Let Them Eat Cake!

As a hobby and just because I like cake, I have over the years tried my hand at various cake and cupcake artistry. I've had no formal training, but any opportunity I get to try something new or perfect a technique I go for it.

Here are some things I have tried.

R2D2 cake for my kid'd Star Wars birthday party 2009

Little Mermaid birthday party 2008

Strawberry themed 1st birthday party 2009

Candy themed birthday party 2010

A beer and donut birthday cake for my husband 2010

Some homemade, hand picked apple pies just for the heck of it. 2010

Traditional primary color birthday cake 2011

Gluten free individual cheese cake for a vintage
Alice In Wonderland birthday party 2012

Tiny regular cheese cakes for party guests

Butterfinger Cupcakes 2013

Butter cake filled with homemade caramel, frosted with vanilla buttercream, and garnished with a mini Butterfinger candy bar and Butterfinger crumbles, drizzled with homemade caramel sauce. One of my most popular flavors.

Seeing Something Beautiful In the Not So Beautiful

I have always been one to use what I have. Mostly due to budget. I also like the challenge of it. "How can I make this Early American Ugly couch look like something I actually want to sit on?"

I also like to see how things works, how I can accomplish the same "look" on a piece of furniture, how can I create the same effect and so on. WIth this in mind I had a cheap, not necessarily ugly piece of furniture that I wanted to make into something that I could actually use and was strong and substantial. I also wanted to try Amy Howard One Step paint that can be purchased locally at Woodstock Antiques and Consignment

So with my pile of pallet wood in hand I got to work, on a few pieces actually...

Here the before of the piece I had wanted to do. It was one of those cheap press board bookshelf things. This image is actually nicer than the one I had, I had forgotten to take a before of it. But you get the idea. 

After 2 coats of the One Step paint (no prepping needed at all!), and a light distressing. Then added some pallet wood trim and some old fence finials that have been hanging around my project bin for YEARS. 

Since we are moving, I'm not really going to be able to use it right away, but you get the idea. I LOVE it and it will work well to organize my finished products for my products in my online shop. The paint itself is wonderful. I believe it is my fave for non-porous surfaces. The texture of the paint is silky and divine. As it sits open it gets thicker. It cover extremely well. 

Here are a few other projects I worked on. I used Them Two Birds milk paint, Amy Howard One Step and regular acrylic on these based on the colors I needed/wanted.

                   Before                                                  After

These are glass and resin and the paint stuck like I was painting raw wood! 

                  Before                                                  After

What I did with one of the candle sticks.

I have 3 more pieces of furniture I finished and a few other projects, I just haven't phoyographed them yet. I will update later on with those images. 

There is something beautiful inside everything. It just take a little TLC sometimes. 

Life Right Now

It has been a few weeks since I have posted. Things have been a little hectic around here with the house being on the market...

Picnics in Greenville, SC...

Trips to Six Flags over Georgia...

Furniture redesigns and upcycles...

New jewelry designs...

More photo shoots...

And job interviews...

Plus the everyday keeping the house up, the kids entertained, calming the parents about leaving the state, and keeping myself sane. I do have posts about the latest photo session coming up. I am wanting to finish it before we move. So, check back in for fab furniture redo's, elven armor how to, and wonderful dinning and B&B's in Greenville. 

Selling Our Home

It is official, our home is for sale. After 8 years and a crazy amount of renovations, we are leaving. If you know anyone that wants to live in the metro-Atlanta area, this is a great house!

Here are some of the renovations we did.

Living Room & Fireplace Before

Living Room Before

Living room after (still need to put photos in that frame)

Living Room -Front Door

I have actually changed the colors twice since we renovated. I can't help it, I like change I guess. My husband and I did 95% of the interior work ourselves.

Before of the Dinning Room

I believe this is a wall in the kitchen.

After of the Dinning Room

The kitchen was the last project because some other things came up, like the roof needing to be replaced sooner than we anticipated. But when it was done, it was worth the wait and not having an oven for 3 years. (It was a wall oven and it broke and since we weren't going to go with a wall oven in the new kitchen, we didn't want to waste our money on replacing it.)

Ta-Da!

Where the hood to the oven is used to be where the black microwave is in the picture above this one. It's that same wall in the kitchen.

Here is a work in progress shot showing the new drywall

We renovated pretty much the entire house. Even new HVAC, new roof, new plumbing, wiring, security system. You name it we did it all except the flooring, it is original. 

Lots of work and love in every square inch of the home. 

Design, Artisan Craftsmanship and Mess

I keep just about everything, broken jewelry, bits of paper and fabric. I just can't help myself. Fortunately, I am fairly organized so I kind of know what I have on hand when I get an idea for something.

Jelly jars to hold my bits and bobs, like Victorian era buttons and vintage gears

A tea box to hold my small works in progress pieces

The boxes that I store my personal photos for scrapbooking

I reuse lots of different things to store my stuff. However that doesn't mean it doesn't get messy. When I am actually designing pieces and crafting them I make a HUGE mess. I tend to get bored or stuck artistically, so I move to something else and just leave where I left off on what ever it was that I was working on. Because I do this it tends to look like all of my neat little boxes and jars just got dumped in the middle of the floor by my toddler. I assure you, it was me. Though my home is fairly tidy, my creative space it very messy. I have to pause and clean it up when it gets to the point that I can't find anything in the general area where I left it. Kind of like it is right now actually.

What my floor looks like when I am paper crafting

If it wasn't for my mess making I wouldn't be able to create my products and art pieces. I turn this mess into these beautiful things.

Yet to be listed bridal necklace crafted entirely out of vintage brooches

In teaching my children to value creativity and the things of the past, we read lots of literature together and look at artwork of all sorts. Some of our favorite stories are, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, Through the Looking Glass-and What Alice Found There and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Well at the World’s End and Phantastes, and the artwork and illustrations that have been created by others inspired by these literary pieces.

Fantasy and whimsy have always influenced me and my creative process. This influence shows in my work. Steampunk, Victorian color palettes and a hint of our Celtic roots, myths and all, flavor my pieces. I pour a little bit of my heart, soul and history into everything I create.

I pull from my ancestry and the world in my head to create my Woodland line of products and fine art photography. It is the world I lived in as a child. When I create these pieces I am literally creating the images in my minds eye. I see these people and cultures, and see their lives, where everything has meaning. Which is why most of my pieces have a title and a story behind them. I photograph my woodland pieces in a story. It is my joy to create these images. It is my way of painting what I see. My way of honoring the One who created me. Using the Gifts I have been given to encourage others and tell stories, even the messy ones. 

Be Still- Merka of The Elves of the Woodland Realm series

A Pawn No Longer

I say, if your mess can help you create pieces that speak to you and to others, then have at it my friends. Makes mess, design, create, live life on all of it's roads, and only look back to remember that you have lived, even if it is messy. 

The Weaver