chaise lounge make-over

Internet:  "Challenge!!!"
Me:  "Accepted!!!"
-----
In a moment of web-surfing fun, I came across a very interesting blog. 
The most talented blogess had a problem, worked to find a solution, and succeeded magnificently!
I will let Kristy Swain of Hyphen Interiors tell her story...  but as a quick synopsis: she PAINTED an upholstered chair to gain the look she desired when other options were not viable!! 

Me: "WHAT?!  You can PAINT upholstery??!!"
Hyphen Interiors: "Yep, no problem!"
Me: "I gotta try that!!!"
So off I went on a round of the local resale stores.
Found it.
A chaise lounge with nice lines that would make a great reading chair... let alone a wonderful guinea pig for my experiment.

upholstered chaise before redo, a photo by everdayartdesign on Flickr.
Hyphen Interiors has a wonderful tutorial on the steps she took to paint her chair.  You can find it here.
I followed her steps and it worked beautifully.  I used more Textile Medium than she did, but that was the only varient.
So my finished product: A lovely dove grey paint, gloss white legs, and a ruffley brown trim.

 

another shot:

Yay, Hyphen Interiors for thinking outside the box!...  One of my favorite things to do!

everyday art design studio's painted upholstery make-over

let there be light....

Doing some "updating" in the homestead...

Anything that resembles "builder brass" is leaving.  Starting with the light fixtures...

I don't feel the need to show you the original fixtures.  I am just DONE looking at them, wouldn't want to inflict them on you. 

The Brass and Glass hexagonal entry hall lantern replaced with a DIY fixture:



new entry hall ceiling fixture



This fixture started as an large iron and glass candle holder (like a hurricane).  I found it at the local Habitat ReStore.  I took the brass fixture down, took it apart, and spray painted the candleabra and canopy parts flat black.  I turned the candle holder upside down, sprayed the inside of the clear glass panels with Krylon's Looking Glass spray paint, drilled a hole in the bottom (now the top) of the candle holder to feed the wiring through and hung it back up.

The Powder Room was next in line.

boring seashell-shaped-plastic-shade-over-mirror-sconce replaced with simple curly-que iron candleabra sconce:



Ya, um...  sorry for the crummy photography... so glad that you can also see the terribly crooked paint line and paint roller splotch on the ceiling!  Back to the fixture... This one was easy- Habitat ReStore- Period.  No rewiring- just purchase and hang.







Next to come down was the tiny white glass globe ceiling fixture in the Powder Room.  It was replaced with another DIY fixture. 

I found this decorative ball at Tuesday Morning.  It is about 12"- 14" across.  It is a very fine wire mesh welded together along the seams and to the iron discs at the top and bottom.  I used wire cutters to snip the iron disc off of the top.   I took the glass globe and its ceiling attachment/canopy-thing down and then spray painted the canopy the same flat black that I used for the entry fixture.  I reinstalled the canopy to the ceiling and added a light bulb,  I created a little rim along the edge of the wire mesh with some pliers and then attached it to the canopy with the screws that held the glass globe in place. 

Et Voila!

I am so happy to have made these little changes.  They just make me smile!





vintage wind chime

On my long list of things to make was a "vintage-find" wind chime.

My inspiration came from a couple of photos I saw on pinterest...

 

baby mobiles by Madeleine Boulesteix at Blogesteix



and...

Handmade windchime, a photo by Rebecca Sower on Flickr.

I thought it might be an interesting "gift" for my husband for our upcoming anniversary.  So I moved it up in the queue of  "to-do"s. 

I know what you might be thinking, "a girly wind chime for your husband?"... It is sort of on the order of a husband giving a blender to his wife as an anniversary gift.  I wanted to make it though, therefore, I rationalized that it would be a "gift" for both of us to memorialize our 16th year of marriage.

The end product:



everyday art design's anniversary wind chime

I shopped at a couple of local second-hand and "antique" stores. 
What I found:
sliver plate baby cup
crystal chandelier prism
zinc "ball" canning lid
silver plate spoons, fork, butter knife
stainless biscuit cutter

I had purchased a few things off of ETSY earlier this year that- at the time I had no specific use for- I just knew I loved them and would use them eventually:
foreign coins
old keys

a few other items:
washers
nuts
several different chains (from a home improvment store and craft store)
floral wire
a drill bit that would drill through metal
a stone necklace pendant (on clearence a year ago at a craft store)
a blank brass disc
numbered brass discs (from an online office/shipping supply store)
wire cutters and a couple of needle-nose pliers
a Dremel electric engraver (I searched at several craft and home improvement stores looking for a tool that I could use to draw images or words on metal... It was hard to find... finally a clerk at Lowe's found one for me- even though he didn't think they carried such a thing.)

I so enjoyed the process of making the wind chime! 
shopping
laying out the design
drilling the holes
working the links
giving it
hanging it




the top silver cup



the biscuit cutter in the middle





the "ball" lid near the bottom

 

"16 years" added to the brass disc with the Dremel engraver at the very bottom



I hope to have many more happy years listening to its charms!

clouds

I saw a painting in a movie.
I was fascinated by it.
It was quite large and hung like a headboard over the main character's bed. 
7/8 of the painting was of clouds... with the last 1/8 being a vague green/brown field. 
It was so serene.  I thought it must be wonderful to wake up to those clouds everyday.
Then it occurred to me that I might be able to paint something like them that could inspire me everyday.

I bought the canvas-  months ago.  It is 4'x4'.
I studied the clouds even more than usual (I have always been in awe of God's ever-changing palette and sculptures in the sky).
It took me a while to get up the courage to start painting.  I wondered if I was going to be able to catch on the canvas what I saw in my mind.

Here is what I created...


"clouds" by Laura Gibbs

 I am pleased with it.
 
It is so hard to be objective as an artist... being so intimately involved with a work... having a vision of what "it" is supposed to look like, to convey...  Does it ellicit the same emotion in others as it does in me?
I imagine most artists deal with these thoughts and emotions.  Believe me when I say that I dont suppose to compare myself with the likes of Tchaikovsky, but I heard once that the Nutcracker was Tchaikovsky least favorite composition... yet it is beloved by the public - probably the most well know Ballet in the world.  What did he see (or should I say hear) in it that displeased him?  Which composition was HIS favorite- how do the masses respond to that one?
Art is subjective.  It can't be reduced to one word.  Can't be put in a box.  It affects us all differently.  I must deal with that.  

My "clouds" make me happy. 

floral inspiration

I find myself drawn to flowers (and butterflies- but I'll save those for another time, perhaps).
Flowers have always been a source of design inspiration.
They can be complex or simple, elegant or casual... anything... except ordinary.


everyday art design studio's 3 flower lapel pin


There is just something about them that feeds the soul.  
I would guess that God intended us to feel something when we look at flowers.  "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities- his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." Rom 1:20. 
Creation reveals God to us- intentionally.
What a joy it must have been to dream up all the colors, sizes, and shapes that make up the world of flora.

There are numerous tutorials out there for wrapped/twisted flowers- all similiar in their construction.  I don't feel the need to add mine to the masses.  Here is a tutorial I particularly like from Cherry Street Cottage.




Cherry Street Cottage- fabric rosette tutoral

 

a recent creation of mine:



everyday art design studio's wrapped flower lapel pin

 The fabrics for my flower pin:
pinky/orange- a cotton dyed batik
brown- a two tone printed diamond pattern cotton
green/blue- printed swirl cotton
orchid purple- synthetic tafetta

I added beads to the center of two of the flowers.
The leaf is created in the same fashion- just shaped like an oval to begin with instead of a circle.
I prefer sewing the flowers (as opposed to glueing).  It feels more permanent to me.
I stitched the flowers and leaf to a stiff felt on the back and added a locking pin back.


My youngest gave it to his Kindergarten teacher for Valentine's Day.

Have a blessed weekend!

leave no stone unturned

crocheting around a smooth beach or river stone....
i made these:

everyday art design studio's crocheted stones

inspired by these:

Margret Oomen's crocheted stones featured on Purl Bee

These beautifully wrapped stones were designed by Margret Oomen and called "Little Urchin crochet covered sea stones".  They are featured on Purl Bee's website.  Margret generously supplied the crochet pattern for this design:

Margret Oomen's crocheted stone pattern featured on Purl Bee

 

Margret's Blog: resurrection fern

Margret's ETSY shop: knitalatte : resurrection fern

Thank you Margret for sharing your creativity with the world!

I crocheted the white stone (on the left above and on the right below) following Margret's pattern...  except that I continued the crochet around the whole stone (just continuing with "dc in every second stitch pulling tightly to make the cover very snug on the stone" from Margret's pattern: step 9).

the back of my white stone

I used Aunt Lydia's Bamboo Crochet Thread in White for the white stone. 

For the cream stone, I used a DMC crochet thread in Ecru.  For this stone, I started with a pattern for a heart.  From there, I improvised with different sets of stitches around the heart to fill in the rest of the front of the stone.  The back is completed in the same way as the white stone: dc in every second stitch until the spiral closes.

a new experiment

I am always up for a creative challenge.
Actually, I suppose I would say I thrive on them.

I read a shop owner's profile on ETSY the other day.  She is a crocheter who says that she only works without a pattern.
Innteresssting! 
Challenge On.

I think I probably know enough about crochet to work without a pattern... I think.
So here is where the experiment comes in.
What to create?
I am thinking... a cowl... a simple circle with lots of potential for... experimentation.
So here is the work-in-progress:

I started with a slubby cotton yarn (merlot colored).  Worked a few rows in a single crochet, double crochet repeat. 
I continued the sc,dc repeat with a double strand of a wool yarn (lavendar colored). 
Then completed the circle by joining the wool to the other end of the cotton yarn.

Ok.  Nice.  Lovin' the colors and the texture (thanks to the sc,dc repeat).

Time for a little embellishment.

I thought: trim.

Scallop.

I had a remnant of a ball of Noro sock yarn (sssooo love the long color gradients in Noro yarns) that is in the same color family as the first two yarns I used...  

Scallop started.

Now where?
The experiment continues....
I'll let you know...