DIY Tutorial – Ombre Stenciled Pillowcases

The Spring season is upon and as you may have noticed from my posts this week, I have all things pastel on the brain. I've also been working on sprucing things up around my apartment. So when I received these Stencil1 stencils by Ed Roth and FolkArt multi-surface paint, I knew that I wanted to make something for my apartment with soft pastel colors. And because I can't stop myself from sewing, I put a little twist on the traditional use of a stencil and used it to create an embroidery.

From the Archives – Christmas Crafting

You know I'm a dedicated year round crafter but there's something about the Christmas season that really inspires the DIY spirit. Here are a few of my Christmas crafts from last year to give you a little crafting inspiration. What are you working on right now?

Clockwise from top left:
Mini Christmas Tree Makeover  //  Printable Christmas Hangtags  //
Glittery Craft Boxes  //  Origami Ball Light Garland

Related:
Printable Posts
Christmas Posts
Holiday Posts
DIY Roundup Posts

Crafting on Pinterest

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DIY Printable – Happy Raindrop Christmas Ornaments

Growing up in Oregon, rain was a much more common Christmas event than snow. For me, nothing really says the holidays quite like cloudy skies and trickling rain drops. Now that I live in Southern California, with all the sunshine and palm trees, it never quite feels like Christmas. Rather it feels more like vacation. Suffice it to say I sometimes (just sometimes because honestly I can not complain about sunshine) feel a little nostalgic for the drippy weather. So when I was thinking about how I want to decorate my little silver tinsel tree happy little raindrops were the perfect fit.

Moodboard – Thanksgiving

I am so excited that Thanksgiving is finally here. November has been full of birthday parties (including my own :). Now I'm ready to settle into the holiday season and enjoy some quality time with family and lots of yummy things. I'm also very excited to have a four day weekend coming up. Besides the turkey day festivities, I'm planning to do a lot of sewing and some Christmas decorating. What are your plans for Thanksgiving? Are you going to be cooking or just eating?

Clockwise from top left:
Roasted Carrots  //  Pumpkin Punch  //  Carving Board  //  Wreath  //  Gourds  //  Sweet Potato Roast  //  Chess Tart  //  Chalkboard Table Runner  //  Pumpkin Creme Brulee  //  Pumpkin Casserole 

Related:
Holiday Posts
Moodboard posts

Inspiration Posts

Falling into Autumn on Pinterest

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DIY Tutorial – Christmas Juice Glass Set

My favorite part of the Christmas season is Christmas morning; waking up early, rolling out of bed, exploring what Santa left in my stocking and of course a big family breakfast loaded with savory egg casserole, sweet cinnamon rolls, bitter coffee and the juicy mandarin oranges from the bottom of my stocking. So when I received the opportunity to create this Christmas DIY as part of a campaign for Martha Stewart Crafts and Plaid Online, I knew I wanted to make something special for the Christmas morning breakfast table.



To prepare for the post I received a big box full of Martha Stewart painting and decoupage crafts. The decoupage products are really cool. They work on fabric, paper, wood and glass. In addition to the glues, they also have pre-made fabric and paper pieces that you can use in your decoupage projects. What's even cooler is that when applied to glass, the decoupage is dishwasher safe. You can find the full range of Martha Stewart products including craft paint, glass paint, decoupage and jewelry at Michael's stores or at Plaid online.

Moodboard – Printed Tableware

With Thanksgiving and Christmas fast approaching, I have tableware on my mind. I'm a big fan of prints and patterns for clothes so I'm naturally drawn to them for tableware as well. Today I've compiled a few of my favorites.

Clockwise from top left:
Pitcher  //  Napkins  //  Mug  //  Table Runner  //  Oven Mitt  //  Dot Tray  //
Salt Cellar  //  Bird Plates  // Ikat Plate

Related:

Moodboard posts

Inspiration Posts

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DIY Tutorial – How to Make a Tassel

When you think of tassels you probably think of winter ski caps or heavy window coverings. But they can be used for many more things, even in the summer! Tassels can be used as part of a boho cool necklace, on the corners of a tablecloth, as a keychain or zipper pull. Fun right? Lucky for us they're super easy to make. You probably already have all the materials you need.

Giveaway and Design Tips to Make a Photo Collage Wall

Recently, I was invited to attend a party hosted by HP and interior designer Genevieve Gorder (you remember her from Trading Spaces, right?). The purpose of the event was to showcase HP's new photo wall decor products. I arrived early because I was super paranoid about being late. Being early can be so awkward sometimes can't it? This time it worked out for me and I got to chat with Genevieve for a little while about design and blogging. She was very nice, obviously passionate about design and so pretty! We bonded over our graphic design backgrounds and Northwest connections. I told her that I'd like to try printing some of my Instagram photos. And she shared that she had printed some low res Hipstamatic photos on canvas and they looked really great. Now I just need to choose which of my Instagrams I want to print!

Mini Christmas Tree DIY Tutorial

Maybe it's because I grew up in the woods of Oregon, but I love trees in pretty much any form. These sweet mini trees are frankly just adorable. I've seen a few bottle brush tree makeovers around the web over the last few years and wanted to try my own interpretation. I started with green trees with white snow tips and gold stands and turned them into white trees with copper tips and red stands. It's really easy to do. The only hard part is waiting for them to dry between each step. You could use these trees as part of a diorama, snowglobe, gift wrapping or any other Christmas decoration. I hope you enjoy!

DIY Pom Pom Garland

If you're going to decorate your home at any time during the year, December is the season to do so. A garland is the perfect way to add a bit of charm to any piece of furniture, plant or picture frame, as seen above. Here I've made a pom pom garland using bits of scrap yarn leftover from old recycled sweater projects (see this sweater and this clutch). I was inspired by this garland featured on the julep blog.

This garland is really easy to make and the perfect way to use up bits of scrap yarn. This would be a great project for kids too. I remember making a Christmas craft using pom poms when I was about 11 years old. Can you imagine a little human figure made with yarn and a roll of lifesavers? I probably made a dozen of those little things. Who knows what came of them. Where I learned of the idea I can't remember now. 

Craft From the Past - Strawberry Christmas Ornaments

I made these cute little strawberry Christmas ornaments 5 years ago for an ornament swap. They are based on this pincushion project by Martha Stewart. Each ornament is made up of three strawberries, one each in small, medium and large sizes that hang on pearl cotton thread from a button. Every year opening up my boxes of Christmas ornaments it's still a pleasure to find these little gems.

DIY Vintage Double Knit Coasters with Mini Tutorial

Have you ever noticed that some people are coaster people and some, well aren't? In my family, we're coaster people. And by coaster people I mean, if some non-coaster person puts a drink on that wood surface without at least a magazine in between an internal panic attach will likely ensue. Of course, the anxiety is easily relieved with a casual "Oh here's a coaster" move. A move made all the easier by having a stack of lovely coasters at the ready.

Read more after the jump...

Thursday Thriftday – August 9

I bought a few of these awesome vintage trays a few weeks ago at a thrift store in Glendale, CA. They were only 25 cents each! I think they'll be great for decorating, serving or even organizing craft supplies.

DIY Fabric Painting and Dyeing

Fabric paint is a great way to transform fabric. I had a lot of fun making my heart totes a couple of months ago and wanted to try out some gold paint next. I tried stamping with the gold paint but it didn't work. It was just too thin. So, desperate to paint some fabric, I remembered seeing this tutorial for a painted camera strap on Design Love Fest.

I used long pieces of low-tack artists tape to tape off a strip where I wanted to make triangles. (Need triangle inspiration? Check out my triangles pinterest board.)

Next, I used small pieces of tape to cover the areas where I did not want paint.

Using a paint brush I filled in the spaces. I peeled off the tape, let it dry 24 hours and then set the paint with an iron. Next up I'd like to try freezer paper stencils.

Another really fun way to transform fabric is to use fabric dye. I really wanted to try an ombre effect on cotton fabric, so I purchased some navy colored fiber-reactive dye and followed these instructions from Martha Stewart and these from Dharma Trading. There is a fair bit of information out on the internet about fabric dyeing and ombre dyeing and it seems to take some trial and error.

I chose to dip one end of the fabric into the dye pot and at 5 or 10 minute intervals pull it farther out of the dye. I also did a little bit of dipping and swishing to try to make the color appear gradually across the fabric. I tried to avoid a hard line of dye but it was a little hard.
I love how the fabric turned out, so subtle and beautiful, perfect for making a little clutch or bag.

Book Review – Modern Paper Crafts

 I received Modern Paper Crafts by Margaret Van Sicklen for Christmas. It features a variety of unique and inventive paper projects. The photos are beautiful and the instructions are clear. The spiral binding is also ideal for reading and crafting.

 I love the subtle beauty of the Chevron Wall Decor from the folding chapter.

 The Pleated Lamp Shades are amazing. 

 First off I made some Treat Boxes. I've made this kind of box before. They are fun, easy to make and a bit addictive (so much so that I once used them to wrap Christmas presents). You can use a smaller piece of paper to make the lid so that it still shows the sides of the bottom box (see the two boxes on the bottom of the stack above). Sizing the lid to fit the bottom of the box can be a little tricky. I haven't figured out the perfect ratio of paper size and folds so it's a game of chance but is based on folding the sides short of the middle.

I also made a few of the Organizer Trays using scrapbook paper and card stock. When completed, these boxes show both the right and wrong side of the paper. Choose a double sided paper or make one using the instructions in the book.

The boxes were easy to put together and the perfect inspiration for cleaning up and organizing a messy drawer. Before and after above.

Yo-Yo Placemat

While a nice use of scrap fabric, making yo-yos can be a tedious project. Then sewing them all together is even more tedious. But the end result is rather satisfying. (First blogged about here.)

Paper Covered Magazine Files

IKEA magazine files before

After covering with scrap-booking paper. Such a transformation! I love it. And here's a secret: the paper doesn't wrap all the way around. It covers the front and then as much as it can on the sides.

The paper really brightens this corner of the room and did not take long to complete. I used craft glue to attach the paper and an exacto blade to remove excess paper.

How to wrap 2011 printable calendar

As promised, here's a clever little way to wrap my free, download-able 2011 Printable Calendars.
Cut a piece of paper approximately 15 inches by 20 inches. Fold in half, short sides together. Crease then unfold. Center long edge of calendar next to fold and fold long sides towards center over calendar (as above).
Fold in half along crease.
Fold over flap edge. Use decorative scissors to cut raw edge. Using a hole punch, punch two holes in flap. Thread a pencil through the holes and you're done – no tape necessary!
Write a personal message on the outside or decorate with a gift tag or holiday ornament.

Free Printable 2011 Calendars

I've been wanting to design a calendar for years and finally got around to doing it. I've done two versions, both ready for you to download, print and give for the holidays.

The Sketch-It-Yourself calendar features an empty box waiting for you to fill it up with drawings, paper, fabric or whatever pleases you. The calendar uses the fonts Sketchetik Light (available for free from MyFonts) and Quicksand (available for free on Font Squirrel).

The Color-it-yourself calendar features the delicate and feminine designs of the font Matilde (available for free from TypeDepot). The numbers are typeset in Raleway (available for free from The League of Movable Type).

To download a print ready pdf of the Sketch-it-yourself calendar click here.

To download a print ready pdf of the Color-it-yourself calendar click here.

After downloading, open the pdf and print on cardstock (you will need seven pieces).
Using a paper cutter or ruler and blade, cut the pages in half vertically.
To hang the calendar, clip the pages together with a small binder clip and hang on a nail or thumbtack.
Tomorrow, I'll show you my wrapping recommendation for giving these calendars as gifts.

Picture Framing

When I was in Nashville last September, I bought a couple of letterpress prints at Hatch Show Print (learn more here at Uppercase). I was really excited to go there and it did not disappoint.

Check out their holiday (and regular) merchandise for purchase here.

So back in LA, I got ready to frame my prints. I bought frames from IKEA and mat board from the art supply store. It had been a few years since I had used my mat cutter but it wasn't a disaster. It's very important to have a non-slippery cork back ruler.
Instructions at eHow on how to use the Dexter Mat Cutter here
Finished results 1: Lyle Lovett print
Finished results 2: Heart print