Painted Spring {With Easter Eggs & Flowers}

I had so much fun painting these eggs with water color for the past few days. I love how water color creates delicate and flowy images and I thought what could be a better object to paint on then an eggs. They look very pretty, feminine and a symbol of welcoming spring time. The hardest part is to empty the eggs. I found  how to empty and blow eggs through Youtube {here}. At first I was a little uneasy about doing it. Blowing raw eggs with your mouth is not something I wanted to do. But I was determined to paint these eggs and I must empty them first,  so I did it! And it was not as bad as I thought it would be. Once you get the hang of it; it was easy as one two three. I only broke one egg!

Once I emptied the eggs I put them in the oven over 200 deg. for about 45 minutes. Then I primed the eggs with white color craft acrylic paint bought at Michaels for only USD 0.69/bottle. The prime coat  is for the water color to absorb the surface of the eggs when paint on. My water color set is Sennelier. 

I love fresh flowers very much. And I also love photograph them. So here are my painted Easter Eggs with flowers ! And forgive me if I posted too many pictures of these painted  eggs.

Thank you for looking !

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Link;
Savvy Southern Style

House Tour {Master Bedroom Makeover Revealed}

I am relieved that the master bedroom makeover has finally done. I must say that I really love the makeover. Now you can see the entire section of the room where the bed is. I sewn the curtain and throw pillow cases. And do you see the small monogrammed pillow with our initials on it? (Tutorial; here). And do you see that the DIY table lamp and it's shade  is a little larger than the other one? (Tutorial; here)

I love the look of the two swag brass leaves on top of the paintings. I was not quite sure what to do with it. I bought it at an antique store in Delray. Do you know what are they supposed to be?  I also love the paintings. The two paintings on the sides are my painting. The frames were very old but I repainted part of the frame with white color. I think I love the combination of white and gold a bit much!

I love the colorful African beaded doll; she is cute and adorable!

We bought the area rug at Home Goods and are still debating if we are going to keep it. My husband 'Steven' is not happy with it, but I like it!

I am so in love with the glass vase on the right. It has a lid. I bought them just yesterday at another thrift store in Delray. I love clear etched glass jar; I think it's  elegant. I bought two of them for USD 10.00.  I  am using the other jar  to put  jewelries on the vanity table. The vanity need a little make over and styling so I will post it some other time. 

Thank you for reading!

Thrifted Table Lamp Makeover {DIY}

This is my first attempt doing a table lamp makeover. At first I was not sure to do this at all. I was little intimidated since I had no idea what I was going to do. But I found these two table lamp at a thrift store near our home in Florida. One was USD 8.00 and the other one was USD 11.00. I thought even if I made a huge mistake I would not be very disappointed since they were quite cheap. I did not want to put colors on them so  I painted them all white. Then I put a  little bit of gold randomly on the 'raised motifs' of the base.

Here are the finished two table lamps.

And here are the original look of the two table lamps when bought them. The one on the left was looking very ugly and the lamp shade was a little worn out and discolored. But I thought it has a potential to be a better looking table lamp. So I bought it. Later I changed the shade that I found at thrift store as well.

First I gave them a coat of primer then I sprayed them with flat white.

The one on the left I hand painted with gold. I used Martha Stewart acrylic metal paint. The one on the right I used gold leaves. Do you see that the gold leaves has more bright gold color? 

I think the new shade is a little too large. But I am going to leave it as it is right now. Maybe some day in the future when I see the right size then I am going to change it.

~ Marta Stewart acrylic metal paint in gold is available at Michaels

~ Gold leave and gold leave seize are available at Michaels or at any art store

~ Rust-Oleum primer and flat white are available at Home Depot

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Thank you for stopping by !

Monogrammed Throw Pillow {DIY}

I love monogrammed throw pillow decorates and sits among other throw pillows on  a bed. A while a go I came a cross  Martha Stewart DIY monogrammed throw pillow by only using a 'decorative cord.'  

I am in the middle of decorating our master bedroom in our small condo in Delray, Florida. Although it is finally have done,  it took a while for me to get where I am now because I wanted to have the right material for curtains and decorative pillows. And I want to sew the curtains and throw pillows myself. The problem is my sewing machine is in New York so since I bought most of the fabrics here in Delray so I  brought them over to New York to be sewn and once again brought back to Delray, Florida once it has done.  Yes, the fabrics and now has becoming curtains and throw pillow cases travelled back and forth with us!

Before I reveal the master bedroom make over; let's talk about this cute DIY monogrammed throw pillow.

I found a small rectangular decorative pillow at Home Goods a few months a go. Immediately I was thinking to do the monogram on it. 

So here is the tutorial.

This pillow cost only USD 12.00 at Home Goods

This decorative cord is available at Jo Ann Fabrics

I printed the lettering I decided to use for the monogram from the computer. I have many styles of lettering down loaded there so I printed it out and used it as a guide. Then I took the cord and just followed a long the design and pinned it to the pillow before gluing them. I used a fabric glue. Once I have the lettering designed pinned down to the pillow then I started  gluing by lifting up one pin at a time and start gluing at one end all the way to the other.

Here is the finished monogrammed pillow and I will reveal the final placement of the pillow on my next blog post. These initials stands for Ellya & Steven. I think they are quite cute and perfect to decorate our bed. Complete master bedroom tour {here}.

Thank you for stopping by !

Home Journal/Collage {March 2013}

I can't believe that we are entering the month of March already. Where did the time go? Why everything went so fast? I always feel and for me that time is running out so  I must do it 'now' or 'never'! I think it has something to do with my health since I had  several huge surgeries back in 2004 and last June. I am feeling perfectly fine now. I am happy that I truly enjoy the simple things life has to offer. Suddenly life makes a perfect sense! Suddenly things around me has becoming beautiful.

Here is a home decor journal/collage for this month. To celebrate this coming spring and summer; color is the main focus on this journal/collage. I love colors. It can lift up a mood in a certain way and certainly these are happy colors.

Have a lovely week end Everone !

Pom-pom Stem Flowers DIY. {It's spring time!}

Spring is around the corner. One way to bring spring time colors into your home is decorating with pop of colors.

I was up very late last night and when wondering around my arts & crafts drawers; found these colorful pompoms I bought a while a go. Continued and curious searching in the bins and drawers then I found this magazine tear sheet I collected and thought someday it might be useful for an inspiration. Well, sure enough I thought; why not making these pompoms into these ball shape flowers just like the one on the tear sheet. I was so excited, immediately I took a couple of pompoms and tried it out immediately. I did not want to wake up my husband by making so much noise and it was almost 2 am in the morning so I continued the next day.

So here they are!

Oh the inspiration! You can make bigger size of flower by building up more pompoms around them. And you can use bigger vase to create open and tall flower arrangement.

The step by step.

1. Take two pompoms by joining and glueing them together.

2. Then glue another one on top.

3. Start building a ball form of pom pom flower by adding one pom pom at a time.

4. Finally the flower pom pom has done.You can make bigger ball size pom pom flower by keep adding more pom poms.

Sources;

~ Pom poms available at Michaels

~ Glue available at Michaels

~ Bamboo skewer stick available at asian grocery store

~ Porcelain green bird available at Michaels

~ Distressed white tray was DIY by Ellya {here}

~ Varieties milk glass vintage vases bought at a flea market.

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Have a nice week-end Everyone ! And thank you for stopping by!

Liebster Award

Ohh, I forgot to mentioned that yesterday I was nominated for the Liebster Award by Kathy from Sassy Litle Lady. I was very excited to read her note telling me about this. Being new in the blogosphere, this is a big deal to me. Once again, "thank you Kathy!"

Thank you so much to Kathy from Sassy Little Lady for nominating me!

The Liebster award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.

What is a Liebster?

The meaning: Liebster is a German word and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.

Here are the rules for receiving this award:
* Tell 11 random facts about yourself
* Answer the 11 questions the nominator has asked you.
* Choose 11 new bloggers (with less than 200 followers) to pass
the award to and link them in your post.
*Create 11 new questions for the bloggers you pass the award to.
*Go back to their page and tell them about the award.
*No tag backs.

11 Random Facts About Me:

1} I once Bungee jumped off a bridge in Queenstown New Zealand

2} I briefly appeared on stage with Chris Isaac and his band.

3}  I met my husband through the internet

4} I survived a massive aorta aneurysm and surgeries

5} Some people say that I look younger than my age

6} When I was a child I used to have a huge praying manthis as a pet. {the very huge ones live only in Asia}

7} I play classical piano

8} When I was a child I wanted to be a singer and I used to sing at my friend's birthday party

9} I love horror movies and ghosts

10} I love to paint

11} My favorite movie is Gladiator.  I've watched it again and again.

11 questions from Kathy from Sassy Little Lady

1} If you could travel to anywhere in the world, where would you go?

A Flea market in Paris called "Les Puces"

2} What is your favorite type of food?

I love Asian food but I also love Western food.

3} What is your favorite season?

Summer.

4} How did you come up with your blog name?

I read a book called "How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci". It mentioned in order to be successful one must have a sense of curiosity in all aspects of life. And I am that person. I am curious about many things in arts and crafts (as you can see in my blog!)  So... "curiositaellya" was born.

5} You have $500 but you have to spend it in one store.  What store would it be?

 A thrift shop in Delray Beach, Florida

6} What is your favorite drink?

Bottled Cold Vanilla Chai Tea from the Asian grocery near my house.

7} You have to write a book about your life.  What is the title?

"It's My Life" {Something like that!}

8} What is your favorite quality about yourself?

I practice positive thinking all the time...and it works!

9} Why did you start blogging?

To express the creativity in me without leaving home.

10} What is your favorite dessert?

Right now I am dying for my mom's "Lupis" {A cooked triangle glutinous rice wrapped in banana leaves with shredded coconut and brown sugar syrup}

11} What is your hidden talent?

I play classical piano.

Thank you again to Kathy from Sassy Little Lady!


 Now I get to nominate 11 bloggers.  I choose:

1} Amanda from Watch Out Martha

2} Jamie from Better With Age

3} Live. Love. Scrap.

4} Jenna from 24 Cottonwood Lane

5} Eva from Snappee Turtle

6} Kimberli from Great Tastes Tuesdays

7} Myrna from The Busy Bee

8} Grace from Butter and Jam

9} The Benson Street

10} Brittney from Smart Girl Style

11}Oceanside Daydreams

Questions for those I’m nominating:

1}Who would you want to be with on a desert island?

2}If you could join any music group which would join?

3} If you had to describe yourself as a flavour, what would it be?

4} Have you ever cried at a film?  Which one?
5} Do you keep a diary/journal?

6} What's your favorite flower?

7} Do you believe in ghosts?

8} What was the last film you saw?

9} What three things do you think of most each day?

10}What's your favorite precious stone?

11} What was your last dream about?

Thank you again to Kathy from Sassy Little Lady!