Friday, August 26, 2011

Wood graining...

A nice project I had this week, to redo the surround trim on the front door of a beautiful home on a hilltop in Escondido CA.  The trim was painted and prepared by painter extraordinaire Doug Eagleson of Escondido, and readied for me to do my paint magic on it.  I must say, Doug is the most meticulous precision painter I have ever had the privilege to paint after...he put on solid base color for the woodgraining finish to sit on.

Before


A solid color base paint and taking time to prep and tape off is a big part of the job...foundation, foundation, foundation!


Working in layers, I put on three different colors of brown to achieve the depth and grain of real wood.

After...



Along with Doug painting the dated wood door with a color we selected, it updates it and makes this an inviting front entrance to this beautiful, 
warm family home.

Not to mention...it was a warm, breezy day and the views from this home are wonderful.  Once again, I'm fortunate to be able to be creative most everyday, in some of the most beautiful environments in San Diego.

High 5's to everyone!


Sunday, August 21, 2011

Cement fireplaces

Moving from soft plump pillows to cold cement fireplaces...just a different creative surface to play with!  These are two cement cast fireplaces in a beautiful home overlooking Batiquitos Lagoon in Carlsbad CA.  The homeowners commissioned me to warm them up and add a little color to these big chunks of cement !

 Family room fireplace before

Formal Living room fireplace before


 What you don't see here is the two days it took to prep the living room fireplace.  I lightly plastered over the whole thing and filled in all the millions of tiny wholes that are part of the cement casting.  The second day it took two of us to lightly sand it all down to a smooth finish (while trying to contain all the fine dust that goes along with that) and add two coats of a tinted primer to set us up to paint it on the third day.



  On day 3 it was layers & layers of paint (thin coats) to build up the soft marble finish we were going for...and then adding in veins and cracks (my favorite part).

An elegant soft marble finish to enhance the room

Before

After 

Then on to the family room fireplace.  This one was much easier as there was no plaster & sanding involved...just prime & paint.  My clients wanted a natural stone finish here, so all those tiny holes we worked so hard to cover up in the first fireplace, worked for is in this one.

 This was a soft stone finish to work with the Asian screen hanging above...and actually it worked with all the colors in the room.  So much nicer than the cement we started with.  

 Once again my lovely assistant Lucinda was a great help in making these fireplaces turn out so beautifully.  Here she is adding Dead Flat Finish coats to the family room fireplace. 


Before & After


Unfortunately we got so caught up in the process  weren't as good at taking photos every step of the way to show the process!

The best part was our client Jane was canning up a storm in the kitchen while we worked, letting us taste test her creations along the way...ummmmm!
And when we were finishing up...she packed up a few goodies for us to take home...kinda a "gift with purchase" in reverse!

 Jams, several kinds of pickles and oninons



Fall is in the air...and we are two lucky painters who got to smell and taste it while painting...all in a days work.

Go out and create a beautiful day!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

TeardropHankys shipping department

I'm almost tired of talking about it, as I'm sure you may be hearing it...but one last step in getting 24 vintage hanky pillows to their new homes.  With the help of my lovely assistants Lucinda & JoJo pictured here (JoJo is the new dog under the table) we had fun getting them all ready to go.


While I designed and made the pillows, Lucinda made beautiful individual cards to go with each one.


We Wrapped them up in cellophane with a ribbon and a card 
and off they go.




And here they sit, waiting for FedEx to pick them up and take them to all parts of the country...NY, Washington DC, Oregon, Mo, even down the road to our own La Jolla California.


Okay...I'm done now!  

Off to put some fabric & hankies together for the next batch and then out to paint furniture this afternoon.

Create a joyful day.



Monday, August 8, 2011

Sold Out !!!

Just a quick follow up, bit of news on the One Kings Lane 
sale that included 24 of my hanky pillows...
they sold out !!!

22 of the 24 sold out in 4 hours, the other two stragglers (very cute rooster pillows I might add) sold later in the day.
It was a 72 hour sale and my pillow were all gone in less the 24 hours...loving it !!!



So now I better get busy and get more made (I've already completed 7) and listed in my Etsy store.

Enjoy your day!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

One Kings Lane


TearDropHankys

has really exciting news  ...

As you may know, I've been busy sewing away with my vintage hankies, not knowing exactly what to do with them, how to get them out there or if anyone is as interested and excited about them as I am.  I tell myself..."all you need to be concerned with is just keep doing what you love and something good is bound to happen".  And it has.

While in LA recently I contacted the One Kings Lane office in Beverly Hills and set up an appointment to show them my pillows.  I was thrilled that they loved the pillows and wanted to include them in their "Vintage + Market Finds" launch this month...this Saturday, August 6th to be exact.  They made some wonderful suggestions for pillow ideas and I rushed home and made 10 new pillows to include in the launch! I will have a total of 24 pillows listed at great prices...for one of a kind... handmade by me...in Encinitas, Ca...pillows. OKL offers wonderful flash sales and incredible savings, and even though my pillows will be sold at a 50% discount from their regular online price, the exposure will be amazing, as OKL has 2.5 million followers.

Simply put, One Kings Lane is an elegant, curated online
sales site. They bring their members a spectacular, hand-picked selection of top-brand and designer items at up to 70% off suggested retail prices.
One Kings Lane Sale Events

With an extensive range of event types, product types, and new daily sales, One Kings Lane is like an exciting new treasure hunt–every day of the week. Most sales launch at 8am PT/11 am ET and last 72 hours. Note: Quantities are limited. Shop early so you won’t miss out!

I hope you'll take a few moments over the course of the 72 hour sale to check out my pillows.  
Saturday, August 6th at 8am PST and runs through Tuesday August 9th until 8am PST. 
It will be listed in Vintage+Market Finds, under Textiles. 

Below is an invite link for all my friends and colleagues to join One Kings Lane (at no cost).  I think you will love the OKL site and a great new way to shop for home goods online at great savings.

Kindly include my email address in the who invited you box

In the meantime I'd like to share some of my most recent pillows that will be included in the sale...I also have more new pillows at my online store.



1950's Faith Austin Blue Butterflies

1940's Flower of the Month vintage hanky for Vogue Magazine


1940's signed Faith Austin stringed instrument vintage hanky pillow


Signed Cecelie Kings Court vintage hanky


Faith Austin signed Dragonfly hanky


My favorite... Fran Bonheur vintage hanky pillow

and more...



I'm very pleased to be part this One Kings Lane launch and look forward to this vintage event.  I have to thank Susan Feldman, co founder of OKL and guest on Bravos Million Dollar Decorators for liking my pillows, my sister Pia for introducing me to Susan, my buddy Mechelle for helping me with fabrics to work with my vintage hankies and Lucinda Walker, my talented daughter in law for the wonderful handmade cards she has done for each individual pillow..I am blessed and surrounded with wonderful support.

And let's not forget my biggest cheerleader and sweetheart Jim...who encourages me every step of the way and puts up with fabric & pillows strewn throughout our home...thanks Honey.

Okay, okay...this isn't an Acadamy Award...enough of the thank you's!
Suffice to say...I enjoy my creative life and everyone in it.

Enjoy...