A lovely example of how creativity is more important than using the fanciest equipment.
This gorgeous gem of a film titled "Splitscreen: A Love Story" was shot entirely with a cellphone camera. It took first prize in a contest at last weekend's Edinburgh Film Festival. Grab a cafe au lait and enjoy!
Splitscreen: A Love Story from JW Griffiths on Vimeo.
Bravo!
XO
Hello Friends! Do you harbor a little dream in your heart? Maybe it's a secret wish to take the things you lovingly create and sell them at a fabulous antique show or flea market.
Or maybe you're just looking for ideas to take your home decor displays to the next level and you're not sure how to do it.
Retreat Booth at the the Farm Chicks Show
Meet your fairy godmother! Deb Kennedy from Retreat is sharing her some tips from her free guide on creating a Successful Booth Design for Antique Shows.
Deb has been a retail stylist and designer for over 35 years, with many articles and trade show seminars to her credit.
Here's just a little taste of the amazing info Deb shares:
Deb’s Top Five ‘Fast, Cheap, & Easy’™ Display Tips:
Paint! Buy it cheap at home supply stores from the ‘oops’ rack and play to your hearts’ content. Mix, match, create vibrant combinations and use color to your advantage. Paint canvas or lightweight wood panels for your walls, paint shelving and props…..a different color every season
Architectural Salvage: Window Frames, Trellises, and Ladders. Hang ‘em on the wall, from the ceiling like a pot rack, use them as shelves, turn fan trellises upside down and they are Christmas trees, or paint them black and you have the Eiffel tower!
Fabric: Use large panels of fabric to cover upright supports, drape tables, or swag from ladders or trellises. Adds texture and softness to the hard lines of furniture - just drape a tablecloth over a third of a table (leave some folds in it – fabric should flow like water, not be flat) to make it more inviting.
Light: From twinkle Christmas lights to chandeliers to paper lanterns, getting warm light into your displays will work magic to draw customers in and make your products look their best.
Tomato Cages: Yes, I said tomato cages! The metal cones sold for just two bucks or less at your hardware store can be SO much more… First, flip them upside down and sit them on the large rim. Take those three ‘legs’ and bend them with a vise grip or needle nose pliers – curl them, spiral them, or bend them into a hanger shape.
Spray paint them if you want, then use them to display just about anything. You can dress them in aprons, hats, jewelry, t shirts, petticoats, and more. Hang ‘em up, sit them on top of cabinets and tables, use them as lampshades on post lamps. You can hang a slew of products ON them, too: holiday ornaments, kitchen tools, woodworking tools, more jewelry, purses, gift tags, bookmarks…. It’s all about creative ideas.
There's much more information in Deb's Guide. Check it out.
All Rights Reserved; excerpts used by permission.
Plus, visit Deb's Retail Design Blog for more creative, inspiring and practical information!
AND on her website Debi Ward Kennedy, you catch watch some videos Deb did with some of the nations other TOP designers/sellers/artists/creative types... like Serena from the Farm Chicks and Heather Bullard from Flea Market Style Magazine!
ONE MORE THING...
If you live in the Seattle area, you can see Deb's design prowess in action (hubby Bob's too!) at the Petite Retreat Boutique Store, open Friday & Saturday of Mother's Day Weekend only. (May 6th and 7th).
Hours are 9 AM - 3 PM. Also of note: The Camano Island Artist Studio Tour is on that weekend, too.
Content of this document is original to Debi Ward Kennedy, 2009
Thank you to the always gorgeous, gracious and generous Deb!
I wanted to share this amazing tablescape with you, courtesy of Vicki Chrisman and Tattered Angels.
It's pretty wonderful. All the project tutes and color mixing recipes are here.
Happy Weekend!
Does anyone (besides me) have a *thing* for snail mail? I love receiving letters and cards "the old fashioned" way and still look forward to the time each day that the red, white and blue mail truck stops at my house.
Happily for me, I've been received some especially wonderful things recently. Like these cards from my friend artist Pam Holderman.
I won them in a contest she was having on her blog.
All you had to do was guess which famous moustached star Pam is related to.
It didn't take a "PI" to figure that one out (plus her maiden name is Selleck).
These images and taken from Pam's original paintings. I was wow-ed by the high quality and am heading right for her etsy shop to get some to give as gifts. These are mine!
And speaking of gifts... I received the MOST delightful one make that two in the mail today.
Glassine envelopes are my favorite. And look what was inside:
My own personal pennant banner! And one to share...
From the VERY crafty and talented Sarah of the blog "My Mississippi Mud Pie." And you could get one too! Sarah is holding a giveaway right now.
From Sarah: "It will be a $75 gift certificate to my store AND the chance to give a gift certificate to 2 friends, or host a $25 gift certificate give-away on your blog. And 5 other folks will win a... flag banner from me."
That's right folks. Not only can you win all kinds of goodness from this charming and vintage-y store... but you have a very good shot at winning your own darling banner card. Go visit My Mississippi Mudpie.
Thank you Pam and Sarah for the fabulous mail days!
Amazing things happen in the most unlikeliest of places.
Armed with their imaginations, guerilla gardeners are making the world more beautiful, bloom by bloom. The Pothole Gardener is one of these creative souls. Where some see a spot of cracked concrete, he sees the potential for something magical.
All images property of The Pothole Gardener
Here's what The Pothole Gardener says about his work:
"Guerilla Gardening is all about getting out there, doing something, getting your hands dirty and creating something that improves the space you live in."
Gorgeous inspiration!
Hi Friends! I got a chance to take a class from Marah Johnson recently. She's a designer for Creative Imaginations and a lover of Lumninarte, a company that Creative Imaginations recently acquired.
Lumninarte creates a product called Twinkling H2O's... they look a bit like something from the MAC makeup counter-- both the packaging and the colors inside.
Basically they are these little pots of paint infused with mica so they shimmer and sparkle. They come in 156 blendable colors. They are similar to watercolors. To use them, you spritz the little pots and the paper you want to use them on.
The Twinkling H20's bead up on glossy paper and adhere to more mat paper.
They adhere to the textured part of flocked paper. And you can blend-blend-blend different shades and them blend some more. As Marah said about a million times, "Water is your friend!" and it really is when it comes to this product... it's pretty cool.
I was entranced by how pretty the paper towels that we were working in top of turned out.
You can paint directly on shapes.
And you can dry them with a heat gun and use adhesive (Marah recommends Zip Dry) to layer the elements.
You can also paint some paper with the Twinkling H20's and then... put SALT on them. Then you dry the paper again and you get this "tie dye" texture.
Playing with these products was like going back to your elementary school art class messing around with watercolors. Only the colors are better and brighter AND you DON'T have to stay in the lines. In fact, it's discouraged.
Here's the painting outside the lines!
Hey There! I am really enjoying the work of Lisa Congdon, artist and illustrator.
Lisa didn't start painting until she was 33 years old. That was only nine years ago. She has taken exactly four painting classes and is mostly self-taught. Inspiration overload.
Another timely reminder that there really aren't any rules in life about when you'll discover that thing that enchants you.
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