It's beginning to look a lot like...

My house is looking very festive this week. I took some branches from a fallen tree on the weekend and gave them a coat of white spray paint. I then put them in these glass vases I bought along time ago, but have yet to really use them. A few blue lights (and my husband gave it under lighting) and they are a great winter statement piece for our living room. This project turned out so good that Icouldn't help but get in the deck-the -halls mood.

Contriving Livingroom #2

Warning: This is going to be a photo heavy blog.

So since we bought our second couch (which was a few months ago) we decided to nix the dining room and have a second living room area. So it's now the time for me to pick a fabric to reupholster, but I need a concept to work off of.
This is my idea:
Most of the photos are from anthropologie and a few are taken from flickr. To sum up my concept, lots of prints, different textures (including wood textures... which I've been excited about already) and heavy on the antique look. So besides finding the right fabric for the job I've also been accessory hunting online. These are real butterflies that are framed. I found them on ebay, I think they'll be perfect!

MoonLighting

After my beautiful birthday tulips had song their last song my gray vase was empty. While I love the look of empty vases I decided to try something new.... so now my vase is moonlighting as a candle holder! And I think he looks sharp. (Hey, if my table is a gypsy then my vase/candle holder can be a man)
On a side note: check out my still green apples! (Ok... so this photo is a few days old and my husband has only left one apple standing, but it is still green!)

Stick Bouquet

Most of my creativity this month has come from some dire urge to fill all my vases. This blog is no different. I had an empty glass vase, well more of a bowl, and decided it needed to be filled. I came up with the idea of a stick bouquet. I've seen it done before, usually in a taller arrangement with less sticks. The funnest part of this craft was getting the supplies. I took my dog on a walk and collected sticks in a bag as I went. Since my dog is a puppy, and a cute one at that, we attracted a lot of kids. My favorite was this cute, kind of chubby girl with a t-shirt too tight and a juice stain on the front... but still totally adorable. While she was holding Polly she asked me "Why do you have a bag of sticks?" I told her I was making a bouquet, except instead of flowers I was using sticks. She looked at me a little weird for a second, but then went back to playing with Polly. All in all this was a fun craft and totally free to make!

Apples. People have been doing this for years!

I know this is not a new idea by any means. People having been using fruit to decorate probably since Adam and Eve... but I thought I would share my take on this timeless decorative display. Although, I don't know how smart keeping fruit on the window sill is. Luckily it's still pretty cool out and we don't get too much sun through our front windows... so hopefully they'll stay that bright green for a while!

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!

Display Decisions

I am a collector. I have been since I was little collecting Little Mermaid cards. Right now I am big into collecting Fossil Tins, I have over 30. Most of the them are the same size and shape, about six are different. Currently they are sitting on a few window sills, but I'd much rather have them all together displayed as a collection... so I am toying with a few ideas that I thought I'd share.
1) Stick them right up on the wall.
The example I've shown is from http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5174222 (Side note: its a pretty cool site, she sells wood block art pieces that are meant to be hung in groups.)
Pro: its looks organized
Con: the "odd" shaped tins would look out of place
2) Shelves.
Pro: all tins would get to be used and a smaller space is needed
Con: Less impact and more messy?
3) Different sized display boxes
I like this idea because then I could stack the tins to make taller arrangements. Plus I like the disorder to the order... and I could paint the frames a funky color, like bright red or orange! Oh, and I could put a subtle but fun printed wall paper or fabric as the back panel. That would be kind of fun.
4) Show case coffee table.
This one is an idea I've been toying with for awhile. I haven't seen it done anywhere. Pros would be it's unique, organized, and impactfull. Cons: a lot more time and effort. I would like to do something like this coffee table (I saw it at Kesay), but maybe with a groove where the tins would sit in, so they wouldn't move around when we moved the table... or walls that from the wood piece up to the glass. I dunno, what do you think?

Fabric in a Frame... yep, its that easy

The frames were purchased from thrift stores and then spray painted. For fabric I would recommend using something with a large print. If you have bare walls this is a quick and easy way to fill them up. Also a good way to add in an accent color, because it's so easy to change the fabric if you decide to change you accent color. Look at me, just handing out the tips.

Michelangelo had his Sistine Chapel.... I have my dining room!

So far in my life I think I would call this my master piece.
It took me months to complete... but like I was saying before, about customization... it makes you proud as a peach to have it. Let me give you a little "how to", just in case you have months to spare. I first made the stencil using a plastic duotang. I printed my design out on a piece of paper (it was originally a two inch design on a piece of scrapbooking paper) and taped it to my duotang then used an exacto knife to cut it out. I used a sticky spray (used for sreen printing) and tape to keep my stencil on the cieling. To keep each piece seperated evenly I used reference points on the designs all ready painted on. I had to wash my stencil keep after every use because a little bit of paint would always stay on the edge and would muck up the next design if I didn't clean it. People thought I was crazy when I told them my idea (I probably should have left out the lime green part) but most of those people who were ready to throw my in the loony bin have taken it back.

Paris Pictures

Changed the background, title, and font colors : check
Added picture of self: check
Insert first official blog on the topic of crafting:

On one of my many trips to the local thrift stores I found this book with amazing vintage pictures. It was filled with pictures of Paris, mostly in black and white, but a few in color. I loved the pictures because they weren't your everyday scenery post card type of photography. The book had pictures of everyday people doing random things like drawing with chalk, buying groceries, and just walking with a lover.
So I decided to put these pictures up on my wall.
Here is how I did it... I cut mdf board to the approximate size of the pictures. Painted the edges black. Cut the pictures to fit. At first I tried decoupage, but that was a huge failure. In the end I used a simple scrapbooking glue stick. I got my husband to drill a little whole in the back for the nail and my project was almost over. I spent about an hour getting my layout just right.
I'm pretty proud of them, that's why they made it into my first official blog on the topic of crafting: check!