For all of you in the LA area, don't forget about the 2nd annual Renegade Craft fair this weekend.  You can read more about the fair and see other cities and dates here. 

I am most excited to meet her and maybe pick up one of these...

see this fabulous work in person

or just be inspired by something small like this

See you at the fair!

Look What We "Found"!

My sister was in town last week so we made a point of fitting in some play time.  We visited some of our favorite spots, but she had never gotten to go to this fabulous store in Mesa called Found.

  

It is one of those stores that are few and far between, the kind that you go into and come out inspired.  

Not only do they provide some wonderful things to purchase, but their displays will get your creative juices flowing and motivate you to do something new and fun in your decorating.  

Stay with me, I took a LOT of pictures...

I love a good clock!....and if one is good, ten is way better!!

....and love a BIG clock

Fabulous pillow!

It's hard to tell from this picture, but the bell is HUGE...very fun!

Notice the photo behind the window....

Love these curtains...they have the appearance of burlap, but much nicer.

Notice the photo covering the back of the cabinet....very cool!

Love how they have the table sitting on the suitcase.

Love the cart as a coffee table!

LOTS of pictures and it isn't even that big of a store.  We had a great time...even asked the guy if we could spend the night...apparently we weren't the first to ask.

Let me know what you think.  

What is your favorite place to be inspired?

Deb

tick tock, tick tock....

Just a quick post to let you know we haven't fallen off the face of the earth.  But it's show time and that is usually when you will find us in the studio creating all kinds of good stuff for the summer CHA show. Deb and I also spent a couple days at the warehouse setting the booth so it could be wrapped up and sent to Chicago. 
Here are a few pictures of a display I have been working on for one of the new collections.  This one was so much fun to gather together.

My friends, Connie at the Green Vase and Stephanie at Ruby Rose helped me out with some of the natural elements.  I also picked some up at the beach on a camping vacation a couple weeks back.  Now add in some old and new elements and a great display comes together to convey the feeling of the new collection.  I love this one.

As soon as were done getting our act together we will start posting other projects we have been working on.  In the meantime, jump over to the 7gypsies blog for a giveaway of another new collection, Paddington.  They are giving away 7 paper packs on July 21st.

Man Shops Globe

Back in May I mentioned that one of our favorite designers (that we met while in Australia), Sibella Court was going to be featured on a future episode of Man Shops Globe.
That episode airs tonight (Wednesday) at 10pm ET/PT on Sundance Channel.

The episode is all about contemporary Australian art – host Keith Johnson plans an Australian home design showcase for the Rockefeller Center store and gallery in New York City.  He heads to Sydney, Australia in search of new artists to feature in the show, and turns for advice to the woman who represents the best of contemporary Australian style: Sibella Court.

PS) If you are like me, and don't get the Sundance channel you can watch episodes on iTunes... but it will cost to download each episode. 

Flowers in my garden

While on vacation my sister decided to teach us girls how to make fabric flowers while the men folk were on the golf course.  I am sure many of you know how to do this already but I decided to photograph it anyway (just in case) because I found it quite addicting.  In a way it reminds me of embossing powder...the way it doesn't do anything for a minute and then all of a sudden it's done.  I love that part.
As I said, I started the process on vacation but ended at home so please forgive all the different surfaces I photographed the flowers on.

You will need a pair of sharp scissors, acetate fabric (lining fabric), small piece of felt, a hair clip, needle and thread, low temp glue gun, and a candle. 

You will need something to make circle patterns.  I used chipboard but an old cereal box will do.  You really can cut the circles any size.  In fact, now that I have made a few I found I liked the large circles better than the small circles.  So I eventually made a circle pattern 4" wide and stopped cutting out the 1 1/2".  What you put in the center will determine if you need the 1 1/2" size.

 Cut 2 of each size circle so you end up with at least 10 fabric circles to work with.

 Don't worry if your circles are not perfect.  Any perfections will be cured in the next step.

Use a candle to burn the edges of the acetate (here's where the embossing powder theory comes in).  Hold the fabric over the candle, the rising heat will melt the edges of the acetate.   Use tweezers when melting the smaller circles so you don't burn your fingers!

 Once you have all your petals melted it will look like this. 

 Now to finish it off here at home!

With the base flower you can make many variations.  

For the first one I left the flower as it was.  Using a needle and thread I stitched through all the layers to secure the petals in place.

 Then I cut the back off an old clip-on earring with my Tonic scissors.

You can sew or glue the earring to the center of the flower.
Note: If you don't have an old earring just sew a few beads into the center.

Cut a piece of felt for the back. 
Clip a hair clip to the felt piece (I found mine at Michael's by the wedding section).
Add a bit of glue from a low temp glue gun.
Turn the flower over and add to the back.

The Second flower-
Same flower petals, but this time I added tulle.  I cut tulle circles using the largest pattern only.  I found that the tulle melts MUCH faster than the fabric.  It also shrinks much more when it melts, hence cutting larger size circles.  You definitely have to hold the tulle farther away from the flame! 
All that being said, I love the look the tulle brings to the flower.

Now for the center.  My friend Mindy sent me these hair clip things she bought at a kiosk in her local mall.  She liked them and figured I could re-purpose them in some way (of course I can).  I have never seen anything like this locally.  Apparently they are to be screwed into some kind of hair clip or head band for your baby.  I figured it would work perfectly for the center.  It did.

 I just cut a small hole, threaded the small screw through and added the nut.  Perfect.

I cut a piece of pea green seam binding. 

 Tied a big loop bow and stitched it to the back.

I repeated the same method to add the clip to the back.

Lovely.