New Year, Old Friends

Within just a few days I will have been writing on this blog for 4 whole years.  In that time I've been elated, frustrated, driven, lazy, and everything in between.  I have changed course, begun new careers, quit and started anew, more than once, but one thing has remained constant and that is the friendships I have forged through this little piece of cyberspace.

Friendships that I couldn't have even imagined 4 years ago, ones which have nourished and bolstered me along the way.  And it is you the readers who have graciously chosen to take the ride along with me through the ebb and flow that life offers...and for that I thank you!

One of the first people I met along my journey was Chania of Razmataz.  It was her laid back take on the world that first drew me in, quickly followed by her great sense of style.  So when Christmastime rolled around and it was time to gift myself with some new jewelry, it was a no brainer to go looking at her shop for some of the wonderful Snö line she carries.

As if the jewelry itself isn't beautiful enough, the way Chania packages it makes it that much more special.  Black boxes embellished with a crisp silver logo and pretty pink ribbons say "there's something special inside, hurry and open me" and there is even a black satin bag tucked in each box to help protect your jewelry!

If you've read my blog for any length of time, then you know I'm a sucker for anything turquoise, so this bracelet was a must have.

I can see this paired with white jeans, sandals, and a linen tunic this summer, but I won't wait until then to wear it, that's for sure.

(photo courtesy of Sno of Sweden)

With the cloudy weather we've been having it was hard for me to get a good shot of the beautiful earrings I also got from Chania so I've borrowed this image of them from the Snö website.  I love these earrings which come in several different pearl color choices, I have worn them numerous times already because they go with practically everything!

But my favorite piece is this gorgeous silver chain link and leather bracelet, I wear it nearly every time I leave the house.  It looks beautiful with black, grey, brown, camel, you name it!  It has that timeless equestrian styling which always seems to appeal to me.  I get compliments on it each time I wear it, from 20 year olds to friends my age.

The thing I love most about everything I purchased from the Sno line is how well made they are.  Each piece is hefty, solidly constructed, and built to last for years.  I wear my jewelry a lot, so having pieces that will compliment my wardrobe for years to come is a must.

And just so you know, neither Chania nor Sno has compensated me for telling you this, I just love to pass along great finds!  If you are interested in owning some of these Snö of Sweden pieces, or to view many more, simply click HERE to see more of their wonderful pieces.

Now, to mention another longtime blogging buddy.   Linda of Itsy Bits and Pieces is one of those people you hope to make friends with when you start blogging.  She's kind, generous, always supportive, and she has a great eye for vintage finds...she's the whole package folks!

Right before the holidays, a package arrived on my doorstep, and I knew right away it must be from Linda.  She knows my love for all things french and gifted me with some wonderful old pieces that I can't wait to get framed!

The two scenes of Paris will take pride of place alongside my china cabinet in the dining room, and the map of northern France will likely end up in my living room, I haven't decided yet since the colors also would look beautiful in my bedroom.

Along with the two Parisian scenes and french map, Linda also gifted me with this 8 of hearts card.  When I asked her if she knew my birthday was on the 8th, she said no, that it was just a serendipitous pick...lucky me!  I have a number of Linda's vintage cards, from bingo to flash cards, that I display in my antique flower frogs throughout the year, so this one will be perfect for Valentine's day, which is right around the corner...oh my!

If you want to find your own vintage goodies, be sure to visit Linda's blog HERE, and scroll down to click on her Etsy stores on her sidebar...you won't be disappointed!  Thank you Linda for your generosity and amazing friendship!!!

It's hard to believe that another year has flown by and that we are already one week into the new year...where does the time go people?!

I'm not one to make resolutions or to choose words that will represent the coming year...mostly because I'm too indecisive and scatterbrained.  But I do feel like 2014 will be a good year here at Low Tide High Style, made even better by the friendships I have forged over the past 4 years...and I look forward to hearing from all of you, new and old, in the coming year.

I read this quote the other day and I thought it was perfect as we look forward to what 2014 has to offer. 

Wishing you all the best in 2014!!! 

She Couldn't Decide

In the end, she decided it was a little bit of both! :)

Changeable Charlie

Thank you everyone for your wonderful support and encouragement of my new shop!!!  I truly appreciate all of the great comments, emails and messages on Facebook that I've received!  A special thanks to Grace of Sense and Simplicity who has been an invaluable eagle eye at helping me tweak the site...thank you so much!

I did receive a few questions too, like is all of the artwork ready to hang?...and the answer is YES!  Each piece is gallery wrapped onto a 1 1/2 inch kiln dried stretcher bar, some images have mirrored sides (where the image continues to wrap around the edge), while others have a solid edge in a complimentary color.  Then each piece is paper backed to prevent dust from gathering on the back of the picture, and a wire hanger is attached so that it is ready to hang on your wall just as soon as your package arrives and you take it out of the box!

Ok, so now about me and my Changeable Charlie'ness.  Some of you may have noticed that I put a holiday header at the top of my blog yesterday.  It was the image above and it's of a new piece of artwork I have for sale in my new store.  I love the little bluebird surrounded by holly, and the traditional reds and greens, but I decided I wasn't happy with it as my header after all, so I made a change.

Mr. Tide was kind enough to bring in a few of the holiday tubs from the garage yesterday and I began looking through them this morning to see what my decorating theme would be this year.  Because I'm so changeable, I like to switch things up from year to year, using different colors, or whatever strikes my fancy.

This year, because I've been so busy of late, I was kind of floundering as to which way I should go, especially in my living room and dining room.  But when I opened one of the bins, I was pleasantly surprised at what I found.

When our son moved out and into the rental property he is sharing with his sister, I came across some old Christmas ornaments in the garage that had belonged to the previous owner...our 100+ year old neighbor George.  His son and daughter in law were getting rid of the items they no longer wanted or needed and so I poked around to see what I could buy before they took things to the donation place in town.

I ended up purchasing a wonderful old typewriter that George had used during his adventures in India and the other wonderful places he called home during his very full life.  The typewriter now sits in the big black cabinet in my dining room, along with a collection of vintage cameras.  Some day I will take a few photos of that cabinet to share with all of you.

But the other big score I found in the garage was a collection of old vintage Christmas ornaments.  They were a hodgepodge of old glass ornaments in shades of aqua, silver, gold, but mostly pink!  I fell in love with them instantly and could just imagine George and his wife lovingly decorating their tree with them for the many years they were together.

In true Changeable Charlie form, I had to play around with the angle of this one beautiful ornament that says Merry Christmas, so I took 2 different shots of it in the teacup.  Truth be told I took 3 shots, but these are the two I liked the best! ;-)

Because my roses haven't gotten the memo yet that it's nearly Christmas and they should be fast asleep, I went outside and gathered up a few to put in a vase.  Then I grabbed a couple ironstone platters, plunked the vase of roses on it and began scattering the beautiful pink and silver ornaments on top a lovely and festive centerpiece for my dining room table.  I also used an old bedspread that had belonged to my grandmother as the tablecloth.

The roses will fade long before the holidays hit of course, but for now I am loving the look.  And I can always get store bought roses if I want to keep this look going all the way through Christmas...can you ever have too many flowers in your house?!   And the answer is...heck no!

So there you have it, my long winded explanation as to why my header is now all pink and sparkly...because I am a consummate Changeable Charlie!

And it's kind of getting me in the mood for not only the holidays, but also my trip to Paris!  Yup, it's official, we are going to Paris next month and I can't wait.  I can't even fathom the idea of being in the City of Lights during one of the most festive times of the year.  Of course I'll be snapping pictures left and right while Mr. Tide is busy working (poor guy), and maybe when I get home I will be completely rethinking my idea of Christmas decor altogether...we'll see!

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Looking for a special piece of artwork?

Visit us at  Low Tide High Style

The Dream You Never Knew You Had

Last June I wrote a post about how I would soon be selling my artwork online.  I thought by the end of June that would be a reality, but the reality is that these things take time.

The truth is that what I've been doing since over a year ago has finally brought me to the place where I'm supposed to be.  The road I've traveled has been bumpy, winding, and sometimes downright depressing, but in the end I have learned something at each turn.  I won't bore you with the long winded version, but what I thought would be a dream come true back in January turned out not to be.  And although I was horribly disappointed at the time, it turns out that everything really does happen for a reason.

Back then I was flying solo, talking to big name stores, and within a hair's width of selling in some of them.  After a deal with Home Goods fell apart due to the fact that I couldn't compete with the low cost of imported merchandise and I couldn't find a good framer here in the US that wanted me to also make some money on the deal, I was completely bummed!  But thanks to one amazing Home Goods buyer, the one who believed in my stuff from the very get go, I was motivated to keep going.  She and I even agreed when the deal fell through that we were sure that our paths would one day cross again, and I truly hope they do.  She had a dream to design jewelry, and I hope that she is doing just that....following her dream the same way I am!

All the while, my good friend Mary Beth was also on a path of her own...and often feeling the same sense of frustration I was.  We both knew we had good saleable artwork...or at least we hoped like heck we did, but how could we get it out there, find a way to sell it?!

After traveling parallel paths for over a year, it finally dawned on us that what we both needed was each other.  She felt like some of her artwork, created using traditional painting methods, was lacking something, and I felt like my images and graphics needed something to make them more well rounded too.  So on a lark we decided to see what we could create together.  She would paint certain elements, and I would add my touches to create artwork we felt was lacking in the marketplace.

So far we've come up with some wonderful collections...several of which may be licensed by companies for things like wall decor, dishware, and who knows what else.  That's all in the very beginning stages though, so we are taking it day by day and learning to not sweat the small stuff.

Did I mention how stinking talented Mary Beth is!!!  I swear, all I have to do is ask her to paint something, like the butterflies above, and poof, she creates something beyond my expectations!

So once we had decided to start working together, we needed to settle on a name...and Bay Studios was born.  Add to the mix an amazing online art company I had found while searching around, and we were off and running...so to speak!  Well if running at a snail's pace can be considered running.

The company we have teamed up with has been in business for years, so their guidance has proved invaluable in so many ways!  It's because of them that we've been taking our time, making sure we get this right and that we are offering customers artwork they can't get any place else, and hopefully filling a niche that hasn't been filled before.

Very soon, we will be offering some of our artwork for sale, and I have my fingers crossed that you all will love it as much as we have loved creating it for you!  It truly has been a labor of love for the two of us!

In addition to the Bay Studios pieces, I will also have some of my own images for sale on the site, like the floral above.  Because the paint is not dry on the walls so to speak, I won't put a link to the website quite yet.

But I did want to share with you why it's taken so long to get from point A to point B...or maybe point Z in this case!  And in the not too distant future I will be letting you know about some artwork you can pre-order and I will give you a coupon code as well.  It's a gift from Mary Beth, the gallery, and me, to say thank you for your patience and for your support, even when it seemed like the dream might never become a reality!

I think the biggest lesson I've learned is that even when you think you are following your dream, sometimes it is the dream that has to find you.  And when that happens, it's bigger than any dream you could have ever imagined!  Now get going and start your dream so that it can find you too!

I would like to give a special shout out to Kim, Kate, Michelle, Connie, and Linda for keeping me going when I was ready to throw in the towel.  Your friendship, support, and great taste has all been invaluable...thank you!!!

                                                             

Opinions and A Giveaway

So I'm finding these new watermarks are kind of obnoxious and a bit of a pain to create, but such is life I guess.  Until I can figure out an even better way to protect my images, this will have to suffice I'm afraid!

I have a big favor to ask though, but it also means you'll be entered to win something.  I was wondering if you would be so kind as to take a look at these images and pick your favorites.  They are grouped in pairs and each one of the pairs has the same "look" to them.  Some are more vintage'y, while others just have a soft romantic look to them.

  I'll call these SET #1

This is the first set with a vintage look and some writing on them.

 ___________________________________________________________________________________

 Set #2

This next set has a softer feel to them and there is less going on, but each has a stamp to give them a little interest.

 __________________________________________________________________________________

Set #3

Set 3 is even more simple with no writing at all, and just a painterly quality to bring out the beauty of the flowers.

So, what do you think?  Do you like set #1, #2, #3...and what do you like best, or dislike most about any of the sets?

As a thank you for taking the time to tell me which set you like the best or like the least, I will draw a winner from the comments and send him or her 5 x 7's of the set you like the best.

I will draw a name on Thursday and let the winner know on Friday.  Thank you for taking the time to give me some feedback, I really appreciate it!

Inspiration and Desperation

Thank you everyone for your lovely Valentine's Day wishes yesterday.  I hope each of you had a wonderful day!

My day (and Mr. Tide's) consisted of straightening up for a home appraiser to pay us a visit yesterday afternoon, followed by what I can only term as an "interesting" evening.

We sent Bugs, our son, off with the dogs for a few hours while the appraiser was here, and after he had been gone for a little bit the phone rang.  He informed Mr. Tide and me that he had gotten a little bored while hanging out with the pups at our farm property and had gone for a bit of a joy ride around the fields.

Sounds like a good idea right?  He was in a 4 wheel drive vehicle after all...but what he failed to take into account was how soft parts of the field were, and how where a big tree had been uprooted last fall there was now a small pond that had formed where the roots had once been. 

He made it by said pond on the way in, but on the way out he wasn't quite so lucky and ended up with the front end of the truck deep in muck and mire.  This meant that I would need to hang out to meet with the appraiser while Mr. Tide ventured over to try and get the truck unstuck! 

Needless to say, this wasn't exactly how I had envisioned our Valentine's Day evening would turn out, but hey, no one was hurt, well except maybe our son's pride, so it was all good.

Several hours, and a bit of desperation caused by a few failed attempts, plus a tractor pull or two later, the truck was free but nicely covered in mud.  The dogs were perfect, and behaved beautifully for having been through a 5 hour ordeal which they thought was going to be a simple outing.

The best part was as I was driving home I had to go through a retail parking lot and I got some rather confused looks from teenage boys who initially thought..."ahh cool, they went muddin"...followed by a really confused look that I can only imagine went something like..."what the heck, that old lady went muddin?!"

I'm happy to report that today was much calmer.  I was able to get lots of work done, and I was even able to tap in to a little inspiration provided by some pansies I bought last weekend.  They are so pretty, and so was the weather today, so I went outside and gathered a few to bring inside and put into my tiny glass vase which is perfect for things like pansy blossoms.

Oh, and the truck, well Bugs took it to the car wash, so it's feeling much better now too!

What has inspired you lately?

Little Acts of Kindness

The past few days have been a serious whirlwind.  Work has demanded every waking moment of my time and by the time I'm finished late at night, I am ready for bed, so I haven't even surfed blogs or the web the way I normally do.

The good part is that I'm making progress, so even though it is time consuming, it is so worth it!  And I know that the payoff will be worth the effort.

Awhile ago, Linda from Itsy Bits and Pieces showed this gorgeous vintage Dutch tin on her site.  That girl is always finding the best stuff, and her prices sometimes seem too good to be true, except that they are true...so they are that good!

As soon as I saw it, I knew that the colors were perfect for using in photo shoots, so I sent Linda an email asking if she planned to sell this pretty little tin.  Much to my delight she said yes, and she even suggested we do a trade...some of my artwork for her tin.

Umm, heck yes I want to trade!  So I ordered her prints and she shipped me my tin.  When it arrived it was as beautiful as I had imagined, and I've already filled it with a lovely primrose that I picked up at the store yesterday.  The primroses at my local grocery store were 3 for $5 on special, so I snapped up quite a few of them in lieu of buying roses or tulips that don't last nearly as long.

I tucked one into my new tin and filled my wire basket with several others.  I truly love having fresh flowers in my house, there is  just something so refreshing about seeing and smelling beautiful flowers throughout the year.

Of course getting a package is always uplifting too, but especially when it comes from someone as kind as Linda!  She didn't just include the tin, nope, she also included a few other goodies, some of which I will show you in an upcoming post.  But those darling little clay stars above, well they were tucked in to my package.

Not only are Linda and her daughter (who is her partner in crime) super good at finding vintage lovelies, but they are also hugely talented and creative souls who make all sorts of wonderful things from things they find as well as things they make themselves.

And between the two of them they have several Etsy shops which you can visit by clicking on the links on her sidebar, on the right side part way down on her blog.  Just don't blame me if you find all sorts of things you can't live without!

For the past few days I've been up to my eyeballs in talking to manufacturers, learning about anything and everything there is to know about trying to make it in commercial photography.  Some people are so incredibly helpful that you can't really believe it, while others can make it feel like pulling teeth, and for no good reason I might add.

But hey, I'm always up for a challenge.  I was born competitive and those traits have served me well over the years, so I'm not planning on changing any time soon.  But when people like Linda show those little acts of kindness, well it makes you realize that right will always win in the end, because that's what matters most in life, don't you think?

Rescue Me

The living room and dining room are coming together nicely, but I will wait to show them to you since they are close, but no cigar as the saying goes.

Not much has really changed in the living room, it really is the dining room that has undergone the most change, but there is still more to do.

I have this annoying habit of envisioning a room before it's actually completed sometimes.  It's not so much the exact details that I have in my head, but an overall feel for a room that I'm after.  And sometimes that can be a real pain in the you know what because that means that you will hunt and search and spend hours hoping from store to store or internet site to internet site looking for just the right piece.

I'm currently on the hunt for an unusual piece to go next to my new cabinet, and who knew it would be so hard to find an old blanket chest for my bedroom to store my bed linens when they are not in use?!  

Yesterday I visited a few local places looking for said storage item and although I did find a few steamer trunks and a really pretty vintage wicker chest, they just didn't meet with my vision...sigh.

At least one thing has worked out nicely and that is my pretty new life ring that now hangs on the wall near my slipcovered chair in the living room.  I have been searching for a vintage life preserver ring for over a year now, but I could never find one that was the size and color I was after.  Then, a few months ago I saw that Caroline of Ekster had some.  I didn't get one when she first had them for sale, but when I ordered my cabinet I asked if she still had some and she sent a few down for me to look at when her husband Jon-Paul delivered our cabinet.  Voila, it was the perfect color, aged beautifully and big enough to fill the space where I wanted to hang it...everything I had imagined it would be...in my vision of course!

Sometimes I think I need more than a vintage life ring to rescue me from my design visions.  Some days I would love to be vision free and just go pick something up that would make do instead of spending hours hunting for just the right piece.  But then again what would I do with all of that free time I would suddenly have?!

And to the people who were totally freaked out by the rat photo in my last post, I apologize.  I know that we each have things that kind of make us feel whirly inside, even if those things can seem cute to the rest of the world.  For me that thing would be bats.  Even if there was someone out there who had trained a bat to hold a cute teddy bear and then managed to snap a photo of it, well it still wouldn't be cute to me...so I get it.  Note to self, no rat, snake, spider, bat, or other photos on the blog...well unless they are exceedingly cute, because cuteness knows no bounds! ;-)

Texture Love

Thank you to everyone for your wonderful comments and emails about my blog anniversary, it's been a fun 2 years!

I thought I would stay inside today and play with textures.  It's a blustery day outside, and I've messed up my ankle somehow and have to stay off of it, so processing pictures is a perfect way to pass the time.  And, messing around with photos is way more fun than vacuuming!

In the photo above I used one of Kim Klassen's textures, and I have no clue which one.  I should write this stuff down, but that's probably not going to happen...sorry!

This one has another one of Kim's textures and I used a brush texture on it too to give it a more painterly look.

Kim creates such beautiful textures, I find that I go to them time and time again.  And she is also so very generous with her free textures.  If you've been wanting to try using textures, I highly recommend you sign up for one of her e-courses, she has some starting soon.  Click here to find out more.

My sweet neighbor gave me these beautiful pink tulips yesterday.  I had given her a needlepoint pillow that no longer looked good in my house, so as a thank you, she gave me these pretty flowers.  I think I made out in the trade!  Although the pillow does look mighty nice in her green velvet wingback chair, so it was a win, win for both of us!

I put the flowers in this pretty pink vase I have had for years.  It came with the sheer pale pink ribbon which I love, so I thought it was the perfect choice for my pretty in pink flowers.  The texture I used on this one is another free one but from Boccacino.  I don't use these textures often, but when I do I fall in love with them all over again!

And here is the same image, but with script added from a free brush set by French Kiss...I love cool new brushes to play with!

Well that's it for now.  I hope you are finding something to hang out and do that makes you happy today too!

The Winter Blues

I'm so excited that so many of you felt a connection with my post from yesterday!  I think the Year of US is full of endless possibilities!

Now that almost all of my Christmas decor is snugly packed away for another year, I thought I would throw a little color around the house.  My collection of blue Ball jars and old insulators will now be providing me with a much happier version of the winter blues.


 

When I come into the kitchen each morning I will be greeted by their various shades of blue and aqua.  And at nighttime I might just throw a few tea lights up there to illuminate their beautiful blueness.

And I will smile when I see the light dance through these wavy, undulating, bubbled, glass vessels.

Yep, now that's what I call the perfect winter blues...maybe I'll even sing the blues.  What makes you sing this time of year?