Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Crafts


Here are my hyacinths; unfortunately they've been banished to the compost pile by now but they were lovely! In two short (!) months I'll be able to fill the window boxes and see greenery on the other side of the window!

Recently my husband and I have been uncustomarily crafty. Long ago I bought an unfinished wooden tray at Michael's. Originally, I intended to decoupage it with jewelry cut-outs from Town & Country: I spent an entire weekend ignoring my grad school homework and carefully scissoring out Ippolita and Temple St. Clair and Pommelato rings and bracelets and necklaces. When I went to Nantucket later that summer, I sought out famed decoupage artist Leslie Linsley and quizzed her on the details of her art (for the record, she discouraged me from using art from magazine paper--too heavy). I dragged a Tiffany box to Lowe's to match paint (Eddie Bauer Sea Breeze EB8-2). Then...nothing. I still have the folder of paper jewelry in my desk.

Last month we finally organized ourselves enough to go to Lowe's and select paint. I'm still planning the Tiffany blue tray, but we decided to create a simple Hermès orange tray for our first endeavor. My husband painted it, using American Traditions Island Orange (2010-2). He didn't use primer, which in retrospect was a mistake; instead he put about a million coats on. The trim is Valspar Cabin Plank (2011-10).



I wrapped the handles with some leftover Hermès ribbon.

Likewise, I had purchased a bare corkboard a couple of years ago for my apartment in Los Angeles. I meant to cover it with fabric immediately but never found quite the right material. Then, several weekends ago we were poking around Hobby Lobby--we hadn't been there in years and I don't even remember now why we decided to stop by--and I found this animal print home decorator fabric.


On Sunday, I gathered my staple gun, needle-nosed pliers, batting (which I stole from another eventual project), and dug out my glue gun which hasn't been used in years. The operation moved along rather nicely until I ran out of ribbon.

Okay. Four o'clock on Sunday, and I am determined to get this bulletin board completed. But who knew Hobby Lobby was closed on Sunday!!?

Thwarted on Sunday, I wrapped up my masterpiece on Monday and here it is!


Some of my treasures:
A photo of my husband smoking a cigar
A photo of my mother in college, at the library
A still from the movie Last Year at Marienbad
A photo of me and my sons, taken on my birthday; also the day I found out I passed the bar
A photo of a white convertible Alfa Romeo Giulietta, my dream car
A ticket stub from Jacques Tati's Playtime, at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica
A postcard my son sent me from Paris

9 comments:

mamacita said...

I love it. I want your exact board for myself.

Bee said...

I can't see the one of your husband smoking a cigar. And is that Edith Piaf?

I think that it is utterly fab that you and your husband can do crafts together. I love the orange tray. (Funnily enough, orange used to be an unappealing color to me; but now I'm liking it more and more).

I have some dead white hyacinths on my kitchen counter . . . but I hate to take them down!

Maggie May said...

ooo i love the tray, wonderful job!

The Daily Connoisseur said...

You are so talented! I can't get over it! LOVE the trays...

Easy and Elegant Life said...

Good grief, you've gotten more done in one post than I do in a month of Sundays. Well done! (The tray is great looking.)

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh! I love what you and your hubby are creating!
I think I have to make an Hermès tray just like that one!
Thanks for sharing your creativity and fab ideas, I feel so inspired!

Petunia said...

Holy Hermes boxes!!!!!! I'm drooling just imagining what was originally in those boxes! The tray came out beautifully.

Love your board, too!

P.S. I sent you an e-mail re the color.

pve design said...

A couple that plays together stays together!
DIY - I am impressed with you both!

Annie Crowninshield said...

I have been searching for just the right "hermes" orange for a project and now I will search no more! Thank you..