Three Easy Tips for Combing Fabrics

Dear Chicago House,

I have just made some new throw pillows covers for the sofa in your sun room, don't they make you want to sit down and have a good laze with a cool drink in your hand.

I spent ages in Jo-Ans picking out the fabric and I am really pleased with the way the fabrics compliment each other so today I thought I'd share with you a few easy tips for combing fabric.

Color Palette

Home in on a common color


Fabrics with a common color work well together. To see each of the colors that are used in your fabric take a look at the color key printed right at the edge of your cloth. My fabrics shared very similar greens (No 3)

Pattern Scale

Vary pattern scale


Combing fabrics with a similarly scaled patterns is a bit dull, nothing pops and the result is flat. The effect of a large scale pattern like that on the left pillow above is enhanced when it is combined with a more subtle smaller pattern...like the simple stripe.

Pattern Design

Look for a common design element.

Both of my fabrics have a vertical line component  - on the stripy one it is obvious and if you look at the other fabric there lots of shorter vertical lines. This design element serves to really unites the fabrics without being matchy matchy.

When sewing these covers I added zips so they can easy be changed out/washed etc. Tutorial on that coming soon.

Love from

Creative In Chicago

XX

Categories: decorative accents, Sewing

Blossom Art

Dear Chicago House,

It is snowing in my garden today ... snowing blossom that is....but hey in Chicago you never know.

I couldn't help myself, I collected some fallen petals and used them as my medium for creating a piece of art...albeit a piece of temporary art.

I took a shabby old terracotta pot, plugged the hole in the bottom with duct tape, filled the pot with water and then floated my petals on top. I picked a shabby dirty pot because I wanted to play off the purity of the petals.

Voila!

I don't like to toot my horn but at high resolution these photos were amazing and I am seriously considering using them to create some more wall art.

Of course it won't be the first time I have created pieces from usual objects, I built an orb from driftwood and framed sea glass


Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Categories: Arty Farty Friday, Garden

Free Blooms

Dear Chicago House,

1 pair of secateurs + 2 minute walk around the garden = Beautiful jug of free blooms.

This lovely little spray are simply boughs of blossom and they smell divine. I love the simplicity of just plonking whatever I cut into a simple white jug. I am a lazy flower arranger!

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Categories: Garden

Spring Color: Tulips in Action

Dear Chicago House,

When I left last week to pack up and supervise the move of the sibling house, Chicago was still rather cold and decidedly lacking on the spring front. St Louis on the other hand was warm and really very summery ... a welcome change from the Windy City.

However on my returned I was thrilled to see Spring has indeed sprung and was greeted with a garden full of color. Yippee, the hours I had spent on my knees, planting bulbs in the fall, had paid off!

I really love dabbling in the garden, it is creating on a completely different level...but you have to be so patient to see your results and keep your fingers crossed that your effort does not become a "banquet buffet" for deer or other garden pests.

So before anything got munched I rushed into the garden with my camera and took a few snaps. I love these tulips

and these pansies were grown from seed last year...and have spent the entire winter outdoors. I am amazed they survived.

What's happening in your garden?

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Categories: Garden

Bye Bye Sibling Townhouse

Dear Chicago House,

The sale of our lovely St Louis townhouse, which we called "The Sibling" (you are our main house after all) went through today. It was on the market for only 30 days and bought by the first people who looked at it ...it really was a lovely house and so much fun to decorate. I won't bore you with why we sold it.

I used a mood board to put together the look for the living room

created a serene beachy feel family room

 Gave the master bedroom a more personal touch

Chicago teen wanted a day-glo orange bedroom so seeing as you are only 15 once I obliged. Put your sunglasses on for this

It only had a weeny kitchen but take a look at those goreous wood floors.

We are going to miss you sibling!

Anyone else give their house a name or am I a nutter?

Love

Creative in Chicago

XX

Categories: decorating, Town House

A Free Printable Greetings Card: Abstract Triangles

Dear Chicago House,

I had a sudden desire to create a graphic with triangles this week and after 20 minutes on Adobe Illustrator I had designed this.

It is the sort of thing I love to let my eye wander over, it has a 3D quality that can be viewed in many different ways.

Because I designed it as a vector I am able to scale it up and down without any loss in quality and am considering creating a great big canvas to hang on the wall.

In the mean time I used it to created another free card you can download ( CLICK HERE)

 

Print it on a thick card stock using your desktop printer and you have a card you can send to anyone, male, female, young or old.

If you download it please let me know by commenting on this post!

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Categories: FREE, Graphic Design

Cupcake Frosting for a Rainy Day

Dear Chicago House,

Was it too much to ask that your basement stay bone dry after 3" of rain in a 24hr period? At least it was only a small puddle that was easily dried up with an a couple of old tea towels ...but still!

Chicago teenager likes to bake, especially when it is raining so last night she trashed the kitchen ( really!) and whipped up a really yummy batch of cup cakes complete with a rather unique frosting.

Don't they look sumptuous!

The frosting recipe was from a baking recipe book that belonged to my Welsh granny  and was titled "American Frosting"

Well, having lived in the USA for over 17 years and eaten many cakes in that time, I can truly say that I have never come across this taste or texture before. It was a cross between meringue and marshmallow and lets just say there aren't as many cakes on the platter now as in the photo.

So I thought I'd share the frosting recipe with you

Ingredients

1 egg white
4 tablespoons water
few drops of vailla essence
1 cup (or 8 oz) of sugar

Put the water and sugar into a sauce pan and heat on low until the sugar is dissolved and reaches a temperature of 240 def F. This takes about 5 minutes. Whisk the egg white until it is very stiff then gradually add the hot syrup whisking all the time. Whisk until the frosting is thick and creamy, this takes about 5 minutes.

Spread immediately as the frosting sets very quickly

Enjoy

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Categories: Food, How to, teenager