Office Space

I can't help but to make all the spaces I occupy, my own. And that includes my office at work.  It's not very big and there is no window, but there is a door and my name is on the plaque outside the door. Plus it has space for all of my supplies and things, so that's all I really need.  The walls are beige - obviously, I had no part it that decision, not only because employees don't usually get to choose the paint color for their offices, but also, I most likely would never paint my personal walls beige when there are so many other glorious colors (yes, I said glorious).  But, I can work with beige.  It is a great neutral backdrop on which to add my own little touch. 

How about this really cool wall clock made by George Nelson from my favorite store Home Goods. Isn't it cool!  It would look great in my apartment too.  Too bad the nice guy that hung it up for me, didn't center it on the wall very well.  Oh well.  (Apparently, I took this picture at 1:37pm one day).




My office is basically a square and there are two walls that are empty above the furniture, the third one has a wall of high file cabinets and the other one has the clock and the office door.  I have three framed photos that I am going to put on the wall behind me, stacked vertically.  I just have to get nicer frames.  But on the opposite wall which is the space above my desk, I've decided to do something special.  It's too wide to just put some dinky frame on the wall, so I happened to see this really cool metal wall art piece with interlocking circles in various sizes (from my favorite store) that I am turning into a picture collage.  You'll notice the color is dark brown and of course it wasn't going to stay that color and since you know me by now, you'll know before I even write it - I painted it white!  I spray painted it actually and it's now white.  You will also notice that there are candle holders which I hope to be able to use to attach matted photos to.  You won't even know they are there when I'm finished.  I'll talk more about that in the update to this post.  In the meantime here's the before and after of the wall hanging.  Do you see the two tiny circles that are used to hang this piece?  See that they are not aligned?  The left side needs to be lifted up a little bit and that is how the piece will really look when on the wall.  Do you see what I mean?  Another way to say it, is that the two big circles are actually horizontally even when hung on the wall.  I am bothering to point this out and explain it because I want you to be able to picture it. Anyway, I think it's going to be really cool when it's done.

 

 

Before:

After:

 

 

Thanks for stopping by and Stay tuned for more creativity!

A Whole New World

Welcome to the world of seed bead jewelry!  A place I never thought I would visit but my inspiration came when my sister and I were at the Bead Show in Fishkill, NY a few weeks ago.  My sister has been making seed bead jewelry for a long time and she is really good at it and very creative.  She has pictures of her work on her own blog sunnrraysfancycrafts, you should check it out.  I have to be honest that while I have always appreciated the artistry and craft of seed bead jewelry, I never felt that it was completely my style. But at the Bead Show, I was looking with my sis at the seed bead booths while she was shopping and I saw these two rings made with seed beads at the beadmylove booth and thought they were so cool.  They were very colorful and big!  At first I was thinking perhaps my sister could make a ring for me and that I would pick out the beads.  As the design in my head progressed, I decided that I wanted to try my hand at seed bead jewelry making and learn how its done.  Always good to learn a new craft or skill.

I saw these foil backed rhinestones and decided upon a large oval. Truth be told, I saw an even bigger one at another table but decided it was too big - me, choosing the smaller one!  That's like someone putting two diamonds in front of me and me choosing the smaller one (that would never happen).  But for the ring I had in mind, it was going to be large enough with the smaller rhinestone.  For the color of the seed bead around the rhinestone, I chose an "ice" theme.  I wanted sparkly and frosted.  Not understanding the construction process yet, I needed to sketch out what I had in my mind in order to better communicate about what I was envisioning. Then we went from there to pick out all the supplies. I got an adjustable ring with a flat saucer on top to use as the platform.  I also purchased some bicone clear crystals to use as accents along with the very tiny clear sparkly seed beads I got.  My sister had stabilizer which is the perfect surface for sewing the beads on.  She glued the ring to one side of the stabilizer and then the rhinestone to the other side of the stabilizer.  And then it was sew, sew, sew.  My sister started me off and guided me on what to do and where to put the needle and more.  I did most of the sewing and had a clear idea of what I wanted to happen with the ring.  My sister is a great teacher!  I finished the ring last night - here is the fruit of our labor!

The sketch and the ring mostly done.

 

Tadah!

 

We did a bunch of secret things to make this ring work.  My sister came up with a fantastic idea when we were almost stunted by the space around the rhinestone and the stabilizer - the rhinestone not being flat backed but having a pointed back, stood up in the middle of the ring with no surface to sew the seed beads to. I can't tell you what her brilliant idea was- though I would like to, sorry.

The underside.

Profile and closeup.

With Flash

Without

Not sure I'll be doing seed bead jewelry too much.  It takes a lot of patience and time to sew the tiny beads.  We'll see!

Thanks for stopping by and Stay tuned for more creativity!

Super White Is Superfly!

Super White - that is the name of the Benjamin Moore white paint that I have used around my home.  Last night, I finally painted three items I've been meaning to paint for months!  All of these items that I could not find in white already, were procured from the various Home Goods near me.  See this big beautiful framed mirror that I bought for my bedroom. I needed it because the mirror on the back of the door just wasn't working for me. It wasn't until I looked at all of the mirrors in the store at one location and then all of the mirrors at another location, that I finally decided to buy this one. I realized that the price tag said $49.99 whereas all of the other comparable mirrors had price tags that read $99.99 or more.  What luck! and what a bargain!  Happily, it fit in my car and happily I was able to carry it all by myself through the large garage in my building and to my door. 

Before:

After:

Pretty tall lamp to go on my vanity desk so I can see all of my baubles! Of course, I couldn't find it in white.

Before (and a little askew):

After:

And for the third item - a decorative piece that will go on top of the new dresser I have yet to find and purchase.  I'll probably have to paint that white too.  Come to think of it, I will probably have to put it together!

Before:

After:



Is it me or does everything look better in white in my place?  Slowly the red bedroom is coming together, very slowly but at least there is progress.

Thanks for stopping by and Stay tuned for more creativity!

The Ever Convenient Instant Dry Nails And My Personal Manicure Tricks

Sometimes a girl just doesn't have the time to wait for her nails to dry.  Plus, even if I had time, who says I have the patience anymore?  I despise waking up in the morning and having sheet marks on my "thought they were really dry" nails.  I have found two solutions thus far for this problem and I think that's pretty darn good!  I've shared the the first one already in my previous posts: use Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail polish strips or the nail stickers.  See the below funky nails.  You are looking at the Kiss Nail Dress strips in "Cocktail".  I just put them on.  Neat huh?  Clear stripes alternating with pink stripes and of course little bubbles of shiny bling over the clear parts.  (Bling? Of course! It's a good thing I can laugh at myself). 

Want to know my second secret?  Recently discovered.  Okay, here goes.  Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, anti-chip top coat.  Thank goodness the red bottle caught my eye in the store.  The boast of this product is that your nails will be dry with any nail color 30 seconds to set.  I didn't actually count the 30 seconds but I'll tell you, after a base coat and two decently thick coats of nail color and waiting two minutes before applying, my nails were insta-dri.  For sure, I sat for a little bit just in case, BUT my nails were set! I was able to touch them pretty much right away! So cool that a product does what it says its going to do!  I am just loving Sally Hansen these days.  Now I am just waiting for them to come out with more colors for the nail polish strips. 

I should say that I have no affiliation with Sally Hansen, but I feel like I am their spokesperson lately. Hey, have any of you tried the nail strips or the Insta-Dri top coat? Please tell me about your experiences! Do you have a favorite nail product? I'd love to hear about it! There are two other products that I swear by: Nailtiques, formula 2 (brought my nails back from the dead after my bad UV gel experience) and Sally Hansen (yes, again) French Manicure White Tip Pen, really makes french manicures easier for me and who doesn't love a good french manicure? While I am giving all of my secrets away, I will also add a few other tricks I have come to use. After I file my nails, I use a nail buffer block to smooth out the surface of my nails and to buff off the excess from filing. Then its time to take care of my cuticles.  I don't like cuticle cutting, so instead I use CND SolarOil nail & cuticle conditioner and then I use a cuticle eraser stick.  Just make sure you wash your hands in warm water afterwards.  It's like when they bring out the hot towel at the nail salon.  Another trick is to take nail polish remover and do a final swipe before applying nail polish. This removes oil and any residue from filing to leave a clean surface for the nail polish. I think I'm all out of tricks to share!

SolarOil

 

Cuticle Eraser Stick



Nail Buffer Block

Thanks for stopping by and Stay tuned for more creativity!