10.21.09
Painting the wall… Time Lapse
Time Lapse Wall Painting from carrie hannegan on Vimeo.
A cameo from Meg and everything :)
My New Office… Now in Technicolor!
I asked myself… if I could do anything in my new office… what would it be? Answer: Wallpaper every inch… every stripe a different design and cover the ceiling, too. Make it as chaotic and inspiring, yet as calming as possible.
Ya, sure… that’s practical.
Instead, I took a brush to one wall and covered it in flowers… and I covered a few pieces of furniture in flowers, too. It’s sort of a compromise, but there are still 3 walls ;) hehe!
As you can see, Meg’s new sniffing spot is to my left when I’m sitting at the computer. She loves to perch here and watch the neighbors come and go.
This is my favorite stripe of wallpaper (it took the longest to paint)… we even did a time lapse animation of me painting it… (it’ll be online soon!) The inspiration for this design came from an old pillowcase I found at SunThrift in Sunland, CA. :)
I took the old awning from the Violets are Blue candy section and put it over my drafting table. A chandelier, some tissue pouf balls and ribbon… voila… a creating cave!
And… my cupcake, etc collection. Some “My Little Ponies” have been added to bring back the I-am-seven-years-old vibe. Remember when you would play for hours with a bright piece of plastic with a tail… and talk to them like they were real? Good times. (Secret… I still do that, you know, talking to myself thing… but only when I’m painting…)
There’s still more nooks and crannies to share… but they all need another coat of paint… or twelve :)
10.16.09
Edible Art…
Why oh why am I (and so many others) continually impressed when looking at artful cupcakes and cakes? I could browse photos of incredibly decorated cake for hours… why is that? :) I can also watch an Ace of Cakes marathon and be thoroughly content. (And I would love to work with Duff & Mary Alice and sit in one of those fancy blue chairs!)
Any sort of iced confection reminds you that a celebration or party is afoot. Butter, eggs, sugar and flour… covered in more butter = party cornerstone = joy.
I saw a cake today via boingboing.net that got me in the decorating mood…
This “Starry Night” cake is a creation by Megpi on Flickr. I love that this was done with icing and it looks painted on in a happy free form sort of way. The colors blend so beautifully and you can tell that Megpi has some formal art training. So awesome. I’m happy that it’s not fondant, because fondant seems scary to me.
I’m intimidated by fondant… it seems that you get one shot and if it’s not perfect on the first try, you have to start over. I have 2 boxes in my pantry just waiting for me… but… alas… it frightens me. Even with the decade of fimo abuse I took, I just can’t seem to get the fondant out! (ooooh, has anyone done a fondant cane like fimo?? I’m sure someone has… but fondant dries out quicker. I had some crazy elaborate fimo canes… hmmmm). Here’s an example of some fimo canes (Thank you Nogadin on Flickr for this image):
Just for inspiration… Here are some other fun cake and cupcake pictures…
Alice in Wonderland cupcakes by Be Cheery on Flickr.
Beautiful rose cupcakes by Hello Naomi on Flickr.
Mini Chocolate Cake by Bev from Sugarbloom Cupcakes on Flickr.
Cupcake cake by Cupcake Journal on Flickr.
Dogwood Cake and cupcakes by Consumedbycake on Flickr.
“Sweet India” Cake and cupcake by Icing Dreams on Flickr.
Tattoo cupcake by Bakerella on Flickr.
Christening cupcake and cake tower by Blue Cupcake on Flickr.
These cupcakes were done by Abbietabbie on Flickr
And these fondant cupcakes were made by my Cousin-in-law, Tammy :)
My desire to “build a cake” is growing… who’s in? :)
10.12.09
Oh, the weather outside is… actually quite nice…
Getting in the Holiday spirit… (but I’d rather linger in the Fall season forever, thank you very much! October is my favorite month… hands down!) Here are a few pictures from the photo shoot the other day…
| Most of the items are from the Wendy Addison collection… I love her designs and ample use of glass glitter, so whimsical! These will go up on the website soon… also being listed… a collection of Victorian snowmen, a retro collection of snowmen, a whole robot-themed ornament group, other fun assorted ornaments and gifts and my favorite… a whole line of felt gingerbread houses, cupcakes, ice cream cone snowmen and more… You’re going to love them :) |
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By the way… I’ve been getting a lot of emails asking about Penny Mcallister pieces… I didn’t get any Christmas items this year (They were either on the pricey and large side, they didn’t jump out at me like they had in previous years or were from the 2008 collection) but I did get a few pieces from her circus collection. I’ll be listing those soon, please check back :) If you have a specific question or want me to email you when I get the Penny items up, please leave a comment here and I’ll be sure to let you know :)! |
Tonight, I’m working on painting the last stripe in my office… with flowers. It’s like I have 5 different strips of wallpaper on one wall… it’s awesome :) I’ll share, soon… but I want it to be perfect first :)
10.11.09
20% coupon! :)
Get 20% off your entire purchase at www.violetcottage.com now through October 31!! :) Just enter the code “boo” at checkout!
A few other things I listed at violetcottage.com today…
Super cute treat bags… $8.99 each.
Here’s another treat bag…
A hand painted owl tote… $15.99
More to come :)
10.02.09
Fall and Halloween Goodies are up on the Website! :)
I broke out the long sleeves a few days ago… it’s been cold here in Cary. Of course I’m still sporting shorts and flip flops, the California girl in me just can’t grasp the concept of cold legs and toes… but my arms are-a-freezin’!
Now that it *feels* like the Fall/Thanksgiving/Halloween decorations should be out, it’s finally out and listed on the Violet Cottage website (well, 95% of it, anyway!)… I’ve reordered some of my all-time favorite goodies and there are lots of new friendly faces, too!
The squirrel trio (Maybe they’ll form a band… the world needs more singing rodents). I **love** these cuties. They have always been good sellers at Violets are Blue. You can get a set of them for $14.99 on violetcottage.com.
“Did someone say Squirrel?!?” (Meg is constantly on critter patrol)
This piece is way cool… it’s a vintage-y witch and her skirt is a chalkboard! You can get one here for $35.99.
These cats are really great… love their pumpkin-shaped dresses :) These are $21.99 for the set.
Something a little different… this is a set of 23 vinyl stickers that go on walls & windows… They are BIG. I love that they are easy to put up and store… you don’t need 5 storage bins to have some unique Halloween decorations :) These are $21.99 for the set, and can be found here :)
And there’s more at www.violetcottage.com! :)
I’m still working on a few handmade Halloween decorations… and lots of jewelry… and there’s all the great Christmas stuff that needs to be listed… yipes!
I wonder if I can teach Meg the basics of product photography and some html? ;) At least she has the squirrel patrol down to a science.
09.27.09
How do I do this again?
Blogging used to be an obsession. I always had my camera ready and I would fiddle with paragraphs and story ideas in my head all day long… I loved it. I even own a shirt that says “I’m blogging this”. Every detail of life found its way onto the pages of this blog.
But… life happened. A third move in 18 months, a new business endeavor, I joined the time abyss known as Facebook (hehe) and really… I’ve just felt out of the creative loop for months and months now.
The exciting part is that this move will be the last one for a while. We bought our first place… stressful, exciting, overwhelming, exhausting… I had no idea the planning and emotional turmoil involved. But, we are so thankful…
First on the agenda was to paint the walls. For those of you who have been in my store you know how much I love color. Once I get unpacked, I’ll share pictures. 15 gallons of paint… oh yeah :)
My office… 8 colors. One wall is going to be covered in hand-painted flowers and some of the furniture got a fresh coat of paint and flowers, too!
Here’s my desk…
This was actually pretty easy to do… all those black lines were done with a sharpie… so it was almost like coloring. It was a lot of fun :)
I have SO much great Halloween stuff to show everyone… my goal is to have that up this week and start on Christmas the following week. Everything has been in a topsy turvy holding pattern… I can’t wait to get back into the swing of things, I’m not sure where to start!
I’ve missed being here, in this little blog editing box. I hope everyone has been well… and happy!!
07.24.09
You have to visit Charleston, SC
It’s been 2 months since I’ve posted! Yikes!
We’ve moved twice in a year and we’re getting ready to move again in a month. Nothing like having all your belongings in a leaning tower of plastic rubbermaid boxes to kill your creative sparks. The good news is, after we get settled this move is going to last a bit longer than a year :) I can’t wait to show you all what I’m going to do in my office… tons and tons of color! Yippee!!!!
A little while back, we took a quick weekend trip to Charleston… it was spontaneous, like many things we do (like getting married, for one).
I had no idea it was so beautiful.
| We rolled into town at about 11:00 pm. I’m so glad we did. We got to wander the streets almost alone, in the dark with only gas street lights to light our way. Old churches, columns, hanging plants… historical homes from the late 1700’s. We had our golden retriever, Nutmeg, in tow… it was a magical evening. |
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The Mills House Hotel was so charming (and totally reminded me of the Pirates of the Caribbean entrance at Disney World)… apparently we caught the tail-end of a wedding party. Stumbling groomsmen and seat assignment cards were scattered here and there. I picked one up and saved it for my scrapbook :) (a seat assignment card, not a drunk groomsman)
We kept wandering… enjoying the cool evening, the night-blooming jasmine and the lack of tourists… we had the streets to ourselves, it was great :)
Meg… with spiral stairs below :)
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Doesn’t this look like the fixtures at the Haunted Mansion? |
| A certain Main Street, USA has quite a few of these… |
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This church… so gorgeous. Can I just have 10 more faux-weddings so I can have ceremonies in every church I find breathtaking? The whispy fern garland and hydrangea wreaths… still fresh.
Creeeeepy…
And a few residential shots… that gate looks familiar? :)
The next morning… the houses that looked gray, green and dingy… were actually crisp white and had tons of color…
Next time… we’ll stay more than 18 hours… you need at least 2 full days to explore!
On the way out… we stopped by our very first Piggly Wiggly…
We also drove through the Isle of Palms on the way back… (I want to live here)…
Then got a little lost driving through Myrtle Beach… but finally made it to the ocean before heading home. Meg loooves road trips :)
The end :)
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