Sip n Shop Success

This year's Sip n Shop run by MONA (Mothers of North Arlington) was a huge success. There were over 43 vendors, mainly MONA moms representing their own small businesses. I love to feel the creativity all around me, and am inspired by the skill and vision of moms like myself who are able to balance running a house as well as find small moments to create for themselves. Not that I'd actually consider myself balanced...

Speaking of moms, I owe so much to my own mom. No doubt I have inherited her artistic and creative genes. She is an amazing quilter, sewer, knitter, needlepointer, crafter, etc. She has an eye for beauty! For the third year in a row, my mom was at my side at the Sip n Shop. We are quite a team. It was a super busy evening, with so many generous moms supporting my business. At the end of the night, with no gas left in the tank, my mom helped me push through in taking down my display and the packing up the leftover remnants of what had made up a quite impressive collection of hair clips and other goodies (forgot to take a photo of my table of course!). We were directly off to bed when we got home. Thank you Mom!

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Grey Wrought Iron Bed - From Big Box to Couture

In this project, we take a brand new reproduction wrought iron bed purchased from an online outfit and gift it with the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint treatment. The result is a customized, couture piece that complements a carefully styled renovated Arlington home. Together with the clients, we decided to paint the bed in Paris Grey by Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. We then protected the finish with two coats of Annie Sloan's Clear Wax. This photo of the completed project gives you a glimpse of the silky and smooth finish achieved through the paint process with Annie Sloan's product line. I absolutely adore this bed purchased by the client from wayfair.com . The name of the bed seems to change, but at the moment is called the LaRoche Panel Bed in Aged Bronze. We were amazed by the white glove treatment by the Wayfair delivery team. While we love the current color of the bed, the sheen of the finish gives away its reproduction/Big Box Store pedigree...

Owl Silhouette Project

The animal of the moment for Au is the owl. This summer she has devoured Kathryn Lasky's fiction series The Guardians of Ga'hoole . Au selected the species for the project based on their characteristic sizes and profiles. I created silhouettes in Adobe Illustrator based on the photographs Au found at owlpages.com . Next we will print and frame them for her room.

Yankee Doodle Re-Do

If you were a boy of the 70s growing up in New England, this piece may bring back fond memories of playing with your Lite Brite or He-Man, splayed out on the shag carpet in your den: I donated this fixer-upper to the Junior League of Washington's "tossed and found" charity sale last month. A massive cleanup, repaint with an Annie Sloan grey mix (leftover Paris Grey, French Linen, and Pure White) and reupholstery with fresh modern home decor fabric gave this toy bench a complete new look. So cute. Another of those projects the girls are sad to see go. Who knows, maybe we'll run across another Yankee toy box some day.

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