Mad Skillz

I learned something new to call myself today:

A Sewist.

Like an artist, but instead of making art I sew two pieces of fabric together... to make art.

I wouldn't go THAT far, today I learned how to make a pincushion in my first "The Art of Sewing" class at Richmond Visual Art Center.

Hey, even Picasso had to start somewhere.

mmm whipped cream

I woke up Sunday morning after a BBQ on Saturday night thinking about all of the awesome Richmonders.. (is it Richmondites? I'm going to have to Google this) that I had met and with a plethora of chocolate cupcakes on the verge of staleness. Apparently no matter what you call them, they don't like my baking. Bostonians ate them with gusto.

So I wondered to myself how I was going to tempt my roommates into eating another vegan chocolate stout cupcake.

I sat on the couch dreading having to toss them in the garbage with all of the beer-soaked non-recyclable keg cups when I remembered a conversation from the night before about making whipped cream/leftover cake/ fresh fruit layer dessert and knew that I had my solution.

So I made a run to the market, picked up some heavy cream, and pulled out my mixer.. Ten minutes later and this delicious creation was being devoured by 3 of my 4 roommates.. Success! AND it was my first time making whipped cream, my world will never be the same. There is nothing that cannot be topped with whipped cream, nothing.

3 Gun Vase

I found the most awesome vase at Sprout Home in Brooklyn. It's on my list of things to buy if I can find the perfect spot on a side/end table at the house in Richmond. Let the interior designing begin!

http://sprouthome.stores.yahoo.net/organiccoop.html

Novelty Christmas Scene

I have a fever.. and the cure? More Christmas!!

I had a blast making this "arrangement". You can't really call it a floral design so I call it my styrofoam village. Well, you can't really call it a village either, it's more like a styrofoam house set in a wintry scene. But, then again, the house isn't really made out of styrofoam, it's make out of floral foam..









































It was fun, don't judge!

Check out the example...

Boxwood Christmas tree

I was talking to someone about buying one of the pink tinsel miniature Christmas trees from Borders Books yesterday. They're small, pink, covered in glittery tinsel.. they're exactly what my room needs to feel festive. So when I saw that we were making a legit Christmas tree, I started to envision the possibilities and make a list of needed materials:
- multicolored tinsel
- glass balls of various sizes and colors
- mini picture frames
- bows, bows, and more bows
- did I say tinsel? well, I will need more

The examples where beautiful and looked effortless

If only they had more tinsel!

Too bad mine didn't live up to expectations.. It doesn't help that it fell face first onto the floor of the #1 bus on the way home. If I can't salvage this tree when I get back from NY then Borders here I come.

Christmas centerpice

I am terribly behind and I was determined to not blog out of order, but it's December and I'm so full of Christmas spirit I just cannot wait another second to post pictures of my Santa-filled centerpiece.
















Here is the other side... see the Santas peeking out? I have a theory that they're spies making naughty and nice lists. It might sound crazy, but I'm not taking any chances.
















For my flurry of catch-up, you can look forward to:
- A sympathy arrangement (a mom-covered cross that was hanging on the wall in our kitchen for about a week.. we're very pious in our house).
- A traditional cornucopia for Thanksgiving.
- The flowers for Andrea's awesome Thanksgiving dinner party... my first party!
- Various arrangements from my 'leftovers' and a topiary of Asiatic lilies that I love.

I'll leave you with a Ho Ho.. Ho
... I love Christmas.

Vase arrangement in H2O

I've been waiting forever to put away the floral foam and work with water arrangements. I love the natural, classic look of vase arrangements in water. Plus, as Dr. Steve pointed out, there is so much action going on underneath the water to see! I love the look of the crossed stems supporting each other, that is until the third day when it looks more like a swamp than a floral arrangment.




















There are a couple of things that I noticed when putting this arrangement together:
- I've lost a lot of control going from foam to water. I had to make a "nest" of greens to support the flowers... and that didn't even really work.
- I need to work on making an arrangment that can be viewed from all angles.
- The flowers don't travel well, I had a completely different arrangement when I got home than when I left class!

So I redid them. I made the arrangement more vertical this time, and I focused more on making it 360 degree friendly. I still like the original one best.