The Creative Chameleon

Yes, it's been quite a while.. but, I'm coming back in 2012

2011-11-29T18:58:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's been over a year since I've worked on multiple projects. As we all know, LIFE is truly a balancing act, as it can pull us in many different directions. While I won't go into what's been happening in mine to cause such a long delay in doing what I love the most; I will say that I will be back in 2012. A funny thing happened to me today. I received a post from someone looking for inspiration for an upcoming event they're having. She was inspired by something I did over a year ago. What makes this "funny", is the fact that I've been contemplating getting back to creating, doing what I love to do, but was unsure if it was the right time. I believe that there are no coincidences in the universe, so I am going to take that "out of the blue post" as a sign that I am on the right track and need to get back to doing what I love the most. So, 2012, here I come...stay tuned!

Update...IT'S A BOY

2010-08-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

Here he is..... Baby Isaiah.. He weighed in at 7lbs, 19 ounces.

Look at those cheeks!! Sigh..this makes it all the more worth it!

King Of The Jungle.......It's A Boy

2010-07-18T19:48:00.000-07:00

It's a boy...It's a boy.....

Only a friend will wait until the last minute to ask you to do a baby shower...and by last minute, I mean TWO WEEKS....right in the middle of me working on the family reunion project! Of course, she didn't want just a simple shower--she wanted a theme, custom invites, unique favors, and party games too...... IN TWO WEEKS--in the middle of my other project! Oh, and did I mention that she said she was on a tight budget!!!! Ok,ok, I can't pretend that I was mad, because I wasn't. I get geeked under pressure..LOL. Don't ask... Creating events on a budget only pushes my creativity that much further.. Anyhooo, my friend hosted a baby shower for her niece, which took place at a Curves location. Although it was last minute, I made sure it came out nice. You can click on all the photos below for close-ups...

The diaper invite.....since this was so last minute, I made her sit with me and help cut out all three layers, because of course, these invites had to be in the mail in two days...sigh...

It took some time to do the hole-punching, and ribbon tying after I got the invites assembled, but once that was done, I added a few button embellishments to finish them off....then away to the mailbox they went!

Ok, so, baby shower on a budget---easy to do when you have a theme. I decided on King Of The Jungle, and used blue, orange, green, and brown as the color scheme. No time for detailed centerpieces, so gift bags, stuffed with coordinating tissue paper, along with coordinating balloons coming out of the top-did the trick just fine. I added baby confetti and gift shreds around the table to embellish. I set the tables with the napkins folded like diapers and held together by baby stickers.

The Gift and Favor Table

The Cake Table

The tablescapes, with detailed views

The Favors

The favors were a lot of fun to do. In keeping with the theme, and of course, making them cute and unique... I had my friend purchase a box of newborn diapers and then fill them with chocolates. I cut out netting that was purchased from the fabric store, laid some baby confetti inside the netting, put the diaper in the netting, wrapped the top, and tied them with coordinating ribbon.

Auntie and mommy-to-be were very happy with the results!

FINAL WORDS.....
Little details are always the perfect touch to bring it all together, no matter how big or small the budget or event. While having extra money to throw a party or special event is always desired, its not a must-have to have something turn out just as nice!

I'm exhausted because I had two projects and one still in progress- going on at the same time, and they were both on the SAME WEEKEND... My brain is currently in "creative overload"! Hope you enjoyed my latest projects.... Until my next post......I'm signing off!

What can you say.....it's F-A-M-I-L-Y........

2010-07-18T18:27:00.000-07:00

~FRIDAY NITE WELCOMING DINNER~

Phhhhheeeeewwwww.....The family reunion is complete! It was a lot of work, but it turned out great! Let's start out with Welcoming Night.....this reunion was the Glencamp-Croker Family Reunion, and the theme was "Steppin In The Name Of Love". The welcoming dinner was Friday evening, after everyone was settled into their hotel rooms and had a rest from travelling. Since the t-shirt colors for the reunion were going to be blue and khaki, I was inspired to do something with peacock feathers as the centerpiece. If you look closely at a Peacock feather, they not only have blue and khaki mixed in, but you'll also notice green, purple, and brown as well. I decided to use Caribbean blue and khaki colored sand to fill tall vases that the feathers are in. I also alternated blue, chocolate, and green table runners on each table. Each vase was placed on a large mirrored plate, with candle votives on each side.

Once the room and tables were set, it looked really nice and elegant. The colors worked great together! When the family started piling in, they were pleasantly surprised.

Each family member was given a "welcoming" box, which consisted of the reunion t-shirts, a CD, and a family connector( a spreadsheet with family contact info). Since the reunion was held here in Chicago, I thought that creating a CD, made up of steppin music, would be a nice keepsake. I added a personal touch by creating a CD cover that showed the family name "in lights" above the Chicago Theater...you know, just keeping with the theme!

T-Shirts for the women were Caribbean blue, and khaki for the men. They were nice shirts, and fit right in with the theme.

The CD covers came out pretty nice too. You can click on the photo to see a close of up of the awning. A lot of the family members loved it because it looked as of they were staring in a play on Broadway! The CD was just as much a pleasant surprise as the cover....of course I had to represent Chicago by adding some R.Kelly to start the steppin off right....then they slid into K'Jon's "On The Ocean, Maze's "Before I Let Go", Heatwaves "Love's Gonna Last", and Aretha Franklin's "Wonderful", just to name a few!

The evening was full of love, great food, some family members meeting for the first time, and some catching up on the latest with one another. It was a nice to see family coming together....just lots of love, like a reunion should be!

~SATURDAY PICNIC~

OK, what's a reunion without the picnic??? For the family's picnic, I decided to do a Carnival theme simply because it's summer time and who doesn't love the carnival! I also mapped out family games such as tug of war and potato sack racing, just to name a few! A carnival pretty much gives you cart blanche on decor, so there were lots of bright colors for me to work with. The first thing that came to mind was POPCORN!!! Don't know why I couldn't think of a more simple project for centerpieces, but that's me... Needless to say, I enlisted help after I realized I had rolled two bags of "popcorn" out of tissue paper, and it still wasn't enough! I also created centerpieces with bags full of "popcorn", attached to carnival goodie boxes, and they were all alternated on each table. I ordered coordinating table covers, and plenty of colorful bunting and carnival signs for the tent that was being set up. Even though it was in the high 80's that day, the wind was something fierce. I velcroed down all the centerpieces, and had the signs and bunting secured tightly, but mother nature is not to be messed with! It still turned out nice though. Sorry for the wind, but some of the table stuff just wouldn't stay, but you can get the gist of the theme for the day.

You can click on each photo to see the "popcorn" up close.. Phheeeewwww.. that was alot of rolling of tissue paper and glue gunning....piece by piece!!! Event detailing is gorgeous when it's all put together, but it's also alot of work--don't let anybody tell you its easy! And yes, for all my hard work in creating the "popcorn", I did in fact take a centerpiece for keepsake before ducking out early.

~SATURDAY NITE DANCE~

STEPPIN IN THE NAME OF LOVE

After setting up the picnic, and of course grabbing some of that delicious smelling BBQ- I ducked out so that I could make my final stop to pick up 30 plus balloons, and head back to the hotel to set up for the party. Once again, my mind went to a far off place for centerpieces. Of course, I'm always thinking about the theme and the purpose of the event. I decided to take some of the best Chicago Landmarks and put them on display. Since everyone was from out of town, I thought it would be only befitting to educate them on some of Chicago's greatest spots.

I had to combine the theme of the evening as well.....Soooooo, I decided to make each table a "landmark" by creating "building" as the centerpieces. Some were sitting at Navy Pier, The United Center, Sears Tower, etc... On two sides of each building, I placed a brief history of each landmark. Coming out of the buildings, there were pictures of each landmark, and heart-shaped balloons-which of course tied it all in with the theme of the reunion. You can click on and magnify to see close ups of each of the photos.

The evening was a success. I wasn't sure I'd be able to get all of the centerpieces put together in time, but one of the family members offered to help me with the set up since she was going back to the hotel at the same time. All the centerpieces were put together and the tables were set, with a little time to spare. The only thing that I didn't get to do, was place the awesome "building" shaped confetti around the table(hotel rules) :( ... but that's ok- it still turned out great! ...and yes, I took one of those centerpieces for keepsake as well!

FINAL WORDS........
They say that you're always your own worst critic, so I wasn't sure if everyone truly loved the work that I did. I think you can always see where you could have done better, or done something differently, but forget that you're the only one that can see it:) However, my concerns were at ease when many of the family members commented on how much they loved the creativity and decor. This was the first Family Reunion that I've done. It was a lot of work, and I was exhausted by the end of the reunion weekend, but it was rewarding to see an event that I'd done for the first time, turn out pretty nice:) Until my next post.......

A is for AVA

2010-06-14T18:23:00.000-07:00

As promised--A DARLING BABY GIRL........Babies are always fun to create for, especially little girls:):) I had to put a keepsake box together really quickly for baby Ava. This is one of my simpler designs, but I think it still came out pretty nice. I didn't know much about the couple, so I took my inspiration from the fabric that I used for the box itself.

The side view of the bibs...had fun making those.

This is the inside of the box top

The inside of the box

A closer look at the inside

Stay tuned, as I will soon be posting sneak previews of my Family Reunion project, as well as more babies...and even WEDDING BELLS!.....My project plate is full, but please be patient! Until my next post....

L.O.V.E My New Blog!

2010-03-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

Gotta take a second to thank Zoe from ChicSassyDesigns! She gave me exactly what I was looking for. Zoe was extremely professional and prompt with revamping my previous sad, sad, blog:) She listened to everything that I was wanting in terms of design. I was really hoping for a complete representation of myself and my creativity, and I must say that she nailed it!!! So..........

THANK YOU ZOE!!

Please check out her blogspot. She does AMAZING work!
http://www.chicsassydesigns.blogspot.com/

My next post will be coming soon.....

It's A Family Affair!

2010-03-08T17:52:00.001-08:00

I was given the task of completing a family tree drawng for my friend/coworker. It's to be a birthday present for her father. When she gave me the drawing, it was on a piece of white fabric and only had the trunk and branches of the tree drawn, with the names written on each branch. It was in pencil, and it was my job to paint the tree, and give it some life. Sooo, I tried to imagine what the end result of the tree should look like, and since it was a Family tree, I knew that it had to bloom with life! My favorite tree is the Magnolia, with it's beautiful, full blooming flowers. I'm an "earth tone" kind of girl, so mixing the paints to get the different shades of orange was quite fun. Magnolias bloom mainly in the South, so if you ever get the opportunity to see them, you'll know instantly!

Now, I'm not an artist by any means, but I don't do too bad free hand. So, I decided to extend the branches and draw in my "version" of magnolias freehand. She gave me total cart blanche, so it was easy for me to create. The only difficult part was using a spot brush to outline everything, paint the names, paint around the names in a different color, and then fill in the various areas of color where the regular brush wouldn't fit. I don't smoke, but a cigarette may have been useful after that tedious task! Nonetheless, I love the details, so it didn't bother me to sit and go over each area with the spot brush. When I was done, I had it framed for her. My only concern was if she'd like the finished product since she did give me free reign......... Well, she did! I was happy to know she loved it and was glad for the challenge. So, thank you Dana, for the challenge, and for your patience!!!

I think it came out pretty decent. What do you think? Well, until my next post......

A Breathe Of Fresh Air......

2010-02-16T19:10:00.000-08:00

I got a breathe of fresh air this evening while chatting with Dyani of Sweet Marvels (http://www.sweetmarvels.blogspot.com/). It's amazing how your "second wind" comes from the most unexpected people, places, or things; and I'm alright with that! So, as I'm getting back into the swing of things, I will be updating my posts as I complete each new project. I'm signing off. Until my next post.......

There are still nice folks in the world......

2010-01-05T21:41:00.000-08:00

I was online tonight, searching for different blog templates because I'm not completely happy with mine. Me and my BFF have a few ventures in the works, so I was searching for some stuff for us too, when I ran across a blog called www.fortyisthenew20.blogspot.com . LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT! Now, I've been searching for some time, trying to find a template that fits me and all my creative efforts, but to no avail. So, since I fell for this blog I discovered, I decided to contact the blog author to ask her about her design. Her name is Phyllis Bourne and I sent her a message via FB. I introduced myself and hoped that I would hear back. I didn't know if she created it herself or if she'd come across a template goldmine that I hadn't yet discovered. I didn't expect to hear back from her anytime soon, and if I did, I didn't know if she'd be willing to share information with me. Well, slap me silly because Phyllis responded right back to me and provided me with the creator of her blog that she highly recommends. I hate to say it, but I was truly shocked. I guess because society is so "It's all about me" these days, that I just expected that "maybe" I'd hear back, and maybe not. Well, I guess "society" showed me. Phyllis's blog is full of great stuff--all things beauty and more. Aaaannnnd, she's an author, so please check her out.

Oh, and for that great blog creator that Phyllis recommended, check out www.chicsassydesigns.blogspot.com

Ok, I have to get up in a few hours to go to work, so I'm signing off... until my next post.

Happy New Year!, and more pics.....

2009-12-30T17:06:00.000-08:00

I'm sure everyone is busy getting ready for a New Year's Eve party. Just a reminder to please be safe so that you and everyone around you can have a great 2010! So, as promised, here are two more of my projects-one for my sister and one for my darling niece! My sister is a fabulous stylist and my niece is...well.... a princess:):) My baby sis was super geeked when she opened this box for Christmas. Now, you must understand that she doesn't get excited about much, so when it does happen, it's sorta like a big deal! I do believe that this box is my absolute favorite. It was the most difficult to make because I literally made everything by hand, but it was the most rewarding. I'm still thinking on that one though because it's a toss up between this one and my mom's keepsake.

Except for the round mirror piece, I handmade each styling tool. Burned my finger tips off a few times, but it turned out great. With a little imagination, you can make just about anything. The most grueling was the tiny appointment book.. Yes, I cut out all the little pages to fit inside... Since my sister is such a fabulous stylist, I thought that red hot feathers shooting out of the end of the dryer was the perfect touch!

I have a pretty good camera, but I guess I'm going to have to upgrade so that you will be able to see the extensive details, but if you click on each photo, you can see it pretty good. The last pic is the inside of the cover. I used a photo of me and her on the inside..you know, the sentimental touch...

And for my little Princess.... She is truely America's Next Top Model when she's not wearing the princess tiara. Her favorite color is pink and since she is ooohhh sooo into fashion, it was quite easy to make a keepsake for her. I made the purse out of fabric scraps and just stuffed it with paper to help keep the shape. I then embellished it with rhinestones, bows, chains, and a pocket on the back side. She loved her box and she uses it! I'm the best Auntie E-V-E-R!!!

I also placed a photo of her on the inside of the box of me and her. She liked that the most.

I hope you enjoyed these creations! As promised, please check back,as I will be posting more of my different prjects!

Happy Holidays.... and more photos..

2009-12-29T18:38:00.001-08:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Although I've been under the weather lately,I had the best Christmas with my family. I don't think we've all spent that much time together in quite a while. It makes you realize just how much of the hustle and bustle of everyday life that you get caught up in. Family and friends mean alot and it's important to carve out time to spend with them. Maybe that can be a resolution for you to think about! Anyhoo, as promised, I've downloaded more pics for you to view. This is one of my best works and my favorite!

MERRY CHRISTMAS MOM!

I created this box for my mom. She was always making something, either in the kitchen or on the sewing machine; so when I started on it, I only knew that I had to incorporate everything "creative" in order to represent her properly. I've posted several picks so that you can see the detail on the box.. With the exception of the picture frames, tiny plastic scissors, and the wooden chest/table(which I painted), everything was handmade. It took about a week to complete this, but it was well worth putting in the time to do the drawing, cutting, and painting. It turned out great!
This is the back of the keepsake box.

For sentimental value, I added a photo of me, my sister, and my neice. She was very emotional when she saw that!

This is the inside lid of the box. She immediately put stuff in it, so I couldn't get a picture of the bottom of the inside.

Hope you enjoyed this creation. I'll post more pics in the next few days!

Everybody Loves Cupcakes!

2009-12-15T20:23:00.000-08:00

I created a keepsake box for one of my BFF's:):) It was her birthday and I wanted to give her something different. When you've been friends for a long time, you tend to give the same things after a while. I realized that I'd never crafted anything for her, so I found some cupcake printed fabric and it just went from there. I trimmed the top of the box in felt cupcakes-which was very easy to trace and cut out. The coolest part is that the handmade cupcakes on the top of the box, open too! All it took was styrofoam and thin cardboard paper. I hand painted the letters and added some Happy Birthday stick-ons at the last minute just to give that last bit of "girly":) She loved it, but I wonder if she's started storing memories in it yet??? Hmmm....... (note to self-call Irene about that).

Shoes, Shoes, Shoes

2009-12-15T20:10:00.000-08:00

I am a professed shoe wh*re and proud of it!!! Below is a centerpiece that I did for a friend of mine that owns a shoe store. It hurt my heart to give this up simply because I love shoes so much. But, she needed something for her store and it was right up my alley to make for her. The only thing that I isn't handmade, is the little plastic shoes. Everything else is made by hand. I made all of the purses to match the shoes, and since animal print was part of her store color scheme, I thought it would be cute to make the shoe boxes and the center bench in that print. It must have been meant because as soon as I started searching for the perfect print, I ran across the fabric you see, and that was all the inspiration I needed. If you ever need inspiration for any type of project, just go to the fabric store. You'd be amazed at how it will inspire you and bring you out of a creative slump. I've spent many, many, hours in JoAnn's and Hancock Fabrics just to name a few, and have come up with soooo many project ideas.

Check out the ladies on the fabric:)

Who Knew??....

2009-12-14T12:16:00.000-08:00

Well, apparently everyone but me! As I continue to work on my "blog-in-progress", I can't help but wish that I had been into blogging years ago. I could have captured a running journal of the different creative projects I've done along the way. I guess it's better late than never, right? I'll be sure to upload my past works, so please feel free to comment and post! Oh yeah, please be just a little patient as I hone my "blogging" skills:) I think I'm coming along ok...just trying to read HTML....sigh.

The Label Lounge- A 30th Birthday Celebration

2009-12-13T16:20:00.000-08:00

Some of my party work... my baby sister decided at the last minute to have a 30th Birthday party. She had been contemplating on whether or not to have one, but of course, I got the "I want to have a party and I need you to pull it together", at the last minute. And by last minute, I'm mean two weeks! Two weeks to come up with a theme, favors, invites, menu, and of course entertainment. I think it turned out pretty good. Department stores love my little sis because she is a professed label wh*re, so it was easy for me to come up with the theme. I combined that with the lounge vibe since she was crossing over into "mature" status. I've uploaded a few photos for you to see. I couldn't load them all because that was a big party!

Enter the "grown & sexy" Label Lounge:) It's amazing what a staple gun will do for you! I bought a tiny tension rod, cut a piece of the fabric in half, tucked the rest with the staple gun, and there you have a sexy entrance into the party.

Of course, you can't just walk into The Label Lounge... you must have a VIP pass! Here was another task of cutting and stuffing. After I created the pass, I cut each one out, slipped them into plastic, placed a piece of ribbon inside, and closed the sealable cover. As everyone entered the party, they were handed a VIP pass that they had to wear the entire party. If anyone was caught saying my sister's name, they had to relinquish the pass to the person that caught them. The person with the most VIP passes got a prize.

I don't think I've done party favors quite so labor intensive. I was literally cutting fabric, cutting teeny pieces of paper, cutting trimmings, sewing, and glue-gunning up til the day of the party. They mirrored each designer accessory that was hanging on the wall. Prada, Gucci, Chanel,Fendi, etc... They were stuffed with chocolates, and everyone raved over them. I must say, I was pretty impressed myself. I wanted one of each to keep!

Well, I mean, of course she had to have a designer label cake to fit the theme, right?

I found some great fabric at Jo-Ann's, and had been dying to use it. My sister's place is loft-style with amazing hardwood floors, so the colors of the fabric went perfect. Since this was a lounge theme, I incorporated the fabric in the pillows, the cake/favor table, as well as the buffet table. It looked fabulous!

I found some really, really, nice scrapbooking paper at Michael's as the background of each photo. I then bought clear and gold translucent paper to print the designer accessories on. I searched the internet for the cutest pieces I could find. Then, I sat and matched the color of each accessory to the sheets in the scrapbook pad and secured each with a clear glue dot. Lastly, I told the story of each designer and printed that on the gold translucent paper. Then I hung them aroud the entire "lounge". This was alot of fun to do and my sister was able to keep all of the photos afterwards to place in a scrapbook of her party. My little niece even took a few to hang in her room:)

Here's the start of the "L" shaped buffet table. Still searching for the completed table with the champagne tower and all. Will post as soon as I find!

And here's the birthday girl. I kicked her out of her place for the entire day because I wanted it to be a surprise, so here she is striking a pose right before the "lounge" opens:) I actually had to search for three full days to get the balloon colors I needed to match the fabric I'd chosen for the party.

Blog Creation.....

2009-12-08T20:05:00.000-08:00

Ok, so my friends have been after me for way too long now to get all my creativity out there for the world to see. I'm not sure why I've been so slow dragging about it... I think its because I'm somewhat nervous and shy when it comes to "putting myself out there", ....hhmmm, not sure, B-U-T--I've taken the first step and I've never blogged before so this should be interesting.

Everyone says that blogging is really easy, and it's a great way to show your talent, get some great feedback, new resources, and even new clients! So, I will be busy over the next few weeks and into the New Year with personalizing my blog and displaying my creative works. I'll do my best to share my talents with you, track my progress, and see just where my creativity takes me. I hope you come along for the ride because I have alot of creativity busting at the seems! Talk to ya soon!