Be my Valentine!

I was asked to participate in a Tussie Mussie swap by fellow artist and blogger Cheryl. The theme was Valentines and all things romantic, soft colors and shabby. I had a lot of fun with this. I am a girlie girl at heart and decided to pull out the ruffles, lace and bling. I had so much fun making this cone I decided to make more for some girlfriends and even kept one for myself.

I used vintage sheet music to wrap each of the cones. One of my favorite tricks is to run some of the paper through the shredder and us it as filler. I've used it in EVERYTHING including gift bags and to nest jewelry, even hay in a manager from a Christmas party I decorated this past December. It's always so pretty!

I gathered and wrapped some beautiful tea dyed vintage lace, from my sweet friend Brenda's shop Just a Bed of Roses, around the cone. Satin ribbon in my special folded pattern. I always sew rather than glue it to stay. I find without gluing it the ribbon gains more body. I made up this technique a few years back and have been able to use it in costume design where the outfit might get a lot of rough housed use and it stays. Perhaps a tutorial on that in the near future.

 (This is the one I kept)

To finish off the cone I styled each a little differently and used vintage pins and ornaments for bling and ribbons (some scraps...don't ever throw anything away. There's always a use for it I find!) in soft shades. The leaves are my favorite. I love making them. It's my therapy and totally relaxing! Cut from the softest velvety fabric I hand wrap beads into a wheat stalk style then sew this on to the bit of fabric. Instant leaf!

It was fun to see all the different cones each participant artist made. Some so very unique with fun ideas! I hope to find the time in the future to to make more! I was spoiled with the cone I received in return and a beautiful bag full of goodies and notions. I will have to share that soon!

I hope everyone had a Happy Valentines Day!

xoxo Molly

AND THE WINNER IS......

THANK YOU FOR ALL THE ENTRIES!! If I had to personally pick I could not because you ALL would win!  So thank you to the random number generator haha!!! If you did not win tonight then don't be discouraged....I will be posting ANOTHER giveaway of this stunning necklace shortly here!

The designer behind Trinkets & Butterflies will be coming with me to The Oscars!!! I am delighted to have her on my creative team to help me during production of such a large event. During the Oscars I will be giving away MORE swag!! Special thanks to the very generous artists and companies who provide these amazing gifts to me to bring to you!!

Now for the winner pulled from a bowl of each name on a paper (Little Miss 8 just HAD to be involved so we did it this way) ......CONGRATS TO:

JENNY of MODERN MODEST BEAUTY

Please EMAIL me an address to send your necklace to and let me know the style (Square or oval) you prefer! Enjoy!!

SUNDANCE SWAG GIVEAWAY CLOSING SOON!

 Hello friends!! I wanted to post that we are closing the entries on the giveaway in just a few short hours! The comments section will be closed at 6pm sharp. We will count the entries and run a random number generator to determine the winner! 

I am so excited to present one of these beautiful creations to you! Entries are by leaving a comment on THIS POST. Good Luck!!

SUNDANCE SWAG GIVEAWAY

Hello Friends! I am back from the Sundance Film Festival. I had such a fun time and barely felt like I was working at all. I guess that's when you know you LOVE your job!! I made a lot of great connections and am so grateful for the experience! I am please to announce I have been hired as a Production Designer and Assistant Producer for the same company for the OSCARS!!! EEK! I'm beyond thrilled and excited to make magic again! More on that later...I wanted to share pictures with you from the Sundance event as well as do a GIVEAWAY!!

To capture the vision I had for the space I pulled in a friend of mine who is a talented artist that uses real butterflies in her work. Brittany of Trinkets and Butterflies makes shadow boxes and jewelry with them.

NO butterflies were harmed to make these exotic pieces of art and jewelry. All butterfly specimens are ecologically sustainable insects that come from butterfly farms all around the world who specialize in raising, breeding and releasing them into the wild.

The butterfly life span is approximately 3-6weeks, they are then are collected after they naturally perish. Purchasing these rare items not only will you get to enjoy their natural beauty, but you will also be helping and contributing to a good cause. The  money that is spent to purchase the items goes to sustain these conservation programs and protect their rain forest habitats. I LOVE that!!

The suite I decorated fully with a botanical theme. The beautiful abstract floral art I collaborated on with L Floral Studio. They captured my vision, the exact flowers and vines I wanted to use and then went beyond!

I wanted to match the vibrant blues of some of the butterflies and with hyacinths and these amazing aqua and green hybrid orchids the space was truly a sight and smelled AMAZING!

The butterflies were truly the highlight! I hung them all over the place and had amazing spotlights to give them the attention they deserved. This is one of my favorites because it had a purple tone when you angled it a certain way.

 Here is a collage of the lace and yellow butterflies peeking out from one of the cool abstract recycled chandeliers, also decor. I took this and posted it to my Instagram feed found HERE. I'll post more photos of the event once the press photography is released in the upcoming week.

Several of the top VIP's and Celebrities were gifted one of the amazing necklaces made with the butterfly wings. There are so many amazing ones to choose from and they are all stunning!

 And now you have a chance to win one! Your pick of the oval, circle or square shape. The artist has graciously offered not one but TWO!! I will give one away today and another next week. How exciting and lucky you!!

To enter please leave a simple comment. For a bonus entry please "LIKE" Trinket's and Butterflies on FACEBOOK. If you are not already MY FRIEND on FACEBOOK you may add me for another entry. Please make a note in your comment if we are already friends so I can count that. Follow my blog and yep...you get ANOTHER entry. How exciting! * Please note that I moderate ALL comments and will publish them as quickly as possible to the comment section below. Thanks!

A Random Number Generator will determine the winner 

this SUNDAY FEB 12th at 5PM Mountain Time!!

Thank you for your visit today and GOOD LUCK!

xoxo Molly

COMMENTS CLOSED!! THANKS FOR YOUR ENTRIES!!

My View

The space I am designing for the Sundance Film Festival has fantastic views! Right smack on historic Main Street. The balcony spans two large buildings and overlooks all the buzz and life of Park City. Marvelous!! It snowed today during my first day of set up. Actually I was there to meet with the owners of the Non-Profit company I am working for to review the space and take notes as to any last min. details to get done by Friday. So much to do, so little time. You know the saying! I am really loving this opportunity and excited to experience Sundance in a whole different way. I will also be mingling with the VIP's and helping in any capacity that is asked of me at the private event. I feel I am right where I need to be to expand my career as a Set Designer in Film and TV. The best part....it's so much FUN!! I love what I do and that I can do it and still be a Mom and Wife! Women Power ha!

PINK WEDDING

I have been slammed with The Sundance Film Festival! Eek it's so exciting! 30 minutes after I opened this fortune cookie above (from my Instagram feed HERE) I took a call where I was asked to help with a VIP gifting suite and educational lounge for a very well known company in the industry. I am beyond thrilled to be working one on one with them and creating an amazing space for top Directors, Filmmakers, Actors and Producers to enjoy. To get such job offers is both a joy and honor. For this reason I am absent from my blog a lot. I have much to share that is going on but I am not able to just yet...but soon! Other opportunities to take me to award shows in the very near future make my head spin and my heart sing!  I truly LOVE what I do!!!

On another note of design I have been actively planning weddings since I did my first one at 19 for a girlfriend. I have not made this my priority in my career, rather I take on a wedding every so often. I have to feel it is magical enough or the person is so special I can pour all my creativity into it as if it were my own. One such person that I help with her wedding, getting her ideas and helping her become addicted to Pinterest (ha!) is my former ballet student, turned dear friend Elora. She is getting married today! Doesn't she remind you of Grace Kelly!?!

Her dress is BLUSH PINK and has POCKET! Swoon!!

She just graduated with a degree in Broadcast Journalism. She is very into high fashion and did an internship in New York and London this past summer that landed her at the Tony awards! I had the honor of helping dress her there! It was a blast feeling her excitement and being a part of that! I wanted to share her amazing photo my other friend Jessica Janae took of her. Breathtaking! Honored to be a part of her life and wedding day even if in the smallest ways. More photos of the event to come for sure. I promise lots of pink as it's her favorite color!

I am linking up for the first time this year to PINK SATURDAY. I have been a part of this amazing group of bloggers for almost 3 years now!! Please be sure to pop by other participants this weekend on our lovely host Beverly's blog.

Enjoy your weekend!! xoxo

Day 2 Once Upon a Dream - Claxton Farms

Well it seems my photos are saved somehow but not my words describing every photo. I currently updated my laptop to iCloud and it not only messed up my laptop losing precious data but my cell phone completely restored deleting everything!! Thankfully on the laptop I have an external hard drive that holds my life so all was recovered.

I'll briefly state the group was bused to beautiful and picturesque Claxton Farms on Friday morning at the event back in October. We had a full day planned of art projects and visiting. We had lunch and dinner well into the late evening with s'mores by a huge bonfire and cocktails and dancing inside. Here are some photos from the first half of the day.....

The beautiful entrance!

Tables/Seating arrangements. Very creative!

One of the beautiful crafts. This one designed by the brilliant, beautiful and ball of spunk, Dee Foust. LOVE her!!

My table. Beautiful!!

The center table had a huge embellished wreath that was quite the focal point! It lit up with battery operated lights in the evening. Beautiful! Love the fabric over the beams. I have done this in my home and my cabin for this Fall's Glamping trip so I know how much work goes into getting it all done up.

Behind our table was a fun photo-op area, raffle prize table and soda machine. I had given up my Diet Coke habit and all soda and sugar 3 months prior to the event so this was quite a temptation as it was open tap! Those silver bags on the table.....full of goodies and sugar. I admit I did eat it...shhh!! I was back on my diet the day I got home! (have lost 26lbs of the baby weight at Christmas weigh in! Yay!)

Photo-op corner. This was darling! Jenn's husband built this!

Full room view.

Farm view....this field was massive. SUCH BEAUTIFUL scenery! The colors all changing on the trees made it even more so!

I had to post this silly photo of Lori and myself. We kept giving directions on the perfect photo.....this is a majority of how they turned out hahaha!

If my eyes weren't closed...then hers were ha! Love this gal!!! I have to give a plug to DownEast. They dressed me in several outfits for the event giving me a fab wardrobe to wear! The skirt is by Just Be. I added a vintage slip to lengthen it. A ton of my jewelry were my own pieces, however my friend Carol Brodie had some amazing jewelry I wore from one of her lines (I own them now!! Swoon!!) I love her stuff (She used to work for Harry Winston. Who WOULDN'T love her stuff!). I had the pleasure of suggesting Carol's jewelry to my girlfriend whom I helped dress for the Tony awards! Anyway...there is my plug for my friends, sponsors and brands I promised I'd mention. HUGE thanks, I felt beautiful!!!

These mushrooms were all created for the event by Karla Nathan. LOVE her!!

This is the chandelier we created by Natasha Burns that day. Such a fun project. LOVE Natasha too!

My darling friend Rebecca! LOVE LOVE LOVE her!

Pretty Fairy wings of lace!

This large garage door rolled up for an indoor-outdoor experience. Reminded me of my home in California and that kind of design/living. It was such a beautiful day and the views were amazing no matter where you sat!

The swag bags were so beautiful! I now use mine to carry my ballroom dancing shoes to class rather than my gym bag. MUCH prettier!

The beautiful necklace/bracelet we made by Andrea Singarella. LOVE her!! Love the packaging on ALL the projects I will say. These ladies know how to bring on the details!

This was taken as one of the official event photos. Of course Tiffany who was the official photographer took MUCH better photos than me tee hee! She spoke on Cameras and photo taking at lunch. She is just DARLING and a ball of energy!

My view while I crafted. SWOON!!!

I yelled at Andrea to hold her pose. In classic ballerina style she was explaining to everyone how to properly open a jump ring for those who had never done so. SO CUTE!

The tree above our table was magical! It too was lit at dark.

My new friend Cynthia wore such a unique and beautiful jacket with lace fashioned as a butterfly. AMAZING! We all dressed up Prairie style. I will admit I was a bit more urban prairie the welcome night. I had Chanel, Miss Me Couture and Ivanka Trump on....Prairie Princess maybe? haha! The outfits for crafting day were over the top amazing and fun!!

Better view of my layers of lace, ruffles and such.

Event patina. Stunning!

Well there is the morning. I am working on the evening photos to share. I hope you enjoyed my brief run through of the day. Have a wonderful day!

xoxo