White looks great in a beach house with splashes of colour to give it a lift. Bring the outside in, and use ocean tones such as seafoam, aqua, turquoise and navy blue. Keep the key pieces in white and neutrals so you can change your look easily through colour and style by updating your decorator accessories. This way it's easy to mix and match, play with colour and keep your beach house looking fresh and vibrant. Today I am feeling very inspired by this colourful burst of turquoise, aqua and coastal blue - it's uplifting, bold and confident!
When selecting colours for feature walls my favourite brand of paint is 'Porter's Paint's'. They are generally more expensive but that's because they are handmade based on traditional methods and not mass produced like most other paint companies. Their colours have more depth and intensity and once applied the colour looks pure and rich in pigment. They have a beautiful range of colours that are beautifully suited to creating a coastal palette. They also offer a range of specialty paint which I have had fun with over the years including rusted finishes, metallics and pearlised paints. Their milk paints and crackle finish effects paint are great for painting furniture to give it a rustic, aged appearance.
This week's checklist was extra long. So many loose ends that needed tying up, and a handful of new projects that needed to be started. Aaron had caught a terrible stomach bug and has been down for the count the past two days. Which really pushes the pause button for us. Any of you self employed folks can surely identify. When you are already doing the job of 3 people and "3 others" call out sick, it's just plain ol' nuts! I attempted to pack and ship some orders today only to find that our printer was out of ink...womp womp. Adding another day to the delay. And our bubbling over emails are another story entirely. I am really hoping to get fully caught up on that sort of thing this weekend. (If you are waiting on an email from me, I promise that you will be hearing back super soon) :)
I really look forward to not only getting caught up on things, but starting some much needed organization here in the house. My sister should be fully moved out and in to her new place very soon, which starts our shifting and settling over here. I really am looking forward to that! We'll be moving the studio and we'll fiiiiiinally be upstairs! Really looking forward to a larger bedroom and more closet space!
So, Hooray for Friday! Let the weekend begin...with some Friday Favorites!
I'm a sucker for garlands and this Fall felt ball garland tutorialcouldn't be more charming! The above photo really brings me back to elementary school and the excitement I had for classroom decor! I remember volunteering to change out the bulletin board each month...adding a new calendar and that awesome scalloped corrugated trim that came in all colors of the rainbow! Oh gosh I loved that stuff! Did I ever tell you guys that one of my favorite places to shop when I was a kid was a teacher's supply store? I couldn't believe that we civilians had access to giant George Washington heads, and "learn to tell time" clocks, and "professional" chalk.
Ah the memories! Wax paper and crayon leaves were one of my absolute favorite Fall art projects. I remember making them year after year hanging them in the windows of the classroom. I loved seeing them when we went out for recess. Looking back at my classroom from the playground...picking out my own. This is such a timeless and happy project. I'll be digging out my crayolas for these!
I love the idea of pumpkins as vessels. This is such a lovely little centerpiece for the dining room table or entryway. I think I would use one of those carvable foam pumpkins that are easily found at craft stores. That way it will last all season...September through Thanksgiving.
Of course this room isn't "move in ready" for me. That big white wall could certainly use a cluster of framed florals, (maybe some vintage paint by numbers) but as a starting point these colors are just WOW! A bit outside my box, but the mustard yellow and berry shades are just so warm and inviting. Especially for Fall. And I love the layered rug look.
Once September hits I'm really looking to "feel" the change of season. But I don't want to be all pumpkined out by mid October. I really like the idea of this Pumpkin Icebox Cake. It's more than dipping your toe in...but not a full on swim...ya know? I'm planning on making it, and then laying off the pumpkin. I'm onto apples! :)
Those brownies need not be “special” and those cakes need not be “space” cakes for you to get pleasurable feelings from them….new research shows that foods can act just like drugs in the body.
Many people find that they crave certain foods, and when given access to that food, they just can’t seem to manage eating one measly portion. For years, I’ve been telling my clients to try to think of “trigger foods” as drugs, to really think about the consequences before you bite into that cookie or take a French fry. My goal has always been to make people more mindful of what they’re eating, but I didn’t realize how accurate I was with the drug analogy. You’ll notice that foods people crave don’t tend to be naturally occurring in nature. I would guess you don’t find someone craving a cucumber, but rather, a pickle. No one craves a cup of corn or oats, but rather, tortilla chips and oatmeal cookies. The theme amongst foods people crave is the fact that they tend to be highly processed and high in fat, sugar, and/or salt. Research now shows that these heavily processed foods can act in the body just like drugs, and make it difficult to resist a food at all, or stop at just one serving size.
Oregon Research Institute published a study earlier this year that had young children look at pictures of chocolate milkshakes, and then consume them later. Children who had consumed the most milkshakes over the course of the study showed a lower response in the reward centers of the brain when given the milkshakes at the research site. One researcher said: "Over consumption of these foods down regulates reward processes [. . .] that may, in turn, make you eat more. You could be continually tying to match the earlier experience.” The result of this down-regulation can cause you to consume larger and larger portions whenever exposed to the treat, which could cause you to gain weight if exposed frequently enough. As the body becomes more accustomed to the “drug”, you need more to get the same pleasurable feeling you got the first time you tried it.
Another study showing the similarities in processed foods and drugs showed that rats go through withdrawal symptoms when sugar was taken away, and consumed 23% more once allowed to consume it again. Last year, studies done in California and Italy showed that rats who consumed a fatty liquid diet started producing endocannabinoids, which are compounds similar to those produced by marijuana. Another study from the University of Michigan recently studied neuronal cues when rats were exposed to chocolate M & M’s. The researchers identified a link between a part of the brain called the stratium and an endorphin called enkephalin which is known as a pain-relieving peptide. They found that when they synthetically injected the rats with enkephalin, the rats ate faster and consumed double the amount they did without the enkephalin. When the rats ate the M & M’s on their own, the levels of natural enkephalin increased.
MY RECOMMENDATIONS: When changing people’s diets, I always encourage them to try to stick to the most natural of foods: real fruit instead of fruit juice, old-fashioned oats instead of gluten-free dry cereal, a baked potato instead of French Fries. One reason I have for this is not just the research on the drug effects of processed foods, but processed foods also seem to be metabolized differently and can cause you to gain weight easier. Whole foods also contain much higher levels of antioxidants, phytonutrients, and fiber than their processed counterparts. I recommend you try to cut out the heavily processed foods, and try to find alternatives to your “guilty pleasures.” Try to wean yourself off of ice cream by making smoothies with yogurt, make your own egg sandwich by using whole grain English muffins with a poached egg, and drink coffee with milk and sugar (or honey!) instead of the flavored creamers. By eating more naturally, you will find that you don’t crave the things you once did, sugared foods are too sweet, salty foods are way too salty, and having one bite of a cookie is enough to get the gist- you don’t need to eat the whole box to understand the flavor and texture.
4.2004 Mar;12(3):461-72. PubMed PMID: 15044663. 12: Stice E, Spoor S, Ng J, Zald DH. Relation of obesity to consummatory and anticipatory food reward.
5.Enkephalin Surges in Dorsal Neostriatum as a Signal to Eat
Alexandra G. DiFeliceantonio, Omar S. Mabrouk, Robert T. Kennedy, Kent C. Berridge
Current Biology - 20 September 2012
6.Rossmeisl M, Macek Jilkova Z, Kuda O, Jelenik T, Medrikova D, et al. (2012) Metabolic Effects of n-3 PUFA as Phospholipids Are Superior to Triglycerides in Mice Fed a High-Fat Diet: Possible Role of Endocannabinoids. PLoS ONE 7(6): e38834. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0038834
7.Starowicz, K. M., Cristino, L., Matias, I., Capasso, R., Racioppi, A., Izzo, A. A. and Di Marzo, V. (2008), Endocannabinoid Dysregulation in the Pancreas and Adipose Tissue of Mice Fed With a High-fat Diet. Obesity, 16: 553–565. doi: 10.1038/oby.2007.106
Yes, Fall is upon us, and as you can see...it has infected our Art Journaling. This is our fave season...as I have said a million times...but this week's class doesn't have to focus on Fall...it's more about capturing a theme...any theme...and creating a journal from scratch. We can't wait to see what you guys come up with. What you see here is the chipboard front cover of our Fall Journal...just the beginning...and we are gonna fill it up with Fall goodness galore! So go ahead and check out the video...read along with our steps...and then take some time to pick your own special theme. We think this might be a whole lot of fun for you guys. The possibilities are endless! With that said, lets not waste any more time...
As with last week's class, we made a video slide show. Of course on it's own it only gives an idea of each step, so we included full detailed instructions for you to follow along. In the upper left corner of each photo in the slide show you'll see a title. In the instructions we've titled each step with those same titles so that you'll have an image to match each step. You can view the video once, or twice, or more...pause where you'd like, rewind, fast forward...watch it here on the blog, full screen, or on youtube.
For this class we wanted to focus on creating a specialty journal. We chose Fall as our theme (because we love it!) but you can choose really anything as a subject. Theme journals are great because they give you a chance to expand upon a subject...give it more than just a spread...fill a whole little book with it in fact. So we encourage you guys to create a little theme journal. Find a book with a unique shape or even make your own from scratch. With a hole punch and a ring binding you can turn a couple pieces of cardboard and some sheets of paper into your own little journal...in just about any shape you please. This might take a bit more time than our past classes but in the end it'll be so cool to have your own, from scratch, theme journal.
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gather supplies. We wanted to create a special journal specifically for Fall. You can find creatively shaped journals like this at your local craft store. This one we first deconstructed so that it would be easier to work with. We just removed the coil ring binder. You can even make your own journal by cutting heavy cardboard in a half circle and then using it as a template to then trace and cut pages for it. And you can then use a three ring punch and make your own three ring binding.
trace shape of cover. We're covering the thick cardboard cover with a faux wood grain paper. So we traced the cover onto the wood grain paper, cut out the paper and adhered it to the cardboard journal cover with decoupage medium.
speckle. When the faux wood grain paper was adhered and dry we then gave it a top coat of matte gel medium. Once that was dry we then speckled it with paint.
speckle a few colors.We use a #6 round brush...load it with the watered down paint...hold the brush a few inches above your page...and just tap the metal end with your index finger. Do it to your desired effect. We love speckling for it's imperfection. It's messy and haphazard and perfect in it's own way.
sand edges. If a little bit of excess paper remains after you adhere your paper to your cover just use some fine grit sandpaper to remove it.
adhere floral. We cut out a floral cluster that will be the backing layer to our 3D floral. Adhere with decoupage medium.
add wash to edges. This journal will be very earthy since it is Fall themed. So we wanted to give it an antique wash on the edges. Just water down some brown paint and brush lightly along the edge.
push through holes. The cover came with holes that fit the coil ring binding. After we covered them over with the faux wood grain we then just poked back through them with the tip of a pencil.
stamp & cut out some letters. We love these big foam alphabet stamps. We stamped out each letter on different papers and then cut them out with deckle edged scissors.
adhere word and add trims. We adhered the letters, slightly offset, with decoupage medium. And at this point we also adhered the trims with the decoupage medium.
gather some 3D elements. 3D elements are great for the cover of your journal. In this case we had a fab vintage millinery flower, some faux leaves, and gold thread. We just love how they look like they're the 3D version of floral cluster that we already adhered down.
glue them on. For 3D elements such as these it's best to use a hot glue gun to adhere them. For the gold thread we just haphazardly spooled it underneath the flower so that some would be sticking out from behind.
add glue dots. We dipped a glue stick in some decoupage medium and then dotted the medium in a few spots on the cover. You can also use an eraser, a paint brush...We just like the shape and size of a glue stick.
glitter the dots. While the medium is still wet, dust it with gold glitter.
clean excess glitter. Shake off excess glitter and then if some glitter still remains you can use a damp q-tip to wipe it away.
Feeling good! We've got great lettering, a fabulous three dimensional floral, some glitter, some speckling...
Looks great! As far as the front cover...this looks done!
prepare to sponge some paint. Now we've flipped over the cover so that we can do the inner cover. We first gave it a coat of gesso, let dry. When dry we then squeezed out little blops of paint in our Autumn color palette, just randomly spaced and placed.
dab & blot your paint. With a piece of a household sponge we then dabbed and blotted until the colors were lightly blended.
layer until it looks right. Let these first colors dry...it'll still look semi transparent. Once dry, then add little blops of more color and repeat the sponging process. You'll end up with a varied, mottled backdrop of fall colors.
when dry, seal. Let dry and then apply a coat of matte gel medium.
speckle. Once again, speckle, and choose contrasting colors. Aqua looks so good on top of oranges and rusty tones.
add some rings.One of our signatures...bottle cap rings. simply brush paint on the rims of assorted bottle caps and stamp down on your pages.
lay a stencil. Spraying a stencil over top of a mottled background such as this looks so good.
grab your mist.We just laid the stencil down and lightly misted the page with Mister Huey's in Classic Tan.
mist & remove stencil. Just a light coat...barely there. Gently lift off stencil and let dry.
add paint dots. Again, we used a glue stick but this time we dipped it in paint and added dots where we thought dots would look good. Anywhere where pops of color are needed.
speckle some more. Again, speckling is a big time crutch of ours. It's a look that belongs almost exclusively to the world of art journaling. We love it.
lay out your elements. These elements will pretty much make up the legend for the inner cover...sorta like the title page.
adhere elements. Figure out what goes on top of what. It's great to have varying shapes and textures. Lay the elements down piece by piece and adhere them with decoupage medium. Let dry.
write some words. Again, this will sorta act as our title page...so we wrote something very fitting for our fall journal.
add 3D elements and words.Written with a sharpie pen on white paper, then cut out, and adhered one word at a time. And then frame your words in with bits of trim and 3D elements.
punch some confetti. Confetti is our fancy way of adding polka dots.
adhere confetti & add faux stitching.Punch out some patterned papers, add dabs of medium, and then just lay your bits of confetti down on the dabs of medium. Since this was the chunky cardboard cover of the journal we used a sharpie marker instead of the sharpie pen to draw on our faux stitching.
add some washi tape. Washi tape is a must. Such a great detail to add to the top corner of a motif like this. Gives it a scrapbooky feel.
looking great! It's got all the colors we're looking for and notice the repetition of the circle theme...the whole journal itself is a circle...so the polka dots and the stencil, and the bottle cap rings all go together so nicely.
Love it! As far as journal covers go...this one is a keeper.
Hooray! All done...but the Fall Journal has only just begun!
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Supplies used on these pages:
Papers used:
Actopus to Zelephant Woodby K & company
Mini Brocade by Hambly
Peeling Paint by me & my BIG ideas
vintage recipe book clippings
floral clipping from copy of vintage table cloth
assorted vintage bits
Assorted mediums and tools:
Sharpie pen
Sharpie marker
assorted artist brushes
assorted acrylic paints by Blick and Golden
matte gel medium by Golden
Blick gesso
sequins
washi tape
lace trim
vintage millinery flower
gold thread
faux fall leaves
large letter stamps
bottle caps
hole punch
gold fabric trim
stencil
Mister Huey's color mist in Classic Tan
glue stick
hot glue gun
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Thanks so so much again for Art Journaling with Jenny and Aaron! We are thrilled to have you here with us each week and this week should be very fun! Again, make sure to leave a comment and link up with us! We can't wait to see your journals and read all about your creative processes. Please grab our badge above and spread the word on your blogs and facebook pages. And again...please feel free to direct any question our way...we are more than happy to help. Happy Art Journaling!
A tiny designer boutique hotel Caprisuite is concealed within the walls of what was once a convent and is destined to become the island's hippest hideaways. A charming Mediterranean retreat, it has been designed to feel like an Italian Villa. Located in the heart of the historic center of Anacapri, Caprisuite combines modern designer pieces with 17th century architecture in the effortless style that Italian designers do so well. Both rustic and stylish there is an authentic charm with it's sunny yellow and bright blue detailing. Oh, and don't forget to pack some chic poolside attire to soothe away the day by the plunge pool!
The perfect accessory for any beach holiday destination. They are so light and virtually take up no space in your suitcase. Just roll it up and tuck it down the side! They are perfect for doubling up as a towel for drying off as well lying on the sand or a sunlonger. Then when it comes to having a drink at the bar or a lunch at a poolside / beachside cafe simply tie it into a dress or a skirt and you have the perfect cover up! Once you have mastered the art of tying them - they can be wrapped and twisted into a host of versatile pieces that will just about take you anywhere! Pick a colour to match your swimsuit or bikinis and you'll hardly need to pack anything else!
Melissah xox
Images via 1, 2 sarong fashion story by coastal style, 3
This week, only allow yourself to eat grains that are 100% WHOLE GRAIN. Many are convinced the gluten-free diet sheds weight, when the reality is that most people are probably just cutting out things they used to overeat (pasta, crackers, cookies, etc). Whole grains are vital for weight loss and maintenance, as well as overall health, so they are important to include in your diet. By challenging yourself to only eat whole grain products; you will have to say no to those Stacy’s Pita chips, a hoagie on a plain roll, regular pizza, or pasta at a restaurant. You will learn to seek out whole grains, and when eating out, you will automatically be making healthier choices by skipping the pasta-based dishes altogether and hopefully ordering the fish that comes with a side of vegetables and red quinoa! Whole grains can include: whole wheat flour, brown rice, quinoa, amaranth, bulgur, barley, buckwheat, popcorn, wild rice, whole grain corn, oats, and other more exotic grains.
Note: This is just a one week exercise. You should never go on a diet that completely prevents you from eating things you enjoy (unless specified by a medical doctor). However, this activity will train you to think about the grains you’re about to eat and whether they are helpful (whole grain) or harmful (refined grains). The goal is to learn to eat primarily whole grain products for the rest of your life!
Nutrition counseling reimbursement may be available for the following insurance plans:
October! My fave month of the year, is just days away! And dare I mention for the bajillionth time...my Bday month! Some people really come to life in the Spring, and that makes all the sense in the world. But Fall has always worked wonders for me...and Aaron. We've been self supporting artists since pretty much right out of high school, so October has always signaled the start of the making and selling season. Craft shows at the Fairgrounds, and street fairs set up all along the business districts of old New Jersey towns. Families coming out, slowly strolling the aisles of vendors, the heart warming scents of pretzels and hot cider. Sometimes our little craft fairs would be set up right along side classic car shows, and during a lull in customer traffic we'd go and pick out our dream wheels (usually some little European convertible worthy of James Bond).
When I think back to those early days, this is what hits me...We were Kids!! It was Pre Etsy, Pre Blogs, and Pre Pinterest and Renegade. I remember sketching out ideas for the set-up of our booth...building backdrops and painting them. Ordering gift bags and polka dot tissue paper. I wish I could go back in time for just one weekend. I wanna hug those two kids. Everything we did was for the love of our art and the thrill of meeting like minded people.
Yes, October...This is our time to come to life and gear up for some of the most exciting and magical art making of the year! Our minds are on gifts and Holiday decor. Ornaments for our/your trees, glittery snow topped Christmas plaques, Sticker sheets for Art Journaling and for adorning packages and envelopes. Ahh!! October really means the start of an entire season of creating and decorating and celebrating.
Aaron and I have some really fabulous things planned for the next few months. A brand new blog series that will chronicle a really fun makeover project that the whole family will be into! We love including the kiddos! And our Art Journaling will be in full effect...you'll begin to see it spilling over into the other days of the week. And we have some Home renovations we'll be sharing as well. Overall it'll be a jam packed season! We'd love for you to join us!
If you are a blogger, a small or big business owner, a youtuber, or have an event to promote, and you are looking to spread the word about all the good things about you and what you do...AND if you think that you, me & Everyday is a Holiday readers would be a great match...Well then we'd love to have you as a SPONSOR in OCTOBER!
And if you feel that we're a good fit you should definitely look into our super affordable 3 month discount option...which at this point, will bring you right into the Holiday shopping season! This is a very popular option with our repeat sponsors.
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