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I have finally had an opportunity to add a few things to my shop!! I recently added a few of my jewelry creations, kits, and other goodies I have been wanting to add.
And to celebrate FINALLY getting some stuff in there I am having a "I DID IT SALE"! So from now until June 7th you can use coupon code "IDIDIT" and receive 15% off of your entire order!
You can CLICK HERE to check it out.
Goodness, where do I even start! I returned home at 1:00am last night from the Artful Tea! Karen hosted a wonderful day full of so many lovely things! Tea, creating, wonderful food, shopping, friends, wine, MORE SHOPPING, and a lovely dinner!
Molly was so sweet to keep me company on the drive to Mount Dora. The Garden Gate tea room in Mount Dora was only a little over an hour from my house.
(Molly)
Our first stop was at Karen's Cozy Cottage in Mount Dora. Karen had the most lovely breakfast ready for us there before we headed to the tea room to set up.
After breakfast we where off to the tea room to set up! Molly did such an amazing job setting up the tables!
Karen and I each brought a few things to sell. Karen's stuff was amazing!
I FINALLY bought one of her darling belts!! I also bought one of these handbags.
I also brought my recently created dress form along. She felt much more comfortable in this divine lovely tea room, than stuck in a corner hiding from little sticky fingers!
Upon arrival the girls received lovely Tea Tile Cookies and Molded Sugar Roses from Le Chic Bakery which where stunning!
Crystal at Le Chic Bakery made adorable pink gift bags for the cookies and roses to go in.
(Michelle and Heather)
They also received a box from me with a rosette brooch, vintage wallpaper, lace and ribbon, and other goodies.
(Sophie)
Karen also gave them one of her adorable greeting cards and a journal.
(Picture of Molly's purse Bryanna made)
(Sophie working on her frame)
Once everyone arrived they brought us all yummy tea! I had the Southern tea which was some kind of peach tea. We then pulled out our creating goodies and started our frames.
There where two color options, Pink and White. I took a picture of Molly's frame while she was positioning all of her items (above).
We also did a teacup swap which was SO MUCH FUN! I got Molly's teacup which was SO SWEET! The cup had feet on it which was so very darling, and the Le Chic button tags where so neat! Once I get my car unloaded I will get more photos. Nancy won my teacup.
After the project we had lunch and then photos. I managed to snap a couple of photos of Karen while we where good. I love how they turned out! Karen is so adorable, and everyone just LOOOOVVVED that sweet skirt she made!
(Michelle, Molly, Nancy)
We then packed up and hit the town for shopping and treats. First stop was Cupcake Delights. YUM
After that we hit all sorts of Antique shops. I am going to do a separate post on that, but wanted to share with you this photo I took of an old bike while I was out shopping.
After shopping we went to Karen's for wine and cheese. We where going to go to the Lake, but the weather was not looking good. Below is a photo of the girls AFTER a few glasses of wine. Featuring "the dancing chandelier"??!! lol
Later we went to The Goblin Market for dinner, which was AMAZING, but I was not able to get any photos. It was an amazing day full of fun! I can't wait for our next little adventure!
SPEAKING OF ADVENTURES
I have started a group for artistic gatherings, tea, parties, flea markets, shopping and more for Florida artist. We will be hosting a variety of different pretty and vintage inspired adventures.
We have a number of different meetups already booked, and also have a Paris party, Saint Augustine day, La France Ybor shopping trip, and more in the works. If you are interested in finding out more, please click on the image above, or HERE.
Thanks so much for stopping by! I will do another post with my vintage finds SOON.
Please take a moment today and stop by my dear friend Bryanna's blog. Please read her story and consider supporting her by purchasing one of these lovely swans. Donations will go to "SHARE" a pregnancy and infant loss support group.
What do you get when you mix: A cupcake, blue birds, pink elephant, a teacup, teapot, ruffles, glitter and roses?
I'M NOT REALLY SURE, but this is what I came up with!
You know how sometimes you have that lovely vision of exactly what you want to do, and then . . .
your project takes a completely different turn and almost creates it's self?
Well, that is what has happened to me. I stumbled upon a wire teapot and teacups a few weeks ago. Since the Artful Tea is coming up, I decided to grab them, and maybe do a giveaway.
I thought maybe I would just decorate the set with soft frilly muted pinks and cream. Apparently my project had ideas of it's own, because this is not what I was envisioning at all. BUT
I think it is sweet! Besides I just love those blue birds and was happy to use them. I hope whoever wins it at the Artful Tea will enjoy it too.
I don't know about you, but I love, lOvE, LOVE little cutesy blue birds! I LOVE THEM! My sweet friend Bryanna was kind enough to make me some of these to use on top of decorated boxes. THEY ARE SO ADORABLE! I simply must learn how to make some!
I knew how I wanted to use them, but was not sure of all the details at first.
Then a few weeks back I came across the most STUNNING adorable vintage floral wallpaper.
I fell in love with the colors and quickly snatched it up. I was so happy to see how well it went with my little blue bird project.
To make the boxes I painted paper mache boxes white. I then cut the wallpaper in different pieces. I also inked the wallpaper here and there with white chalk ink to mute the strong colors in the wallpaper.
I sugared the tops with crystal glitter, and then embellished with flowers and gave the birdies little hats.
I am so happy with how they turned out. They will be going with me to the Artful Tea, along with these brooches I have been working on.
Thanks for stopping by to visit!
Found super sweet tea cups!
Found out there is a new ADORABLE cupcake shop in town. Lemon cupcakes, can you say YUMMY!
Finished the "Sweet Tea" jewelry projects I was working on.
AND . . . . . . . THE SWEETEST OF ALL . . .
I found out all this time I have been 10 MINUTES from a antique shop in town FULL of sweet vintage things! (More on this later)
Simply put it was a super SWEET week!
I have been working on a few jewelry projects over the last couple of weeks, and I thought I would share a little peek of what I am working on. I have been soldering away! I am making different jewelry pieces for the Artful Tea I am going to this month. The bracelets spell "Tea" and the necklaces will say "Sweet".
This is the first "Sweet" necklace I have completed. I made enough letter charms to make a total of three necklaces. I don't know what it is about creating pieces like this, but I just LOVE IT! I love the look of the letters, and I just love the contrast of the worn patina. I use Novacan black and copper patina to distress the charms.
This necklace has a variety of different vintage beads and jewelry pieces. I really loved this vintage clasp I found, and thought it looked really nice on this necklace.
I have had fun with this so far, and look forward to making more. I am hoping to be able to make enough that I can actually put something in my shop lol.
Thanks so much for stopping by to take a peek at my project!
I was excited to finally get to join one of the Speckled Egg Petite Inspiration Box swaps! This one was Spring themed. I am sure you have seen this swap around, but if you haven't heard of them, you are grouped up with other players and each player decorates a large sized match box and fills it with goodies that go along with whatever the theme is.
There where three to a group in this one. I was paired with Marti and Jeanne. Above is the sweet box that Marti sent me. It was filled with lovely treats in purple, pinks, and green.
Inside was pretty earrings and a necklace, a sweet notepad, bird, images, tag, ribbon, and other treats.
This is the pretty box that Jeanne sent me.
Inside was pretty millinery, lace, mother of pearl buttons, vintage wallpaper, and I loved the pretty light pink cameo! Thanks so much Marti and Jeanne!
Here are the boxes I sent Marti and Jeanne. I sent Jeanne the blue one and Marti the pink one.
The boxes are decorated with ledger paper and vintage wallpaper. The ends are glittered and embellished with vintage jewelry pieces and a bow.
Unfortunately I did not get many pictures of what was inside. For Marti I noticed she liked paper crafting and flowers. I made her a pink millinery flower, and included lots of other flowers, vintage wallpaper, pretty shabby papers and text. I also cut out words from vintage book pages that where Spring related.
For Jeanne I went with a bird theme and included different bird related embellishments and cut out vintage text with words that went with the theme. I also included a resin basket embellishment, vintage wallpaper, German glass glitter, and millinery.
This swap was lots of fun! Special thanks to Speckled Egg for hosting!
IN THE BEGINNING
Once upon a time boy meets girl. Boy builds girl a beautiful cozy home. Girl loves the home! Boys mom decorates her beautiful home in a primitive style, with strong country influences in brick red, greens and blues. Girls thinks this is cozy but not sure if it is for her.
Girls mom decorates her home elegantly with burgundy and lots of gold, glass and shinny things. Girl thinks to her self "hmmm is this the style for me?"
Girl decides to meet in the middle and decorates her new home somewhere in between the country and elegance with lots of rich floral, and vintage influences in burgundy and green.
WHOSE HOME IS THIS
A few weeks ago I dedicated a week home, no plans, free schedule. The whole week was dedicated to focusing on helping Dylan get a good start on potty training. Well, as you may have read in previous post, that did not really go as planned. But one thing I did realize that week was that once I was able to sit with a clear mind I realized how my house does not really feel like my own. Once I reflected on this I realized all the comments and hints that I have dropped to my husband about changing it.
I love my home. I love the comfort and warmth of it, and especially the love that is shared between the special persons who dwell in it. BUT it's not really a reflection of me. It is a reminder of the person I use to be. A person that was not really sure what she wanted of life, nor had an understanding of what family would look like to her. I took a piece of the old me that I was trying to leave behind, and a piece of the only other example I had and tried to make myself fit in the middle somewhere. YES, much of this is a metaphor, maybe an artistic souls or two can maybe to what I am trying to say.
A BLANK CANVAS AND FRESH START
I am forever grateful for the lovely home my husband gifted me. He and his dad built it themselves! There was lots of hard work and love put into it. I don't see myself able to walk away from it any time soon. I would just like to make it a little more lively.
(Above inspiring photos from Better Homes and Gardens Special 100 Ideas Flea Market Style)
The week I was home I realized how much I was "dealing with it" instead of "living in it". Since I started to find myself, and my style I have been drawn to bright white and cream decorated homes with flea market and French accents. I look at the photos and it just feels like a refreshing breath of clean sweet air. I know it sounds silly, but it almost transports me to a different frame of mind and makes me feel lighter in the chest.
(Above photo inspiration from Romantic Homes May 2011 issue)
SO after much thought I approached my husband. GULP. After much discussion and explaining he was very understanding of why I needed the change. So with out delay I jumped right in. I went through lots of magazines bookmarking all the inspiring ideas.
(Another inspiring photo from Better Homes and Gardens Special 100 Ideas Flea Market Style)
PIECES OF A PUZZLE
Here's the plan. For a fresh new start on the house as cheaply as possible. I like a challenge, and frankly I am sure my husband will enjoy it much more and go along with my crazy ideas if he does not feel the need to ask "what is that costing us" every time he turns a corner.
(Pinterest Home Makeover Inspiration)
I want the house to be a blank canvas! My goal is to paint and refurnish as much as I can from the things we already have. I already have whipped out the white paint! I want it all white and distressed. EVERY ROOM! White slip covers, white furniture, WHITE! I think that by doing this it will really help brighten the house up. OUR HOUSE IS A CAVE. It really is! Ok well not really, I don't LIVE in a CAVE, but our home is really dark. We have a good amount of windows, but they are covered with dark wood blinds and the burgundy furniture and dark colors just make it dark.
Of course my husband said some things are off limits. So I will have to use my creative juices to try to work around those things, but that's ok. Once everything is whiter I want to decorate with vintage flea market inspired things. With VERY LITTLE blue and/or green.
I ACTUALLY DID IT
A couple days after talking to my husband I started working on my first piece of furniture. I started with a little bakers cabinet (not positive that is the correct name). I painted it, and bought some glass knobs and accents for it. The photo above is mid way through distressing. I still need to put on the new hardware, but so far I am loving it! I will be sure to get updated photos once it is done. My husband did put a limit on how much distressing is ok.
I also painted the table! I LOVE IT! I want to put some ruffle white cushions on the chairs not I'm not there yet.
The lighting in the house is still really dark and it makes it hard to get good photos, but once I can get a good photo of the whole table I will share it with you. Below is a picture of what it use to look like. Dylan was about 18 months in this photo.
One of the things off limits according to the hubby is the blinds and wood framing around the window. My husband built wood frames around our windows, with a shelf over each window. I want to put some sort of lighter white or sheer curtains up, maybe paint the rods a lighter color and I think that will help lighten them up. Also I had a bunch of bottles up over the shelves in the dinning room.
I took them down (EEeekk yeah they are pretty dusty). I painted some of them with white gloss spray paint, and some I used acrylics inside the bottles to color them. I added a few little floral touches, and added some blue mason jars. The result is a lighter fresh feel over the windows. I love how the light hits the blue mason jars! Once I do the curtains I think the results will be much brighter.
Even with the few things I started, the table, the bakers cabinet, and the bottles the dinning room is so much better. The last few mornings I will open the blinds a little to let the light in and it is just so rejuvenating to wake up to!
Another thing I like about the white is that you can easily change it around to go with anything for the holidays. I have always wanted a BLUE CHRISTMAS lol
It is going to take some time to get everything just how I want. I plan on doing a lot of it myself, and then enjoy shopping the flea markets and Craig's list for fun pieces and things to use or alter. I told my husband in the end though all the pieces of the puzzle will come together!
LOOKING ABOVE
Another fun part of the puzzle is that my husband and I had plans of building on an addition as my craft room. It was going to be a LONG project and probably a year before we could get to it. WELL, one day I saw an attic craft room that I adored and mentioned it to my husband. HE LOVED THE IDEA! So now I am busy busy clearing out the attic so that he can start on my craft room while he is so eager lol.
(Pinterest craft room inspiration)
I will be taking photos as much as possible so that I can share my DIY projects with you. I am excited about our little project to lighten up and refresh our home, and I have already started to feel so much better, comfortable, and more at home.
Here are a few previews of some new sheets you can find in the shop.
Also I am having an "Artsy Mama" sale for Mother's Day! Use coupon code "ARTSYMOM" and save 25% off your order. Now until May 9th!
