party on! crafty secrets style!



Hello everyone!

For this month, all the Crafty Secrets Design Team gals were to create something around a party theme. I decided to take the "tea party" route and create something with the new Alice in Wonderland products!




Instead of a layout, I used a hanging drawer wall display I got at a local craft store. The drawer came in a dark brown or white - I was set on the white since it offsets the pastels so well in the Alice Scraps. Each section of this wall hanging measures 4x6, so it was very easy to cut, stain, and adhere since the measurements are already there. I used an adorable collection from Heidi Grace for the patterned paper and American Crafts cardstock for the solid. For two of the photo areas, I cut 4x6 sections from the inside of the Wonderland Tea Creative Scraps.....the hardest part? - deciding which of the many wonderful scenes to use!


For the solid photo mat areas, I stitched a zig zag border to give a little dimension. On the pink photo mat, I stamped the adorable tea pot and teacup from the "Tea With Alice" acrylic stamps in a subtle pink ink. To add a little texture and pop, I used a variety of ribbons, fibers, and fabrics to tie to the drawer handle at the top of the display. Now it is ready for the perfect tea or birthday party photos!



Now you simply must check out all the other extraordinary party projects by the rest of the Design Team....off you go:
xoxo

The Minimalist Wooden Furniture

The furniture above has been made by natural wood. The use of uncarved wood and bamboo and the use of heavy lacquers are well known Chinese styles.Traditional Japanese furniture is well known for its minimalist style, extensive use of wood, high-quality craftsmanship and reliance on wood grain instead of painting or thick lacquer.

Decorating a Dining Room By Matching Furniture

The first thing do when decorating a dining room is to take a good look at your existing furniture. Formal furniture will need formal decorations, while casual furniture begs a more relaxing room. Modern furniture should be highlighted with modern items. Traditional furniture is the most flexible, as it can be dressed up or dressed down. If you have not yet chosen your furniture, think about whether you want a more formal or casual room, and select accordingly. According to me, we really2 want a simple and matching furniture in our dining room would be. It would get eye catching...

photo play

Hello my little scrappers!

Well it has been a productive day off in my little studio. I woke up and had some ooey-gooey cinnamon rolls with scrumptious frosting....did my normal online checking in....finished my Graphic 45 fairy album....and played with my camera and a few photos. I've really been loving manipulating colors and adding textures! Here are a few that I played with today as part of a class I am taking....we had a little a little homework and here you can see my before and afters. I can't wait until spring so I can start taking more colorful photos - will it ever come?
(before)

(after)

(before)

(after)



Make sure you tune in Monday for our Crafty Secrets Design Team Challenge!! Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Hugs!

The Important Thing In Designing A Children's Room

The main rule to remember in decorating a child's room is to incorporate the personality of the child into the room. In nursery design, since you have not been introduced to your child's unique personality, go ahead and indulge in the luxury of your own ideas while creating your baby's nursery.

a little leland lady


When I received the new Farm Fresh Scraps from Crafty Secrets, I just fell in love with their whimsy and charm. Not really being a country girl myself, I was struggling with finding the perfect picture to showcase their bright colors. Then, one night at the library, an amazing woman brought in pictures of her past to show some of our patrons. Donna is our school's secretary and has lived in our small community of Leland her entire life. She enchanted us with her stories of long ago that night....describing our little town like only she can. I asked her if I could use a picture of her with her mother, sister, brother, and family goat to help inspire this layout. I am so happy she agreed. I am very lucky to have Donna in my life and I think I can speak on behalf of the entire community - we all are truly blessed. She is the heart of our little school and I am honored to share a little bit of her with all of you!


Notice my husband's denim jeans are getting a real workout. Try stamping your images on different textures and layering to create a little dimension on your stamped images!


Donna is the first little girl in her line of sibling - isn't she sweet?

 Recipe for this layout:
Crafty Secrets - Down on the Farm large acrylic stamp set, Farm Fresh Creative Scraps
Paper - Daisy D
Mailing Metal Tag- Staples
Raffia - Michaels
Vintage Findings: Lace
Colored Pencils - Prismacolor


Oval Desk

Just want to share with you our favorite item of the day, the oval desk.  It's very rare to find a cool desk, don't you think?  It's even rarer to find one in oval.  Usually they are always rectangular.  Granted, oval is not always the most practical shape, but if you don't have to place your desk against the wall it's a really, really cool look.

Anyway, we love this desk.  It's selling for $1500 and it's so worth it!



Firewood as Decoration

Is it cold and wet where you are?  It is here in Sausalito and we just love it.  When it's like this it's so tempting to light up a fireplace isn't it?  Except do you know it's terrible for the environment?  It really is.  The NY Times had an article about that here.

Anyway, we love the idea of using firewood as decoration though.  It's so organic (so overused, we know), but it just adds warmth to a room without having the hassles and expenses, you know?

Here are a couple of pictures:

Source:  Erin Martin Design

Source: NY Times

Modern Architecture Done Right

We think it's really hard to do modern decor.  You can't really hide anything. Everything has to be just so--ie, the right color scheme, the right lines, the right spacing...

Here is a sample of some beautiful modern decor from the real estate section of the Wall Street Journal.  This house is made of glass and steel.  We just love the simplicy of it it, don't you?







To see the rest of the house, click here.

more paper than shoes


Hasn't this winter seemed to last forever? So many storms covering every inch of the country....it's hard to escape it. I am really over winter's kiss and ready to snuggle into spring's embrace. The weather here has also changed for the better....40s this week and maybe even a 50 or two.....so fingers crossed it is right around the corner! We can almost see grass again and gardening catalogs are popping into our mailbox making me ready to see tulips, peonies, daffodils. The good news? Spring will be coming a little bit earlier to my little mailbox and studio...



I was so excited to find out that I will be designing for Anna Fearer - an amazingly talented paper artist. Her specialty? You guessed it - FLOWERS! Beautiful paper blooms in an array of designs, textures, and colors! I cannot wait to adorn my projects with her pretties and share them with you! And you probably already guessed that I am quite the flower addict - so this is just wonderful on so many levels and right up my alley!

The name of her business is "More Paper Than Shoes" - isn't that just a brilliant?! I am sure many of you can relate - I know I can! She had opened a world of flower power with her Etsy shop, personal blog, and her new design team blog. Six artists were selected to showcase her work as part of her new creative team.

Here are just a few of Anna's masterpieces (including the flower above):






Springtime - here we come!

xoxo

Dream Life

In the past we blogged about our favorite fashion blogs, The Sartorialist and Garance Dore-you probably heard of them? Hugely popular, their photos are gorgeous! It's one of those blogs that we read everyday along with our morning coffee.



Anyway, here is a great article about the couple in New York Magazine if you are interested.

It's so great when a blog with an original idea becomes hugely successful like that. Gives hope to the rest of us, no?

Another great space in Barcelona









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