Home for the Holidays!

Holidays are upon us...

Hello my dear friends!

I hope this week is treating you well. If not, then perhaps this little post will bring you cheer and the opportunity to do something fun for yourself! As the holidays approach, do you find yourself wanting to get inspired? Hopping on Pinterest to find great projects? Or wish you could just reach out to those talented women who bring so much into our lives when it comes to creating a home?

Well, here is the perfect solution:

My good and talented  Aussie friend, Cathy Penton of Cathy Penton Designs, is part of a very cool creative holiday course called Home for the Holidays. 

She along with eight other very talented and creative ladies (including another personal great friend, Carol Spinski of Raised in Cotton!)are offering this course to share their love, passion and spirit involving all things good for the holidays.

If you don't know or haven't met Cathy (shame!) then please take a moment to introduce yourself, visit her site, and sit back and get ready to enjoy her treats for your eyes, love for your heart, ideas for beautiful living. Visit Cathy on her blog!

Here is what Cathy has to say about this great venture:

Join eight of my friends and me as we celebrate loving on your home, friends and family through the holidays.

Because the holidays can also be a time of stress, conflict, loneliness, sadness and disappointment, I want this course to be a reminder of what you bring into your home, your family and the beauty that your life and gifts bring to those around you.

You will be encouraged as you hear honestly from each woman about the times things did not go as planned during their holidays.

You will hear honest discussions about their own journey of hospitality.

You will walk away inspired as you hear about the traditions and special moments from their childhood and how they create special moments with their families today.

You will be able to watch beautiful videos with gift giving ideas, decorating projects and favorite family recipes.

We all want to create authentic moments with our friends and family.

We all desire for the ones we love to leave our homes knowing that they were welcomed and loved.

My hope is that this course will help you to slow down and find the joy and beauty in the holidays.

And because you are such devoted and lovely readers....

A  G I V E A W A Y 

IS BEING OFFERED TO YOU!

CONGRATS DEB FROM CANADA!
YOU ARE THE WINNER!
I EMAILED CATHY SO SHE IS EXPECTING YOU AND I HOPE YOU ENJOY THE COURSE!

Just leave me a little comment and someone will be chosen to attend this fabulous holiday creative home course for FREE!! 

(THIS IS NOW CLOSED FOR THE FREE GIVE AWAY, BUT NOT TOO LATE TO STILL SIGN UP!! DON'T MISS OUT!)

To learn more about this creative course, how to register, and what is included, please visit Cathy's blog for more information.

Sign up soon! It starts in less than a month and you don't want to miss a single moment of it!!!!

Wishing you all a great and wonderful week, and mostly, hoping that this holiday season is filled with fun, spirit, and creativity that fills your holiday home with love.

from my house to your house,

My Little Moto

My Little Moto

I've tried four times to write this post and never made through it without needing to stop, grieve, and close up my computer. I guess a part of me felt that by writing this out, and seeing it on the screen...well... it just made it a little too real for me to handle at the moment.

It is so hard to write about someone you love and have lost, no matter how much you want to share with the world just how special that someone was and had such an impact on your life.

Monty passed away a week ago today, and this last week has been more emotional than I would have ever thought.

For those who have "fur babies" in their families, I know I don't need to express the lost that is felt when your "baby" has left you and only memories remain.

Monty was by my side from day one. I remember so clearly coming home from work, still in my military uniform, and finding him asleep on my bed in a wicker basket. He was anniversary gift for me who continued to give me love, devotion, happiness, laughter, and comfort. I took him to work with me the very next day and days after that, so I could care for him and be near him. 

After my time in the military, Monty was by my side, every single day while I owned my store. He was known as the "shop dog" and greeted all my customers with a wagging curly tail and his bright eyes. These photos here, are him with me on a photo shoot. Yes, I took him with me on my shoots whenever possible. He stayed quietly at the kitchen door and was very intrigued by something. 

And I never ceased to be intrigued by him.

Monty, always one to explore and inspect, never took his eyes off me for very long. Always wanting to make sure of my whereabouts. He heard me click my camera, and just gently turned his head to see what I was doing now...and I quickly captured this moment.

This photo/memory is my favorite. It was taken 2004 and at that time I had a photo studio in my apartment above my store. I was shooting product shots on this pedestal for hours, while Monty leaned against my tripod as I was working away. He dozed off and on but suddenly after a while, he stood up and went to the pedestal and looked up at it and began to bark all happily.

He then pawed at the pedestal and wouldn't leave it alone (or me) until I finally sat him up on it in the sunshine. These aren't poses and I didn't coax him to do anything. He actually just sat there and posed on his own! He made no indication of wanting to get down, and so I had to actually lift him off so I could get back to work. I remember being so rushed that day, so way behind in everything I needed to accomplish, but I cherish this moment and I am very grateful that I took time to photograph him and not shoo him away so I wouldn't step on him.

Monty even became a star, nationally, with "his" first photo shoot where he appeared in the Feb 2004 issue of Mary Englebreit's Home Companion magazine. The editor was enamored with him and took his photo and it made it in the magazine, with his name, even.

There are so many stories about Monty and him being a local celebrity as my store dog. One of my favorites that I will share with you is when he was "arrested" by local authorities. I was closing up my shop after a busy day of selling and I was standing in the shop's doorway (with it open) seeing out my last customer and chatting. I closed the door, locked it, and went back to my counter to close out.

About 15 minutes later, there was a knock at my door, and I went to open it and a policeman (I believe named Andy) smiled at me and said, "Are you missing someone?" and he pointed over his shoulder behind him to his squad car. In the backseat, there was Monty, looking out the window at me! Andy said he was driving by and saw Monty and he said, "I know Monty isn't allowed outside by himself and I didn't see you come out to get him, so I thought I better take him in...." I was horrified, but laughed as I called out to Monty, still in the squad car, "Did you get yourself arrested? I'm not sure I will post bail on you!" I was so grateful and finally figured out that the stinker trotted right past me and my customer, while we were standing in the doorway, to go one door down to take his ritual pee-pee on the bushes, as he always did with me when I locked up at night. I guess my gabbing was taking too long for his bladder, and so he decided to go it alone!

After closing my store, my life was way less structured as I began to travel more and work freelance. It was the hardest decision I ever made, but I decided to let his daddy take Monty and his sister, Lulu, with him when he decided to move to NC. Monty later got another mommy, who loved him just as much as me and his daddy and my barber husband do. I will always be grateful to his second mommy for caring so well for him and loving him as I would, had I been there.

The above image is one of the last photos I took of him when I drove to NC last summer just to spend time with him and his little sister, Lulu. He was staring at my Iphone, and true to form, he stared right at me as I tried several times to aim my Iphone right at him. So patient, he just waited and waited until I could get it right.

This is how I will always remember my little Moto. He brought sunshine into every room and he most definitely brighten up my world, as he did for so many.

I love you, my little Moto, and I will see you again someday.

Love,

Mommy

New Space, New Passion, with a Little ROLL Playing...

For those of you who emailed me or left comments, wanting to see the result of my sewing project that I started a couple of months ago...well today is the day. The "project" was more about creating a new sewing space than   actual sewing itself.

Like so many other creative spirits, my creative mind wanders much wider than my narrow abode can handle. After a long rehabilitation of knee surgery last November, I decided to take up my very long lost hobby of sewing. I can rest my knee, while trying to relearn skills that I haven’t used in 30 years! It wasn't long before I realized that sewing took up quite a bit more space than my writing and photography career.

I also realized that I liked having all my textile goodies within sight and my reach while designing my projects. However,  the more I dug them out, the more I took note that I had no place for them all: Scrap materials, threads, buttons, trims, vintage lace, tablecloths, yardage, and bolts of fabric from all those years of designing for my clients and from my travels. 

You may remember a few posts back my starting a project? You can read about that adventure here called  "It was a Crime of Passion."

My sewing projects quickly turned into treasure hunting as I rediscovered my textile stash that had been packed away in plastic bins that now took claim of my living room. I spent more time searching and less time sewing and pooped out before my projects really ever got started!

After weeks of this material mania mess, I decided that our tiny “dining area” was going to be my new sewing area. But my big dilemma was how to turn that area into something I wouldn’t mind looking at everyday, not have it look like a “craft room,” while not losing my only dining area since I do enjoy cooking and entertaining guests. That is a large order to ask of a tiny space.

Right smack in the middle of my remodeling brainchild, I got a wonderful email from my good friend, and creator-of-all-things-good, Jo Packham. Jo Packham from Where Women Create has partnered up with Create-ologie.com and gave me the opportunity to review some items that I think my readers would love. Knowing my creative and talented readers, I felt this would be a perfect time to share some of Create-ologie's items with my readers, who will undoubtedly be as thrilled with the selection as I was! 

I also have a special coupon just for you! Save 10% off your entire order by entering "Elizabeth Maxson" at the checkout on create-ologie.com.   

And so I am going to share with you  a peek of what I found. I was thrilled that I discovered two perfect Create-ologie pieces for my sewing/dining room dilemma: Rolling furniture! They are great assets for my sewing needs and I could easily roll them out of the room when I wanted to entertain! 

I always loved the industrial look and I found this industrial console table on wheels as the perfect extra worktop space I need while providing extra storage underneath. 

When I am wrap up a day of sewing, I simply put my project underneath and cover the table with my antique grain sacks! 

The matching industrial shelving unit also on wheels is the perfect size for my yardage and I can roll it next to me while sewing. I love the way my textiles look on it and it fits in perfectly with my decor. 

While perusing Create-ologie.com, I also stumbled upon this great glass/bottle drying rack I am using to hold all of my trims! What a perfect solution for my need to see my stash and have it near me while I designed my projects. It turned out so beautiful, I keep it in the room all the time. 

I needed some of the  shelving in my china hutch for sewing items, so out came my silver goblets to make room, and onto the drying rack they went with their stems wrapped with my trims. Triple bonus! I get to admire my goblets, they hold my trims, and and now I have more space in the hutch for more sewing goodies. 

When I am in the mood to entertain, it takes no more than ten minutes (yes, I timed it to see), to toss my sewing items on the console table, roll it into another room along with my matching rolling metal shelf, toss a cover over the table, pull up some chairs, set the once sewing/now dining table, cook some fab food and wait for friends to arrive for a tasty meal. For bigger gatherings, I am thinking the console table would make a fun buffet server, rolled to the side.

I’ve been showing you just “sneak peek” shots of my space... are you now ready to see how the whole room turned out? 

Like I said, I needed a real sewing space that I can live with daily, but do real work in, but still have a place to dine and entertain:

So, when I my tidy up my sewing area, it looks like this:

And when I am happily playing with projects, it looks like this:

And within only ten minutes, I can turn it back to a dining area like this:

What freedom to have a creative corner to really play in, mess up, and have all my sewing stash within an arm’s length away. Yet, it cleans up quickly, blends in as an extension of my living room and not as an interruption to our daily living. I found a lot of practical and creative ways to store a lot of sewing items that are right in the room, out of the way, and look as though they are just part of the decor. 

I will share how I did this with many more tips and lots more photos of my creative storage areas in an upcoming issue of Where Women Create, which I will show... 

Tips on my practical storage ideas...

Show you how to use what you already have:

And how you can recreate what you have into something new:

And...

There is a whole part of the room that I haven't even shown you one bit of, but it will be in Where Women Create. Here is a sneak peek of that recreated area:

It gives me great pleasure to have a creative sewing space in our tiny bungalow, and yet I am able to serve dinner for friends as well.

And I am loving that I pulled out my French gum ball fringe which, many years ago, once hung in my kitchen in my apartment above my store.

One really nice surprise of my new area is that I didn’t expect to get so much pleasure just looking at my new space when I am watching TV, only a few feet away. Also, I am so happy that I not only did I not “lose” my dining area, but actually gained more space with just a little creative roll playing!

If these create-ologie.com items inspired you...then you haven't seen anything yet!

These fab work lamps, I found at World Market. They clamp on the table, which I love because it allows for max table space. They are super bright and I can easily adjust them, swing them, or turn the lamp towards my project.

Please take a gander at create-ologie.com and do a little (or a lot) of fun shopping. I promise you, you won't be disappointed.

I have a special coupon code just for you! Save 10% off your entire order by entering 'ElizabethMaxson' at checkout on http://create-ologie.com. I have no doubt you will find the perfect item that you just can't live without. And what a great place to start early shopping for Christmas gifts as well.

And yes, I will be showing a few things I have sewn in the near future...until next time...may you find a creative space that allows you to express your passion and your unique talents.

from my house to your house