Mint, Gold, & A Dog Portrait

A week or so ago a package arrived on my doorstep. It completely caught me off guard, and upon opening it I was sent to the moon and back. What I found was two of my favorite things. One, the combination of mint and gold. Two, Shelby; only my favorite little German shepherd mix.

What we don't do enough of these days is surprise people with our talents, and use them out of the overflow of our heart, just simply to make their day. Well, Hillary completely made my day. She has made me realize, too, how a simple gesture like painting a portrait of one's dog (and other things like a hand written note or a sweet phone call out of the blue) can really make someone feel loved. We need to do more of that, don't you think? I feel so inspired to do the same for someone else, and brighten their day--making this type of gesture the norm. How different our world might be if we all did something with our talents purely out of the desire to give and make others feel thought of.

When the light hits the gold paint in such a way, oh! if you could only see the effect of its shimmer and how it brightens the room. And Hillary totally got Shelby's look down pat, don't you think?

Light of My Life Studio

I have always been drawn to the stark contrast of light and dark. The way light from the sun can make otherwise unnoticeable details pop and stand out so boldly, when its rays hit, revealing such beauty, yet all the while so simply. Hillary does just that, with paint. She brings the bold contrast of a photo to life on canvas, emphasizing the dark, the light, and the little details like whisps of a hair or the dimple of a cheek, that we might otherwise overlook. Light of My Life Studio is based out of Virginia, where Hillary paints out of her home. She is an artist who finds beauty in the stark contrast of the modern silhouette, transforming photographs into paintings to create unique works of art. I am absolutely in love with Hillary's work--just everything about her style is so modern yet so nostalgic. And how fun is this little fact: her degree is Italian Cultural Studies. She's like the modern female Michaelangelo ;)

Oh how her art complements a gallery wall just so! When working with Hillary, you get to be a big part of the process. Once you've sent Hillary your photograph, she then creates a black and white proof that you approve before paint touches canvas. You also choose the colors you want your painting to be, which is so perfect if you are having a custom print made for a specific place in your home, or want to go with something a bit untraditional--like metallic gold or mint (those would be my color choices…)

Hillary has a blog where she continually adds her recent work. You can visit her site here and find out more about pricing, browse her portfolio, and get to know how cute her family is. I have a few family photographs of all of my cousins when we were growing up together, and I may need to dig them out and invest in one of HIllary's paintings for our home (although, I am super tempted to have her paint our dog Shelby, how darling is that dog on the beach up top?!)

Print-Like Denver Oil Painting

For our four year anniversary this past May, I painted Matt his gift, rather than buying it. The man loves maps, so I set out to make a print-style oil painting of the state of Colorado. With a heart placed over the very spot we now call home: Denver.  

This piece of art has been a long time coming. Two words: oil paint. If you've used oil on canvas, you know that oil takes patience and time. So much time. So much patience. And so much mess. (Oil based paints are my favorite thing to clean....said no one ever). The day I set out to paint this print-like map, I wanted to have the piece done and setting in our living room within 24 hours. Talk about setting way too high of expectations for myself. That, let alone trying to defy the properties of oil paint. I'm fairly certain this canvas sat on our kitchen counter for more than 24 days. Ha, 24 hours? Who was I kidding. Between the layers and the waiting for everything to dry between applications-- well, let's just say this canvas has been waiting to join the others for far too long now. 

Project Round Up!

I thought it might be fun to do a round up and highlight a few of the projects and other bits of lovely here at Pearls Poppies Pinkies Up. Oh! And, happy six month old birthday to this little blog! Its growing and going, and I love all the support and connections made through the creativity and thoughts shared. Thanks to my biggest fans out there and the other blogs that have featured and highlighted projects. You are just so great. Here we go with the round up! 1 Trio of Nautical Mirrors || Mint and Orange Sherbet.  2 "Others Make a place Beautiful" Pitcher || Sharpie Art || Darling Magazine feature.  3 Tray Chic || Framed art as collection displays.

4 Hand Painted Pumpkin || Russian Nesting Doll || And other fall pumpkin inspiration.  5 Do it yourself coat rack || Just in time for coat season.

6 Upcycled drawer organizers || Birchbox inspired.   7 Thrifted Chair find || For the love of a seat.

8 Fan Revamp || A $7 spray paint fix.   9 Ombre jean shorts || Bleach it and do it yourself!

10 Color blocked bauble necklace || Repurposed napkin rings!  11 Dalmatian hearts || Canvas shoe DIY.  12 Faux succulents || No mess, no maintenance. 13 Hand painted tea towels || Black floral tea towel || The perfect gift idea.  14 Hardware store jewelry hanger || Tangle free and lovely.  

Here are the links for the photos above:  1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14

I hope your weekend was refreshing! Matt was in Kansas celebrating grandpa Clarence's 80th birthday and time with his folks while I held down the fort. I volunteered with work, spent time with my cousins at a taco bistro (ooo la la), enjoyed a crisp walk in the 27 degree Sunday morning, ventured to REI where I FINALLY found my perfect sleeping bag (a necessity for future camping endeavors) , enjoyed some time catching up with a college friend, experienced some light snow fall (while you Californians blast the 90 degree heat, I hear), kicked out my crazies at Turbo Kick box, enjoyed a bit of down time, had a coffee date with a two of my favorites (one being a four legged friend), and started rearranging the spare bedroom a bit! 

Hand Painted Towels {Just in Time for Tea}

The tea towel to the English, the dish towel to the Yank. The companion of the freshly washed dish, the linen for the cook, and the fabric to soften a table. Before the tea towel was mass-produced (post Industrial Revolution), and popping up everywhere making its way to every home store near you, this linen was held as something novel. In the 18th century the dish towel was "a special linen drying cloth used by the mistress of the house to dry her precious and expensive china tea things" {source}. Sounds quite pristine doesn't it? I have always had a love for dish towels, and I can distinctly remember the very day that I took notice to this particular linen. I was close to 7 years old, in North Dakota, at a lady's house. She was a relative that knew my mom well, but I was just a little girl, and I don't recall much about this particular day except for the tall set of stairs in this old house, the wooden banister, the warm yellow hues, and the drawer that was opened upstairs. It was filled with vintage hand embroidered tea towels. I had never seen something so delicate and detailed like that. Embroidered deer, kittens, geese, daisies (the obvious details a 7 year old would notice). I remember looking at the few towels that my mom took home with her from North Dakota to California after that day in that old house. I think in some small way, those dish towels are part of the repertoire that made me love pretty details in home design, with bits of vintage flare. 

SO fast forward to now. Just like those hand-made embroidered dish towels, I wanted to make my own hand-made set. I had stumbled upon some flour sack towels on sale at the grocery store, purchased soft matte fabric paint, and set out with my paintbrush. For my first towel, I hand painted the design that is on my favorite pot holder from Anthropologie (a bridal shower gift that I use daily still, almost 4 years later!). It is a really unique design, and I felt up to the challenge. Using the kitchen counter as my painting space, I placed my paint cloth and a hard plastic board under the flour sack cloth (the paint does seap through  just a bit, if the cloth is thin) which I secured with a few pieces of tape (to ensure it would not move while I painted!). The painting process went like this:

I still have yet to wash it, but I know it will turn out fine as fabric paint is washable. I still have three more towels to paint on! I would say this first one was a success. I love the idea of painting a set of two or three towels to give as a gift {or maybe a future Giveaway?}. Hand painted towels can be so personalized and range from intricate to simple. I just love the way they can bring extra life to a kitchen, and for the Brits, tea time! Someone put the kettle on.

Metal stand: Spray paint fixer upper.

Anyone can work a can of spray paint. This is no secret DIY fix by any means, but the transformation that a $3.97 can of paint can make is just too good to not share (and to remind you that you can do this to those furniture items or nick nacks in your home that just need a little color to make them like new again!). I have been in the market for metal fold up shelves and rack or coat hanger like pieces. These pieces will serve as my display furniture while I do trunk shows and house parties in Denver and surrounding Colorado areas for MidiQueen Handbags. In my opinion, these shabby chic and garden/bakers shelves are very over priced, even in a store like Tuesday Morning (I saw one for $59.99.... not cheap!) Are these in high demand, because not only are they priced higher than what I believe they are worth, but very hard to find?
Cue in Goodwill. And Craigslist. Still ever so so so faithful to me. Providing me with things I need when I least expect it for the fraction of a cost. While I was searching for a little retail escape last week, I stumbled upon a flower pot stand (or at least, that's what I think it is). It was $20, which is still more than I would have wanted to pay, but know that a percent of that money goes towards helping people in the community with work and life opportunities made it all worth it. At first glance, the gold combined with forest green screamed at me, but I saw past that because the structure and design was all that mattered when a can of spray paint would come to the rescue. And when I was walking around the store holding the rack, woman were eyeing me and even said "oooooo good find." (That always makes your heart sing a little.)
On to painting. I decided to go with aqua satin. It is a vibrant choice, but the rack is dainty and thin. Kristina, the designer of MidiQueen Handbags, is based out of Ventura, California. She has a very vintage feel combined with beachy boho chic. This aqua blue not only fits the be achy aspect but it reminds me of colors from a vintage home. I have another shelf I am going to paint ivory satin, to compliment the overall feel of her collection, and that will be my neutral element.

This is the BEFORE. Hard to see with my camera phone (the DSLR died on me just as the project was going to get started, so bear with me...)

Scuffed the metal up a bit so that the primer would stick.

Cleaned off the dust and sanded paint.

Ready to be primed.

Priming. Only took 20 minutes to dry before painting (and did not care as much about the evenness of the primer because it just needs to make the paint stick, not look pretty). When spray painting, hold the can upright at about 10-12 inches away from your to be painted object. Move the can in  back and forth horizontally, evenly overlapping your paint application. It is better to spray multiple thin coats for an even look without puddling or dripping. (It isn't pictured, but a mask and protective eyewear is important too).

Painted, and dry, and ready for a photo shoot!

Bag shown: The Weekender, MidiQueen Handbags

Pretty blue stand ready for handbags to be displayed. Is it not just adorable? If I had a daughter, this would no doubt double as a dress up rack, adorned with costumes, scarves, sparkles, and anything that hangs.

Mirror Pop.

This was an easy project that was inexpensive and a simple solution to getting me over my boredom with a green mirror we already had rather than spending a dime to get a new one. 

I bought this mirror at HomeGoods about 3 years ago. It was red tagged and dirt cheap because it had a scratch in the corner. I saw beauty beyond this mere blemish, and was so grateful for it because it made a $$$$$ mirror only $20.
This is the last place it hung. At our most recent home in Burbank, it sadly sat in the garage, accumulating dust and a few new scratches from our move to Colorado.

The first step was sanding. As an after thought, I question whether sanding was even really necessary because they paint was not peeling and it was not sealed with a finish. I think it could have done without this step, but it did no harm, except maybe delay the priming and paint process and test my patience. (Who knew sanding was such intensive labor?)

Next up, I taped off the edges. Don't want that paint on my reflection! Although, the primer was water based, so if it did get where I would not want it long term, simply a wet rag did the trick. A low VOC primer was then applied. A little goes a long way, so it primed and dried quickly on this 90 degree day. I also painted some side mirrors originally rusty red from ikea that I never had up because of the color just being too ho hum. I painted those orange sherbet, to compliment the aqua and sea foam in the bathroom.

Here's the exciting part. Color pop! I knew that I wanted a blue mirror, with it being a great accent to the other items in the living room. I had two colors to chose from (I bought sample sizes at Home Depot- only $2 and some change, what a steal, right?) Peacock and Silent Storm were my choices and I went with Peacock because it had a little more richness to it. Quiet Storm is closer to Navy...I'll keep that one handy for a rainy day.

I applied 2 thin coats of paint. I was surprised by how thick it went on. Because I purchased sample sizes, there was no option of glossy paint. It was just the pure paint, giving the mirror a more matte look in the end. I was happy with this though. If I were doing a bigger piece, I would have gone with a glossy finish. For a bigger piece, I would have needed to purchase at least a quart of the paint, giving me that glossy option. After the paint dried (only about 2 hours), and a few days later (once we purchased the hooks to hang the mirror), it landed on the wall perfectly in place above a writing desk to transition the space from the main living room to the hallway connecting the bedrooms and bathroom. Forgive the bare walls you see in these photos. I have yet to hang a single framed photo of artwork since we've moved in. That is a whole project in an of itself. Maybe tomorrow I tackle that one.