Category Archives: DIY

DIY Gold Polka Dot Lamp Shade

March 27, 2013

I’m enjoying Spring Break. We’ve been far from cell reception, camping in Joshua Tree National Park. We’re in San Diego for the day before we head out again for a few more days of camping in Anza Borrego State Park. I managed to get to the important places yesterday like West Elm and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.

But, I wanted to share this easy DIY I did for the girl’s “new” room. The full tutorial is over at Land of Nod‘s blog, Honest to Nod. I made this gold dot lamp shade to go with Denali’s fabulous new sheets.

DIY

Washcloth Bunnies

March 20, 2013

Today I’m sharing these cute washcloth bunnies over at Minted‘s blog Julep. Julep is a great resource for all things party and home decor. I’m attaching very cute customized Easter gift tags to these little guys this year. I hope you’ll head over to Julep for the full how-to instructions.

And this is your LAST reminder to enter the Minted giveaway I’m hosting. Visit this post for the details, but wouldn’t you love to have $150 to spend at Minted?

DIY

Gold and Pastel Eggs

March 18, 2013

I don’t know about you, but I am loving that Spring is here (well at least it’s here in California). I’m having so much fun pinning Spring and Easter ideas on Pinterest. I’m totally inspired by these gorgeous ombre eggs and these beautiful gold dipped ones. So, I decided to make my own version.

I love to use paper mache eggs for Easter (like my chalkboard ones). It’s fun to be able to take them out year after year and they are nearly indestructible, which is very important with an 18 mo. old in the house.

I took my color inspiration from this lovely modern art print, Stacks, from Minted. This piece reminded me of beautiful painted Easter eggs, so I putting it with my framed Easter cards and white bunnies. I painted them 3 shades of blue and 3 shades of green. Then I simply painted one end of each egg metallic gold. I tried taping them off with blue painter’s tape to start with, but then I decided I wanted something a little more free form. So, I just free hand painted them, making them all unique and one of a kind. I’m happy with the results.

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway from Minted, it ends tomorrow. It’s $150 to spend on whatever Minted products you want! Enter here.

DIY

St. Paddy’s Day Silhouettes

March 13, 2013

Mint and Gold it’s my lucky combination this St. Patrick’s Day. These sweet gold silhouettes are framed against a pretty minty green. They’re simple and clean, my favorite way to decorate. And the little boy especially, really looks like Dylan when he was younger.

This is truly a 5 minute craft. But, I have to warn you in advance, you will need to use a forever, fantastically awesome Cricut Machine to get these fabulous results. I’ve said it before, but I love my Cricut. It gives the most professional, clean results every time. But, for those of you who are not lucky enough to have access to one, this could be done the old fashioned way (like trace your kids shadow silhouette’s and then cut them out by hand).

I feel silly admitting this to those of you who are Cricut users, but I just started using Cricut’s Craft Room. I’m not new to Cricut, I’ve had my machine for almost 4 years now, but holy cow, I have totally been missing out using the old school cartridges. Craft Room is basically digital cartridges, and you do everything on your computer. You can even put together a whole page to cut out and then save the work and make another page. Then you simply hook it up to your computer with a USB cord and cut away. It is so much more versatile, a lot less wasted paper and you can even weld images and text together to make your own custom shapes. WOW, right?

I used Cricut’s A Child’s Year cartridge and cut out the boy and girl holding shamrocks. I cut the silhouettes to about 4″ wide on metallic gold card stock. My mint green mat and frames were both 5X7″.

How lovely is this on top of my green milk glass cake plate with some chocolate gold coins? And I love how metallic change in different lights. They give so much depth and texture.

If you want more of my St. Patrick’s Day fun, check out my Pinterest Board, and these posts:
Giant Geometric Shamrock
Gold Shamrock Treat Bags
Shamrock Floats
Cranberry Orange Irish Soda
Corned Beef with Honey Mustard Glaze
“Lucky” Printable Bunting

DIY / etc.

Toddler and Tween Shared Room Art

March 12, 2013

I’ve shared with you that I am attempting to give my girl’s room a little make-over. Not a floor to ceiling re-do, but more of a freshen-up and just add some details to complete the space. I want both my toddler and my tween to feel like this is their space. This week, I got the art prints that I ordered from The Land of Nod. I am beyond excited. I think they are going to add that modern edge I wanted for the space. When I saw my before pictures, I realized how bare that one big wall over the bed was.

I’m working on putting the art pieces together now to hang on that wall. I’m pairing my vintage horse prints from my Grandma’s house, with a beautiful batik I bought in Sri Lanka and the new prints for The Land of Nod. It may seem like a crazy combination of styles, but so far it’s working for me. I like the art that hangs in my home to have some meaning and sentimental value, and having a piece of my Grandparent’s home and something significant from our family travels is important.
I think taking the risk in combining these very different styles is what gives a space personality and a little funk.

The Amethyst print(my personal favorite of the prints I ordered) plays really nicely with the Sri Lankan batik. I love the vibrant colors in both and the organic shapes of the batik and the angular shapes of the Amethyst compliment each other.

This Flamingos print is modern and playful and the colors in it go so well with other accessories in the room.

I’ve got the prints all in their frames, and I’ve laid them out on the floor to work on arranging them in a grouping. I’m not sure if the vintage horse prints should be together or if I should separate them in the grouping. I’m leaning towards this first arrangement. What do you think? Also I think a picture rail could also be a good option for hanging this artwork.

I ordered frames to go with my Land of Nod prints. I’m really pleased with both the prints and the frames from The Nod Institute of Art collection. Both the frames and the prints (which are currently 20% off right now) are reasonably priced and I feel like I’m buying something unique that my daughters can keep and maybe even pass down to their girls someday, because all of their prints are limited edition. The Fur and Glasses print is pretty great, and it’s tween approved, because Denali LOVES it.

I’d love to know what you think. Do you like this grouping? What is and isn’t working for you? Do I need another piece over by the Flamingos?

I big thanks to The Land of Nod for gifting the Fur and Glasses and the Flamingo prints.

DIY

Geometric Shamrock Bunting

March 11, 2013

Are you feeling lucky this Monday morning? Well, you should be now, because I’ve got a FREE St. Patrick’s Day printable bunting for you. Simply print off the 2 pdf files on some card stock, cut them out and string up your LUCKY banner.

I’m sticking with my mint theme and I also added my geometric shamrock to both ends of the bunting.

To download the printables click here. If you’d be interested in having this made into labels (like my Valentine’s printables), please let me know. And if you do download and print out this bunting, please let me know by leaving me a comment here.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day and share the luck by pinning, tweeting, or reposting this printable to your friends.

DIY / etc.

St. Patrick’s Day Treat Bag

March 6, 2013

As a kid, I remember thinking chocolate gold coins were pretty much the fanciest candy you could eat. So, I’m filling little treat bags for St. Patrick’s Day with golden coins for my kids. I think these little goody bags with fit nicely into a lunch box.

To go with my love of Mint and Gold for St. Patrick’s Day, I added simple gold shamrocks to the front of these bags just like I did to my Shamrock Float bottles. These fun grid line bags are from We Love Citrus. (Visit this post to read about how you can get 20% off your purchase there).

On the back of the bag, I stamped a simple message for my kiddos.

I was on a time crunch, so I picked up these chocolate coins at my local party supply store, but I really wanted to order these fair trade chocolate coins for Divine Chocolates.

Design / DIY

Giant Geometric Wall Shamrock

March 4, 2013

Well, I had to do it. Here’s the St. Patrick’s Day version of my Giant Geometric Wall Heart that I made for Valentine’s Day. Green is my favorite color, so I think this guy is going to stay on my dining room wall for quite a while. Plus, it should bring me some good luck to have a giant shamrock in my home, right?

For this shamrock, you’ll need 10 pieces of scrapbook paper. I used mint, forest green and metallic gold. You simply cut each piece of paper into 6″ squares and then cut those squares diagonally to make triangles. Each piece of 12″ scrapbook paper will give you 8 triangles. To make the shamrock shape, you will be making 3 hearts (like my giant geometric heart) and then adding a stem that is 3″ wide. I attached the triangle to the wall using glue dots. I tried double stick tape, but with the texture of my walls, it didn’t want to hold well.

It goes perfectly with my Green and Gold Geometric Pillow. I am really loving this mint and gold combo for St. Patrick’s Day.

What do you think about my “go big or go home” holiday decorations? I’m having fun with it, would you put up something this big on your wall? If you do decorate for St. Patrick’s day, what does it look like?

DIY

Geometric Heart Printables

February 14, 2013

Need some last minute decorations for Valentine’s treats or a little Valentine’s dinner? I’ve got some FREE printables for you today. Because my Giant Geometric Wall Heart has been so well liked, I decided I’d make some printable geometric hearts for my lovely, faithful readers to download.

I’ve made a sheet of small 1 1/2″ decals, larger 3″ ones and a printable bunting. The decals can be printed on sticker paper and then applied to goody bags, milk bottles, or cupcake toppers. Print off as many as you like.

I had plans of getting these to you much earlier in the week. But, life has been hectic. Yesterday was especially crappy. I fought my printer for most of the day and just really felt like I got absolutely nothing done. So sorry friends.

For the PDF downloads click here. Let me know if you download these and how you use them.

Glitter image used in illustrations generously provided by Girly Bits Cosmetics.

DIY

DIY Ombre Heart Napkins

February 13, 2013

When I shared my Ombre Love Valentine’s Party, I promised there would be a how-to post for the Ombre Heart Napkins. My DIY is over on Minted’s blog, Julep today. I’m really honored to have the opportunity to share on Minted’s lovely blog. I hope you head over there are check out my post.