My Gallery Wall Has A New Addition

I've updated my gallery wall because we finally got a new tv and it changed the layout of the wall. We've had the tube tv for a long time but, when I hung my gallery wall, I left space (apparently not enough space above it because I had to move one of the frames) for a flat panel tv so that it would blend in and not be such an eyesore. I got a killer deal on the tv at the Best Buy black friday sale. They opened up at midnight and I left the hubby home asleep with the kids and went to wait in the lines. After three and a half hours standing in line, I came home with this bad boy. The rest of my yard sale money was money well spent so I could finish my gallery wall that I always had in mind. 

When the tv was hung, I had to rearrange a few of the pictures. The picture that was above the tv was too tall, so I had to move it to the left of the tv instead of above it. Once the big picture frame was moved, it left three HOLES or spaces without picture frames!! That meant, I needed to add three frames.

I found a lovely oval frame at target but it was a walnut color. Nothing a little paint can't fix.

I needed it black to add to the gallery wall so I painted it with some left over black spray paint. 

I needed one picture above the tv, one to the side and a small one below the other small frame. 

I added my new favorite picture of the girls (from the orchard photo session) above the tv. I added a picture of my oldest son from our winter photo session (for christmas cards) and our new winter family photo to the oval frame. 

The oval frame fit the space perfectly! 

The large frame of my oldest two fits much better to the left of the tv than above it. It would have touched the top of the tv and wouldn't have looked very good. So, moving it to the side and moving a few different frames above the tv works much better. 

I added photos of our newest daughter to the wall and with the three extra frames I was able to add a few other new favorite photos. 

I love the new gallery wall. It celebrates our family and the love we have for each other!! 

After some looking in the archives, I found a picture of our first home's gallery wall. Boy, it's grown since then. We've had a few kids since then...which means they need to be added to the gallery wall too! 

You can see the old tube tv that we had and the buffet we used to sit it on (plus the kids in a game of go fish). When this piece of furniture was moved to this spot in the room, the wall had to be hung higher because it went behind the tv.

Then I found this beautiful re-claimed cupboard and added black & white fabric to the drawers. The bulky tv was functional just not so pretty. The tv has found a new home in the basement so the kids can play their games on it. I hung the pictures around the lamp and the tv. I have been waiting for a long time for a flat tv.

I love the streamlined look of this wall. The tv almost fades away against the black and white wall. Love that!

Big News....plus a Little for Sale!

Big News.....we are moving!! My husband got into Nurse Anesthetist Graduate School so we will be moving to Kansas for three years in May. We are excited and little overwhelmed with everything that has to be done to get ready to move.

Unfortunately....well, fortunate for all of you...I can't take everything with me. There are a few things that I know I can't take and am willing to sell. I will be posting things in the next while of things I have decided to sell. I am going to post it here first because I think you bloggers should have first dibs. I will post them here before I put them in the local consignment store or post them on the local classified. If you live in Utah on the wasatch front, then I am in your neck of the woods (Davis County).

The first thing I am going to sell is my winter lampshade trees.   Here is my post about how I made them.
UPDATE: SOLD

I am selling these fun lampshade trees. It includes the lampshades, threaded rod, bolts, burlap, ornaments, and star tree topper. I have decided to keep the urns because I change them (example: for Halloween, I used them with black sticks).

The lampshade trees are usable in any type of containers. You can find containers almost exactly like these one(not painted) but, found locally at Tai Pan or any garden store. 

The lampshade trees would be awesome displays, for a store/business or for your home. I had an idea to clip on sepia toned winter pictures of the kids with clothes pins or clips. It could be SO cute! Even without the ornaments this could be a year-round tree. It would be an awesome display for earings, small items, baby headbands, bows or scrapbook items in your studio. Man, now I think of all the possibilities...well, more possibilities for whoever wants to buy these.

I am willing to sell these for $30 a piece or fifty for both. Just contact me by email. cassandradesign30@gmail.com

It's big changes in my life but I am trying to see the adventure of it all! So, it's a good thing that the internet is everywhere because I can continue this blog no matter where we live. So...here's to the new exciting adventure!

UPDATE: SOLD

Update: Sister's Gallery Wall has REAL Pictures

My sister sent me a couple updated pictures of her gallery wall. Her husband was glad that the pictures she ordered to fill her picture frames came in (side note: they live in a small town in central utah...so there are no picture printing stores in town). Her husband kept joking that they needed to replace the pictures of their african american brother-in-law or long lost cousin.  I TOTALLY agree, it's fun to see pictures of YOUR family. 

I love the mix of newborn photos with current family pics. It's fun to see your engagement picture too, although it doesn't seem that long ago to me but, you have had a few kids since then. (ha ha...like six). Time has surely flown. I love to see all the different times of your life displayed on the wall. 

The only thing she has left to do is to paint the clock black. I left the quart of black paint (from the shelf around her scrapbook room) so it's a simple project on her To Do list.

She LOVES her family picture gallery wall and it looks beautiful. She even added transparencies over the mats on each of her babies newborn picture. It has their birth date, name and stats. Great Idea!

Thanks Sister for these Updated pictures! I had such a great time hanging out with you and getting some projects off your To Do list. Love ya Sista...It's looks great!

Craft Paint finds its home in the Library Card Catalog

The library card  catalog drawers are the perfect size to organize all my craft paints. 

I originally thought about putting the paints in my numbered cubby hole cupboard but, finally decided that the library card catalog drawers were better...for now...but you never know, I could change my mind. 

I started with my white and creams and progressed across five drawers (I know, I know..five drawers of paint....but, all I see is fun projects in the future) to the black paints.I had to keep moving paint bottles around to fit all the green and blue paint bottles. I guess you can all see what are my favorite colors! 

I love that I can see all the different paint colors and that every color is right at my fingertips. 

The drawers are deep enough to stack lots of craft paint bottles. 

A rainbow of beautiful colors!! The library card catalog holds all my craft paint in only five drawers. I have ten more drawers that I filled with all my painting supplies, foam brushes and lots of other misc craft supplies. So, what color speaks to you?

Printer's Drawers FILLED and ORGANIZED

My printer's Drawers are FILLED nd ORGANIZED!!

My printer's drawers cabinet has been set on top of the library card catalog and it's ready to be organized.  

My magnetic boards had become the home for all of my "small" things. They were in every kind of package so I wouldn't lose them. They had been begging to be organized. Everytime I looked at my magnet boards I knew I needed somewhere to organize my "tiny" items. Because I truly believethat if you can't find them....you don't use them....and that wastes money....and I HATE wasting money!  

Magnetic boards full of things in packages and needing a home. 

 I started with my buttons....and I got all excited when I was able to create a rainbow with all the beautiful button colors!!

One of the printer's drawer was already labeled with the alphabet and I have tons of scrapbook alphabets metalware. So...this made it easy to sort my metal alphabet. 

Every drawer was organized with different items. The top drawer has brads, eyelets and a rainbow of beautiful buttons. The middle drawer is full of metal scrapbook items. Third drawer has the alphabet and odds and ends. Everything has a place and can be easily found. 

All of the eyelets and brads got a home too! I kept them in little containers so that the teeny tiny pieces wouldn't have be lost. 

All my MISC. little things now have the perfect home! 

I found these little plastic containers, 8 to a pack, at the dollar store. So, for three dollars I was able to seperate my brads and they will stay organized.  

This just makes me SQUEAL with delight!! Organized and GORGEOUS!! My husband was kinda chuckling at me when I dragged him over to see my organized drawers. He gave me a side hug and just said that "I'm glad your so happy about organized buttons!" (Love that man...supportive even about organized buttons. LOL) 

Buttons are in their space, everything has a spot. Everything is all organized!! This is EXACTLY why I built this beautiful printer's drawer cupboard. Yep...that's right, I took the time to build this cupboard to house these antique printer's drawers. Now I can see all the "little" things I craft with and be able to use them. YIPEE!! One-of-a-kind piece and it's SOOOOO pretty all organized!!

Cassy

Beautiful Bridal HeadPiece and bonus Garter

I MADE MY FRIST BRIDAL HEAD PIECE!! So excited to show you all!! 

Here's my supplies: Vintage jewelry, silk fabrics, dupioni silks, silk satin, tulle, pearls, swarovski crystals, lace and a plain old needle and thread. I hand sewed the entire thing together!

The only headbands or headpieces that I had made before were for my infant daughter's newborn photoshoot. I have made some for my older daughter as well. I even made one to give as a thank you to my photographer/new friend (now my bride client) that shot our orchard family pictures. She did such an amazing job getting my vision that I wanted to give her a thank you.

As soon as she saw the one I made as a thank you she was ecstatic! She said right there, "You can make my bridal head piece!" I was a little hesitant at first but, she sent me a picture of one that she liked and it didn't look too hard. I had made the flower in the picture before out of fabric and they are beautiful.

So....I was up for the challenge!! 

The first step was finding the vintage jewelry. I originally found some blue jewels (at an antique fair with my sister) and we were going to pair it with an orange flower but, when the florist in maui (Yes, I did say Maui....I know....GORGEOUS location!) said that she couldn't guarantee the orange blue bouquet, we didn't dare have those colors in the headpiece if there wasn't anything to match it. I agree....it would look funny to have orange and blue in your headpiece if your flower bouquet doesn't match. So....plan B.....match the dress! 

We found a vintage broach/shoe clip and a pair of vintage square earings (the bride loves square). The back was perfect because I used the loop part that went around the ear to attatch it as the center of my flower by hand sewing it in place. I used wire cutters to cut the screw part that would hold it to someone's ear....so much easier to have peirced ears...don't you think? I didn't need that part so I clipped it off with wire cutters.

UPDATE

UPDATE

I finally downloaded some photos off my phone and found the picture of the vintage jewels. I found these three that would all work wonderfully on the Bridal headpiece so I texted this picture to the bride and she came and met me at the antique store. She chose the middle one because it reminded her of a seashell and she is getting married in Maui so it was perfect. It was my first choice too!

The flower is made from three silk fabrics. I used three slightly different colors/textures of fabrics to create dimension and depth. All of the fabrics worked beautifully together. I spent a lot of time making sure the flower was perfect since it was the main part of the head piece.

I added a ruffle, tulle, vintage lace, pearls, swarovski crystals and ostrich feathers. The back was finished with two pleats. I added these so the headpiece would be rounded and fit the shape of the head. Nobody has a flat head and I wanted the head piece to lay against the head with only the russian netting standing out and puffy and of course the feather.

This is the flower, ruffle, jewels and feathers all together and ready for the russian netting. The vintage jewels were perfect because she loves squares (the earings) and the larger jewelry was reminiscent of a shell......which is PERFECT since she is getting married in Maui!!  Both vintage piece of jewelry were stunning and the best part is that the antique store was having a 20% off everything in the case of vintage jewelry...SCORE! Vintage jewelry and at a great price.

The russian netting is added and hand sewn. Everything...and I do mean EVERYTHING was hand sewn on this piece. I wanted it to be an heirloom piece that the bride could treasure forever. 

When I finished the bridal head piece I was left with an extra earing. I wanted to do something special for her and decided I should make her garter to match.  

So I made a similar, simpler flower with the other square earing. Added some feathers, tulle and VOILA...a matching garter. I make it sound so easy but, this definetely took some time to complete. I think it took me a total of about eight hours for the head piece and the garter from start to finish because everything was made from scratch and sewn by hand. It was worth every minute because it turned out gorgeous! 

I love the square vintage earing center. 

The feathers and tulle add an element of flair. 

The feathers are smaller than on the head piece. Nobody wants long tickly feathers on a garter. So I used regular, smaller feathers and didn't use the ostrich feathers like on the head piece. 

The bride LOVES vintage and these definetely are reminiscent of vintage with a totally modern twist. 

I finished by putting them in a plastic rubbermaid box since they will be traveling by plane to their destination and I don't want them getting SMOOSHED! 

I called the bride as soon as I finished and we made plans to get together later that afternoon. I don't know who was more excited me or the bride? I LOVED how it turned out and she was THRILLED with having her vision come to life. She said "It's even better than the picture!" The flower on that one in the picture was really simple and this one has so much more detail. 

View from the back so you can see how it hugs the head and curves with the russian netting and ostrich feathers sticking out....so pretty! 

The jewels are so pretty and it is so neat that the one looks like a sea shell. It is perfect for her venue! Maui....how lucky!!

I've never seen a happier, more gorgeous bride....and she doesn't even have make-up on! She said she will send me a photo of the headpiece with her dress at their wedding in Maui so I will have one to show all of you.....just have to wait two weeks until the wedding. I am excited to see the bridal headpiece in pictures in Maui and can hardly wait...I can imagine how long two weeks sounds to the bride and groom!! 

So, my first attempt at hand making a bridal headpiece was a HUGE success! I am glad she talked me into doing it for her and expanding my repertoire(not just doing baby and girl headbands). I am excited for my new friend to be getting married and can't wait to see the wedding photos. Maui....uh yeah....jealous...it's snowing outside my door right now and a warm beach is sounding pretty nice right now!! Congratulations and many wishes for a gorgeous wedding day!