My hot pin on Pinterest this week- Hello!

Occasionally... people are brilliant! This is one of those times- funny, kitchy, 1980's-y, and many of the "-y's". It is the joyous memories of teenagers singing in the car, being touched by a bittersweet music videos, and chuckling at wordplay. Sometimes, you can also have this chuckle on a regular basis. My hot pin on Pinterest this week is just one of the opportunities to laugh daily... with your morning cup of Joe... or Lionel in this case. Hello! Is it tea you're looking for? I can see it in your eyes... I can see it in your smile....

Hello, it is tea you're looking for? by LennyMud on Etsy.

Pink Anodized Aluminium for the home

Using vintage items is a great way to recycle that doesn't involve taking anything to the curb!

I love finding cool things that can bring character and personality to a space. Here are a great collection on pink anodized aluminium  from Etsy. Please click on the names of the items to purchase any of these items!

Sweet cream and sugar from Pink Neon Vintage
This is such a sweet set in great condition andwould making having tea more fun!


Pink vintage tray, 16 inches from Better Vintage.

I could see this on a wall as part of a collection, in a little girl's room as part of her dresser/ perfume tray. And at 16 inches, this tray would be a nice side of a kitchen table centerpiece for a 1950's kitchen.


Set of four canisters from Vintage Cellar Door
These remind me of my grandmother. She has a set that looked hammered with wood acorns on the tops. It brings back good memories of baking cookies and pies!


Set of spices canisters from Baby Cat Vintage Crafts
I am facinated by the spices that the makers through were som important they added the names to the containers. It probably speaks of the time of the exoticness of spices in the foods of the 50's.


Sweet little saucepan with a pink lid from Hobart Collectables.

Some days... I'm a scientist

I always loved science... it was the math that kept me away from being a scientist. I loved the process, the making of things for something else, the discovery... but math... well it seemed to live in a world of absolutes. There is no creativity in math, unless you run a company and are trying to meet Wall Street expectation. But that is not really creativity in math, it's a bit more like creative writing and story telling.

However, I do love an experiment, which is really what cooking, art and design are based on. However, it is also what beauty products are based on. All start with raw ingredients, a plan and offer an assumed outcome. Sometimes they yeild a happy accident! This weeks experiment was Lotion Bars. I received one as a Christmas gift and the thought of making them spoke to the little girl in me that liked to mix lotion and baby powder together and call them beauty cream... I was a very pretty little girl based on all of my beauty creams concotions.

I searched the Internet for recipes and then improvised with what I had at hand and who I wanted to be my testers. With my Shea butter (latex)-allergic sister coming into town. Shea butter was out. I was afraid to venture too far with Miss Sensitive as a tester, because what is an experiment without testing!



Here's my recipe-

3 ounces beeswax
3 ounces coconut oil
3 ounces cocoa butter
3 ounces almond oil
(all of these are equal parts and for that reason you can use any measurement unit or device you like as long as it is the same one for the entire recipe section.)

15 drops of lavender essential oil (because that is my fave scent)
10 drops of Vitamin E oil (it acts as a preservative)

tools- double boiler or chocolate melter, soap molds or silicone molds, spoon


The Wilton Chocolate Pro has a removable
 vessel for easy mold pouring!

Heat first 4 ingredients together in a double boiler or a chocolate melter on high. I have a Wilton chocolate melter for this express purpose- this is not my first beauty product experiment rodeo!

Once the wax, oils, and butters are melted remove from heat and add essential oil and vitamin E oil, then pour into molds.

Because I like an extra experiment, I added 10 drops of carnation scented oil (not for internal use) to one of the bars. This was going to be my bar, so I want not as worried about sensitivity.

The house is rather cold; so the bars set up in about 20 minutes and were firm in an hour!

The mold I used was one I purchased years ago when it seemed like silicone bakeware was brilliant. wrong. But, I kept it thinking there was something I could do with it. I was right!

To use the lotion bars, simply rub the bar on your skin, then rub the lotion in. Easy and much less "drying" time than standard lotions.

fun with paper doilies

Paper doilies are an easy way to update gift wrap, invitations and envelopes. You can find a great selection of doilies at www.OwlandThistle.etsy.com - everything from 4 inches to 12 inches and rounds to squares to hearts!

I use the Martha Stewart folding board to make doily envelopes and tri-fold invitation wrappers. It's an easy tool that gives you exact measurements.

Below are some of my doily creations! 

 

10 inch square doilies make an A7 envelope or 6 inch squares!

 

Small rectangle doily makes a tri-fold wrapper!

 

gold doilies cut to decorate a pillow box. Instructions are here!

 

 

4-inch white doilies look great on manila tags. Instructions are here!

 

 

This was a quick shot for a customer. It's a 10-inch doily wrapper on a 5x7 invitation!



Work in progress - the downtown condo

One of my current projects is a downtown condo. We are turning it into a jewel box of a contemporary boho space. The new sofa came today and looks great with the turquoise FLOR flooring, lighting, contemporary coffee table and the clients artwork.

The white sofa was necessary to support the heavily patterned carpet, bold artwork and the soon to be re-upholstered stools. The stools will each be a different fabric in pink, orange or pink and orange. A wonderfully bold color palette on a backdrop of contemporary white!

Additionally we are creating an ethnic patterned chalkboard wall in fuchsia and orange!!!! I am so excited about the wall. And, rare would you find the designer who spackles your wall while waiting for the sofa to arrive. I am a full service designer after all!

I felt very Kitty Barthomolew, whom I have always admired, while I was spackling and maintaining my manicure at the same time! She was one of the last Home Design-type show hosts who really knew what they were doing. Hopefully they will continue the path a technically savvy designer on TV.

Below are shots of my top fabric pics in situ and the fabrics choosen for the project. As always, if you are interested in design services or any of these fabrics, please let me know!

Fabrics selected for the project.

 Fabrics in situ as stools stored under the coffee table.

Emerald Green- the Pantone color of the year

Emerald green will be everywhere this year with being the Pantone color of the year and the new Wizard of Oz movie coming out- Oz the Great and Powerful.

Green is a great color for the home because the colors in nature are so easy to bring inside and you simply have to open a drapes to duplicate the color!

Here are some great Emerald green accessories for your Emerald City home!

Hand dyed and printed lumbar pillow from Giardino on Etsy

Vintage pointing finger from juxtapositionsc on Etsy

Whimsical vintage green lamp base, could be fun with a burlap or linen shade from theandsuchshop on Etsy

 

Vintage inspired letter from CompulsiveCollection on Etsy

 



 

Paper butterflies for the wall from HipandClavicle on Etsy

My hot Pin on Pinterest this week

MY hot pin this week comes from my research on craft spaces.
I love the small suitcases placed in the shelves of the chest. it is a fun alternative to drawers!

Easy flower arranging- from the grocery store

Pre-made "bouquets" are an easy and inexpensive way to get an assortment of flowers. Combining them with simple greenery from your yard and finding a little help in the produce section, can take pre-made to...  if not professional, at least pro-sumer. (pro-sumer is my new favorite word. I found it when I bought a new camera and I've been waiting to use it in a sentence!)

For a photo shoot this week with Marianne Strong Interiors, I picked up two "bouquets", a bag of peppers, some sunflowers, and spray roses from the grocery store and used the some yard shrubbery for four mix-and match-arrangements.

The 5 keys to flower arranging for me...

1. don't be afraid to cut the stems and don't be afraid to re-cut.
2. pick the height and the width and add two flowers to mark the size
3. group small flowers in three's to make a bigger impact.
4. use a cascading flower or greenery to cover the rim of the vase.
5. vary the greenery... and save money by picking it from the yard!

As seem in my drawing below for building a planter, the same principles work for flowers. The tall piece, the side piece for width and a cascader to cover the vase edges.

Here are my results~


The peppers were added to an all white and green arrangement to change it up a bit and make it more "kitchen-y".

White and green bouquet from the grocer was divided into two arrangements this one is more green and features a pink tinged ornamental cabbage. The other is a simple green and white- both for nursery flowers.

This is the largest arrangement. It incorporates the greenery from the bouquets, spray roses, sunflowers and the mini peppers. The peppers are on bamboo skewers. The flowers are held upright with a crisscross on tape over the vase before the flowers were added.

centerpieces without flowers

I was asked again this year to do the centerpieces for the University of Montevallo homecoming luncheon for 300 people. The theme was "proud past, bring future". In special events committee meetings, we discussed a connections to the buildings- old and new. Below is my quick concept drawing from the meeting and the final outcome.



This is the concept drawing with a brick path to reference the brick sidewalks on campus (the old) and the new promenade into town. Buildings are old and new structure.

In the finish product, I used wheat grass, organic and hydroponic, with polymer clay brick path and building images with blueprints backs, cut with deckle edge scissors.

Velvet Ikat - the new love in my life

I have a new love, velvet ikat. As if ikat could not get any better, now it is uber touchable! Best of all they are handmade, which supposed my HOLA (Handmade, organic, local, or artisan) initiative.

Here are some great Etsy finds for Velvet Ikat Lumbar Pillows!



Black and palest taupe 14"x20" pillow


Hot pink and beige 16" x 22" pillow


Mustard yellow and cream, Chevron, 16"x 24" lumbar pillow



Red and cream Stylize cross, 16" x 24" lumbar pillow


Brown and cream, ironwork style, 8" x 16" mini lumbar pillow

great nightstands - shopping

I've been doing some client shopping for great modern nightstands. I thought I would share my contemporary finds! The keys I was looking for was clean lines and metallic or metal look finishes. I also wanted something with and uncommon appeal.

~pin this~

Blackhawk nightstand from Restoration Hardware.

~Pin this~

Wood tile nightstand from West Elm.



                                                      ~pin this~
Metal Rolling Cart Bedside Table from Pottery Barn.



                              ~pin this~
Zinc Closed Nightstand from Restoration Hardware.



                                                                 ~pin this~
Park Mirrored Beside Table from Pottery Barn.

Chocolate and Turquoise revisted- Etsy shopping

My chocolate and turquoise post was one of my most popular in the last few months. So, I thought I would revisit the color combo with new Etsy shopping items!


~pin this~

Clockwise from the top:
Fern pillow ($16.99 +SH), Hand painted platter ($145.00 +SH), Flower pillow ($34.99 +SH), Woven basket ($58.00 +SH), Hand turned wood vessel ($195.00 +SH), Alligator embossed leather ($5.99 +SH), Mosaic mirror ($200 +SH), Vintage sugar bowl ($12.95 +SH)

The alligator leather would be great added to a picture frame, the base of a tray, or to re-line a wood box!

HOLA- veggie box first of February

HOLA- handmade, organic, local, artisan

Today's HOLA is this week's veggie box from Moore's Farm via Freshfully!

Last week's box yielded some great meals and I am hoping for the same this week.

Here's my box!

From to top reading clockwise-
Apples, who knows what kind, but the pie last week was delish. These apples really cook down.
Cabbage, slaw, cooked... I love cabbage!
Spinach, I think this will be salad
Lettuce, also salad
Sweet Potatoes- I'm roasting them with a butternut squash - plenty to freeze leftovers
Bell Pepper- salad, western omelet, slaw - these are a staple!
Swiss Chard- I will cook these and we will see. The only other time I cook them was some super old ones from my garden and they were tough.

I'm sad to see that there was no pecans like week, those were great! Maybe next week!