Photos That Inspire

These are pictures I've saved through years of web surfing that have inspired me. I came across the "house ideas" folder the other day when I was searching for a different file and thought I'd post some of them.

I really like the cut-out wood doors of the picture above. Some day I will incorperate this into one of my projects. I think it would be pretty easy... time consuming, but easy.

This picture I saved because I was trying to think of good storage ideas and I like the shelf that is a foot away from the ceiling.

I love the layers to this room. Like how the top of the couch is the floor of another room.


I love the Barcelona chair, it's my dream to one day own one. They just look so sexy. But that's not why I saved this picture, I like the wall art in the background.

I love this coffee table, I've really been attracted to all things white and lacquered.

This would be such a smart idea for our house because our washer and dryer are in our kitchen... maybe some day!

Vroom Vroom... My Latest Purchase

I know this doesn't really have to do with creativity... but I feel like I've been blogging a lot about home decorating so I'm gonna let it slide. I put it on our computer desk running over the cords, so it kind of hides them a bit. I got it at Home Sense, which is probably my favorite home decorating store because it feels like you are searching for treasures when you go there... and it's not that hard to find one when you are there.

Jonas' Shirts on Etsy

This past weekend I spent my Sunday evening putting my husband's shirts on Etsy. Jonas and his friends design and screen print shirts in their spare time during the summer. They mostly sell their shirts at booths in conventions and universities. They do have there own web site, but it doesn't really have any advertising so it gets little hits, so now we'll see how Etsy compares. The race is on!

To see the etsy site click here.

My First Upholstering Project

In the summer of 2007 I purchased a small bench-couch. (It's not really a bench and it's not really a couch so I am going with bench-couch for now.) It was an experience... mostly working with the back tack... that's the stuff you use to wrap you fabric around the hammer on to the furniture. It has about a half inch nails running along it every inch... I'm describing this to you in detail so you can imagine my pain when I, with full force, stepped on a strip. But besides that minor set back everything worked out fairly well. It had one arm on it, but I decided against using it. I stained the wood darker, and re-padded it, and upholstered it.

Mounting Mirrors

I inherited this mirror when my parents remodeled one of their bathrooms. It was just a large rectangular mirror but to mount it we used a 1 x 4 and beveled out a ledge on both pieces to hold the mirror... painted it black and voila! It looks pretty happenin' on our barn wall.

Now You See It

These cords have been the bain of my existence.


Now you see it, now you don't! (well mostly!) Thank you to Urban Barn for the cute balls of wooden pieces!

Hoot Hoot

This cute little fellow is a easy gift idea. I made a little pocket in the back to hold loose change and what not. Felt, string, buttons and cotton fabric to line the pocket are the only ingredients in this recipe.

A Table Orb Story

The other day, while getting a tour of my friend's new house I mentioned that I liked their antique lighting fixture in their front entrance . Yesterday I went to the same friends house and they re-did all there lighting and he saved that antique fixture for me! What a happy surprise! Well we might hang it in our bedroom... but for now it is making an appearance in my home as a table orb. I think it looks totally funky... like a gypsy globe. I want to add more to the arrangement eventually, I think some more wood items... or maybe change the table clothe. Or, to go in a completely different direction from the wood, I might spray the bronze pieces black and then use more black. Lot's of options!

Display Decision Made!

With help from my dad I cut and painted this board to display my fossil tin collection. I used magnets (thanks to Trevor for the idea) glued on the board to hold the tins up... leaving space for my collection to grow! Anyway, it was a pretty quick fix... I might try something different down the road but for now it's just perfect!

Made of Memories

I got married last year and had 5 beautiful and amazing bridesmaids. These girls went to the moon to help me get hitched so I wanted to show them that I really appreciated their friendship and help. So I decided to make them blankets. I made four jean blankets and one T-shirt quilt... and that's the one I want talk about. I made it for my sister because we both had these really cool graphic printed T-shirts that we didn't wear anymore, because of size or damage, but were just kind of hard to part with. So I went through her "give away bag" and my closet and picked out some favorites and started cutting them up. I also wanted to add a little something something to the blankets to signify that it was from my wedding, so I screen printed a peacock feather in the corners of the jean blankets and over two squares in the quilt. I put a peacock feather because those were the colors of my wedding and part of the centerpieces. But back to the quilt... I finished it off with a soft gray flannel backing. Currently I am saving all my old blue shirts to make a similar blanket but with a more selective color scheme.

Flavour Favor

If you need small gifts for multiple people, like a party favor, stock stuffer, or birthday gifts then I suggest a trip to your local bulk store. This Christmas I made tea as a gift. I made two separate types of tea, but before I get into recipes lets talk supplies. First you need the tea bags, I tried two different types and I highly recommend the bags that iron close. They work really well. If you want to make tags then you need a tag punch, string and a stapler. Then you have to think of how you'll wrap them. You could make little fabric bags, buy small plastic bags, paper envelopes or you could do what I did and use tins. I went through about 5 different cups of tea to perfect my recipe... but this is the funnest part, so I recommend you don't follow my recipe but create your own.
My first tea is called A Spice City Showdown Featuring: Pear. I used darjeeling tea as my base tea because it is a light tea and blends well with other flavors. Then I added 4 cloves, 4 black pepper corns, 5 little white chocolate chips, 6 pieces of dried pear, a piece of vanilla bean (halved then cut about 5 mm long), a piece of cinnamon bark and a dash of all spice. It has a small resemblance to Chai tea. The next tea I made I called A Lover's Trist: A Ginger and Apricot Romance. This tea had ginger tea as it's base, I added dried apricot, cinnamon bark and all spice. If you want to make your gifts a little fuller then you can add a few sticks of homemade biscotti to bulk it up.

I HEART VASE

I have five rooms in my house, let me introduce them to you:

The Kitchen Vase

The Bedroom Vase

The Dining Room/Office Vase

The Living Room Vase

The Bathroom Vase

Twice as Nice

My husband made these wall hangings out of a picture I took when I lived in Holland. He got the picture printed at a sign store, then mounted them on to painted styrofoam. I love them because not only does it look chic, but it's a personal picture and uniquely mine.

I Got It From My Momma!

When ever my friends praise me for something I've created and ask "Where does your creativity come from?" (and now is the part where I stop sounding concieted...) I think back to my upbringing. I grew up with a crafter for a mother. My mom always facilitated crafts when we were young. She taught me how to sew, upholster, bake and cook and always encouraged my creativity. So when I did the last two upcycling dressers blogs I thought I should give a "shout out" blog to my momma. These are two dressers that she upcycled. What an amazing lady... in crafts and so much more!

Upcycling Dressers Part 2

This next dresser you can see had a pretty rough start. I had an inspiration for this piece... (I saw it in a Winners) I incorporated a lot of this dresser into mine, I took the two toned colors, although I chose to use a light brown stain I already had instead of buying the honey brown color, and the framed rectangle top. In the beginning I hated the drawer pulls, I want something to make it look more modern. It tried so hard to find something else, but alas the vintage dresser had, of course, vintage pulls with an odd measurement between the two screws. So over the months of failed searching for new pulls I fell in love with the old ones. They kind of look like an old airport symbol.

Upcycling Dressers Part 1

I love upcycling furniture. My favorite type of furniture to do is the dresser. I find that dressers made decades ago are more sturdy then the veneer-covered mdf products commonly found nowadays. This one I bought for 30$, sanded it and stained it cherry red. It looks pretty hot in our green bedroom.

SIDE NOTE: Our floor in this room is plywood, we (being my husband, Jonas) sanded it three times, used a little wood filler for the cracks and then stained it and varnished it. My parents did this same thing in their basement, but they left theirs the light color and drew lines on it... like hardwood lines, then varnished it five times. It looks pretty cool too.

I resolute!

I honestly love thinking about life. I know that's a weird thing to confess, but it is probably why I love setting New Years resolutions... it causes me to consider my hopes and dreams for the future. So to help me remember my promises to myself I thought I'd write them down here.1. Learn the lyrics to at least 15 popular songs of the 80s. Such as Shoop, Funky Cold Medina, Just Bust a Move, Ice Ice Baby. ...

"To the extreme I rock a mic like a vandal
Light up a stage and wax a chump like a candle"

Really it's just taking time to be silly.

2. Paint my bedroom wall... I'm thinking a simple, yet retro, circle pattern.

3. Make a garden! Maybe a deck... that might be pushing it though.

4. Tile the bathroom walls around the tub. That is a huge project but I think about it every time I time I go into the bathroom... so maybe it's time to do something about it.

5. Make more storage space!
To quote Vanilla Ice once more:

Yo man let's get out of here
Word to your mother
Ice ice baby too cold

Taking It One Month At A Time

Happy New Year! Well the start of the new year seems a perfect time to talk about calenders. I started my calendar in July... it's now January and I'll be honest I only did four out of the seven months. So this maybe isn't the best idea I have ever come up with, but it's still worth sharing because it might really work for someone else. I think it's a good idea for those who love to scrapbook and have the time to do it. I found the frame at a thrift store and wanted to use it somehow. And first I was going to put a chalk board in it, but then I never found chalk board... and we needed a calender, so I decided to use it for a that instead. It is super fun, but the case usually is that people come over and tell me I am a few months behind... but I don't think I'll give up on it yet.