ohbrooke

A Long Winter’s Nap

I’m off for Christmas break. I will have limited internet access, (WHA??!?!?) and will not be posting until new years. It has been a great year! Thanks for the comments and support!

EMC Holiday Card

My colleagues and I (at EMC Creative) finally released this year’s agency Christmas card. This was a new venture for us: flash animation, user-generated content and audio. We’re loving how it’s turned out and are getting great feedback. See the holiday card here and be sure to add what inspired you this year!

What Do You Think?

I came across this interesting Christmas Tree today, and am wondering what you think. This Christmas tree idea belongs to Judy Hardaway at Amazing Christmas Ideas.com. She says this,

I always hang doves from the ceiling with strings of beads in their mouths as though they were flying in and decorating the tree. I use white thread to suspend the birds and pushpins to secure them to the ceiling. You can attach the beads to the birds’ beaks with hot glue or with straight pins. They can also be attached to the feet. The string of beads should be long enough to drape the end over a limb of the tree. Place the doves at different distances from the Christmas tree.

I think there is definitely some thinking out of the box here, and I would love to try something different with my tree next year. This is a little ‘Cindarella-ish’ for me, but I’m going to have to remember this… if nothing else, to inspire me to do more to the Christmas tree than just bulbs and ribbon.

Google Reader is a Must Have

Google Reader is a total time saver for me. I have a gmail account (as everyone should these days) and this also gives me access to my very own reader (among other things. If you aren’t sold on gmail’s capabilities, ping me. I’ll grab my soapbox). This reader allows me to enter the blogs that I like to follow, (my friends, Craft Stylish, Unclutterer…) and keeps them all in one place. When I get a few moments in the day, or when I’m winding down at night, and want to see if new posts have appeared, I go to my reader.

In my gmail (which is ALWAYS open) I click on the ‘Reader’ tab.

Then all my feeds that I’m subscribed to are there. AND – if there happen to be new posts that I haven’t read, they are bolded.

I can easily, and quickly, keep caught up on all my blogs, all in one place. No visiting blogs three or four times that haven’t updated their sites, no wasting time visiting each and every URL, and no temptation to click on sidelinks that I don’t have time.

If you are still not convinced, here is a video about Google Reader.

Simple is Better

I couldn’t take it any longer. My website was grating on me. I decided I wanted it to be easier to update, otherwise my portfolio section would continue to be stale because it took too much effort (I work on websites all day and all night, and I have little motivation to work on my own).

I illiminated the fine art section, because I don’t draw for anybody but myself, and I hardly even do that. I also thought it would be fun to have everything all on one page, so it is easy to navigate, and straight to the point. This isn’t a great solution for SEO, but I’m not concerned with that. 100% of my clients come from networking and referrals.

So here it is. A little less information, but hopefully more powerful. I used my new favorite program, Viewbook, to host my portfolio images. This is such a great resource for putting images on the web, and easily organizing and publishing photos. You can create your own website on Viewbook, or create an image gallery to embed on your existing website. This is a new resource that I’m using for my clients who want to be able to upload their own images on their website without having to call me. Viewbook has free and monthly-billed options. Some websites that I have used Viewbook on include: Shannon Kaye and Delford West Flowers.

Christmas Decorations= Kryptonite.

I don’t often decorate for the holidays because I don’t enjoy clutter around the house, and I don’t have much storage. But when Christmas rolls around, I just can’t help it. It is tradition for me to buy cart-loads of decorations on the day after Christmas, then store them away. The following Christmas becomes an exploration and rediscovery of all the things I purchased and forgot about.

This year I decided to work the orange into the holiday decorating as well. I think orange looks GREAT with the tree. I also snagged some feather angel wings from Pier1, and I LOVE how they look on the tree. I’ll definitely buy more when they go on sale after Christmas.

My husband and I like to go to the same Christmas lot every year and go to the discount section. There we find a funny-looking, kinda scrawny, really short, and loveable tree. We love having a reject tree fulfill it’s Christmas Wish in our home.

I also got some tree branches with little flecks of fake snow on them, and tied them to our new chandelier using orange vintage-looking ribbon. I’m going to so sad when it’s time to take this off!

Next year’s additons that I’ll be looking for after Christmas this year: tinsel, mercury glass pinecones, and a pointed tree-skirt.

Jessica’s Townhouse

Jessica is moving into her first house, a townhouse, and wanted to know how she should decorate it. She emailed me some pictures and gave me a rundown on her style. This included:

• 80% traditional and 20% modern.
• timeless but with a little bit of sass.
• a few accent pieces in a fun color (red?).
• mostly something we’ll like for a long time but with a few pieces that we can change if we want to.
• We like some modern things but not really futuristic things.

I like Jessica’s direction. Although, with one alteration. Red can be a great accent color, but the more I see it, the more out-of-date I think it is. Remember how there was this period where everyone thought they’d go crazy and paint one red wall? Well, everybody did it, and I didn’t like it then, and I definitely don’t like it now. I don’t think that Jessica was suggesting that, but the hotter colors to accent with are orange, greens and yellows.

DISCLAIMER: There are rules to my inspiration boards. Some things are pricey. I don’t intend for the reader to go out and buy every item on the board, or ANY item for that matter. I just hope it steers them in a direction so that they can make decisions for themselves. I’m giving my advice for style, colors, putting patterns together, creating warmth, etc., and the readers can take it from there.

So, with Jessica’s traditional-kinda modern-little sassy style, I have put together an inspiration board for her. Jessica, be sure to let us know what you liked and what you didn’t like, and any purchases you make that you think pull it all together!

couch {macys}

side chair {macys}

damask coffee table {artelano}

floor lamp {cb2}

pillows {inhabit}

wall panels {inhabit}

table lamp {inhabit}

side table {homer}

green glass jugs {pottery barn}

dining table {the furniture}

Four Calling Birds

I am in love with these ‘Four Calling Birds’ bowls by Jayson Home and Garden. I just have a thing for birds, and I can’t be helped.

Mounting Your Television

I have noticed over the last few months, after having mounted our TV in our new condo, that many are hanging their TV too high. I can see how this is easily done, because the things we normally hang on the wall are artwork. Normally, artwork is hung at eye-level when standing up. A TV however, is not meant to be viewed standing up. A TV should be mounted much lower than artwork, because it is viewed while sitting down.

If you think about TV consoles, they are usually much lower than say, a kitchen table. They are low to the ground, because the television should be lower to the ground. Here are some examples of mounted television heights. (I don’t have a standard for measuring televisions, but sit on your couch and guage what a comfortable height is for your TV.)

This one is too low.

This one is too high.

And this one is just right.

Christmas Quilt Finished

I have been enjoying my “croffice” (craft room + office) so much that I have been quite productive. After seeing a fun quilt design, I thought I’d make a quilt for Christmas to improve my sewing skills. I’m much more of a one-hour type project gal myself, but I love blankets, and I LOVE putting fabrics together, so this was a fun project. The fabric on the top is quilter’s calico and the bottom fabric is flannel. It is VERY cozy.