Been Away

Hello Everyone,  I have been away from my blog for a long while due to the fact I have been working on lots and lots of new projects in my inside studio and my painting studio.  We have also been working on the outside of the house all spring and into the summer and we are finally done, at least for this year anyway! (Giggles!) I thought I better check in with you and let you know I have not fallen out of the blogger world for good I just got really busy. I have so much to share with you and I plan to be back doing that this week if at all possible.  Here is a small preview of my French Inspired Guest Bedroom.

These are a few photos from the French inspired guest bedroom makeover I completed after the guest bathroom refresh I did in the Spring. I made pillows, covered canvas with fabrics and created several crafty projects to give it the look I wanted. I just realized I have not downloaded a single project we did after we got this one finished. Yikes!I guess I have several hours of downloading work to do, oh well such is the life of a creative person.

These are a few of the accessories I originally added on the opposite side of the room; to be honest most of that has evolved over the last couple of months and I need to add new photos since I think the room might be done, NOT! Nothing is ever done around here as you all know.

Thanks for letting me share my news and one of my many projects.  I plan to be back as soon as I get everything loaded into my laptop. See you very soon.

Laurette

Curb Appeal

Hello Everyone,

I have been gone for some time now, a lot longer then I planned actually, I was down very ill and I was just not up to working on any creative projects, but I am back to my old self ready to get to work on lots of interesting projects.  In fact I have a new one to share with you on my new blog page over at Create*Upcycle*Decorate*Organize, it is a curb appeal project I think you will all enjoy, I will say no more, you will just have to click over and check it out.

I have also been working on redecorating the whole downstairs of my home the past week or two, I am not sure if I am going to share that project with you or not, we will see how I feel about it when I am done.  I will say I have gone back to my roots by bringing back my Tuscan inspired colors/ theme and replacing the reds and browns of the coffee shop theme.  I can also say I am much happier now that I am almost done and the tranquil atmosphere of my home has returned, no more red! That's a story for another time.

I look forward to sharing many more fun projects with you from my studio. Don't forget to check out my new curb appeal project, Southern Carriage House.  
See you soon.

Laurette

Happy 2013

Hello everyone, just wanted to wish each and everyone of you a very Happy New Year!!!

This is the time of year I usually evaluate all my goals from the previous year to see how I did with everything I planned. After looking at what I accomplished I was very happy with my progress, I did not get to everything but some things far exceeded my original goal, so overall I am a very happy camper. This year my goals are a bit different in some categories and the same in others with new ones being added as I plan out my year, I am very excited about the coming months and can't wait to get started. Here is a clue to one of the new projects I am already working on.

A Time to Blog:

It was a real privilege to have so many of you follow all year long as I began my very first blog, you hung in there through a few technical problems and several unforeseen absences, what a crazy year it was, I am so blessed to have shared it with all of you.  As many of you know I was having issues with Blogger/Google and could not resolve them last year, as far as I can tell I think things are worked out, time will tell, so for now I will not have to start a new blog but I will be reworking this one to avoid future problems.  You may see changes to the format and the amount of photos I use to help prevent the same errors with the exception of the tutorial posts which will still have the right amount of pictures to help you with your own projects.

I am looking forward to sharing all my projects with you as I complete each one. I want to wish each of you a very creative and fun filled New Year!!!  Look for my first post for 2013 this Friday.
See you soon.

Laurette

Apron A Day Series - # 1

Here it is, the apron series I have been talking about for a couple of weeks, I will be sharing aprons I made over the years some of which are now considered vintage by today’s standards.  In addition I will be sharing some of the aprons my mom designed and made for me as gifts.  If you have been following me for a while you know my mother was a master seamstress who made her living from the things she designed, stitched and sold at craft shows and other venues, she is my true inspiration every single day. I grew up working the shows with her and eventually we both designed and sold our products together, sometimes I don’t even remember who designed what since we traded patterns back and forth regularly.  I have most of those patterns, her sewing notions and some of her fabric, the rest was divided up among my two sisters who also sew and crochet.  I think of her everyday when go into my studio to work, I really feel her looking over my shoulder, especially when I pull out some of her notions, fabric and patterns to begin a project. My mother wore an apron everyday of her life whenever she cooked a meal or cleaned the house to protect her clothing from stains. Because of her strong influence I grew up with a fascination for aprons both in wearing one when I cook, clean or work on messy craft projects and with collecting and making them.  I have books, patterns and a good size stash of fabrics set aside just for apron making, I am obsessed.  I dedicate this series to my mom who passed away from breast cancer fourteen years ago this month, this one is for you mom.

I had so many aprons to pick from I had a tough time deciding on an apron to start with so I just picked the one I took the first picture of.  This pretty blue and green print with the polka dot waist band, tie and trim is one of my own apron designs, very simple with lots of coverage and very eye catching.

I added a loop in the back so a light weight hand towel could be hung there for easy clean up, no more searching for a clean towel.  This pretty little apron only took a couple of hours to make from start to finish, quick and easy with great results.

Thanks for letting me share the first apron from my new series, I hope it inspires you to start sewing and wearing aprons by the time the series is done.  For those of you who are not in love with aprons, like I am, there will be several new projects inserted in between the apron posts, for example, I have some Thanksgiving craft projects and more photos of the toy room makeover projects so keep checking in to see what is on tap for the day. There will be a lot of creativity going on in the studio during the next couple of months as the holidays approach, I hope the projects on my blog will be a hub of creative inspiration for all of you so keep reading, get out those glue guns, paints and sewing machines and get busy with me.

See you soon.

Laurette

Happy Halloween

For those of you who celebrate Halloween, I hope you had a safe and fun day and night.  I got to spend it with my two granddaughters who went trick or treating in my neighborhood, it was fun to see them all dressed up as a cheerleader for the oldest and Tigger for the little one.  Not many kids came by so the lights went off early and here I am writing to all of you. Halloween is over for me, after a quick clean up of the decorations I will move onto Thanksgiving decorating and a few projects for that holiday, which I will be sharing with you as I get them done.

It has been quite an adventure getting back to normal after being gone for ten days, so much to do to get laundry, bills and all the rest caught up so I can go back to my normal day to day life.  I have a lot of projects to share with you, I just need to have the time to sit down and post it all.  First up is the Apron A Day series which should appear in a day or so, I will be sharing other projects in between so I won’t actually be showing you apron projects every single day but pretty close to it which means if I can do it right you will see a post a day, at least that’s the plan.  The photo shoot for all those aprons is completed, I just have to do the writing, easier said then done but I will give it my best shot. I will also have more toy room projects to post in between all the rest of the other projects. Yikes!!! I better get writing!

I made this little witch doll many years ago when I was making and selling every kind of theme fabric doll imaginable. She is one of my original designs, who knows maybe I will start making them again; everything comes around if you wait long enough.

Thanks for letting me share my posting schedule with you, I felt it was important to let you in on the plans for the next few posts and what to expect.

See you soon,

Laurette

Simple Changes

Creating simple changes to a room, an outdoor patio, an office, creative studio or your homes curb appeal can have a huge impact on how you feel about the places you work, play or live.  The kinds of changes you can make can be as minor as a new paint color, bold new fabric drapes, artwork on the walls, a new chair or a few bright accessories to pull a room together and give it a cohesive feel.  My favorite things to do are all of the above depending on the room and what I want to accomplish in that room or space. I have written a number of past posts about small changes like adding bling to my studio through paint and accessories, painting tired old furniture giving it a new vibe and painting my front door red adding eye catching curb appeal.  Occasionally just making minor additions like a new tablecloth, place mats or a centerpiece to the dinning room table or changing out bed linens can create a whole new mood in the room you add them too.  It is all so easy to do and sometimes it just happens by accident like the recent transformation in my office/guest room.

This is a photo of the guest room/office right after I completed it around this time last year. It has a light, bright, spacious feel to the room with beach type accents along with complimentary paisley prints in blues and greens.

Simply by turning over the comforter to a solid deep blue color, the whole space became warmer and more intimate pulling out the deeper, darker colors in the fabrics already in the room, giving the entire guest room/office a completely new feel with one simple flip of the fabric, how easy is that.  I will probably leave it that way for awhile, I really like how it pulled out the blue in the walls, which were very subtle before, but now stand out a bit more.  Did I mention I love the color blue?

In addition to flipping over the comforter I added a fantastic, handmade, rod iron dress form to the corner of the room (the dress form was a birthday gift from my daughter).  I dressed her in a pretty blue and green apron I made from one of my patterns; it compliments the other fabrics already in the room.  The dress form is appropriate for the space due to the fact I am a seamstress by trade and the room also serves as my business office, very inspiring when I spend long hours writing at my computer.

Thanks for letting me share some of my simple changes; I hope it encourages you to make some of your own, it is so important to keep your environment fresh, bright and ever changing.  Speaking of changes, this is project weekend for us since we have three days to create and play in the yard and house, I hope to have some new projects to share with you next week so be sure you watch for them.  Just a hint; paint and wood will be involved, that’s all I am saying for now.  Have a fantastic and memorable Memorial Day Weekend. 

See you soon.

Laurette

If you enjoyed reading this post you might also like:

The Red Door

Sewing The Blues

Paisley Crazy Room Makeover- 2011

Holiday Sparkle- 2011

A Bit of Bling- 2011

FYI

Some of my regular readers may have notice my absence from the creative blog world lately.  I will admit life has been a bit stranger then usual with a large amount of unforeseen events keeping me out of my studio, away from my creative projects and my laptop, hence no new posts.  Because I wish to keep my blog fresh, fun and creative I have not been able to write on a regular basis sharing what is happening to and around me.  Don’t get me wrong, not everything is not as I wish it to be, just some of it.  I did manage to plant a few new spring flowers, continue work on our terraced hill in the backyard, re-configure our patio furniture and potted plants to create a better traffic flow on our outdoor patio, buy some new fabric to recover the patio cushions and hang an elegant chandelier over the dinning room table (all with the help of my handsome husband).  Those are just the few things happening in my creative life, the rest is the stressful part, with health issues and family drama keeping me from writing about the fun parts, when I manage to squeeze them in.

One of my pet peeves is following a blogger who just suddenly quits writing and disappears without a word leaving me wondering what the heck happened to her, so I decided I would let you know I am taking an undetermined break from writing my blog, due to all those stressful events.  I really don’t know if and when I will return to posting but I am pretty sure I will find my way back to it when things settle down again.  For those of you who follow me on a regular basis please don’t forget me, keep checking periodically to see if I have returned, and for those of you who follow me by e-mail alert, you will be the first to know when I am active again.

I will truly miss sharing all my colorful, creative ventures from my studio with each and every one of you, thank you for following me this past year as I made my way through this special journey.  Keep watching for me, I plan to return, see you soon.

Laurette

An Adventure

An Adventure

As I shopped for a new laptop I realized it was a lot like buying a new car, kind of stressful. Different models had different features, no one computer seemed to have it all, each one seemed to be missing some component I needed. It took going to the store I should have started with, not the last one I shopped in, before I finally bought one. A little voice kept saying, “go to the Sony Outlet Store”, where I purchased the last one. Did I listen, no, I ignored my little voice (women’s intuition) telling it to be quiet, we needed to shop around and look at all the laptops recommended to me by the “experts”. After much time spent on the internet, talking with my IT techs and three stores later, I still ended up at the Sony store. Why didn’t I listen and just go there instead of wasting a whole day? I could have been fabric or shoe shopping! The laptop I chose was the up to date version of the one which crashed on Friday, it has all the features I needed and wanted, finally. I guess I am just one of those Loyal Lindas who like to stick with what works best for her no matter what the newest in technology is. I had my laptop for over seven years so I know the brand and service is good. Let’s hope I am right and this one lasts me just as long or at least more then a couple of years. I will no longer be chasing the new technology with a very slow computer, I am now like everyone else flying through the internet at warp speeds. Look out world here I come! Woohoo!!

A couple of side notes:

I still don’t know if my pictures and data can be saved, I won’t know until Monday or Tuesday (still biting my nails, bad for my manicure, very naughty).

Finally, once I get all my programs and data loaded I will be back to sharing all kinds of fun projects and other goodies with you on a regular basis. I have high hopes for Monday or Tuesday.
Some of my future posts will include; Fall decorating part 2, Cut that Clutter part 3, Guest room makeover including all the DIY projects which went into it, some DIY and sewing tutorials, lots more bling and so much more. Look for me, I will be back with fun and photos, see you soon.