To go along with the gray scheme of my future living room, I am recovering low, extra wide directors chairs that my parents have had since the 70's. And by "I'm recovering" I mean, my dear Mother is recovering them back in CT for me. But I did buy the fabric! I settled on this pretty gray lace stripe - I think it's going to look very sweet. I'll be sure to post some before and afters.
Design*Sponge hosted a great DIY contest and look who the first place winner was - a dachsie! Well, the winner was actually this pup's amazing suitcase bed, but I was glad to see a fellow dachsie owner take home the gold.
Pamper your tootsies! Blueprint has tons of GREAT DIY projects (r.i.p.) and I am definitely going to whip up one of these ottoman's this summer. I already have a great red ottoman from The Company Store but I think this idea is so brilliant. They used two cushions and a piece of wood to make their own ottoman, which is pretty priceless because there are very few cute options out there. This mag will be missed! (And I want the yellow phone in this photo BAD).
I just finished watching that Clash of the Choirs show while wrapping some Christmas gifts. Very holiday I know. Here are some of my completed projects.
I bought a bunch of jingle bell rings to adorn my gifts with. Since I only buy gifts for about three guys, most of my presents are for the ladies in my life - so I like to add cutesy embellishments.
I bought some pretty pink mugs from Anthro, filled it with tea, and attached notes that said "You are simply tea-riffic" to give to some coworkers.
And this is how I wrapped the mugs - using red and white striped fabric. I find that fabric scraps is better to use when you're wrapping odd shaped items.
I also tend to embellish boxes, rather than wrap them and waste paper. Here's a pretty box with just ribbon, a jingle bell ring, and a sharpie.
And my absolute favorite embellishment? Martha Stewart ribbon tape from Michael's. Hallelujah it's gorgeous.
Also, let's cross our fingers that I get a new digital camera for Christmas. My pics are lookin' rough.
I've been searching the blog world for some great sewing projects for the table. I picked up some red and white striped fabric as well as an aqua fabric and red rick rack to make holiday table settings. I want to make placemats AND napkins and this project from the purl bee might be the winner! Check out the easy tutorial here to make your own.
I completely ripped off this idea - because they told me to! I made embroidery hoop artwork for the dreaded pole that sits in the middle of my apartment. Blech. They were time consuming to do but really easy to make. These were my materials; a bunch of fat quarters from quiltstock, tacky glue, and embroidery hoops from the craft store.
All you do is place the bottom hoop down and lay the fabric face down in the hoop. Slide the second hoop in place and screw it in. You'll want to trim the extra fabric around the hoop and then glue it down.
Here's the finished pole. As per usual, my photos are stinky -- but the pole looks great. I embraced the pole!
The process of covering this mirror with vintage buttons has been grueling. Here is the progress so far. I think when it's finally done it'll look really great. I bought the bag of assorted buttons from Michael's and have attached them all with a glue gun - and I only have one scar thus far, so that's good. Anyone else doing some great DIYs currently?
I had such a relaxing weekend in CT. I love going home to spend time with my family and my Watty! I started knitting (thanks mands!) and I'm currently making porkchop a scarf. He saw the beginnings of it last night and was impressed, though it looks a bit lumpy. I also picked up lots of embroidery thread and hoops because I want to master that as well. I feel so crafty. See what happens when you go to the suburbs?!
Cute pin cushion from here.
Okay. This picture that I found here nearly made me pee my pants. Two flippin' hilarious movie characters: Nacho Libre and Napolean Dynamite trick-or-treating together? Hilarious ideas for costumes! And look at that kid's face! Totally priceless. I wonder how well these fared in Make's Halloween Costume Contest. They look like winners to me.
Oprah always says that if you want to organize and cleanse your life, you must start with your closet. I took Oprah's advice and I gotta say, I feel pretty great. Now when I open up my closet door, I'm not overwhelmed and I genuinely like everything in there. I filled up about 2 shopping bags worth of items to giveaway - and one big plastic container of items to put in storage. This is the end result (and there is not going to be an image of what it looked like before, because I need to maintain some self dignity).
I basically organized from top to bottom. My clothes are hanging here in the center with shirts above my shoe shelf since they don't hang too low. One basket is filled with belts and the other basket is filled with jewelry.
And on the top shelf of my closet is a crate of bags - and another crate of, er, shoes. Let's call them "casual" shoes which would include flip flops, sneakers, basic flats, etc. Heh. Yea...
Let's give me a round of applause though because this is a closet I share with Porkchop (I am only showing MY side) - so this organization is quite a feat considering I need all my clothes and shoes in such a tiny shared space!
