From The Nest

Mushroom Love Handouts for Atlanta

and more mushroom love, you know how I cannot resist, so yes, I designed a really cool handout for the upcoming Atlanta License and Design show with, yes, you guessed it, my favorite red and white polka dotted mushrooms with the little bluebird of happiness sitting on the top.
Just look how they grow in the forest...I mean how cute are these? So, taking inspiration from nature I thought what could I do to incorporate these darling mushrooms into something that would market my design studio. I simply could not resist! These are the cutest little packages of colorful buttons with all my website information, phone, e mail, etc to hand out to a prospective client so that they will remember me. I even designed the buttons to have my website address on the very edge of each button just in case the client takes them out of the package so they won't loose the name! It's all about marketing! I am ready for the show, just have to pack up and get on the plane! I hope to see you there...the Atlanta License and Design show, AtlantasMart, Building 2, Floor 3, booth #3G25! Stop by and say hello, I'll be the one wearing the red and white polka dotted mushroom buttons! best, carol  

Have A Holly Jolly Christmas

  Have a Holly Jolly Christmas this year! best, the Captain and Carol

Inks the deal!

  Some VERY exciting news! After many many months of designing, drawing, concepting, creating, contacting, talking, meetings, listening, making the pitch, sending in samples, calling, e mailing, more meetings, and then even more meetings, Demdaco, arguably the number one gift company in the United States, has offered me a Licensing Agreement and is going to manufacture a big Christmas Collection that I designed! Persistence does pay off it seems. Very rewarding. Easy to take pen to paper and sign my name to this golden opportunity. It is such a good feeling to accomplish one of your goals, particularly in this business environment. It takes more effort, more work, more thought and more creative designs to land the deal, but the end result is really satisfying. I wanted to share this with you and let you know that one year from now my new Christmas collection will debut in Atlanta and it is going to be fantastic!!!! Now, the work begins. Happy Day! Stick with your goals and dreams, make it happen! best, Carol

Winter Wonderland

We woke up Sunday morning to look out and see this beautiful sight. The first winter snow storm had come and left us with almost a foot of snow on our doorstep. It is the soft, fluffy type of snow and it just looks so pretty. We didn't get the blizzard here or any of the wind, just lots and lots of snow, just in time to have a White Christmas.
This is our little house tucked in under a blanket of snow. I love this time of year! Everything looks so festive! You can just see our footprints sneaking down the side of the front steps...I didn't want to wreck the snowfall for the photo. I love how folks decorate their houses in New England for the holidays...lots of green pine boughs, ribbons and bows and lots twinkling lights....... the snow is just the finishing touch. We are ready for Santa Claus now. One of the delights of living in New England is the change of seasons 4 times a year. From the delight of a hot summer's day, hanging out on the boat on a sparkling blue ocean to the magnificent colors of the change to the fall foliage, then the green of the new grass and flowers as spring starts to awaken after the long winter months. I never have minded winter. It is all about being outside, skiing and skating and playing with the munchkins requires all sorts of outdoor activities from sledding to snowman building to throwing a few snowballs here and there.
So, with camera in hand, off we went for a long walk with the snow crunching under our booths as we enjoyed the picture postcard look of our neighborhood. It is always so peaceful after a snow storm. The air is so fresh and clean, it is so quiet and calming and so so pretty. So, wishing all of you a Happy Holiday and a prosperous and peaceful New Year... we will be happy tucked in under our pure white snow blanket, cozy and warm, celebrating the holiday season with our ever growing and wonderful family! peace to all, carol

My New "Reindeer Games" Licensed Product

  I thought you might like to take a peek at my newest licensed product "Reindeer Games" that will debut at the upcoming AtlantasMart in January 2010 for the manufacturer, One Hundred 80 degrees. Each reindeer is crafted out of wood and silk screened with a pair of polka dot or patterned snow boots and carrying some holiday items like a snowman or basket of gifts on their backs on top of a festive decorative blanket. Their wonderful antlers are all decked out with patterns as well, along with small wooden ornaments that hang and dangle. They are just too too cute...but, then there is even something more special to these colorful guys...I designed a tiny little drawer in the deer that can hold some holiday treasure, like a pair of diamond earrings, for example. The reindeers can stand alone or hang as an ornament on your Christmas tree, holding that special something close to their heart until Christmas day, when you can open the little drawer and see your present inside. How cute is that?
Here are a couple of the colorful reindeer so you can see them up close. You can notice the tiny drawers in the middle of the reindeer that can hold a little treasure.
This is the back view of the "Reindeer Games" display and reindeer that I also designed to be like a corral that the reindeers live in. It holds about 15 reindeer and makes it nice and easy for the retailer to know how to display the products in their stores since it comes with the assortment of reindeer that they purchase...so easy for them, looks great, and is fun and festive for their stores. The store owner can then replace the reindeers and restock the corral after others have sold. This was a fun and creative challenge to come up with not only the ornaments but to also think of creating the display for them and how it would look and how it would work. The challenge was to design something not too big so as not to take up too much shelf space in the store, yet would hold a nice assortment of the reindeer and display them well and that was cost effective! After several series of colored sketches and concepts, this is what I came up with and I am very happy with the final product. It not only looks good, it serves the purpose to display the reindeer in a small amount of space and keeps them together to create a home base for the deer in their corral. So, keep the "Reindeer Games" in mind when your shopping in Atlanta at the gift mart. Think how cute these would be in your shop and what a fun gift to give to a friend for the holidays...with or without the diamond earrings! best, carol

From Russia.....with love....and Santa

  I just love playing with felt...I think the colors are so much fun,they are so saturated and bold and you can do such cool things with the material. Here are 3 standing "pillows" I created. The first two are the iconic Matryoshka dolls from Russia that are so popular everywhere. The folk art designs are derived from ones that I saw when I was in Saint Petersburg a few years ago. I always take a sketch book with me so I jotted down anything that I thought was interesting as we traveled around. Those dolls are everywhere...the meaning of the word Matryoshka is "Mother" and inside the wooden dolls are 4 or 5 or even 6 graduated sizes of the largest doll, making an entire family. A fun toy for children to play with as they take them all apart and then try to put them all back in the correct order once again. In this case, a rich, folksy image that adds a touch of color to your room.
I made the front cutting up pieces of felt and layering them to create the face and beard and to build the image of Santa. The back of the pillow is a gorgeous crushed velvet making Santa look very rich indeed.
Here is the side view look to the Santa pillow where you can clearly see the velvet backing.
This is the larger Matryoshka doll. She is carrying a gift and highly decorated with pom pom trim and colorful folk images reminiscent of Russian Folk Art Design.
Here is the side view of the larger doll pillow.
The smaller Matryoshka doll pillow has that wonderful peacock blue dress and she is holding a folk art holiday tree. Her bright red babushka is decorated with holly leaves and berries. She is completely edged in white pom poms. Notice the detail on her face, the shadow and the expressive eyes.
Then I made a couple of regular pillow shapes where I actually cut out the colorful felt and glued the various shapes down on the black background. I think the bright colors just pop off the black background, making a dramatic look, colorful and fun.
And, this one is really the theme for the whole collecion..."Christmas is Family". I cut out the words out of the felt and glued them down on the black background. I love the tiny red pom pom edge trim...I special ordered that from a place in New York City, not always easy to find the small ones. Just sharing another collection with you for the holidays. Lots more coming this week so make sure to stop back each day. warm holiday wishes, carol

More Red and White Polka Dot Mushroom Love!

I have mentioned my "love affair" before on this blog with "amanitamuscaria"...the fabulous red and white polka dotted mushroom. The Captain and I first discovered them walking in the woods in Finland and were amazed at how beautiful they were. Sheer Perfection and that color red...to die for! Imagine a woodland scene in the fall. It is getting colder and all the leaves are off the trees and most everything is in a brown hue and there you spot them, peeking up under some pine needles, these oh so bright, red and white beauties. I told you this is what the reindeer love to eat to sustain themselves during the winter, so they are very beneficial for the health and happiness of the reindeer. But, you simply cannot imagine walking through the woods and seeing dozens of these poking up out the brown soil, happy and red just like a cartoon or something. It's hard to believe that they are real. So, I love them. I have worked them into all sorts of designs, in my home, around the house, made them out of clay, felt, paper, you name it. I cannot get enough of them. The red and white polka dotted mushroom is just the cutest thing ever... just another example of the wonderful gifts we receive from Mother Nature.
in my designs....
made out of clay
more clay polka dotties....
couldn't resist making one to hold a little candle...
rows of mushroom love...and health and happiness
in little boxes for gifts...
felted mushrooms in my living room....
on the silver tray in the dining room...
more artwork....
tucked into a little clay pot with some pine cones....
of course I had to add the bluebird of happiness sitting on top of the double mushrooms...
and there is more...I just updated a few of my website pages and have added this now iconic image to my home page...as an embellishment..lots of red is good...most important color in marketing...people love red...the color of love and the heart...it is all good and oh yes, it is also the color of Christmas...see how this all ties in...so of course...I am thinking the forest at Christmas, the elves and the gnomes...
celebrating the season....with lots of darling red and white polka dot mushrooms! Happy Holidays, Carol

More Peking Handicraft samples

A few more of the new licensed "Girlfriends on Vacation" collection with Peking Handicraft just arrived in time for the upcoming AtlantasMart in January. These two colorful embroidered towels have a cooking theme. One says "Did you say cook?" When wearing a crown and holding a wand, I never ever cook!" with a fun babe wearing a bikini, crown and holding her wand. The other says " Cook, excuse me?" "high maintenance babe waiting for nails to dry"...I mean HELLO! fun...this entire collection will debut in just a few weeks in Atlanta. I will be there exhibiting at the License and Design show, Building 2, floor 3. Hope to see you there! best, carol

Gingerbread Perfection

  One of my talented girls lives here in Marblehead. We call Amy the "good daughter" since she returned from Santa Fe to live in town and raise her family here, which of course we love. She is an extraordinary chef and just designed and baked this Nativity out of gingerbread to enter in the annual Gingerbread House contest sponsored by the Marblehead Family Fund and the Marblehead Historical Society. Over 100 gingerbread houses will be on display at the historic Lee Mansion in downtown Marblehead during the Christmas Walk this coming weekend. Folks can "bid" on their favorite design buy purchasing raffle tickets, the money collected from the tickets then going to support the Marblehead Family fund. It is a festive occasion and lots of fun to see what everyone makes. I was completely blown away by Amy's Nativity made completely out of gingerbread and other edible items like shredded wheat and pretzels. The design is just so clean and clever. Check out the Angel Gabriel flying on a dowel that Amy drilled into the wooden base so she would be up above looking down on the family. The colors are so magnificent, like stain glass, rich and saturated. The sheer perfection of the design is just so impressive when you think that it is food and it is all edible! It was a ton of work, took her days to make and bake the gingerbread, cut out and paint the individual pieces and assemble it all together, not to mention the research and original design of it all. All for a very worthwhile cause. Gingerbread Perfection.......... by a simply amazingly talented daughter! you can tell I am so proud! She should have been a designer! best, carol

More Product Samples

  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I did all the cooking and the decorating and the Captain chopped all the vegetables, Mom made the apple pie and Amy made the brie en croute. It was all divine! I am trying to get through the photos of the puppet show to post sometime. The second annual "Mayflower Voyage" munchkin's puppet show was adorable and the kids loved making the puppets and learning more about the Pilgrims. In the meantime, more samples have arrived of my licensed stickers and gift tags for the Current Catalog that coordinate with the gift wrap I showed to you back in early fall. They came out great and arrived just in time for holiday wrapping. My adorable penguins wearing all sorts of cute hats, little skaters and little sledders enjoying the winter time fun...all just festive, colorful and fun! Extremely busy with work, preparing for the upcoming Atlanta License and Design show and holiday shopping. Everyone wants everything at once it seems and this is a busy time of year to begin with so it makes it extra crazy. More products coming into the studio this week so lots to post and some exciting news to share soon! best, carol