Friday, February 11, 2011

MMS & FJD's Copy Me Challenge

The Girls of Lulu's Designs are entering the Copy Me Challenge!
  
Copy Me Challenge

When Miss Mustard Seed & Funky Junk Donna posted the Copy Me Challenge,
we knew immediately which project we wanted to tackle.
Here is Miss Mustard Seed's Project.  Look at that color.  Look at those curves.  Look at that stuff!
The first thing on our list was to find a dresser to use. 
After searching for several days, this dresser was purchased from a Craig's List seller. 
Dresser with Squeaker-Bud cat sauntering by on the left!
Because of below freezing temps, we were forced to do our painting in the house. 
That meant no paint spraying from a can or a sprayer.  
We were sad because we love to use the paint sprayer! 
The dresser required a light sanding and then good wipe-down. 

Because the dresser had a coat of varnish or something like that that made it super shiny, we decided to use a primer.  We had a gallon of Kilz on hand, so we painted on two coats and let it dry overnight.

Time for paint! 
We wanted a contrast between the color of the aged sheet music, so we decided to use white paint from Behr.  For ages purchasing Floetrol has been on our to-get-list.  When we saw it on the shelf at Home Depot we couldn't wait to get it in our cart!  It was great.  The brush strokes after drying were minimal.  However, there were some dripping problems which meant sanding and repainting a few areas.  That was ok, it was a learning process.  Next time we'll know better how to control that. 
Good stuff!
Here is our version of the sheet music dresser all gussied up and ready for her close up! 
Isn't she gorgeous?
Couldn't you just eat her up?!? 

Look at that old music!  Can you see "Lucille" on the drawer right there? 
As close to Lulu's as we could get!  We love the different shades of the music.  All of those oldie colors show up just fine.  We wondered who touched this music before us.  Who played the piano and sang?  Who heard it and smiled?  Old things with such great history touch us and we fall in love.

We used glass drawer pulls that we had on hand. 
Clear on the top and bottom drawers and larger pink ones on the middle drawer.
More yummy shades of color on the top.  Mmmmm.
The music wreath is a special order that we made. 
Dyed coffee filters, some pink tulle and a lace flower top it off. 

And of course, what vignette for a MMS challenge would be complete without some German glass glitter letters?  These happen to spell "LOVE" just in time for Valentine's Day. 
After all, MMS is THE German glass glitter queen! 

We added a concrete yard angel.  She actually lives indoors though. 
Isn't she sweet?  She wanted bling and we provided it for her. 
Doesn't every MMS follower love bling?  I mean bling and simple just go together, don't they?

A little silver bowl filled with shredded sheet music and pastel eggs provide
a reminder of  Springtime to come and new beginnings.

We love the white ironstone pitcher with lavender and it smells yummy. Look at that handle.  Wow!
The starfish reminds us of time spent at the beach and warm sunny days playing
in the sand and listening to the waves crash on the shore.

In the little silver bowl is antique German lace and it was probably all handmade.
Just think of the hours that went into that. 
And we thought dealing with bubbles while doing decoupage was difficult!

Oh yes, we even copied MMS's shabby lampshade and little stack of books.  
We are shameless, aren't we?  =)
The photos on the lampshade are family.  
The photo of the young girl on the right of the lampshade is our grandma and great-grandma Ocie. 
 The photo on the left of the lampshade is our mom and mamoo. 
She looks a bit mischievous, doesn't she?  She probably was since she had eight brothers and sisters!She's now 81 and has dementia.  She's just a happy little girl in this photo!  We like that.


Hanging from the shabby lampshade is a vintage French Chateau key hung with pink seam binding.
 It's our bit of rust as a tribute to Funky Junk Donna.  We wanted to do rusty and enter with
you too Donna, but who knew that decoupage would take so stinking long? 
We love your style and tip our hats to you!
We adore the child's glass pink butter pat. Hmmm, can we sell it?

A beautiful Christening gown that we found on Etsy and picked up in a city near us to have it in time.
Yes, MMS, we went to great lengths to copy you and your style!

A close up of the pink German glass glitter letters.  Oh so shiny and beautiful.  They twinkle.  We likie!
 MMS has given us a new appreciate of all things beautiful. 
And all things are beautiful, even if they are worn and old and smell funny -
you know like mothballs, or old houses. 
That's what the sheet music smelled like. 
We learned to love that smell because it took us back in time while we were Modge-Podging.

When we finished photographing our vignette, we wondered why our home doesn't
look like this one little dresser with all of these things that we love. 
We think we are headed in a new direction! 
Thanks Miss Mustard Seed for showing us the way! 
It's been fun and we look forward to what's ahead! 

Now where's that paintbrush, paint, sandpaper and piece of
brown furniture that we've decided to redo?

Come on y'all, leave a comment.  Make our day!  Just say Hi!
Jennifer and Paula
The Girls of Lulu's Designs &





Thursday, February 10, 2011

Anthropologie Style Collage Wreaths from Lulu's Lab




We had a custom order on the Etsy shop for 6 wreaths.  Amanda sent us a picture of
what she wanted & we took on this challenge.  I loved how they turned out!
Each wreath is unique.
















We have some new items up on the Etsy Shop. Some items we got in, we can't post on Etsy because
the items are new (& I didn't make them).  If you're interested, email us!


Tin Angel Wing Picks.  They give off a delicate hue of rainbow colors.
They come in 5 and 4 inches.




Jennifer

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Giveaway Winners



Congrats to the winners of our giveaway!
We are excited that Tami from High Street Cottage
& Ria from It's Me!

Thank you again to Laura from 52 Flea for hostessing the giveaway!





Monday, January 31, 2011

Inspiration

What inspires you?

I love shopping on Etsy & reading magazines & blogs ~
it's one of my most favorite things to do. 
I get inspired, motivated, & entertained from blogs.

Where else do designers get motivation?
(Kelly Wearstler via Google Images)

Nature
(Google Images)

(VWGarden.Blogspot via Google)


(Google Images)

Is this not the most amazing color of blue?

Architecture

Architecture is amazing & inspirational.  I take joy in soaking up all forms of architecture.
Whether its basking in front of a Monet or looking at old streets in France or Italy,
I enjoy it!

(Google Images)

Other forms of inspiration are Music, Photography, & Imagination.
Design elements such as Textiles, Shapes, & Color also evoke inspiration. 
Dorothy Draper (the Queen of Design) says to pull pictures of magazines,
& use them as a reference.  Don't be afraid of color!! "Living without
color is like living without love" ~Kelly Wearstler.

Designer's Guild is one of my favorite places to find inspiration.
The colors, prints, & textures makes my heart melt.
Fabric is deinitely my weakness & where my talent lies.

What inspires you?

some old doors?


an urn?

(interiordecoration.blogspot)
a picture from a magazine?

(image from Paris Atelier)
a pair of shoes?


I wish I knew where I got this photo.  It was on my desktop for a long time.
I'm in awe of the french furniture, the pink draperies, & the art on the small side table,
the amazing sconce.... I'm amazed by it every time I look.

I keep a file on my desktop of my favorite chairs, room views, dressers...
Somtimes they change but I'm always inspired.

"Be faithful to your own taste because nothing you really like is ever out of style."
~Billy Baldwin via Josh Taylor

 Jennifer Lynette
from

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Treasure Hunting

Hi Y'All!  This is Paula...

Jennifer and I have been treasure hunting and boy did we have fun. Usually we plot out our course, but yesterday and today we just drove around looking for garage sales and estate sales and oh my, the treasures we found!  We've decided that just winging it makes the experience seem more like a real treasure hunt.  Jennifer's driving and looking on her side of the road and I'm riding and looking on my side of the road.  We yell, "Sale!"  But by that time we've driven by and we have a make a u-turn, but we are accustomed to that!



This is a photo of our car loaded to the gills with our wonderful finds.  This sweet little chippy white table was sitting all alone, forgotten in the back corner of the garage just waiting to come home with us.

We have some ideas about what we are going to do with some of the items, but not all of them.  Come back to see our plans and then the transformations!  (We honestly thought that we would come home and work on some tonight - but we are bone tired from all of that shopping!  What were we thinking?!?)