knock me up :)

I've got baby fever here lately. Justin and I are looking to add a little birdie to our nest, and I've been searching up some baby inspiration, mostly upcycled and fabulous and crafty... so while you puruse my recent finds I have two songs for your listening pleasure.

I didn't put any links cuz these are purely for inspiration's sake. If you are savvy with google though, you can search up any of these :) If you really, really want to find something from here, I can probably tel you what I searched to find it. (AND, just in case anyone misconstrues this post... no, I'm not pregnant yet, but could be soon)

Sooo many cool new DIY's!

Hello all... so "I'll post these later tonight" didn't happen. It almost never happens, and I should really stop typing things like that, lol. ANYWAY, as I promised, I do have some cool DIY's for you, heeeeeere we go!

Karen's coffee can lanterns. Ok, have you seen that Peir 1 commercial, "he has his man cave, and you've created wonderland" where she has all kinds of lanterns hanging in her tree? I want a wonderland. I'm on my way!

Karen's lamp globe bird feeders. (same Karen? if so I want o be her friend) I'm also planning some of these for my wonderland :) I think I might do lantern versions too. These are those bathroom light globes, can you believe it? They look so designer and expensive, plus I'd get to use a new kind of glue, score.

While I'm on the subject of luminosity, check out these amazing candles. This tutorial uses ready made pillar type candles (after Christmas discount, oh yeah) and remakes them into vintage tin candles. I'm a tin collector. I really wanted to make candles as Christmas gifts last year, but get sticker shock. This way I could make them on the cheap, which is always a plus :)

Cookie cutter Christmas ornaments! Finally a use for my cookie cutters, cuz Lord knows I can't bake!

Upcycled electrical spool ottoman. I tried really hard to come up with a snappy segway from ornaments to ottoman, but I'm not a big enough cheese ball I guess. I added this to one of my look books years ago, but I had no idea the image was part of a tutorial! This is a great upcycle!

Alright my dears,that's all I've got for this DIY post... Now I'm going to start post number 2.

I've been inspired :)

So last night after I posted my "ta-da" for my kitchen cabinets... I really noticed how much I hate that tile. It was cute until I painted the whole upstairs a light green with gray undertones. (Yes please!) So began my search online for some inspiration, and I found... this...

From: Tara Hatazawa, Interior Designer and Expert Colour Consultant

The colors are all wrong for my house... but I played around on paint shop, and I think I have found two color combinations I like... Considering I did not use actual paint chips to pick my colors, these are completely hypothetical, but I like

I don't know which I will end up with... but I am definitely going to use more than two colors... 4-6 probably, and I want to pull the green into the kitchen. My accent wall is going to be a tealy blue, so also that color. As for my other colors, I want them to be neutrals so it isn't overwhelming.

BONUS: My adorable friend Jenny got me a teapot and some plates as a graduation present. The teapot is from the 70's, but it kind of reminds me of anthropolgie for some reason.
It did not come with any cups though... So I think this is going to become my random tea set... I am going to thrift some cups for it... I'm thinking cups with lions on them or something cute like that. The little nub on the lid is creme, so I'm also gonna see if I can find little creme saucers. This definitely has some potential :)

* That avocado was my breakfast, and it was delicious!

tutorials to try

So lately I have been looking up diy projects because I love doing them. Here are a few of my favs that I have discovered recently...

1. Eames Hang-It-All Inspired Tutorial
2. Pipe Shelving Unit
3. Modern DIY Outdoor Planter
   
4. How to Hang 30' of Curtains for $40
5. Wood Veneer Butterflies
6. Chain and Branch Hangers
7. Moroccan Pouf

I hope you enjoy :) Let me know if you've tried any of these

Trash Love!

So, I've been working on my paper unceasingly for three days now, and I had to make an emergency trip to the library for two more sources and to three-hole punch my project which is due tomorrow. (ugh... l...o...n...g... couple days) Needless to say I needed a pick me up.

WELL!!! On my way back from the library to make dinner, I found these in one of the dumpsters by my apartment!
They are two mid-century style chairs (possibly teak?) that are actually in pretty good condition. Since it is raining out, I had to take a picture of them in my backseat, but since they are a guaranteed future diy upcycling project, never fear, there will be better pictures :) The upholstery on them is really stained and yucky, but I have been wanting to to some crochet upholstering for a while now... so these are perfect. They are even labeled.

I have never heard of Benny Linden Design... does anyone know anything about them? I did a quick search and they are teak, and Benny Linden is a Danish designer... woot! and squee!

if I don't write them down now, I won't remember...

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Ideas:

I had two good ideas last night as I was falling asleep. By a miracle I still remember them now, lol.


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1. For my kitchen, I want to make a cafe curtain. I've been playing around with all kinds of stuff, but have recently been really inspired by Feeling Stitchy's Blog. I think I just want to make a plain white or creme colored pocket curtain and then add little embroidery doodles as I feel so inspired. I might make the doodles tell the story of our house, our love, and our future kids. So I'll stitch important dates, pictures, quotes, and memories. I like the idea that it will be an ever changing curtain, and it will make me happy to have something so sentimental in my kitchen. It's gonna be kinda like a embroidered curtain scrapbook :)
   *I may or may not use the little boxes... I like the idea of a more organic and free flowing curtain.
   

1. 
2. I have a "Florida Water Birds" poster that used to be my Grandma Hilda's. It hung over her hat rack. She would always make us grab a hat to wear to the beach... she had a ton of hats, but they were all kinda old ladyish, so I hated wearing them. I would do anything to go to the beach though, so I would just grin and bear it. Grandma's house was full of wonderful things. She had that "museum of natural history" style that's so hot right now down. She had pinned butterflies, jar collections, and picture books everywhere. I loved that about her house. I'm so glad to have this poster because it reminds me of all those good times. My mama had it mounted to protect it from further damage, it got a little beat up on it's way to me. (I think it actually looks even cooler now.)

BUT ANYWAY, the idea! Recently I acquired this huge print and frame. I have been looking for

a frame big enough to put my poster in for a while now... and this one is big enough... and a little too big...

I was pondering where I would go to get my costume mat... which I new was gonna be really expensive, but i was willing to bite that bullet because I got the frame for free. But then a light bulb went off. I used to do photography and we learned to cut mats. There are always scraps :) I think I want to collect a bunch of white, creme, blue, green, and brown mat scraps and upcycle them into a giant mat for my giant poster. It looks really good in my head... so after we move I think I'm gonna go to all the places around town I know who do custom framing and ask if I can have their mat scraps to recycle. :) Hopefully they will let me have them :)

OH, and as a bonus, I think I'm gonna reuse the black and white print in a decoupage project I'm dreaming about.... Ok, enough dreaming, I need to get down to business and work on my last paper... *trudges off to the less fun part of her day*