Showing posts with label Beagle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beagle. Show all posts

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Whimsical Art by Felice Kite

I want to introduce you to Felice Kite!

 
Felice has a beautiful family ~ husband John and two gorgeous and bright teenage daughters.  She has a BS in Interior Design from Virginia Tech.  In addition to her interior design work, she began painting about five years ago.

Felice and I knew each other in high school and recently reconnected through Facebook.  Long story short, I commissioned her to paint a piece for my studio.  Here it is:


Isn't it awesome?!  It's SO me!

Then she transformed this cabinet:


...into this!

 
I love them!  So colorful and fun ~ I smile every time I walk by them!

Felice is such a doll, so cheerful and sweet.  And so thoughtful!  Look what she surprised me with when I went to her home to pick up the wall art and cabinet:

 
Eke!  The (doggie) love of my life!  Felice expertly and beautifully captured exactly what Twyla looks like.  Look at the painting next to the photo she used as inspiration:
 
 
And I absolutely love how she framed the portrait.

I could go on and on about how much I love the pieces she made for me.  Seriously.  But I'll move on and show you some of her other work...

She really enjoys creating word art like these pieces:
 
 
 
Painting pet portraits is a fairly new endeavor for Felice.  Since painting her first one about a year ago, she's sold over a 130 of them.  Look at these cuties:
 
 
 
 
Felice also shares my love of the ocean and finds lots of inspiration at the beach.  Her mermaid paintings are quite popular:
 
 
 
In the summertime, in July, you can find Felice at Carolina Beach Farmer's Market on Saturdays and at Kure Beach Farmer's Market on Tuesday.  A beach trip AND art ~ perfect!
 
Felice counts her wonderful family (including her parents and sister) and friends as wonderful supporters of her art and business.  She says, "How did I get so lucky?  I will chase this dream forever.  It is a great life!"
 
I feel very lucky to have reconnected with her!
 
 
Please head over to Felice's Facbeook page and give her a like.  And if you'd like her to paint you something special, just FB message her!

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Dressing Up for Christmas

I've lived with dogs all my life.  Two Boxers (at the same time), a Great Dane, a Doberman, a German Sheppard/Cocker Spaniel mix, a Cocker Spaniel, and now Twyla.  Never before, with any of our other dogs, have I been so ridiculous...
 
 
But I just cannot help myself!
 
 
Ooooh how I love this Beagle!

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Fall & Thanksgiving Aprons

Fall seems to be flying by just about as quickly as the leaves are changing color here in the DC area.
 
 
And my Retro Revival apron orders are piling up as high as the raked leaves!
 
 
I think everyone is looking forward to Thanksgiving celebrations.
 
 
I know we are!

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Beagle as Sleeping Beauty

Captain Project's been doing lots of business travel lately.
 
 
Good thing I have Twyla, my sleeping beauty, to keep me company.  Makes me smile when I wake up and see her laying under the covers with her head out and (almost) on the pillow!
 
Hope you have lots to smile about today!

Thursday, June 5, 2014

I am Show Ready!

 
I'm drowning in shower caps!  Not really, but this is what 100 of them looks like!
 
Just two more days before Retro Revival heads to the 45th Annual Historic Occoquan Arts & Crafts Show.  I'm so excited!
 
I'm well prepared with lots of inventory.  I'll have 232 aprons, 100 shower caps, 45 insulated travel flat iron cases, 40 sleep masks, and 60 pot mitt sets.  And I also have some exciting new display pieces and ideas for my tent (pictures soon).
 
If you're in the area, please come and visit me!  I'll be in tent #107 on Mill Street (that's the main drag, along the riverfront).
 
In the meantime, Twyla's going to help me out of the tub!
 

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Nothin' But Hound Dogs

 
On Sunday we went to the 67th Annual Foxhound Show at Morven Park.
 
 
 
Beautiful creatures!
 
 

The 1,000+ acre property was once the home of Westmoreland Davis, governor of Virginia from 1918-1922. 
 
 
 
 
A picturesque day spent lounging beneath the giant oak trees, watching the show, and wandering the gardens.  All while the foxhounds (hundreds of them!) serenaded us with their baying.  There is no sound quite like that of a hound!
 
 
Twyla enjoyed the day, hanging out among her "kin."  We decided that's because the foxhounds really just look like giant Twylas!
 

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Men's Shirt Refashion Tutorial {Dress Sewn for $6}

I made this dress in a couple of hours for just $6.
 

Talk about a lucky score!  I found a stash of enormous men's dress shirts at the Salvation Army for $2 a piece.  I grabbed four of them in this pretty, robin's egg blue color, and another four in a soft, buttery yellow.


I normally repurpose men's shirts into aprons like these (click here for details in a prior blog post):
 
 
...But decided to give dress-making a go this time.


I started by taking one shirt and narrowed the sleeves and bodice:


I picked the pocket off of a second shirt...


...Then cut it in half, just below the arms:


I baste stitched along the cut line then pulled the threads to gather it:


Then stitched closed the button placket:


I pinned the gathered shirt to the first shirt and sewed them together.

 
I topped stitched the waist, where the bodice meets the skirt:
 
 
The dress was complete.  Until I tried it on and realized it was way too short (at 5' 10" this is a very common problem for me!).  So, I took a third shirt and cut several inches off the bottom...


...And pinned it underneath the hem of the dress.  Following the hemline of the dress, I top stitched the pieces together and stitched down the button placket of the third shirt.


Dog walking on a sunny spring day was the perfect excuse for donning my new dress.  Notice Twyla's collar corsage?  Click here for the blog post on how I made it.

 

Oh, and why wear just one pearl necklace when you can pile on 7?!

 
I love it when I can elicit a big eye roll from Captain Project!