Valentine's Tablescape

This is Mr. Engineer and I's eighth Valentine's Day together!

We had a Valentine's lunch at a nice restaurant, so when we got home, I set the table with a Valentine theme for dessert and wine.

The centerpiece features home made valentine's trees. Two are pink, red, and white felt hearts and one is made of pink and red Mardi Gras beads.

These cute napkins were just given to us by my Mother-in-Law. 

I also have this precious felt heart garland draped from the table.

 I think it gave some nice ambiance! Also check out our Valentine's table scape from last year's home cooked Valentine's dinner...

Happy Valentine's Day to all you love birds!

Food Creations Inspired by Architecture

I am from the South, therefore I have a passion for food! So when I found something that combined my love of food with my profession of architecture, I got a little excited and had to share!

Mrs. Samantha Lee is a very talented food artist. She posts all her art that she makes completely out of edible treats on instagram. She even breaks down how she crafts each masterpiece on her blog Eatzy Bitzy.

I am especially drawn to her creations that are architecture related. Some of my favorites remind me of places I have visited:

France is the first European country that I visited during a high school foreign language study. So the Eiffel Tower in Paris holds a special place in my heart. A fun fact is that this tower was designed by an engineer.

I have great memories of the summer I lived in Italy studying abroad for graduate school. I actually got a chance to climb the Tower of Pisa!

Surprisingly, the first time I was able to visit New York City was last year. My favorite tower in NYC is definitely the art deco design of the Chrysler Building.

Mardi Gras Decor

Carnival season has finally arrived, and it is time to put up the Mardi Gras decorations. Mardi Gras is my absolute favorite holiday and it's a shame that most of the nation doesn't celebrate it!

I adorned our door with this yarn wreath that I made last year.

Our entryway table is festive with a Mardi Gras mask and crown and purple green and gold ribbon.

Our mantle is transformed to a purple, green and gold scape!

I displayed a mask on our column and bring him to life with a boa and some beads.

My table centerpiece is even in the spirit!

Our window display with a pretty feather fan and some beads.

Mardi Gras is actually more of a way of life than a holiday around here. It is a laissez faire attitude.

Here is our mantle last year.

Last year I bought a nice little ornament with the year on it and I am still on the hunt for one to commemorate this year. The plan is to eventually have a Mardi Gras tree.

I also wanted to include some photos from my grandmother's house. She is the one that I get all of my holiday decoration inspiration from.

 

She has a small Mardi Gras tree filled with masks, beads, and throws.

She overdoes it a little, but that is what makes it so fun!




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Collage Wall

A project I recently completed was finishing a collage wall in our entryway.




A lot of people hanging collages lay everything out and precisely measure and nail everything in an exact location... I just eyeballed it and nailed away.

 

Here is the before photo for comparison.

 

First I laid everything out on the ground to consider the best arrangement of all the pieces.

 Then I started from the top with the first piece, which was a gift from my mother-in-law a few years ago.

 Next, I added the larger fame that I haven't put the artwork in.

 Then I added the ampersand that I recently got on sale at Hobby Lobby.

Next, I added two small frames with family photos to balance out the collage.

Then, I put a floor plan by A. Hayes Town in the large frame. For now it is just a placeholder. Eventually I plan to make some artwork with our home's floor plan, this will also give more color to the collage.

The final collage on the entryway wall is complete for now, but there is some room to add things in the future!





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Craft Closet Organization

When I posted my bookcase revamp, I said that I had another project in mind for the previous bookshelves that I had. And I made significant improvement on that project, so I wanted to share it!

...Remember what the bookshelves used to look like in my office.

And now they have a happy home organizing my crafts in my office closet. They didn't move far... from one side of the office into the closet, but are much more useful!

This is what the office closet looked like before... What a wreck!!! Mr. Engineer has been on my case to clean out this closet. All my craft supplies, gift wrapping supplies, artwork, and old architecture projects. 

First, I emptied out the whole closet! It is so much easier to start with a blank slate.

Next, I put in the two bookshelves.

I started putting the crafts on the shelves, so that all my supplies are easily on hand.

 I added more things to the shelves and organized some things into storage bins.

This is so much of an improvement! It's not a completed project yet, but I made such significant improvement, I had to share! I do plan to implement some more organization ideas in the next few weeks.

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Architectural Charcoal Rendering - Federal Fibre Mills Warehouse

I was commissioned by my Uncle to do a charcoal rendering of his New Orleans condominium building. I was super excited at the chance to do this because I have hardly worked on hand drawings in the last couple years.

 He sent me a couple photos he took from his phone:

 

This is the Federal Fibre Mills Warehouse located 1107 S. Peters St., New Iberia, Louisiana. It it a beautiful structural brick building, and I found out some pretty interesting thing doing some research  into it's history. It was designed in 1904 by Favrot and Livaudals and was constructed in 1907. In 1984 it was used as a pavilion for the World's Fair. It was then converted into condominiums in 1985. This was the main project that officially launched the warehouse district into the area it is today. It is also on the National Register for Historic Places.

After getting a feel for the building's past I got started on the rendering:

I choose watercolor paper.  I used it because of its heavy weight and its texture could give some additional dimension.

I started by taping off the area I want to work within. He gave me the dimension of 15-1/2 inches by 11-1/2 inches, so it would be the same size as some of the other artwork he had already choosen.

Next I used vine charcoal and a ruler to do a basic layout of the area. I made sure my vanishing points were right. I choose a perspective looking down the street, which gives the building more character than a front view.

Then, I added more detail with the vine charcoal.

Next, I picked up some black conte' and started retracing lines and adding more detail.

 Here you can see my work area with all my tools. I work the best in natural light and kneeling on the floor over my drawing.

 

Then, I wanted to add some color to give more life to the building. So, I picked up some siena conte' and started adding texture to the brick.

Next, I used white conte and more black conte to give some highlights and shadows.

 Finally, I added in the final touches of the trees, sky and street, and the background building.

It made me so happy when I peeled back the tape to reveal the crisp line underneath.

 I added the street address, architects' names, and the year is was build next to my signature. For the font, I took inspirtaion from Jellyka Saint Andrews Queen.

I love the way it turned out...

 

... and I have a happy client!

This is a photo my Uncle sent me of the artwork will end up hanging in his condo.

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