Peace, Love and the 60's

We get inspiration from a bunch of places. Here's a t-shirt we found.

I just love the way the heart swirls into the circle with the peace sign. I can see that as a

centerpiece design in foamcore and glitter. It would work so well for "Peace, Love and the Sixties".

Here's a fun one we did with a similar idea. I'd love to re-do this idea with the inspiration from the above design.

(This was the d.j. sign and big....about 4ft. by 8ft.)

I guess any colors could work...red, black, white was good....so are neon colors....pastels would be unexpected but unique in my opinion....turquoise and hot pink would be fun too...maybe with yellow or gold added in. I'll just have to keep this t-shirt in the back of my mind until something comes along. Now that it's here on my Blog I won't loose it and have to say...where is that design?...I can use it now and I can't find it anywhere.

Guitar Centerpieces fresh updates...one of many summer goals.

I've been working on updating our websites with some fresh new pictures. Also, I've been working on making it as simple and straightforward as possible so folks can see the possibilities but not be overwhelmed by the choices. That's a challenge.

We have over 60 new guitars to add to the website www.guitarcenterpieces.com.

I've had to re-number them all and upload new pictures. I have them on a site that I can make mistakes on until I get it right and then I can upload it to our active site. This is one of my summer goals. Time's a-flyin' by. I wish I had a stop motion button to keep time from moving so fast. If you find one, please forward it on to me!

Wyandotte Art Fair...having summer fun.

Stacey and I went to the Wyandotte Art Fair today.

It wasn't as big as I remembered it when we went a few years ago. But it was fun.

I bought a book called "A Legend of Santa and his brother Fred" for my favorite Santa Claus. It's a charming book and I couldn't pass it up. Here's a picture of Santa's brother, Fred, from the book.

Here's a picture of the real Santa it is for.

Here's a picture of the totally delightful author. He wrote the words and his talented son beautifully illustrated it and created the vision of Fred. The author is Mr. Donald Henkel from Trenton, Michigan.

I also had to include this very odd combination of booths next to each other. Michigan Atheists and Right to Life of Michigan next to each other? How did that happen? I wonder if the lady in pink has her back to the other booth for a reason.....or was that just happenstance? We found it amusing anyway.....what can I say.

It was a beautiful day....perfect Art Fair weather....70's with a breeze and not too crowded.

Happy Birthday Guitars....young and not as young!

"Happy Birthday Guitars" for any age!

They can be for table centerpieces 

or to hang on the wall.

They can be free standing on the table or 

be elevated up on one of our 24" pvc poles.

We love making Birthday 

guitars....or guitars for just 

about any good reason.

We've now made our guitars for 

birthdays of all ages, several weddings 

(I love those...they are so white and pretty and we add some soft glitter too), a rehearsal dinner, several baby showers (love those little heart and star ones), Sweet Sixteens and many Bar and Bat Mitzvahs.

Piano keyboard and guitar music centerpiece

Here's a mix of a piano keyboard, funky musical notes, the table name and one of our photo realistic foamcore guitars all mixed together in a large elevated centerpiece.

This swirly keyboard is different than the other ones on this blog. It would ship easy.

The keyboard is more swirly than a spiral so it would ship flat and all as one unit.

It's so easy to just add to the top of the pole...we're all about making it easy for people that

want to have a big & fun centerpiece. We've also posted this picture on our guitar website at www.guitarcenterpieces.com

This website is a sibling of our main website www.marlyssandstacey.com

There is another website out there with a name almost the same as ours. It's just minus the "s" on guitarcenterpieces. He makes styrofoam guitars. We aren't associated in any way. He takes a different approach and carves styrofoam. We never use styrofoam except for bases and then we cover it up in mylar.

Here's a guitar that I admire....very artsy, isn't it. I didn't make it but I would like to give it a try and make my own version. I loved to do it in paper mache....maybe mold real hands and add them.

If only I could find the time.

Taylor Hicks rocks my world~~~~~!

Oh yeah.....what a gorgeous guy.

Susie and I went to see him in "Grease" at the Fisher this weekend.

The whole show was excellent but the part with Taylor in it was spectacular.

We sat in the third row in the center so we had awesome seats and up close viewing. What a treat!

Of course I had to buy his new album and have it autographed and make Susie take this picture with my iphone.

Taylor's my favorite American Idol of all time.

(Although I posted more than a few votes for Adam Lambert this year.)

I sure wish I could have taken Taylor Hicks home with me. Oh...should I be saying that?....mmmm.......but it's true....wouldn't tell a lie.

Cool 50's CENTERPIECES & Decorations

What a special party!

For a very special Mother for her daughter Shayna's Bat Mitzvah.

Hamburger & fries, jukebox, bowling, frisbees, Duncan yo-yo, paddleball, Bazooka gum, 50's cars, old style 50's TV, poodle skirt, black jacket, cat's eye glasses, gumball machine, rearview mirror fuzzy dice, foam hair curlers, makeup, saddle shoes, roller rink skates, 45 rmp records, acoustic guitar, diner, coca cola....ahhh...what fun the 50's were! I was there you know but I think I was too young at the time to appreciate how special and really unique it was.

This was a party that I will always remember.

Thanks Monica.

MY FAVORITE THINGS: PART 5: Porch Swings

I love these porch swings. I have 9 at the moment. My oldest one is over 15 years old. I take good care of it and don't leave it out in the rain. I got it at the Renaissance Festival and paid about $85 for it. It's pink but most of the rest of them are green.

My favorite one I got on Ebay for around $60. The bar at the top is wider and it is very closely woven in a soft cotton yarn. It is extremely comfortable. I liked it so much I bought a second one from the same guy.

I got one at a garage sale for $5. I threw it out. It tangled and no one ever liked to sit in it.

I bought 2 nylon ones at an art fair. They have clips to make it a chair or if you un-clip it, it becomes more like a hammock. Those are the ones that take alot of abuse....as well as being the site of lots of fun as seen here. Also, since they are nylon the rain doesn't affect them much.

I bought this air swing on Ebay too. It drove me crazy figuring out how to put it together. We have it hanging from a tree limb and it's fun to bang your feet against the tree to get you swinging. I had rocks around the base of the tree but I removed them just in case some wild ones fell off the swing. Some young folks think the swings are more a jungle gym apparatus than a swing.

I just love these swings. If I have a back ache, it helps. If I'm sleepy, they put me right to sleep.

I love reading in them or just sitting and having coffee. Or, we have a foot bumping game called "kaboom" we play.

I like them so much that I screwed a bolt into a stud in my work room ceiling so I could hang a swing in there in the winter.

If you don't own a soft swing you're missing a quick & easy retreat to your inner being.

Super Hero party sign

Here's a fun sign that went in the D.J. area.

In my scouting the interweb for an exciting and new font that

would work for a comic theme, I found one.

It's called "Damn Noisy Kids"....really...it is. You can check it out and you too can have it on your computer.

I'm going to put it in the same file as another of my favorites fonts called "Feast of Flesh".

If the goal is to make an interesting font easy to remember the name, I do think the originator has accomplished his/her mission, don't you?

Big foamcore GUMBALL machine for a Bat Mitzvah

Here's another really fun centerpiece from a 50's party.

Stacey made this really big and three dimensional faux gumball machine....well, sorta faux...there were some real gumballs in the bottom tray. (But they were hot glued in.)

The centerpiece had a hole in the bottom side and it slid onto the pole.

I've seen actual little gumball machines that would make great placecards or giveaways to match with this really big foamcore gumball machine.

This centerpiece was over 4 ft. tall. It was non-eye blocking for a dinner table because it was so tall but it would also work in other places in the room...like for a Welcome Sign or on the Sweet Table.

I think it would work for a candy theme too.

How about a picture of the party person inside with the all gumballs...like they were looking out at you and trapped inside the gumball machine....okay...am I getting carried away?

MY FAVORITE THINGS: PART 3: Plastic Safety People

I LOVE THIS GUY!

Believe me....he works. People do slow down.

I have 2 of them and I put one on each side of the street when the kids are riding their bikes around in the street since we don't have sidewalks.

If traffic is particularly busy or I'm feeling annoyed by the cars, I'll put them IN the street and kinda close together. A car has to slow way down to pass between them.

It amazes me how well they work.

I've had these
Step2 KidAlert guys for well over 5 years. I leave them outside in the winter in a side storage area and they've really hung in there. Must be some sturdy plastic.

They really are one of my favorite things because I am the Safety Patrol and I like easy solutions to annoying problems!

45 rpm RECORD Centerpiece...the 50's Rock!

Pull out those old 45's and make a cute retro centerpiece from them.

Add a record needle, some stars and musical notes and don't forget that "thingy"...what is that called??...that thing you put into the middle of the record to make it fit into the record player. If you've played 45's you know what I mean. If you only know about ipods, then you think I'm crazy.

Some things from the 50's are just the best....ipods might be cool but records looked cooler....sorry...just my opinion.

And if I put an ipod centerpiece next to this one....mmmm.....which do you think would have the most pizzazz? Of course the records!

Sunset moments

I was outside with my son-in-law and we were standing in awe of this view in our yard.

I had to run and grab my camera.

It was changing fast.

It was such a beautiful brief moment that I had to try and see if I could capture it so I could save it and hold it in my hand longer.

Ahhhhh.......Thank you.

Here's another one. July 2009.

Almost wickedly violent looking...yet calm and peaceful.

Stunningly beautiful.

Guitar Centerpiece "Over the Top"

We make lots of guitar centerpieces but not always quite like this one.

Most often they are foamcore electric guitars instead of foamcore acoustic guitars like this one....but this was for a 50's themed party in the fun colors of fushia, orange, lime and turquoise and black and white checks.

Stacey cut out over a thousand little black squares to checkerboard all the centerpiece bases for both the elevated poles and the new 8 sided bases she engineered for the "low on the table" look centerpieces. These new bases have a rounded feel yet they allow for items to be securely placed all around them. I'll be posting a picture of those soon. They are great looking and versatile for applications more than just checkerboard designs.

But I just loved this guitar centerpiece. It has 2 guitars on it back to back and both sides have funky musical notes and glittered stars. But I really think the checkered pole makes it pop! I've always felt that the base and/or the pole is an important element to the total look.

We have some new electric and acoustic guitars we will be adding to our website: www.guitarcenterpieces.com this summer when things slow down and I can spend some extra time playing with guitars. I'm looking forward to July....it's my favorite month of the year!

(Here's a picture of the reverse side of this centerpiece at the party location. Thanks Monica!)

Memorial Day Parade/Task Karate

What a beautiful day....and that's something to cherish in Michigan.

Planes and helicopters were flyin' over head...sirens were wailin', drums were beatin' and music was playing loudly.

It was noisy and wonderful and very crowded.

I rode my bike into town and I think that's the only way to go to a parade.

I visited some crafts and bought some homemade purple/lavender soap. I also bought a few plants...and, yup, carried them home on my bike. I had some food and followed the parade route and took lots of pictures of Stacey and boys as they looked so very cool marching down the road.