a creative mint

Pink, Green and Yellow with Grey

Hello Friends,

How have you all been? Enjoying winter? I just returned from a ten day stay in Vancouver and Victoria. My goodness it was chilly and a little dark. I think I have been in LA for so long that I have forgotten how cold Novembers can actually get. I did manage to take my daughter to see the Nutcracker Ballet which was fun and I connected with family which is really important to me. Despite the freezing rain, wind and snow, I had a fabulous time.

Today I am posting the photographs from my most recent Color Me Pretty column on decor8. I always like to post my photographs over here just in case you missed them and for my own record. This time around I wanted to pair grey tones with some bright yellow, pink and a slightly darker green. I enjoyed painting some Moroccan patterns and then using them for some wrapping. I find if you photograph your paintings (that you want to print out) the colors turn out much better then when you scan them. Have you noticed this? I think I may need to update my scanner as it is very old! I used the printouts to decorate my wrapping which is mainly done with large envelopes. I also made a few tags as well.

The other project I did for this series was to paint old glass jars and bottles that I had been saving instead of recycling. I kept jars and bottles that I thought had a nice shape knowing that I would spray paint them white eventually. I used a matte white spray paint and quickly coated the outside of the bottles. I love how they look when they are grouped together. I can imagine them running down the center of a table with just a sprig of greenery in them, add a few votives and you have a simple but really pretty centerpiece. It is also fun to paint or stencil on the matte white paint. I used some acrylic paints to create the patterns on a few of the bottles. You could also stencil on numbers or letters quite easily using a metallic acrylic paint which may be nice for a wedding or special party. 

I hope you found an idea or two here today and I will be back soon with some holiday inspirations for you. Until then, take care. xoleslie

Peacock Pavilions

Hello Friends,

I hope you had a nice weekend. I wanted to share with you a few detail photographs I took at Peacock Pavilions, the boutique hotel where I stayed in Marrakesh last month. I took hundreds of photographs while in Morocco but I took mainly tight detail shots while staying at Maryam's desert oasis. I like having visual notes like these to remember certain colors or patterns when I return home. Hopefully, the notes will inspire a creative project of some sort or maybe they will just take me back for a little daydream. Please visit Maryam's blog for lot's of stunning photos of her pavilions and to read about her life in Morocco.

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends and I will see you all back here soon. xoleslie

Friday Flowers

Hello Friends,

Here are some roses for your weekend! I also wanted to give you the link to my Color Me Pretty post on decor8. I will be back here next week to post all the photographs from the column. To all my wonderful American friends, I am wishing you a warm, relaxing, lovely Thanksgiving holiday week ahead.

xoleslie

Friday Flowers

Hello Friends,

Here are some flowers for your weekend. I hope you can make time to do something creative or relaxing. 

I also wanted to share with you a quick wrapping idea that I use all the time. I pop gifts in large office envelopes, in this case a 10" by 13" white envelope from Office Depot. They have a self adhesive strip to close them so I just fold it over and stick it in place. No tape needed, except as decoration! It is amazing what you can fit in them too. Add a ribbon and your little present is good to go.

xoleslie

Neutrals and Rose

Hello Friends,

Happy November! I wanted to share this collection of photos with you as I thought you may enjoy them. I love naturals and creams mixed with a little toasty rose. I seem to have many photographs in this color palette and you will probably see more here again soon. I can't help it!

The overstuffed notebook in the photos is filled with small cuttings of paper, fabric, ribbons and photographs. I like making small projects like this that can archive my interests at a certain time and is really easy to carry around. Being that the notebook was so small it filled very quickly and I find myself enjoying going back through it again and again. I am now starting another one. It is not about words, only images and textures.

The Billet zine I photographed is beautiful but really hard to find. The Nani Iro book I have opened in my studio is lovely and is filled with many sewing projects. Some of the new ribbons I have for all the birthday wrapping I seem to be doing are from Anthropologie.

I hope you have a wonderful week. Thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to visit me here. xoleslie