In between visiting family ad friends, I’m going to be piecing another quilt top, and maybe even starting on the quilting if things go my way.

If you don’t yet have any plans, here are some more great crafty ideas for you….

Have a little furry friend? Make him or her an adorable vintage suitcase bed, and then fill it will one of my mini-quilts ;-)

Get organised with this felt bill and receipt holder. I actually really need something like this, I have little bits of paper everywhere….

Make giant paper flowers, for a lovely touch of whimsy! What a pretty idea for a photoshoot.

Having a dinner party or friends over for tea? Impress with your own DIY sugar cubes

Bind your own hardback journal made from any paper you like

Crochet your own basket. Cute AND useful!

Have fun and let me know what you get up to.

L xx

[pic is from a Nappor advert here]

So funny story: I have a chalkboard and I was trying to make it look super-cute (like this girl’s blog…she’s a freakin rockstar at the chalkboard), but I was failing miserably and running out of time. Long story short, I ran to Michael’s and bought a frame ($4.99), scrapbook paper (65¢), and scrapbook lettering ($3.99). So for under $10 I was able to make her a Pinterest-style frame in 10 minutes, with less than an hour to spare before her school started. I was very relieved, and I think it turned out pretty cute! At least it looks polished! Apparently, I am no chalkboard artist. Haha.

A few hours later, I walked back to the school and picked her up. She saw me, ran to me, and gave me a huge hug. Her sweet hugs are enough to make my heart melt.

Her teacher told me that at the end of the day, McKenzie announced, “That was easy!” Super cute. The whole way home, she was talking about how much fun she had, and how she can’t wait to go back tomorrow! I certainly hope she always keeps up this positive attitude about school! Oh, and I didn’t cry once. ;)

I love all the pics I snapped today. I especially love that there are some of me with her. All too often as the momma/photographer, I am not in any pictures ever. Oh. And I think the one of McKenzie hugging Jon (daddy) goodbye are especially precious. Here are some photos from our sweet baby girl’s first day of school:UPDATE: I thought it would be cute to take the “First Day of 4K” sign and turn it into a real photo frame, with some of the fun/memorable photos we took today. I think it turned out adorable! Please excuse the crappy camera phone pic. I chose the one of her with her backpack and one of her waiting in line to go into her classroom. I’m so happy she had a great first day. =)

Wooo! it’s the weekend. Not that that means much to me these days being a total work-a-holic. I’m at least going to try not to spend all of it sat at my sewing machine/constantly interneting.

Here are some lovely crafty ideas for you in case you find yourself at a loose end this weekend. Let me know what you make if you do get your craft on!

Knit yourself (or me!) a pouf – this looks like quite a mega project but they are awesome and totally worth it if you have the time

Make your own rustic chalkboards – who knew chalkboard paint came in such fun colours? You could paint anything with it

Jazz up some brogues with glitter = dancing shoes!

Upcycle your old baked-bean cans into lovely lanterns

Do it yourself –  cute little coasters

Have a lovely weekend whatever you get up to

L x

[pic of Grace Kelly]

http://www.shutterfly.com

-Memories: I have recently resolved to make a photobook for each year of her life. I never really kept up with the baby book for her, so I think this is a great way to chronicle her infancy/toddlerhood/preschool years before I start forgetting the silly/adorable little milestones she’s had! I’ll need to catch up on Birth/1-Year,  Age 1/2, Age 2/3, and Age 3/4…oh my! I have a lot of pictures to sift through. =)

-Create a Story: I always thought it would be fun to create a little story with McKenzie, take pictures for it, and turn it into a Photo Book…wouldn’t that be such a fun little memory? You could either make it a project, write your own little story, and take pictures for it OR you could have your little kiddo(s) act out parts of a popular kid’s story and/or take pictures with friends to re-create  it for a Photo Book (think: ToyStory, Cars, Nemo, Snow White, Cinderella, etc). It’s kinda like publishing your own book!

-”A Day in the Life:” What about a Photo Book chronicling “A Day in the Life of (your kid’s name here)“?  Wouldn’t it be fun to read them their own story at bedtime?! How cool would that be? This could totally work for any age too, boy or girl. I really want to do this before it gets too cold outside to take pics!

-Give a Gift: These Photo Books are great gifts, and I want to start prepping for Christmas. And thoughtful gifts mean so much more than expensive ones…no question! I mean, no one needs to know it was free! ;)

I hope this gave you some good ideas for Photo Books so you can make fun, free one too! And please, you guys, let me know if any of you do idea #2! I really want to see one made this way, I think it’d be so fun! Remember, the coupon code expires Wednesday, September 12th…so you only have 5 days! Do any of you have other fun ideas for fun Photo Books?

As a side note: I’m working on creating another blog as a more permanent one that I plan to use: “Life So Lovely.” I’m going to re-copy all these posts to that one…I don’t really want to be restricted to blogging about kid’s fashion, because I think I have a lot more to say. Just interesting things. Parent things. Wife things. Life things. School things. You know, just general stuff. Never fear, I will always post about McKenzie and her little fashionable-self…I don’t think I can help it! Haha. I just think I’ll be able to build a longer-lasting audience if I have a less-narrow specification…ya dig? So that’s in the process. I’ll continue blogging on here until I feel ready for the big reveal of “Life So Lovely.” Stay tuned, and as always, thanks for stopping by!

I headed over to Home Depot to see if I could spot the perfect shade. As soon as I walked over to the spray paints I immediately saw the color that was meant to adorn my little ugly duckling. It was Valspar gloss paint in “Exotic Sea”. Not surprisingly, because the color is gorgeous, it was the last one. I skipped (not literally, okay…a little literally) towards the check-out and started daydreaming about the hidden potential in my little decorative item.

I started by taping around the opening of the vase to prevent a lot of paint from getting into the inside. Then, I simply covered my back patio with a trash bag, shook my new can of color loveliness and started my first coat. Following the directions for appropriate time between each coat I covered it three times. I love this stuff because it dried so quickly and it was not difficult to evenly coat the surface (I’m a little painting impaired).

I delightedly replaced the now fashion-forward vase to its prior location and marveled at the fact that I had just done something crafty.

I’m thinking about possibly taking it to the next level and adding a stencil design to it- maybe in gold or white.

What do you think?

Happy Crafting!

♥ Shavonda

You Might Also Like:

Thrifted Perfection: James Denmark Print

Do You Do This Too?

I Just Finished Reading “Addicted” by Zane

Ten Ways to Add a Little Flair to your Bookcase

The Book that Started it All

“Perfect Peace” by Daniel Black

Tools: acrylics, brush, Cds, something to scratch the paint ( like a pin or a pencil or…whatever you have nearby!)

I started painting my Cds with a pure black paint and let them dry completely. I saw a nice “mehendi style” draw on the internet and took inspiration to scrape the dried paint..and that’s it!!
Some sticking tape and they’re ready to be stuck on your wall

Perchè buttare via i vecchi Cd quando possiamo dargli un nuovo look?
ed è assolutamente facilissimo!
Bastano colori acrilici, un pennello, cd vari e qualcosa con cui grattare via la pittura.
Ho dipinto i cd con l’acrilico nero senza diluirlo e lasciato asciugare. Ho visto un bel disegno in stile indiano in internet e preso ispirazione per grattare via la pittura…ed ecco fatto!
Un po’ di nastro biadesivo e sono pronti per essere attaccati al muro!

James Denmark – “Royal Visitors”

The back framing wire was damaged so I had to get a little creative with hanging the picture. I noticed that the frame was very sturdy and well-made. It had an opening all the way around the poster. I decided that instead of re-doing the wiring, I would hang the picture evenly on several nails in order to adequately account for weight distribution. Once I got it on the wall, I stood back and delighted in my golden find.

After having the painting adorning my walls for a couple of days, I started to wonder who this James Denmark was. I decided to do a little research on him. Turns on he is an American, well-noted, highly sought-after artist of  abstract African art. I started to browse through some of his other pieces and was delighted with his overall style. Most of his artwork incorporates an opulent use of bright colors while capturing the beauty and elegance within African [American] culture.

I immediately spotted other works by him that I would love to have in my home. Many of them seemed to be within the price range of $50-$10,000.  I was very fortunate to find this piece at such a discounted rate. In the future though, I would willingly pay full price to have another one of his creations.

This was a great thrifting experience for me. Not only did I gain an exquisite piece of decoration for my home, but I also developed a new admiration for James Denmark, art, and history.

Check out some other James Denmark prints.

I LOVE my print even MORE now!

What treasures have you found in thrift/antique stores?

♥ Shavonda

You Might Also Like:

Do You Do This Too?

I Just Finished Reading “Addicted” by Zane

Ten Ways to Add a Little Flair to your Bookcase

The Book that Started it All

Great Series to Cozy Up with This Fall – EJD

]]> http://jennaandcalder.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/vintage-chair-find/ Thu, 30 Aug 2012 22:36:00 +0000 Jenna http://jennaandcalder.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/vintage-chair-find/ So last weekend, we stumbled upon this awesome chair. It’s vintage…and by vintage I mean stuffed with horsehair vintage. It’s pretty worn on the seat, but it has great character. I hope to recover it sometime in the near future..which will be a challenge but I think I can do it haha. Check it out (and my cute Finny!)

Our current side chair is too big to fit in our new living room for the space and when I saw this on the side of the road I knew it was gonna be perfect. We got it for a steal of a price and it will still fit in our living room. We didn’t want to only have the couch alone as seating. I can’t wait to see how it looks in the new place!

This is what I mean by vintage. Look at this construction! Love it.

Recovered or not, it’s a great piece…especially for the price! It’s going to fit right in with our rustic modern vibe I think.

What do you think!? Have you ever recovered a tufted chair?

click the image to download

As far as frames go, I’m not sure what to do. I was originally thinking an aged gold frame, but after playing in Photoshop I’m not sure it works with the colors in the print.

The direction we are going for the entire house is modern with rustic natural elements, so now I’m thinking something ultra textural, like rope or rough wood…or these cool wood rounds. Here are some Photoshop mock-ups. The images of the frames are not good quality since I just copy and pasted from Google images, but it gives the general idea.

Hope you like it!

Do you have a favorite verse or quote you’d like made into art? Contact me and we can make something happen! Click here to send me a message!

**UPDATE!*** Here’s another version of the same verse! Click to download.

Linking up here, here, here, and here.

I like the idea of leaning some pieces instead of hanging them. It give such a multidimensional look.

An asymmetrical arrangement adds visual interest. Just be careful to not go too crazy and make it look cluttered. Clustering If you are wanting to display several items, consider clustering them into a group that reads as one larger object to help prevent the mantel from looking too cluttered.

I like this one with the mirror behind to create a backdrop of sorts. This is a good solution if you just have drywall above your mantel as opposed to brick or trim.

Play with the scale of the different items as well. Don’t only use small pieces or only large pieces. Try to create a balance with sizing. Side note: I love the initial. Totally got an awesome idea from a blog that is on the ever growing project list for our living room Here are some of my ideas for our mantel (fyi Calder has given me almost free reign on our upstairs…I do run my ideas by him though of course! And he gets to have the basement as a man cave.) :

-But in an “S” of course:

-I plan to make a graphic print of the verse Psalm 19:14, one of my favorites and a verse I try to live by daily (I will share the print after I make it!)

-Either a large gold framed mirror if we can find a decent one at a garage sale or thrift store, or the large clock we already have refinished in some way. Maybe gold. I’m obsessed with gold right now. This is the clock I’m talking about:

I might try out our wedding canvas on the mantel too. Not sure it will get a permanent place there though. You can see it in this photo over one the right…along with my cutie Finny kitty!

Lastly, as soon as my friend Emily (who also made this pitcher) makes more of these babies I’m snatching at least one colored one up! Aren’t they adorable!?

Can you tell I’m excited to get started on our long list of projects?! It’s going to be a fun and long process to make our house our own. Be sure to stick around to follow along with our home improvement adventures.

What are your thoughts on the layered mantel look?

Also, I will be posting all design-related posts on my business facebook page from now on, so be sure to “like” it here to stay updated!

So check it out :)

Take a look! [Sorry about the photo quality. I didn't have any photo equipment with me this time :(  On board flash sucks.]

This was my first test with crayon art. One of my packs had metallic crayons and I hadn’t seen that before soooo, I did!

That was cool, but I really wanted to work with placing shapes into the drips of the wax. After much testing I found a fairly good media to do the job! (Just in case you can’t tell, that is both the upper and lower peninsulas of the US state, Michigan, my home :D)

I started playing around with some other shapes…

I’m a design nerd. So, of course my first symbol would be an ampersand…
(and with the colors RGB + CMYK ;P)

I decided to see how I could use my hand made stencil to the fullest. Above is the symbol cut out, and below is a “negative” of the same symbol! [This one looks more like a positive then the one above.]

This next stencil I created myself entirely. It is a super cute jellyfish :D
(It started off trying to be a cute little octopus but it failed and became a jellyfish…just thought you would like to know!)

And the “negative” stencil.

Unfortunately, because I was trying to hard to get some wax to cover the eyes, I over did this one a little bit. So, it is still trial and error.

All in all I’m really happy that I finally made time to do these! For now I’ve have my fun and I’ll just keep doing these sporadically…and do something with them XD Thanks for reading!!

P.S. I have friends (who happen to be a couple <3) who sell custom crayon art on Etsy called The Grand Crayonyon! You should check them out!

Happy Monday!

ANYWAY..

Yesterday, I went to a popular Denver event, the Cherry Creek Art festival! I went with my friend, Jamie, (who happens to be an amazing professional photographer..check her out here) and we had a blast checking out all the vendors. There was so much unique art there and I left feeling pretty inspired and itching to get creative (hence the new blog hehe). So enjoy this little photo story of our Saturday morning before a much needed soaking rain rolled in

Jamie & I after eating $1 slices of pizza….we managed to find some pretty cheap lunch…

…especially compared to the official food tents. But they did have some pretty interesting food selection…rattlesnake bratwurst?! I would love to try that beet burger though!

Top left is art using poured resin. She pours a couple layers, paints something on it, and pours some more, which is how she achieves that depth of field. So cool!

Trying out the beautiful [and comfy!] handmade wood furniture.

This wasn’t specifically for the festival, just an interesting bench in the cherry creek area haha

And my fav pieces I saw there (I think..it’s a tough call..):

If we can get our hands on a jigsaw, I’m pretty sure my handy hubby and I can make something similar to these! And speaking of the hubs.. I snapped a pic of this table because he wants to make one like it. He’s been [semi-obsessively] collecting bottle caps to go towards it.

And that concludes the photo story. You might even feel like you were there with the amount of pictures! Haha! As you can tell, there was any and all kinds of art/artists present. And a cool thing about this art festival is that they are artists from all over the country. I think they even have a limit of how many Denver artists can partake. So if you are an artist, you should look into getting a booth next year! Seems like a great event!

Do you enjoy going to events like these?

For now, I wanna give you an update on a furniture makeover I have worked on with my friend Caitlin in Colorado Springs. (Speaking of Colorado Springs, I was there this weekend and the fires SEEM much better, but please continue your prayers for rain and those affected. Over 300 homes were lost and the fire is only 15% contained last I heard [whatever that means...to me a fire isn't contained unless it's out...but I'm no expert ]).

ANYWAY.. you can see the inspiration for this project at this post. This isn’t actually a card catalog, it’s more of a dresser, but it has lots of drawers like a card catalog! It will go in her kids’ bedroom and she has a daughter and infant son.

Here are some in progress pictures! We didn’t fully finish it but I’m hoping to get some pics of the finished product when it’s done!

We modge podged this fabric onto the drawers.. a semi-tedious process. But super cute idea! This could be adapted to so many different styles by using any fabric that fits your decor.

The structure of the piece was painted dark grey to coordinate with the fabric.

The top is actually paint sticks! Yay for free! Painted in different shades of blue for a lot of visual interest and texture.

Getting an idea of the finished piece! Still needs another coat of gray (side note: I am so inconsistent in the spelling of the word grey/gray… anyone else struggle with this?! haha) paint, drawer hardware, clear coats on everything, and finish trim on the top. I can’t wait to see how this piece turns out! It is so unique!

We were lucky enough to snag a free dining set off of freecycle.org, a grassroots organization made up of amazing people exchanging stuff for free in our community. It’s amazing what some people are trying to get rid of (and if you’re looking for something in particular, post it on freecycle and you might be lucky enough and find it!). Some of the other things we’ve gotten from freecycle so far are two dressers, a punch bowl set, deck chairs and a ton of plants for our balcony. Yay!

I knew instantly what I wanted to do with these dining chairs and table. I wanted to paint the wood white and change the fabric to a fresh yellow to match our kitchens colour scheme.

The final result:

What a transformation! Our guests so far have even commented on them, saying that the chairs are almost too pretty to sit on. We had more than enough white primer to paint our kitchen peg board. The best thing about this project was that it was fun and inexpensive. I would do it again in a heart-beat!

Chairs and dining table – $0 (got it off freecycle.org)
White paint – $20
Sand paper – had from a past project
Glossy finish spray – $7
Fabric: $15
Staple gun staples – had from a past project
total cost = $42

I got it about 2 years ago at our campus’s end of the year garage sale for only $5!! I then painted it blue, but now its time for a makeover. (And it needs to be de-cluttered…clearly it’s one of our only display areas.) And here is my inspiration!

I’m loving the trend of patterned paper or bright colors in the back of the shelves for  a little pop of somethin! For my piece, I plan to replace the backing, paint everything white, and then back the shelves with some kind of patterned wallpaper. This back was actually stenciled by removing the backing and apply this stencil. I haven’t decided what yet. And I don’t know when I’ll be able to undertake this project, but it will be happening and I am excited about it! I will post pictures of the after when it is complete Check out these other hutch and bookshelf makeovers I found.

What do you think?! Do you like this idea? It adds so much interest! If your piece already has a nice wood finish, you could also leave that and only paint the inside. I hope you feel inspired!

]]> http://indiapiedaterre.com/2012/06/03/bringing-buddha-closer-to-home/ Sun, 03 Jun 2012 12:28:57 +0000 India pied-à-terre http://indiapiedaterre.com/2012/06/03/bringing-buddha-closer-to-home/ Many of our travels have taken us to lands of wats and Buddhas. Now we’re too busy with the business of business for vacation. I really miss traveling to Buddhas.

My sister-in-law knows we like Buddhas and gifted us with a Buddha head to decorate the Chennai apartment. I transformed it a bit:

In my mind, there’s always saffron with wats and Buddhas.

Via Food and Farsi Flickr:

From Steamy Kitchen, another delicious saffron photo, tips on finding quality saffron, plus many recipes in the 100+ comments:

Another striking saffron photo and recipe from Veggie Belly (website full of vegetarian recipes, do check it out):

So, um, why did I come here and start writing? Oh yeah … today I share saffron  in the form of paint. Because I envisioned combining our black Buddha head with saffron and gold for a striking combination. Like this image, “Monks in Yellow Robes” Painting by Aung Kyaw Htet:

Here’s what I did:

• Found a wood block at Hobby Lobby
• Painted it with DecoArt Americana acrylic paint in Persimmon color
• Stamped script text in gold ink on the top of the block
• Drybrushed light brown paint on the Buddha to make features pop, then lightly dabbed antique gold Rub ‘n Buff (or gold leaf pen? forget now) on the hair to give him a golden glow
• Glued Buddha on the wood block with E6000 glue

But he was missing something. In Thailand, I loved the texture added by the little squares of gold leaf that people apply to Buddhas, especially when there are many shredding pieces. Via Hawke Backpacking:

So I added a little more gold. Because Buddha is on a lotus, I got an Indian lotus motif wood block stamp from Catfluff on ArtFire — here’s a similar wood block print stamp.

I tried to stamp a gold lotus right on the persimmon-color wood block. But I found wood block stamps made for fabric and paper don’t work so well for wood-to-wood impressions. So I found scrapbook paper with persimmon and other colors in it — I was disappointed about this change of plans at first, but now prefer the extra dimension the mottled paper brings. I cut the paper slightly smaller than the wood block’s sides, and stamped the gold lotus on the papers, one for each side of the block. Then I glued the papers to the wood block, and antiqued the edges with Distress Ink.  Here’s the result:

However the Buddha head is heavier than the wood block, so when put together the whole thing was top-heavy and unstable. So I found an old coaster sized perfectly to fit under the block, and got huge heavy washers at Home Depot to add weight. I glued the washers to the coaster with E6000 glue. Then I applied antique gold Rub ’n Buff to the coaster, flipped it over, and glued the Buddha block to the coaster with E6000. Ta-da, stability! Always a good thing.

To make a clean bottom, I cut thin cork backing to size and glued that to the bottom.

Now we have a reminder of travels to wats and Buddhas, but closer to home! On our next trip to Chennai, we’ll return him to the India apartment, his intended residence.

So if you have wood block prints, try printing them on paper. You can add extra designs to printed scrapbook papers.

I left gold ink on the stamp and set it out for display on our living room coffee table, along with a paisley wood block stamp from India that I picked up at Uncommon Objects in Austin, Texas.