Eye Candy Holiday Merchandising

Santa's elf was up early this morning.  I was so excited to pull together my vision for our holiday merchandising and decor at the optical.  The theme is "How Sweet It Is" and boy oh boy, it turned out "sweet"!

I chose to bring together a color scheme based on reds, pinks, lime greens, and kelly greens.  It is fun, bright, and whimsical.  Let me share a few of my favorite highlights from this sweet candy land:

1.  Peppermint Paradise:  Using two chinet cardboard plates facing each other, I drew peppermints with red permanent marker.  Then, using iridescent cellophane and pink ribbon, I created a "wrapper" over the mints.  For the lollipops, I used wooden dowels to create a lollipop stick effect.  These giant peppermints and peppermint lollipops now hang from the ceiling and adorn the doors in the shop.

2.  Funky Nutcrackers:  Lime green spray paint makes a modern statement for these fun nutcrackers.  It was a little bit of an experiment, but they turned out really fun and funky!

3.  Candy in glass jars:  It took a little bit of sorting, but color appropriate gum balls are perfect in this glass jar.  Large lollipops from a candy store and giant peppermint sticks bring the pinks and reds into the scheme!

4.  Sparkle and Shine:  decorative shiny grass (with little kids coming through, we may regret this one) and white/clear marbles give a bright backdrop to the colorful frame lines we featured.  The iridescent candy wrappers on the peppermints also bring in some sparkle and shine to the look.

Woodsy Wonderland

Remember those fabulous orange candles we used for Halloween at the optical shop?  Well, we were able to create a simple intermediate display for Thanksgiving/Fall without shopping at all! Here's how I did it:

1.  I used the two pillar candles I had purchased for the Halloween display.  I love that these candles are different heights and were orange scented (so fresh!).

2.  I gathered some oak leaves in peak colors and pressed them under some heavy books.

3.  I used what we had:  including some woven wood orbs, cork textured contact paper, & orange and clear marble stones.

4.  I featured wood-tone frames as well as some really neat frames that are made of actual wood and bamboo.  We also featured fall-hued sunglasses as well!

Remember to look for items you have around your house that might go well with other items.  I like to create motifs based on themes, rather than have everything match-matchy.  Here we created a woodsy feel using wood tones and orange hues.

Only a few days late, but have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Gothic Halloween

As the merchandiser for a local high-end optical, I wanted to make sure that any holiday decor stayed classy, yet still featured the merchandise well.  For Halloween, I had a $50 budget for merchandising/decor and I wanted to make that stretch as far as I could.  So...I hit the thrift store!  I found fabulous candle holders and a brass candelabra.  All were different heights and different shapes.  I also found gorgeous orange candles from Bed, Bath & Beyond and fake spider webbing from the grocery store.  A few coats of black spray paint later and a little creative arrangement made for an romantically spooky Halloween display that was perfect for the optical shop's all black frame line.  

Here is the final product:  

What we focused on with this project:
1.  Feature a frame line that normally gets left out of the spotlight, but is perfect for the Halloween season!
2.  Stay within budget...
3.  Create a clean, classy look that says "Halloween" without being too overt
4.  Reuse and repurpose items, rather than buying "all new"
5.  Create a display that has some versatile items that can be used in other seasonal displays (black candlesticks would look gorgeous with red candles for Valentine's...)

Eco-Friendly & DIY Christmas Decor

Now these are super late!  But it's never too early to start thinking about holiday decorations.  (Or in my case, in advertising, we're already shooting Christmas trees and planning for the holidays in July!)  These are some of the decorations I made for Christmas 2010 when I hosted my family.  My decorations were focused on using natural materials, reusing materials, or using items that can be used year-round.

*  Spray painted branches and used them in an everyday green-tinted vase

*  green tablecloth that I use all year round

* green tinted coke bottles (already red and green!) with ribbon as candleholders

* home made swag made of spray painted branches

* pine cones collected on our dog walk and ribbons 

AK is O.K. - fresh tracks in alaska

Our fresh tracks led from Tennessee all the way up to Alaska last week!  This was a new adventure for both me and the hubbs.  We literally were able to make fresh tracks - in the snow!  Hubbs went back-country skiing in fresh powder!  And we've both wanted to go to Alaska!

In honor of our trip (and to add a little whimsy), I decided to make some Alaska shirts for our trip.  One of those viral pins on Pinterest about bleaching t-shirts with a bleach pen was my inspiration.

Take One:  Bleach Pen T-shirt

1.  I decided on the phrase for the shirt "AK is o.k." and googled images for moose heads to emulate.

2.  I used stickers to place out a rough guideline as to where I would "draw" with the bleach.

3.  I placed a piece of cardboard inside the t-shirt so that the bleach would not bleed through to the back.  

4.  I used that dexterity God gave me and my design education from Judson University to sketch out the image on the shirts.  

5.  Sadly, the bleach did not work out as I had hoped.  The bleach was too sloppy and runny on my shirt, so I decided I had to scrap that.  Then, the hubbs' shirt (below), which was made of a softer cotton, would not bleach.  After I washed the shirt, you could not tell that any bleach had been soaking on the shirt at all!

Take Two:  Screen Printing Ink!

1.  I headed on over to the craft store to look for fabric paint and left with this:  

2.  I followed the instructions on the bottle and here were the results!  It was super easy!

Moral of the story:  AK is not just o.k. - It's Amazing!

Vintage Window Turned Bulletin/Photo Board

I found these awesome vintage windows at a thrift store in Nashville in the spring. It's a perfect example of a project where I get the bones for the project and then 'marinate' on it for a while before I do anything. Here's what I did with one of the two windows:
I made this bulletin board/photo frame for my sister's apartment. I screwed on some brackets to the back so that she can hang it if she wants to. I also screwed in two knobs on the front that allows it to be a small hat/coat rack when it's hung. I finished this project almost six weeks ago, but only last week was able to give it to her, so I had to hold it in til then.

I still have window number two to complete. I'm currently halfway done. I'm turning that window into a side table and I'm super excited to see how it turns out!

fresh idea: easy personalized lampshade

Here's a fresh idea that I did back in 2005 when I was a counselor at Lake Forest Ranch. I wanted to do something where my campers that summer could sign their name and I could remember them forever. At the same time, I wanted them to sign something that I could actually USE. I am a big fan of having things in my home be as functional as possible.

My idea: decorate a lamp shade! It was super easy too! All I did was buy a basic white lampshade from Wal-Mart (because that's the only store they had in town :) ) and then supplied sharpie markers.

I love this because now six years later, I still have this reminder of my fabulous summer at camp as a counselor and all of the girls that were a part of that summer. I love this too, because anyone can do this and for so many different situations. Another cool thing is that I did this again when I worked there a second summer, so I can have a matching pair!

I'm so excited about this vase!

I am so excited about this project! It was a gift for my mom and was inspired by some vases we saw in a cool store in Denver at Christmas time. I wanted to see if I could imitate it and I gotta say, I'm pretty excited about how it turned out!

Here's the original:


Here's my version:


Here's how it happened.

1. Went to the craft store and got some small width painters tape, blue spray paint, frosted-glass spray paint (new discovery!), and a glass vase (for my next project, i'll hit up the thrift store for the vase)

2. Tape off the vase. (was not as time consuming as you might think-especially if you're watching a movie)


3. With vase upside down, paint the blue. Let dry completely.


5. Once it's completely dry, peel tape off carefully



I'm so excited to give this to her, and even make one for myself. Although, I would use it mostly as a candle lantern...