Teacher Appreciation Week: Clever Sayings and Sources of Inspiration

Oh my golly! Teacher Appreciation Week started today. 
I don't have any gifts made. (I like to make them.)
The kids have a jillion teachers this year.  (So they need to be affordable to make.) 
Plus my family is crazy busy this week. (I need to be able to make the gifts quickly.) 
I surfed and found this site with a bunch of clever little sayings that I can build upon.  (Whew!) 
Stay tuned to see what I come up with.  In the meantime, here are some photos that I found inspiring. 
From The Idea Room        
 From EmilyGiovanni.com            
 From Skiptomylou.blogspot.com
 

Surf the shelter blogs for HOURS!

If you love reading shelter magazines, and surfing the blogosphere for inspiring home design blogs, you may enjoy this list of nominees, finalists and winners over at apartmenttherapy.com.  (Voting is closed.)
Apartment Therapy.com's Homies 2011 Awards List 
Perhaps someone I know will be on the list next year. 

How To Get Published with Carolyn Sollis

Had a great day at the Kravet Show Room with Carolyn Sollis.

Finish it Friday: My Thomas Paul Inspired Pillow

The first one is finished! Bummed I can't complete the second one till later tonight.  Wait till you see what I have planned for the windows. I'm off to see a baseball game. Happy Friday!

Thomas Paul Inspired Pillows

I decided a few weeks ago to try to recreate a Thomas Paul pillow.  I couldn't find the fabric after many exhaustive searches and couldn't live without it.  So I tried to create a derivative piece of fabric artwork for my own house.  I'm dubbing today as Finish It Friday.   Stay tuned for the finished pictures later this weekend.

How to Embed a Link in Your Blog -- Point to Your Source

My friend Toni asked me how to isolate a word within in her own blog post and how activate the word as a link to a source on the web.  Have you ever wondered how to embed a link in your blog without sending your reader away from your blog?  Let's say you are writing a blog post about paint websites and you want to link to for example: Benjamin Moore or Sherwin-Williams.


Here are the steps:
While writing (or composing /"editing") your post in Blogger: (Read that underlined part again)
1. Highlight (click and drag over) the text you want to activate. (example:  Highlight the words Benjamin Moore)
2. Select Blogger's Link tool (Look for the underlined word that reads Link)
Tip: If you aren't sure which one is the link tool, let your mouse linger over the editing tools and their names will pop up.)
3.  A white box will pop up asking you to enter the URL
3. Enter the URL (the web address) of the exact page you are pointing your reader. 
4. Click "Test the Link" to see if you have indeed linked to the page you want.
(It's kind of easy, right?)


Yet...I know there are some that get confused and need more explanation. 
So...If you staring at the computer and suddenly aren't sure what to put in the white box...here are your options:
1--If you have the webpage memorized, well then, you are a memorizing genius, and I want to be on your team when we play Trivial Pursuit.
2--If you're a seasoned computer user, you can open up a second tab on your browser, go to the website, surf to the exact spot you want to show your readers, then Copy (by using the keyboard strokes, toggle Ctrl-C)  the web address from the top of the page. Then surf back to the little white box and Paste in the web address in the box (by using the keyboard strokes, toggle Ctrl-P)
3--Or if you are like my mom, you can go to the website, copy it down on pencil and paper and try to squint your eyes and retype it inside the white box and risk messing up a keystroke or more, then express your frustration with technology by calling me when I'm making dinner and telling me that there is something wrong with your computer.  (True story. Happens all the time.)


Enjoy and apply your newly learned blogging skill. 
The best lesson here is that it's important to site your sources and give credit where it's due. 

The View that put a Drapery Crisis into Perspective

The BEST phone call I received in 2010 came via cell the moment I arrived at The Grand Canyon. (Two days prior to Thanksgiving.) A sweet business gal I know called; not knowing I was out of town. She was having drapery issues with a client of hers. And the stress of fitting it all in was a bit too much at that moment. Instantly upon seeing the canyon I knew I could help put the issue into perspective.  My eyes were on the scenery, my ear was on the phone and  I knew with every ounce of my being that the drapery crisis du jour was only "small-blip of a moment" in our lifetime. After giving her my own words of advice, I also quoted a well known industry pal of mine, Scot Robbins. "There's no such thing as a drapery emergency." That statement + that phone call + this view was a great free business lesson for me.  (And my drapery friend, after a much needed break, got it all worked out and got her Thanksgiving dinner finished too.) I hope this view can help someone else too.

Vienna Paint -- Benjamin Moore

The folks at Benjamin Moore and the owner of Vienna Paint were fantastic hosts last night in their Finding the Perfect Paint Color class.  My friend Liz come as my invited guest (I had to do a little convincing to get her to do it...I'm so glad she came.  She enjoyed it too.) We both came home with super SWAG  bags.  The Benjamin Moore special reps, the Benjamin Moore designer, the coloristas (I love that title), and the store manager, and the store owner were all sooooo nice.   After hearing that I was using only fandecks for my Paint Consulations with clients, the store manager, Andrew was so nice...he went out of his way and gave me several Design Tool Kits that I can take on my Paint Consultations when I meet with clients. (I made sure Liz would get some too.)  I promised him a big thank you...I hope he likes Pumpkin Bars. (I'm kinda famous with the neighbors for them.)  The funny thing is...The colors of the pumpkin bars look like the Benjamin Moore Colors I have in my kitchen. 

Maybe I can decorate your house using the colors found in your favorite recipe? 

Brush Fringe is Messy

I'm not a fan of brush fringe on pillow edges.

...It gets tangled up and looks snarled after very little use.
Here's my solution...avoid long brush fringe on pillow edges or

Gently comb the untamed strands with a wide toothed hair pick when they look too messy.

--Try it,
SK  

Handmade Gift Box

My sweet friend Liz had a birthday this week. We're in the same industry and we talk on the phone almost daily. (Our afternoon phone conversations usually involve the topic of lack of energy, having so much work to finish, needing coffee, or not having any on hand at all.)

A few months ago I had re-created Liz's business logo for her and for her birthday gift, I wanted to create something handmade using her logo. I was going to make her a wall sign, but after it was finished, I thought it needed more. (Drapery ladies are really good at noticing when a design looks incomplete.) My backup plan was to give her some coffee or to make the sign into a box. So in my spare time over a few afternoons this week, I cut more wood, painted, stained, sealed, and assembled a supercool personalized wooden box and filled it with my favorite stovetop espresso maker, espresso, the recipe for my espressos and include a yummy, dark chocolate bar. What I loved, was that the gift was personalized, ON TREND in LIMEWASHED woodtones and used this season's top colors TURQUOISE and PURPLE. But the thing that was best of all was hearing the scream of delight when Liz saw her logo painted on the box. She loved it. She didn't want to open it. I had a great time making it.

I covered up the logo so she would be surprised when she received the gift. It looked like this when she first saw it: