"less is more"

"Neutrals provide a perfect canvas for the playful palette of this sunny Providence bungalow."

Because magazines tend to hit the newsstands early, the May issue of Cottages & Bungalows might seem like old news in mid-April, but it's still very exciting to me!

Here's a little story of why, and how it came to be ...



Through blogging I became acquainted with artist Margaret Owen, and as it turns out she lives in Rhode Island just like me. We met for lunch and I held a giveaway of one of her bea-u-tiful paintings (post). Soon after, I sent a batch of images to Romantic Homes to pitch a story about Margaret for their we love / artisan section. Not only did the idea get the green light, but upon seeing a snippet of Margaret's fresh and colorful home, I was asked to do a story for their sister publication Cottages & Bungalows.



In the April 2012 issue of Romantic Homes you will find my article The Practical Impressionist, my very first non-tutorial writing for the magazine. How especially wonderful to have the opportunity to help promote Margaret and her art.



In October, I met Margaret and enlisted friend Bronwyn (aka Casapinka) at Margaret's home, where we plotted a course over sandwiches and got busy the following week.



The three of us had SO MUCH FUN moving furniture, styling vignettes, buying fruit and flowers, and taking photographs. Industrious Margaret even created a new painting to display and built an orange box to hold a large floor plant!



Next it was time for me to write the article and wait patiently for it to publish!



You can find my article Less is More on pages 49-57 with resources listed on page 94. I found my copies at Target and Barnes & Noble.

The seemingly indefatigable Margaret just returned from hosting an art retreat in Morocco and is now offering a painting workshop in France in September! How cool is that? For information visit French Sketchbook.

MEANWHILE in BOOK NEWS ...
The project part of the book is complete and I am currently writing, writing, writing, editing and writing! And smiling. Hope you are smiling, too.

xo
elyse

spring break

Hello!

It feels strange to be such an "absentee" blogger lately but I have been using every opportunity to work on my book. I'm trying to be very organized, too. Well, pretty organized anyway!



The projects portion is complete! Days spent making glorious messes, listening to music and being nervous; then tidying everything up before the boys storm through the door hungry. The best tinkering days were the ones where projects seemed to take their own detours and turned into things I hadn't planned on. Know what I mean?



The very day I realized that I had depleted much of my treasured supplies, a surprise package arrived at my door step from the amazingly talented Debi! A beautiful egg carton painted, decorated and filled with favorite things like paper roses, mini cupcake liners, and other sweet odds and ends! That Debi is such a good egg. {tee hee}



With the projects behind me, I am currently writing all of the text. Step-by-step instructions, project introductions, etc. I try to start each writing session with a favorite treat for inspiration whether it's baking a batch of muffins the night before to pair with coffee, or sipping pink grapefruit seltzer (so delish!).


I can see by blog thumbnails that I have lots of catching up to do on really fabulous posts. I do try to update my Tinkered Treasures page on Facebook almost daily. It's usually small snippets of things like the image above from my latest magazine purchase. GASP!

The boys have the week off from school so it's time to put on my cruise director's cap and keep us busy and happy. Maybe I can fit in some writing during a couple of cartoons ... or better yet, a cartoon marathon?

Happy April!

xo
elyse