Little Black Book

Hello my name is Kelly and I am a magazine clipping junkie.   Well, as do many things for me it all started for me with Martha Stewart….

I used to regularly subscribe to Martha Stewart Living (as well House Beautiful, Elle Décor, House & Garden, the now defunct Domino, Boston Home, InStyle, etc, etc…you get the idea) and by this ever growing/changing list I’m sure you can see why I couldn’t keep up with my rapidly growing magazine library but really didn’t want to discard so many fabulous decorative ideas and projects plans I needed for future “rainy days”.   The problem really came to a head when I was packing to move south and I was faced with not only not wanting to tote this ever growing stack for the next foreseeable future but more importantly how was I ever going to keep track of what issue that perfect Christmas ball wreath project or Sara Blakely’s divine living room was in.  After just a couple of years it had already become unmanageable.

So I made an executive decision – I went through the stack, pulled out just the articles, pictures & recipes that I was just positive I would use…someday. 

This really pared the stack down but then I had to decide how I was going to organize them for quick access:  file folder, expandable folder, folder pockets, stack, binder or drawer?  I tried several options but just never really got my hands around all of the clippings I had collected.  To make it more difficult I had torn things out in all different sizes and shapes.  Some of the pages I had torn out had several ideas on them not all of which was I interested in (ditto the back pages).

A while back I started “the binder” – it was not well organized and still in scraps that I had kept and hole-punched so they would fit in the binder but at least everything was in one spot.  Perusing to find ideas really had not become any easier – just more compact.

This messy collection continued to grow until last week when I finally just had enough and sat down to make a plan to get myself organized.  This is the result of that plan:

I color copied all of my scraps so not only are they all on the same size paper but this gave me the option to edit out the extraneous ideas that had only been saved in my idea book because they happened to be on the back of the page of some fascinating article on the history of Vaseline glass or how to make roman shades. There are no curled edges or torn corners.  So much more pleasant to peruse….and definitely useful.  I have been able to pull from my little black book for inspiration ideas for projects I am currently working on in my house.

I also recently discovered Pinterest - this is an online version of my little black book and is such a cool site.  If you haven’t checked out Pinterest let me just tell you - you need to!  This is an “invitation” only site but feel free to leave me a message with your email and I’m happy to pass the invite along.  The really beautiful thing about Pinterest is not only can you keep track of your design or project ideas (and how to execute them) but you suddenly have access to literally thousands of other folks inspirational ideas that you can repin to your boards.

Love, love, love this site to keep track of my new inspiration ideas but I can’t quite part with my little black book filled with perfection.  Luckily I definitely think there is room for both in my life!

A Little Bling Never Hurts

I think I may have mentioned in the past and for those who know me personally I’m stating the obvious here but…I have a small obsession with vintage bling. 

I’m not generally drawn to really fine jewel vintage pieces (although I do certainly admire them tremendously) but a little rhinestone pin or bracelet calls me every time!  I scour the shops and sales for just the right piece at just the right price.  I am always so excited when I find a bargain that is such a great deal that I just can’t believe it. 

Unfortunately, often what appears to be too good to be true generally is just that with missing stones, a damaged fastener or tarnished edges. And of course you never see the flaws until your heart is all aflutter with the beauty of the piece and you pick it up for further inspection.   Now I’m not a girl to discount beauty just because of a little flaw but really as much as I may admire them do I really want to regularly wear jewels that are very obviously missing stones?  Given this, I’m always trying to come up with ideas to use these pieces since they really are in many cases truly spectacular.

Several years ago there was a mention in a magazine (along with a spectacularly eye catching photo) for a new venture Christina Ferrare had started creating picture frames & mirrors with crystals & stones.  The pieces were so stunning; I immediately stored it in my “I must do this” file.  My thought was it was a great way to repurpose some of the beautiful vintage pieces I had seen that are beautiful but not quite perfect enough to wear.

Ferrare & Co have so many fab
blingy things!

Well, this turned into easier said than done.  I totally underestimated the number of pieces that would be needed to fill the piece I wanted to do.  So now I had a collection of slightly imperfect vintage jewelry pieces and needed to find a more doable project to use them on.  Enter House Beautiful…

Jewels I have collected over the years...
(see Provence Cottage Antiques post)

Maybe two years ago I picked up a copy of House Beautiful Magazine and in it was a picture of a pillow that was all blinged out with vintage jewels.  Now that’s what I’m talking about…

Well, of course I had a spare accent pillow that I had picked up at Marshalls, TJ Maxx, Target or some such place that was just waiting for embellishment. 

I'm now wondering why I ever bought this...

Now I had to spend my requisite several weeks (ok, maybe months) analyzing, assessing & contemplating the best most clean way of applying the jewelry. 

Some pieces still had their fastenings, some did not so I knew that I would need to either glue or sew some but others I might just be able to pin to the pillow.  The pins that I could pin did I want to cut a small hole in the pillow so they were flush with the surface or did I want to go through the exercise of sewing a button-hole type of stitch so it would not only be flush but look finished?  Did it matter?  Would glue be an appropriate option for those without pin backs or would a simple stitch be better?  Did I want to break up the necklace pieces into smaller pieces or leave them as is and attach them?  Did I want to even use them at all?  So many possible ways of executing this I really had to just sit down and give it a shot and see what worked and what didn’t.  End result was no glue, and just simple holes that the hardware could meld into.

Trial and error....this ended up being the most balanced
placement

And here is my finished product.  I’m so pleased to not only be able to repurpose jewelry that appeared to have been destined for destruction but also have a unique pillow that looks just fabulous in my living room!

I think this is why I bought the pillow!