Design Style Guide

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Featured Artist - Barbara Furlong

Riverside Escape 282 oil painting

Lilacs & Butterfly #819 oil painting

Poppies original oil painting #809

I'd like to introduce you to a very talented artist named Barbara Furlong. She is a 4-star member on Design Style Guide. Barbara first started doing tole paintings many years ago, but soon found and fell in love with oil painting and has been using oils ever since.

Barbara Furlong not only paints beautiful paintings, but she also teaches painting classes and has done so for several years now. "Barbara took the Bob Ross certifications, times 3. After 360 hours of training she got certified in landscapes, classes from Joyce Ortner, Buck Paulson, Susan Jenkins and soon from Valerie Stewart. She also is certified 4 ways with Donna Dewberry and has taught for Donna in the past at the BEE Painting and Crafting Expo in Florida."

You can see in her paintings, how much she loves doing what she does. The beauty in her work, the soft color palette she chooses, I believe, comes from the heart of a romantic.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Home Decorating Styles

We are pleased to tell you that we have been working on adding new pages to our team website about different Decorating Styles. Each page shows various home design styles and what the rooms could look like decorated in these styles Each style is summarized with descriptions of basic elements like color, furniture, accessories and fabric.

At this time they are organized into 7 main categories:
Styles inspired by Europe
Styles inspired by Nature
Modern Decorating Styles
Other Decorating Styles
Ethnic Decorating Styles
Historical Styles
Theme Decor

Think about your work and how you could design items in different styles to appeal to the buyer from that perspective. It might also inspire you to branch out a little. Choose a decorating style that reflects your personality, whether traditional or contemporary, or cottage or French country and let your creativity do the rest.

It is also a quick reference for you when you are not sure what style category to put your item in when creating a listing on our team website. This way you do not have to search other websites for ideas and you can quickly make the right decision. We are continuing to add new styles each day until we cover the majority of them.

We hope that you will find this feature helpful.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Giveaway #2 THE WINNER IS…..

We had 29 wonderful entries! Thank you to all of you who commented on our website and our featured artists, as well as those of you who also blogged about our giveaway!

So… Random.org picked our winner and the winning number is 18

Congratulations : Carla!

Carla said... I love the silk pillows by veracouture
http://www.designstyleguide.net/listingDetails.php?li=2464

The winner will be emailed as will the artist to complete the prize giveaway. Thank you to all who have participated. Please watch for Giveaway #3 beginning July 17 and ending Aug 5th.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Featured Artist - Melanie Pruitt

Bubbling Brook

I would like to introduce you to a wonderful artist named Melanie Pruitt. She is a watercolorist and her etsy shop is called the Creators Pallette. Melanie is a member of Design Style Guide, and you can find her paintings under Paintings and Wall Art.
Here's what she has to say from her bio,
"I love to paint with watercolors. The movement and dance that occurs between the pigment and water along with the unpredictable results are fascinating to me. Every painting I sit down to do is an adventure!
My goal with “The Creators Palette” is to share with others my love for and awe in the creation of beauty. I feel the best art touches my heart and makes me “feel”. The feeling may be joyous, peaceful, or even sad (one of my favorite art pieces makes me cry). Mostly, in my art, I want to convey a feeling of wonder and draw the viewer closer to the creator of all beauty.
"I have always been a creative person, but it wasn’t until recently that I began to paint in watercolor and sell my art. I was a very active person most of my life and my artistic/creative outlets fell in areas like competitive diving and gymnastics, garden design and most recently, developing and teaching a preschool dance program at Vancouver's Columbia Dance Center."

"While teaching preschool dance, I began experiencing some strange physical problems. Over the past four years, these problems have developed into a newly understood chronic illness of the autonomic nervous system. This has meant that I am no longer active in my past activities and had to quit my dance teaching."

Melanie was not about to let illness ruin her life, so she began looking for other things to do to keep her busy.

"Being stuck most hours in a recliner is difficult, but I am thankful that it has brought me to a point of developing new artistic endeavors. My shop is growing in variety as I stretch and learn new art techniques and medias!"

Visit Melanie's website

Melanie's art blog

Melanie Pruitt's personal blog

You can't keep a good woman down, is what I think when I think of Melanie Pruitt. Be sure to check out her website and such.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Meet Kristi of Sassy Shades!

Kristi Uvence is the creative mind behind etsy shop Sassy Shades and she's a 4 Star Member of the Design Style Guide. I asked her to tell us a little about herself and her creations.

"I create custom decorative lampshades using an eclectic mix of various textiles and trims. I've always wanted to have my own business. One day while looking around my house I thought of how fun it would be to create lampshades in different and unique ways not found a your typical store. While looking through a magazine subscription there was an article on a woman in Vermont who gave Saturday lampshade making classes during her off season. I took the plunge, flew across the US, and from there Sassy Shades was born! "

What's your creative process? My creative process is simple....true inspiration comes from a happy heart! You never know when an idea pops in your head. For me it could be on the soccer field with my son, working in the garden, or walking to the beach. My mind never stops! At the present, I do not have a set schedule. I make lampshades day or night. A majority of the textiles I use are purchased from estate sales, online, antique shops, or garage sales. You never know when you have come in contact with a prized possession. The hunt is so fun!

Talk a little about your views on combining vintage fabrics with newly handmade items. I absolutely love the idea of bringing something old back to life. Often we come in contact with items that might remind us of our grandparents, a childhood memory, a special event or whatever. Ta king something vintage that is near and dear to the heart, that might be simply stored away, and creating it into something that can be displayed for daily enjoyment just thrills me! I have a friend who would like me to use the lace from her mother's wedding dress to make lampshades for her sisters so that they can all have a piece of their mother!

What kind of décor works best with your creations? My lampshades come is several

different styles and sizes. Everyone has their own unique style of decorating. While I tend to be partial to vintage, I also love doing children's shades, funky and colorful shades, or something fun and whimsy. The sky is the limit! I do offer custom services for the shoppers who might not find what they are looking for in my shop. I would like to be able to provide something for everyone. A sassy lampshade can fit in any room, office, cabin, etc. depending on a person's personal taste and the ambiance they desire to create.

Is there anything new on the horizon that you’re working on? I'm always working on lampshades and I find that I am forever surprised with the "new" items that are about to be unveiled.

How do you promote your work? As a fairly new start up business, I find that promoting is crucial. One of the best avenues is word of mouth. The more you get your name and product out the more people will discover you. I do believe that a catchy logo and name is important. If it's "sassy" enough, it's going to be remembered!

I've been working on my own website and blog and hope to have those up soon. I do spend a fair amount of time in the Etsy forums. Recently, I purchased stickers which I plan to distribute and stick on everything. I did a few of the local markets in my town last summer and would like to start introducing my lampshades to interior designers. Wherever I go, I talk, talk, talk!

Outside of the lampshade business, what else do you like to do? Outside of my lampshade business, I am the part-time bookkeeper for our family restaurant, a personal gardener for a friend, and a full-time mom & chauffeur for my son.

Final thoughts:

Each lampshade is handmade from my own recipe (no secret):

“Sassy” Shade Ingredients:

An array of fun and colorful textiles or unique finds (old and new)

Tossed with an armful of imagination and charm

Add a dash of trim Sprinkle with a passion for detail

Handle and combine cheerfully

Put on top of a lamp base and indulge!

Be sure to stop by Kristi's shop to see her entire selection of shades for all your home decor needs!