Tuesday, April 24, 2012

DIY {re-furbished antique bench}

As you already know, this past week I was back home in Connecticut helping my mother get ready for her Bi-Annual Garden Art Sale.  Since I am contributing some handmade pillow covers to the sale I needed to create the perfect display.  Now my mom has lugged this antique bench around for almost 20 years and still hasn't re-furbished it and   we thought, what not a better time than now!  With my need for a cute display and her wanting to add a custom piece to her upstairs hallway, this bench was the perfect fix for both of us!


So we went on the hunt for the perfect fabric and trim to coordinate with my pillows but more importantly her decor! With us being in a sort of time crunch we narrowed our choices down to this variegated, "vintage looking" fabric wit coordinating avocado piping. 


 Next, my mom sanded prepped and primed the bench while I worked on upholstering the new fabric, foam and batting to this custom made piece of wood we are using for the seat {you may have noticed in the first pic that the actual seat was missing}



 Thank goodness for a warm sunny day! Between my mom and I we were able to get this DIY project done in a day and a half{including drying time}!!  Oh how I love having someone working beside me, I get so much done a whole lot quicker than if I were doing it by myself!  Oh, and my apologies for the iphone pics...I have much better ones when this bench makes its debut at the sale on May 5th, but until then....



 Creatively Yours,
Cassandra Stearns

Friday, April 20, 2012

Found Fridays {Elephanté}

You didn't really think I would make the trip back to Connecticut and not go thrifting did you?! It wasn't more than 2 hours after I stepped off the plane after a long redeye flight and no sleep that my mom and I stopped at one of her favorite weekly pitstops.  I seriously must have been channeling the need for some good luck with all the new projects we were about to start when we found this ceramic elephant {among a ton of other things}!! We named him Elephanté.  Here he is bulldozing through the rhododendrons that just bloomed in my mothers front garden. 


To the Hindu way of thought the elephant is found in the form of a Ganesha who is the god of luck, fortune, protection and is a blessing upon all new projects.  With plenty of new projects on the horizon this past week we sure needed all the luck on our side!  I can't wait to share some of them in next weeks posts!

Creatively Yours,
Cassandra Stearns  

Monday, April 16, 2012

Gettin Ready: Bi-Annual Garden Art Sale!

This past weekend was all about preparing for my trip home to Connecticut. While I would love to call it a vacation its really not...I've got lots of projects planned with my mamacita in my short visit to get ready for her Bi-Annual Garden Art Sale.  With this being the second year in a row and 3rd sale we are excited to showcase more artists work, including some of my own.  So I've been working overtime here to get a small collection of pillows together as a contribution! 

The special collection I am creating all started with this fabric:  very green and garden like wouldn't you say?!


In trying to keep things light and fresh I then went on the hunt for coordinating fabrics and trim...Lucky me everything I found was a remnant of some sort so this collection stays true to my eco approach!



So off to the seamstress these go and off to Connecticut I go....stay tuned for more behind the scenes DIY stuff throughout the week!

Creatively Yours,
Cassandra Stearns
   

Friday, April 13, 2012

Found Fridays {green with glamour}

Another pair of chairs are off to get upholstered and boy did I get lucky on this one!! I snagged these beauties for dirt cheap at only $20 for the pair..Yes I said $20...for both..which is almost unheard of!  Being that they are missing a whole lot of caning and have a whole lot of god knows what going on with the existing upholstery these are gonna cost a pretty penny to get back into shape for sure.  But, when they're done they are gonna be green with glamour, and I guarentee your gonna be feeling green too, only with envy! With a little more tufting being added and some new velvet fabric in the perfect shade of green I might just have to keep these for my own living room!  So, when I get back in 2 weeks from some last minute trips I have planned this chair makeover will be complete and I will have some more b&a photos that I won't wanna wait to share! 


Creatively Yours,
Cassandra Stearns 

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Up For Sale! {pink and perfect}

I have been holding out on sharing some of these pics while the new e-commerce site was being built but I just can't hold it in any longer! Here is a little sneak peek at some of the items up for sale for our spring collection, I can't wait to list more so keep checking back, new items will be added daily! And that gorgeous hot pink tufted bench already sold within 2 days of being posted so don't hesitate, cause these one of kind beauties won't be around long!




All items seen here are posted for sale here on my ebay store and the clock is ticking!

Creatively Yours,
Cassandra Stearns 

Friday, April 6, 2012

Found Fridays {the inseparable duo}

 I recently found these 2 chairs, actually at separate places, but since they were so close in style I decided to make them a inseparable duo.  I could have upholstered them in different fabric but I chose to keep it simple by upholstering them in the same fabric this time.  And, while most of the time I like to just give it a new paint job, this time I chose to darken up the stain a little.  More so I did it like this because I wanted them to compliment that gorgeous hot pink tufted ottoman bench I recently shared with you.



So if you love this combo as much as I do then stay tuned cause they will be up for sale soon...or come back every friday to check out my new finds! 

Creatively Yours,
Cassandra Stearns 

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Photoshoot Inspiration: Counting Down The Minutes!

 So tomorrow is the big adventure...the much anticipated photoshoot day! With a 5am wake up call to hit the road we are all hustling here to pull together all the final details. Food props {check}, flowers {check}, pillows: just picked them up from my seamstress and they look sooo awesome, so another {check} in that department! Needless to say there are a ton more little details to consider, especially with where we are going to shoot. But since I still can't give away all the deets I would like to leave you with another inspiration pic {funny enough I found this after we planned the whole shin-dig}. With that said, keep tuned in to see all the behind the scenes pics I will be tweeting to you tomorrow!!

{image via luxe-gifts}

Creatively Yours,
Cassandra Stearns

Monday, April 2, 2012

J'Adore Adore!

I love when I wake up to an inbox with a message telling me the latest issue of Adore Home Magazine is up and online!! It's by far one of my absolutely favorite digital magazines, so much so that I flip through the pages for months after to stay inspired to keep moving forward towards the bigger picture...that being said...someday I will being reading about my stuff in their mag..{I hope..no..I know}.  But in the meantime, here are some of my favorite pages {the ones I will be flipping back to for days to come}

Enoy!





 While there are soooo many more pages to swoon over I happen to choose the most colorful...maybe because we are approaching summer soon here in Southern California where things are just starting to heat up! More of the April/May issue of Adore are just a click away!   

Creatively Yours,
Cassandra Stearns