Roberta... Say What??

I LOVE blue and white!! I just can't get enough of it lately.

I am going with blue and white decor in my front living/dining room and I have been dreaming of painting the walls back to white. I know. GASP!!! We're gonna keep this little dream of mine between us, because if I even utter the words "re-paint" and "living room" in the same sentence my husband will surely flee!

I was extremely excited and surprised to find inspiration for my dining/living room in the July issue of Lucky Magazine. I spied a little napkin by Roberta Freymann of Roberta Roller Rabbit under the little section titled "party tools". I have to say the crazy name caught my attention and I couldn't get online fast enough to see more!

Here is what I found at www.robertarollerabbit.com







Placemat for table. Check.





Mismatched napkins. Check.







Coordinating quilts and baby blankets too!! Oh my!

I know it's not blue and white but I couldn't resist the colors in this one!



Beach bags and vanity pouches!







I'm not gonna lie kids. I love me a pareo!!



There is just so much to love on her site!

...I don't know about you, but I wanted to know more about where the name Roberta Roller Rabbit came from. Here's the scoop:

The Legend of Roberta Roller Rabbit and the discarded fabric (the discarded fabric is below)

Roberta Roller Rabbit was named for a fable Roberta found on discarded fabric in a basement in India telling the tale of Roberta Rabbit. Fun and whimsical Roberta put two and two together!

Here's the story! It is PURE GENIUS I tell ya!!

Roberta Rabbit clicked on her wheel three times and glitter shot out from behind her. Woosh! The moment her right rollerboot felt her weight it took off. ‘Stop!’ Roberta shouted, ‘I still have the other boot to put on. But where did it go?’ Up in the tree tops a clunk clunk sound was heard. ‘Magnus Monkey is that you? Did you take my other rollerboot? Here, have these banana slippers instead! But Magnus Monkey had no intention of giving back the new toy! Then Uppity Unicorn said ‘Would you like my prettiest tunic?’ Magnus Monkey delighted with the new outfit, gave Roberta Rabbit back her rollerboot! ‘Now you will be Queen of the Night, Roberta Roller Rabbit,’ Uppity predicted. And that evening at the Rollerdisco, Roberta Roller Rabbit took off with grace.
And so began the legend…



There is ALWAYS a reason that we see and hear certain things. Sometimes we see something we like and the image just gets filed away in our brain somewhere. Other times we see something and it sticks with us. It makes an impact and it inspires us to do something great.

I hope you stumble across something fun and whimsical today!

Kelle
xx

I heart This Girl!

Every Saturday morning the family and I try to get down to the Kenosha Harbor Market to see what is happening. Last weekend I met the artist behind this gorgeous deer print:






and this fun bird on a map print.



I also heart these:









The artist, Aisha McDonough, is not only adorable and sweet, but extremely creative and chalk full of talent. She paints, she makes these beautiful prints on different mediums, she screen prints t-shirts, and can help you out with your graphic design needs. Since most of you are not from the Kenosha area you can find more of her stuff here: www.northtrain.etsy.com

and here: http://www.northtrain.blogspot.com/

I fell in love with the deer print and took it home with me.
My daughter even named him.
His name is Blue.
Mainly because her favorite word is blue, and she likes to yell it.

If you ask her how many cheerios she has, she will say "BLUE!" and then I laugh :)

Please take a break and go check out Aisha's work.

Just in case you want to see my silly kid in action:



Her other favorite word is "JEEP!"

Wishing you all a happy Thursday!

Kelle
xx

Who Knew?

{Please don't look at the paint line...there is a plate rail going up that covers it soon:)}

This is NOT a picture of something cute that I did with my drapes. This is a picture of my drapes in boot camp. Did you know that if you want consistent folds every time you pull your drapes back that you have to TRAIN them??? I sure didn't. My mom knows this little trick and she DIDN'T TELL ME! I found it in one of her sewing books and immediately yelled out "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT I HAVE TO TRAIN MY DRAPES??!!"

That is the equivalent of letting me walk around like this:





THANKS A LOT MOM! :)



I did not go to school for Interior Design. My education is in the Fine Arts and they didn't discuss training your drapes in drawing class. I am sure that had I gone to design school I would have had this tip in my pocket a long time ago. This tip may not suit your project time line for some clients because it can take up to 3-4 days for heavier weight fabrics. If your projects are anything like mine I am towing the line to get those drapes up and complete the room without three to four days to spare :) But, now that I know, I can get the drapes up and trained before I am finished.

Here is what you do :

Open the drapes and crease each pleat. Be sure the creases are even and straight. Once you are satisfied, loosely tie a length of fabric around each side of the drapes to hold them in place for at least 72 hours. I took my steamer and held it up to the pleats for just a few seconds to help the creases hold. After 72 hours, remove the fabric and open the completed drapes.

...Now my mom tells me it usually takes two people to do this. One person to make the creases and one person to hold them in place before they are tied up...Once again she tells me important information AFTER I did this by MYSELF!!

You can read more here: http://www.doityourself.com

Hope this was helpful to some of you :)

Kelle
xx

Etsy Shop Grand Opening!!!

I am so EXCITED to tell you that my Etsy Shoppe is up and running!! Woo Hoo!!

My friend Jess and I worked very hard this weekend to get the shoppe ready and get some pillows posted. I am very happy with how the banner turned out. Jessica is so talented and she knows how to keep things simple and elegant! I LOVE her!! In case you didn't already get that :)

Here is the link: www.etsy.com/shop/kelledame

I am featuring pillows that are meant to display brooches that are either included with the pillow purchase (only certain ones) or they can display the brooches you already have that are just collecting dust in your closet. I say why put them away!? Take them out and enjoy them everyday! You can switch em up too when you are looking for a change.






I am also doing some pillows that will hold a bling ring in the center of a large flower. You can leave the ring on for some added bling to your room or pop it on your finger when you're ready to go have some cocktails! The rings are just tied onto the pillow with a coordinating ribbon. Here is my favorite one:




The pillows will mostly be neutral colors in order to look great with any decor, but there are pillows in the making with lots of color!! Deep pinks, light pinks, charcoal gray, turquoise, I am loaded up with all kinds of fabric!!

This shoppe is the prelude to being an SBO (Small Business Owner) in the near future. My friend Jess and I will own a shoppe with home decor items, furniture, antiques, art, and just about everything fabulous. I will specialize in home decor services and she will specialize in free lance graphic design services. We even found a house this weekend that is in the perfect location for our shoppe and it is FOR SALE!!! It is way too bad that we are not financially prepared yet to open our shoppe or else we would have snatched it up! But everything always works out the way it should...I know this... and I know that God always has a plan...but Jess and I are both so pumped about being future Brick and Mortar owners that we wanted to BRICK AND MORTAR this woman who seemed interested in OUR property. LOL!

We are completely CRAZY!!! But we know what we want....so WATCH OUT!! You can see more about our crazy weekend here: http://jessicaraebailey.blogspot.com


Here it is!



Can you see the possibilities???? Can you see a bright red door or a deep blue door?



This is practically the same exact house as seen in House Beautiful Magazine (Feb 2010)

Please do not stalk the realtor unless you want this house. I promise I won't punch you :) AND If you happen to want to donate $300,000 to our Brick and Mortar fund I will not argue with that either! HA!

Two girls can dream!

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! I know I did!

Love,
Kelle
xx

P.S. If you like a pillow that you see but you want it in a custom color just let me know. I would love to do a custom one just for you!!

Remember, if you don't A-S-K, you won't G-E-T :)

HMMMM...INTERESTING...

I have been tossing around ideas on what to do with this:



My fabulous ten dollar find from Goodwill.

I wish this was a post about how thrilled I am to be finished with the chair...but it's not.

The other day I started tearing it apart.

I'm not really sure why, because the last time I had a discussion with myself about this chair I had convinced my "make everything really complicated" side to just slipcover the chair and call it a day. I guess my curiosity about what was underneath the fabric got the best of me.

This is what I found:



I am intrigued. It reminded me of this photo that I fell in love with from the May issue of House Beautiful:





I love this image because those chairs just pull you in. They make you stop and look and study them. They make you think. They make you appreciate how a chair is put together. They are kinda sexy too...in a French Moulan Rouge/exposed garter belt kind of way. The juxtaposition between the glorious white fabric and the burlap and strings just makes my heart skip a beat!

This dining room was designed by Dan Marty. A GENIUS in my book. He is not afraid to take a risk. When asked by interviewer, Barbara King, if people think he is crazy for leaving those backs exposed, his reply was:

"Yep! But where they see ratty or unfinished, I see beauty, I see texture. I love looking at the burlap and horsehair and nails. When I see something like this in a store my heart just starts pounding. It's like falling in love."

My sentiments exactly!

I am dreaming of leaving the back open now. I love the texture of the bands and the blue stitching. I can just see the chair all done up with pure white linen and the beautiful back exposed to a floor length mirror leaned against the wall behind it.


Something crazy that I realized the other day is that my ten dollar find looks nearly exact in shape as this painting that I did back in 2003. This chair was just meant to be mine!



I guess if you paint it, it will come, one way or another.

Hope you are all having a great week!

Kelle
xx

PS I posted my find over at http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com to join in on the linky party.

Update: Turquoise Chest to be

Remember this:



I got a smashing deal on a slightly damaged chest at Pier 1. My hubby was able to fix it up for me and now it's brand new again!

Remember how I wanted it to look like this:



The color I chose was Majestic Blue by Benjamin Moore. It's the one on the top row second from the right.



The hardware that it came with just wasn't fabulous enough for this beautiful color. After searching the internet and digging around for some new hardware I decided it was best to try to recycle and reuse some of the hardware from our old kitchen.

Here is the hardware in it's previous life:



Hideous!!! I know! It's a good thing that the picture is blurry because otherwise it would hurt your eyes! It looks much better spray painted and slightly distressed.

Here they are in all their glory:



It also felt good to just reuse something that I already had. Money saved and less ugly stuff from the 70's in the dump!

And now....TA DA!!









I love it! Isn't it just dreamy?! It has great storage and doesn't take up my whole bedroom! Not bad for about $72!!



I am tempted to paint the orchid pot a bright purple or magenta. We'll see what happens.

Even though I nearly spray painted my entire left hand and was looking like this guy...



....expression and all...it was well worth it!


Hope you all love it as much as I do!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Kelle
xx

Another Etsy Sneak Peak

My love of peonies has inspired me to do a series of little pillows for my soon-to-be Etsy Shoppe!

The pillows are made of 100% linen. I think linen is my favorite fabric to work with. I love how you can just rip it and it will always rip straight. That little trick makes my life so much easier! I especially love it cut on the bias and then gathered to form elegant and soft ripples.

My favorite part of these little gems is that you can pin one of your favorite brooches to the center of the flower and add a little touch of glam. I chose to pin the brooch from my wedding dress to the pillow. I mean what good was it doing in my closet? It's way too pretty to be in the dark and dusty purgatory that is my closet.



I don't believe in putting our fancy things away for special occasions. Everyday is special! Plus, while designing our room I unconsciously chose elements that are reminiscent of our wedding day, so why not throw in my brooch too :)

I promise to do a post on our room once it is finished....in about three months!!

It is coming along slowly, but so far, it is as Miss Chi Chi Rodriguez would say: "It's so ROMANTICAL!"




I thought your day could use a little Chi Chi Fabulousness :)
Kelle
xx

PS Sorry for the image quality! I have had such poor lighting for two days and couldn't wait any longer for better lighting :)