Happy Mother’s Day

What a special day! 

We are celebrating Mother’s Day with our wonderful family and sweet baby Bella! 

What a surprise when I saw my handmade tablecloth was featured on Bird Crafts!

 

Happy Mother’s Day!

Thoughtful Thursday

Happy Thursday!

Today I’m shining light on some thoughtful, green & charitable work done by a great group of people at Southwest Airlines.

Years ago, Jaime Ibarra brought his urban gardening skills to his workplace & his passion has become contagious. 

Jaime and my dad, John, joined forces to make Jaime’s Garden come to life.

Together they collected leftover food from employees to make compost for their garden and turned a portion of the grassy area outside the SWA building into a garden.

The two gardeners, along with the help of other employee volunteers, have turned this garden into a way to help others.

This concept I love!

Everything grown is 100% organic and all of the vegetables harvested from the garden will be donated to local food banks.  Those who are struggling and in need of assistance will get fresh, organic food … thanks to a big idea that turned into Jaime’s Garden.

Jaime’s Garden is growing.

Jaime’s Garden is making our world a better place … one vegetable at a time.

Do you have a story to share? Email me & I’d love to showcase how you have been inspired to help others!

the ART of framing

We’re wrapping up my client’s Master Bedroom & are focusing on art and accessories.  I fell in love with two paintings K  had in her home. They were painted by a fabulous artist – her mother!

I suggested we use the paintings in her Bedroom and give them some life and a fantastic frame they deserve!

Here is one of the paintings BEFORE:

And AFTER!

K’s second painting BEFORE

And AFTER!

We found a set of prints at C&W Antiques in Arlington and I used this frame as the inspiration for the new frames in her Bedroom.

The new frames for K’s Mother’s paintings needed a touch of soft gold to compliment the frames on the prints (above) so I added a gold liner to tie it all together.

K owned this Renoir print and I loved it & had it reframed.

 

Not a wonderful photo, but you can see the new mat and frame & what a difference it makes!

Our installation is quickly approaching so be sure you’re Following my blog in order to see the big reveal!

* * * * *

Art has always played a role in my life. I started taking classes when I was in Elementary school and continued through college.

I received my art skills and creativity from my Dad. He is a true artist (who plays the role of Senior Director at SW Airlines in his “business life”) and is an inspiration to me.

I love him dearly!

Here is a glimpse of his portfolio.  These are a few pieces gracing our walls on Princess Street.

My Dad, John Jamotta, used a photo of my grandpa and his buddies on a rooftop in NY to inspire this painting.  He fabricated everything from the frame to the plaster canvas.

This painting is a mixed media & he used Tyler’s old architectural drawings as a base.

This painting I cherish the most.  Tyler & I experienced a heart breaking tragedy when starting our family and my Dad painted this for us.  The door represents the door to our future – bright and full of wonderful things!

How true it is.

It is hanging in our Living Room over the fireplace as a constant reminder of our bright future.

A few years ago we gave my Dad oil pastels for Christmas.  This is a medium I always enjoyed and wanted him to give it a try. This was his first oil pastel and I was SO impressed! He gave it to us & we have it proudly displayed in our Dining Room.

Our Dining Room also displays this painting he made for us soon after we were married.  My Dad also writes poetry and incorporates the poetry into his artwork. 

This piece was painted on an old wooden headboard.  Again, he used some of my old interior design projects from school for the base of the painting.

He also takes memorabilia and found objects and incorporates them into his work. This image is from a calendar Tyler got from our family trip to Italy.  What a great memory to have hanging in our Kitchen!

        

My Dad is a great artist. However he and my Mom haven’t perfected the art of hanging art.  Soon (get ready Mom & Dad!) I’m going to take all of their art off their walls and re-evaluate their pieces and help them find the best way to showcase their art.  I will do a before and after of each wall and hopefully it will help others who have a difficult time determining where to hang art or how to group them effectively!

Potato Pillows

Burlap is all the trend now.

I of course fell in love.

And decided to make some pillows.

I purchased a few yards of burlap for $2.00 a yard. What a steal!

I used stencils to make a monogram pillow for our Living Room.  I did a trial run of the stenciling to determine the size & then cut out the burlap based on the pillow size.

For the center “J” I simply shifted the stencil a few cm higher to increase the size of the lettering.  Simple fix when all of your letter stencils are the same size!

Monogram complete!

Then I started stenciling a damask pattern for a 2nd, larger pillow I plan to make.  I took a simple stencil and repeated & mirrored it in a uniform pattern.

Once both pillow fronts were complete, it was time to sew.  Don’t forget it’s essential to determine the center point of your pillow front when pinned your pillow together!

This is where I get nervous.  I think I literally started to sweat.

But then remembered it’s just pillows … using $2/yard fabric.

Sewing complete.

*Note: Be sure you have enough thread in your sewing machine before you start sewing.  Stopping in the middle of sewing a (albeit simple) pillow isn’t ideal.

I trimmed the edges of the burlap outside of the seam.

Then flipped this little lady inside out.

Inserted the form & hand sewed the closure.  (Notice no photo of that step?  There’s a reason.  It’s a sight for sore eyes)

My monogram pillow is complete. She’s not going to win any beauty prizes, but it was an inexpensive project & I thoroughly enjoyed fabricating my own fabric from a simple burlap.

You may be wondering what’s happened to this fabric?

Well I only have so many minutes at a time to devote to crafting. So it will wait until another day to finish.  Stay tuned for the completed damask pillow! I may try a  large flange instead of a seamless edge ….. if I get crazy!

P.S.. – big “hello” to my new followers!!
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Breakfast at Allison’s

 had hoped to do Before and After posts about each room of our home to show the work we’ve done so far.  My dreams came crashing down as my hard drive containing our original home pictures crashed and burned. 

I came across this BEFORE photo of our Breakfast Room this morning, so felt compelled to show you what we’ve done so far.

In our Breakfast Room, we completed the following DIY projects:

- Remove vinyl flooring & replace with tile

- Remove lovely wallpaper and paint & glaze

- Paint all cabinetry and wainscotting (color: Lotus Pod)

- Install new millwork (baseboards)

- Reupholster dining chairs

- Replace blinds (although the original ones aren’t shown in the Before photo)

- Re-accessorize (this seems to happen every few months!)

Drum roll please …

Here is our Breakfast Room AFTER

We still have items on our To Do list that we hope to complete in this room … one day …

- Install Beadboard ceiling 

- Install crown molding

- I’d love to paint our Breakfast table & chairs (this is news to Tyler!)

- New lighting over Table

- New countertops and backsplash … this is a big dream, but worth noting!

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