'as seen in BHG!'

 A few weeks ago, I received a very nice message from LuLu Tapp,

owner and photographer extraordinaire from DustyLu Interiors & Photography in Los Angeles.
She let me know that my little pumpkins were going to appear

in the feature on her lovely home

in the Better Homes & Gardens Halloween Tricks & Treats 2013!

After I picked myself up off the floor, I thanked her. Profusely!
And I've been on the lookout for the issue ever since.

Monday, she messaged me "Hey Deb!!! Its out its out!!! On newsstands now!!!Woot woot!"

At nearly the same time, a friend sent me the cover shot shown above,

then another friend sent me an interior image that includes my 2012 Harvest pumpkins:

This is one of Lulu's photos of her gorgeous home from the magazine... LOVE!

Being able to use the words 'As Seen in BHG' is just a dream come true -

I am so very thankful for the opportunity.
I originated this design, and have been making and selling them for many years,
and it's nice to finally be 'noticed' this way.

I saw a comment that Lulu made on Instagram and it made me do backflips:
"Better Homes and Gardens editor was flipping over the pumpkins and botanicals  -
I think she wanted to take them!!! Lolol"

Lulu discovered my original Sweet Sweater Pumpkins last fall, at Kymberley Fraser's store 'A Beautiful Mess'.

They looked like this in her display:

Thank you again, Kymberley, for your support!

Glamping with Style!

let me tell you about the time I turned a 20' X 20' party tent into a Glamping Tent!

Inspired by bedouin tents and high-end resort cabanas, I pulled simple elements together

and designed a temporary living space that ended up being a true show-stopper.
My late husband and I actually LIVED in this tent for four days,
at the Battle Ground, Washington BarnHouse vintage marketplace event in 2009!
[The other vendors at the show were the ones who dubbed it 'the Taj Ma Tent']

 The floorplan:

The bedchamber is on the top right.
The kitchen area is on the lower right.
The rest is lounge space!

The elements:

Canvas drop cloths, white netting curtains, and white vinyl tarps became walls and floors.

Lightweight / collapsible furnishings are plastic chairs, blow-up beds, and an old door + some sawhorses as a kitchen counter.
Candle lanterns, tap lights, and one killer chandelier provided light in the evenings.
A small metal Oriental coal heater held sections of a firelog to warm up our toes each morning.
A collapsible gas barbecue allowed us to cook our hosts a pretty nice meal, too!

The design:

[btw, those netting curtains looked really stunning when they were hanging loose... as shown below.

But it was so windy, they had to stay tied or they ended up a tangled mess.]

The BEST and most unexpected detail was the giant chandelier hanging from the apex of the tent!

And yes, it DID light up - thanks to a car battery temporary power supply.

During the two days that the BarnHouse Marketplace vintage event was open to the public, 

the meadows were filled with cars and other campers, and thousands of attendees & shoppers.
Many of them thought that the Taj Ma Tent had been created as a resting area for them!
Since we were off in our booth selling our wares, we didn't mind sharing.

Professional photographer Robin Laws took the preceding three photos of the Taj Ma Tent.
The last one appeared on the title page of her article about the BarnHouse event

in the Winter, 2010 issue of Somerset Life Magazine.

Now, it WAS a lot of work setting that baby up. And tearing her down.
But it was fun!

I'm sharing it with you because I think this idea is something anyone can do.
OK, maybe not as overboard as a 20X20... but what about using a 10X10 popup as your base?
Set up your own cabana in your backyard for summer entertaining and relaxing,

or get brave and actually take it to a campground or beach!

I used a 10X10 popup as the base for our tent for two years, and decorated it in a similar fashion...

The walls were canvas drop cloths, and a few shutter panels to let fresh air in. 

The door was mesh curtains. The floor was vinyl and canvas tarps.

Furnishings were a blow up bed, a few crates to hold stuff, and plastic lounge chairs.
No chandelier.
Much simpler. Much faster. But people still took a lot of photos!

Just goes to show that you can scale an idea up or down and make it work for your needs.
Now go be creative and get Glamping!!!

Find Robin Laws Photography here

Sadly, the BarnHouse Marketplace event is no longer in business.

Charming Embellished Umbrellas

I am so pleased to share that the May Issue of Creating Vintage Charm Magazine 
features one of my own spring / summer decor ideas:
Embellished Umbrellas

 Creating Vintage Charm is a PRINT publication
that inspires and shares your excitement in creating and crafting,
by featuring your handmade and repurposed creations and ideas, 
beautiful and colorful images, 
featured artists, studios, shops, blogs, galleries, 
tutorials and tips and more...

The umbrellas shown in the magazine and here in these photos
have been embellished with 'everyday' items to create beautiful effects:

 * The umbrella on the right is a 4' white nylon beach umbrella,

covered with a large white crochet lace tablecloth.

The lace creates beautiful patterns in the shadows beneath the umbrella!

* The umbrella on the left is a 6' diameter white canvas market umbrella, 

adorned with a white satin & tulle bridal petticoat!
The fullness of the tulle layers create a gorgeous ruffle all the way around!

These were the perfect toppers for a refreshment table at the Spring vintage show I hosted on my farm.

At another vintage show, I sold ribbon parasols...

I had a half-dozen regular umbrellas, and just ripped the nylon covers right off of them.
Then I used vintage seam binding, ribbon, and torn silk strips to create a new kind of cover
by tying the strips together in all kinds of patterns and configurations.
[They took FOREVER to make!]

They were very summer-y and fun, and though they wouldn't protect you from rain or sun,

they certainly added feminine charm to the setting.

although....
I also used one in the rafters of my barn store one fall, 
and it looked decidedly spooky: 

Prettily embellished umbrellas are a perfect idea for photo props, 

and as event decor for garden parties and bridal & baby showers!

shared online:

Cupcakes & Crinoline | Project Inspire{d}

Decor, All Bottled Up!

 when i say 'found' materials, people look at me funny.

 what i mean by that is stuff that you find in a field, or on a curb, 

or at a yard sale or thrift store, or in your own garage or barn.

stuff that most people don't even SEE.

i crawled under a table at a yard sale to reach for the tattered corner of a dirty cardboard box.

no one else had even given the box a glance.

i opened it to discover these cool old medicine bottles!

i didn't need to do much to them to use them as decor...

after a careful washing to preserve the original labels,

they were corralled on a round silver tray to show them off.

the two bottles that didn't have lids are serving a flower vases, holding happy daisies.

this is a collection of miscellaneous old bottles that i found in thrift shops.

some were very detailed, and some were rather plain.

i embellished them 

using my stash of vintage trims, jewelry, and papers.

the jewelry hung on them, but some of it could also be removed to wear.

 [some of these photos were featured in 

Romantic Homes Magazine, February, 2013
in the mention of homewardFOUND on page 12]

i took the embellished bottles to a show, and some of them sold. some didn't.

which is fine, it just gave me the chance to do something ELSE with them:

so i painted them.

with white gloss enamel appliance spray paint.

and then i popped a few daisies & chamomile into them

and sat them on a silver tray.

i paid one dollar for that dirty box of brown medicine bottles.

and between one and three dollars for each of the clear bottles.
the silver trays cost me five bucks each.

i sold the first set for $35, and the second set for $45 

at the BarnHouse antique show. in the first hour.

here's the moral of this story:
these items were basically discards, with no inherent value to anyone.

all it took was an eye for using them in a new way

for them to have value and worth. 

THAT is what 'found' decor is all about. smile.

it doesn't take OLD stuff, either...

what about a six-pack of empty glass Coca Cola bottles for a patio table?

or maybe old glass baby bottles for a shower?
little glass yogurt containers for a brunch?

paint 'em. put 'em on a tray. fill 'em with posies.

you'll have some fresh spring decor all bottled up!

Be a Good Egg!

so many fabulous egg-related decor ideas are floating around the internets right now:

literally hundreds of ideas for coloring Easter eggs and making patterned Easter eggs 

and ideas for making wreaths and topiaries from plastic Easter eggs. 

LOVE the creativity i see out there!

but.... what if you don't celebrate Easter? 

or what if you just want a more subdued palette?

you're in luck! 

(and good company, to be honest... pastel eggs are NOT my thing. 

the closest i got to them was when i brought home 

two dozen brightly-colored 'Cascarones' from a visit to Texas one spring.)

so today, i offer up some inspiration 

for creating spring decor with un-decorated eggs!

some are real, and some aren't.... use papier mache', clay, wood, or ceramic eggs.

first up, an ostrich egg (HUGE) embellished with a strip of vintage sheet music.

[the title 'Song of the Bird' was a perfect fit!]

i nestled the finished egg into a handmade birdsnest, 

then sat the nest on a 'pedestal' of an upside-down milk glass lamp shade (with the narrow end up).

here's a photo of the same egg standing UP in the nest, without the glass base:

another idea is to create a small vignette inside a glass jar...

and this works perfectly when you are using real (blown) eggs, because they are protected.

[note: do not - under any circumstances - 

forget to blow the eggs, and then seal them in a jar. 

BAAAAAAAD side effects :( ]

a little nest of grass is placed in the jar and an egg nestled into it.

a scrap of vintage sheet music or a poem with a Spring theme might be inserted as a 'backdrop',

and a strip with an appropriately 'Spring-y' title is glued onto the jar as a label.

i also covered the jar tops with a scrap of burlap, tied with twine.

[i use pickle or olive jars from thrift stores. 

they come in medium and large sizes, are wider than mason jars, and have no embossing on the sides to blur the contents]

this LARGE handmade nest sits atop an aged garden urn.

[i used ivy and hops vines from the yard to make it]

moss from a corner of the yard fills the center of the nest,  providing a soft resting place for a few eggs.

a glass garden cloche finishes off the look perfectly.

[you could also tuck in some gardener's gloves, hand tools, and some bulbs 

for a perfect Spring gift!]

then again, you don't really have to have a nest...

a simple egg presentation:
a glass salt cellar or napkin ring can hold an egg,

and a clear stemless wineglass as a 'dome' will finish it off with style.

if you write each guests' name on the egg, these are perfect place cards!
_________________________________

those last two shots are a bit of a sneak-peek - 

they are part of a garden-theme project and photoshoot last winter in Seattle

that i'll be sharing here on the HOMEWARDfound blog later this week.

i am delighted that photos from that shoot are featured

in the Spring issue of Creating Vintage Charm magazine!

robin's glorious 'nest' for sale!

 

i am going to suggest that you don't read this post on your iPhone or iPad...

it simply won't do the photos justice!

today i am thrilled to share some incredible photos of a beautiful location

AND news of a FABULOUS GIVEAWAY!
[keep reading, that's below]

my friend Anne Lorys was invited to photograph

the Bandera, Texas home of fashion designer Robin Brown of Magnolia Pearl. 

Robin and her husband John have moved to Fredericksburg, Texas

and are now selling their 38-acre Bandera ranch.

and oh my heavens, 

this is NOT what most people think of when they hear 'Texas ranch'! 
[JR Ewing would not fit in here!]

this is VINTAGE STYLE taken to glorious excess

Robin's inimitable style is apparent in every detail of the multiple buildings on the property,

in the whimsical, delightful touches and vintage materials.

It's 'artsy', no doubt about it... just like Robin and her fanciful fashion line.

photos courtesy of & copyright Anne Lorys Photography

...and that's just the kitchen/dining area/living room 
of ONE of the multiple buildings on the property!

 [there are so many amazing DIY ideas in there using salvaged & FOUND materials, 

i can't breathe just lookin' at it....]

the ranch has been published in many magazines, both in print and online, 

and was the subject of a book by Hearst Publishing and Country Living Magazine.

photos courtesy Magnolia Pearl

Robin, being a sweet, kind, generous, creative, playful person,
decided to thank everyone for sharing the news of her ranch being for sale, and
is giving away TWO full Magnolia Pearl outfits!

enter the giveaway, 
and you could win one of these darling prairie-style ensembles:

to see MORE stunning photos and read ALL of the details 
about Robin & John's property  for sale
AND to enter the giveaway,

please visit Anne's blog post HERE
 

i am not including the 'pin it' button on this post because the photos aren't mine.

they belong to my friend, photographer Anne Lorys,

and to the very talented fashion designer Robin Brown of Magnolia Pearl.
i linked them here from Anne's blog, but ask that 

if you want to pin them, please go to Anne's blog post and pin from there
so that they source correctly. Thank you...

 
for more decorating ideas for every season,

  visit the HOMEWARDfound blog 

and these social networking sites: