DIY Paris Calendar Framing Project

A couple weekends ago, I was hit with a very bad case of "Francophile-itis."  If you are a lover of all things having to do with France, maybe you can relate or understand the condition I found myself in? 

Let me explain my extreme case of sickness.  I couldn't stop day dreaming about France.  (Even more than I usually do.)  I found myself looking at the pictures I took on my trip.  I wanted to pick up the current book I'm reading , My Life in France by Julia Child, but I couldn't make myself focus on reading a book.  I realized my problem was very serious when I admitted the following on Twitter:  "My obsession with France is running high this morning. I think I need to go take a cold shower."  Since I'd already showered for the day, I decided that would be a bit extreme.  But one thing was certain.  I needed to do something productive. 

Suddenly, it came to me!  I had a DIY project that I could tackle and it was even related to my sickness.  While unpacking things at my new house, I came across a couple of desk size calendars that I've been saving.  They were Paris calendars with excellent old-time Paris advertisements and postcard pictures.  My thought when I tucked them away was to clip out the beautiful pictures and turn them into framed artwork to hang up.

So I got busy measuring my favorite pictures and hit the local Hobby Lobby to find frames to hold the pictures.  Here's what I found....three 5 X 7 frames.

These were the perfect size to display my very favorite choices from the two mini calendars.  And I can even switch the pictures out to change them up a bit  The two matching frames are a very light cream color and I found two black and cream color mats that worked perfectly with these two pictures!

The pictures are so detailed and charming.  They are also super small and my photographs hardly do them justice.  Here's a couple close-up shots. 

There's something so romantic about the Arc de Triomphe placed in the middle of all those meeting avenues.  You can't see the details in this picture but there are little people walking and old-fashioned cars driving on the round-about road.

The 2nd picture is of the Place de la République.  (Round-abouts must have been my theme of the day.)  And once again the old-time cars and people walking about is what sold me on using this postcard photograph.

The 3rd picture that I picked from the calendars was an advertisement "Panorama de Paris" via a hot-air balloon ride over Paris.   I picked a antique rubbed brass frame and a light rose-colored mat that was meant for the picture because it matches perfectly with the lettering. 

Would you take a hot-air balloon ride over grand Paris?  I know I would!

This was Saturday afternoon project.  It didn't help me stop day-dreaming about actually being in France but it helped to calm my "Francophile-itis."  Of course I'll never be fully cured.  And I am OK with that.

Do you want to just break out and dance when you think about France?  Unless you are all by yourself in the privacy of your own home, you may want to save yourself the embarrassment and watch someone who does just that....Here's a Davey's Dance Blog video shot at the Arc de Triomphe:



Davey Dance Blog -10- PARIS - Andrew Thompson - "There Must Be Some Misunderstanding" from Pheasant Plucker on Vimeo.





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My First Blue Camera with the Yellow Button...

On my 5th birthday, my parents gave me a bright blue Fisher Price/Kodak camera and took me on a Riverboat ride.  After we'd eaten a meal and I blew out the candles on my cake, they took me up the stairs and to the top of the boat and let me snap away at my surroundings: I snapped away at them, at the boat with the big wheel, and at the Missouri River as we floated along. 

Words cannot describe how excited my new blue present made me feel.  I loved the feel of pressing the yellow button down everytime I took a picture, and I wanted to master the way my mom rewinded the film for me by using the button on the bottom of the camera. 

While my 5-year-old self looked out the lens of the camera, everything I saw was beautiful, and it didn't matter if I cut off a few heads in my pictures or that I actually missed the log that drifted down the river beside our boat with the big wheel.  In my mind that day I'd captured what I saw, and everything was beautiful. 

It was a Birthday and a present that I will always remember...

"Life is not significant details, illuminated by a flash, fixed forever. Photographs are."

~Susan Sontag

Read about another person's love for the same camera at the age of 5 and see a picture of the little blue camera!   Blog Entry with picture of camera: Ode to Film from the blog titled Will Work For Clothes. 

Birthday Crepes and Updates!

What's better than Birthday Crepes?  Not many things that I can put a finger on or a fork in!  My Fiancé whipped up a fantastic batch of crepes for me on the morning of my 30th Birthday.  His present for me was a charming little crepe pan and a great little recipe book titled, "The Best 50 Crepe Recipes."  The short list of recipes I will be trying soon are:  Chocolate Crepes, Whole Wheat Crepes, and Shrimp and Avocado Crepes.  This little book doesn't just have basic crepe recipes but also recipes for crepe fillings.  Bon Appétit!  

For those of you that have caught it from above...Yes, I'm engaged!  Jason and I recently took a trip to Las Vegas in April and he left as my boyfriend and came back as my fiancé, and I could not be happier!  How did he propose?  We dressed up for a night out, and he took me to a French Restaurant called Alizé at the top of the Palms Casino.  Does he know me or what?  He truly swept me off my feet that night.  The meal was amazing and one of the many highlights was that we both tried escargot for the first time.  Some of you might be gagging right now, but I've always wanted to try it, and honestly it wasn't bad at all.  It was drenched in garlic sauce and quite delicious, but I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to order it on a regular basis.  The entire experience was amazing! 
 

We had a fantastic time in Vegas and I loved to pretend I was in Paris when I looked out our hotel window at Bally's and saw this every morning...

  

"To err is human. To loaf is Parisian."

-Victor Hugo

Other Links: 

My Fiancé's Food Blog:  Weekly Kitchen Travels 

My New Color Palette - Paint Samples

Yes, I've been very absent lately on my art blog.  But I promise I have a very good reason.  The boyfriend and I have been looking at houses, and in fact in the beginning of April we bought one that hasn't been built yet.  It's a tri-level twin home that should be built by June 30th.  To follow our journey on the home-building process, visit my new blog!

Built in a Fleur-y

I'm starting to develop a new color palette...paint samples!  And they have great names that excite the artist in me...Lip Balm, Spell Check, Canvas, Cappuccino Froth, Baking Stone, Monday Morning, and Mac and Cheese (which was a awful yellow color that I didn't even pick a sample for but it made me smile).  As of now I don't physically have walls to paint on until the house is built, but I'm having a great time gathering ideas and tons and tons of paint samples!

Enjoy the Unknown When Creating

A few weeks ago, I stumbled on ning.com and a group called "A Year in the Life of an Art Journal."  I looked around and was amazed at what I discovered...a great group of inspiring people discussing, creating, and posting their art journal pages. 

Every month members are given an art journaling prompt to complete.  Sometimes it is a thought to expand upon, other times the prompt is as simple as a word to think about.  February's one-word prompt had me thinking immediately... 

"UNKNOWN"

To an artist, the unknown is what we live for as we sit down to create.  Sure, we flesh out the the ideas/concepts, pick out the colors, and select the mediums to use...

but do we really know what will be the end product of our creations?

That's where our muses come in.  They whisper in our ears.  They inspire.  They make us excited and help us bring our ideas from the depths of our minds and out through our pens, drawing pencils, and paintbrushes.  Face it and let yourself go!  For  creative folks, it's all about the unknown. 

“Who knows where inspiration comes from. Perhaps it arises from desperation. Perhaps it comes from the flukes of the universe, the kindness of the muses.”
~Amy Tan


Visit A Year in the Life of an Art Journal


Materials Used: acrylics, gesso, modpodge, magazine clippings, various pens (brand: Le Pen), alphabet stamps, paint brushes, scrapbook paper, saved-up fortune cookie fortunes.

Funky Frame Art Project

So, I've had this Target gift card from my brother since Christmastime, and it's been burning a hole in my pocket like you wouldn't believe.  Each time I've gone to Target, I walk around and think..."Oh...I could buy this.  Or I could buy this.  What about this?"  Until yesterday, that is.  I finally decided what to purchase.  Here's a picture of my funky frame that is really four frames fused together.

The plan is to not fill these cute frames with photos, but with artwork instead!  And I even know where I'm going to hang it....in my office/craft room!  As far as cheesy pictures that come in the frames, these are pretty decent.  I definitely dig the green going on.

This is the top left frame, an 3 X 4 oval.  The large green flower is very cool. 

The top right frame is 5 X 7.  More green flowers.  Un-natural but very pretty.

The bottom left frame is 3.5 X 5.5.  The carousel picture reminds me of the beautiful Parisienne carousel at below the Sacre Coeur in Paris.  You know the one, the carousel used in the greatest French film ever...Amélie.  (One of my all-time favorite movies ever.)  If I remember right, Savage Garden also had a music video with the carousel in it...i'll check and post it if I find it.

And the bottom right frame is 4 X 6.  I have to laugh at the picture of the girl.  It reminds me of the Friends episode where Phoebe actually thinks the guy that "comes in the picture frame" is her really her father...haha.  :)  (Ah, Friends was such a good show.)

I'm not sure exactly what type of art I will work on for these frames.  I'm thinking mixed media/collage.  We'll see.  I'm sure this will take me quite awhile to A) make the artwork B) select which pieces to add to each frame.  Any suggestions are always welcome!  Help a girl out!  Tell me what you think I should make to put in the frames!

Update after post:  Yes, I found the Savage Garden music video from 1997 on YouTube!  (And the carousel in Paris is much prettier than the one in my frame.)  After watching it I find it funny that the 17 year-old in me loved this music video...now that I watch it years later, everything about it is super dramatic and super cheesy.  Nonetheless, there are some beautiful shots of Paris that make me long to go back and visit again.  Here it is for your viewing pleasure.  If you're wondering where I've gone, I'm off to complete the renewal form for my passport now...haha.

DIY Valentine's Day Surprise for my Valentine

I can always think of a million things to get my boyfriend, but for our first Valentine's Day together I wanted to make his gift a memorable one.  I tried hard to think of something special that tied back to the very first night we met.  He impressed everyone that came to eat by making General Tso's chicken and Fried Rice, and of couse I kept stealing glances while he expertly tossed the rice in the pan.  We were set up by two close friends that night on April 17th (2009) and have been together ever since.
As I said, I thought of a million things to get him... 

The nice sturdy set of measuring cups at Williams-Sonoma that we saw when were at the Mall of America last week...

A new set of spatulas...


A candy thermometer?  (So he can make me chocolate?  Tempting...but no.  That wouldn't help my waist-line.) 

The list could go on and on...and as I thought of all these kitchen items, suddenly I thought of a brilliant idea!  He hates recipe cards, doesn't have a box for them, and would rather print out his recipes on a 9 x 11 sheet of paper.  In fact, he stashes all of his Food Network print-outs in a kitchen drawer and sometimes they float around a bit before they reach the drawer.  Ta-da!  My present was to be a personalized binder to keep his recipes in.

First it was off to the K & Krafts (a very cool local scrapbooking store in the Fargo/Moorhead area) to search for some manly paper to personalize his binder.  I spent less than $7 on the scrapbooking paper and a few sheets of regular green cardstock.  Here's a picture of the front cover.  His favorite Food Network personality is Alton Brown. Can you tell?  I used rub-on transfer stickers that I already had for the lettering.

 
Below is a picture of the back cover.  The Menu used on the back cover and the fork, knife, and spoon on the front cover came from a sheet of scrapbooking paper.  The entire sheet had different menu/eating/cooking related  cut-outs.  The best part is that these didn't have flowers or sparkles all over them.  These passed the dude test.

I even got out my paints and painted some of the letters for the spine of the binder.  

Here are a few pictures of the inside of the binder, starting with the cover page.  On the back of the cover page is a lined page where I left my Valentine a special note in place of a sappy card from that greeting card store that starts with an H.  :) 

Yes, I also found some (manly) scrapbooking sheets that you could cut into recipe cards.  Even though he prefers making print-outs, everyone has recipe cards for exchanging.  One never knows when a blank recipe card could come in handy, or if he receives a recipe card now there's a spot to keep them.  I put a sheet of recipe cards at the start of each section/divider.  (There are 8 dividers in this binder.)

And let's face it; cooking can be a messy job.  Who wants stuff all over their cards or print-outs?  I bought a pack of 50 heavyweight sheet protectors (non glare) at Office Max, and the recipe cards fit perfectly into a the [In] Place brand of Heavyweight Assorted photo pages.  These photo pages came in a pack of 10 sheets.

With a binder that will hold 300-some pages, I think he should be set for awhile!  In the process of making his present, I let it slip out that I was making his present when we were talking over the phone, and that made him instantly curious.  He may be humoring me, but I don't think he guessed what I was up to.  :)  And no more loose pages of recipes will be floating around.  Most of all, I had a blast making his present!