Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July to our American friends.
This is my Stars and Stripes Mirror. I made it a couple of years ago. 'Assembled in Canada' - a good thing.
Nothing more to say:)

IKEA:)

Thank you Ikea for making your Ritva curtains extra long.

Floral Love

Via desiretoinspire.net, photography: Joanna Henderson 

A Tea Towel in The Living Room?

That's right my new tea towel is in the living room.
Last Fall The Hudson's Bay Company commissioned 3 Canadian designers - Virginia Johnson, Bev Hisey and Alanna Cavanagh to create a limited edition tea towel series* for this Spring.
Spring is here and the tea towels are now available online at The Bay.
On Monday I ordered Alanna Cavanagh's lovely tea towel. It arrived yesterday (Canada Post at it's best!?!) .
It adds a nicely needed spring/fresh touch to our living room.
 *Limited Edition of 1,000 per design - Exclusive to the Bay

The Stars and Stripes Pencil Mirror

If I had more patience I'd have waited for the 4th of July to share this new mirror. One would think with all the mosaicing going on that I would (have lots of patience), I don't.
The Stars and Stripes Pencil Mirror is 40.25" in diameter and weighs 30lbs. It's made with hand cut red and blue vitreous glass tiles, red and blue glass seed beads, chain rhinestone and 231 stars and stripes pencils that read ASSEMBLED IN CANADA. It's my ode to our neighbours to the South and our global economy.
American flag pillows - ebay

House Proud

I've been feeling kinda house proud lately.
I like this collective of photos. There's no laundry piled up on the couch, no dirty pots on the stove, no knapsacks on the kitchen island and the beds are all made - just another regular day at our house;)
Since we moved in, August of 2006, making things our own has been a slow process - working one room at a time. There are only a couple of rooms that I'd consider done. There are still carpets we'd like to take up, hardwood we'd like to put down, lighting replaced, molding added...the process continues...but, so far so good:)

The Silver Pencil Mirror

Last June I posted about gathering supplies for a new version of my Pencil Mirror. Seven months later...it's finished (been busy:). The timing was right as I was ready for our living room to have a new look.
The Silver Pencil Mirror is 40.25" in diameter and made with hand cut grey vitreous glass tiles, clear glass seed beads, chain rhinestone and 228 silver personalized pencils that read ARS GRATIA ARTIS, latin for 'art for the sake of art'. It's lovely and fits in nicely with our newly renovated kitchen. I'm pleased.
William appears to be indifferent to all the excitement. I think he fancies himself a cat?

I'm in the process of gathering supplies for another pencil mirror. It'll be my ode to The USA and our global economy:). The personalized coloured pencils are in the mail. Stay tuned...

Our 'new' old Coffee Table

Finding a coffee table for our living room has been on my 'to do list' for a while. I found this gem at Value Village a couple of weeks ago for only $24! The thrill of the find - I love how it happens when you least expect it. 

I primed once, painted twice (leftover Benjamin Moore's Dune white), added a piece of clear glass ($54) and it was ready for it's close up. 

So Pretty in Pink!

I thought I'd try making my Pencil Mirror in a different colour...

I found these stunning pink pencils online and had them 'personalized'. A great colour and a great message (ARS GRATIA ARTIS, latin for 'art for the sake of art') made for a fabulous new mirror. Which in turn gave our living room a fabulous new look.

The Pink Pencil Mirror is 40.25" in diameter and made with hand cut pink vitreous glass tiles, pink glass seed beads, chain rhinestone and 226 very pink pencils!

What to do with 78 rulers?

Just finished a new mirror and am happy with the results. The Steel Ruler Mirror along with The Pencil Mirror will now be part of  'The School House Series'? not 100% sure about that name so if you can think of a better one I'm always open to suggestions:)
The Ruler Mirror is 40" in diameter, weighs 30lbs and is made with 78 stainless steel rulers, 78 nuts and 78 screws. As with ever new mirror it has given our living room a whole new look.

A(nother) new look for our living room

I just finished a bunch of new mirrors. One of them, The Pencil Mirror, has given our living room a fresh new look. I'm loving the big punch of orange (very seasonal).
As you can see in the last photos there have been many 'new' mirrors that have given our living room 'a fresh new' look. This one might just be my favourite.
Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend!

My Living Room, yesterday and today

Yesterday I shipped my Yellow Mirror (or Hannah's Mirror as it's called) to a customer in Nova Scotia. Today I put up one of my newest designs. It's 42" in diameter and made with hardwood screwhole buttons (who knew?), wood beads embedded with crystal rhinestones, chained crystal rhinestone and hand cut glass tiles. The photo above is a close up of the frame.
This mirror gives the living room a rustic/modern/Out of Africa look. I'm enjoying it for now. We'll see how I feel about it tomorrow?

The Life of my Living Room

This August marks the third anniversary living at our present address. Three years doesn't seem like that long but I've already painted the main floor twice. Our living room has seen the most changes. It really has had a life of it's own. It's gone from Contractors Beige to Benjamin Moore's Sundried Tomato to Benjamin Moore's Dune White. With each redesign I find myself wondering what was I thinking with the previous one? The present 'look' with it's punchy hits of lemon yellow is clean and simple - I just love it. This one might be around for a bit...or until the urge to change things up hits me again.