kitchen windowsill in teal glass

Every now and then I clear off the kitchen windowsill, wipe it down, wash the water specks off the window, and start fresh. I am always amazed at how mood-lifting it can be to just clear out and clean up one little space. Maybe this will inspire you to start small and take a step toward loving the space you live in!

PS Yes, of course I purposely buy blue dish detergent because it matches! How did you know?

Easter mantel in green and yellow

I designed this brand-new Easter mantel by "shopping the house" and making use of the chalkboard frames I originally intended for a gallery* (another project started before baby dude was born and just finished!). So I started out with using an old window frame, draped some fabric across it, added the metal cross I love but haven't found the perfect spot for. Then I filled things in with my beloved milk glass plus some other glass from my collection. And a nest! What would spring decorating be without nests! Hee. This particular nest was green grass when my mom found it but now it has dried to a pretty butter yellow shade. You might not be able to see it well in this photo, but there's a vintage mustard jar on the far right that has a smiling yellow sunshine on the lid. So cute!

Speaking of nests, they of course pop up over on my shelves. As does the milk glass and the color yellow to keep the the spring theme going. Now, something funny for you, doesn't the nest perched on the one lower vase look like hair? Hee!

*I am having second thoughts about where I intended to hang these. I think they would have gotten knocked off the wall by kids busting in with backpacks. So for now, they are going to be mine all mine for decorating here and there as I wish. Discussion has begun afresh about painting various wall(s) with chalkboard paint! The kids are all about it!

ArtPrize 2013: glass as ocean

There are three other ArtPrize pieces from our recent visit to the Meijer Gardens I want to share with you. All are blue in tone and bring to mind, at least for me, bodies of water. So amazing and lovely to see a solid transformed into the liquidity and fluidity of water.

This piece, Ocean Blue Wave by Mary Shaffer of El Prado, New Mexico, captures the liquid movement of waves and appealed to me in its regal simplicity.

This piece, Iceberg & Paraphernalia by Peter Bremers of Born, Netherlands, was fittingly inspired by icebergs and reminds me not only of ice but also of trapped air bubbles and floating.

Which, at the moment of writing this, reminds me of a fiction novel I recently read about an early 20th century man frozen in an iceberg who was brought to life by modern-day scientists. Totally fascinating read. Check it out: The Curiosity by Stephen P. Kiernan.

This piece, Sea-Forms by Michael Behrens of Dusseldorf, Germany, was also beautiful and lace-like. I would love to better understand how this piece was actually formed. Several nearby children described it as looking like a "shark's fin," which is quite fitting.

ArtPrize 2013: glass as lace

Last Saturday we went as a family to the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park to see their ArtPrize exhibit, which features glass. I love glass as a medium anyway so I was greatly anticipating  this show. It is amazing to see the wide range of work that artists are turning out using glass. Do not be expecting a row of vases!

This piece, Cascade by Kait Rhoads of Seattle, Washington, is made up of small rings of glass that are woven together using wire and then formed in such a way that it reminds me of a draping piece of lace… or perhaps an octopus! I just love the way a solid like glass can be formed to look like a liquid or even a sea creature.

This piece, Silva Rerum (Forest of Things) by Anna Skibska of Seattle, Washington, is one of my very favorites of ArtPrize thus far. I adore it when I see a piece that is so very different than anything I have every experienced before. Thin, delicate rods of glass are fused together and then grow upward, forming ghostly tree-like shapes. It reminds me of a spiderweb, clear, so thin but simultaneously strong.  The lighting itself is another important element of this piece, adding a magical and mystical fairytale presence to the piece.

ornaments = window adornments

I spent a full 8-hour day – no joke – decorating my house for Christmas so you better believe I've got more blog posts to write about it!

One of my favorite things to do with Christmas tree ornaments is hang them in other, unexpected places like doorknobs, cabinet handles, and in windows. I use two tree ornaments in the narrow windows flanking my fireplace. This year I hung a star in the bathroom.

Then I took my favorite felt ornament by the artist Jenn Schaub of Pulled Print Press and hung it above the kitchen sink. My teal glass, an antique jar, and a freebie postcard from when I ordered a gift through Raw Art Letterpress keeps the blue theme going. There is also a repeat of hearts in the ornament, the snowman print, the pink play-doh, and the red glass. And let us not forget the minimalist nativity, a very inspirational craft from my sister-in-law's family. It too coordinates in shaded of red and blue.

A lovely little scene if I do say so myself!

I can see clearly now

My last decorating scheme on the mantel was my milk glass collection. I appreciate the solid graphic nature of the white shapes but I was ready for something fresh.

Displaying multiples of anything tends to be visually interesting. I realized I had an accidental collection of clear glass vases in a variety of sizes, shapes, and heights and decided to go with that. My original thought was to simply layer them alone but I quickly changed my mind choosing instead to add autumn-appropriate elements from nature.

Brown has never been my first choice when it comes to colors but I think there is something pleasant about the connection to outdoors it has. I've used seed pods, acorns, driftwood, feathers, and dried flowers from the garden including the dramatic alliums. I think the dried blooms look a bit like fireworks. I will confess to nabbing a couple of extra pieces from my mom's basement to round out the collection. I have been rearranging and adding bits for a few days now but I think, with perhaps the exception of our growing acorn collection, I am done for now.

marvelous milk glass

I have a small collection of milk glass. I like it because it is inexpensive (probably because it was mass produced) and it is simple. The white is nice with the white trim in my home and I always find new ways to re-invent how it is used and displayed. I especially like glass with the patterns of round bumps called "Hobnail" They're kind of like organized, dimensional polka dots.

For January, I arranged some of my collection on my mantel. I stacked 3 pieces within each other in the center. I think it looks a bit like an opening flower. I recently acquired the ruffled bowl on the bottom and the two candlestick holders from my grandmother. I am not using the candlestick holders to hold candles. Instead, I'm displaying them tipped on their sides. Again they remind me of flowers. I am not quite sure how my grandma would feel about this!

I supplemented the display with the bleached out pieces of coral I found on my last trip to Florida. The circular shapes on the coral are very similar to those found on the milk glass.

a gift for me

I went to the Garfield Park Arts & Craft show (in the pouring rain!) on Saturday with the pretense of doing some Christmas shopping. However, the only person who got a gift out of the deal was me! I bought a lovely glass flower made of several antique dishes layered together. The woman I bought my flower from calls her company KimberGem Designs and she is at the Fulton Street Artisans Market on Sundays through the end of the month.