a creative mint

Vignettes of Color

Hello Friends, I hope all my American pals have had a nice Thanksgiving holiday thus far. I am traveling this week and will hopefully have some pictures to show you next week or at least some links to some of the interesting places I have been! Here are my photographs from this week's "Color Me Pretty" column on my favorite decor8. 

It seems like I cannot get enough of my little Moroccan tea glasses. I love using them for flowers, as candle holders, to hold teaspoons, to serve ice cream in, to serve iced drinks in, and yes, to serve Moroccan mint tea in. They are really festive and beautiful all year around.

I like the idea that holidays can be about something else besides the craziness that we often participate in at this time of year. Is it possible to be more creative this year, a little quieter, maybe read a book or connect with only those we want to connect with? How about making time to reflect on the year past or maybe even relax a little...hmmm... well, this is what I hope for you and me...

In this photo I wanted to use up some prints that were too nice to throw out but not nice enough to give away. I decided to take out my trusty Marvy gift tag punch and make some tags. Then I decided to tie them on a ribbon and make a little garland. Adding some little doodles on photographs is always fun and in this case I used some white ink.

I love parchment paper rolls but did you know it is also available in round sheets? Yes, it is sold by the 100's at cooking supply stores in various sizes for the use in the bottom of cake pans (so your carrot cake and chocolate cake doesn't stick to the bottom of your pan). It is also a great wrapping paper for your baking and in this case the round sheets were perfect for my little sugar cookies. They wrapped up so neat and then got finished with my beloved tape and a little ribbon.

I thought it would be cute to make a garland advent calender this year. It's nice to be able to hang this and have it get smaller as the days of December count down. As each day passes you can snip off a treat bag. I used some little gift bags I found at Michael's craft store, pulled out the handles and then hole punched them. I then strung them on a long piece of ribbon, tying a knot at each bag. Don't forget to put the tiny treats in first!

I can only hope you found some inspiration here and for more details you can also read my column on decor8.  Please do not hesitate to ask me any questions about the post in the comments section below and I will do my best to answer in a timely fashion.

I will be back here soon, take care. xoleslie

Color Me Pretty Time

Hello Friends, it's that time again, if you have a chance please join me for my "Color Me Pretty" column on Decor8 today. 

Vignettes of Color

Hello Friends,

It seems like forever since my last post... not sure why? These are all the photographs from my "Color Me Pretty" column at Decor8. I was inspired by little cuttings from my garden and this whole notion of playing field botanist or something like that. It seems like many stores including Anthropologie are selling science type bottles for storage, flowers or just for accessorizing. I know this look has been around for a long time but it is fun to figure out ways to bring it into your home or creative projects. 

As I explained in the column, I wanted to create a moveable board that incorporated a little clothesline to hang watercolors and other pieces of inspiration for this series. I fastened the twine to the back of an artist canvas so I would not have to drill holes in my walls. It creates a nice way to have a mood board at your work area, don't you think? It's funny, I wanted to do a whole winter forest mood board but being that I am in Los Angeles it is a difficult drive to the woods. Instead I had all these wonderful flowers blooming in my garden and decided just to paint them. I know it may feel like a "Spring" inspired board for some of you but I guess this is what LA looks like in November.

I bought most of my "science" bottles at a local laboratory bottle supply company. The vitamin bottles were either recycled or from the supply company as well. If you want lab/science bottles I would check online or in the yellow pages for a store near you that sells them individually as many companies only sell in packs of twelve.

I get very inspired by handwriting these days. I like looking at old letters and postcards from the flea markets just to examine the way people wrote. The way the ink flowed onto the paper and the cursive fonts are just beautiful. Vintage botanical prints have always been fascinating as well. That is what inspired me to paint the little cuttings from my garden. Of course I cannot draw like the masters but it is fun to really examine what is growing around you and possibly incorporate that into a creative project. 

I suppose tiling some of my photographs up at the end of every series is my way of visually cataloging what I have been investigating for the past week or so. It is always interesting for me to go back and look at what I was inspired by...Do you go back and look at your work? Sometimes it is rather humbling because I wish I had photographed something differently...but those thoughts usually do not last for long as I am most often immersed in something else! 

I truly appreciate you coming by my little space here and I am so very grateful for all your lovely comments of encouragement. They mean more to me then I could ever explain. xoleslie

Color Me Pretty Time

Hello Friends,

When you have a chance please join me at Decor8 for my "Color Me Pretty" column. This time around I was inspired by a few botanical drawings and some beautiful decorative fonts that I found in a couple very old books from the flea market. I also wanted to use some lab bottles (from Anthropologie and a bottle supply company) and some amber glass vitamin bottles I had which I thought went well with the look and could hold some little cuttings from my garden. There are some watercolor sketches too of some of the things I found growing in my garden recently. I know its Fall for many of you, but my white rose and lavender bushes will not stop blooming! I really hope you enjoy my series at Decor8.
xoleslie

Quick Hello

 Hello Friends,

I have been traveling and dealing with the flu with my little ones... thus I am seriously lacking sleep and ingesting a bit too much caffeine! So please excuse my absence...in the meantime, I did an interview with the very sweet Leyla Naghizada, I would love it if you could join me at her blog Leyla's Room for a read. I also worked really hard on another color story that you will be able to see this Monday over at Decor8.  

See you soon and please take care of your health!

xoleslie