Vintage Couture

I mentioned in my last post that my sister-in-law was coming for a visit. We had a great time (we always do). She is a very creative and talented person and just really squeezes the most out of life.

"Patra" started a vintage costume jewelry business about two years ago. She was doing it for fun and it's taken on a life of it's own. She is also quite an authority on fashion trends, style and vintage jewelry. In fact, she was an attendee at a seminar with the nations foremost experts and designers of vintage jewelry and ended up answering a lot of the questions that the speakers couldn't answer.

Anyway, the point of her visit was to find more inventory for her business. I joked that I was her "assistant buyer" because once I found out what the next/hottest trend is, I was helping find the pieces. We did our buying at thrift stores, boutiques and the Georgetown flea market--I learned a lot and it was a blast.

Check out her blog Vintage Couture Jewelry, it's a lot of fun to read.

What's Black and White and Pink All Over?

.......My House.

I love pink and green. They were the colors of my wedding. They are my favorite colors together or apart. But for some reason I just didn't want to live in a pink and green house. The brick on our house is pink. There's not much I can do about that. The shutters and doors were green. That I could change and despite my brothers protest,(He is more of an artist then I am and said that the green was complimentary to the pink brick.) I finally change the shutters and door to black this weekend.

(Exterior Before)

I also changed lighting.

(Lighting Before)

These fixtures were once on a garage at my parents lake house. My mom brought them to a yard sale I was having last year and I grabbed them.

Just gave them a fresh coat of paint and I think they're great!

The topiaries came from Giant and the apple green ceramic planters are from Target. I think they'll spend the winter in the sunroom.

(I don't know why the window looks so dirty. It was just cleaned today)

I do realize that I'm slowly turning this entire house black and white.

I think it looks crisp, classic, strong. I wonder what a color expert would say?

In other exciting news:

My sister-in-law is coming this weekend. I always have such a good time with her.

The lily pad got it's first bloom

and the Foxglove are exploding.

I'm Back!

I'm back to making jewelry, and loving it. Last night I debuted my newest creation (I actually created it just for the event). It is such a statement piece, and really one-of-a-kind. I was so excited when a stranger stopped me to gush over it too!

I'm looking forward to making more in different color schemes and doing a cuff bracelet in this style.

This one is whites and silvers/grays. I used freshwater pearls, quartz crystal and a few very light aqua marines. This new technique creates such amazing pieces.

I also met with a bride-to-be on Thursday and I'm working on a custom design for her wedding in June. I'm excited to be creating wearable art again.

Thanks to everyone who weighed in on which dress to wear. I took your advice and went with the solid black. It was the right decision.

Thanks for stopping today! Happy weekend.

Julie

Another Organization Project - My Lifestyle

The truth is, that I've gotten so caught up in my home projects and distracting myself with shopping for the house that I've let myself go. For three years now I've pretty much eaten ANYTHING I want in ANY quantity. I've been extremely self indulgent when it comes to food. I felt OK as long as I could find something to wear and I avoid mirrors it really was not a problem.

I spend my time making my surrounding pretty because that's what I'm looking at.

But a colleague of Matt's invited us to join him at a fund raising event tomorrow. It's cocktail attire. This meant I had to go shopping for something to wear. Trying on clothes and looking in a full length mirror jolted me into reality.

So on Mother's Day I started a more personal project-getting my body in shape. I'm 5 days in now and feeling really good. I'm hoping that by putting this in writing I'll stick with it and I'll have such good results that I'll be able to show you a before and after of myself.

I can't do anything too rigid because I know I won't stick with it. I'm making a lifestyle change instead. So for now I'm walking in the mornings before Drew gets out of bed. I've stopped eating the massive quantities of junk (candy, cookies, scones, chips, etc.). I'm eating in a more conscience way and watching carbs and fats. I feel better already!

I'm looking forward to going out tomorrow night. I got my brows waxed, nails done, bought a new dress, bought some new makeup and I'm working on a new piece of jewelry. It's fun to have a change of focus.

I'm trying a new technique with wire wrapping and I think it looks fantastic.

Here is the Calvin Klein dress I just bought. It's simple and classic and most importantly fits me!

My old standby shoes I've had for years. Pretty basic.

Another dress option. A friend loaned this one to me. It's fun! But does a girl who is trying to slim down really want to wear horizontal stripes?....

Which one do you like better?

Working Outside

This week the weather was beautiful, so I had to spend my days outside. I spent most of my time working on the ponds. The front pond (here when we moved in) had been seriously neglected for the last year.

Since it's in the front yard I didn't ever sit out there and it's hard to even see it when you drive up to the house.
Cleaning this one out was an all-day job. First it had to be drained completely. Then two years worth of leaves and muck had to be sucked out. (I found two HUGE toad tadpoles too.) Then I fashioned another urn fountain out of another planter I had. This still needs some tweaking, I have it on a bird bath stand, which is too high. The birds are enjoying it though. I've been watching them bath in the urn.

It has goldfish instead of Koi.

There is a place to sit and watch them. The bench needs to be painted which is not very high on my list of priorities right now.

At some point, I think I'll just fill it in, but for now I've tried to beautify it a little more so we can enjoy it.

And here are a few things that are blooming in my garden this week. It's kind of the purple wave of blooming. We just went through our pinks with all the azaleas.

Japanese iris

Columbine & Foxglove

The foxglove are just starting to open. They are one of my favorite.

In the fall I planted a bunch of Knockout roses. Here they come!

Have a great weekend!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Julie

Winner's Choice

Last week I announced the winner of my giveaway was another blogger, My Interior Life. Since she is in TN, we exchanged a few e-mails and I sent her some pictures of styles and stones. She decided on this one.

The stone is labordorite, which is one of my favorite. It has pretty iridescent flashes in the stones. kind of like an opal. It doesn't show up so well in these photos, but it is really pretty.

The cut of the stone is really fun too. It's a teardrop with the hole drilled at the top. The stones kind of flip flop and look like they're dancing around your neck.

So the package is in the mail. I hope she'll be happy with her choice. If not, I'll give her a full refund :)

Thanks for stopping by today,

Julie

This Just In!

Seriously, I just brought this in the house. I didn't even dust it yet, because I was so excited about it.

After leaving the flea market empty-handed today I headed home. When just a mere two blocks from my house I saw a sign for an estate sale.

It was at a creepy house that I walk by all the time and I've always wanted to see what it looked like on the inside--even creepier than I expected. The owner was running the sale and said he is an antique dealer and he is doing some remodeling. I'm not sure I believe the story.

BUT, I got this mirror for only $30. I only noticed just now that it is missing one strip of wood down the right side, but I will just take of the strip on the left and I like it better as a solid mirror.

(yes that is a popcorn trolly you see in the corner-the explanation for that will have to be another blog post.)

I'm going to put it in my dining room and I'm afraid that this purchase is going to be moving the dining room design up on the priority list. I'll keep you posted :)