Tuesday, July 29, 2008

No Juices Flowing... {EDITED}

Creative juices, that is. Well, maybe a little. I haven't been up in my studio doing anything fun the past couple weeks, just normal work. Which is why I haven't posted in the past couple weeks. Sometimes I guess I just have nothing to say! I am sure everyone feels the same way at times, maybe everyone but my husband. I think he feels like I always have something to say!

I have a couple little projects that I wanted to share. Lately I have been very into the architectural details in my home. The ones I love and the ones that are lacking. When we moved into our house {it was a foreclosure} it was a big mess!! Here is a picture of what our living room looked like when we walked through our house.

The shelves are a nice feature, but to me- these definitely looked like they were just thrown up. I have always wanted them taken down, because I felt like they were clutter magnets. But, instead of taking them down I decided to make them fit more into the era of our home, to make them look more like built-in bookcases that would have been built long ago. Here's what Scott & I did to them last week.
Some paint, some arches, some wood appliques and I LOVE it!! I still have to paint the actual shelves, but I ran out of paint. I'll be sure to post the final pic when they are all filled with clutter again!!

Second home project of the week is this:
This is a rough drawing of what I had envisioned over the exposed brick in the kitchen.This is what my brick above my stove looked like when we first saw the house. Wow. Can you believe that people could let something get this bad??? We were amazed at some of the things that were in this place!
Here it is all cleaned up after we moved in.
My dad and I made a faux range hood last week and it is waiting to be assembled. Here is the inspiration picture. It was from an article in Home & Design Magazine, you can see it and the rest of this amazing home here!

Here are the pieces & parts. I can't wait to search TJ Maxx and Marshalls for the perfect iron panel to go on the top! SO FUN!! My wonderful husband would have had this all assembled and up on the brick by now, but I made him switch our family room and dining room instead. I love the switch. It works for me, right now.

I'll be sure to post the finish product soon!!!

Have a great Tuesday~ Lisa

{EDIT} Just to clarify, the beautiful finished kitchen in the picture is NOT my kitchen.  It's the inspiration picture from a magazine.  My sister called to let me know that since I had the descriptions below {instead of above} the pictures, that it looked like that was our finished project!  I wish it were, but no.  I am sorry for any confusion and have fixed the post!  

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Jewels of the Sea Pendant Swap!!

I received my package from the lovely Heather at Speckled-Egg for the Jewels of the Sea pendant swap this morning!! I was SO excited to open it to find so many beautiful goodies! Swaps are fun! This was my first one, and a pretty good experience. I sure hope that the ladies that received my pendants love them as much as I love mine! Here are some pictures:

First, I was lucky enough to be one of the 6 gals that received one of Heather's beautiful pendants! This is SO pretty, the chandelier crystal makes it sparkle so nice!! Thank you, Heather!


This beauty is a small glass vial, corked & wax sealed with aqua glitter and small sea shells inside. Also attached is a mermaid tag all on my favorite sea inspired colors of yarn & ribbon! This pendant was made by Kim of Art Dogs Life. Thanks, Kim, SO, SO adorable!


This gorgeous pendant was made by Tiffany of Aleah's Treasures. It has sea glass, copper, glass and pearl beads and a metal stamped 'SEA' message. Very pretty! Thanks, Tiffany!


Here is a sweet little goose soldered to a sea shell with a pearl and the words "May be free in Soul'. Very pretty pendant with a beautiful tag, too!! Thanks to Kim of Running on Ink!

Next up is this beauty ~ it's an old pocket watch that was gutted out & replaced with a pretty lady and a sea shell. Just look at this presentation!!! Awesome! Thank you Stephanie of Doojies!

"The Queen of Beaches", man, I wish that was me! This pretty pendant was made by Connie {I don't think she has a blog to link to}, and it is so petite and pretty! Thank you, Connie!!

And lastly, here is the little gift from Heather for us participating. It was really a lot of fun and has inspired me to maybe join in another swap or 2 sometime. I haven't always heard very many good things about swaps, but this experience has made me a believer!! Thank you Heather, it was a blast!!

Sorry about the pictures all having a bad green over-cast, we left our camera battery charger in VA Beach and I had to use Jakes camera!! He was mad at me for using it, too. I had to delete my pictures as soon as I was done... Have a great Wednesday ~ Lisa

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Ahhh...Vacation...

Bronze Babes!! {well, not so much bronze...}


We got back from Virginia Beach on Sunday, we were visiting Scott's cousin Erin and her husband Wendell for the July 4th holiday. What a great vacation we had! The kids loved the beach and the pool!! Since I haven't made anything since I have gotten back, all I have are some vacation pictures to see!

Erin had a framed photo of the statue of Neptune, the Roman god of the sea in her home, and I fell in love with it. We went down to the boardwalk to see it, and I got some snapshots before the rain hit! This is such an amazing piece of art! It was so facinating to see, at 34 feet high!! You can get more info about it HERE. I can't wait to get some of these pictures printed out for my studio {it's going to be getting an overhaul soon!}. I just love that determined look on King Neptune's face...

All aboard!! He loved Erin & Wendell's boat! He wanted to help so badly so he was given the ever so important task of 'holding the rope'. He did a great job.
That's all for now. Seems I have to go deal with some identity theft issues... UGH.