Wrapping Up Some Works in Progress

Whoo- Hoo! Am I ever glad to be back here with you all. I had a busy weekend, with my second/last craft show of the season on Saturday. It was a great little show, only 15 vendors at this super cool coffee shop/studio space near where I live. I really enjoy being able to interact a bit more with people and to talk about my work with them. One thing that has become HUGELY clear is that I do a lot better at selling my book than I do my artwork in this kind of face to face venue. I think it's because if I sense someone's interested in knowing how to do wire work, then I get all animated and excited and can't wait to answer any questions they have about the medium. I do love wire. And I do have a wee bit of a fabric obsession, so it really feels natural and exciting to share my love of these through the book, and I think people sense that.

At the sale I was able to use my downtime pretty productively and finished a cuff and a couple of more stars for the garland. So now I can give you an idea of what it would look like hanging in front of a window. I also got started on a scarf I'm knitting for my son. It's beautiful painted looking yarn that made up wonderfully. I have that blocking right now. Now on to some cleaning and then we're going to do some decorating. I really haven't done much around the house yet, and my 5-yr.old just LOVES decorating so we're going to make that a priority this week.

How about you? Have you started/finished any creative projects lately? Have you been able to use those artistic abilities in your home yet? I'd love to know where you are all at and what you've been up to- so please, SHARE!!!

Winter Woodland Chandelier How To

Welcome to Day Three of our 'Tis the Season week of posts celebrating the holiday season with lots and lots of decorating ideas. We kicked off the week with a trend report of several holiday trends and today we're playing around with the Winter Woodland trend. Forests, and all they hold from animals to mushrooms, even just wood grains have been hot for the last year or so. Incorporating these elements into your holiday decorating is fun and SUPER easy to do. And if you're lucky enough to have access, many of the supplies can be found out of doors. Usually when I want to create something from natural materials I'll go outside and grab the stuff from the yard. But with a thick coat of white snow covering everything outside I looked inside for things on hand (birch branches) and then picked up a few things from the craft store too. The colors of this trend can vary, but again, white, red, and green seem to dominate. But instead of taking the shape of peppermint candies, the colors come in the form of berry sprigs, the silvery white of birch branches, the rich browns of pine cones, and the deep green of evergreens.

Today's how-to is just an example of how I might decorate with natural elements. I'm demonstrating how to decorate your chandelier, but knowing that many of you might not have a chandelier quite like mine, I want to assure you that you can take these same elements and create a vignette with them, or centerpiece for your table. These natural elements added to your wreath really make a beautiful and striking outdoor design as well. SO, take a look and then give it a try!

How To Give your Chandelier A Winter Woodland Make-Over for the Holidays

Tools and Materials:
4 birch branches about 15"long
Several smaller birch sticks
1 stem of artificial red berries
A handful of pinecones (varied sizes)
Bird's nest
Mixed Evergreens (I just took apart the door swag from yesterday's vignette)
Raffia or string
Scissors
Something to cut your evergreens into pieces
Wire cutter

Step One: Insert your birch branches one at a time into the arms of your chandelier. One on each side and intersecting with each other to form a square.

Step Two: Using a ratchet pruner or other tool, cut your evergreens apart in lengths that will fit your chandelier. Lay on top of the birch branches.Then add your small birch branches on top of these and if you can angle them so they kind of stick out (either on top or at the sides) that gives your design some extra depth.I like how these really give the design a wild, natural look.

Step Three:Using your wire cutter, cut your artificial berry branch into 2 or 3 pieces. Insert a larger piece of the berry branch up through the bottom center of the design.You should be able to stick it in at an angle and let it rest on the birch branches. If you need to you can use a twist tie and wire the branch to your chandelier. Take your smaller pieces of berry branch and insert into top of the arrangement .

Step Four: Place your bird nest into the center of your display, if possible.Then, using your raffia or string, wrap around your pine cone's bottom, between layers of pine cone.Tie as tight as possible and repeat with 2-4 more pine cones.

Step Five: Tie your pine cone strings to the chandelier's center and allow to hang at different lengths. If you like you can use an extra long piece of raffia and tie it to the pine cone about 5-6 inches from end. This allows extra raffia to dangle with your pine
cone which looks pretty. :)


Don't forget to join us tomorrow for more ideas to help put you into the holiday groove. Yay! I'd love to know more about what you're doing to decorate this holiday season, what you've liked best of the different ideas so far, and if you have any questions about the how-to or tutorials. So Please Leave a Comment!

Decorating with Kraft Paper and Pineapples!

From This...

To THIS

All I can say is it's AMAZING what a big roll of kraft paper can do. Here's some photos of an event I helped decorate for. It ended up looking pretty fabulous so I thought I'd share some of the photos with you!

The zebra striped paper became table runners, and the great big giant leaves we painted became the jungle surroundings for a very special Night From Africa event. The event was to raise awareness of the situation in Kinyago-Dandora area of Kenya.This is a slum area just outside of Nairobi that has become the trash dumping area for that entire city. Kenya Children's Fund supports two schools there, a primary and a secondary. They teach them about Christ while ministering to them with the basic necessities: food, medical attention, and an education. This brings hope to both children and their parents and they truly are a light in the darkness that is that area.

Check out the authentic African food- stews, rice, bread, dips, a carrot salad of some sort, and chicken pie. It was all delicious! There were visitors from Kenya with us and they LOVED the food. I was a little hesitant (just because I'm not the most adventurous eater) but it was all really yummy!

After the dinner we went upstairs to the church sanctuary for a program. There was live music, a heart wrenching dvd, and some wonderful testimonies to what the school is doing in that community.

To get involved, check out the Kenya Children's Fund website, they have opportunities for any level of involvement or support!!! Then become a fan on their facebook page too!

Welcome Challenges!

It's been over a month since my last post. In that time I did finish my book manuscript (BIG WHOO-HOOO!) and managed to do a birthday party for my now five year old son as well as submit some mini quilts for the next Sew Somerset publication. It's been all about getting it done this month. Here are some of the other new challenges for this coming year.

New Challenge #1-Remodel our Basement! My husband and I ripped out the carpet in our lower level and had hardwood floors installed. This was a project that we hadn't planned, it came as the result of some pretty nasty allergy problems we were all experiencing, but I'm still excited by it. We took the opportunity to cull our book collection, the piles at right are what's left (I took them out of the bookcases to vacuum the dust off them). We are also going to get rid of the nasty old hand me down furniture we had down there. I think that some of it was my husband's parents first furniture. When we were doing the newly married- don't have anything- thing it was great to have any furniture at all but now we'd like to update. So a basement redo is in the works. I'll keep you posted!

New Challenge #2- Back to LIFE! I had a bit of a crisis when I realized that I didn't need to spend every waking moment on the book any longer. It was the set task every day and at the end everything else in life was put on hold. So the moment I emerged from that task I was faced with a large array of others that needed my attention- NOW! I've been trying to find a balance again but it's been difficult. When I was in kindergarten I had major surgery that kept me in a hospital bed for several weeks. I actually forgot how to move my muscles to walk during that time and to learn again I tried hard to focus on the action of one foot in front of another. Learning how to do something again that was first learned naturally and taken for granted is hard. We want to think it all out but that's not how we learned in the first place.

Emerging from this book project has been somewhat similar. I know I used to know how to plan all the meals, balance play dates, shopping, exercise, time with the family, cleaning and laundry during my day but for the life of me I can't remember how now. It seems daunting. So finding balance again is going to be another challenge to meet. If I figure out any tricks I'll let you know- we could all use the help right? If you have any advice on this I'd love to hear from you too!

New Challenge #3- Getting Crafty! Before the book releases I want to have a website up and running and a kick-ass blog. I'm envisioning lots and lots of tutorials as well as some of the personal writing like I love to read in others blogs. I've also just signed on to teach a class locally at The Studio at Rush Creek. I'll post more about that soon. They'll also be carrying some of my work on consignment. The thing I'm most excited about however, is getting back to work! Spending time in the studio and getting to follow a few of the mad thoughts that plague me (like what if I tried combining a wire bird cage, a vinyl decal of a bird, and an old metal tray). I developed some projects for the book that I've just been dying to play with and take a little further as well. PLUS I'll be adding a lot of new products to my etsy site in the next month or so and I can't wait to see what you all think!

Life is grand- don't you think?

From One Holiday to the Next!!!

Like all of you we had an extremely busy holiday weekend. Friday was Cookie Baking Day at my aunt's, and Saturday morning my mom informed us all that it was Decorating Day. So while Jasper and my mother were scouring the storage area for Christmas decorations I got the upstairs holiday ready.

I hung garlands and wreaths and then switched over the fireplace area. This is a focal point in many people's homes. Especially at Christmas! I thought the contrast in colors and decor was interesting so I snapped a few photos to share with you. You'll notice that the basic composition is similar. Two larger arrangements bookmarking a central area. The other difference is the candles. It's a small detail to change them but it really helps to pull the primary accent color up the wall. Creating a larger visual impression overall.

The deep red is repeated in the berry wreaths hung in front of the windows as well as the stairway garlands. My parents have been adding to their Christmas decor each year for years. It makes putting the decorations in place simple. I already know what they have and where it goes.

Which is why I was able to decorate the entire upstairs while Jasper and my Mom did the tree in his bedroom. But in their defense, Jasper did manage to cram on that little tree the entire assortment of ornaments usually left for the 10 foot tree upstairs.

As you can see in the photo I snapped, he is very very proud of his tree! Enjoy the holidays!!!

Creating a Focal Point

This weekend I was reminded of how amazing a good focal point can be. I'd been called in to create the floral decorations for a church dinner that was being held Sunday morning in our building's gymnasium. It's a huge space and very very gym-ish. Basketball hoops, court lines on the floor, and banners on all 4 walls. Impossible to disguise any of it. So instead of trying to disguise it I used a trick I'd learned as a wedding and events floral designer. I used the concept of a focal point. In event design this would usually be somewhere that was immediately visible to the eye upon entering the room. It would be big and glorious and immediately set the mood in the mind of the attendee that this was an occasion. By drawing the eye and creating that first impression I kept the attendees from noticing the room en large- at least until after that first impression was made. Secondly, they would notice the tables set with matching arrangements. I like to have two or three different styles of varying heights to add interest.

I also placed the arrangement on a round table sitting on top of a beautiful golden rug. The round shape contrasted nicely with squares and rectangles of all the satellite tables. Again, adding to the visual weight of the focal arrangement.
When I was doing weddings I would always visit the sites with the bride prior to creating a design. This way I was able to walk through and take notice of the places that the guests would linger. This might be the entrance, or an alcove, the dining table, or a staircase. Placing flowers in these places enhanced their value to my mind because they would register longer in the mind of the guest. Thus, they would make a bigger impression. It was also much more elegant than throwing money at everything because if you followed that tact the guest would tune out almost immediately because of the visual overload. As in a painting, the eye needs a chance to rest, and if you don't give it that rest it becomes fatigued quite easily.

Recently, a friend mentioned that a good party planner would plan their evening so it included high and low moments over the course of the night. If you constantly strive to keep the evening strung high the guest can feel overwhelmed and emotionally exhausted.

But now I'm thinking. I guess this might be true of life as well. If not for the depressions we might not appreciate as acutely the high moments. I guess we need both.

SPOOKY!!

We're starting to get into the season here and yesterday's shopping trip did nothing to curtail the urge I'm feeling to spookify my home. The first shop I walked into was brimming with cauldrons and witches and spooky spooky decor. LOVED IT! So I bought a few things and set them up while cooking dinner last night. I couldn't wait. Unfortunately that meant that my family did. We ate a little late. But when one feels the urge to decorate I say go for it! So I pulled out my bittersweet garland and played around with some crows I had purchased earlier. Very very fun.

Then this morning I woke up with plans for adding some written wire words (BOO!) and a spooky tree. I pulled out a tree form I'd started a while back and finished the wire work on that and let Jasper put his little cat and pumpkin knick knack under it. He's always afraid I'm going to sell the stuff he likes so he made sure to tell me that it was NOT for sale. Kind of cute. I'm thinking it needs some spider webs and maybe a noose. Or some bats and ghosts hanging from it 's branches. I also have some boo-tiful orange and black fabric that I'm thinking might look really cute stitched to the leaves. Although that might be over kill. Still I like the idea. I've also got some plans for a big wire spider's web with a scribble spider to hang in my foyer. Or maybe we'll make the spider's body of fimo. Ideas... ideas! A big moon would be fun as well.

And just to whet your appetite a little more... I want to introduce you to one of the most creative books I've stumbled on lately; Matthew Mead's Halloween Book. It's got one great idea after another and I just positively love them all. Party decorations, yummy spooky eats, stitched fabric moon quilts, and fabulous little needle felted pumpkins are just a few of the goodies in this must-have or at least must-look at book for the season. I love it! Oooh.. and in the next few days I'll try to post a few more scary ideas and I have a tutorial that's been requested as well. Lots and lots of fun you won't want to miss. And remember now...(insert spooky cackle here) YOU'Ve BEEN WARNED!!!!!!!!

Recycled Decor

The last week I've taken a bit of a break from the book projects to concentrate on designing and creating the decor for my local MOPs group meetings. MOPs is short for Mothers of Preschoolers- preschoolers being birth to age 6 or so. This is my fourth and last year- next year Jasper starts Kindergarten. With the book I didn't know if I could be as involved in the decorating and projects as I have in year's past but I found that it's one thing acknowledging that in my head and another actually giving up the position. At the leader's meeting I couldn't help opening up my mouth and suggesting things. Of course, once you suggest things and others agree it's pretty much up to you to execute the ideas as well.

It was just sooo hard. The theme this year is "Together on Planet Mom" and I was pushing for the "go green and it's all one world" interpretation vs. the Space Aliens from another planet interpretation. I envisioned recycled decorations. For instance, using past year's purchases and adapting them to this year's theme. I also thought I'd use old cereal boxes for name tags and the bulletin board and recycle pages from old cookbooks and maps to pull in the Moms One World theme. So with this vision it was completely impossible for me to keep my mouth shut while they were talking space party decorations from the dollar store.

I had fun though and recruited some help so it hasn't been too much and I'm pretty much done and ready to go back to the book stuff. Plus, I figured out that it's good to be focused but it's also important to be able to take a break occasionally and do something for fun. I had fun with the name tags but I had LOTS of fun doing a write up on the theme. It's titled Motherhood Manifesto. One of them sent me a link to submit it to the MOPs international site and crazy thing- they took it! I'd love to have you check it out. So taking the time to do something else had been good. Now I feel like I've escaped the tunnel vision I felt I had before and am able to start again with the book stuff a little refreshed. So that I guess is the moral to this story. WORK HARD but take a break once on a while and HAVE FUN, just cause, too!