Tag Archives: colors

Color Me Beautiful

As promised, here’s my experience of getting my colors done while on vacation in St. Louis.

My now-friend Celeste did a wonderful job. (Isn’t it great when you have moments like that? She wasn’t my friend before I met her, but really meeting her is all that it took.) We set up a mirror, chair, and spotlight. She had a big ‘ole box of fabrics. She looked at my skin color, into my eyes, at the roots of my hair and even asked me to stick out my tongue. Then Celeste began draping me with shades of fabrics.

As she moved through the whites, greens, blues, reds… I began to see that different shades of the colors made my face look sad, sickly, and tired. Others brought out my eyes and made my cheeks rosy. My face didn’t change, but putting new colors next to it made a huge difference.

This green is wonderful on me. I can see that in the mirror. It makes me look happy, well-rested, and trustworthy. When I know that I look this way, I feel more confident. It’s a great-big chain reaction. The happier the color makes me look naturally, the prettier I look, the better I feel about myself.

Guess what?! Nothing’s completely off-limits. I knew before going into this that black against my face is a big no-no because it deepens the shadows. I discovered that I can do dark brown or navy instead. However, I knew for sure, for sure, for sure that I cannot ever wear red. Well… tomato red doesn’t do the blotchy thing to my face or make me look like I’m trying way too hard. Look at that! I can wear red!

Celeste uses the Color Me Beautiful system which categorizes people by seasons. I’m an autumn who looks best in the deep colors, not the lights. Here are the colors that are best on me. I’m so grateful for this experience. As I embrace my role as not only an artist but a businesswoman, I’ve been gifted such a wonderful tool.

Here’s something silly. I was on my way to Dad’s church after my appointment with Celeste, so I had dressed for that before we began. When we finished the coloring, I changed into an over-sized sweatshirt. I walked back into the room and Celeste sighed, “Oh that’s much better.” Moral of the story: I look better in slouchy clothes that are in my colors than fancy ones that aren’t.

Later that day my aunt took me shopping to get shirts and sweaters in my colors. It was the most fun shopping I’ve had in a long time. Going only to things in autumn hues cut waaaay back on the overwhelm-factor I usually feel in stores. Not to mention it made it possible for us to whip through 5 or 6 places in 90 minutes. Turn me loose in a fabric store and I can be there all day. Clothing shopping in the past has just made me feel ugly. So I hated doing it. No longer. Now I just need to look for fit and style. I already know the color looks great. Now I’m going to go rock my mustard sweater and coral lipstick on my grocery store trip.

If you’d like to know more or would like a color consultation yourself, just ask Celeste. celesteoakland@gmail.com She learned from her mother, who was hand-picked by Carole Jackson of Color Me Beautiful.

So Much Thanksgiving

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I didn’t actually take many photographs while I was on vacation. I’m still waiting to hear back from some family members who’ve offered to share their photographs, but here’s what I’ve got in the meantime.

My brother and I helped Sheri make this lovely vegetarian-friendly turkey. Now when I say helped, I mean that I cut the celery and he cut the carrots. That’s helping, right?! Anyway, Sheri’s masterpiece was so cool that the group collectively decided to eat it symmetrically so as to preserve the bird. For example, if I wanted a carrot, I’d take it from where the carrots are most dense so the poor thing didn’t have a bald spot.

There’s that brother of mine snuggling up to Sheri. He’s 15 now! I hadn’t seen him since my cousin’s wedding over two years ago… so we were very happy to spend time together. We watched movies, played card games, saw a lights show, and enjoyed ice cream. My first thought when I saw him this trip was, “Oh no! He’s a MAN!” Always my baby brother, not quite a baby anymore.

Alright, here are a few more I’m adding right off Facebook. These were taken the day we went to the Arch. My brother was in school that day, but my sister, her hubby, and little Mary were there. Dad, too. And me. Yeah. Here are the photos. Ready? Okay, now.

Baby Mary was so snuggly and cozy! Didn’t complain one bit as long as she was close to her mama. Us non-mamas could hold her for 20ish seconds before she’d loudly object. Her Dad got a little longer, of course. Whenever she got fussy, music usually did the trick. She loves “Baby Beluga” and “Open, Shut Them”. If all else fails, Elmo is magic. Mary cut her first two teeth on this trip. So exciting!

Those were taken at the top of the arch. This last one is on the ground but I just love how baby Mary and I are making eyes at each other. Which is not what we’re supposed to be doing, we’re supposed to be smiling at the camera. Sometimes the candid shots are way cuter anyway.

In my next post I’ll talk about getting my colors done. As a quilter, I know that picking the exact right color is important. The almost-right color often isn’t good enough. I had my personal colors done (you know, for makeup and clothing) and it has changed my perspective. In the past when I wanted to look nice, I didn’t really know how. Little black dresses made me look pale. Makeup darkened the circles under my eyes. Turns out I was choosing the wrong colors. More on that soon.

Megan Bags Courtesy of My Friends

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I’m on my way back home tomorrow! I’ve had such a super wonderful time in St. Louis and am looking forward to a nice long hug from my husband. And some kitty snuggles. I’ll have a bunch of posts for you guys as I download photographs, experiences, jokes, and life lessons. For now, here’s a little insight onto how I’m able to turn trash to treasure with a little help from my friends.

Some of my quilting buddies have taken to collecting and saving their scraps of fabric for me. I love using teeny tiny pieces of fabrics for my crumb piecing projects, and they feel good that these bits aren’t ending up in the trash. My friend Melissa says it’s like going back to the origin of quilting, sewing together every usable bit of fabric. It was out of necessity way back when. You know, keep the family bed warm with what’s left of dresses and flour sacks. When I get scraps, they come in “Megan Bags” which look something like this:

Yup, this one’s mostly batiks. Aren’t they pretty?! I turn on the TV or Hulu and start the sort. The pieces that are too small even for me (yes, there are a few) go in a bag for community service at one of my quilt guilds. They stuff pillows for the homeless with those bits. The rest, I sort by color into bins.

When I stop for the night, usually when the show is over or the Megan bag is empty, I transfer the sorted fabric into the larger drawers that I use to store scraps. Here’s what some of them will become:

Where’ve You Been?

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I’ve been neglecting to write for a few weeks now. What have I been up to? Well, aside from spending a lot of time getting un-sick (yuck) and with my kiddos at work (so cute) I’ve been working on the house. Here are a few new skills I’ve learned.

1) Replacing window screens. When I expressed amazement that my husband could do it, he showed me how. Now I’ve volunteered to do the rest of the screens in the house, starting with the back screen door, which has been attacked by vines.

2) Mudding drywall. Filling in holes, covering low spots, etc before we paint.

3) Using a paint sprayer. I’m pretty handy with a brush and roller, but the spraying bit was new to me. We’re rolling colors, but it’s very handy for white ceilings and hard-to-reach areas like under the water heater in the garage.

4) Cutting and installing carpet. Okay, so we didn’t completely install it with tacks on the side, but throw-rug-style is just fine for the master bedroom for now.

5) Scraping popcorn ceilings down. It’s easy! Just wet it down and scrape. It flops right off and you sweep the gunk off the floor.

Oh, and I’m excellent at sorting through items. Initially, they’re in three categories: save, sell, and donate. Goodwill’s having a good donation year in my town.

I have not been quilting, but am excited to do some paper-piecing with friends tomorrow. I’ll post s’more about that soon. Promise.

QUILTArtbymegan

For lovers of quilts, art, and Megan.