Decking the Halls

Yay! My favorite time of year...the time of year when glitter everywhere  is welcomed and not ostracized! I love decorating for Christmas ( and glitter) and here's what I've done in my own home so far.
 I try to do something different every year at Christmas time with my decor, which has given me a attic crammed  full of Christamas 'stuff'. I organize my ornaments in boxes by colors, and this year I pulled out the pink and purple ones for the sunroom tree. This skinny tree is what I usually call the "Girls' Tree", and I mix in a lot of their hand made and sentimental value ornaments. Of course we had to add in purple and pink lights!

 I really don't like tree skirts much at all, so I use hat boxes and gift wrapped empty boxes nestled around the base of the tree instead.  I have had those hatboxes for many years and they are a great way to store the really breakable 'priceless' ornaments.

Last year I made this ribbon light garland by just tying on lengths of several fabrics directly onto a strand of lights. Thank you Pinterest! That was a super easy and fun project and as I recall all of us girls worked on it during a Law & Order episode.


 I have to talk about the mantle, because I am in love with it! This area of my house gives me fits and I am constantly fiddling with it.  I'm trying not to buy any new Christmas stuff this year, since, you know...I have that attic full of stuff...but I really wanted something dramatic for the mantle.  The other day I went on a consultation and my client had a garbage can sitting on her curb full of Red Dogwood sticks. Hello! DRAMATIC RED STICKS!!!! I like to think that God gave me those! God and Lola Underwood and the Law of Attraction !

 I think they look great in the clear glass vases with sparkley, multi colored vase fillers.  I added the mod stars and the sweet reindeer and  sprinkled over the whole thing with fake snow.

 (pssst! they have these star ornaments at Big Lots in a box for 4 bucks! Run!)



The pink glitter trees have a new home this year next to the cake stand full of vintage ornaments.  In my former married life, I spent every Saturday morning garage sale-ing ...I have a TON of vintage ornaments. These itty bitty ones are my faves.  I added in a few disco balls...because we have disco balls all.over.the.house.

 This is my AWESOME new chandelier, which was another God gift.  I really wanted a chandelier just like this one for a very long time. I saw the original Calvin Klein design  in a client's home and just swooned. After searching high and low and online, for like THREE YEARS,   I had about given up on finding an affordable version, when I spotted this clearanc-ed out, floor model at Lowe's for...would you believe 50 dollars?  It's hung extra low over my table, which will probably make my brother nuts...if he ever comes to visit me!
Just to keep with my "I"m kind of a cheapskate" theme...I have to mention that the monofilament used to tie these silver snowflakes on was donated to me by a client who was cleaning out her craft room. "Can you use this fishing line for anything?" 

 You might wonder what Buddah has to do with Christmas. Well, Jesus was a Buddah. So there you go. Yes he does make sense there.

 Last weekend I went to an upcycled craft store in St. Louis. After digging through piles of old greeting cards, I found this cute little guy from the early 60s. LOVE!!!!


Not only do I have a zillion vintage ornaments ( from garage sales) I also have a zillion strands of beaded garlands (from various places,including garage sales). I shoved a bunch of them inside the glass cloche and I rather like it and it adds a fun shot of festive to the otherwise black and white vignette.

 

 Sometimes I make stuff to sell and then I can't let it go. I love love love the glittered peace sign and it keeps my crackled blue kitchen hutch from looking too shabby. 

 I told you I have beaucoups of ornaments!....here they are on the snack bar with a groovy santa/chef that I've had for years. He cracks me up, I love him.


Stay tuned, for this weekend...the living room gets the Holiday treatment! 

Christmas Open House....and how I design paintings

It's hard to believe the Holiday Season is upon us.  Christmas just keeps getting closer and closer to Halloween it seems!

I've been busy preparing for the 2nd annual "The Perfect Pair"  pre-holiday shopping extravaganza!  If you attended last year, and you plan on going this year, you will be amazed at how much more stuff there is to fancy up your home.
Wanda and her team of artists have been packing the showroom full of funky furniture creations and now there are several vendors with products for sale year round. This year there will be  cupcakes, jewelry, the ever popular lazy susans, goat milk soaps, my paintings and a bunch of other unique gift items! There's also a huge warehouse full of vintage furniture that you purchase to create something fun of your own.

Last year, I created a whole bunch of huge paintings.
This year, I'm keeping it small.
I think this time of year is all about gift giving, not big time decorating. So I've designed a fun little 'collection' that is all about inspiring words, sparkle and of course my favorite 'black and white'. (and pink...)


Awhile back I saw a photo of the way Kelly Wearstler works. She creates inspiration 'trays' instead of boards. I realized that I work in this way too. I start with a canvas and a general idea. After the canvas has had it's background textures applied, I start piling on the 'stuff' that I want to use on it: papers I like, glitter, broken jewelery, certain colors...whatever!

This way I can see how ideas and colors are going to work together and it helps me streamline my design.  Also I can move elements around and get a feel for where they should live permanently.

These are the infant canvases I am working on today.
I also find that photographing my work in progress really helps me figure out what's going right or wrong.
For example with the 'think/believe' set...I feel like the two polka dotted circles look like a child's car so I'm going to have to re-think that concept!


I've also never done 'seasonal' canvases before so creating winter themed work is a new one for me. I'm really excited and I hope if you are local that you can attend this year's show!


The Perfect Pair Antiques and Salon
November 16 & 17, 2012
10 am to 4 pm

Located at : 266 N. State Rt. 121
Warrensburg IL

**Update

Here are some photos of the completed paintings from this show