Ah, the joys of looking up!

One of my favorite things in the world is seeing something unique in a completely unexpected place. I love when someone takes the time to beautify an area that usually gets ignored! A perfect example of this would be my mom's 'craft room.' Yes, she has an entire room dedicated to her projects. Be jealous ladies. She has recently taken over the garage with powertools as well (not kidding!) Anyway, this room is done in black and white and it's great!!!!

The greatness of living in an older home is you can do all sorts of things without fearing ruining the value of the home! The basement of this house has those older ceilings with the squares. What she took the time to do to her ceiling is inspiring! Since she couldn't rip the ceiling down (I think she inquired if it was possible), she decided to make it as visually appealing as possible, with keeping true to her inner funk of course. Alas, her ceiling:

Just a little something different to add some flair to this space!

This is 'HER' room, filled with projects she is always working on, so it is extremely fitting that even the ceiling is one of her completed unique projects!

Just sharing some ideas!!

Bingo? Yes...and the dauber too!

Am I fan of BINGO?! More than my husband would like the world to know (Natasha, if you EVER read this, know that you rekindled my BINGO love in Colorado Springs). My favorite thing about this game of chance? The daubers!!! I get more than slightly amused by the dauber-dispensers that the fancy BINGO halls have. Ah, a whole vending-like-machine full of daubers. Any color you can imagine! Ah, it's glorious!!

Anyway, contrary to what it may seem, what I want to share with the world today is NOT my love for the BINGO dauber...But, in fact, a different type of dauber. A scrapbooking dauber! I am taking a break from discussing the creativity of my parent's home today and taking a little look inside the creative world of the "dauber." This dauber completely changed my world when I was first introduced to it a few short years ago. Ahhh!

Please take a moment to 'ooooh' and 'aaaaah' over the dauber (picture below).

Yes, they are little. Yes, they are sort of like a plastic thimble with a sponge on top. Yes, they are the most amazing thing that any card-maker, scrapbooker or crafter will ever lay their hands on.

What do you do with a dauber? You place them on your finger (I prefer my right index finger), daub (is that a word?) them in your desired ink/stamp pad, then go to town daubing the edges of anything and everything! I might have lost you there in that description, therefore I thought it best to show you some examples of what the dauber can do. Please, prepare to bow to the mighty dauber at the end of this!

This is how you add a little distressed look or some color to anything with the dauber.

Adding a dark edge to some captions with the dauber.

You can double-up the colors with the dauber. I used pink ink first and then followed it up with a black.

You can see how the dauber makes any captions/titles much improved!

Ah, clearly, I use the dauber too much on all my titles, but I LOVE IT!

You can use the dauber with colored ink too! Here it is in RED!

Now, you may have noticed that most of my pictures are just on white paper using ink to distress the edges of them. There are many other uses for the dauber! Below is a picture of the dauber adding a little dimension to a card. I have seen people use the dauber on nearly anything, even pictures themselves. If you have never tried the dauber, I hope you do sometime soon.

IGNORE the background in this picture. I was eating breakfast in my living room, while probably painting my toe-nails. PLEASE just focus on the amazing use of the dauber on this card, ha! :)

I will continue highlighting the amazing creativity of my parent's home in the next entries! But until then, please respect the dauber!!

A spunk of a thing!

What do you see when you look at this thing above? A funky flower?! Some really prickly little thing? A sun? If I were to see these at a store, I would have to think really hard to find a place for this guy in my home (But, don't get me wrong, I LOVE this spunk of a thing!!).

I am yet again writing about my parent's home (I warned you!)...and this little guy...and how my mom used this small piece of art in such a cute way!!! I was inspired. If you recall a few entries back, I told ya'll about the new amazing orange retro room. On one of the walls, sits five of these little spunks....and four 'X's. Hmmm, what could this be?! TIC-TAC-TOE!!!

How did she do it?

She saw these amazing little spunks (my official name for them) at a store and bought them, thinking that she would create an over-sized tic-tac-toe game on the wall. To complete this game, she bought cardboard cutouts of 'X's and then bought scrapbook paper to cover them. She finished off the game board with thin pieces of wood that made the lines. She painted them brown, put them together and there you go....project complete!!!

The moral of the story?! If see something that is interesting, unique and just all sorts of cool at a store....BUY IT! You may not have the place for it yet, or even the perfect idea for it yet...but you will....it'll come!! And if the idea doesn't come, I can give you my mom's number! :)

Not your Grandma's China Cabinet...

**Disclaimer: I am uncertain if the word "china" in the phrase "China cabinet" is supposed to be capitalized or not. Therefore, I used an uppercase about half the time, so at least I'll be right some of the time. I am sorry if I have offended the Chinese or anyone else with my lack of proper capitalization.

Some of my most favorite things to look for at flea markets and antique stores are china cabinets. The reason for this is probably because I have an unnatural love for dishes! LOVE THEM!!! I already own four complete sets of dishes and I am already to starting to collect a fifth (an INCREDIBLE Kelley green antique glass dish set for Christmas....these dishes make me happy every time I see them!!!)....I digress. China cabinets, they are amazing! I bought one a few months ago and am not satisfied with the one coat of paint I put on it. I have constantly thinking about how I am going to make it my own....while nothing has come to me yet, this is a project on the top of my to-do list.

However, when visiting the Motherland, I was reminded of what makes the china cabinet so amazing. Both of my sweet grandmas own very lovely china cabinets. You know the China cabinets I am talking about here: An oak wood (or some other very nice wood) with glass pane windows so you can peek in at their very gorgeous china and crystal. While these China cabinets are very nice, they are traditional and lack the flair that I wish to bring to my own china cabinet someday. BUT, the woman that can bring flair to anything is Tami Trivitt, my mom.

Let me tell you a little bit about her China cabinet. She painted it black (I know what you are thinking....BLACK?! Is she crazy?!), mosaic-ed the back of it with light-aqua-colored translucent mosaic tiles, knocked out the wood shelves of it and replaced them with glass shelves instead, painted the inside sides a light aqua color and then added little jewels on them. Then, she had my grandpa (yes, my entire family is incredibly creative) make lead (stained) glass cabinet doors for the front. To top it all off, she drilled a hole in the back of cabinet, so she could add a light at the top of the cabinet. "OH MY GOODNESS, she has destroyed this piece of wood!!!!" That was my initial thought when she told me about it via phone before I actually saw it in person.

However, what my mom created is one of my favorite pieces of re-done furniture that I have ever seen. I absolutely LOVE it. This amazing 'piece of wood' is not your grandma's china cabinet. :) Every time I see a china cabinet in the antique stores, I try to see it's potential as something that could someday look like this!

THE China Cabinet!

I have learned that the most important part of decorating is not WHAT you have, but HOW you arrange it. I love the way my mom stacks things here and there in her china cabinet. Design everywhere!!!

An up-close view of the mosaic backsplash of the China cabinet...there are even little added jewels here and there, LOVE IT.

The inside corner of the cabinet....little details everywhere!

Tissue-Paper?!?

So, when one wants something completely outside of the box, one has to think completely outside of the box. My mom (the creative genius) wanted textured walls...not faux-textured walls, but the real thing. She used tissue paper...Yep, tissue paper! She put a little paint on the wall, then laid the tissue paper on top. Then, she later painted over it.

I wish I would have taken more pictures of this, but I forgot. If you look at the wall here, you will notice an awesome tissue-paper texture...because it actually IS tissue paper underneath there. I LOVE this inexpensive way to get a unique look for the wall! Has she figured out what to do if she no longer wants this tissue-paper look?! Hmmm, knowing her, she'll probably just tear down the whole wall. :)




I was actually taking picture of this 'home-made' art in these pictures, but please notice the TISSUE-PAPER textured wall in the background. Amazing!!!

 

Orange you glad....

As I mentioned earlier, my parent's home is crazy creative and full of color; Simply put, I LOVE IT! There is an office upstairs that serves as an extra bed when people are visiting. It used to be done in 'man colors,' but to my pleasant surprise, it is now done in ORANGE and it is FABULOUS! Did my mom make the headboard on the bed? YES. Did she also make the curtains? YES. Did she make some of the pillows? YES.  However, in these next pictures, I would like the world to focus on these hanging lanterns. They are just wonderful and I am going to find a place in my home to put something similar to this.

What she did: She bought strips of leather, sewed them together to create the cord which the lantern is hung. She attached hooks in the ceiling to hang the leather from. She found the lanterns at a local store (only color they had was orange...of course!) and then placed in them white candles for this amazing look! If you find lanterns you want, spray paint can be used to get them the color you want! I am contemplating how I can re-arrange my bedrooms to add these hanging lanterns to my own home. White lanterns with some bright candles would also be amazing I think!

Below are some pictures of these amazing lanterns that added some originality to this amazing-retro-colored room!!!

I LOVE THIS! These lanterns are just AMAZING!!!!

Prepare yourselves!!

Okay, before I get started here, please (all three readers....I've counted three being my mom, sister and husband) prepare yourselves for the next fifteen or so blog-entries to be about my parent's home. WOWZERS! I went back to home sweet home this last week and brought along my camera in hopes of capturing some images of my mother's creativity, so I can share it with the world.

The woman did not disappoint!!! To my pleasure (but not my surprise), one room and one entire backyard had been redone (it had been at least two months since I had last visited). So, please blog-readers prepare yourself to be truly inspired in my next few blog entries about the creativity this woman possesses! From leather walls, mirrored dressers, antique cabinets, glow-in-the-dark-everything to tissue-paper walls; it will inspire I promise!

I am officially committing to making more regular entries, so watch out! Also, after I rave about my mom's D-I-Y amazingness for a few weeks, I will show off the newest creation of my own. Prepare yourself world!!