Naming a style.

In a previous post I described Jennifer's (daughter#3) wedding decorating syle as Bohemian Eclectic. Bohemian is the sense as unconventional and non conforming to traditional patterns of decoration. Eclectic as in selecting materials from various sources of style.

The elements of Boho Eclectic are: color (lots of it!), texture, layers, various patterns, along with whimsical, vintage, and cultural accents. An excellent example- the guest book.
Made from an antique French book.


Corner detail- Hand dyed seam binding from the Ribbon Emporium, at Lakewood.

Oh... Boho Eclectic also includes oodles of flowers!

Decorative paper from the Paper Source; a store in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood of Atlanta. I just love it!

Machine stitched vintage printed paper on the old pages of the antique book.

I used the crop a dile to punch the holes into the book's front and back. Then had to reinforce the holes in the book pages. Love all the texture?

Not the usual guest book.... but we like it!

Bunch of Butonniers

Daughter #3 naively consented to let me handle the decorating and a few other things for her wedding; keeping her preferences in mind, of course. hehehe. The wedding is less than two weeks away eeeeeekkkkk! If there is a particular style for this event it would have to be called Bohemian Eclectic.

One of the "other things" is making the boutonnieres. Here goes!
Materials: Wool, old shirt, burlap, and felt

Process:

All cut out!

Middle of leaves:

Felt backing:

Sewing the rosettes:
(I had to change the color of the burlap because the darker could not be dyed to the right color.)

Voila!

Knitting Fever...

I had mentioned in an earlier post that this malady has come upon me early this year. I can trace the beginnings of this contagion back to the first time I spied Jenny Doh's cabbage rose knitted cuff on her blog. To my absoulute delight she offers a kit on her website CRESCENDOh.com. I quickly ordered it.

If Jenny only knew how "me" this cuff is! Waiting for it to come in the mail was excruciating. Actually, it came very quickly (kudos to CRESCENDOh). Those of you who have followed this blog for awhile know how much I appreciate great packaging. Well, I was not dissapointed when it came time to open the joli paquet. It came enclosed in a cellophane bag~ the better to get a peek~ A gift of post cards with Jenny Doh's mantra Art Saves in the form of art work by Danita (left) and Michelle Ward (top). A stamped muslin draw string bag held the makings of the cuff.

These are going on my heart board!

Inside the bag!

I'm in love with these knitting needles wrapped in script and tied with twine.

The hemp and ribbon on vintage spools~Totally Cool~

I adore the buttons in the cellophane bag stapeled closed with the vintage dictionary script "Devote"
I could sense the devotion to detail that went into packaging this sweet kit.


I couldn't wait to get started. I loved working with the hemp and silk ribbon. The directions were easy peasy to follow.
~ Voila~ The front.

The back view


On me



Thanks, Jenny, for a great project and your devotion to art that inspires creativity!
For those of you who aren't afraid of catching a creative fever, click on Jenny's link found on our blog roll!

Beauty for Ashes...

Earlier this year a horrible thing happened my photogropher, daughter Hope. Her camera was stolen. This inspired me to go ahead and invest in a better camera for our business and blogging purposes. Here is a pic she took with our new Nikon CoolPix L110



Though we may weep through the night... joy comes in the morning!

Etoiles de la Mer!

One of these things is not like the others ~ I took some tiny star fish gathered from my travels to Tarpon Springs, FL tourist trap called the sponge docks. They sell all sorts of shells, sharks teeth, and sponges there. I pained the dainty etoiles with white paint, then applied white german glass glitter, and finally glued a ribbon tie. These little babies can be hung from various creative places. Quite a handful I must say.

I love this vintage brooch.

Makes me want to go to the beach!

Baby Shower Gifts

Hope and I went to a baby shower Sunday. Unlike a normal person, who goes to the store picks out something nice, from the registry of course, I just have to "make" something.
Check out this onesies and wash cloth bouquet. The idea came from Kelley Bell the quintessential party planning diva. She does these for all the baby showers she plans.

They are a lot harder to do than they look

Knitting fever has hit early this year in the form of ~Sweet Mary Janes~

Just love the buttons

Not hard to guess the gender of the new bundle of joy!

Par Hasard....

Which is French for random. I wanted to share some random experimental pictures I took with my new camera, A Nikon Cool Pix L110, I am sooooo excited I just have to speak in exclamation points!!!!!!!!

Here is my first shot with the zoom lens, this little vingette sits on our kitchen table...

This is a little vintage shoe I picked up on a treasure hunt, embellished with vintage millenry flowers ... this shoe will be the inspiration for something dreamy.... you know how much I love shoes! I think this shot is a little out of focus though.

Close up of the vintage earing.... love it!!!!!!

I might be a little unsual on the nerdy side to get so excited about such a thing as a new camera... but I can't help myself. Do you have a camera story to share? :)