Scarves of Pride

A graduation sash/stole has a important role played in a graduation ceremony. The sashes, stoles and scarves are meant to depict various forms of meanings such as being a member of a specific organization in school, to honor accomplishments or to show gratitude. They are considered to be a way for the graduating students to reveal their gratitude and appreciation of the ones who have assisted with their needs during their educational life: " Thanks for helping me make it through. Thanks for making it possible for me to succeed. I didn't do this alone."


Each graduating class of Women's Empowerment chooses a  signature color for the scarves they are to wear during the ceremony. The scarves are passed on from sister to sister as they enter the stage. I have been privileged to make two sessions' scarves.  It's another way for me to give back to this wonderful organization for homeless women who are striving to better themselves technically, emotionally and spiritually.

Here's the "How-to"...

This session my dear friend and collaborator Suzan, aka Fabriclady from Stonemoutain and Daughter Fabrics donated a lovely stretch lace fabric in "Magenta", the chosen color for Session 59 grads. There was about 8 or 9 yards on the bolt, so I hoped there would be enough for the 24 scarves.

I used my entryway floor tiles as a way to size and cut the fabric...

 I used purple thread to serge the edges - purple is Women's Empowerment's logo color.

Once the scarves were cut and serged, I embellished one side with jewels to add some sparkle. Some jewels needed adhesive and other were supposed to be self adhesive.  (I use the term loosely as I saw several ladies with little jewels stuck on their cheeks...must have fallen off during the ceremony) So use the glue!

The embellishments were only added to one side of the scarf, to give meaning to the notion that the ladies change during the 8 week program...

And here's the story..

 
Graduation ceremonies at Women's Empowerment are a three hankie morning. Listening to the personal stories of overcoming adversity and fighting through struggles is a sort of "rising out of the ashes" triumph for many of these women. They emerge from the intense 8 week program with a new hope for the future, literally "empowered" to change their destiny. In the words of one graduate, "I am no longer defined by my past".

 

The success of Women's Empowerment is well established in the community, and they take notice of the accomplishments of these women in the public media, noting that many of them find housing and jobs as well as reestablish broken relationships with their children and families.

I often wonder what separates me from many of these women when I hear their stories.  Why did their lives take such a hard turn from the dreams that they must have had as children? We "can't know", as my daughter would say...we can only smile at the way they determined to take a new path toward a self-worth they never had, an inner strength they found and a budding confidence that developed in just a short eight weeks.

And the scarves? It's just a small thing for me, but I am honored to have served this awesome organization. And thanks, FabricLady, for being a part of something that's special to me.

Laurel. Because I can...

A little change, please...

I always thought I should have pursued interior design as a vocation.  I've dabbled with staging homes for sale, hung wall paper for friends, and given decorating ideas to those who asked.  I will say my hat's off to the real designers out there - putting yourself between an opinionated husband who thinks he's a contemporary modernist and a whiny wife who just wants "shabby-chic" is nothing short of heroic.

When I was younger (do all old bloggers say that?) I hoisted my own furniture around regularly, re-upholstered chairs, and repainted walls at the drop of a hat. I loved changing my environment along with the seasons or my mood. We've been in the hacienda for 12 years and I hadn't done much of anything to the decor, short of changing a few pillows, rugs and artwork. I have some "Big" decorating challenges which make it a tad difficult to just switch things up...

Like this...

And this...

And my personal favorite decorating nightmare...the "You can never move this, Laurel!" statement piece...

You just can't move these pieces around much in a 2,400 sq foot home...so you move everything around them, you re-cover the sofa pillows, rotate the art, repaint the walls.

After twelve years, suffice it to say that the paint on the walls in the hacienda are looking a little shop-worn. Not that my color palette is dated (aubergine never goes out of style!) but like many of us who are creative, we just get tired of seeing the same thing. Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of painting.  It's not the actual exercise of throwing it up on the walls like an HDTV star...it's more about the bending down, ladder climbing, paint in your hair, manicure demolition and horrid clean-up that I hate.

But over the years Behr paint and I have become tolerant of each other, and it was time. And since the notion of redoing the whole house is daunting for this old blogger, I thought I'd start with the dining room, one of the smallest. And while we're at it, why not do something with that 30-something Macy's dining room table?

While some of you might be cringing now, I should mention that none of my children care anything about "inheriting" this Asian-style table.  Maybe after my make-over, they'll be fighting over it? Who knows. Oh...can you make a Chinese table look Southwest??

 

My daughter and her kids were all to eager to help me paint and redecorate. I stuck the kids outside to tackle the two arm chairs in the heat. (The pool was just a step away, so I'm not the mean Grandma you might think) I only wanted to change the two arm chairs, leaving the side chairs in their original wood. Too much  turquoise can be a "crafty" thing...too matchy-matchy for me.

Meanwhile, Amy and I made our way around the table, adding a Mexican tile motif to the corners. I was not very familiar with chalk paint, but Amy had the recipe to make our own.

We covered the purple walls with Behr's Premium Plus Ultra in "Dolphin Fin" gray and painted the opposite wall in "Suntan Glow", the same terra cotta peachy color that I've used on the fireplace...very Southwest". Michael and Kaitlyn were just dying to paint walls. (I promise that Amy and I were there painting too...just no pictures of two sweaty ladies...you can thank me later)

 

Gray is a very hard color to decorate around...just the subtlest hint of blue or yellow changes the whole room, as does the ambient light.  So my walls turned out a little bluer than I wanted, but the addition of the peach, coral and yellow accents warmed it up a little.

I touched up the shades on the chandelier over the table with some paint.

By the end of the two day job, my back was killing me and I was exhausted...so I drove all over town the next day looking for drapes to replace the green silk swag that had hung over the giant picture windows for 12 years.  I thought about making them but our two local fabric chain stores didn't have *!@#%#% and my Stonemountain was too far away for this tired chick. So I bought the drapes instead of sewing them. Not a fan of Bed Bath and Beyond, but they came through for me this time. They made the room pop.

 

 

 

I need to find some fabric to cover the other chairs, but for now, I'm done with this room. On to the next...maybe I'll wait a few weeks to recover.

Laurel. Pooped.

Tiny Cuteness...

A friend asked me to come up with a design for "beanie babies" that would represent tiny "Preemies" born in a hospital... The notion is that guests at the Grand Opening of hospital's new Women's and Children's wing could feel and hold these little "babies" cared for in the hospital's NICU.

They are roughly 10" long and weigh 1.5 pounds, stuffed with Calrose rice. Their little beenie hats are made from the tops of children's socks. Their bodies are made from adult tee-shirt fabrics.

Can't imagine having a baby that size...But in today's highly techno world, they survive all the time:)

I'm delivering them to their new home today...

In love with the little things...

My friend Sue is hosting a table at our church's annual Women's Christmas Brunch.  Sue is the Area Coordinator for Dress a Girl Around the World, so naturally nothing but a DAG theme would do for the centerpiece...which I readily volunteered to make for the table.

Because my daughter is so crafty, I invited her over to help out. We had so much fun making the miniature sewing tools and supplies needed to make the perfect little dresses - just like the real ones we make every month at DAG sewfests.  The main part of the centerpiece is about 12-13 inches tall, but what's a DAG centerpiece if it doesn't have a globe representing the places where little girls live?  So our centerpiece is a little over the legal height limit, but no one will notice because it's so darn cute!!!

A jewelry stand, little doll clothes hangers and other miniature stuff, 

add a few Christmas touches and a wield a mean hot glue gun...

I printed tiny images of bias tape on sticky labels...

The tiny dresses brought back memories of sewing doll clothes...tedious, but fun.

 

My favorite items are the tiny bolts of fabric...

 

Cuteness Overload!!!

Thanks for your help, Amy!!!

Laurel. Michael's is my friend.

Last Minute Gift...

I am a procrastinator.  I think that I've mentioned that personality defect once or twice on my blog.  I think about doing things and for some reason, those thoughts slip back into my brain storage where I keep all the things that I intend to do...someday.

I think I am most famous (at least among my family and friends) for procrastination involving birthday presents. Our grandchildren might get their gift a month later than they should, all because Grandma put that task on her to-do list and it got stuck in that brain storage drawer. I'm also equally bad at picking up little hostess gifts beforehand when we have a soiree to attend.  Put those two together: event + gift, and my brain finally shifts into gear the day of the party.

"Gee, I shoulda got a _______ for her." Or "Oh no, I forgot to get them something!" Whatever the reason, my brain suddenly engages and I think about all the things I could have made for that person beforehand. However, when you are creative, 6 or 7 hours is enough time to make most anything. I'm not tooting my own horn here, I'm just saying that I will try anything...once...and Laurel works really good under pressure!

So, fast forward to yesterday and a friend was having a birthday dinner that evening.  No presents were expected but I got the brilliant idea of giving him a work of "art" for his mantle...at 6:00 a.m that morning.  He is a gifted contractor whom I had the privilege of working with a few years ago on a building project. So what contractor would not want a set of custom nails? (Probably none, but hey, it's going to be art!!) I needed to make 60 of them, one for each year of his life.

8:00 a.m - off to Lowe's and Michael's early to get the supplies...wasn't sure yet how I was going to make this little artwork, but just walking around Lowe's gave me a good start, then I finished up at Michael's.

The Raw Material: Paint, 16 Penny Nails, wood blocks, etc.

After making the wood base, I made a grid for the nail holes...

(still using those Excel skills from work)

I have to say that my skills with Dave's drill were rather lacking...what a pain!!

On to the fun part! Spray paint for the initial base of the hand-painted nails...

Took a seat at the kitchen table with my acrylic paints, brushes and voila! 

(well, not exactly that quickly...)

60 Custom Nails - Check!

Gives new meaning to the word "Nail Art", doesn't it Gayleen? (my manicurist friend)

One of a kind.

Laurel. 

No, I'm not going to make you one...

Knot One, Knot Two...

LaurelLeaves Jewelry crashed and burned over two years ago. Contributing to her demise was the overall pressure to produce one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces month after month after month. I had quite a following of clients wanting their own special and unique creations...so I spent many a sleepless night designing in my head, instead of sleeping. 

Secondly, I discovered the magic of Charming Charlie...how could I compete with the store's plethora of necklaces, bracelets and earring in every conceivable color and style, not to mention their Made in ------ prices? Today, I am a huge fan of CC's, but I will admit that even though they don't have the quality that my pieces had, they are sure fun, very accessible and reasonably priced.

And finally, I guess I just got bored.  Those who know me well, know that once I have totally conquered a craft (with the rare exception of sewing which I have done for 55+ years), I tend to move on to the next creative thing to continue to stimulate my brain. Unlike sewing, there are only so many ways to make a necklace. However,  I do honor my pieces by doing occasional repairs for my customers...after all, if you wear a necklace to death, expect it to give way at some point in time.

A friend brought over a necklace (not one of mine) that she had received from her daughter. When she opened the box, the string had broken and all the glass beads were loose. She asked me to restring it, and I agreed - it's a very simple thing - stringing beads. But while I was doing it, I was reminded about the pleasure I used to get hand-knotting beads into a necklace.

Hand-knotting is an art form. I requires patience and care, though I have seen the women in Chinatown knot a string of pearls faster than you can say "necklace". For me there is a rhythm to working the cord around your fingers and using the sharp tweezers to form the knots.

LaurelLeaves Jewelry must always have my signature glass leaf...

 

The beauty of knotted beads, just like expensive pearls, is that knotting allows the beads to "float", keeping them flexible around your neck...

 

That was so much fun, I had another strand of stone beads that I finally decided to knot as well. The holes in these beads were bigger, so I had to use a heavier cord...

They look like lapis, but I don't think they are... didn't cost that much!

 

I found this beautiful sterling silver necklace embellishment at Nordstrom...I planned all along to put it on a strand of beads that I knotted myself.  Lovely! And I can put it on the green beads as well.

 

People still ask me if I'm making jewelry. Every now and then I see one of my creations on a friend and I remember making it.  It makes me a little nostalgic and I think about starting again. Hand-knotting these two necklaces was very enjoyable. But then again, I didn't have to produce 100 new one-of-a-kind masterpieces for a party. That's when I come to my senses.

Laurel. I'd rather sew...

Not Your Ordinary Pinterest Queen...

We all love Pinterest.  We love to dream in cyberspace, flipping through page after page of stuff that we like, want to do or wish we could do. There are thousands of boards with creative artistry in fashion, crafts and food.  It's fun to put together our wish lists and dreams.

I am one of those that uses Pinterest for revving up the right side of my brain. I pin things that appeal to my senses and that I want to remember.  Most people are like me...we love to look but we don't always follow through.

My daughter is the Pinterest Queen. I say that because she actually makes the things see finds on Pinterest, especially in the yummy deserts and garden art categories.  You can send her a pin of some caramel/chocolaty concoction and it will magically appear on the desert table at a family gathering. But beyond being an excellent baker, she is a crafting genius. I was over at her home and we were enjoying the afternoon sunshine and decided to snap a few photos of her recent Pinterest works of art.

 

Not your Ordinary Pinterest Queen...

Laurel. I want to be her when I grow up.