Sunday, May 23, 2010

Celebrate Your Muchness

Added a bit of white tulle netting around one side of the bra. On top of the tulle netting, a strand of opalescent pearls. The tulle ruffle gives a bit of definition. I've painted wood spools in metallic gold paint and wrapped each spool with red metallic threads. There will be spool strands attached to the bra perhaps. The other side of the bra will have a red tulle ruffle with a red sequin strand. Pretty simple so far. Now where to put that Cheshire Cat?
Roses and Sage blooming around our farm bell. We now have emerald green and blue hummingbirds to add to the magic.
This is Sadie Rose, my little 15 year-old Papillon. What a marvel to still have her in my life. To get her to sit still for this photo was indeed a feat. She kept wanting to run towards me. She is sitting among newly planted azaleas and sage. She is in front of a little metal bicycle filled with pansies. Her reward was a ride in the car!

Roses at the Farm

I always thought an old farm house needed rose bushes. But we had been told roses were time-consuming to maintain, needed certain soil and lots of attention. So I never attempted to raise roses.  Last year, when landscaping around the new addition to our farm-house, I finally found a goof-proof rose, perfect for my limited skills at gardening.

In amazement, the roses began blooming this year. I assumed the brutal winter had left her mark on our simple plantings. Even last December, with our first snow, we had roses blooming as the snow flakes covered the bushes.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Ringbearer Pillow

This is a Ringbearer Pillow I created using the RibbonSmyth Victorian Monogram Initial Rubber Stamps.
The 6" M initial was stamped onto white doupioni silk. The back of the cushion is a deep red moire silk.
I added four 18" 15mm double-sided silk streamers. These were tacked to each corner and could be removed after the wedding. The bows were simply added to hold the wedding bands in place. The pillow is edged with a gathered white cotton eyelet lace and a 4mm white pearl strand was tacked over the edge of the white eyelet.  The bride's colors were red and black, the colors of her college alma mater.

I first met her mother, Anita Adams White, while teaching in London. Anita is one of the most creative women I have ever met. Years ago we introduced the red-liner tape ( that now has a million different names) and glass micro beads to the creative industry. We sold kilos of beads and thousands of meters of red-liner tape at a trade show in Sacramento. No one had ever seen this product and our booths were packed.  These two items are still popular among rubber stampers and scrapbookers.

Anita is the niece of Ansel Adams. She would often tell people that we were sisters. If I'm with Anita, we are laughing. Her life story should be a "made for TV movie". It was a pleasure to create this cushion for her daughter.