece of art had an accompanying larger piece .which I still have and will share with you another day.. if you look carefully at my basement haul you''l be able to spot it!

Love from

Creative in Chicago

Vegas in Photographs

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 02:39:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

I should have known that bragging about a toasty 43 deg F in my last post would backfire. Waking up to -6 deg F yesterday was ... well you know...really lovely, yeah right.

But this past weekend I was far away and enjoying 60 deg temperatures in the crazy town of Vegas. And what a mighty bizarre place it is - but a lot of fun.

It was almost a sensory overload and I had my camera at the ready.

A pair of skyline ladies!

Only in Vegas

Funky hotel corridor

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

A Cheerful Free Card to Download

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 18:58:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

I can't tell you how pleased I am we remain snow free in Chicago, at 43 deg F it almost feels spring like. So with a spring in my step I am sharing with you today another free card to download.

It is a watercolor painting I unearthed in the basement the other day and in my old house it hung my laundry room.

But I think it makes a lovely cheerful card

You can download it here or by clicking on the image below.

It is ready to roll with cut marks and fold lines, works great on a nice thick card if you can get it to feed through your printer.

If you like this then you may enjoy some of my other free downloads

For personal use only! Enjoy!

Love from

Creative in Chicago
XX

My addiction: Arty Farty Friday #32

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 17:29:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

Happy New Year and onwards and upwards with Arty Farty Friday.

But before we start I must confess...

...I have an addiction

This is just some of the framed artwork that I am currently sorting through. I like to take time to hang pictures and art and this collection has everything from paint chip art (that I created years and years before it became all trendy), watercolors, oil paintings, chalk pastels, oil pastels, lino prints and photographs. My decorating style has evolved quite a bit since moving to Chicago and what worked in my last house in St Louis just doesn't seem right in here in the windy city. So I have a huge collection of un-hung art.

I am going to reworking some of those frames so I will keep you posted.

So today's Arty Farty Friday is a piece of my un-hung art ...a simple watercolor I painted a long time ago ...from a photograph I seem to remember

I'll have a few more pieces to share with you over the next few weeks.

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Any Requests? Arty Farty Friday #31

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 23:12:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

So here is my last Arty Farty Friday post of 2012, it is a series I am really enjoying so I will be continuing it in 2013. Most of the pieces I post are abstract art ... I find it really relaxing to create and today's chalk pastel creation is no exception.

But maybe in 2013 I should switch things up a bit... I love to draw faces too ...not classically beautiful flawless faces but those with character and wisdom, and I think my ink pen should be dusted off too.

Any requests?

Love from

Creative in Chicago

xx

How I relax: Arty Farty Friday #30

noreply@blogger.com (Creative in Chicago) — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 22:24:00 +0000

Dear Chicago House,

Yes I know it is Saturday but here is a little something for yesterday's Arty Farty Friday ...which I completely forgot to post.

It was 10 minutes of fun with my trusty box of chalk pastels. I think it would make pretty wrapping paper.

I can't tell you how relaxing sitting down with a blank piece of paper and a box of colored delights is. It really doesn't matter what I create, it is the act of unleashing that part of my brain and letting is wander where ever it wants.

What do you do to relax?

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX