Tara Miller Designs

GO Camera GO

I have a pal who is a busy mom with camera in hand. But more often than not it is banging against something, dropping or being roughed up in general. (plus camera's are not as cute as the Ad companies would leave us to believe). What could be cuter and more appropriate than a tiny camera bag in Chocolate Lollipop. Candice may not have 5 kids but Her son and husband make it close enough.

Greener on the other side..

A while back, I was reading a women's magazine (I want to say either Martha or Better Homes and Gardens) and they had a little home craft using moss. That craft used the moss to display house numbers. I already knew we were going with metal house numbers mounted next to the door, so I decided all those months back that I would display our initial 'M' instead.

For the tray I used a gift basket that I received at christmas. I have been looking for just the right one since last year and I knew when I opened that basket of spa goodies that this basket (more tray-like than basket really) would be prefect for this project. For your project be sure to pick a tray with some height to accomodate the moss, soil and pebbles for drainage. You can chose a tray with handles but only if you can fit all 3 layers below the handles so nothing slips out through the holes.

For the moss, I went for a hike down to the woods and gathered up a generous amount from the natural trails or where ever you can find trees or rocks. This yielded plenty of light green moss but dark still eluded me. For the contrasting moss, I went to Joann's. They have reindeer moss there for el cheapo and one bag was plenty for my project.

To complete the project, you can either start with the 'M' with one color and then fill in around it with the other or start with the outline and fill in the letter. I started with the light green background and fill in the letter later. The only rational I have to jusify this plan of action is that some of the light green made better triangles and when placing them in the basket to get an idea they just seemed to fit. Don't be scared to tear it up and make some really small pieces. Moss is seemless and is very forgiving.

As always here are some tips and care guidelines for your new moss display. Good Luck!

Coming Soon

OMG!

OUR HOUSE IN UNDER CONTRACT. Wish us luck that we actually close on it. Closing is anytime between now and Feb 29th. I have all of my fingers crossed!

In other news: D O G S will be dogs and mine insist on digging the little strip of dirt between our breezeway and fence. I suspect they like the nose to nose chats with our neighbor dogs. I thought my rock barrier had ended that but now they just nose in between the rocks.

Finally---Finally--- I have finished painting the sewing room (blue) and the guest room (burnt orange) and they are a huge success. I have had 2 parties since painting (networking party and jewelry party) and all the guests loved both colors (especially the orange). Next up is the master bed room and I am going with a warm gray color (with some brown undertones). I will keep you up to date on decorating all 3 rooms. I have an adjustable trestle table coming in the nest few days for the sewing room. I can't wait to stop cutting on the carpet. Oh and we bought a FLOR rug for the living room. We went with Fedora in walnut with a 10'' chartreuse border. The Fedora is the only FLOR that comes with a stain resistant treatment and that is just what we need with our busiest room. It looks and feels like felty goodness.

Test knitters needed!

I have 2 new knitting patterns in development and need a few knitters to test the pattern. You get the pattern for free. Please e-mail me at taradangermiller at yahoo.com if you are interested.

Miller!

I do believe I have mentioned my brillant photographer brother before (Joie de Vie Photography), well for christmas he and his lovely wife gifted us our name in pictures. I was so stunned and instantly fell in love with it. There was just one problem-finding a frame. Shaun had it beautifully matted but since he is freelance and gave one of these to everyone in the family, frames weren't in the budget. I was fine with that, since I am a very picky framer. Being 10'' by 38'' made this one particulary tricky. The closest ready made frame to be found was 10'' by 34'' so i bought it. Getting home I realized that I could simple throw out his matting (sorry Shaun) and add fabric as my matte and re-align the picture and Voila! and Voila it was. Super fast and now it perfectly matches the style that I want for my house, one day when I can afford it all. Baby steps and my name is in pictures and I am so happy.