Shadow Box

I bought a shadow box at IKEA over a year ago. It was my first trip to this awesome store...and I didn't have much to spend. The black framed box was pretty inexpensive-like five or six dollars. I knew that something special would fit in this little treasure holder. Today was the day- that I knew what could go inside this frame.

I have a few seashells that make me smile when I look at them. Most of them come from my siblings who travel all over the world. They know that I love all-things-nautical...glass balls, ships in bottles and shiny sea shells. One certain sea shell I have-I love BOTH sides of. One side has brown stripes and the other side has "stair-case ribs". I was having a hard time deciding which side to show off. Then I got a really good idea...

I decided to color copy the rib side of the shell-with my leopard scarf laying on top of the shell!

Then I cut down the copy to fit inside the border. It was like making my own scrapbook paper. I found the hot-glue gun and glued the shell {with the stripes on the top}-down on the color copy. I love the finished look, and I hope this inspires someone else to be brave and fill a shadow-box also. This project was fun!

William and Victoria Carr

Today, my hubby came home... and we went out of town to do an electrical job for William Carr again. It was so fantastic-I can hardly contain myself! (Aaaaaa!!!) Why do I love going out there to his home? Well, he's an amazing photographer that owns his own gallery in Las Vegas, and his wife, Victoria, calls my hubby whenever they need an electrician. The first time my hubby came home from working at his house...he was carrying this picture with him...

We put that one in the computer room. Today we brought home this HUGE gorgeous framed artwork-

Fantastic, huh??? We were also given this southwest collection also!

I can hardly believe my eyes when I go into my livingroom! What did we do to deserve all this beauty?

My talented hubby had to bend some pipe, and put it up against the wall for a new laminating machine that they just bought and had delivered while we were there this morning. We helped install this frame-cutting machine also...Click Here for that story.

Used for cutting all this molding that is absolutely gorgeous!

He has his own framing, matting and lamination workshop!!

William and Victoria Carr

They posed with my hubby!:)  The trucks had pulled in and delivered the laminator and plastic rolls...

And it was time to roll up our sleeves and work!

This is the beginning of the pipe- (put up for the wiring)

And it had to be run into another room reserved for this new laminator

It was pretty tricky getting that pipe around the door frame!

Here's all that wire getting thread through the pipes and sent into the next room

Here's the end result -and we were sooo happy the wire thread all the way through! (Yahooo!) I didn't get a good shot of the laminator...so I took this one off-line:

The lovely lamination machine-used for sealing each one of the awesome prints!  Thank you to Bill and Victoria for asking us to come visit (and help set-up their workshop:) That was fun!

Postcards from Home

Today, my hubby was in town, and he had a side job to do-so I went along. He is really good friends with a famous local photographer, William Carr and his lovely wife, Victoria. They have a wonderful ranch and run a fantastic photography business. (His postcards are bought and sold around the world). I'm pretty sure you'll recognize his pictures immediately. Really incredible!!

Well, we knocked on their front-door and no one answered. So, we took a stroll over to their gallery:) Way cool place where Mr. Carr creates his photography and frames it. My hubby had to hook up a pipe with an electrical cord...so that the frame saw could run. (There's a lot more that goes into creating a portrait than even I realized!). While my hubby was working on the pipe-I got to check out my water-color that Mr. Carr framed for me. I had a white mat put on and a elegant black frame put around a picture...a water-color that I paid someone to paint in 2004 of my precious babies. (It's taken me THIS long to finally get it done-I know, procrastination is my middle name). I'm super glad now-that I did.  This guy only frames the work he usually sells-and I hit the jack pot! 

I also got to hear about their new gallery that will be opening up in Vegas soon. I was invited to see their portfolio and see the places they have traveled to around the world. It was so much like looking through a National Geographic Magazine. They use a high definition camera to capture the colors and intense eye catching imagery. I noticed that their work shop is so clean too (you know how some artwork stirs up dust and particles?  Not theirs-it was immaculate. Kinda of made me more interested in the business. So, I asked as many questions as I could to understand just how one captures nature's scenes with perfect light and color. What makes his work stand out? I think his patience and artistic eye, are able to notice the things we may take for granite...such as the sunrise and sunsets. 

How many people will take a whole day to get up early, drive for hours, return to a perfect spot if there's bad weather, and walk THAT very photo through the costly process of developing, printing, framing and marketing? Not once-but continually. It's the behind the scenes process that gets my questions going. What kind of work is that successful? This kind-for sure.

P.S. There was fire that got out of control last year out in New Harmony-very close to the Carr's ranch. They were so lucky to not have serious damage. Here's a video of how close the blaze came into their area:

Creative Energy

Fun times at work continue! My boss brought me a picture from a magazine and there were three- four nesting flower pots. They were stacked on top of each other and had greenery flowing out around each planter. She asked if I could create something similar...and I said "Sure!". This is the final piece...My boss said, "Looks better than the picture":) Cool- She's easy to please!!

I also made a brown neutral-colored rose arrangement. This has light wispy fern hanging from the rim. Wonder what I should create for Independence Day?

Whistle While You Work-♥

Today was my day to demo at work. I was given a plain wooden frame to decorate with and anything I wanted in the store. So, I grabbed the lime green acrylic paint and some scrap-booking paper, and some embellishments. I painted the whole frame green and then started cutting around the scrolls and flowers on the paper. Then I glued the scrap-paper down and covered the paper with Modge-Podge. I took the cardboard insert off the back and covered that with pink polka dot paper and left it off till the wood was dry. Then, I added gems and glitter dots to the flowers-purple and pink. I found some extra big gerber daisies to hot glue to the top corner too. I think the whole project turned out pretty cute! Chabs really like the colors:)

I also had two customs orders for weddings. One was the head pieces for two little flower girls. One little girl is wearing blue and the other pink. They picked out the flowers themselves and I wired them into a head-band. I think the mom spent ten dollars in supplies and the labor only cost seven bucks. What a great dress up item for later on:) I plan to glue little tiny crocodile clips to the insides of the bands-to help hold them on their cute little heads.

My last project was a bridal bouquet that...
had green and pink gerber daisies in it-with a little white freesia and meadow grass for a filler. I looped bear grass and cradled the bouquet inside the greenery. The handle of stems was wrapped in a lime green satin ribbin-three inches wide. The brides final color is a baby-blue...so I put just a touch of thin ribbon near the big bow in front. The color scheme and grass loops gives this a tropical theme. I could always be inspired to create from my heart- with the idea of a Hawaiian celebration!! Can you imagine the hoola-girls with their grass skirts? Aloha-♥

* And that's my day... in a nut-shell! Yay-for demo days...and the awesome customers.

Painting by Van Gogh

Painting, Oil on Canvas
Amsterdam, The Netherlands: October 8, , 1885
Van Gogh Museum
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Europe