painted pine cones

Looking for some fall decor that fits your color scheme? This Pinterest-inspired DIY (from Torie Jayne) is super easy and inexpensive... Just paint some pine cones and and then use them to decorate! I used pine cones from the craft store that I had in my stash; if you go the free route and collect them from nature, you'll probably want to wash them first as described here.

{Sharing at The Pinterest Challenge}

fun with freezer paper

For a long time I've been meaning to try freezer paper stenciling after pinning this tutorial, and then when I saw this super cute JCrew heart sweater, I had to finally do it. It turns out freezer paper stencil projects are super easy, quick, and fun, and now I want to put big hearts on everything:

Four easy steps:

1. Gather supplies: old sweater, freezer paper (from grocery store), paint, fabric medium, paintbrush, x-acto knife.
2. Plan your design and cut it out with an x-acto knife.
3. Place stencil shiny side down on fabric and iron on high heat to adhere.
4. Paint and then peel off stencil.

A couple of tips: Make sure to put some cardboard between the sweater layers so you don't get any paint seeping through. The fabric medium turns any acrylic paint into fabric paint (iron to heat set it once the paint is dry, according to directions on the label), but it still turns out pretty stiff. The technique will be super for stiffer fabrics though - like a tote bag or canvas throw pillow cover - and the possibilities are endless!

{Sharing at The Pinterest Challenge!}

painted spoons

I love the dipped paint look I've been seeing all over Pinterest, from furniture legs to wooden utensils. Inspired by a tutorial from House of Earnest, I got an inexpensive bamboo utensil set from Target (under $5) and got out my stash of craft paints...

This was such an easy and inexpensive project for such great results - they'll be fun serving spoons for summer! (The shellac is non-toxic, but I still made sure not to put paint/shellac close to the end of the spoon that will touch food, and they'll be hand-wash only.) Here's the basic process:

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fabric birds

Waking up to birds chirping is one of the loveliest things about spring... which reminded me of these adorable fabric birds I pinned ages ago from Jen Loves Kev. The original idea/pattern is from Spool, and these are so fun because you can use up your pretty fabric scraps (I also picked up a few really inexpensive pieces from the remnant bin) and whip out a few rather quickly - and the possibilities are endless...

 

Start by downloading the pattern from Spool (here), and follow the instructions to cut out and assemble. I picked out springy fabrics from my stash and had fun mixing and matching patterns - you can even add a third pattern/color by tacking on some wings at the end.

The instructions on the PDF download are a little sparse (for a beginner sewer like me anyway) so I did a little search for others who had made these birdies, and I found some very helpful hints/photos for figuring out how to pin the body and belly pieces together at Lou Lou's Homemade. Check there for the detailed step-by-step; here's the quickie version:

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five things friday: spring projects edition

I never quite made it with my good intentions for most of the holiday/seasonal decorating lately, so I thought I'd better get a jump start on Easter/spring ideas if I want to make them happen... And these five ideas are so cute, how could you not want to do them all?

           

Source: purlbee.com via Debbie on Pinterest
1. Easter bags from the Purlbee (they always have the cutest ideas).

Source: marthastewart.com via Vicki on Pinterest
2. Hanging eggs on pretty branches is a great decorating/centerpiece idea.

Source: marthastewart.com via Ana on Pinterest

3. If you're impatiently awaiting outdoor blooms, you can make your own indoors!

        

Source: underthehighchair.com via Megan on Pinterest

4. Simple cupcakes fit the season with a few eggs nestled into the frosting.

Source: etsy.com via Anna on Pinterest

5. Spring makes me want to fill the house with greens after winter - moss-covered letters 

are a fun wreath alternative.

five things friday: new year's eve edition

Earlier in the week I showed some napkins that could be fun for a New Year's Eve table setting; here are 5 more festive DIY ideas for your celebration:

                                                                               Source: marthastewart.com via Anne on Pinterest

1. Dot decorations: sticking with the dot theme from the napkins, these would be easy decorations to put together with metallic papers.

                                                                    Source: marthastewartweddings.com via Anne on Pinterest

2. Shiny centerpiece: turn mini Christmas ornaments into New Year's Eve table decorations by displaying them in champagne flutes!

                                                                               Source: designspongeonline.com via Anne on Pinterest

3. DIY party crackers: make your own party crackers to pop open at your party - you can personalize the little trinkets inside for your guests, and don't forget to make the tissue paper crowns to fold up and tuck inside!

                                                

                                                                           Source: somethingturquoise.com via Anne on Pinterest

4. Glittered champagne flutes: glitter is always festive, and everyone will be able to tell their glass apart!

                                                                                Source: shopbando.com via Anne on Pinterest

5. Sequin shoe clips: this isn't a tutorial, but how cute are these sequin shoe clips from ban.do for a New Year's Eve party? They've got to be DIY-able...

holiday festivity napkins

Here's a festive holiday project that's also great for New Year's: embellished napkins, as seen on Momtastic. With metallic paints (the Martha Stewart line at Michael's has lots of great options) and a circular sponge brush, you can whip up a few of these for your holiday table in no time. To make it even quicker, I picked up some inexpensive white napkins at Target so I didn't have to sew my own.

Supplies:

• Napkins (or fabric to sew your own)
• Acrylic paints or fabric paints in metallics
• Fabric medium (if using acrylic paints)
• Round foam brush (pouncer)
• Paper plate to pour paint on

Since I used regular acrylic paints, I mixed them with a fabric medium (according to the instructions on the bottle) to make sure the napkins would be machine washable. Then I just laid out the napkins on some newspaper, dipped the foam brush, and made random dots all over. I didn't worry too much about perfect coverage for each dot, but kind of twisting the brush around a little once pressed down helped get fairly even coverage. After they were dry, I ironed to set the fabric medium.

I gave these ones as gifts - they might also be great as hostess gifts - but if I were hosting anything at New Year's, I'd definitely use these for a festive table setting!

 

 

fancy pants cookies

Any way you decorate your sugar cookies, they're bound to be tasty, but I think these marbled designs are quite an elegant way to decorate - and pretty easy too. I got the idea from a Martha Stewart special Christmas projects magazine I bought several years ago, and I've been doing this instead of sprinkles ever since.

Supplies:

• Sugar cookies (recipe here)
• Icing
• Food coloring
• Piping bags/tips
• Toothpicks

Start with some cutout cookies (my favorite recipe here) and mix up some basic frosting of powdered sugar + milk by adding milk in very small amounts to powdered sugar until you get a good consistency for spreading - not too thick, not too runny. You'll need a couple of different colors - I left some plain white, and then did some green and some red. A tip for making red frosting: start by making pink with a gel coloring, and then add the red gel coloring in. You'll use a lot less and actually get a red. Once the frosting is ready, put it into piping bags with small tips.

Spread a base color onto the cookie, and then pipe on some horizontal stripes of a different color. Run the toothpick through the stripes vertically, and voila! You can pull the toothpick through in just one direction (e.g. down) or do it up and down for a variation on the look.

To make the snowman with hearts, just make dots instead of stripes (and don't mind my stained fingertip - that gel coloring can make a mess!):

 They turn out slightly too pretty to eat, but that actually doesn't tend to hold me back much...

 

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holiday home 2011

I was really inspired this year by the Nester's post on decorating for Christmas naturally, especially the part about not taking things too seriously. I was really busy and had a lot of work deadlines right around the time that I hosted my cookie decorating party, but I wanted to have all my decorations up before having people over... Enter Nester's tips to help keep things simple: incorporate natural elements, work with existing pieces and color schemes. Definitely check out her holiday decor - it's lovely and whimsical - and in the meantime, here's my take:

 

 

I realized what I really want out of a decorated home is a feeling of coziness and warmth for the holidays, so I started with candles and lights, put out some warm throw blankets and festive-hued pillows, and added a flokati rug in place of a tree skirt (since I don't have one anyway!). And what's more welcoming than a plate of homemade cookies on the coffee table?

Then I added a couple of natural elements - easy garland on the mantle, more greens on the porch and as a wreath on the front door, the cutest little mini poinsettia, twine on the gift wrap.

I finished off the decorations with the color palette of my regular decor, which I think makes it feel cozy because everything just fits into a cohesive room rather than jumping out and screaming "holiday decor!". I have a lot of reds, browns, and yellows in the room already - obviously the red is easy to work with for the holidays, but I incorporated a range of shades by pulling my paint choices for the DIY ornaments directly from the rug colors. The pillow cases are also various shades of red - again, festive without screaming "holiday". I brought in browns and golds in the super easy tree garland (just wrap a couple rolls of ribbon around), candle holders on the mantle, gift wrap, and impromptu kraft paper table runner in the dining room (since I don't really own any linens!).

 

And I just couldn't resist giving Ginger a little decoration too - a collar I found 75% off after Christmas last year and rediscovered when I pulled out the stockings this year!

[sharing here]