Gray and Beige: My Neutral Obsession

I'm planning on redecorating after Christmas and right now I'm in the 'plan and design' phase. 

I've had a love affair going on with gray my entire life. It's my favorite color for EVERYTHING, literally, especially sweaters, handbags and shoes. My family has always poked fun at me calling me Plain Jane or Boring Betty because I always choose the gray and neutral option. I never considered decorating with these colors though, probably because decor items weren't available in gray. But the rest of the world has finally gotten up to speed with my love and now everyone is 'going gray'. I don't usually like to be the one to follow the crowd, but I consider this my idea to start with (HA!)
I had a bit of trouble choosing my palette at first, but these photos best represent what I'm aiming for:

I'm truly in love with this to the point that I get excited just thinking about seeing the rooms completed. 

I have my bedspread chosen already. Next I'll be working on choosing the paint color. This selection of favorites from  A Perfect Gray  has been more than helpful:

Guest Picks: Find the Right Gray Paint

Houzz- Kitchen Remodel, Bathroom Remodel and More»

Browse Bedroom Products on Houzz- For Example:

Bed Pillows · Duvet Covers · Sheet Sets · Beds · Dressers Chests And Bedroom Armoires · Headboards · Makeup Mirrors · Nightstands And Bedside Tables ·

I'm always looking for gray inspiration for both my bedroom and bathroom redesign project and my Greige Pinterest board.  If you've seen any gray 'interestingness' drop me a link.
Happy Creating!

Sequins

Sequins  featuring slouchy handbags

Jil Sander long sleeve cardigan, $1,375
LEVI'S: Made & Crafted straight jeans, $190
TOMS silver shoes, $54
Slouchy handbag, £36
Faliero sarti, £158

Oh,  how I adore sequins. And Silver. And Gray. And jeans. And sweaters.Let's not forget pink. And what about these Toms?  I would totally be seen sporting this ensemble. 

Autumn Art

Happy Halloween!

Here are a few Pumpkin and Autumn themed images for you to enjoy during the Holiday.
Please visit each artist by clicking on the image.

 

letsentertain.net

I've fallen in love with the gray pumpkins. Expect to see my own pumpkin photography this time next year because I am ordering the seeds to plant my own!

I'll be Trick Or Treating with Spongebob Squarepants tomorrow; Hope you have a spooky night!

On My Mind

My niece was admitted to the hospital last night for pneumonia. I'm sure she'll be well again in no time, but she's on my mind today. I think I'll go visit and bring a new baby doll with me...

The Beauty of Friendship

I met one of my high school best friends in Chorus Class. I was a freshman and was painting my nails when a junior girl asked excitedly if she could borrow my polish.  Her name was Melissa and we spent the duration of class exploring the others' makeup bags while we practiced for recital. Neither of us could sing a note so we figured we might as well do something better with our lips than screech -- and the answer was apply lip gloss!

We became immediate friends for life. Melissa was an amazing person. She was the least judgmental individual I have ever known. She was intelligent, funny, loud, unique and caring. So when she passed away earlier this year after 18 years of having her as 'extended family', it shook me. This post and the entire Creating Beauty page of my blog is dedicated to her memory: My Best Friend, my Sephora girl, my Lip Gloss Queen, Melissa. 

Every day when I do my makeup, if she hasn't already crossed my mind, I think of her then when I apply my mascara. I always seem to get it on my eyelids and her favorite remedy for that was always the same quote:

"If you can't fix it with a Q-Tip, you never should have done it in the first place!"

~Melissa Griffith

While we're on the topic of beauty, I love product photography of cosmetics.
This 'Makeup Counter' scene makes me want to go buy myself some new eyeshadow.

I did recently purchase some new lipstick and lip gloss. I'm all about Nude and natural shades right now. I ran upon two Revlon products I hadn't tried before and I'm impressed with the color of them both.

Revlon Super Lustrous 'Just Enough Buff' 613

Revlon Colorstay Lipglaze 'Timeless Nude' 512

Intertwined

I'm definitely not a wedding photographer. I photographed one wedding, for my cousin... that stuff is hard work! You have to be tough and skilled to pull it off on your own, too. I have wild dreams of being a fantastic wedding photographer at some point at life -- but at least for now, that's just a dream.  I did shoot one of my favorite wedding themed photos ever, though. I'm probably just partial to it since it's from my own wedding but I figure that's okay, too.  

 "Intertwined"

Our florist did a magnificent job on all the flowers. This one is a miniature Calla Lilly (my favorite) dyed red to match our color scheme.  I like to muse over the way the rings come together to form the shape of a heart. It looks intentional but, in fact, that was the only way I could keep the rings from falling over. Lucky me! 

Country Cheeseburger Recipe

My Country Cheeseburgers

 



Sometimes I just love a good homemade, country cheeseburger. For a while I wasn't doing burgers for dinner because, frankly, they weren't that good. My oldest son stopped eating them entirely and won't touch one now to save his life. However, recently the hubby was craving beef so I whipped some up but tried something a little different hoping I would enjoy dinner too. Since then he's been asking for these burgers every week. Trust me, he is PICKY, so I know it's not just me thinking this burger recipe is the BOMB. 

Ingredients

1 lb. 90/10 ground beef 

1 large egg

1 slice 35 calorie white bread

2 tablespoons + 7 teaspoons Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce 

1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Combine beef and egg in a bowl. Tear bread into several small pieces and add to mixture. Combine well until mixture is 'sticky'. If it remains too wet from egg then add another 1/2 slice of bread. Add 2 tablespoons seasoning sauce and combine well. Sprinkle a large frying pan with salt. Patty burgers into small balls approximately the size of eggs. Flatten each one well and place into pan. Add 1 teaspoon more of sauce to the top of each burger. Fry over medium heat until one side is browned and then turn. Fry on the opposite side until done (about 5 minutes). Serve on your choice of buns with condiments. Delish! Yields 7 burgers. Let me know how yours turn out.  

Indoor Activities

Autumn has brought us back indoors again.

My youngest child isn't quite two years old and boy is he a challenge to entertain. I keep looking for toys that will occupy him while I do my housework but nothing seems to hold his interest for long except for the colored pencils. He gets mad because he can't put enough pressure on the pages to get the color to show well, though, and ends up bored with that, too. Then he tries to sneak away to play Picasso on the walls. He'll do THAT all day. Unless he can get near my tripod or camera and he'd rather tear those things up than do anything else EVER. While relaxing on Pinterest  I noticed this image from the Share & Remember blog:

Painted Bread!

Why didn't my parents let me do this? I loved to paint when I was little and even used real paint on rocks {true stuff} but this would have been so fun if only in the winter. It's only milk with food coloring added (and I assume water would work much the same way if your kids have milk allergies). Then toast it to eat. I know my little one is still a bit small to do this without making a mess, but we are going to do it anyway. I'll post pictures once we do.

I'm also going to make a few Water Globes for him to play with. 

 

The Pink Pistachio blog has a materials list and suggestions for letting baby help make this.

I think with my water crazed baby, he'd likely just cry to be allowed to pour the liquid from one bottle to other, so I'll just fill them myself until he's a bit older.

Blog Introduction

I've decided to begin this blog for all the other creative souls in the world.  We are all always creating something, from a career to dinner. My focus will be on inspiring examples, ideas and tips for all the things we are creating. If you're just stumbling in by chance and have something you'd like to contribute to this blog, let me know. To submit your inspiring work and possibly have it featured here, please join our  Flickr Group.