November 22, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!

So much to be thankful for!

November 21, 2012

For the Feast

With a little sawing, a little sanding, and a little drilling, I made these woodsy candlesticks for tomorrow's festivities from some more Sandy-logs. I love how chunky they are, and the contrast between the heaviness of the bark and the creamy white of the wood on the inside:



I also made some napkin rings from stone beads and 20-gauge wire. All the natural elements make for a nice fall table.



Stay tuned - I'll post the whole tablescape tomorrow!

November 20, 2012

In a Round

Courtesy of hurricane Sandy, I picked up a few logs from fallen trees. Two of them went to making... well, stay tuned. But one was just perfect for slicing up into circles and making a little fall weather wreath for our front door.



I left the rounds totally raw - I'm sort of curious to see the wood's natural aging process. It's attached to a twig frame with a bunch of hot glue, which I'm hoping is enough to secure it at least for the time being.



The color works really well with that slightly grayish blue, no?

November 12, 2012

Happy, Happy Birthday!

Remember this girl?



She is now 7!





And she's got the cake-dyed blue mouth to prove it:



The art-themed birthday party was fantastic. Honestly, I recommend everyone run out today and book their local art studio for their next kid party - it is the perfect combination of all-out intense creativity and then all the chaos that pizza and cake can produce. Check out all the I. M. Pei action we started with:













The cake was an art cake, of course. Under time pressure, I at first tried to buy such a cake - and did you know that they do not exist? Girls and boys have the options of: princess, football, and every branded character that can be shrunk to plastic size and plopped on top of some frosting. I went another way, with a faceted bead "paint palette" (I cut the shape out of a small frisbee), teeny tiny easel & canvas, & miniature colored pencils:



Overhead at the party:

Boy 1: (with a sigh) Is it another princess cake?
Boy 2: No, it's an art cake!
Boy 1: FINALLY!

Here's how the whole thing looked:



And here is how we ate it:





We were all beaming like this for the whole rest of the day:

November 8, 2012

Turquoise and Gold

All of a sudden (was it perhaps upon turning 35 a few weeks ago?), I decided that slightly more grownup jewelry was in order. Thus, this:



Tumbled turquoise and gold leaf sphere. At first I was going to use silver for a more traditional look, but there is something about the aqua and yellow combination here that really speaks to me. Also, using chain? Great call. I've adjusted the length at least five times to get it just how I want it: add a link, remove a link, no muss, no fuss.