Creative Juices Decor

Hey Friends! The leaves are starting to turn into an array of gold, orange and red and I've even had to turn on my fireplace a few mornings. I like it :-) You can simply and affordably turn your mantel into a Fall masterpiece by adding  natural elements like gourds or mini pumpkins to it.  You can also fill rustic vases with leaf covered twigs, vines or apple branches. rustyheart One of my favorite ways to bring the natural elements inside is with birch logs! You can see my post on how to decorate using birch logs for even more inspiration :-) When decorating, think about using WARM colorful elements like orange and yellows.  Pumpkins are gorgeous on a white mantel - you could even engrave your monogram on it! Or if you are not very good with a carving knife, you could just use a black sharpie and draw a fancy letter. You could also create some of your own natural art with leaves. You guys know how much I enjoy decorating for LE...

Hey Friends! If there is ONE thing that I have noticed over and over again is that adding TEXTURE to your room will give it that polished, "magazine look" you have always wanted. One of the best ways to add texture to a room is with "fuzzy" blankets or area rugs.  Using greenery is also a wonderful way to add texture.  Just think of all those green leaves, even if they are fake, you can visualize how much texture they can add to a room. But for this post, I thought we would highlight and analyze some home decor pictures where they used animal hide (faux or real) as their main element of texture. Notice the "fuzzy" sheepskin pillow and neutral hide rug.  They have created such a peaceful setting. Adding hide over wood floors is beautiful....two natural elements. I love the contrast - the white rug against the brown floor. Isn't this fancy :-)  This room is full of texture from the decorative wooden ceiling planks to ...

Here we go!!!   Let's get right into the Rustic Christmas decorating! Alright, I'll admit, I'm not always ready to start decorating for Christmas but this year is my FIRST year (after a FIVE year renting era) in our new house. You have to understand, in the rental, we didn't even HAVE a mantel.  I was very thankful for that house but c'mon people, I am an interior designer and I went 5 years without a mantel.  :-) So I guess I'm a little excited.......bear with me :-) I wasn't sure what my plan was for my huge mantle but I was walking around Michaels with my eldest daughter and we walked by this GIANT (I mean H.U.G.E) wood wreath and I started laughing and said to my daughter, " Look at that wreath, who in their right mind would buy a huge thing like that??"  We got a kick out of it, chuckling over the idea of the crazy person who would want that. But of course, as things usually progress......that night when most people...

Now this was a fun project!  I'm happy to be able to show all of you a step by step tutorial on how to apply American Clay.   It wasn't my typical clay wall because one of it's purposes was to be used as a photography backdrop instead of having to put up canvases in this professional photographers family room.  I had to view this project as more of an art piece than "just doing a wall"  Thank goodness I have a fine arts background or I would have been terrified!  Believe it or not the hardest part for me is the "getting ready" part.  Mixing up all the clay (80 lb bag of clay!) and getting all the pigments right with the binder is always time consuming. Getting the clay ready is a lot like baking :-)  You just dump in some water (generally a gallon is fine to start out) pour in the clay, stir it around (with a power drill and paddle) , sprinkle in the pigment, stir it around and add more water, sprinkle in the binder (up...