In Country Living Color

"Beauty without color seems somehow to belong to another world." ~ Murasaki Shikibu



While yesterday's post paid homage to the beauty and serenity of white at Atlanta's Country Living Fair, today's photos celebrate the joyful energy of color. Come on, get happy!

Perhaps no vendor at the Country Living Fair brought more color than Modern June. This booth was full of vibrant color, lovely wares and eager shoppers.

Isn't life beautiful when it is full of color?

And full of sweetness, too!

Today's giveaway from the Country Living Fair is this colorful cookbook,
The Little Book of Pies & Tarts,
signed by editor Sarah Gray Miller.


If you follow A Little Loveliness on Facebook, on my sidebar, or through e-mail, leave a comment below for your chance to win.





I will announce all recent giveaway winners after Thanksgiving. There is more Country Living Fair inspiration to come next week!


"Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air -- explode softly -- and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth -- boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap, either -- not little boxes of eight. Boxes of 64, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination." ~ Robert Fulghum

Dreamy White Inspiration at the Country Living Fair

"White is the color of angels and brides, moonlight and lily of the valley. It is capable of endless subtleties; fragile or strong, it can be transparent as ice, opaque as marble, in love with light as a diamond." -- Jeanine Larmoth





If you dream in white and white, you can rest easy at the Country Living Fair in Atlanta.
Here are some of my favorite flashes of white, along with thoughts from the classic book
At Home with White by Jeanine Larmoth.

One of the delights of the Country Living Fair is interacting with people who have been featured in Country Living Magazine. Many vendors displayed pages from the magazine, like the lovely white spread above. And speaking of spreads, check out the crisp white linens below.

"White is capable of endless subtleties; ever fresh, ever responsive, it is the only color that can fill a whole house with beauty without becoming irritating, strident or tiresome." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"It also unifies as no other color can, smoothing rough corners, slipping past small faults, encircling disparate objects in a single, very personal composition." -- Jeanine Larmoth 

"From antiquity, white has expressed a society's loftiest aspirations, the need for dignity and the yearning to breathe, if only for a moment, a higher air." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"At the same time, whether aloof or intimate, the poetry of white helps each of us give expression to our most private voice." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"In decorating, white is capable of creating almost any style or mood. It can be traditional, modern, rustic or romantic, depending on the shades used, the shapes chosen, the textures combined." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"It may be the most ethereal of hues, but it is neither reticent nor shy. White is positive, assertive and highly visible." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"When we decorate a house, a room, or a garden with white and its extended circle of neutrals, we focus not on the bold or the obvious but on nuances, differences in tone, gentle gradations, subtleties of shade, and quieter harmonies." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"We savor contrasts of shape and silhouette, light and shadow, surface variations that are barely discernible, allusions that would be lost in another color." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"White is an invitation for us to extend our imagination, to reconsider outworn rules, to capture the delicate, to perpetuate the illusive, to step into privacy and calm, a world of our own invention." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"Though the house glows with the windswept freshness of white, and an atmosphere like a dream, there is nothing dreamlike about it. White is the easiest color to live with ... ." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"The fortunate bride has in her trousseau fine old pieces -- some, perhaps, showing the handiwork of a grandmother or aunt: cambric handkerchiefs, linen sheets, crochet-edged pillowcases and tea towels, lace tablecloths and doilies, knitted shawls. If the use for which they were originally created has gone out of fashion, there are a thousand new purposes to be invented for them." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"The expressiveness of white speaks of the soothing and the flawless, of the otherworldly and of worldly perfection." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"White creatures and objects alike seem caught, like angels, in their radiance, between heaven and earth; real, but not entirely so." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"The American poet Emily Dickinson drew attention all her life for wearing only pristine white dresses, whose spareness matched her verse." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"White has an endless capacity for changing the mood and style of a setting." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"White lets me expand what my mind can do, see how I can arrange, do things differently -- what I would do with that piece at Christmas, what I would do with it in summer." -- Mary Baltz, as quoted in At Home with White

"Almost more than anywhere else, the rooms where we lead the most intimate side of our lives should be a kingdom of white." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"One of the many qualities of white is its ability to change from surface to surface." -- Jeanine Larmoth

"A sweet dream's worth of baby pillows tied up in ribbons and scented with flowers is an extravagant means to turn a bed into a private kingdom." -- Jeanine Larmoth

If you love dreamy whites, you will be interested in the Little Lovely pictured below that I picked up for one of you at the Country Living Fair.




If you follow A Little Loveliness on Facebook or through a link on my sidebar, leave a comment below for your opportunity to win this beautiful bracelet I picked up from Country Living Fair vendor bel monili by l. marlane. (Due to shipping costs, this giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.)



There is more inspiration to come from the 2012 Country Living Fair in Atlanta, so stop in again soon!

The 2012 Country Living Fair in Stone Mountain, Ga.

One of the highlights of the fall was a girlfriends getaway with my best friend, Vonda, for The Country Living Fair in Stone Mountain, Ga. In this unique event, the pages of Country Living spring to life with craft and recipe classes, product demonstrations, book signings and editor sightings. And the shopping -- oh, the shopping! More than 150 hand-picked antiques dealers and artisans fill booths that stretch around a wooded path in Stone Mountain Park. In the video below, editor Sarah Gray Miller introduces readers to the concept of the Country Living Fair.

I was giddy with anticipation when Joe and I looked at our fall calendar and determined that we could make it work. We booked a trip to Atlanta for a girlfriends getaway package with Marriott that included breakfast for two, gate passes to Stone Mountain, tickets to the fair and $5 off a Country Living tote. Vonda was able to come down from Kentucky for the weekend, so I couldn't wait!

 

Vonda and I spent a perfect fall Saturday exploring the Country Living Fair. By the end of the day, we had taken in so much beauty and inspiration, we could hardly comprehend it all. When I closed my eyes, a blur of beautiful images raced through my mind. Here is a little sampling of the goods you'll find at the Country Living Fair.

Antique Silver

Framed Art

Vintage and Handmade Jewelry

Linens

Handmade Soap

Furniture and One-of-a-Kinds

Needlework

Clothing

Holiday Inspiration

Beauty to discover and a treasure to behold around every corner.

And some of the nicest folks around.



Join me this week to explore decor, display and delights at the Country Living Fair!

Little Red Riding Hood Costume Tips & Tutorial

Dressing up to retell the story of Little Red Riding Hood was a special memory this fall, and I wanted to close out my posts on our family fun with details of the girls' costumes. I made Emma's Little Red Riding Hood costume first, then adapted my techniques to vary Mary Ashley's Mother costume.

Our Little Red stepped out in a lined cape with rick rack trim, corset-style bodice and full white tutu. I looked at a lot of online costume photos before deciding how I wanted to proceed. When I found this post at Funky Polkadot Giraffe, I knew I had found my inspiration. The idea for a white tutu and red gingham corset came from the costume Kyla made for her daughter. Here is how I made Emma's costume.

Our Little Red Riding Hood corset is a flat piece that laces up the back with ribbon. Emma wore this with the cape to trunk or treat, but we put a peasant top under it for storybook character dress-up day at school so she could take the cape off. Directions follow for this easy and versatile costume option.



Make a Little Red Riding Hood Corset

1. Measure the length of your daughter's torso and add 1" to that measurement for seam allowances. Cut your fabric, using the full width of fabric for ease of construction.

2. Cut a strip of fabric for the top and bottom ruffles. I cut a 3" strip for the top ruffle and 7" for the bottom. Press each strip in half, and gather the ruffles. Set the ruffles aside.

3. Find the center point of the corset fabric, and sew any embellishments. For the Little Red costume pictured, I centered a rectangle of white fabric over the gingham then created a peasant look by criss-crossing red grosgrain ribbon over the white. Wide red rick rack covered the seams on each side of the rectangle.

4. Pin the top and bottom ruffles to the front corset piece, lining up the raw edges. Like making a ruffled pillow, you will stitch the ruffle to the front piece, then sandwich the ruffle inside while you stitch the front and back sides together. Leave an opening on one side so you can turn the corset right-side out. Stitch the opening closed.

5. Working your way from the top down, sew buttonholes on each edge of the corset. Lace the corset loosely with wide grosgrain ribbon to slip it over your daughter's head. Pull taut and finish with a bow at the the waist.

The back of the corset looks pretty laced with red ribbon.

I used similar techniques to make Mary Ashley's costume, but you can see how making a few adjustments gave a different look. Before we went fabric shopping, Mary Ashley said she wanted a fabric with pink roses all over it. She gasped when she spotted the fabric of her dreams in Hobby Lobby. "This is it!" she cried. "This is the exact fabric I was picturing!" I used a leftover bits of lace and pink velvet ribbon to embellish her corset.

I have made no-sew tutus in the past, but I opted to sew them this time to keep the knots from adding bulk at the waist. To sew a tutu, cut a piece of elastic about an inch longer than your daughter's waist. Overlap the ends of elastic and sew securely. Cut strips of tulle twice your desired length. Fold them in half over the elastic, and stitch the pieces on (careful not to catch the elastic so you can distribute the tulle as needed). Continue adding strips and sewing until you reach the desired fullness. Fluff the tutu, and trim or shape the tutu as needed. I used 10 yards of tulle from the bolt for Emma's tutu and several spools of pink tulle for Mary Ashley's tutu. Both tutus turned out well, but I have noticed that the tulle from the spool tends to tangle and curl. I did not cut the tulle for Emma's tutu into strips, and I love the fullness of hers.

This tutorial from Imagine Childhood helped me make the girls' lined, hooded capes. Initially I was only going to make one for Emma, but Mary Ashley really wanted one too. I lined Emma's solid red cape with red gingham, and I love the pop of color. I added interest to her cape by edging the cape with wide rick rack, rounding the bottom corners, using wide ribbon ties and squaring off the point of her hood. A soft corduroy clearance fabric at Hobby Lobby -- lined with her beloved rose fabric -- was perfect for Mary Ashley's cape. Securing her cape with pretty braided trim and a cameo pendant gave our little mother a more grown-up lady's cape.



I hope you have enjoyed going into the woods with us these past two weeks! Recent adventures have taken me off the beaten path for a girlfriends getaway, so I will be sharing details and lovely photos.