Designing French Home Accessories and Magazine Secrets

 2017 has been an incredible year for me as far as magazine features goes!  It never gets old

to know that my home or yard is going to be inside a magazine, and never did I think I would 

get a cover.  Until the day that Fifi O'Neill came to do my house for Romantic Country Spring 2017 

issue and the photographer, Mark Lohman said to her, "This is going to be a cover try", as he

pointed to my living room and where he planned to take a photo.  Um...what??? I was standing

right there, but its like I wasn't standing right there while they did their business.  Any way, after

that comment, he mentioned another angle that could be a "cover try", and that is when I started 

thinking that getting my house on the cover would be very cool indeed.  And it happened!

I got an email from Fifi telling me they had picked my living room for the Spring cover.

Wow.  Just like that.  It takes months before it comes out in print (and sometimes longer),

and of course you just would never mention anything like that or you might JINX it and it

would likely be considered bad etiquette in the magazine world.  I would think.

My next two shoots were with Matthew Mead for different publications, one being his own

brand special edition magazines, published by Country Sampler, and it was all about Outdoor Style.

 Since we are good buddies now, I was able to see the process of the magazine cover decision,

and it was pretty darn interesting.  The publisher likes to have control over these things, and they 

picked many "possible" covers, including several of my shots.  Images get edited and re-edited and copy gets changed and colors of the titles and on and on.

OMG, could it happen again, with another cover shot?  

Yes, it did!! I had to keep it quiet for several months, which was not fun.

I was so proud of this shoot, and the way it all turned out, and I just hope this magazine gets the readers it deserves, because its packed with all kinds of outdoor spaces, including my awesome French Courtyard.  We love our courtyard!  If anyone is interested in getting a chance to win a free copy of this Upstyled Home Outdoors issue, leave a comment letting me know why you would like to get one, and you will be entered to win.  Make sure I have an email address so I can contact you for your mailing address, in case you win.  This magazine hits news stands April 25th, 2017.

 The other magazine that you may have noticed on the first photo, was Where Women Create.

This is a big honor, to be featured in this magazine, as artists of note and talent are interviewed

in their workshops and studios.  This issue will be out May 1st, and it is a biographical type article

on where I found my creativity and what nurtured my creative nature.  I hope you enjoy it.  If you ever wanted to know more about me, this is your chance, lol.  So one of the secretive parts of the magazine world, is that sometimes you get left on the cutting room floor.  And that just happened to me this week.  I was contacted by an editor of Country Home to possibly be included in their Style Makers section of the next issue, due in June 2017.  Wow.  This is really amazing! I wasn't sure what to make of all these features, but it was certainly thrilling to be considered a Style Maker.  And just like that, I got an email saying there wasn't enough room in the issue, and that I may be considered for one of their future issues. So POOF!  But hey, I am more than thrilled to be in the racks this year

in these great issues.    

The other bit of very cool news is that I was contacted to do some design work for a private company who is a wholesaler of romantic styled European clothing and who has decided to add some complementary home accessories to the line.  They wanted to know if I would give them some designs for French home decor.  So we struck a handshake of a deal, and my designs have been well received thus far.  Its funny because as a former owner of a little retail home boutique shop, I had a hard time finding things that I personally was attracted to, given my penchant for French style.  And now I get to CREATE French style items that will be made in factories and it couldn't be more exciting!  As things move along, I will be sharing more specifics, but for now we are fleshing out concepts and items to be included in the collection.

 One of my favorite things is to sketch. 

My design sketches are done in pencil with a bit of colored pencil 

added to give it some life, then emailed to the owner of the company for approval.

The feeling is an overall rustic and elegant European look.  

I will share the company and where you may be able to find these items

designed by moi as soon as they become available.

Yum.