Thoughts for Thursday: Color Inspiration and a Challenge
Today’s Thought for Thursday is about color. I know I did a color thought a while back, but while I was perusing the paint chip aisle for the right (tan/gold/green/steely blue something or other paint for the bathroom) at Lowe’s the other day my eye caught a cool looking brochure from Olympia Paint. (Dig the red wall on the cover!) I opened it up and started reading it and found these cool thoughts on color and inspiration…. (Italics added by me.) “A soothing green. A commanding red. Color has no boundaries. No set rules. (But some good general guidelines.) It’s all about your own personal taste and inspirations. Just imagine the possibilities. A blue that captures the sunlight dancing on the sea. The deep yellow of a sunflower that makes you smile. Your choice of color sets the tone and begins the journey of creating a home project that speaks to you and about you. Inspiration is all around you. Inspiration can come from so many different places. The world we live in. The objects that surround us. Everywhere we look, our world is filled with a palette of colors; from the warm, inviting shade of a room in candlelight, to the vivid tones of ripening fruit, to the cool colors of the seashore. Colors catch our eye. They spark ideas. They reflect moods. As you look at the colors of your world, choose those that help to create your own personal statement. So what inspires you?” This is my newest color inspiration….. the colors make me feel alive and vibrant without being too “yaha”… It came in the mail today, yahoo! (please ignore the fact that my pants are too big, yay, and I have no makeup on… lol!) I love the color combination… translated to CTMH colors I think it would be: Twilight-ish, Colonial White, Sweet Leaf and Cocoa/Chocolate combo. Not quite sure what it translates into for SU! So …. LONG WINDED thought today… BUT here’s your challenge: Use this color combo and make a card or a layout and post a link to your art here in the comments section. I’d love to see what you come up with! I dug out some stuff tonight and I am off to try out my new paper piercing mat pack kit thingy and slot punch from SU! I’ve got a calendar page to do for a swap I signed up for and a couple other ideas rolling around in this noggin….. WAHOO! Edited 11:20 PM 9/17/08: I’m in the studio playing with my craft stuff (nevermind that I’m working out of Rubbermaid totes and walking back and forth between the guest room and family room and laundry room where other things are stored – haha) and I think I’m coming up with something fun to share on Friday! I was talking to Jeanne about a “relatively simple” technique that I’ve never tried and we challenged ourselves to try it out this week…
TILE & An Update
I have been asked a zillion times “When are you going to be done with your studio so we can see it?” I am so stoked for my new space, but it’s so crazy here, I really am not sure…. I will post updates along the way and when it’s ready I might just have to do a really cool giveaway from Stamper Storage 🙂 Here is the update I posted on a Yahoo Group…. “I’m SLOWLY working on the new studio…. Our Great Flood repair has turned into something of a small remodel of the house…. We figured that since we were all torn up (and we have insurance money to streeeeeetch with our elbow grease) we might as well keep tearing things up and make the changes that we’ve been wanting to make for a long time now. We’re currently in the middle of remodeling my master bathroom (new tub, new wall tile surround, new floor tile, faucets, mirror, etc) and are waiting for the floor trim (transition pieces) to come in off backorder. They’ve been on back order for a month now.. ugh! Once the trim pieces come in we can start and finish installing the hardwood on the main level (we’re ripping out all the carpet on the first floor). YAY! I also have to wait for Brent to finish house stuff before he can build the new pieces of furniture for my studio. Part of my birthday present (pre flood) was a new piece of furniture/storage whatever for my studio. I’ve drawn up what I’d like him to build and once we get the bathroom done, he MIGHT be able to start it.. lol! Oh, and then there is the fact that I no longer have an InkStak.. lol… I sold mine. 🙂 We’re going to custom build a big huge monster one for above my workstation…. oh I have fun plans for the studio… The studio is now painted a beautiful green (I think it’s Artichoke or Asparagus by Behr… B picked it out) and the trim is in and most of the floor is in and the big honkin desk is set up and I’m slowly getting reorganized. Hope to have some time this week to construct curtains for my window andAll of this craziness is happening right along with Brent working full time, me working part time and taking care of the house, AND both of us building InkStaks along the way. OH wait, and it’s harvest season, so I’ve been doing some canning and tending my garden. It’s absolute chaos here at our house… lol! (I don’t know how people do major remodels with children!!! It’s hard enough on a small one with two adults and a dog!) I still have three closets and two bedrooms on the main level to sort out and dejunk before we install the floors, too. It’s amazing how much extra stuff two people can accumulate after living 7 years in one place. Hehe!” Here is what the studio looks like this morning… (photo take sitting in my closet… lol)…. supplies stashed away in buckets and bins awaiting their new homes…. More bins and a bookshelf still hiding around the corner.. ugh! SO ANYWAY….. today we are making some major progress: Today is TILE day in the bathroom. Brent just finished cutting and installing the concrete backerboard and is now preparing the mud (mastick, tile glue goop) to slather on the walls. WAHOO! Last weekend we went to Lowe’s and spent over 2 hours wandering the tile section and bathroom faucets section….. We finally decided on tile (made a major change from what we originally planned) and I finally made up my mind on faucets… We have had a couple of patterns for the tub surround laid out on our living room floor for the past week trying to decide on the pattern…. Here are the two we narrowed it down to: We decided to go with #1. (They are the same color tiles, just crappy lighting…) It has the “subway/brick” pattern on the bottom in 6″ squares and then the same pattern in the trim to separate the 6″ tiles on the diagonal. We thought that it added more visual interest and looks less “industrial” (aka blah). Now we just have to decide on a wall paint color… I am stuck. I don’t want the walls to look anemic by painting a tan that totally blends into the tile and I don’t want some “yaha” color on the walls, either. I made a shower curtain to fit the space and I don’t want to have to purchase a new one…. the curtain is a dark red with flowers all over it. It’s got rich golds and creams and greens and a hint of steely blue in the flowers… perhaps I should take I took a pic of it and you all can give me some expert advice! Here are some pics… what do you think? Brent is hollering that he needs my opinion so I better get going…..
There’s A Dog In My Shower
Every now and again you are blessed with an adventure to remember that, thankfully, no one is around to snap photos of for you to scrapbook. On Monday, I was getting ready for the day, taking my shower, usually a relatively uneventful task… lol… just wash up and get out and on with the day. Well, on Monday, my master bathroom looked like this: That meant we had to move into the main bathroom for a little while. The main bathroom is just off my hallway and while it does have a nice little ceiling fan, it doesn’t have a window for venting purposes, and I always hate having the whole bathroom steamed up while I’m trying to get dry and dressed, so this time I left the hall door open… It’s just me, Brent, and Sadie, so I have no intruders to worry about because usually she’s doing this: Don’t mind the unmade bed, the faucet and such piled up while Brent harvests parts needed to test the tub, and Brent’s day job clothes thrown on the bed because he couldn’t be bothered to throw them in the laundry basket before changing into his construction man work clothes… lol….. {I say that with love in my heart 🙂 } Anyway… I am about to rinse the shampoo out of my hair when suddenly my ears are ringing with the sound of EVERY SINGLE smoke detector in my house going off at the same time. And then immediately I hear the rustle of the shower curtain and look down to see this big ball of brown and white fur tumble into the tub and then two little yellowy/amber eyes looking up at me, meanwhile the shower water and shampoo from my hair are splashing down on one trembling puppy. (She has issues with the chirping of the smoke detectors… I believe it hurts her ears and scares the bajeebers outta her.) There’s a dog in my shower…. So as quickly as I can, I rinse the shampoo out, grab a towel, and hurry and get out of the tub, followed by a dripping wet, still trembling doggy. I call Brent immediately because I am not sure what to do … the smoke detectors are all wired to the house electrical system, so I can’t just yank one off the wall to turn them off. He’s on the other end of the phone laughing his safely covered, dry rear end off while I’m in a state of soggy confusion trying to figure out what to do. I finally gather my wits and grab my dust mop from the kitchen and use it to push the “test” button on the smoke detector… It works for a second and then they all go off again. For the next 5 minutes (after having shut the bathroom door to prevent more steam from escaping and further tormenting me and my sweet dog) I press the button until the detectors finally silence themselves. I am so glad that there was nobody around to photograph that adventure! LOL!
Back To School – A Gift Set
I have some really awesome friends. I ordered some SU stuff from a party that my friend Susan Culotti had (on the east coast of the US) a little while ago. When the box arrived, I couldn’t wait to rip it open and start playing with my loot. So I got the box opened and to my surprise Susan had included a little surprise… A TREASURE BOX! So I unsnapped the flap, and slid out the tray in the little box…. It was filled with miniature TREASURES! (I am a sucker for miniature things, not to mention the colors… FABULOUS and FUN and will look so cute in my new studio!) I IMMEDIATELY emailed Susan to thank her and asked her where she found all these little treasures and here’s what she said: “I bought a bunch of the dewdrops (Halloween, Cowboy, Poinsettia, Flame, etc.), so I had plenty to share, ya know? Figured a “sampler” was the best way to go – if you trip over a favorite, let me know what color it is, and I’ll tell you which jar it came out of! The tiny clipboard is from AC Moore in the unfinished wood dept (it had a chain, so I’m guessing they were thinking keychain or something – I took the chain off), I made the little Post It holder out of chopped-down coasters. The cupcake Post Its, the wooden cupcake, the pencil holder and the pencils are all finds from JoAnn. When I saw them, my “cute counter” (as opposed to “geiger”) went off the charts, so I knew you needed them! I think that’s it! “ THANK YOU SUSAN! 🙂 So here’s my challenge to you all…. over the next week, think of someone who needs a little cheer in their life and do something special. Send a card, bake some cupcakes, tend a couple of kids, wash a floor, give a hug…. make someone’s day. Inky Smiles!
Crush
I haven’t really listened to the radio in ages… (I am so behind on “new popular music”.. lol) I’ve been using my drive time to work as “think time” instead of drowning out the world with the radio, but yesterday at work I flipped on my radio and this song was on and I couldn’t get it out of my head all day and most of last evening, so I did a little search on YouTube…. Beautiful voice, beautiful lyrics… reminds me of when I first starting dating my sweetheart over nine years ago… “all I ever think about is you”… sigh…. and I still have a *crush* on him. Take a listen… ** If you want to purchase a legal copy of the song, which I just did, (and tote around in your ipod with ya) click on the “Purchase CRUSH here” widget on the right hand side of the blog.
Thoughts for Thursday: Enjoy the Ride
Today’s TFT comes from my friend, Wendy, over at Inkin’ & Thinkin’. I saw this quote on her blog and asked her if she minded if I snatched it up and shared it on my blog…. thankfully she said yes because I am durn tuckered out today. I went to see my natural healing dr up north of me today and it was good. I am trying to heal my body with some more natural choices (energy work, cool stuff like that, etc) and, thankfully, it seems to be helping. I’m also sorting out some old baggage that I’ve been carrying around and it feels so good to be dropping it on the ground and leaving it behind. YAY! I also made my friend, Valerie, some peanut butter bars (oh heck yeah) and marched them over to her house and picked up some fun jewelry that I ordered from her and tonight I am just crashing out. It’s been a long several months and I think everything has hit me today… WHOMP! So before I go hit the sack, here’s the quote… from one of my all time favorite people. I hope that it picks up someone’s spirits today. 🙂 “Life is like that–ups and downs, a bump on the head, and a crack on the shins. It was ever thus. Hamlet went about crying, “To be or not to be,” but that didn’t solve any of his problems. There is something of a tendency among us to think that everything must be lovely and rosy and beautiful without realizing that even adversity has some sweet uses. One of my favorite newspaper columnists is Jenkin Lloyd Jones. In a recent article published in the News, he commented: Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just ordinary people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. . . . Life is like an old-time rail journey–delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.” –President Gordon B. Hinckley
Fiskalicious Winner!
I am sooooo sorry I didn’t post this last night. We had company show up from out of town and it was a little crazy here last night… Amaryllis and Robert stayed over night and left this am to go home to Wyoming. We got the desk set up and back in the studio and I set up my computer. (It’s so nice to not be usign a dresser and having cramped legs tucked up behind me under my chair.. lol!) Here’s a snapshot of A working on a wedding album layout for a friend of hers. We tossed some ideas around and hung out this am before they left. We have a PRIZE: and we have a winner! Carrie Egg said… How hilarious. Your girl has a busy day!!! Well, my 3-year-old will be starting preschool this year on Tues. & Thurs. only for 3 hours each day, so my schedule will still be mostly the same as it is now with a few extra breaks for me! Yea!Carrie #4114 August 23, 2008 7:25 PM Carrie, send me your information and I will pop this wonderful little gadget in the mail to you this week!
Progress!
Spent some time in the house this weekend and we’re making progress on the basement, starting with my studio! Thought I’d share a few pics of the progress…. Repair the walls, texture and prime the new sheetrock patches, then paint, paint, paint! Thank goodness Brent can cut in without taping off the other walls. Saved us tons of time! I finally decided on the right green. Brent picked out “Artichoke” by Behr @ the Home Depot. It went on kind of pastel-ish (and had me nervous), but dried nicely. Today, after church, we started working on the wood (maple) floors and got most downstairs done. We just have the hallway to finish tomorrow. Since the wood is in the basement, we had to install a “floating” floor and glue each piece (tongue and groove) and then tap it into place and secure with tape until it’s nice n dry tomorrow. Tomorrow I will paint the trim out in the workshop and bring in it when B comes home and we’ll install the trim and work on bringing in my desk and setting up the studio again. I’m going to take it slowly and do some dejunking/purging as I begin the set up process. We also have to frame in the window with some nice trim moulding and build a new window sill. Perhaps, if I have time, I will start on the curtains…
Back to School!
Oh man, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged. We’ve had a busy couple of weeks and have made some progress on our house project. Tomorrow I hope to paint my studio! WAHOOOO! Brent dug out some of my crafting stuff from the guest room and we started putting the family room back together. Hopefully on Sunday (a break from construction) I will have a few minutes to sit down and create something. I have a neat tutorial that I am working on to share with you sometime next week, too! In the meantime…… “It’s the MOST wonderful time of the year!” It’s back to school time, yay! My friends’ kids are all back in school this week, which means many of my friends will have a little more time to do fun stuff without chasing little ones all day… It also means a big change in routines for many families. We were talking about this a few weeks ago on the Sweet N Sassy Stampers Yahoo group. Here is my contribution: “My little girl ‘homeschools’… year round 🙂 She’s up by 6:30 & jets to the potty before dad leaves for work. She’s back in bed by 6:35 until I haul outta bed between 7:30 and 8:00. We have PE for about 20 mins or so playing tug of war with her rope and chase around the house until I run out of steam and eat breakfast around 8:45 or 9:00. She lays around and watches cars (Driver’s Ed) until about 12 when it’s potty break, treat, and then naptime. We have PE again after lunch when she chases the neighborhood kids around before they jump in the pool and then she’s back under a shade tree for her 2nd nap or sometimes she goes on a Nature Walk and checks out the birds and the wasps in the garden, occasionally trampling the flowers and I remind her of “Leave No Trace”. After her Nature Walk, it’s back to another nap which is followed by a repeat session of Driver’s Ed on the back of the couch as she watches for Dad to return home. As soon as Dad walks in the door, she’s all over him for an Anatomy lesson as she paws him to death because she’s so excited to see him. Anatomy is followed by a lesson in Discipline and Proper Greeting Etiquette. The rest of the day is filled with play, more naps, treats, and hanging out. She’s off to bed by 9:00-9:30 without any complaints…. Did I mention my girl is a border collie? 🙂 “ What are some of your “back to school tradtions” and what is your day like?Leave me a note and this Monday Tuesday I might just draw a name for something funfrom my stash* for you to play with while the kids are in class! *I found that I have something “Fiskalicious” in my stash that is a duplicate of something I already have… I must have forgotten that I picked it up a while back and I’ve long since tossed the receipt… I think you’ll like it!
Beijing Welcomes You
Simply Amazing. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skan0yO-qU8&hl=en&fs=1]