con-tain-it

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a wonderful day with their friends and families!

May all your travels be safe, your tummies...not too full...

and your day filled with many grateful memories.

Fondly, Roberta

 

 

Vintage Clip Art courtesy of: The Graphics Fairy

Wednesday's Workbook: Handmade Holidays 2009

Well with all this moving stuff going on around here I am not able to get much done around here as far as creating for the holidays.  So I'm relying on all the other lovely participants who have taken The Handmade Holiday Pledge to visit their shops and get my holiday shopping done for my family and friends.  It is going to be a small Christmas this year so I really want it to be special and since I can't create my own gifts this year, I'm going to find something special with Frenchie & Flea.

  Be sure to check out Frencie & Flea's sidebar and my sidebar here at con-tain-it and look for this "button" for the great shops that are participating in taking "The Pledge"!  Your support of all of these businesses is greatly appreciated...so be sure to leave comments even if you are just browsing...we all love to hear from our readers...now go "SHOP TILL YA DROP"!

New Book Review and Giveaway

Lucy of Enchanted by Josephine, has another great book review and giveaway this month:

Contest Ends November 22, 2009

So hop on over to Enchanted by Josephine and read Lucy's wonderful review and find out how you can enter the giveaway...it would make a great gift for someone on your Christmas list, I'm sure :} 
 

 

Wednesday's Workshop: Maya Mist Muslin Roses

Have been real busy around here because...we just found out that we are moving, AGAIN, the end of January...AHHH!  Which means, that I won't have as much time to work in my studio and to be as creative as I want to be...but I will continue to work on my Sketchbook Project that I committed to before all the wedding and moving craziness started.  Also, I will try to keep blogging a few times a week to let you know how the everything is going...just will not have as much time to document my steps as I have in past project posts.

Now, before I forget, I want to show you all how I used this great Maya Mist Tutorial as my inspiration for creating flowers for Cortney and Carl's wedding.

I was so inspired with the end results...that when my niece, Cortney was married last month and was stressing over, the price of and the time involved in ordering boutonnieres for all the male guests in her wedding...that I decided to "play" with their tutorial and try making some of these muslin roses myself.

So, first, I gathered my supplies: 1/2 yard of white muslin, spray inks, florist  tape, water in a mister bottle, one small silk grape leaf bush and adhesive...and I made seven boutonnieres for under seven dollars.  Probably could have made eight...but I didn't measure the muslin strips when I ripped them up and one turned out really "big"...lol  Instead of fabric glue, which takes time to dry, I used some of these great "Zips" Clear Adhesive Lines to hold the roses together as I rolled and twisted the muslin into roses...and even after wetting the fabric with the spray inks and then water to dilute the inks the "Zips" still held the shape of the "roses". 

The "roses" look a little funky...in the above photo...before you apply the inks but, when done and dry, they looked very "realistic".  In the original tutorial, they simply glue down the flat bottom of the roses to a chipboard element.  However, to add these to the leaf stems it was a little harder because they were difficult to hang on to...so after the first one, I learned to leaved the "ends" of the muslin fabric "hanging" out so that I could tie them together to secure them to the silk leaves and stems to form the "base'' for the boutonnieres.  Sorry, I didn't take any photos because I could NOT hang onto the flower and the stems AND hold the camera at the same time!  The wedding colors were green and purple and Cortney wanted the men to wear green ties with their suits so she wanted the boutonnieres to be green.

  
Once I got the first one assembled with the florist tape on the stems, I sprayed the leaves with some glitter...just like the florist do to add some depth to the silk leaves.

We finished them all up and added some green floral tape the the stems and all the wedding party loved them and many of the guests didn't realize that they weren't real flowers...they thought the roses were simply sprayed green...ha!

 
Here's the lovely couple, Mr. & Mrs. Carl Lyon...sorry for the fuzzy photo...was hoping to have more photos from the photographer, etc. but not as yet.  But you can at least see the flowers and how well they looked pinned on.  It was hard to find a photo with the guys still wearing their "jackets"...once the reception started they all took their suit-coats off...kinda like us women with our shoes!  It was a lovely wedding ceremony and reception...and Cortney liked the fact that she had Carl's boutonniere to keep with her memorabilia.

T G I F F...that's Frickin' Friday

Man...I don't know if it's the full moon or the time change but this week has been kickin' my butt...bit time...so I'm glad that it is finally friday and here are a few more goodies for you all to check out to make this a FANTASTIC FRIDAY!

First up, is another great book review and giveaway by the lovely Miss Lucy on her blog, Enchanted by Josephine, so hop on over and read her post leave a lovely comment.

Contest Ends: November 12, 2009

Of course I love to read anything around "The Tudor" era and Amy of Passages to the Past is having another great book giveawy this month (that's two in one month now) so make sure you go on over and check out her great blog as well:

 Contest Ends: November 30, 2009

Then last but not least, is a new blog that I just discovered (because I just love checking out all kinds of blogs) and this one by Miss Susan aka, Peanut Petunia is full of great decorating and storage ideas...and "just because" (she can) she is giving away this lovely galvanized key cabinet from Pottery Barn:

How cool is that...it would make a lovely Christmas Gift if you can't use it in your home...I know my sons would love this manly, man thang!  So hop on over and leave a comment now because  I don't know when this contest ends.

Happy Frickin' Friday Everybody!

Multi-Tasking "Super Crazy Woman"

Well today I was "multi-tasking" like a crazy woman!  Which means that I continued "base-coating" my journal pages as I mentioned in this post, and while I was waiting for the "paint to dry", I was also purging and sorting my huge stacks of magazines for "clip-art"...again as I had mentioned in this post.   But that wasn't enough for "super crazy woman" so I started cleaning up my blog at the same time!  So for all of you bloggers who read/follow your favorite blogs in Google Reader or via another RSS feed...be sure to check out my cleaned up sidebars and check out all the new contests being offered all over blog land that, I personally participate in, and that I feature on my blog.

The clean-up started because I tackled a writing project that I had been putting off for the entire month of October for this Santorini Dreaming Short Essay Contest.  I am an avid follower of several foreign blogs but this one by far is one of my favorites because this man followed his dream of carving out a life for himself and his wife in this magical land.  Please read his pages Dreaming of a different life and A cave to call home... so that you can understand, fully, where I'm coming from...because there are a lot  of other blogs that I follow of individuals who have followed their dreams and relocated to a foreign soil...but none of them are as inspiring for me as Michael's journey.   So go visit Oia Santorini and "Dream Big" before the deadline this coming Monday, November 9th.

Photo courtesy of Santorini Dreaming...I could get lost in Michael's beautiful photos!

So while I was in the "cleaning" mode I also added a new site to my sidebar: The Bright Side Project

 Once upon a time, it was very, very gloomy.  The skies thundered, the economy crumbled, and people only spoke to grumble. Everything looked bleak, bleak, bleak.

Until one day, shortly after a market crash and right before another round of layoffs, a girl named Miss B. came up with a terrifically bright idea.  As she later explained to her friend and business partner, Miss K., their mission would be to scour the world for the best in fashion, design, and décor.  Then, one by one and everyday, they would give it all away to some very lucky people.

This is how The Bright Side Project began on a wintry, gray day in February.

In February they gave away art for 28 days, In March they gave away 31 days of accessories.  In April, they celebrated social conscience with 30 days of eco-friendly everything.  And so on, and so on, and so on.  Suddenly things didn’t seem so bleak anymore.

In fact, metaphorically speaking, the sun started to shine 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and everyone stopped for a second to remember life is (still) beautiful and there is goodness in the world.

You can more about the "mission" of The Bright Side Project here but I really want to do is to spread the "sunshine" about their wonderful site and to have you spread some "rays" as well.  For the month of November they are offering wonderful, "two for one" prizes, for all their giveaways...all month long...so that for the upcoming holidays you can choose to...give one or...to keep one or...to give both gifts...it's up to you. 

For those of you who love to read as much as I do, please check out my sidebars...often...because these two lovely blogs offer book giveaways each and every month and sometimes they have multiple, "autographed by the author" book giveaways.

Enchanted by Josephine

Passages to the Past

Another one of my favorite sites which I found while participating in Teresa McFadden's ezines offers FREE vinatage clip art and they have just updated their blog button aka "avitar" so I wanted to make sure you all were seeing this as well.

  The Graphics Fairy

So now I'm off to do some more "multi-tasking" before my "super crazy woman" juice runs out...aka "triple grande mocha with skim milk, no whip, no foam and only one squirt chocolate syrup"...got that!

The Sketchbook Project 4: Inspiration

 Finally found my inspiration to start The Sketchbook Project 4 which is sponsored by Art House Co-op currently located in Atlanta, GA (but relocating after the new year to New York City...kinda makes me sad) which I signed up for over a month ago...but with the wedding and all...just didn't have the time or motivation to get started.   

But after this "organizational" and "inspirational" post last week I was in the mood to attack my piles of magazines that have started to gather around the house again...I swear they make babies and multiply while we sleep....shhhhh

So I was really proud of myself because I got through one pile stacked this high and sorted the clippings in a temporary file next to my chair while my DH and I watched old movies and snuggled in while it was raining outside.

DH even went to the coffee shop and picked us up some Triple Grande Mochas with Skim Milk and No Whip Cream...and btw...only two "fast" squirts of chocolate...the waiters at the coffee shop know my DH when he comes in and they no longer have to be told how to make MY perfect mocha...lol

So while the boss was away...the little mouse played...and opened up her google reader and found these wonderful videos that Teesha Moore is doing on her blog...for free...I was so excited that I watched all day long as she kept uploading more of them...cool beans...she's done eight so far and I can't wait for the rest to come out...here's the first one for you to see where I'm going with this on my Sketchbook: 

So today with inspiration from Teesha's videos I am starting my Sketchbook Project by painting all of my background papers with watercolors:

 
Don't  you just love this bright orange/red color...I'm going to use this one alot through out my sketchbook.  Now if I could just stop myself from being distracted by the wonderful views out my windows again...love it when the sun shines...awwwww

Every time we get rain...the pond turns real brown from all the "red" clay/mud here in the Carolinas...

...but the ducks don't seem to care about the "mocha" colored water...mmmm...maybe a mocha will help me stay focused...have to go see what DH thinks?   I know...I'm so bad...