, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Simply Said at The Empty Nest

Today I had the pleasure of doing a Simply Said party with Janet from The Empty Nest – a delightful  shop that sells Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. Janet and I go back a few years — I had met her during Annie Sloan’s US tour, when she was in Leesburg, VA. I was attending and brand new to chalk paint. Someone introduced her to me as my local stockist (back then she was a booth-holder in an antiques shop). Now Janet has a gorgeous shop full of amazing furniture and goodies in Old Town Warrenton, VA. When I was painting furniture I was in her shop almost weekly. Talk about inspiration – check it out!

Ahhh – the mother lode!

Janet’s shop is a feast for the eyes! She has chalk paint, antiques, painted furniture, hand-crafted items, repurposed items, lovely textiles, and so much more! I could browse for hours!
She was so kind in offering to host a party for me in the shop. I set up in the back and we had a nice crowd join us to learn how to use Simply Said in their decorating. Here’s a few shots from the party!
Janet put out quite the spread!
 I loved the welcome sign!!
My Simply Said display included a few painted items, as well as Simply Said’s accessories and designs.
 In this picture I am removing the grid paper from the back of a design.
Here I am demonstrating how to easily hang a design on the wall. 
I had such a nice time chatting with the women who came. I loved hearing their ideas for using Simply Said. One lady, named Sue, is planning on creating a custom design using Simply Said’s online tool, called Your Way. She’s going to make a back-splash design that I have no doubt will be the conversation piece of her kitchen!
This was certainly a fun venue for a party! Big thanks and appreciation go out to my friend, Janet! if you’re in the Warrenton, VA area, be sure to check out The Empty Nest!
/0 Comments/by
, , , , , ,

More on color – choosing wall art colors

Now that I am a Simply Said design consultant, and doing home parties, I am getting a lot of questions about how to choose the color of their wall designs. So, I created this little guide to help. While this sheet talks about vinyl designs specifically, the suggestions are applicable to any wall art – paintings, prints, metal art, etc.

First – match your art with an accent color. If your room is mostly neutrals with a pop of red in your couch pillows and curtains, then red would be an ideal wall art color. Look at the photos in the top half of the page. Notice they chose vinyl colors to match their accents: a lime green accent wall, a red pillow and red in the rug, teal pillows, and a brown bedspread.

Another option for choosing color – go with the same color as your wall – but in a few shades lighter or darker. So, if your wall is light blue, like in the photo above, then use a darker navy blue color for your wall art. The use of one color family in various intensities is subtle and beautiful.

When in doubt, going with black or white is usually a safe bet, too!

/0 Comments/by
, , , , ,

Decorating with lambs and sheep

I don’t know what is happening to me. Seriously, as I get older, the corniest shit is becoming appealing! Ten years ago I would have NEVER put a rabbit out as decor at Easter. Last year, a stroll through HomeGoods and the bunnies were hopping in my cart!

This is last year’s loot. Eggs and bunnies. 
This year I am swooning over lambs. I want a portrait of a baby lamb for Easter! Like Miss Mustard Seed’s cow below? Have you seen her cool cow painting, I love it!
Just look at this image…its so beautiful! This would hang in my home all year!
Or this… precious! 

And I probably could be tempted to add a lamb end table to my living room! Hubby might object however. But, how frigging cute are they!!
How else could I bring lambs into my decor without it looking like a baby’s nursery?
Pillows! This is cute. There’s tons of lamb and sheep fabric for sale online, so if this print doesn’t float your boat, find another and make your own cute accessories!
While I haven’t learned to knit yet, this little ceramic bowl (for holding yarn) speaks to me. I love the simplicity of it – very nordic folk artsy!
These needle-felted wool lambs are precious and I want a whole flock of them to decorate my fireplace mantel for Easter!!
Prints, posters, and paintings of lambs or sheep – I’d keep them year-round, too!
A sheep rug? This looks so luxurious (its faux). However, with a dog and small boy in the house, its just not practical, right now. And maybe too over-the-top for me.
This I would do! A vintage-style transfer to be used for any type of crafting. I could see printing this on linen and framing it. And its only a dollar on Etsy!
Well, Easter will be here before we know it, so I better get working on it! How will you decorate for Easter?
/0 Comments/by
, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Making a pillow with a step-by-step tutorial

While I’ve been redecorating my front living room, I’ve had lots of suggestions from my Facebook friends on what to do. Someone suggested I needed another pop of my accent color – red. I have a stash of gorgeous red geometric Robert Allen fabric that I’ve been dying to put to use, so I pulled it out and made some pillows tonight.

Sewing definitely is not one of my strong points. I remember learning how to sew by hand from my great-grandmother, and taking sewing in high school home economics – but that’s the extent of my education. Thankfully, making pillows is as simple as it comes, and a sewing machine makes the task easy-breezy. And perfection is not necessary!

So for anyone who hasn’t tried their hand at pillow-making, take it from me, it’s not hard. Here’s how its done…

You’ll need fabric, your pillow insert, or old pillows like the ones I was using (and planning to just recover), a sewing machine, thread, a needle and a pair of scissors.

Lay your pillow down over your fabric.

I left a good two inches around each side of the pillow’s edge and cut. After you cut the first sheet, use it as a template and cut another sheet the same size.

Lay your two sheets down so the printed sides are facing each other.

Sew up the left and top sides of the sheets. I sewed about a quarter inch from the edge. Don’t worry about the fabric not being even. You can cut this away after you are done sewing, and it will be on the inside of your pillow, so no one will know its there!

Once the left and top sides are sewn, tuck the pillow inside, snug against the edges.

Next, using your fingers, gather the extra fabric along the right side of the pillow and insert pins along the edge of your pillow insert, so you know where to sew. (see below)

Now sew along the line you created with the pins, removing each pin as you get to it.

Once the right side is sewn up, again cut the excess fabric away.

Now turn your pillow case inside out, and insert your pillow.

See all the extra hanging at the bottom. We’ll pin it along the edge of the pillow, just like we did on the right side.

Once I had the whole line pinned, I cut away about half this excess, so I was left with about an inch from the pins.

I folded the excess inch under…

And pressed the edges together. I hand sewed this side together. I am not sure what this stitch is called, but basically I went in one side with the needle, and the side I exited from was the side I went back in with for the next stitch. So in and out. On the first pillow I took my time and made very small stitches that were nearly impossible to see.

For the next pillow, I decided I would try that closing trick I see people do online – you know, the pro’s. They sew up the last side of the pillow about half way, and then stuff the insert in, and hand-sew the remainder.

This is how much space I had left unsewn. Maybe a nice soft squeeshy pillow insert filled with features could have been stuffed in there, but my pillow wouldn’t fit. I tried folding it in half, rolling it, pressing it. (I had flashes of giving birth and Saxon’s giant head trying to squeeze through…well, I don’t have to say it, you know what I mean.)

By the time I was done stuffing, I was starting to break a sweat, and I had torn the opening this wide! Oh well, lesson learned. For me, I was doing just as good a job hand-sewing the last side. So, I quickly sewed this shut by hand. Done!

And here they are, adding an extra pop of red to my living room!

Charlotte, the Green-Lantern wonder dog, approves!

/0 Comments/by