Blue and White Chinoiserie Christmas Preview

I did wait until after Halloween to post what I've been making lately.

(And I have been eating Halloween candy while doing it!!)

The biggest project has been this blue and white plate wreath that was inspired by @tortoiseandharevintage on IG. She installs a plate wall wreath in her shop! 

A lot of people have asked "how?" on my IG feed 

and on my @elizabethandpayne IG account.

It's pretty easy - just takes a little time.

That is a faux pine wreath. I bought it at a wholesale florist and it truly looks real but there are faux wreaths for sale everywhere right now.

I gathered an assortment of thrifted blue and white plates  

then laid them out on the wreath to get an idea of placement. 

Next I adhered these amazing plate hangers to the back of my plates.

They dry over night and then I added my plates to the wreath and tied a big plaid bow for the top center!

I did the same thing for this smaller wreath 

and just used a single plate to fill the center opening. 

I forgot to take a better picture :( and sorry about the price tag but I didn't have a spare moment to take a cute, styled blogger appropriate pic before it went to the booth.

And then I've created some little Winter Wonderlands 

in blue and white teacups and bowls. 

They will be great as hostess gifts and to just add a touch of Christmas to places like a powder room where there isn't a lot of room for more decorations.

This one is so small and cute. The tallest tree is only about 2 1/2 inches tall!

And lots of people are creating these Chinoiserie blue and white ornaments. 

Just hit up Pinterest if you need tips on how-to!

These are good sellers for us and I enjoy drawing them.

I made my first one a few years ago for this little tree and I haven't stopped yet!

There's definitely more Chinoiserie Christmas to come but that's a little sneak peak for now!

Finders, Keepers, Elizabeth and Payne

If you follow along here or on Instagram then you know that 
Mollie and I love to go out "finding" 

(thrift stores, estate sales, yard sales, online, in person, the trash... you name it!)

    

We have had some great luck!

 

 

We have found some awesome items.

And for the most part we have been "Finders, Keepers!"

We want to keep going out there and finding.

But we feel that we might be on the verge of moving from "Finders, Keepers"
to being featured on an episode of "Hoarders." 

So we are (slowly, very slowly) in the process of starting to sell our great finds and our chinoiserie artwork.

We have leased a spot of our very own at Westside Market in Atlanta!!
(We might be a little excited!!!)

Please continue to follow my personal feed 
and add @elizabethandpayne to your daily scroll as well.

We know all about branding yourself and not starting a new venture until you have business cards and everything is ready to go with a seamless launch 
BUT that's not how we are rolling. 

(Life is a bit nuts right now).

We have a business plan: Find amazing stuff and sell it for a great price. 
Be nice and fun and ask people to bear with us while we get it together!!

If you are local please pop in and visit our space
 and all the other great vendors at Westside Market!

We started "moving in" to our spot on July 1st! . So many goodies for sale:

(More to come - just getting started!)

Please follow along and we'll have a great time while we figure some of the details out!

( We hope to be able to ship to those of you who aren't local at some point in the near future!
And if anyone has shipping carrier advice, please share. 
We don't want shipping to cost anyone anymore than it has to!)

We have some great items ready to post on @elizabethandpayne so please keep an eye out. 

We will give you a heads up on @madebymolliesmom and @elizabethandpayne 

Now we are "Finders. Sharers!"

Furniture Roulette

At my house any piece of furniture can end up in any room at any time.

Just the spin of the wheel. Luck of the draw.

It's a gamble when you come to my house.

This may be particularly true when we are snowed in.

It rarely happens but when it does...

Before the first flake fell last week ...

This dresser was in the family room holding up the monster TV 

(my opinion which is not the opinion of others living here)

and containing our electronic "stuff."

On NYE my friend commented on how much she liked that dresser where it was and the color. I said, "Me too." And at that time I meant it. 

The dresser below was holding up our industrial chic spice cabinet in the kitchen

and  awaiting a paint job.

 The dresser had come from Mollie in one of her many moves during college.

I liked it just fine. It just needed me to decide on paint and take time to paint it.

(Is it weird to have bedroom dressers all over the house? Don't ask me. I have a china cabinet in my bathroom!)

And between NYE and the first flake this beauty showed up at my house.

Thank you to whomever donated this to the thrift store.

I snapped it right up!

And that's not even the one I talked about here

 and is in a holding pattern while I get it's new spot ready and paint it.

So the wood finish bamboo dresser came home and into the family room.

 Where its perfect self now sits! 

All it needed was dusting and two screws to fix the fabulous bamboo pulls. 

TA-DA!

Then...

I started painting this dresser (and feeding the dog LOL) a nice soft blue by Sherwin Williams.

Tidewater.

 Inside.

Because this is what was going on outside:

And while I was painting in the middle of the kitchen my husband managed to pull this off:

But back to the furniture switcheroo. 

Amazing what you can accomplish when you can't leave the house.

All finished in the gorgeous, soft SW Tidewater turquoisey blue. 

Our thrifted industrial chic spice cabinet back in place. 

A few globes, plants and some blue and white.

Looks like it was made for that spot.

And a little peek of one of my favorite lino prints by Charleston SC artist Stacy Bradley.

And the white dresser that was originally Mollie's and then in the kitchen was just picked up by the husband of the friend who admired my blue dresser on NYE.

It's like I'm contagious!

Now the same thing is happening at their house!

#shopthehouse

Fall 2016 One Room Challenge - Week 4

This is the ongoing list on my iphone.

I feel like there should be more check marks :)

However several things are right there - hanging in the balance -

 allllmost ready to be checked off!!

    Good thing. 

There's a lot that looks like this:

 

And I went looking for fabrics again because the one I loved online was not "IT" in person.

Below are some contenders:

I have decided and it's on sale!!

 I just need a few minutes to hit my local store and grab it. 

I cannot wait to see it in the room!

Be sure to follow everyone's progress on Linda's blog, Calling It Home!! 

I can't wait to see how far along everyone is!!

from my iphone 10 20 2016

1. We had a Sole Hope Shoe Cutting Party at church last week after our  Missions Lunch.

This is one of the easiest and truly helpful projects I have ever helped with. 

You cut shoes pieces out of old blue jeans.

 Mail them to Sole Hope, they ship to Uganda and teach people there how to make shoes thus employing people and the shoes are given to children who are in danger of disease, being crippled, amputation or worse due to jiggers.

#zerojiggers.

You order a kit with all you need but blue jeans 

and it's great as a home party or with a large group. 

Watch the videos of children with jiggers.

 Really. Do it. 

And the quote by Asher Collie at the beginning of the video about who the problem belongs to is one of the best!!)

Then have a Shoe Cutting Party. 

And all ages can help.

 Look at Frank cranking out the denim shoe parts.

 If a retired doctor of mathematics can do it, so can you :)

A very kind person donated their coin jar(s) to Edu-Pack to help with Hurricane Matthew Relief efforts in Haiti.

 However, it needed to be rolled. The WCYouth Group spent hours rolling it. 

And we haven't finished. We are at $1500.00

That's a big coin jar!!

2. I spend a lot of time in this gym from October until March Madness. 

I don't know a thing about basketball. I played tennis.

Thankfully I have a great team of basketball loving volunteers. 

And they are all 2 feet taller than I am :)

 3.  I went river rafting on the Nantahala. 

We used Nantahala Outdoor Center for our group and it was a fantastic experience.
Beautiful day on the river.
 Do it. 
It's good for the soul. 
Take your kids. #nocellservice

Someone did have what they call an OOBE.

Out of Boat Experience. 

It ended well - so no worries!

#oholivia

4. The purple mums Mollie gave me for my birthday in September are still going strong!

5.  Mollie turned 25!! 

#howdidthathappen

6. Compassion Experience.

I went to a Compassion Experience program in Roswell a few weeks ago.

Well done!

You experience life in an emerging nation through the eyes of a child. I learned a lot.

  If you get a chance to go to one - do it. 

And take your kids. It's interactive and you use ipods so there's that!!

7. I have had some great thrifting luck lately!

I love it when you find a pair!

(I have a new favorite mustard yellow spray paint!!)

This lamp!!! 

Bamboo shelf in perfect condition. $20.00 

#loaditup

Vintage bamboo swivel chairs.

Going white.

8. I made this one pan lemon rosemary chicken dish from Southern Living. 

Seriously good. And easy. And one pan!!

#winnerwinnerchickendinner

And this is my picture - not the professional SL one. 

It's really that gorgeous!!

9. I want to live in a house that is situated just like this.

But someplace warm.

10. I'm all in on flamingos. 

11. Mollie and our friend, Handel, from Haiti. We had dinner a few days after Hurricane Matthew ravaged the end of the island. His family and friends are okay.

There are lots of ways to help if you are able.

12. We have had a few cool nights in Atlanta and the firepit has been in use.

 It goes well with red wine ;)

Well, if you are still with me I promise to "empty" my cell phone more often. 

This was a long one!

I was invited to link up at White Spray Paint Blog.

Check it out and that's a blog name I can relate to!