Tag Archives: art

Saving the World | What Lovely Will You Beckon?

17 Dec

I feel oh-so-lucky to have been part of a small team of graphic facilitators that my company (Collective Next) sent to Dallas to scribe the talks at TEDxSMU. Not that I expected anything less, but it was a truly transformative experience. I mean, where else but at a TED or TEDx event could you witness a tiny 7th grader shock the stage with a booming poetry slam performance and then hear a talk about wabi-sabi (the Japanese term for imperfect beauty)?

I scribed a bunch of amazing talks at TEDxSMU but Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s talk Beckon Lovely and Save the World really stuck with me (click on the title to hear/see her full talk). I’m a born “maker” so I can’t quite imagine anything cooler than the thought of a bunch of strangers making things together — or a 10-day challenge to save the world through an amalgamation of lovely.

krouse_rosenthal

I beckoned lovely this weekend in the form of freshly squeezed orange juice. The loveliest thing about this pictured moment? It represents a little snippet of my weekend where time moved a little slower. I took time out of a busy Sunday morning to make something that I then sipped with the one I love in special little juice glasses that I had to get on a step stool to reach. It’s not something I would’ve typically done on hectic weekend morning and I’m grateful for Amy’s challenge.

lovely

What lovely will you beckon this week to save the world? And…you’d better hurry up…we only have until 12/21/12!

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Making & Baking Our Way into Fall | Pics & Links

3 Sep

Oh hi! Here’s what we’ve been up to (a meaty post with pictures & links!)…

Savoring summer, time with Kate’s dad & the best lobstah roll ever (PJ’s Family Restaurant in Wellfleet).

Making pickles! Refrigerator style using this recipe and farm fresh pickling cukes from a farm near Jess’s home town. We added cloves of garlic & black whole peppercorns to each jar. We also made a spicy batch for our neighbor by tossing in a sliced jalapeno from our container garden (YAY!). We’ve been eating them on EVERYTHING (pictured below on turkey sandwiches).

Salivating over a new issue of Bon Appetit and celebrating awesome neighbors with this delightful coffee cake. Toss blueberries in panko breadcrumbs? SURE!

Here’s what the blueberry coffee cake looked like sliced (just before it got hand delivered to our favorite neighbors). This Instagram filter makes it look straight out of my mom’s 1970 Better Homes & Gardens cookbook.

Catching up on crafty gifts, part I! Long overdue wedding card/art piece for friends Emily & Chris. Those are heart shaped bits I cut out of their save-the-date & invitations. I love sewing paper.

Catching up on crafty gifts, part II! Finally getting around to finishing this advent calendar project for 2 very special little boys (yes, that’s 48 little fabric bags). Promised last year that I’d make these & we’d fill them with goodies each year…literally the gift that keeps on giving! The first time I stumbled across this project on Lansdowne Life, I obsessed over the adorable vintage looking fabric…to die for, right?!? Can’t wait to fill the bags with goodies & send them off. Oh & those pinking shears were an amazing vintage find at a little consignment shop on the Cape. 

Officially launching Opal & Ollie on Etsy. YAY! A selection of my etched glass mason jars are also available at Magpie in Davis Square & On Centre in Jamaica Plain.

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Life Snippets | 2 Weeks in Photos

12 Jun

Phew! We’ve been busy bees these last couple of weeks. Here’s some of the goodness we’ve been up to…

Beautiful weather = inspired dinners on our deck. The pups like the extra fresh air too!

pulled pork (crockpot!), soft corn tacos, butter lettuce, fresh pineapple, fancy carrots, sour cream

Jess & Stevie enjoying the deck

Ollie likes the deck too!

Cold brewed coffee makes the BEST iced coffee in the world. Psssst…it’s also fun to prettily package in fancy bottles & give to friends as gifts. Put it on your summer “to do” list…now.

cold brewin’…patience is a virtue & the payoff is delicious!

Secret birthday prize (blueberry lemon syrup) for Kris made with fresh blueberries & lemon (just add to carbonated water to make a perfect summer soda :: recipe later this week!) yielded yummy blueberry compote “leftovers”. The compote makes a yummy spread, yogurt accompaniment or angel food cake topping especially when mixed with fresh berries.

blueberry goodness x2

blueberry compote, Chobani 0% plain yogurt, blueberry muesli (Trader Joe’s) = protein & antioxidant packed breakfast

It’s that time of year again…when Diesel & Bloc 11 Café staff release their inner artists & create unique pieces for the staff art show (hosted by Diesel Café). It’s the perfect opportunity to check out the show, support local artists &/or your favorite barista & give art a good home. Tip: This is a great way to purchase really affordable art pieces to add to your collection…or a good excuse to start one!

Here’s one of three framed pieces in the #thecaffeinatedlife series by Jess (inspired by life stories & connections that happened at the café).

Jess’s art for Diesel Cafe staff art show (happening now!)…this one sounds a little familiar 🙂

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A (long) Weekend in Pictures

29 May

Yippee for long weekends, birthdays, friends, family, cute pups, sweet surprises, more-than-a-day off with Jess, new green thumbs, adorable babies, inspiration, yummy sweets, homemade goodness, truly talented friends, vintage treats & …

…city gardening…

…new boston terrier art…<heart my bro & his wife!>…

…pretty flowers…

…vintage containers…moustaches all around…yummy homemade ginger syrup <how to here>…

…homemade *Sno Balls*…

…pooped <& very clean> pups…

…how’d I get so lucky?

xo

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Another Decor DIY | Old is the New New

23 May
We recently got a secret framing tip while visiting our friends at The Little House Studios and since it’s been so long since my last blog post, I feel like I should spill the beans & share it with you.
 
The tip?
Hit up vintage shops & antique & flea markets for old frames for new artwork or photos. I know, it sounds obvious, but I think it’s really easy to overlook old finds for new Ikea frames, simply because one stop shopping is a little more convenient.
 
The search is on...
So via our Little House Studios friends, we heard especially great things about the Cambridge Antique Market. In all honesty, I’ve had great luck finding frames at thrift stores and as I mentioned, there’s nothing wrong with Ikea, but we bought an incredible & intriguingly creepy print by Alethea Roy. And well, it was screaming for something different. I knew I wanted something old. Jess suggested something round or oval (inspired by a vintage mirror that was my gran’s that’s hanging in our office). So off I went to the Cambridge Antique Market with the print & measuring tape in hand. (If you can’t/don’t want to bring the artwork, you could just take measurements & jot them down or trace the shape of your artwork with a piece of tracing, parchment or tissue paper & bring it along instead.)

If you’ve never been to the Cambridge Antique Market, it’s a little overwhelming. I felt like Goldilocks. There were plenty of framed pictures & artwork & some frames without but none were quite right (too $$$, wrong shape, wrong size, missing parts, etc.). I contemplated  skipping the 5th (and final) floor but headed up there anyway. I’m oh-so-glad I didn’t give up hope because I found the perfect frame — the right size, the right price and antique convex glass to boot! It definitely needed some love — the metal branches on the top & bottom of the frame were broken off — but I’m always up for a challenge. Oh, and I paid in cash & received $6 off the asking price, making it a total steal at $26. Woo hoo!

Another tip: Look beyond what’s inside the frame. There’s a lot of bad art & crazy old family photos out there — just hanging out in perfectly good frames!
 
So you’ve got the frame, now what?
When I got home, I took out my wire cutters (part of my jewelry tool arsenal….I secretly hoped I didn’t need something more heavy duty), glass cleaner & paper towels, a dust cloth & newspaper. I disassembled & cleaned the frame & glass and cut & removed the rusty picture wire.  I removed the old Victorian photograph & contemplated saving it but it was warped & had some water damage so I set it aside for possible donation (another man’s trash is…).
 
Refurbishing 
I contemplated what to do about the broken branches & decided to cut them off. I was able to use the wire cutters that I had — the metal was super soft & silvery under the gold. It kinda made me worry/wonder if the branches were made of lead (?). That said, I trimmed them down. I was originally planning on filing them to smooth any sharp snags & make it appear as if they were never on the frame in the first place, but, for safety’s sake, I decided to forego the filing. Because the branches were a different material than the rest of the frame, they were painted in gold (possibly gold leaf?) so after trimming them I wondered what to do about the silver metal shining through.
 
I grabbed a gold Sharpie (one of the oil-based paint variety) from my stash, some black shoe polish & a soft cloth. I dabbed the silver patches with the gold Sharpie, let it dry & then put a little of the shoe polish on the cloth & buffed the freshly coated gold paint. I had no idea if it would actually work, but it did! It perfectly added a little age/patina to the spots I’d touched up & blended them with the rest of the frame. I thought the bumps would drive me nuts but I really don’t mind them. They add “character”.
 
New meets old
With the frame clean & ready, I carefully measured & trimmed the edges of the artwork to fit in the frame. Then I reassembled all of the parts & gave the front of the glass one more wipe down to get rid of pesky fingerprints. And…voila!
 
Share your projects with us!
How have you transformed something old into something new?

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Decor DIY | Frame it!

9 Apr

We have a small collection of screen printed posters created by local artist friends. They are unusual sizes & at first, the task of framing them seemed impossible or very expensive. While I’ve seen thrifty/creative ways to hang posters/prints like here & here, they don’t actually protect the art & we not only wanted to display them, but keep them protected, too.

DIY framing kit to the rescue! We use the standard black metal ones for a cohesive look but they are available in a small variety of finishes.

Supplies

Artwork

Archival mat board cut to the size of your artwork (or chipboard, foam core, or even corrugated cardboard will do — but keep in mind if you use these, it won’t be archival)

Glass or plexiglass cut to the size of your artwork

Flat head screwdriver

2 framing kits (in the width & height of your artwork) such as these 

Instructions

The instructions are part of the framing kit packaging & they are very easy to follow. The whole kit takes about 10 minutes total to assemble (including the time it takes to clean the glass/dust off the plexi!). Easy peasy!

Tips…

Glass &  plexiglass: While you might think that plexiglass would be cheaper, it’s often not the case, so investigate before you buy. There are two hardware stores near me & one sells & cuts plexiglass and the other sells & cuts glass. Call your local hardware store to see if they custom cut glass/plexi before you stop in. Be careful while handling either material — the edges can be deceivingly sharp!

Savings:

  • I’ve found the same brand framing kits in craft stores that publish “40%-50% off one item” coupons weekly. This can be a great way to save even more $ with this project.
  • Keep an eye out for coupons at your local hardware store. I saved $3 on a piece of glass with a coupon from the back of our grocery shopping receipt (thanks to Jess!).

Cutting mat board:

  • Many art supply stores have a “cut your own” large format heavy duty cutter that that they’ll let you use for free (like the Utrecht in Cambridge, MA). Typically, you need to purchase your mat board/illustration board first & then ask to use it.
  • Many art supply stores will often cut mat board for a small fee per cut.
  • You can also cut your own at home if you have a long straight edge (I like cork-backed metal rulers because they provide a strong clean edge and don’t slip) and a utility knife – you don’t need to worry about what the edges look like because they’ll be hidden by the frame — so smooth cuts aren’t necessary to fuss over.

Happy framing!

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