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Who doesn't love a good tropical vibe? My latest installation for my client Willows, in Vancouver Wa. was a bohemian tropical trim.
My client and their customers enjoyed the live plants, making them well worth the trip. You see, Willows is in Vancouver, Washington just across the river from my home base Portland, Oregon. Neither of these cities can play host to tropical plants, it's far too cold in the winter. You don't really see great quality plants at the big box stores, so I needed to come up with some other option.
So I hit the nurseries in Phoenix, Arizona and Palm Springs, California with a U-haul. I partnered the trip up with some other business. I rented a truck and began my quest for tropical boho beauties.
I'm an avid gardener and a bit of a tropical denial plant enthusiast. I'm my Portland garden, I've gathered as many tropical looking plants as the garden could hold. Many of them are knocked back severely if we happen to have an extreme winter but otherwise bounce back from our more mild ones. Anyway, I've learned a lot about tropicals and selected varieties for the store that would endure the intense window light and the drier humidity of a store environment. I also incorporated timber bamboo into the displays. As a matter of fact, the timber bamboo is from my garden. After a decade plus of growing freely, there were some great 3 and 4 inch diameter pieces to harvest.
I'm an avid gardener and a bit of a tropical denial plant enthusiast. I'm my Portland garden, I've gathered as many tropical looking plants as the garden could hold. Many of them are knocked back severely if we happen to have an extreme winter but otherwise bounce back from our more mild ones. Anyway, I've learned a lot about tropicals and selected varieties for the store that would endure the intense window light and the drier humidity of a store environment. I also incorporated timber bamboo into the displays. As a matter of fact, the timber bamboo is from my garden. After a decade plus of growing freely, there were some great 3 and 4 inch diameter pieces to harvest.
The addition of macrame added a bohemian charm to the displays. There are a ton of great macrame tutorials online. I found them easy enough to follow and I think I came up with some simple yet fun pieces. The lanterns were from different sources. They were originally table top lanterns with glass votives to hold candles. I tore out the inner workings and nailed in some plywood bases to hold a lamp socket. The 10 ft. wiring follows the weavings and turns them into hanging lanterns.
The tropicals were planted in various pots and planters. To accentuate the curated tropical theme and throw in a bit of on-trend garden love, I created various pot stands from a white oak and teak. They smelt so good when I made them. There's nothing better then the scent of wood shavings.
It was amazing how much the plants grew during the 3 month display. The store was looking so lush and event had the fragrance of the tropics. You see, I also dangled a real pineapple in a macrame hanger. The fruit gave off the perfect aroma.
In one of the displays I also included a baby pineapple. It was a great novelty to have a growing pineapple in a Northwest store. It continued to thrive but didn't grow to more than 3 inches wide or so before it started to ripen on the "vine".
The boho tropical themed summer display was a hit. My client loved it and the customers were surprised and delighted.
The boho tropical themed summer display was a hit. My client loved it and the customers were surprised and delighted.
If your visuals need some help or you need some fresh ideas, I'm available for consultations and/or I can provide you information on my visual display services. Contact Info
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You know how you can end up going down the Google rabbit hole? Well, I was doing research for client and somehow ended up looking at old abandoned buildings. One struck me, it was a Eastern European stadium. It was an old Olympic training site. Since its closure graffiti artists have taken up residence to cover the concrete with their art. The loose illustrative style and the bold images in monochrome inspired me. Announcing the Rough Game Series a collection of sports imagery layered upon chalky white, rendered in black, white and shades of gray.
I'm honored to announce that I've teamed up with my artist friend Mari Robeson to dedicate 20% of the collection sales, during April to a cause dear to her heart. Mari is the love and creative force behind the Louise Monforte Memorial Arts Scholarship. Its mission is to financially aid achieving high school students in their pursuit of art and dance. You can read more about Mari and her in memorandum scholarship born out of the love and loss of her sister Lou Lou on her website - LOUISE MONFORTE MEMORIAL ART SCHOLARSHIP
Riffing off of the art collection, I've created a fabric series as well. It is available from my Spoonflower.com fabric shop. With their array of fabric choices, the patterns would be a great coordinate to the art as bedding and pillows.
I hope you enjoy the collection. Your interest in my art is appreciated and so are all the likes, shares, pins and comments!
Rough Game Sports CollectionTHe Rough Game Sports collection
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I have several of the branded blade cutters and haven't really got to used to using them. Their software is a bit clunky for me. I recently bought a Glowforge laser and decided to give it a go cutting paper. The verdict is in, it did a wonderful job. Not only did it cut the sheets with precision, I was able to stack and cut multiple sheets at a time. What a time saver! Anyway, this isn't a commercial for laser cutting, nor is this a sponsored post.
The laser uses SVG files just like the blade cutting machines. I did have to play with the settings to prevent too much scald on the papers edges. There's a little, but I don't mind it, it seems to help define the shapes.
The project was a window and store display. I wanted to do something a bit bolder as large florals are all the trend. Here I painted the backdrop with florals and featured one wreath. Down below I placed galvanized orbs that I made from scratch using 3/4 light duty galvanized strapping and a spot welder.
For the wreaths I chose clematis flowers. They're dimensional and easily to recognize.
In another window I created a backdrop by stapling ombre dyed coffee filters. You can use Rit dye in different dilutions to achieve the effect.
More coffee filters were hung from fish line to dangle from the store's rustic reclaimed wood tree.
Galvanized tubs become hanging planters filled with cut paper flowers. Galvanized orbs round out the display. (Pardon the photo bomber, I tried waiting until she turned away, but she was probably curious what I was doing...ha!)
Glowforge Referral Program
If you're intrigued by the Glowforge let me know. They have a referral program and I might be able to save you some $$$.
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I love vintage ornaments and Christmas decor. The patina of time just adds something special to them whether its a bit of fading, tinge of tarnish or the flattening of colors into a mellowed palette. Sadly, the good stuff is expensive, fragile and gasp, you better not re-craft it into anything but its original purpose. So, using some techniques I've developed over the years, during my stints as a department store visual designer, I cheat and make my own "vintage" using less than the best. I'll use dollar store decorations.
The difference between today's ornaments and vintage ones is more than just time. It's materials. Many old fashioned ornaments were made from real metal, metal flake coated glass and cellulose lacquer. Real metal tarnishes and cellulose breaks down, hence the ornaments become duller and loose their vibrancy. Today's inexpensive ornaments are mostly blow molded plastics coated with mylar flake glitter and/or tinted with acrylic lacquer. None of which will age, or dull naturally.
To recreate the vintage look we have to either create the illusion of age or deconstruct the finish somehow. Here are some simple ways to do it.
1) mimic age using pigmented paste wax
I use Howards Premium Paste Wax in dark oak. The citrus fragrance is a bonus.
Ornaments to the right are treated with the dark oak paste wax.
Using a soft lint free rag rub on a coat of pigmented paste wax. The wax I use is Howard's in a dark oak color. The wax dulls the mylar like finish and alters the colors to more of an antique hue. Fake silver becomes more champagne and gold becomes more brassy. The snow like mylar glitter starts to resemble glass and Mica glitter which was used in the early 1900's. The paste wax can be buffed once it is dry and removed selectively with either steel wool or a scotch brite pad. Notice on the mylar plastic tinsel tree and wreath how the paste wax makes the tinsel look like the old silver and tin used in days gone by. I love it.
Paste wax is flammable and contains petroleum distillates. Keep away from children, flame and heat sources until cured and always wear protective gloves and provide for fresh air ventilation.
2) Distress the finishes using steel wool
A super easy way to age a plastic ornament is to rub it down with steel wool. The finer the steel wool, the smoother the wear. For rough scratches use coarse wool, for cloudy, milky effects use fine. To preserve the original finish and turn it into a stripe or pattern, mask off areas using electrical tape. Due to its flexible nature electrical tape will bend and wrap with the shapes easily. The steel wool will remove glitter, knock off the lacquer paint from raised details and uncover the original plastics silver tone.
Age cheap ornaments by rubbing down details, glitter and paint finishes on inexpensive plastic ornaments.
3) Use Rub-n-buff to mimic glass or metal
Using a rag, brush or just your glove covered finger, apply Rub-n-Buff to highlight raised areas, draw attention to details and mimic the wearing off of the ornaments lacquer, presenting a metallic or silvered glass like tone. Rub-n-Buff is also a paste wax and is available in a huge array of colors and is stocked by most craft stores and woodworking suppliers. I used silver for this demonstration.
Paste wax is flammable and contains petroleum distillates. Keep away from children, flame and heat sources until cured and always wear protective gloves and provide for fresh air ventilation.
Mimic vintage ornaments by using Rub-n-Buff paste wax to highlight cheap ornaments.
4) distress using fingernail polish Remover
Traditional fingernail polish remover will remove the ornaments lacquer finish. It will also re-liquefy areas and allow the mylar metal flake to move around creating highs and lows in sheen. With more pressure you can even remove the paint finish completely. I used that technique in combination with masking areas using electrical tape. The look it created is much like the old "shiny and brite" ornaments. Think of the hazards involved in this technique, consider it the same as using wet fingernail polish. If you get this on fabric, carpet or precious surfaces it may not come off. Use caution.
Fingernail polish remover used in conjunction with electrical tape and paste wax creates a great "shiny and brite" look ornament.
Fingernail polish remover is flammable and contains petroleum distillates. Keep away from children, flame and heat sources until cured and always wear protective gloves and provide for fresh air ventilation. It may also dissolve and soften some plastics. Please test an inconspicuous area first if you are experimenting.
Using a combination of the steps above, I distressed a bunch of ornaments in a variety of sizes. Most of them I bought from the Dollar Store, Target, Michaels and Wallyworld aka Walmart. Keep an eye out for heavy discounting as the season moves on and start working on next years big wreath or faux vintage assemblage. Using the ornaments from this post, here's what I created. Share with me your newly vintage ornaments over on Facebook or Instagram or drop a comment or questions below. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from me to you!
Other than the occasional seam, it's really hard to tell the difference between these ornaments and ones from days gone by.
Vintage look wreath created using altered inexpensive plastic ornaments.
Antiqued Dollar Store tinsel tree adorned with altered "vintage" plastic Christmas ornaments.
Distress and age cheap plastic ornaments to look like vintage collectibles.
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Halloween is probably my favorite holiday when it comes to decor. As an experienced prop maker, I want to give kudos to some outstanding haunters of Halloween. You can see these top 5 and all of my frightening picks in my Pinterest board "Embellished Halloween"
#1 Make up tutorials by madeyewlook
Seriously talented make-up FX artist Lex Fleming stuns with her library of tutorials.
#2 Deliciously deadly poison apples
Over on Wannabite Nate takes you through the steps to create these near black beauties.
#3 ghosts by christopher mckenney
Photographer turned Halloween illusionist Christopher McKenney captures the creepy. Learn more about McKenney here or visit his Flickr to dig (get it) deeper.
One of Martha Stewarts creative monsters offers up a DIY about casting hands. Having created cast props, I do warn you it's messy but worth it's weight in ghouls.
#5 creep the lights on for us
While the first photo is what captivated me, I couldn't find the source...broken link pinners, bad form! But, I did find a similar look DIY from House of Dewberry, I guess Dewberry do good.
For more haunted hits check out my Pinterest Board, it's to die for (get it)?
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Please visit my Spoonflower shop and explore the latest fabric designs I've added. The latest are yardage that coordinates with my superhero line of wall art. The fabrics are perfect for bedding, upholstery and crafts. You can also buy finished good from Spoonflowers' sister site Roostery. There you will find sheet goods, pillows, accessories and home decor all available in the fabrics I've designed.
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Faced with an awkward second story rooftop patio that had no practical purpose, my client hit me up with an idea. "Can you build a fairy garden for my daughter?" He asked. The cement siding, synthetic decking clad barren box screamed for help.
An outdoor space devoid of purpose.
The patio oddly linked an upstairs bedroom to a stairwell over the garage. While it overlooked the backyard, the 3.5 ft tall barrier half wall obscured the best view. It was a tough space to find a purpose for. Luckily for me, the stairwell it fed to was adjacent to the home school classroom I created for the client. That gave us an opportunity. Why not offer the space as a retreat for the kids during their school day and an opportunity to explore science lessons about flora and fauna.
It was a winning idea once it merged with their young daughters wish for a fairy garden and a new dog house for her puppy.
With this being a roof top garden of only 9' by 11', it needed to be petite yet mighty with content. I turned to my themed prop illusions of faux rock and wood. With some exaggeration in shape, color and texture, they will look like their straight out of a magical story book. They became facades for the pressure treated raised planters.
Initial concepts reflect the "hobbit hole" doghouse, mushroom furniture and an arbor of faux branches.
Rather than try to deal with real branches, faux cement theme park style ones offer limitless possibilities in shape for the arbor that will be home to trailing vines and magical lights.
The rooftop garden ready for dancing fairies and gardening gnomes.
First and foremost, I covered the siding with a paper faced exterior plywood, so I could incorporate mural work to help with the illusion of a lush garden while we await the plants maturing. Studio created pressure treated raised planter beds were clad with faux rocks and logs. Their daughters request for a dog house provided the opportunity to create a hobbit type home with a planted roof of irish moss, sedums and ornamental clover. Flanking the four corners and meeting overhead was the ambitious idea of a faux cement branch arbor with a small Lexan roof to shield some of the NW rain from the mushroom table below. The arbor will eventually become home to vines like standard and evergreen Clematis, Jasmine and Algerian Ivy. In the meanwhile, wrapping it with grapevines and twinkle lights offer up some magic.
Living roof fairygarden Hobbit Hole Doghouse by Embellishments Studio featuring faux rocks and logs.
Being a bit of a plant geek, I had fun incorporating some of my favorites and offering lots of texture and color play. For my fellow geeks you'll spot Aspidistra, Clerodendron, Echium, Persicaria Red Dragon, gigantic Ornamental Rhubarb and some annual Musque De Provence pumpkin. Most of the plantings are perennial and winter hardy, although I did mix in some annuals for instant color gratification.
While a picture is worth a thousand words, I imagine there are questions to be asked. Here's what my friends have been asking.
1) Will birds use the birdhouse? No, it's not properly designed to house babies, so the opening is just painted on. Nested bird houses require annual cleaning and specific dimensions for the fledglings safety and survival.
2) How is the garden being watered? A drip system is installed throughout the garden and spans the space hidden inside the cement arbor.
3) It looks crowded with plants, won't it become overgrown? Yes, it is...(smile). Given its somewhat harsh environment of reflected light, weather shielding overhangs and their life in a raised bed I'm planning on some fight or flight with even the most of reliable plants. My idea is to let the garden evolve with some plants thriving as others may fail. I'll revisit it next spring to see what there is to learn from the unique environment.
1) Will birds use the birdhouse? No, it's not properly designed to house babies, so the opening is just painted on. Nested bird houses require annual cleaning and specific dimensions for the fledglings safety and survival.
2) How is the garden being watered? A drip system is installed throughout the garden and spans the space hidden inside the cement arbor.
3) It looks crowded with plants, won't it become overgrown? Yes, it is...(smile). Given its somewhat harsh environment of reflected light, weather shielding overhangs and their life in a raised bed I'm planning on some fight or flight with even the most of reliable plants. My idea is to let the garden evolve with some plants thriving as others may fail. I'll revisit it next spring to see what there is to learn from the unique environment.
Note on the reflected light- While the space is north facing, I personally learned how harsh the bounced light can be. This Danish pale freckled skin of mine quickly showed signs of my being roasted like a rotisserie chicken.
4) Where did you get the little mushrooms? We of course made them in the studio along with all the faux rock, logs and the cement mushroom furniture. The little ones are made from a sculpted urethane foam, hard coated with UV resistant epoxy and painted with exterior grade paints. The furniture set has a core of welded rebar wrapped in expanded galvanized cloth. They were sculpt coated in cement and painted with an exterior grade cement friendly paint. I used the same technique on some other furniture for use as store fixturing.
The life size fairy garden is ready for a magical party.
Made of cement, these fairy garden mushroom stools and table are perfect for impish parties.
There's room for a puppy or two in this living roof, hobbit hole dog house.
Adding to the garden's illusion is some artificial turf under foot. No lawn mower required to be carried up to the second story. It will be easy to keep up with the occasional sweeping.
I have yet to enjoy the space at night when I can see the full effect of the twinkle lights and the LED fireflies I hid. I'll be curious to see if I can capture the garden by camera at night. If I can, I'll post those pics too.
So, who's ready for a fairy, imp, gnome party? Non-Twitter trolls are welcome too...ha!
I have yet to enjoy the space at night when I can see the full effect of the twinkle lights and the LED fireflies I hid. I'll be curious to see if I can capture the garden by camera at night. If I can, I'll post those pics too.
So, who's ready for a fairy, imp, gnome party? Non-Twitter trolls are welcome too...ha!
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People love to bring the outdoors in and I am asked to play Brutha Nature and create trees all the time. Big ones, little ones, realistic and modern. So here I am poised once again to create a one of a kind piece for a client, I had to go idea browsing. We settled on the idea of a tree shaped bookshelf. One that was modern and architecturally interesting. So I gathered together a Pinterest board with a variety of tree ideas.
There are lots of ways to create a tree bookshelf system. I found some that are modern, some folky, some rustic and some really to my liking by being unique. The trick with most of the trees is considering the fact that they must hold the weight of books and of course the weight of an adventurous child deciding to climb them. If I were to offer a hint to any DIY'er out there, be sure to add branches or branch tips that point in a downward direction to act like a bracket. These will bear the weight.
You can see in the tree that I built, there are angles and pieces that point downward. These provide vertical strength, so the shelf can't be pulled down or tip down off the wall.
My client is a pediatric dental office. The bookshelf is going to be used dozens of times a day so I made it very robust, the scale and size more suited for a service industry environment. As you can see it's a series of branches attached to a trunk. The trickiest part is cutting the angles to match branch and support.
I'm a bit obsessive with building things straight and true. So this tree stands perfectly upright, the backing is all on the same plane. Great you think...but no, I mean NO! The wall I was to mount it to had been where a doorway was covered up, so it was really out of whack. I had to loosen my branches to tip them back a bit. This left gaps in my seams... oh hell no! So I went through painstakingly and finessed bondo into every little gap, sanded it and primed it. The final finish was to coordinate with a maple counter across the room so I faux painted the piece using a series of color washes and treatment with faux finishers graining tool. A topcoat of shellac gave it that amber wood tone I needed as well as protect the piece as a non-toxic clear coat. Shellac is safe for little nibblers that put their teeth and mouths on everything. Remember this is a pediatric dental office. I'm sure there's some little munchin munchkins giving it the beaver treatment as we speak....gnaw, gnaw, and gnaw.
Jump over to my Pinterest for these and other photographs of inspirational trees. I've included the following tree bookcases we've made here in the studio.
Other tree shelving ideas by Embellishments studio
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This week I'm celebrating the launch of my new collection of kids wall art entitled Cosmos. The series is about space, robots and loving someone to the moon and back. Well, on that trip of love from here to the rock in the sky, you best take some provisions. Forget the dried astronaut food, I'm talking cookies! What if they were meteor cookies...ooooohhhh?
Here's a simple way to turn any cookie recipe into ones that look like meteors. Think about it, a meteor shower of cookies, you can't get any more deliciously spaced out than that!
Here's a simple way to turn any cookie recipe into ones that look like meteors. Think about it, a meteor shower of cookies, you can't get any more deliciously spaced out than that!
What you'll need:
Black Food Coloring
Chocolate Rocks
Confectioners Sugar
Your preferred cookie recipe and ingredients.
Black Food Coloring
Chocolate Rocks
Confectioners Sugar
Your preferred cookie recipe and ingredients.
The secret is to incorporate chocolate rocks. But, unlike chocolate chips, if you mix them in only a part of them will show and the effect won't be as obvious.
You could alter any cookie recipe for this. Keep in mind that the chocolate rocks are similar to M&M's so you'll want to expect that crunch. For this post I am making the classic Tollhouse cookie recipe and have simply left out the chips. I'd suggest choosing a cookie that's dark in color so you only have to use a minimal amount of food coloring.
First step is to make the cookie batter according to your recipe. Once it's mixed, add in black food coloring to override the cookies color. Fold it in thoroughly. The second step is to load your cookie sheet with dollops of dough. I separated the chocolate rocks into colors.
Now that your dollops are placed you'll need to pile on the chocolate rocks. They will settle and spread out as the dough cooks. Be sure to place some around the edge of the dough. Then bake the cookies according to your recipe.
Now that your dollops are placed you'll need to pile on the chocolate rocks. They will settle and spread out as the dough cooks. Be sure to place some around the edge of the dough. Then bake the cookies according to your recipe.
Allow the cookies to cool. In a bowl add hot water into the a cup of confectioners sugar. Mix until it becomes smooth and free of sugar clumps. You'll want to add enough water to make the mixture thin enough to enable brushing it on. Holding the brush at a steep angle and simply dry brush across the surface in a couple directions to hit and highlight the texture and rocks. Let the sugar mixture dry.
My favorite color ended up being the turquoise blue. They gave the cookies that gem stone look.
The chocolate rocks look like well,.... like rocks. I imagine you could try this technique matching the rock colors to colored cookie dough. Yellow on yellow, red on red would be very space like. If you try a variation let me know how it goes and send over a photo I'll add it to the post. -Enjoy!
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I'm happy to reveal my latest collection entitled "Cosmos". It's available now in my shop.
By popular request, this collection is the first in a series of works designed for littler guys. They're perfect for the nursery or that little rocket ship of a room your astronaut pilots.
I've also taken the opportunity to offer some new products for testing.
I've also taken the opportunity to offer some new products for testing.
- Wall banners with vintage porcelain knobs.
- Peel and Stick wall decals
- Growth Chart
- Framed Prints
- Pillow Cases
- Fabric
Available in both a canvas banner and a peel and stick wall decal - I love you to the moon and back.
Over the next week I'm going to announce some more news and surprises. For now, know that I'm offering 20% off of the new collection. Visit my shop today! Below you'll find some mood board I've designed to showcase some room decor design ideas and maybe inspire. I hope you enjoy them and I would love to hear your comments, leave them below!
And I'm super excited to announce I have a Spoonflower shop. Many of you have requested soft goods that coordinate with my wall art. I'm introducing some, like my Always Bring Your Own Sunshine canvas pillow and more are to come. In the meanwhile, use your crafty skills to create decor and bedding using my fabrics. Spoonflower has a great selection of fabric types. My favorite are the soft ones like their velveteen and their minky.
Are you hosting a birthday party, decorating your astronauts room or looking for some fun space themed activities? Be sure to follow me and visit my Space Themed Pinterest Board.
