Painting, painting, painting......

The past two weeks have been a rush.  Between getting the store ready for our  fashion show event and working on my friends house to get it ready for Home Tour, time has been a blur.  But I did sneak in some time to paint.  

Finally finished the Mother's Day canvas (first pic) and was really happy with the way it turned out.  My Mom wrote that saying about her own Mom and its always been one of my favorites.  A sweet queen canvas with water colored edges.

I've had some custom pieces to work on and I thought I might show you a little of how my brain works.  Now, before you go screaming for the hills at the thought of that, here is visual proof.  Of how my brain works.  Its a jumble, this desk of mine, and my brain.  But it gets sorted out.

I wanted to do a baby gift for a friend and her theme was baby mermaids and soft sea greens, turquoise and pink.  I started out with a sweet baby face... a vintage 40's feel was what I was going for and I just could not seem to get where I wanted.  

She turned into a weeble instead.  LOL.  After looking at children's art, it was all very simplistic, so that was the route I went.

She (the mermaid) turned out more toddler than baby size.  And the monogram was supposed to look like seaweed and pearls.  Sweet Hub, who is my favorite critic, did not get it, so I changed the monogram.  Especially after art friend, Sandra, suggested three letters, rather than just two.

So, what I wanted was a HUGE canvas with the saying that new mommy picked out.  And the two smaller canvases that she could put on the side.  Here is the large canvas in progress.  

And this is everything completed.  I was happy with the way it all turned out and I hope Mommy likes it as well.  

Now, I'm working on a custom piece for a bride, who wanted all the different words for "kiss" on a subway like canvas.  I added their wedding date to make it more personal.  Her colors are various shades of coral, pinks and greys.  Here is the basic layout.

Now, I'm beginning to go in and add more details, extra color, etc.

It needs a WHOLE LOT more color and detail.  So, I'm going to get back to it.  Hope your Monday is going well too.

Home Tour House Prep Continues

The velvet curtain is really a vintage curtain for a child's play theater.  The coral umbrella adds a pop of color.

Here are a few shots of the room that I've been working in for the past few weeks.  Since this photo, we've moved the bed and I've added a small painting of a bird right above the umbrella.  

Old suitcases make the perfect holder for a collection of odd goodies.

 "D" already had the table and wall shelf in place, I just added the "dressings" on the table and re-arranged the goodies on the shelf.  Pinks and browns are some of my favorites too.  This is such a pretty room to work in.   

A small vignette of a curtain pull back, metal bird, broken watch and spools of velvet trim.  

My painting.  I'm going to go back over this with a piece of steel wool as "D" wants it to look as though it has been on the wall for a long, long time.  That will soften the edges of the design and hopefully take down the color a bit.  

To break up all the softness, Sandra got the brilliant idea to add some coral to the mix and then several of the accents have touches of black, so it keeps it from being too sweet. 

Goodies piled into a suitcase.

That's just some of the room. We've got a few more details to add.  I will take a few shots once we have the room completed.  It really is turning out to be a lovely guest room.

A Work in Progress on a house

Week two, of my doing some paint work and re-arranging on my friend "D's" home, as she gets her house ready to be on the home tour in June.

 As I was waiting for some paint to dry, I thought I would wander around and just snap some pics of the wonderful vignettes that are in her home.

 Love this chair and the sweet hat and pillow.

This grouping of old photo's, glasses and mementos sits atop a vintage dresser, as if someone were reminiscing.  

 My friend has a fondness for all things "statue".  And she has several lovely ones in her home, but this one is my favorite.  

 I love that she is holding a bird in her hands.

 Such a whimsical shade, almost in a state of "undress".  Loads of lace and cheesecloth, with drippy crystals.  Very sweet.  

 Which leads me back to this guy.  "D" says that she bought it with all the lovely goods already tucked into the basket at his feet, she just added an old photo of her Mom.  The "ribbon" music sheet was a find elsewhere.  

Well, I hope you enjoyed my "wanderings'.  I'll post next on the room that I'm working in.  Pity I forgot to take before pics of all the painting that my friend Sandra is doing.  I think we actually made "D's" husband cry when he came home and found out we had painted several wood pieces.  :)  Till then...

English Pop Up Shop

 My friend "J" traveled to England last January on a buying trip.  From the photo's that she shared it looked like it was wonderful fun.  And she found many lovely goodies.  Her cousin, allowed my friend, to use her wonderful home as the shop.  I thought you might enjoy some pictures of the event, from last week.  

Her cousins home is really lovely and its on one of the prettiest streets in town. Her newly redone porch just needed a picture of lemonade and a book to be perfect.

Inside, treasures awaited.  Loads of lace, nicely priced, and such a wonderful variety of textures and colors.  

I'm not a lace girl.  At all.  And even I succumbed to buying a few pieces, cause the prices were just that good.  

 My friend "M" had a fit that these pieces were wrapped around old organ pulls. Very creative indeed.  

 No sale of goods from England would be complete without a photo somewhere of the Queen!

 Yes, I've seen these countless times here in the states, but never any quite as pretty.  I snapped up one of these as well.  

Loved this mini dress form dressed in vintage, rusty keys.  I can just imagine the doors that they've all unlocked.

 The sun room was decked to the nines with all things garden.  Fun tags gave a little bit of history or info on the item.  

Such a pretty room.  A perfect place for a morning cup of coffee and bird song.  

This is my weird angle shot, but I wanted to capture this little vignette of furniture that runs down a walkway.  I'm a sucker for brown and burlap and this was just a lovely mix of patterns and colors.  

Knowing J and her cousin, I'm sure that they had tons of fun displaying all those wonderful goods out.

They set out a lovely "tea" as well.  

The devil is always in the details and I loved the great napkins they chose.  I had to swipe one.  

Adored this plate "wreath" that her cousin made.  

Such pretty restful colors throughout her home.  We took a sneak peek in some of the rooms.  

Such lovely displays and such wonderful things.  I had to really struggle to walk away from the wonderful charm bracelet in the pic above.  

But here are the goodies that I did end up with.  Bits of lace, the metal piece, a key, a small frozen charlotte head, small piece of Majolica, sachet, a vintage book and my personal FAVE, a toast rack.  The sale was loads of fun, saw many friends there and what a delight to see such wonderful things.  The anglophile in me was dancing with joy!