#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--COLOR OF THE YEAR

Every year I do a post on the Color of the Year. The Color of the Year is a forecast of global color trends provided by the Pantone Color Institute, a consulting service that advises global companies in their efforts to develop products and create brand identity by leveraging the power, psychology, and emotional impact of color.

Color can inspire and influence. It can convey deep messages and various meanings—both subliminal and overt.

This year the Institute has chosen Ultra Violet as the Color of the Year. Purple has been a symbolic color throughout history. It’s associated with everything from royalty to Western pop culture. Think Prince. But the color has also been associated with non-conformity and mindfulness practices. Meditation spaces, for example, often suffuse the room with purple-toned lighting to aid their practitioners.

On their website Pantone states, “Complex and contemplative, Ultra Violet suggests the mysteries of the cosmos, the intrigue of what lies ahead, and the discoveries beyond where we are now. The vast and limitless night sky is symbolic of what is possible and continues to inspire the desire to pursue a world beyond our own.”

Throughout the year we should see more Ultra Violet in decorating trends, clothing, appliances, and automobiles as manufacturers release new lines. Maybe consumers won’t be swapping out their stainless steel refrigerators for purple ones, but we’ll probably see Ultra Violet featured in small appliances such as Keurig coffee makers and Kitchen Aid mixers. I also have no doubt we’ll see the color cropping up in linens, accent pillows, and wallpaper.

Everything has been about gray in decorating the last few years, but there are many shades of gray—from charcoal to blue-grays to green-grays and many more. We should probably see an abundance of violet grays in the near future.

In choosing Ultra Violet as the Color of the Year, Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute stated, “The Pantone Color of the Year has come to mean so much more than ‘what’s trending’ in the world of design; it’s truly a reflection of what’s needed in our world today.”

Perhaps she’s suggesting we all need more calm in our lives? I could certainly use more calm in my life. I’m now seriously considering investing in a few gallons of latex and painting my walls Ultra Violet.

#DIY HOME DEC PROJECTS

Author Lois Winston, who writes about all of us in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, is back today with some more discoveries from her recent vacation in Canada.

A week ago last Monday I wrote about a blinged-out tiresculpture I came across in Montreal in front of the Musee des Beaux-Arts. This museum is actually five museums connected by underground tunnels. One of those museums features decorative arts and design. Today I’d like to share some unique yarn projects from that museum. If you’re a knitter or crocheter who also enjoys DIY home dec projects, these pieces will be right up your alley—or perhaps not. 😕

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I won’t begin to try to explain the chair and light fixture in the photos because, frankly, they left me speechless!

DECORATING WITH JEANIE--GUEST AUTHOR ANNIE ADAMS

Annie Adams is the author of The Final Arrangement, book one in The Flower Shop Mystery series. When not writing she can be found teaching workshops to authors about the business of being a writer, or arranging flowers and delivering them in her own Zombie Delivery Van. Today Annie visits us to discuss using flowers to decorate your home. Learn more about Annie at her website.

Annie is offering either a paperback or e-copy of The Final Arrangement to one of our readers who posts a comment. Please make sure you either leave an email address with your comment or check back on Sunday to see if you’re the winner. We can’t get your book to you if we have no way of contacting you. -- AP

The Final Arrangement is the first in The Flower Shop Mystery Series, where you will find our heroine, Quincy McKay working away in her flower shop. Following are some things she would like to pass on about using flowers in your home.

Flowers are beautiful, they smell nice, and they are used to mark special occasions. Too expensive to keep around the house…right?

Wrong!

Even a single bloom has the power to make an emotional impact in your life as soon as you see it, not to mention what the aroma can do to balance hormones and improve your overall well being. And, a single flower can cost as little as a dollar or two.

  

Did you know it’s been proven flowers have an impact on your emotions? At Rutgers University, a team of researchers performed a 10-month study of responses of research participants to receiving flowers. They found the following:

1. Flowers have an immediate impact on happiness. All study participants expressed "true" or "excited" smiles upon receiving flowers, demonstrating extraordinary delight and gratitude. This reaction was universal, occurring in all age groups.

2. Flowers have a long-term positive effect on moods. Specifically, study participants reported feeling less depressed, anxious and agitated after receiving flowers, and demonstrated a higher sense of enjoyment and life satisfaction.

3. Flowers make intimate connections. The presence of flowers led to increased contact with family and friends.

http://www.aboutflowers.com/health-benefits-a-research/emotional-impact-of-flowers-study.html

I always recommend visiting your local florist to find out what’s in season and to see some fantastic ideas for what you can do with flowers. There are several economical and long lasting blooms such as alstromeria, carnations and chrysanthemums that come in hot, vibrant colors sure to warm up a gloomy winter room.

Carnations and mums were once the lowly forgotten flowers of design, but they’ve made a big-time comeback in party design at places like the Oscars, Oprah’s parties, and more.

Besides using longer-lasting varieties, there are tricks to extending the life of flowers. Make sure you keep the water clean by changing it daily. If you receive a packet of flower food with your purchase, it is imperative you read the directions on the back of the packet and follow the measurements to the letter. Studies have shown that dosing flower food improperly can actually be worse for the flowers than not using any food at all. So keep the home remedies like sugar, soda pop, aspirin, pennies and whatever else you may have heard of, out of the vase.

Give the stems a fresh cut just before placing them in clean water. Lastly, keep your flowers cool. This is the most important step in my opinion. Optimal temperature for flowers is generally 38-42 degrees Fahrenheit. Most of us don't have a flower cooler in our homes, so the next best place is a cool area in the house.  

It only takes one flower to lift your mood and stave off the effects of depression, so stop and pick up an affordable bouquet, even if it’s from the local grocery store. Flowers are calorie-free, drug-free and guilt-free sources of happiness that don't have to break the bank.

Blurb:

The Vulture is dead.

The body of Quincy McKay’s nemesis and biggest competitor in the floral business has just been discovered in a casket at the mortuary, complete with flowers on the lid.

Derrick Gibbons, aka The Vulture, stole all of Quincy’s funeral business, and now she’s on a mission to get it back. But there’s a problem—Quincy is now the main suspect in The Vulture’s murder.

Armed with only her Zombie delivery van, good intentions, and the business card of a handsome cop named Alex, she must find the killer, save the flower shop, and keep from ending up in the next casket. If she can dodge burning bushes, the plague of a polygamist ex, and her mother's Mormon Mafia Spy Network, her life with Alex and her shop could become the perfect arrangement.

Buy Link

CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA-- SEA SHELL PHOTO FRAME

The final seashell craft for the month is the simplest. Make up several in varying sizes to form a grouping of your vacation memories. -- AP

SEASHELL FRAME

MATERIALS: wooden frame, assorted shells, hot glue gun and glue sticks.

Glue shells in a grouping at one corner of frame or all around frame.

Now, really, can it get any easier than that? -- AP

DECORATING WITH JEANIE -- ON A SHOE STRING MAKE-OVERS

Getting tired of your home’s accessories but don’t have the money to splurge on room redos? Decorating editor Jeanie Sims is here today with some decorating on a shoe string tips. -- AP

Thanks, Anastasia! No matter how much you loved some doodad, bauble, or tchatcke when you bought it, after looking at it day in and day out for umpteen years, you’re probably sick of it. Or you don’t even notice it any more. Or it’s totally outdated. Whatever the reason, you feel your rooms need a bit of freshening up, but you don’t have the extra funds to do much about it. Is there a solution?

You bet!

You’d be surprised how you can add new life into a room just by doing a bit of rearranging and switching out of accessories. Here’s how you get started:

First, gather up all the accessories you have in each of your rooms. Don’t forget the stuff you have hanging on the walls. Lay these items out all in one large space, like the floor of your rec room.

Now start mixing them up. See what looks good with each other that’s different from the mix you previously had in each room. Maybe that decorative bowl that held potpourri in your bathroom will look great holding keys or out-going mail on the table by your front door. The three framed landscapes from your front hall might be just the thing to spice up the wall above your kitchen table. That cute glass penguin lost among the books on your den shelving unit will look totally new and fresh on your bathroom counter.

When you see your possessions in a new light, you give new life to them. You may still feel the need to buy a few pieces to fill in where you used to have that lava lamp, but you’ll spend far less.

Lava lamps? Really, Jeanie! How could anyone give up a lava lamp? Isn’t that as necessary a decorative mainstay in a home as fuzzy dice are for a car? ;-)  


Readers, remember to post a comment to be entered into the drawing for a book from this week's Book Club Friday guest author.-- AP

DECORATING WITH JEANIE -- QUICK 'N EASY AUTUMN CENTERPIECE

Today decorating editor Jeanie Sims tells you how to make an autumn centerpiece if you have little money and not a creative bone in your body. -- AP

Thanks, Anastasia! One of the quickest ways to spruce up your home for any holiday is with a theme-inspired centerpiece. However, many people cringe at the thought because for them it means spending a fortune on a pre-made centerpiece from the florist, craft, or gift shop. They think they can’t possibly create something on their own and therefore, never try.

Frankly, this is one of the easiest decorating tricks in the book and takes absolutely no talent. Really. Even if you’re all thumbs.

Here’s how you make the autumn centerpiece shown in the photo or one similar to it:

First, find an appropriate container. You don’t have to spend a dime. Everyone has baskets sitting on a shelf in the basement, in a closet, or up in the attic, right? Don’t have one the right size or color? Think outside the box. Literally. Cover a shoe box with wrapping paper. Use several clay flower pots grouped together. Even a serving bowl will work.

Next take a trip to your local crafts store or big box store. Purchase an assortment of fake leaves, greenery, and gourds. Or pick some autumn leaves, pine cones, and evergreen branches from your backyard and buy some real gourds at the supermarket. However, if you buy the fake stuff, you’ll be able to reuse the items year after year.

Now, here’s the easiest part -- take what you purchased and fill your container. Just dump the stuff in. That’s all there is to it! Don’t believe me? Give it a try. You’ll wind up with something that looks like you spent $50 when you really only spent around $5.

Want to craft a centerpiece without spending even that much? The next time you go for a walk around your neighborhood, take a bag with you and collect the pine cones strewn over the ground. When you get home, fill a basket with them. Voila! Instant, cost-free centerpiece! Want to jazz it up a bit? brush the tips with white paint and sprinkle on some silver or gold glitter.

Thanks, Jeanie! What great ideas! So readers, how many of your are going to give these simple decorating tricks a try? Let’s hear from you. Post a comment to be entered in this week’s drawing for a book from our Book Club Friday guest author. -- AP