DESIGN SHARE

High Style in Low Places: Rugs @ HomeGoods

2012-03-20T17:25:00.000-07:00

I go to HomeGoods a lot. They are my go-to source for interesting items to stage a tabletop vignette or for cool mirrors, bedding and bathroom stuff. The one thing I never really did shop there for were rugs. I would always check out the rugs and be disappointed to find some pretty tacky or downright ugly examples. I am happy to report, on my recent trip there, I spied some beautiful, colorful and on-trend rugs that were well priced. To wit:

I was drooling over both of these rugs! They are 8x10, thick wool pile and GORGEOUS!! And at $399, not totally out of range. Right on par with all the Ikat prints I've been seeing.

There were several flat weave rugs with Suzani patterns that were only $49.99 for a 5x8

And while not usually one to gravitate to animal prints, I really liked these two, of the same print, in different colorways. Again, thick wool pile, 5x8 and $199 each.

I really wish I needed a new rug right now! Does anyone switch out rugs as if they were throw pillows?! I might start doing that.....

Thanks for stopping by

Goodwill Goods::Objet d'art

2012-03-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

Over the past six months or so, I have amassed quite a treasure trove of interesting objects from Goodwill. I am going to start a new series to share them all with you; Goodwill Goods. I will share the object, how much I paid for it, how I changed it to fit my design (or not) and how I'm using it now. Here is the first of the series.........

Found this way cool acrylic 'block' for only $1.99

What caught my eye was the shape and heft of it. It's about two inches thick.

I really liked that it was clear, but the acrylic had a few noticeable scratches on one side, so I decided to add pattern to that side to camouflage the scratches.

Found this funky paper...

Whipped out the Mod Podge...

Et voila!

I use this in many of the small tabletop vignettes I have around and it always adds a dose of geometry, color, pattern and interest.

Stay tuned for more Goodwill Goods!

A Nice Surprise

2012-02-18T17:22:00.000-08:00

While checking my stats on the blog today, I noticed a lot of traffic coming from....HGTV?! So I clicked over and sure enough, there was a link to one of my projects on the HGTV Canada blog page!! I know HGTV produces a lot of their shows in Canada, but I didn't know they had a different website than the one seen here. A big shout out to our neighbors in the Great White North!

Go Here, scroll down and click the link that says 'Floor Mat/Rug alternative' to revisit my floorcloth ideas. I honestly had NO idea, when I wrote that post, that it would garner the kind of attention it has received, but I'm gonna keep riding this wave as long as I can!! Maybe HGTV stateside will be next? Who knows....anything is possible! Have a great weekend.

Valentine Cuties

2012-02-14T12:51:00.000-08:00

Pink.

Ah, the color of love....the first blush of romance. I've written about my love for pink here and here. But this year, I'm doing Tangerine for Valentines Day. Literally.

Instead of the usual chocolate, my loved ones are getting these Cuties. They came right out of the bag with these stickers already on them, so I'm going with it!

Oh, all right, I'll throw in some chocolates, too!

And just so I don't completely slight the face of tradition, here are a few images of pink. Enjoy and Happy Valentines Day!

seen here

seen here (different holiday, but would work for Valentines Day also!)

seen here

will be posting about this stool makeover soon!

P.S. As I'm writing this, it's snowing in Tucson, AZ.!

Have a Seat

2012-02-08T13:35:00.000-08:00

I recently 'inherited' this vintage curved settee from a neighbor. It was sitting in her driveway waiting to be picked up for donation, so I asked if I could have it, and she said yes!

This sucker is heavy and solid as a rock! The upholstery has seen better days, but even so is still in pretty good shape for it's age. I will definitely take the skirt off to modernize it and instead of re-upholstering completely, I think I'll do a slipcover. This piece is exceptionally well made from a furniture company out of Pasadena, CA ( I lived in Pasadena when I was first married and our son was born there!)

Another reason I want to do a slip cover as opposed to re-upholstering is because of the filling.......

It says Cattletail and Hog Hair! I don't even know any furniture company that uses cattletail and hog hair stuffing anymore! Of course, I am aware of the Hastens horse hair filled mattresses which cost an arm and a leg......Anyway, I can see potential for a huge mess in trying to open up the cushions for reupholstering, so that's why I'm slip-covering instead.

I think I want to go in this direction....

A bold, graphic print combined with the retro shape could be really cool. Or maybe an airier and curvy print would work better........

Via West Elm

Yea, I think I really like the paisley print. What do you think?

A rough draft

Well, it looks like I have my work cut out for me...........

Wish me luck!

A few cool things......

2012-02-06T13:14:00.000-08:00

I saw a few neat-o items while checking out a local second hand shop.

First up, there was an entire case of genuine Lab Glass beakers, bottles, vials and decanters. I LOVE the industrial look of lab glass.

There had to be over 100 pieces of lab glass in all different shapes and sizes. I imagined making some kind of wacky cool chandelier out of the bulb shaped ones......

sorry it's blurry, it says $14.95

.....but this was the least expensive one and I would need a lot of them to make a wacky cool chandelier, so had to scrap that idea. Fun to look at, though.

Next, I saw a beautiful Czecho-Slovakian lusterware snack/tea set. It was only $30 and in great condition. I didn't purchase it, but now wish I had.

It was a set of eight tea cups with plates in a beautiful orange and yellow combination with a touch of gold around the rims. Really cool set.

The luster was soooo pretty! Pure swirly iridescent goodness.

This was the makers mark on the back. I had never heard of P.A.L.T. before. After a quick google search, I learned this set did have some value higher than the $30 price tag it carried. Not sure of the production date, but obviously made prior to the 1993 split of the two republics. Still kicking myself I didn't buy it........

So, wound up walking out empty handed, but richer for having seen these cool items. You just never know when or where you'll find an idea.

What have you seen out and about lately?

Thanks for visiting today!

Come on Over.........

2012-01-30T07:27:00.000-08:00

Good Morning Everybody! Today I'm a guest blogger over at 'Or so she says' a great blog featuring ideas, tips, tricks, tutorials, recipes and more, by women, for women and about women (but I'm sure men will enjoy it too!) They are featuring my post on floorcloths, so go check it out, and while you're there browse around a bit.....there are some yummy sounding recipes! Hope to see you there and a huge thanks to Mariel for the feature!

xoxo,

Hi-Low Highball

2012-01-24T12:52:00.000-08:00

So, we've all seen some version of the High Low Project where designers try to re-create a high end look using products that appear very similar, if not identical to their more expensive counterparts. I love trying to recreate an expensive look on a limited budget and even if cost wasn't an issue, I think trying to get a 'look for less' forces creative thinking. Some of my very best ideas have come from not having a large budget! Even if you can't make it yourself, there is always a less costly alternative on the market. Take for instance these glasses from Nason&Moretti out of Murano, Italy.

Available Here

Gorgeous, right? They better be @ a set of 12 for $1,140. Okay, they *are* Murano mouth blown crystal, but I would probably be afraid to drink out of them for fear of having to wash them...by hand... and dropping them from my slippery, wet, soapy hands to shatter into pieces. $95 bucks down the drain. Now, if I knew how to blow glass, I would attempt to make these myself, but since that is not the case, I get my drinking glasses from other sources.

I've had a long standing tradition to buy only one or two glasses at a time, creating a mismatched collection that are all alike in the fact that they are all different. I usually get mine at places like Homegoods, Ross, Pier one and World Market. In fact, I recently picked up a pair at Pier One on sale. They were originally $7.....

Good....

Better....

Best!

Only $1.68 each and in case you don't have a calculator handy, that's a savings of $93.32 per glass over the Murano tumbler set! Wowza...I could buy 678 of these for the same $1,140!!! But of course what would I do with 678 glasses?! Hmmm....I *could* start that party planning/decorating business I've been thinking about........food for thought.

Here are a couple of shots of my collection of drinking glasses me and my kids use every day, not one of which I paid more than $3.99 for at any one of the stores mentioned above.

I find them to be just as beautiful and ever more usable than their Hi-Ball cousins.

So just remember, you CAN have it all....for less! Now I'm off to find a glass-blowing class...

Cheers!

Conspicuous Style

2012-01-23T12:52:00.000-08:00

A big 'ol shout out to Stacy of Conspicuous Style! Stacy was recently featured as a guest on The Enchanted Home and in addition to showcasing her own amazing style, she did a roundup of some of her favorite ideas from other bloggers, one of which was my Tablecloth becomes Floorcloth project. She even called it one of her all-time favorites! That is quite the compliment coming from Stacy who has crazy gorgeous, glamorous and impeccable style. And wasn't it so sweet of her to include other bloggers in her guest post? It was her spotlight and she chose to share it with others....Conspicuously awesome. Thanks Stacy!

Please Pardon our Mess During Construction

2012-01-17T13:17:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I haven't posted in almost an entire month and while I have enjoyed the unannounced break, I do feel a certain urge to get back in the saddle. I did not intentionally take a break, but life got in the way, ya know? I had been house-sitting for a friend for the past six months -- not an easy feat with kids in tow...'don't touch that!' 'that's not ours!' 'leave that alone!'--but it was time for the homeowner to return from her contract position in another state, so we had to find new digs by Christmas!

We all know Christmas is such a busy time of year anyway, but add moving in to the mix and you have almost certain multi-tasking overload! Needless to say, moving is NEVER fun, but the promise of having our own space again was a key motivational factor. It meant we could finally get our stuff out of storage and it would be like a double-whammy Christmas! All the excitement of presents under the tree AND unpacking boxes of all the stuff from our old house, well it seemed like a win-win!

We got all the paperwork in order, put down a deposit, signed the lease and we were in the door on Dec. 20th, with just a few days to spare before Christmas. The kids were thrilled to unpack their boxes and the house was filled with shouts of happiness at a toy or book being re-discovered. It was great, if also completely chaotic, stressful, nerve wracking and exhausting. It is no wonder then, that on Christmas Eve I became violently ill with a stomach flu!! My daughter got the same flu two days later....and my son, two days after her. It was a whole lot of puking and it wasn't pretty! We all got over that...luckily it wasn't long lasting, just gross....school started back up and the schedule normalized a bit. I started arranging furniture, hanging pictures and unpacking boxes which takes up a lot of time apparently because I wasn't getting much else done: laundry, eating properly, blogging......you know, all the basics. Then, just for fun, I decided to get Strep Throat. Ay carumba, it hurt! I became a handwashing fiend in my determination to not. let. my. kids. get. strep! One round of Amoxicillin later and all is well.

So all this to say, I have a good excuse for the hiatus, but I'm back now and as I'm still getting settled in and trying to make order out of this chaos (!) I may not post as frequently as I would like, but I will get back into the swing of things very soon and I do want to thank each and every one of you for your comments and encouragement. It simply makes my day when I get a nice comment from a reader or gain a new follower. I have some pretty cool projects to show you coming up, so don't forget to check back! Meanwhile, here are a few shots of my new place in progress...or lack of.

Everything just got thrown into the room as it came off the storage pod.

This is every single pillow insert and piece of foam in my arsenal. My kids entertained themselves all afternoon jumping headfirst into the pile! It doesn't look like it in this photo, but the pile was about 5 feet high.

More chaos....yes that's faded paint on the walls and yes it's salmon pink! But I have the go ahead to paint, so that will happen soon.

The living room is pretty big so there will be the chance to arrange several seating groups. These walls are pale ballerina pink which oddly doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. The homeowners really liked pink! It's one of my favorite colors too, when it's done right.

The first thing I hung on the walls was this group of mirrors....I like the direction it's going....and again, the pale pink might grow on me.

See you soon....

Quick, Cheap & Easy!

2011-12-20T16:18:00.000-08:00

It's the trifecta of DIY projects and at this time of year, aren't we all looking for quick, cheap and easy solutions to holiday decorating? I am not in my own space right now and in fact will be moving over the Christmas break, so my decorating has been bare bones minimum. We do have a tree (artificial) which my daughter convinced me to buy. Goodwill was having their yearly 50% off every item in the store sale, so the tree cost only 12 bucks! Since all my ornaments and other Christmas accoutrements are in storage, I had to decorate the tree using found objects, second hand ornaments and a garland I made using craft paper sheets, a craft punch, fishing line and hot glue. I really like the way the garland turned out and it would be a great to make for other occasions as well. It went really quick, was very cheap and couldn't be easier, so I wanted to share with you guys. Most of you will have already done your decorating, but this could be a last minute bit of bling to add to your tree, banister garland, mantle decoration or wherever!

Found these great prismatic and glitter paper packs at Target in their scrapbook section, only .99 cents for a two pack. Cost so far: $2.97

Using a craft paper punch in a fluted edge pattern, I punched out dozens of disks in all three colors of paper I had. Paper punch was on sale for $7.00

Then using fishing line and a hot glue gun, I glued the disks on in a random color pattern. Since garland tends to twist and turn, I made the disks double sided which also gave the fishing line a place to be glued in. A disk of paper right side down, a dollop of hot glue, the fishing line run through the hot glue and another paper disk, right side up, on top. Easy and it goes really fast when you make an assembly line. I made about 30 feet of garland in less than an hour. Fishing line was $2.99 and I have hundreds of feet left for other projects.

All the other ornaments were either from the thrift store or stuff I had around already. Another r e e e l l y easy thing I did was throw some mini glass ornaments in a hammered silver bowl I got at Goodwill for $2.99 The mini ornaments cost more than the bowl at $5.99 for a pack of 50! Rocket Science? No. Beautiful? Yes!

LOVE the way it gleams and the bowl reflects the ornaments, doubling the sparkle! So, just a few quick, cheap and easy tricks I used to brighten up my holiday. Here's to ho ho hoping your holidays sparkle and shine!

West Elm Wish List

2011-12-15T15:13:00.000-08:00

Wanna win $5,000 worth of products from West Elm? As if anyone would say no! Well, get over to their site, start a wish list and you are automatically entered! Check it out here. It's so fun to pretend to be shopping for all new stuff to make a gorgeous home and the chance to win some of it is even better! But hurry....it ends December 31st.

Here are a couple of things I added to my wish list, in case anyone wants to indulge me :-)

here

These are just a *few* items I loved from West Elm. What would you wish for?

Holy WHAT!??!

2011-12-10T09:37:00.000-08:00

NOOOOO.....!!!!!! This makes me very sad and confused :-(
Word is, The Nate Berkus show is to be cancelled......BOOO! You can read the whole story here

Via

The whole reason I started this blog was after going on the Nate Berkus Show a year ago last November and meeting some great people who had blogs. I really didn't know about the whole world of design blogs until I dove in and got started with my own, after being inspired by the people I met and of course, Mr. Berkus himself.

I had sooo much fun and Nate was so friendly and cute!

Well, Nate, we will miss you, but I'm really hoping this is just a bad hoax.

We love you, Nate!!

xoxox

Big.........

2011-12-07T17:55:00.000-08:00

.............Bold::Beautiful::Billowy::Bountiful::Blustery::Blythe::Buoyant::Boisterous

Driving West on the I-10 between New Mexico and Arizona, I enjoyed the scenery ;-)

Seen any good sights lately? Please share!

Giving Thanks

2011-11-24T11:39:00.000-08:00

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

For flowers that bloom about our feet;
For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;
For song of bird, and hum of bee;
For all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee!
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

My Craigslist Affair: Deal O' the Day

2011-11-17T22:43:00.000-08:00

Oh Craigslist, as if I even need to explain my affection for you....you lure me in with your one liners "Vintage look Mirror with hooks & shelf" or "Vintage Wooden Folding Garden Table Shabby Green Old" and then you make me laugh with your charming typos and cross cultural language phonetics. It is so cute when you say "Dinning Table" and when you let me know if something is in "good conditions."

My love, just recently you gave me two of these lamps and I only paid $30 for the pair....

You are so generous to provide two and they could have easily cost double that EACH. You also show how much you care by the quality of these lamps; No breakable glass or lightweight metal here, these are heavy, solid chrome and could be used as a weapon in the event you are not around to defend me. You knew I wasn't a fan of the black shades, but you encouraged me to try them anyway and explained I could easily change them out later...you are so positive like that! Finally, you proved to me you were really listening to my desires...you obviously realized how much I love shiny silver objects like I wrote about here and here, and these beautiful lamps combine my love of impractical decoration with a more useful purpose. Oh Craigslist, how I love you. Please, let's go on like this forever......

xox,

Does True Love Exist?

2011-11-11T17:07:00.000-08:00

Many times while shopping for clothing for my daughter, I become envious of the cute styles and colors and have frequently lamented "Why doesn't this come in grown up sizes?!" The girl has a pretty rockin' wardrobe all in all, but my absolute favorite has to be this T-Shirt:

Like I said, I admire many pieces of clothing in her closet, but something about this T just really captured my eye. I love how it's a little bit Rock-N-Roll and a little bit Princess; Throw in some sparkly studs and I'm sold!

So when she grew out of this and couldn't wear it anymore, I couldn't bear to let it go. I just kept it in her drawer and there it sat...and sat....and sat. I decided to find something useful to do with it, but what to do with a size 6 girls T shirt? I had seen some people make pillows out of old t-shirts, but usually in grown up sizes so there was plenty of material to work with. This shirt wasn't big enough for a whole pillow. Hmmmm.....but maybe it could become *part* of a pillow? Yes! I decided that's what I would do.

I looked in my fabric remnants and thought these two would work with each other and with the colors on the T-Shirt. I didn't have enough of either one to make a whole pillow front and back and I like the way they juxtapose each other; Playful zebra stripes and a classic brocade, just like the t-shirt: rock-n-roll meets princess! Actually, I didn't even have enough of the brocade to make an 18" width, so I had to seam two pieces together.

I decided to use this for the front, since my plan was to cut out the front portion of the T-Shirt with the design on it and stitch it to the fabric that would form the pillow. So, most of the seam would be covered anyway, and it doesn't even bother me that the pattern doesn't match up.

It was difficult, but for a better cause, so I cut the design portion of the T into a 'square'....sorta.

All pinned and ready to stitch on. At first I tried to turn the edge under for a clean look, but that was easier said than done and so I opted for a raw edge on the T_Shirt fabric.

Sewn on and a little bit crooked, but nothing a little trim won't fix! I used the zebra print for the back and did a really simple envelope closure.

And here is the *almost* finished pillow. I plan to add some loopy fringe trim to the edge of the pink. Maybe something like this?

Or if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

As to the question of whether true love exists, I can only say it's different for everyone, but I do truly love this pillow and it reminds me of my daughter every time I look at it.....and that is true love indeed!

Sharing Here:

Apartment Therapy Room for Color Contest

2011-11-03T23:04:00.000-07:00

Going on right now over at Apartment Therapy is a fun contest sponsored by Farrow and Ball, *the* preferred paint brand of many designers. Readers submit rooms with color, (or lack thereof) and people vote on their favorites. There will be four division winners, based on region; North, South, East and West, one International winner and one overall Grand Prize winner. Prizes are $1,000 towards Farrow and Ball products, including some of their gorgeous wallpapers, for each division winner, PLUS two Eames molded chairs for the Grand Prize winner. I submitted my entry last week and got this e-mail a few days later:

I figured this was the only way I would ever have a chance to try some of Farrow and Balls legendary paints as I am usually an 'oops' paint or Walmart paint center consumer! Head on over to Apartment Therapy to see all the submissions...there is a ton of color inspiration there. While you're at it, vote on a favorite...I would love it if it was mine, but if not, there are plenty of rooms to choose from and you won't be disappointed!

Fish Scales and Candy

2011-10-28T22:22:00.000-07:00

Whew! Starting around this time of year it just seems like go go go go go, doesn't it? Well, in between a two part birthday party at two different locations and a trunk-or-treat extravaganza, I just have time to show you the Halloween costume I made for my daughter this year! There are two little known facts about me: #1- I used to work in costume design and #2- I am a licensed aesthetician (skin care/makeup artist) in the state of California since I was sixteen years old. These two things serve me well this time of year, and Halloween has long been a favorite simply because it's an excuse to let my inner drag queen out! I know ya'll know what I'm talking about...we all have that campy, feather boa wearin' side we gotta express every once in a while! Well this year I let her out vicariously, in the form of a mermaid, through my daughter. I wasn't much in the mood to make myself a costume, but I had a lot of fun making this one!

My daughter has been watching "H2O: Just Add Water" about three girls who are magically transformed into mermaids via the 'moon pool' and has been obsessed with all things mermaid ever since. Of *course* she chose to be a mermaid for Halloween! I checked the fabric stores for a costume pattern, but didn't see anything I really liked. I'm not much of a pattern follower anyway, so instead used a method I like to call 'hack and slice' to piece together a tail and fins. I Picked up some shiny blue and green fabric that was something between a vinyl and a lame, some iridescent pailette trim, shells, glitter paint and a foam crown.

Now I had to figure out a way to put it all together. This is the fun part!

The crown was the wrong color, but not to worry...glitter paint to the rescue! It was also too tall and 'princess' looking, so I cut it down to smaller points. Then I hot glued shells all over it.

This is what it looked like after many coats of glitter paint.

Next, the tail. The construction was easy, basically just a tube that tapers to a 'V' between the ankles and then heavily gathered fabric inset into the sides. A little elastic at the waist holds it up.

So far, so good, but it was looking a little plain to me. Mermaids *must* shimmer after all!

Out came the puff paint to make some scales. I used glow in the dark blue! I also used puff paint to make lines on the fins, like a real fish tail would look.

And this is what it looked like so far.....I liked it, but still not enough. So........

........I painted some more on the fins. I liked where it was going, but needed some sparkle.

I layered and layered and layered glitter paint in green and blue, to get a good fade from blue to green to yellow. Wish you could see how much this glistens in the light!

Finally, we were ready to pair the costume with the makeup and this really is my favorite part! I have been accused of being willing to paint just about anything, my children included! I can't argue.......

This was a test run of some makeup. It was my daughters idea to put the jewels on her eyelids....I wanted to put them over her eyebrows, but this works. After some final color tweaking, this is what I came up with:

The top was another tube of fabric, ruched at the sides, with a cowl neck that I cinched up and pulled around her shoulders. At that point the whole shell-bra-mermaid cliche seemed to, well, cliche. She begged me to let her show her belly. NO WAY!

I LOVE IT!! SHE LOVES IT!! I was secretly a little jealous that I can no longer pull this off.......well there is always next year. Thanks for visiting, have a safe Halloween!

A Time Warp and an Artist Crush

2011-10-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

Holy Hibiscus Batman!! Has it really been three weeks since my last post?! Inconceivable! The only explanation I can offer is that I was sucked into a time-warp. What I *thought* was yesterday actually occurred 20 days ago. Come to think of it, it did seem like I was tackling a lot of different projects, among them a table makeover, a china cabinet/hutch makeover, a roadside rescue of four chairs including makeovers, back to school prep (we live in a year round school district, so we get three weeks off beginning Sept 26th).flipping through many magazines and making one fabulous Mermaid Halloween costume, all in one day, and that was the best run-on sentence I have ever concocted! Turns out it wasn't all in one day, but rather 20 days ago. Ah well, it was at least a productive time warp! Now back to real time.....

I will be back shortly with a slew of posts regarding the above mentioned time warp project-palooza, but first I wanted to share a recently re-visited artist crush I have going on. I had heard of this artist several years ago and was duly impressed with her work. While 'researching' shelter mags recently, I came across her name again and remembered how much I loved her process. Her style is so fluid, full of movement, color, shape, whimsey, exploding with energy! Enough of my blabbing, see for yourself. Behold the art of Beatriz Milhazes:

This is a screenshot of a google image search I did, and as you can see, there are hundreds of images on view there. It's exceedingly difficult to choose which might be a favorite, but it sure is a visual delight in trying!

One or two that caught my eye.....make it three!

"Batucada" 2009

"Acorde, Mamãe (Wake, Mom)" 1995

"O Moderno" 2002

You can see for yourself why I am so smitten. Alas, with price tags in the millions column, it is a love affair I will feed from afar.

Meanwhile here is something my daughter drew with the 'paint' program on my laptop:

I dig it! Perhaps it will one day fetch millions......

Thanks so much for visiting today and I would love to hear what artists inspire YOU!

Merci & Adieu Monsieur

2011-10-05T20:10:00.000-07:00

Steve Jobs 1955- 2011

You changed the world......

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” - Steve Jobs

"Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do."-Steve Jobs

Travel Well................

Flattered and Flummoxed about Floorcloths

2011-09-27T20:13:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! The flattering part: I am really happy to see people starting to try my tablecloth turned rug idea seen here. Blogging IS all about sharing ideas, getting inspiration and exploring possibilities. Here is a great example of a reader who tried this and was pleased with her results. I have even eyed the very same Anthropologie tablecloth myself.


Via Adri @ dreambookdesign.com

There are some cool round tablecloths out there and I recently bought and stenciled a plain white one to give it my own look. See that project here. Below is another example of one I made about two months ago for the kitchen. This time, I used some striped fabric and stenciled my own designs over top of the stripes.

This is part of a new product line I am conjuring up, which I will be offering for sale very soon right here on my blog!! I am excited to get this up and running!

Now for the Flummoxed part: The reader who tried this tablecloth/floorcloth idea kinda shrugged me off in giving credit for the original post. She *did* mention between parentheses ".....the lady who gave us inspiration for this..." with the word 'here' linking to my post. So she did acknowledge an inspiration source, but I would have appreciated at least mentioning the name of my blog, if not my first name (instead of 'lady') I am not trying to be snarky or mean, but I give credit where credit is due and I always hope others do the same. Am I wrong? I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt and think it was just an oversight, but .........
Let me know what you think.

As always, thanks for visiting and if you don't already, please consider following!

Mirror, Mirror

2011-09-22T12:32:00.000-07:00

Apparently this mirror had lost it's powers in telling the fairest of them all, because I found it cast off to the roadside! Maybe it told it's owner she was NOT the fairest in the land or something , because otherwise who would throw away such a nice, vintage mirror? This is some quality glass, too...I took the backing off and lifted the glass out of the frame...it's about 1/4 inch thick, which is some seriously thick, heavy mirror!

It did have a few minor issues, but nothing a little paint couldn't cure!

There are all kinds of tutorials on how to 'antique' mirror glass for that vintage look....I have even payed extra for vintage mirrors with some of the mirror finish wearing off, so when I noticed one edge of this mirror glass with some pock marks and worn finish, I secretly smiled....and quickly loaded it in my car!

This was my first attempt at resuscitation. Not the look I was going for, but those were the only colors I had at the time....the magic was still missing. I let it sit for a few days and still nothing was coming to me. Then I went and looked at Martha's new line of craft paint at Michaels and got some inspiration. She has some cool applicator bottles that you can write with, draw with, or as I chose to do, make dots with!

Now, I know I said I like that vintage, worn mirror look, but I decided to cover up the part of mirror that was worn out. Martha's paint line says ' one paint- all surfaces'... glass, wood, metal, ceramics, so I wanted to test it to see if it sticks to glass. I had a template I used for the shape and traced it onto the glass with a sharpie.

I chose a palette of blues and I used the glitter, satin and pearl finish paints in various tones. I had to do several coats of paint on the glass, but it did work!

A cute color called 'pond' was the base coat for the frame.

On a side note, can I just say how difficult it is to get a photo of a mirror, while it's laying flat on a table, without getting yourself or the camera strap in the shot?!

Starting at the outside bevel of the frame, I used glitter paint to make dots all the way around......

.........and then proceeded to make rows and rows of dots! I wanted a gradated look so used subsequently lighter and lighter shades of color....some glitter paint, some pearl paint. The shape on the glass looked rather plain, so I dotted that up too!

And voila', here is the Magic Mirror, all fixed up and ready to see the fairest in the land! I love the way it turned out!

Some things I learned regarding Martha's paints: The glitter paints tended to 'flatten' out as they dried, looking not so much like raised dots (what I intended) as flat circular shapes. Conversely, the pearl paints had excellent body and remained raised as they dried. The satin paint also has great body, thick texture and excellent coverage. If I were to do this project again, I would probably stick to the pearl paint and not use the glitter at all. It was just so enticing and...glittery, but not the best choice for this particular project. I can't wait to use it elsewhere, though! Just some things to keep in mind, in case you want to try a similar look for your projects.

Now, Mirror Mirror....DO tell, who is the fairest of them all?

Thanks for visiting and here's hoping that all your projects reflect well on you!

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10

2011-09-11T14:20:00.000-07:00

In rememberance.......

Say Wha...?

2011-09-09T14:10:00.000-07:00

So, I was writing a new post, went to upload some pictures and got this error message:

We're sorry, but you have exceeded your photo upload quota. For more information, check out this Blogger help page.

Huh? I never knew about this. Have I been under a rock? Nowhere in blogland have I read or heard anything about exceeding a photo upload limit. I realize it has to do with available space allotted for something that's basically free, but I never knew!! Can anybody out there enlighten me? Do I now have to pay to put photos up on my blog? Just wondering what every one else's experience is. Please, DO tell.....