40s Glam Bath: The Early Plans

Inspiration shows up in odd places.
My siamese cat, Emily, is serving as the swatch book for a bathroom remodel that my husband and I are planning in February. Sleek black-gloved paws, silvery gray fur, and ice blue eyes make her a perfect model for a 1940s Hollywood glam theme.

We have been doing preliminary planning for the better part of the past year, but we are about to sign an installer this weekend. That means it is time to start locking in some details.

I created a virtual design board to start capturing our favorite ideas. Next step I’m going to attempt some 40s inspired art using photographs I’ve taken of some family heirlooms. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

Inspiration sources for my board:

Fixtures from the Kohler’s Memoir Suite
Illustration from a 1948 American Standard catalog posted on Flickr
Hollywood inspired accessories from Marie’s Manor Decorating

UPDATE: The bathroom is finished! View the pictures.

Art Every Day Month Challenge

November is Art Every Day Month, a challenge created by artist Leah Piken Kolidas. Leah writes a blog where she shares her creative inspirations and encourages others to do the same.

Here is how Leah describes the challenge.

“ I encourage people to make something every day, but my goal is to foster more creativity, so if you make just one piece of art per week or just one for the whole month, that's fine with me. The idea is to bring more creativity into your life, not to make you feel overwhelmed, pressured or guilt-stricken.”

She defines art as anything creative, whether that be painting, drawing, knitting, sewing, cooking, decorating, writing, photography, clay, jewelry-making or whatever.

The onset of a Pennsylvania winter always leaves me feeling a little blue so I plan to participate in AEDM to try to keep my energy level up. Hopefully over the course of the next month you will see some kind of creative output filling up this space.

DIY Paper Bag Halloween Treat Bags

Kids Photo DIY Treat Bags

Kids are all about what is inside their treat bags, but for me the joy is in the wrapper.

Each Halloween I try to come up with a new way to package the booty for the kids in my family. This year, my “wicked” niece and “devilish” nephew transformed humble paper bags into cute candy containers.

The inspiration for these sepia tone treats came from an article in the magazine,” Somerset” that featured the art work of Ingrid Pomeroy (www.anoriginalbyingrid.etsy.com). Ingrid creates beautiful greeting cards featuring old photos of precious young girls wearing digitally created witch hats.

Here's how to created these simple versions without Photoshop:

1. Pick a photo. I chose Christmas pictures because I liked the velvet dress my niece, Jessie, had on. In the original she was unwrapping a present which I cut away, leaving her hands in the perfect position to brew up some trouble. Ryan’s photo was just asking for devil horns. 
2.  Add the "sepia" effect using Picassa.
3.  Print out the photos and cut out the parts you want to use.
4. Accessorize with scraps of florescent paper.

Hopefully the kids will at least pause for a minute before discarding the bags for the treats inside. If nothing else, Mom will enjoy them.