Sherwin-Williams Colormix - 2013 Color Trends

You saw it here first!

NEW** Opposites attract like never before, exerting a magnetic pull on the color spectrum. Sherwin-Williams Colormix™ 2013 debuted today.  To see the latest colors check out

www.sherwin-williams.com/.../mdey/~edisp/sw-pdf-colormix.pdf

Are you ready to explore Sherwin-Williams new trends in paint color for 2013? This year we have color palettes that exemplify simple versus complex, mystery versus certainty, light versus dark, synthetic versus natural and vintage versus futuristic. Although drawn to our preferences, we can’t help being influenced by all of the energy of color around us. It’s no longer a process of elimination but one of combination

Today I attended the IDAL Convention where I saw the world premiere of Colormix2013, presented by Jackie Jordan, Director of Color Marketing for The Sherwin-Williams Company and creative director of STIR magazine. Jackie is very “”down to earth” and despite the fact that she travels the world attending trade shows, art exhibits, fashion and fabric expos she still found time to chat about the latest color trends. Each year, beginning in September Jackie and her team presented Colormix to decorative artisans, painters, interior designers and architects, nationwide.

Jackie presented 1 hour of color inspiration to IDAL members and regional interior designers and architects at the Convention.  And we were all given new fans decks, color cards of the collections and a complete forecast folder with color tips.

The International Decorative Artisans League’s 27th Annual Convention and Exposition in Reno Nevada had many other exciting speakers and exhibits.  A list of a few I enjoyed: 

Classic Italian Trompe L'oeil

All That Glitters: Basic Gilding

Cabinetry & Furniture Finishes

Glitz & Glamour – Finishes

Hands-on painting– realistic clouds

Hand Painting on Furniture

Color Theory

Chalk Paints for Furniture

I toured the exhibit hall and picked up some samples of Annie Sloan paints (Love their new colors) www.anniesloanunfolded.com some #M tape for a project I’m working on this weekend www.3m.com, some designer stencils for a wood table I want to stencil and some curtains, some metallic silver setcoat from Faux effects (and dragon Fly stencil).  If you are looking for special painting techniques you’ll love the Artisphere Online Magazine. http://decorativeartisans.site-ym.com/?page=ArtisphereOnline

I had a wonderful day and enjoyed all the lectures and learning more about paint and creative applications.  I can’t wait to share with my clients with leading color trends and design combining knowledge. So go on, click the link and take a look at the new colors and combinations.  Then you can tell me which of the four color pallets your favorite?

Orchids at Home

Orchids bring Life

I like the way a beautiful blooming flowers brings so much life and energy to a room design.  The phalaenopsis or common name orchid is a favorite.  They are lovely and long-lasting as they bloom for 3 months and need only weekly watering. If they are exposed to indirect sunlight and continue to be watered after the last flower is gone, they will also bloom again after several months. I have a couple of phalaenopsis orchids in my home. 

I read a money saving tip from Laurie Wards book Trade Secrets from Use What y\You Have Decorating.

 http://www.amazon.com/Trade-Secrets-From-What-Decorating/dp/039952861X

So I added some silk "fake" flowers

It’s called Orchid Afterlife. When the orchid plants finish flowering, you can extend their bloom creatively by cutting the stem back a bit and adding silk flowers in place. You can get these stems of flowers at Michael’s hobby store, Hobby Lobby, Joanne’s craft store or a specialty silk floral store. You will want to use a high quality, life like, silk flowering stem that will blend in well with the live orchid plant foliage. Put the new silk flower stem with the natural orchid stem add some green moss and raffia around the connection and tie. It’s that simple yet will provide months of beauty, until your plant shows off more natural flowers.

I used peat moss and raffia to hide the connection



Here is my live Orchid, no more flowers...

The final project, flowers added

This is were this orchid lives...

Orchid Inspiration from Pintrest 

You can change the silk orchid plant flowers to reflect the seasons. I think white looks the most natural. A dark red bloom will match the colors of fall and winter while pastel pinks and purples will be a good match for the colors of spring and summer.

Moo for Business Cards

Moo for Business Cards

Sample business cards from MOO

I just bought my first set of personalized business cards for my new business.  And I’m thrilled with the results.  I was looking for beautiful quality cards that I could put a photo of a "redesign" project on one side and my information on the other side. (My friends even talked me into adding a photo since I am new in the business and people might then remember me.) Having a photo on one side allowed me to create some very unique cards, themed depending on the assignment, part interior redesign and part travel and tourism.  This saves time and money.

What makes MOO unique, is the ability to print a different image on every card in a pack.  They offer standard business cards, mini cards, postcards, sticker books and greeting cards all while showing off a different photograph on each card.  This is a great option if you are in a creative field.  I bet photographers, artists, and designers would be ecstatic.

No worries if you do not have high quality photo, Moo provides their own set of photos which can be cropped anyway you like to create your project.  As for  bloggers and online business they have cards with a background and a URL in large text on the front, and up to six lines of contact information on the back. Perfect!

Some things I learned while putting my simple project together:

Photo resolution for business cards is 1039 x 697 pixels at 300DPI

They have photo enhancement capabilities for every image

A logo and/or a photo image can also be added to the written side of the card

You can have up to 50 different images per order

They also offer mini-cards, a nice option to stand out from the crowd

They come on expensive feeling premium, nice weight, paper

Products the carry:

Business Cards

MiniCards

Postcards

Stickers

Labels

Greeting Cards

Holiday Cards

Accessories

When someone asks for my card I present them with several choices and right away we are chatting.  This can be a problem of sorts because sometime after handing out my card, people want to keep several as though they were trading cards.  They are priced 100 at $19.99 (USD) plus $5.99 for shipping.  Next I plan to order greeting cards with beautiful photographs.  That’s how wonderful I thought the quality of the cards are.

***NEW ACT FAST!!!  Right now they have a special on Facebook cards.  Design and print customized Facebook Cards online with MOO! ... COST (Excluding Shipping.) 50 cards: $15.00 FREE  For a limited time they are offering these cards free (you just pay shipping.)  http://us.moo.com/products/facebook-cards.html

By the way, when they arrived I felt so special upon opening I saw a nice black “gift box” that contained my beautiful cards.  They are based in England and yet they were very quick to respond and support my order.

For additional information on Moo, or their pricing and printing options, go to Moo.com. They ship all over the world and accept major credit cards.

And they work with you, yes even us novices with their special guarantee: “Should you ever be less than satisfied, contact us and we'll do everything we can to fix it.”

Last thing before you go.  I found this and I think it would make a fun project you can create in minutes for your home office.  It looks like an ipad, but its 20 of the mini cards placed into a frame.  Looks nice, in fact I want one for Christmas.

Enjoy the rest of your week. 

Quick & Easy way to polish your silver tea set

Quick and Easy Silver Polishing

In less than an hour I gathered my tarnished silver pieces, prepared the baking soda and salt hot bath, cleaned all my silver, and put it away.  Then enjoyed a cup of hot tea.


This is the after photo, all shining, clean and ready for a quick polish.


 

This sugar cube server is tarnished & dull.



After the soda & salt water dip it is clean.



As silver oxidizes it becomes tarnished. This layer of oxidation can be removed without polishing and scrubbing by simply dipping your silver in this non-toxic electrochemical dip. Another big advantage to using a dip is that the liquid can reach places a polishing cloth cannot.  I polish with a cloth while watching TV.  But when I have larger jobs, or pieces with loads of tarnish I dip the pieces in this baking soda and salt bath.  It really works. (I first read about cleaning silver this way on MarthaStewart.com in 2008.)http://www.marthastewart.com/273003/diy-silver-polish



I used a soft cloth to dry the silver

Here you see the tea pot is cleaned and the base is not



What You Need

·         Clean your sink and plug drain

·         Boiling hot water

·         1-2 tablespoons Baking soda

·         1-2 tablespoons Salt

·         Aluminum foil

·         Tarnished silver

 How To:

1.      Line the bottom of your sink with a sheet of aluminum foil.

2.      Fill the foil-lined sink with the boiling hot water. Enough to cover pieces.

3.      Add 1-2 tablespoons salt (sodium chloride) and 1-2 tablespoons baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to the water. Some recipes call for 2 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp salt, whereas others call for 2 tablespoons each of baking soda and salt. I stir it around a bit until it dissolves.

4.      Drop the silver items into the container so that they are touching each other and resting on the foil. You will be able to watch the tarnish disappear.  It’s amazing!

5.      I then remove each piece as I see the tarnish is gone.  Leave heavily tarnished items in the solution for as long as 5 minutes. Otherwise, remove the silver when it appears clean.

6.      Rinse the silver with water and gently buff it dry with a soft towel.

7.      Ideally, you should store your silver in a low-humidity environment. I place a piece of chalk in the buffet area to minimize future tarnish.

Tips:

1.      Use care when polishing or dipping silver plated items. I do only 4-5 small pieces at once then dip a few more.

2.      It is easy to wear away the thin layer of silver and cause more harm than good through over cleaning.

3.      Minimize exposing your silver to substances which contain sulfur (e.g., mayonnaise, eggs, mustard, onions, latex, wool) as the sulfur will cause corrosion.

4.      Using your silver flatware/hollowware or wearing silver jewelry helps to keep it free from tarnish.  So get it out ladies and invite someone over for tea.

5.      Use untreated cotton gloves or form-fitting nitrile gloves when handling silver – finger prints contribute to tarnishing

6.      Keep silver out of the dishwasher

7.      Hand wash the pieces with a non-lemon-scented phosphate-free detergent and dry them immediately to avoid spotting.



8.     I still use polishing silver paste or liquid cleaners.   Polishes and cleaners are listed here can be found in your local hardware or department store, or can be bought from distributors

Closeup of my spoons

I store odd silverware in these old bread pans

Resources:



Before it goes into the water



    Blitz Silver Polish
Blitz Manufacturing Company, Inc. / Web site
263 America Place
Jeffersonville, IN 47130
812/284-2548



In the water no more than 5 minutes



Goddard's™ Long Shine Silver Polish
Northern Labs, Inc.
5800 West Dr.
Manitowoc, WI 54220
800/558-7621, 920/684-7137

Twinkle® Silver Polish
S.C. Johnson Wax
Racine, WI 53405
800/558-5252

Weiman Silver Polish
Weiman Products, LLC 755 Tri-State Parkway
Gurnee, IL 60031800/837-8140

http://www.weiman.com/products/metals/silver_polish.php

Another resource Silverguard

http://www.silverguard.com/c-26-silver-polish-cleaner.aspx

http://silvermatecompany.com/ is another cleaner that you use as a dip.  I have not tried it, have any of you?

Silver is back in my china cabinet.
That's an antique pearl collar I like
 to display on the tea pot.

My tea service I will leave out so I can use it.
I love the small tea strainer next to the tilting
 stand tea pot with warmer

Love this sterling bowl with bird
on lid. I especially like the way the
spoons hang

This grouping I decided not to clean.
I like the worn look.  That's a clip earring
on the toast keeper. 
I like the way it make it look more regal.





Now go make yourself a cup of tea.  You deserve it!

Happy Birthday to Richard!

Happy 50th Birthday to my Husband Richard. 

July 7th 2012  At home party.

I made the cake be cutting out the numbers with a
template I downloaded from Marthastewart.com

I

Thought I'd show you the reason I have not been blogging:





What a wonderful day we had celebrating with close friends and family.

These are Richards Parents.  They are really nice in-laws.

I'd like to introduce you to my Grandma Ellen she'll be 98 next month. 

Here are our family and friends

The signs lined the walk up to the house

I set four tables of red, white and blue for guests

Raspberry Lemonade, lemon lime soda and water to drink.

Fun, fun, fun

Part of Richards gift was a makeover of our BBQ area,
and these BBQ items

I had old photo's of Richard at every table
as part of the decorating

This is the drinks corner

On all the 50th Birthday signs I added photos of Richard in the "0"

The favors for the party, every guest picked out their favorite pesonalized popcorn sack.  1800.POP.City

Decorations were fun.  I purchased them online at Partycity.com. 
I only spent 15.00 and felt there was a lot of millage from the bargain supplies.

Curling ribbon from recycled gift wrap, and party hats from past
birthday party to add more fun.

A different centerpiece on every table.  All themed with photos, party hats and curling ribbon.

Another table set in red white and blue

Additional seating is always a plus

I loved making this board.  These are pictures of Richard in many hairstyles.  We did this on http://yearbookyourself.com/ website.  Too fun!

The End
This chair is set sideways so our dog "Oly" doesn't make his self at home at the party.

Thanks for stopping by the party!