field trip: sea rose cottage

Today I took myself on a little field trip to beautiful Bristol, Rhode Island to visit a shop called Sea Rose Cottage. My best friend Cindy discovered it while researching chalk paint and once I visited the website, I knew I HAD to go ... today's schedule allowed and I was off and running!

Located in a historic home on a street that leads right to the water, Sea Rose Cottage is part-studio space and part-retail shop, filled not only with paint and supplies but furniture hardware, vintage finds and Dash & Albert rugs.

In the short time that I was there, the shop was never empty. Women ready to embark on rehabbing furniture and more were there to buy paint and ask questions, and owner Nancy was ever-ready with helpful tips, information and encouragement!

Brand-new to chalk paint myself, I had lots of questions and left with a bag of Annie Sloan paint and soft wax and even that small Dash & Albert rug you see on the counter (I've wanted one for years).

Sea Rose Cottage is furnished smartly, equipped with bookcases and cabinets, some even brand-new from Ikea, all painted in a muted palette using varying finishes from "simple vintage" to "smooth modern" to illustrate variations of decorative paint results. Nancy's spacious desk is topped with toile fabric under glass and taffy-pink roman shades add fresh pops of striped whimsy to tall, stately windows.

I entered the shop thinking I wanted to paint a few old wooden chairs but now all kinds of ideas are brewing. Nancy and I are also brainstorming about a possible tinkering event. How fun would that be?!

For more information on Sea Rose Cottage, please visit the website where you can also find the shop's various social media links, workshops, and more.

Avoid perfectionism! The distressed look isn't difficult to achieve, 

and by nature it's not supposed to be perfect."

~ Annie Sloan

Fun fact: Annie Sloan and I share the same publisher, CICO Books!

xo
elyse

tinkered treasures book party

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Join-us--Meet-Elyse-Major-at-Tinkered-Treasures-Book-Party-at-Kreatelier-on-Sept-19--.html?soid=1101563126436&aid=Nlt_3KDPXrg

blogcountability

One of the things I have always liked about keeping a blog is that unlike a secret diary, the very fact that this is public tends to lend a layer of accountability. So, if I announce that it's time for me to complete the project of transitioning my boys' playroom to study, I will. Or so, that's the intention anyway.

This downstairs bedroom ear-marked from the moment I laid eyes on this house to be a playroom, had been my very favorite space. To me, it embodied all of my dreams come true: married with children and finally, in my first-ever house. A room designated for play and creativity. Bliss!

But alas, the boys rarely played in the room, preferring to spread their Legos throughout the living room and draw at the dining room table. The playroom became more of a giant toy closet, always seeming messy (okay, trashed) and the least-used room of the house. With my boys getting older, I decided it was time to transition the room into a useful study/hangout.

Ha! I had posted this image to my Tinkered Treasures Facebook page during a painting break. Okay, so first I gave the room a coat of white primer and then white paint.

Next, we picked out desks, chairs and small furnishings from Ikea. {Ah yes, rolling chairs ... so perfect for racing through the house ...}

Things were coming together nicely and the study is now where the boys do their homework.

But, I got very busy with Book 2 and never completed the room.

My oldest taped a map to the wall but I want to really infuse the place with some flair. I would like to do a map theme but the boys prefer a more vivid comic book theme, which is fine.

I'm putting it out there that I want to make this room the cool study/hangout it was intended to be and not the homework/dumping ground you see here.

Some ideas:
a chalkboard wall
framed artwork of the boys and of comics covers
paint or decoupage the wood bookcase
more lighting
hooks! shelves!
add a window treatment to the existing white blinds
did I say hooks?
a sleep-sofa
TV or computer?

Stay tuned and feel free to comment with any ideas you have for the room.

Are you working on any projects this summer?

xo
elyse

souvenirs on a dime

I remember being small and at the sea shore with my family. There would always be that part of the day left-over for wandering in and out of souvenir shops. I vividly recall having very little money to spend on trinkets. My family still teases me that I once entered a gift shop with only ten cents and still exited with a bag! (it was a scrap of fabric!) I just returned from a day trip to Cape Cod where I still love to search for the junkiest of souvenir shacks, and I offer to you some easy-to-make souvenirs on a dime.

One empty taffy box from Cape Cod Salt Water Taffy gets snipped into book marks

and post cards.

Collected sand fills a honey bottle and is labeled with an office tag

Fill a jam jar with beach glass or paint and hang a small shell from a bottle. Not near the sea? Fill a canning jar with Epsom salt and enjoy its prismatic effect in a window.

Use colorful containers to corral supplies ...

If you like these ideas, you're really going to swoon over my second book, coming Spring 2014. Speaking of which, I have been writing so much that when my family and I went to a lobster-themed gift shop (The Lobster Claw), I actually said out-loud, "What a lovely curated collection of crustacean." {Yikes!}

happy summer wishes

xo
elyse

book 2 news and a project!

Hello little neglected blog! It's me, your author. I feel like I'm walking into a closed room full of dusty furnishings and wilted plants but I'm here to draw the curtains, open the windows and let some light shine in! Like many, blogging lead to the reawakening of many interests of which in pursuit has kept me too busy to blog. {Did that make sense? I need lunch ...}

Book 1 -- Buy it today!

Long-story short, in February my first book, Tinkered Treasures was released by CICO Books. Just weeks after submitting all of the text and projects, I began working out ideas for a second book. All through the year I experimented with ideas, developed a proposal and got the green-light. The span between this contact signing and deadline was relatively brief so I've been tinkering and writing like crazy and just moments ago, sent the final piece off to my editor. Exhale. Sure, there will still be lots of proofing ahead but the big bulk of the work is done.

I've got lots of summer fun to catch-up on but first I want to share a project for Book 2 that just couldn't make the trip in one piece. You see, I'm in Rhode Island and my publisher is in London. The way our process works is that I make all of the projects and ship them in batches to their offices across the sea to be styled and photographed. I also email step-by-step photographs to be illustrated and all of the text. Despite careful packaging, both times this project split into four pieces. It just wasn't meant to be included, I suppose. So here it is, the Pasta Shell Wreath.

Using craft or school glue, affix small shell pasta to a Styrofoam wreath form. Work in sections that you allow to dry or noodles are likely to go rogue!

Spray-paint the entire wreath white (may need a few coats). Note the partially snow-covered ground.

Allow to dry and hang from a strip of fabric to welcome summer! Looks like actual sea shells, don't you think?

happy july!
xo
elyse

novica giveaway winner announced

Another pretty example!

Hello and thank you to everyone who took a moment to enter the NOVICA giveaway. Using random.org the lucky winner of a $50 electronic gift certificate is BethElderton!

Thanks again and happy July wishes!

xo
elyse

Suggested links from NOVICA:

Women's Clothing from Central America

Blue Dresses

Short Skirts

Balinese Dangle Earrings

Peruvian Silver 950 Jewelry

Cotton Dress

$50 giveaway to novica

Hello and happy summer!

Things for me have been crazy-busy but I will save the reason why for another post (followers of my Tinkered Treasures page on Facebook know ...). Tonight, I'm hosting a giveaway!

I politely decline to most companies that solicit giveaway requests but a couple of years ago, I was approached by NOVICA, like their products and philosophy and have said yes to hosting ever since. NOVICA is one of the leading fair trade artisan websites. They work with National Geographic to give talented artisans around the world a place to express their artistic talents and provide access to the world market. NOVICA has thousands of top fair trade corporate gifts and home decor items on their website.

Chalcedony dangle earrings, 'Eternally Blue'

One winner will receive an electronic gift certificate for $50.00 to spend at NOVICA.com. The site is packed with unique and beautiful jewelry, decor, apparel and much more. I am easily overwhelmed by choices so I tend to stick to the earring section of the site (like the pretty example above). Anyway ...

To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment on this post
For additional entries, share the news of this giveaway via blogging, Facebook, Twitter, etc. and then leave 1 comment for each share.

A winner will be chosen using Random.org on Tuesday, July 2, 2013.

Thanks and happy browsing!

Suggested links from NOVICA:

Women's Clothing from Central America

Blue Dresses

Short Skirts

Balinese Dangle Earrings

Peruvian Silver 950 Jewelry

Cotton Dress

xo
elyse

summer newsstand 2013

Back when it was still cold and snowy, I was busy writing articles due for publication in summer. Assignments that I am always thrilled to get and excitedly anticipate seeing laid-out in glossy print months later.

This article in the summer issue of Romantic Country was so interesting to write. A husband and wife built this sun-filled cottage from hay bales to be an outdoor retreat and studio!

This article in the same issue, was also filled with inspired and beautiful ideas. It's always such a pleasure to review photograph after stunning photograph and then interview the homeowners (who are always so kind and sweet). From their answers to my many (many, many) questions it's wonderful to have the story begin to develop in my mind and almost write itself.

This article appears in the premiere issue of French Country Style and an added bonus was that the story connected me to Courtney Milton of French Country Cottage. Writing about the homes of bloggers is especially rewarding to me and of course the homeowner's blog offers so much rich content and detail.

Which brings me back to spring and the talented Stacey Flesch of A Sort of Fairytale and Cottage Industry. Stacey and I became fast-friends here in bloglandia and I pitched a story about her cheerful home to the lovely editors at Romantic Homes who said yes! The piece ended up in Flea Market Decor: a perfect fit. I have such a strong sense and admiration of Stacey's "beautility" style that the article was a breeze to write (and might be an all-time fave of my writing portfolio).

Well, back to what's currently on the newsstand: you can find a tutorial from my book Tinkered Treasures in Cottage Style. Beautiful issue.

And thanks to my publisher, book excerpts are on the shelves in the UK, too in magazines like Essentials and (GASP!) Prima among many others. I've also been awaiting the delivery of the July issue of Romantic Homes where I will be featured in the we love / artisan section (so I'll be running to the door like a puppy whenever I hear the mail truck).

Summer fun is in the bag (and bookstore)!

xo
elyse