Flutes + Crowns or Fruits + Clowns = Happy New Year!!

Flutes + Crowns or Fruits + Clowns....However you want to look at this vignette or tableaux. Subtotal of the two = Happy New Year Salutations! With tax = BAD Hangover. {I hope not the latter} And no, I'm not saying we shouldn't pay taxes.

Here's our DIY kitchen all decked out for the Taylor-Made New Years Bash: Pretty primitive...down to the bubbly {in the sink}. I've had people ask me how I live w/out a dishwasher. Well, my response is called kid's chores. I've taught my kids well, since I'm the expert on dishwashing. They say that once you've done something 10,000 hours...you're considered a real expert in that area. I have.

DIY shelves made from scrapping a throw away junk-style cabinet + industrial looking L-brackets.

I made a super simple DIY Paper crown today to put on Beethoven. How do you like it?

Champagne flutes and gifts have been given some felt stick-ons. It's the countdown {in case you didn't notice}. I bought the stick-ons at the local craft store for like $3 dollars.

I'm super proud that I actually got out the sewing machine to sew the kitchen sink skirt all by myself. Fabric is Amy Butler.

New Life

My work day was jammer-rood {full}. I think I'll have a seat on my make believe french-like sofa, and reflect on what New Life is croppin up around here...

Starting off: Stripey jammer-rood girl here {these are Sylvie's new little night-nights + accessories}. I discovered a new function for accidental shrunken wool sweaters... {I'm proud to say I invented something pretty cute out of my scatter-brained-edness a few years back}. Call me crazy...but at least I'm not boring {that's a line a friend of mine uses a lot...I just love, don't you?!}.

Okay, here's the crazy part How to: Cut those 'skinny' arm sweaters off at the arm-pit and give a baby some sweet little leg-warmers instead of arm-warmers. Better yet, give yourself or a stylish teenage girl some warmth too. I like to go to the DAV and find any old nubby dollar sweater for this purpose. No hemming necessary. {One sweater makes two leg-warmers!} That's the crazy part, huh?!

Next up: Eleanor's room needed a make-over. BAD. It's probably totally apparent, huh? Bah-Bye Robins Egg Blue! Hello Shaker Grey. Will, Eleanor, and Michael have been going full force on it.

Do you see Eleanor's squatty little signature on the quarter-round? Well, she signed her name here back when she was in the first grade without my knowledge. When I found out she did this, I was so mad at her. She explained to me that her teacher had told a story about how the previous owners of a really old home had carved their names into the wall. Well...Eleanor wanted to leave her mark...so she decided to sharpie it! I'm chuckling, because isn't it ALWAYS the sharpie or scissors that they find??!!

I don't think I ever embraced her "piece of writing" until now. This is the year of her 16th birthday, so perhaps that's the reason I want to kiss her over and over along with her sweet little piece of history-making. We won't be painting over it.

AND Lastly, I hope we live here forever in this little old house that mom breathed new life into just before she passed.

Happy New Year!

xo

sharon

Twirling

I hope you had a few nice Holidays over the weekend.

I did a lot of twirling over the Holidays.

First twirl about:

I was given the award for Best 417 Window Designs {windows by Sharon Taylor Designs @ Staxx.} I did a little twirl around after hearing of this award. I got dizzy and fell. No skinned knees. {Tweaking on the twirling to come...}

Other Twirl-Abouts: Twirled up a few paper discs for some parties and weddings {pink and blue ones for a photo shoot to come + Tutorials coming soon also}. {The brown gift box was for my aunt and uncles 50th} Happy 50th Jim and Polly!

Also, over the Holidays...Will's mom made at least ten of the most outstanding gourmet meals I've ever eaten...{for the whole lot of the 10+ family}! All I did was twirl the dish sponge around and watch her twirl her Martha Stewart-like creations. One of my favorites she made: Panetone Bread Pudding w/Custard, Pumpkin Drizzle and Whipping Creme.

Recap of Year:

First, I launched sharontaylordesigns.com, then the lifestyle blog a bit later in the year. In a quick turn-about off of those two things, I found my work being published among some of the best online sites in the design industry + the phone started ringing w/new clients and it hasn't stopped ringing since. Thanks again for all of your support!!

Sorry about the over usage of twirling. Once I find a word I like, it's over and over again until I'm done.

I'm done.

Best,

Sharon

Happy Holidays!

We're loading up to head over to Ma-Mas house.

This vw bug gives me sweet memories of my dad's old blue bug that all my eight siblings + me + parents would all pile into on a regular occasion...usually to go to church. {our station wagon was always on the fritz} Never mind seat belts or car seats. The three of us youngest girls would squeeze into the tiny back cubby and blow our breaths on the glass and then draw tic, tac, toe games.

Happy Safe and Best Holidays!

Sharon

Sugarplums

I wanted to stuff red tights in my teen daughter's stocking this Christmas, but to no avail. Apparently they're the rage. {image via Bird and Banner...anyone know who this designer is?}

Isn't this runway dress so fantastical? This is the stuff made for dreams...ruffles, red tights and the likes of this dessert tray {my sis took this pic before devouring the goodies...while in Paris, of course!}

Sharon Taylor Designs is featured on Design*Sponge today!

Thank you, Grace, for featuring our Winter Wonderland Baby Bash! Design*Sponge is a site w/huge online presence, so I couldn't be any more thrilled to see that my work has been included among some amazingly talented people. Click here to view the post.

Also, Clappity-Clap to Jo and Alex for the great news they announced yesterday! The darling newlyweds are expecting their first baby next year.

{photo by Janae Hardy}

I'm off to clean the house before the onslaught of baby toys arrive!

xo

sharon

A Winter Wonderland Baby Shower by Sharon Taylor Designs

These are me and my sisters. Here's the baby shower we threw for our sis, Lizzie. The bash took place at the home of our sister, Julie Blackmon. Baby Albert came into the world day before yesterday weighing 6 1/2 lbs, healthy and pretty darn precious.

Details:

My sister, Millie created the coolest little hand-knit stork sling and tied it to the flea market stork that she up-cycled! Is it not precious? The mantle decor was something so unexpected but totally chic. The big white star was a fold-out that I found for one buck @ Deals. And the vintage toy tiger was found for a few dollars at a flea market.

Props: Vintage toy animals, miniature deer, taxidermy, dollar lollypops, old milk jugs filled w/laundry detergent, milk glass vases from a thrift store, feathers, electric green urn, large paper stars, crepe paper balls, an up-cycled fisher price castle {I sprayed it w/white spray paint and covered the larger parts w/white cardstock}, cupcake toppers were hand-cut paper deer. I made some paper cut-out antler headbands too. That's my daughter, Eleanor, antlered in the picture below.

Julie's home is filled w/lots of cool portrait paintings. I love all of the lady portraits hanging on the walls...so symbolic of the number of girls born into our family. We are mighty in number and love celebrating our the birth of our babies!!

It was a sweet day, to say the least.

The heavenly white floral spheres were made of carnations, spider mums, pale blue hydrangea snippets, ranunculus, dendrobium orchids, and baby's breath. I nearly cried when I saw them.

Amy's Cupcakes, Champagne, Punch, Powdered Covered Donuts, Nuts and Mints were served. Simple, simple.

The team that made this so fun: Janae Hardy Photography, Janet Pearson, The Orchid Lady, Amy Cakes, and my genius sisters. Thanks guys!