if you had to trust a third grader or me about spelling something correctly, I'd go with the third grader. despite that and an appalling overuse of ellipses and parentheses, I'd say this blog was pretty worth reading. I might even call it genius (obviously).
(I meant to post this on Friday, but I didn't actually do it... Just pretend it's before Christmas and still timely)
Well, in the sense that I wrapped some presents, not in the sense of being done with anything.
One of my happiest college memories (the first time) was when my student organization raised money by wrapping presents at Barnes and Noble for donations. It. Was. So. Much. Fun.(I know that's weird.) I don't think I've bought traditional wrapping paper or "Christmas" ribbon in years, but I always have fun looking for substitutes. This year's wrapping is a favorite, though it did take a little finagling, especially on the kid's presents. It's all super cheap - my favorite kraft paper is actually at the dollar store in their mailing supplies section (though I got the wrapping presents bug late Wednesday after the dollar store was closed - such bad timing!) and the embroidery thread I used is only $.30 a piece if you don't have a few spare skeins lying around like I did. (If you want kraft paper and you can't find any, try the back of wrapping paper. Most are printed on that shiny white paper, but I found 3 at my grocery store printed on kraft paper, so I just used the wrong side!)
A note about doing this style (a string wrapped round and round and round): it's a lot harder to get 50 pieces of thread off a present than 2 or 3. Memories of Christmases past: "I can't unwrap this, Stephanie!" So, I devised a plan - ok, maybe it can't exactly be called a "plan," (whatever... semantics) but this is how I did it.
1. I like to start with the primary colors; it's good to have a full range of colors, but I start with the ones I like the least. They'll be mostly covered up by the "good ones." I pretty much only try to keep the front looking straight and even - the back is a lost cause.
2. When you're wrapping the threads make sure to secure them with tape only in the middle, like so. (It'll make sense in a second, I promise!)
3 & 4. Continue with the rest of your colors, keeping white and black towards the end (I did them 3rd and 4th to last) so that they're prominent. Black and white really make colors seem more colorful. (And keep that tape in the middle!)
5. Leaving yourself a little gap, securely tape two more lines on either side of the tape you've already laid down. You're about to cut the loops of thread, so make sure these are tight and secure since they'll be the only thing holding it all together.
6. Carefully cut in the two gaps you left yourself on either side of the original tape. (Sharp scissors are useful, unlike the ancient pair of Fiskars I used)
7. Once you've cut away the middle part, you've got two piece of tape securing the thread on both ends. Reinforce those and they'll stay when you want them too but shouldn't be too hard to rip off on Christmas morning... (I said "shouldn't." Don't hold me responsible for any present entrapment casualties.)
I only did a few small ones like this, but I still used the floss for the bigger presents - just with a couple of colors.
When I found those spice rack photos, they were in a random folder on my computer with a bunch of old projects I'd done. Since you're nice, I'll share them with you. Here you are: Things I Did When I Wasn't In School and Had So Much Time To Make Cool Things.
When Evane and I started drawing on Ikea's basic white plates with a Porcelain pen, we had these grandiose ideas about selling our gorgeous dinnerware for an insane profit. We were already spending the money, we were so far into this business plan.... (Side note: those Ikea plates are simple, clean-lined, perfect for combining with vintage plates, and crazy cheap. 6 settings for $20. Yep.)
After finishing just one set, we realized it took so long to draw all of those freaking little circles that we'd practically have to charge $1000 to end up with at least minimum wage. So, to recap: I have a 7 person set of plain white Ikea plates/bowls/saucers (which I use all of the time) and 1 handmade place setting. I do use the 3 pieces, however, whenever I can.
Those salted caramel brownies look much more delicious when plated so adorably.
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My dad had an old bible he like, but it had the ugliest cover! I went old school (use those middle school textbook recovering skills!) and did a little holy DIY-ing.
I used a suit jacket I got for a few bucks at a thrift store (ignore the fabric pattern in this photo, it'll be clearer below) and cut it apart into the biggest pieces I could. (That's the bible in the top of the photo.)
With a sheet of Heat'n Bond, I attached the fabric to the book, folding carefully over the spine and then gluing down over the edges of the cover. I used some binding that was the same color as the inside covers to hide the edge of the suit fabric - it's not perfect, but it works. (and it's so much better than it was!)
Using a bit more Heat'n Bond, I attached the old labels to the spine and a corner. The big label started out as a cover up; the suit fabric bunched up a bit and you could see the original cover. When I saw how awesome it looked, I ripped out another label for the back cover.
(Sexy ironing board cover!)
Last day of school! Maybe I'll have time for exciting projects after this is all over.
I got really into pretending I could cook a few years ago. So when I bought all of these spices (for all of the amazing recipes I was googling) at the bulk section of Central Market and Whole Foods, the mini ziploc bags were cluttering up my spice cabinet. I found these little spice jars at Ikea that I loved, but all of the racks that held them were a bit ugly. So... I thought I'd make my own!
Of course, I don't have any pictures of the process (this was a while ago) but it was super easy. I looked at the area I wanted to use, held up the jars and decided that two shelves (__ inches long) would work for the space/containers I had. I found a board that was the right depth to hold the jars (a 1X4, I think); used a really thin piece of wood (I think it was sold as a stake or something? ) as the ledge and had the Home Depot people cut everything to length. Staples held everything in place (this was all getting covered by burlap, so it didn't have to be pretty) and I painted a few L-brackets the wall color so they'd fade away. I used this tutorial as inspiration (though I didn't stain or seal the shelves like they did, it would look really good.)
(old blurry photos - idea that still works)
I used my cheerleader handwriting and wrote the spices' names with sharpie. (A: I wasn't really a cheerleader, but I write just like one. B: Sharpie can be wiped off glass, but that's good if you want to play around with fonts/it doesn't get handled enough for that to be a problem, in my experience.) I might have bought a few new spices just for their pretty colors/shapes. Turmeric, whole allspice, and star anise, I'm looking at you.
This brought some much needed texture and color to a builder basic rented kitchen. When you rent, the kitchen is one of the rooms you can do the least to; no re-tiling or painting cabinets and there isn't usually a lot of wall space for art or new paint colors (if you're even allowed to do that!) These shelves were practical, cheap and easy to DIY - you know those are my favorite attributes. It also left more room in my spice cabinet for over priced bottles of balsamic vinegar and the million different bottles of Asian sauces and vinegars that I only use for making peanut sauce. So... important things.
When my future-interior-design-business-partner sister Evane left for college a few years ago, she was concerned (and rightly so) about how to make her dorm look less dorm-like. We found comfy gray bedding and ruffly white blankets at Target and IKEA, but went lazy diy on the pillows.
I call this a not-so-helpful "dude, I'm so helpful" because I've got no pictures of the process. We did this years ago, but there are a million different tutorials online how to make a pillow (ruffled or not) out of a t-shirt. (This one is great.) However, you don't need any (badly-lit) photos from me to do it yourself; it's so easy. Now, if you need to make a bunch of pillows, you could go to the regular fabric store, but the thrift store is full of shirts (which are inherently shaped perfectly for pillow-making.) You can find funky old designs/prints and if you go on a sale day, you can go super cheap-o. I love the soft jersey of a washed-a-million-times t-shirt. (So many dashes!)
Evane and I started out with neutrals (duvet, blankets and sheets), so we walked into the thrift store with a pretty open color palette. She loved a floral t-shirt that ended up as that pillow in the back, so we started there, finding different t-shirts and a few button ups in great bright colors. We used IKEA pillow inserts for $3 a pop, but if you go to a thrift store, they have dozens of cheap (and ugly!) throw pillows if you need a different/larger size. Don't worry about the heinous print on the fabric, just choose one that's smooth (something super bumpy will show through a thin cotton or jersey cover) and that doesn't have piping (makes your edges weird). You don't have to only look at the x-large shirts, but if you're doing ruffles, the bigger (more fabric) the better. Look at a couple of tutorials or pinterest for inspiration; get a little creative and go!
Thanks Evi, for the (much better than usual) photos
Obviously those two things go together. Well, kind of...
A few years ago, I saw this tutorial from love Maegan, a fashion blogger. I had to make my own version. I put on The Princess Bride - the best movie of all time - and just started playing around.
I started with a few supplies - easy and cheap. Maegan's roses were black, but I wanted more of a deep red/wine color. I got one of the cheap bunches from a craft store that comes with roses in different sizes. I'm sure this would be beautiful with fancier silk flowers, but they will be a little more well made and harder to manipulate. I bought some organza (thin, sheer fabric, like tulle) and ribbon in the same color, a bit of thick cotton for the base of the necklace, and some snaps and d-rings for construction.
I started with the big flowers and took off the plastic stems. A few of the big flowers had centers that looked kind of cheap, so I took those petals out and kind of twisted up the remaining flower to look less like a fake rose.
I sewed these onto the cotton I'd cut into an appropriate shape. I googled "bib necklace", which was pretty popular at the time, and looked to see how wide and deep it should be. I left the middle in the fabric, even though I meant to end with a horseshoe shape, not a half-circle - this left me with a little lee-way to mess around with the flowers.
Now, the mid-construction pictures were weirdly fuzzy, so I'll leave them out. Sorry! But, if you look at the picture below, you can tell I just placed the flowers close to each other, squished them in empty spots and sewed them securely to the cotton base.
After getting a basic shape I liked, I cut away the extra fabric and then used the ribbon to attach the d-rings at the ends of my necklace. Then, I took the tulle and cut it into little squares and rubbed the edges to fray them a bit. I folded them up into cone shapes and sewed them into the gaps of the necklace, giving it all a bit more texture. (FYI, these middle pictures have some weird lighting. The color of the necklace is much truer in the first and last photos.)
While using the ribbon and the snaps to finish off the roses, I realized I picked out ribbon with wire edges. This is great if you're forming a bow and need to adjust the ribbon to create a perfect loop. If you want something to hang flat, you should use regular ribbon.
Late night bathroom mirror pictures! Classy, huh? Not really, but the necklace is adorable. That camera was old, but it's probably better at late night craft documenting than my iPhone.
Evane (the middle sister) has been in Texas for the summer and we've been working on a few photo shoots. Nothing fancy, just good quality pictures of things I've done for future interior design relating job hunting.
I know she wants to edit these, but I was really excited to have a better shot of my living room than my iPhone camera, so here you are...
$25 Goodwill rug. Coffee table made out of a stolen pallet from the outlet mall parking lot, a few cheap casters and a piece of plexi glass Lowe's cut to size for me. The ultimate $350 Craigslist find, my vintage Chesterfield leather sofa. My precious home-made bookshelves, full of all of my favorite books, art, and vintage trophies. (This un-edited picture doesn't show it well, but the coral pillow matches the rug perfectly. Thanks, Target!)
Ikea's ubiquitous $70 Expedit. Vintage mirrors my Granny gave me. Owl print from B. Lambert's Etsy shop; $8 people, art doesn't have to be expensive. Lots of (mostly from thrift stores and Half Price) books. $5 coffee filter/cupcake liner/thumbtack "flower" installation. Vintage needle package art in Ikea frames. (Post on those to come; they are some of my favorite artwork in the house)
I'm a big fan of these billy buttons (or Craspedia if you want to get technical) and they last forever! This might be the laziest/cutest arrangement I've ever made: chop them off all the same height and throw in vintage water glass.
(Side note: I found this picture when I was googling the Latin name for the flower. Succulents and billy buttons in a wedding bouquet? Sign me up. Cutest wedding ever.)
It's not hard to style bookshelves. Lots of books, placed horizontally and vertically, to give it interest. Art (This particular piece is a page from a calender that I framed in my good ole' standby, the Ikea Ribba.) Knick knacks; tchotchkes; things you find pretty. Whatever you call them, they don't have to be expensive. Every single thing in this shot came from a thrift store; I just pop in when I'm close to one and have a few minutes and just browse the "accessories" aisle. When I find something I like that's priced right (read, only a few dollars) I buy it and throw it in my "When I need to decorate something" box. That horse bookend was an ugly fake marble color, so I spray painted it high gloss white. The wooden artist's model was $10 at Ikea. The gold dinosaur was $.99 and is the best thing I ever placed anywhere. (I wrote that sentence and all I can hear is Peter Griffin saying, "That's the smartest thing I've heard anyone say about anything."
I love my vintage trophies. I also love paperbacks printed in the 60's. (The best cover design!) I love these two things stacked up beside each other even better.
There you are. My living room, hopefully a little prettier than you've seen it before.
One of my friends from college, David, showed me this video; it might be one of my favorite things ever placed on the internet. (Side note. The lead actor in this commercial used to work at Trudy's with me! Crazy, right?)
You're welcome.
Now, the real story of the day. A few girls from work wanted to have a joint baby shower last week. I told them I'd love to help, and then discovered I had a midterm right in the middle of the shower. I figured if I couldn't come, then I could at least make everything look like a party. (Best way to make something into more of a celebration.. Decorations!)
Since the party was outside, I knew I couldn't do anything for the tables that might get blown away, so I decided on a bunch of bunting, balloons and a few signs. I went with a couple of shades of blue and a light kelly green and only spent about $10 on a bunch of tissue paper, string and balloons. (Seriously, cheapest decorations ever.) You've seen me make bunting like I'll show you below for Katrina's 30th birthday party and I pull it out for every occasion that needs a little festivity.
First, cut out whatever shape you want your bunting to be. For this party I made square ones, circular ones and these triangle ones. Place the template on the already folded edge of the tissue paper. Seriously, make it easy on yourself. Your tissue paper will already have all of these folds in it; you might be wasting a bit of paper (because it's bigger than what you need) but you save so much work.
Cut out your shapes; if you did what I told you to and used the paper already folded up, each cut should get you ten pieces or so.
Open the tissue paper up, place your string on the fold and glue one half, plus a third of the way up the other half (I use a glue stick). If you don't glue on the second half, your string will be a little loose and your paper will slide up and down the string.
That's it. So easy, right? Now, depending on how much you need and where it's going, you can put the tissue paper closer or father apart on your string. If you are decorating a big space and don't have much time, put them farther apart. It'll be more sparse, but you'll have more space covered. If you don't need very much, or are just decorating one wall, put them closer together. I've seen it done where the circles/triangles/whatever are almost touching and it looks super cute.
I saw these balloons in the exact colors I was already using and I had to use them. I took some inspiration from one of my favorite blogs, Little Green Notebook, and made some strings of balloons. I love her ombre ones, but they didn't have the right colors. This is what they were supposed to look like; I pictured them hanging from a tree or something.
I didn't really account for the wind, so they clumped up and ended up looking more like this... Still cute, though.
I knew there would be trees at the site, but they were more spread out than I thought. Instead of stringing multiple streamers of bunting between a few trees, I improvised and wrapped the streamers around the big trees and only strung a few from tree to tree.
The party was at Emma Long park in Austin and was gorgeous. It had been raining all weekend, but it turned out to be a gorgeous day for a baby shower.
The other side of the tree said, "It's a"
Every time I talk about decorating I always end up at this point. Why spend lots of money on cheaply made, cheesy decorations when you can do it yourself? It's not that hard.
Note to self: next time, don't rush out so early. Get some better pictures of your cute decorations. You aced the midterm; you didn't need to hurry.
Well, it wasn't still packed away in a box, but it might as well have been. I have not had any time since school started to do anything but work/school/sleep/study (rinse and repeat).
So, when a few girls from work kept asking me to make them a skirt like mine (I have about 7 versions of the same skirt that I wear to work practically every day - high elastic waist, pockets, and a bright pattern.), I decided to finally do it. Jen and Adrienne came over and we went to Jo-Ann's (my favorite fabric store) and went crazy buying fabric. (I spent so much money! Though, I'll have a whole new wardrobe of skirts as soon as I make them.)
We came home, made some sangria and got to work. I soon turned into a sweat shop owner, barking out orders: "Ok, now cut out the pockets like I showed you. Now, iron the hem. Did you cut the elastic yet?" A few skirts in, we got hungry and had to take a snack break.
This focaccia with basil, tomato, and fresh mozzarella was fantastic.
My attempt at recreating the toppings on the front of the Nut-Thins box didn't go so well. (Side note: Nut-Thins are delicious. The 4 boxes in my pantry attest to that. They tie with Simply Orange High Pulp as most beloved grocery item in mine and Hannah's household.) I soon gave up on being creative with the almonds, honey and fruit and just stuck with plain ole' brie.
Reason #456,503,918 I love Hannah: I made her a cracker and then said, "Do you recognize this?" and she was thisclose to saying "The Nut-Thins box!"
Anyways, yummy food was eaten and sangria was drank and we got back to work.
Correction: I got back to work.
All in all, it was a pretty successful night. We (I) made 5 skirts (I'm counting the pink striped one above that was incorrectly measured for. Jen. :)Even if it's too small to actually fit over your hips, it was made and so it counts.) and an apron. I didn't get one done for myself, but I've got some gorgeous fabric ready to go, just taunting me. I'll try to take pictures once I make one and post a proper tutorial; it really is the easiest ever. No pattern!
Focus on the cute skirt, my beloved couch or my $20 thrift store rug of awesomeness...
Not the pallet/plexi-glass coffee table that I still haven't attached the casters to yet.
I headed over to Austin's City-Wide Garage Sale a few weeks ago and found this gorgeous, vintage, pull-down map. I don't remember exactly how old the lady told me it is, but it is older than me. (Some city is on the map that changed it's name in the early 80's.) It has beautiful, bright colors and is pretty giant - a perfect addition to the sadly neglected dining room.
I love the graphics on the bottom.
back in the U.S.S.R.
I've also been working on some sort of ceiling lamp for the living room. I got the idea from Amanda at Our Humble A(bowe)d and she stole it (I mean, borrowed nicely and gave credit) from some $600 British lamp. (I actually really like that one and I think I'll add it to my "for when I win the lotto" folder.)
(the $600 version)
I took a heinously ugly $2 lamp shade from Goodwill and took the shade part off leaving only the frame on top. I looked for the biggest one I could that had a flat top, so the bulb would hang at the top of the lamp, not be recessed down to hang in the middle.
(the part I ripped off)
I took some wire mesh (called hardware cloth, like this from Home Depot) and replaced the shade I took off. It took a little muscle and finagling to keep it straight and secure it on, but it wasn't that hard. So, for about $7 total, I had a new lamp shade.
Then, I forced Larisa to search for sticks with me outside (I'm a horrible sister, it was pretty much in the middle of the night) and then hung them, mobile style, inside the shade.
I bought some little birds from Michael's for a dollar or so apiece and used hot glue to attach them to the sticks. Then I took a cord (with a wall plug on the end) and a bulb kit and forced Campbell to do a little electrical work. I used a few hooks to hang it all from the ceiling, taped the cord going down the wall (so I could paint it) and plugged it in.
(the pictures I took before I hung it up came out a little blurry - I'll try to get up and take a level photo)
I'm pretty proud of my cord hiding job... I put it up against the molding of the front door and I think it's about as unobtrusive as I could get without rewiring the ceiling.
So, there we go... If you're interested in the details, I'd go back to the original tutorial from Our Humble A(bowe)d. She took much better pictures than I did. And... she probably didn't trip a breaker when she plugged in the cord with live wires at the end so she could measure exactly how long to make that cord and the live wires touched each other and sparked and now that outlet doesn't work anymore and the problem is she lives in an apartment so she has to get the maintenance people to come and do it for her and so she doesn't even get to enjoy the light.
I mean, I didn't do that either... I'm just saying she probably didn't do that.
The wall behind my tv has been crying out for some sort of decoration. It's sitting on the ubiquitous white Expedit and has a few vintage mirrors behind it. Those mirrors create a bit of an awkward space to arrange things around, but I love how they look so I thought I'd work with it instead of change it.
Crappy iPhone picture... Sorry!
So, I've thought about doing a gallery wall around the tv. When you make the tv fade into the decor on the wall around it, you get to pretend that you don't spend way too much time watching it. (Right? It fools people, doesn't it?)
I've shown a million pictures from this house... BECAUSE I LOVE EVERY SHOT OF IT!
photo from Design Sponge's sneak peek of Emily Henson's home
Now, this is a great idea, but most of the smaller sized art that I own is already hung up around my apartment. And, it takes a lot of energy to arrange such a thing. Does this make me lazy? Probably. But, from laziness comes great ideas. (That's the old adage, right?) So, when I saw this photo on curbly.com, I thought that it could be the perfect treatment for this wall. Something organic and flowing can balance out an uneven space - perfect when you have a large piece of furniture or tv that isn't centered on the wall.
So, the littlest sister came over for a night of Getting Stuff Done! TM. We got coffee filters and cupcake liners in two different sizes. We took some thumbtacks, painted them orange, and we were ready to start... (By the way, this project was so cheap - less than $2 each for the filters and liners, 99 cents for the thumbtacks and a tiny bit of paint and painter's tape that I already had. Even if you had to buy those, you're still looking at less than $10. Nice.)
Then I took some painter's tape and "sketched" out the design I wanted. Awww.. that was back when my flowers weren't dead. (and my entertainment center was messy)
I just started placing the different sized liners and filters in a random pattern, generally following the lines of the tape.
I layered some of them on top of each other, but looking at it now, I would love to add in a few paper doilies.
I love the organic, textured feel it gives to the room. It fills up the wall, but it's light and airy so it doesn't compete too much with the bookshelves directly opposite it.
I'm a big fan of these billy buttons (or Craspedia if you want to get technical) and they last forever! This might be the laziest/cutest arrangement I've ever made: chop them off all the same height and throw in vintage water glass.
Chris and Kelly's wedding, shot by 
