Bedside Flowers

By | January 18th, 2016|DIY Home|

Bedside Flowers, White

After scouring the Internet, flipping through catalogs and doing quite a bit of window-shopping, I finally landed on a bedside table to complement my upholstered bed. Success! And one of the first things you have to do to break in new furniture is to jazz it up, dress it up and cozy it up. After talking to quite a few designers, I learned a couple of key components to accenting bedside furniture and making it warm. First, it’s not always necessary to make things symmetrical and for tables, sets of three work best. Two, open yourself to different textures and this can be done by pairing glass with wood and different metals. Three, keep it functional and fashionable. Four, throw in a little greenery.

I’m still in the process of finding my ‘three’ but for now, I’ll focus on the fourth point by adding a bit of faux life and greenery. I’ve been cleaning out my bedroom by getting rid of anything from clothes, shoes, books, and decor that just doesn’t fit the new bedroom look. As I was tossing out this glass vase and the stones that sit inside it, I also came across this bunch of summer flowers (it’s now winter) that was going to make its way into the pile. At the same time, I was web shopping on Wayfair, Pottery Barn and West Elm for an arrangement of some sort. Talking about multi-tasking… $50, $75 and $175 were some of the price tags that popped up on the screen. Wow, I’m certainly in the wrong industry. Now that I’ve got a hole in my credit card, it’s time to get creative. I looked at some floral inspiration online and the pile of stuff to the side of me. What was bugging me about the old floral arrangement was its mix of purples and violets which didn’t fit the shades of the bedroom, so I decided to go neutral and pick out all of the white flowers. A vase, some stones, white flowers and green leaves. I think I have what I need to put together a decent floral arrangement – all at no added cost. With a few attempts at compiling the flowers, some minor snips to the stem and a roll of floral green tape, I’ve put together this floral arrangement, now sitting on my bedside table adding some Zen into the bedroom. Success again! I’ll have to upload a snapshot of the actual bedside table once I find my ‘three’.

Mosaic Cross

Mosaic Cross

Earlier this month, I took two classes at the Artistic Home Studio and it made quite an impression that I came back for more. I must admit it was a little daunting to be working so up close and personal with glass, since I was always told to stay away from sharp edges. Since I learned how to use glass-cutting tools, mix and match colored glass, and adhere them to a surface – all having done so unscathed (!), I became inspired and am looking forward to discovering more about this new found hobby.

I am enthralled by the fusion of glass, mirror and marble, and the bold, statement pieces you can make for the home. After making the mosaic turtle and rock, this time around, I’ve decided to make the mosaic cross, since this would be a perfect Christmas gift for a special someone on my Dad’s side of the family. The toughest decision this time around was choosing from the plethora of colored glass. Warm palette or cool palette? One marble or ten marbles? Decisions, decisions.

As fun as it was to make this gem,  I can’t wait to see the look on my cousin’s face when she opens it, since it was made with extra TLC this holiday season.

Painted Wine Glasses

By | April 19th, 2016|DIY Home, Handmade, Learning from the best, Oh My Crafts!, Painting|

Painted Wine Glasses

I’ve spent quite some time at the Artistic Home Studio and it only left me hungry for more. They offer so many classes that I’m going to go back, and take each and every one of them. This time around I decided to try out the Painted Wine Glasses class. I was greeted with tubes of acrylic paint and a handful of assorted paint brushes. Okay, I can do this.

As I began to mix and layer on the first coat of paint onto the glass, I realized this is going to be more challenging than I had anticipated. I’ve painted with acrylic before, but with glass as the medium, one coat of paint would hardly suffice. In fact, I could hardly even see two coats. Wow, this is going to take some time. I decided to nix the idea of doing some fancy shading and wiped the glass clean. Water and paper towels make for a good eraser.

Instead, I opted to paint these spring-like flowers (yes, spring in the winter!) keeping in mind the transparency of the glass. It took about 10-15 coats of paint to finally get the full effect of each color. Between the layers of paint, take a mental note of how you blended the colors since you’ll need plenty of paint. It’s also handy to have a blow dryer plugged in between the layers.

Paint + Multiple Layers + Blow Drying Sessions = Hours + Fine Master Pieces

Mosaic Turtle

By | December 5th, 2015|DIY Home, Handmade, Learning from the best, Mosaic Art, Oh My Crafts!|

Artistic Home Studio

A couple of months ago, I went to The Ultimate Women’s Expo in San Mateo for a full day of pampering fun. As I perused the aisles, bombarded by jewelers, health fanatics, massage therapists and free swag, I couldn’t help but notice this beautifully decorated, mosaic sculpture that caught my my eye. It was stunning to see how hundreds of these shiny pieces of glass stacked side by side, fit together to create a statement piece so ornate. I inquired about the artist only to realize she was standing there right before me. JaYing Wang has been a mosaic artist for over 15 years and she has a studio in Alameda called Artistic Home Studio where she teaches glass arts – stained glass, glass fusing techniques and mosaics. She’s designed a number of public-facing mosaic murals within the Bay Area and commands the discipline of mosaic arts.

Absolutely thrilled to learn that there’s a class for mosaics, I eagerly picked up one of her pamphlets and here I am signing up for both the mosaic turtle and mosaic rock class. I got a hold of my turtle and then had to make the hard decision of deciding which color glass to use and what pattern to display on the shell. I opted for my favorite color, blue and danced between both the cold and warm palette. Hard part solved.

Mosaic Turtle

Now onto learning the different glass-cutting tools. I can tell that it’s going to take a bit of practice to get the hang of it. You can either cut the glass directly using a rotary wheel, or score the glass and then split it up in twos. I used both combinations and pieced my colored tiles on the table before dressing the turtle. With plenty of references to Pinterest, I decided on creating a border along the exterior of the shell and decorating it with flower pedals in the rear. Luckily, it takes time for the cement to dry, so I had more than enough time to move things around. I ended up with this little guy to your right and topped him with some glass stones and marbles.

I’m beginning to think two projects in one day for this mosaic novice is a bit ambitious. Now onto the rock…..

Mosaic Rock

 

From Canvas to Home Decor

By | August 8th, 2015|DIY Home, Humbling Hobbies and Habits, Oh My Crafts!, Painting|

Scenes from Pescadero, CA | CleeSF

A few years ago, I took an Acrylic Painting Class over at the Pacific Art League to try and surface any hidden talent in painting. I spent my weekends in the art studio watching these ten minute demos from the instructor and then participated in three hour sessions of supervised painting. We painted old pottery, crooked vases and lots of fruit. Week after week, I painted a variation of the same setup with minor adjustments to lighting and draped backgrounds until finally my instructor pushed beyond the world of still life and introduced me to landscape. She pulled a photo out of her drawer and had me starting painting a scene from her weekend excursion to Pescadero, California. I had never visited Pescadero, but these rolling waves, rocky shores and luscious mountains could easily hold my attention for the next three weekends or 12 hours+ of painting. And so began a newfound of hobby of landscape painting.

As with all my paintings, when I finished, I tucked this one into my portfolio that lay under my coffee table. Only until my cleaner came and pushed my furniture aside did I realize that there was a hint of talent and possibly a “frameable” piece that could sit somewhere in the apartment. I decided to block out the white space on the entertainment stand in my room. It had been sitting there for years unattended, since I had no intention of buying a flat screen television and I had one too many unsuccessful trips to the furniture store. With my painting in hand and a trip to Michaels, I got this piece mounted and framed. Finally, a finished painting and a piece of art that I can call my own.

Pet Terrarium: Take II

By | March 1st, 2015|DIY Home, Handmade|

Terrarium

Hardly into its second week, two of my succulents died. Somewhere between the over-watering and lack of sunshine it decided to give up on me and now I have given up on it. Time to empty out the soil and dispose of the carcasses.

After a few eventful trips to Pier 1, Michaels and West Elm, I got the supplies I need for an ever-lasting pet terrarium: colored sand, assortment of stones, black pebbles, black rice, moss – and the primary ingredient: fake succulents. With these colorful ingredients, I was able to make this lovely centerpiece for my living room table.

It’s going to be a timeless piece 😉

Pet Terrarium

By | January 21st, 2015|Creative Inspiration, DIY Home, Handmade|

West Elm Terrarium

A stroll through West Elm never leaves me empty-handed. This time, the exquisite terrarium table escape caught my eye. Succulents of different colors, shapes and forms gives life to your everyday coffee and dining tables – and soon to mine. A five pound bag of soil, a container of rocks and a few succulents later, I ended up with this centerpiece on my coffee table.

Craft Day

Craft Day - Blue Blanket Group Photo

It’s Craft Day with this crazy bunch. Knitting, crocheting, scrapbooking and sewing… we do it all! This time around, I’ve got my special little helper, Kendall helping me crochet this blanket everyone is sitting on. Yes, that’s how big it really is – 10 people can fit on this thing! I’ve been working on this for the past decade, well I started it five years ago and took a sabbatical, so it feels like a decade. My goal is to finish this before October. It sounds like a long time away, but that’s what I said last October (!)