On Friday night I forced Mark and my brother to listen to the cheesiest Christmas pop I could find (soundtrack: Paul McCartney's Wonderful Christmas Time, Wham's Last Christmas, and Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas is You) while we ate cookies and decorated our tree.
Until tonight, however, our tree just didn't look quite right. On a whim, I pulled out all of my colorful pink, green, red, and white printed scrapbooking paper, cut it into roughly even strips, and constructed an old school paper chain to drape around our tree. It's not perfect but I love it on our tree! Next project: paper snowflake ornaments and a wreath with brightly colored paper leaves for our front door. The latter is a big endeavor, so I think I will need to put Last Christmas on repeat to prepare myself for all the cutting and pasting.
Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Today's pleasures
Putting a smile on my face:
Afternoon coffee using my great-grandmother's china.
This pillow project via Martha Stewart.
My brother coming home!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Tip of the day: Coffee grounds as beauty product
I have a new tip for those of you who, like me, start to get elephant skin elbows and hands if you fail to exfoliate at least once a week!
Baby elephants are really cute:
But having rough, dull skin is not. Needless to say, I am addicted to body scrubs. My most recent favorite is Spice Odyssey scrub by Origins, a gift from my friend Lisa.
Unfortunately, I'm out. So last week, while wandering around Kuhl Linscomb -which has an incredible selection of (spendy) beauty and bath products- I spied a jar of exfoliating coffee scrub. What a GREAT idea! And is there a better way to wake yourself up than getting your joints all soft while inhaling the intoxicating smell of coffee?
It cost $35 so I walked away. But here is my tip: You can use cooled coffee grounds from your coffee maker at home to get basically the same effect. You could even mix it with coarse salt or sugar and a little olive oil to make the scrub totally nourishing and moisturizing. I tried this the other day and was very pleased with the results. Goodbye rough dull skin... forever.
In other news, Mark and I got to my parents' place late on Thursday night. The drive, through highways overgrown with kudzu, was pleasant but quite long. It was nice to wake up to a sunny 4th of July on the Savannah River.
Baby elephants are really cute:
But having rough, dull skin is not. Needless to say, I am addicted to body scrubs. My most recent favorite is Spice Odyssey scrub by Origins, a gift from my friend Lisa.Unfortunately, I'm out. So last week, while wandering around Kuhl Linscomb -which has an incredible selection of (spendy) beauty and bath products- I spied a jar of exfoliating coffee scrub. What a GREAT idea! And is there a better way to wake yourself up than getting your joints all soft while inhaling the intoxicating smell of coffee?
It cost $35 so I walked away. But here is my tip: You can use cooled coffee grounds from your coffee maker at home to get basically the same effect. You could even mix it with coarse salt or sugar and a little olive oil to make the scrub totally nourishing and moisturizing. I tried this the other day and was very pleased with the results. Goodbye rough dull skin... forever.
In other news, Mark and I got to my parents' place late on Thursday night. The drive, through highways overgrown with kudzu, was pleasant but quite long. It was nice to wake up to a sunny 4th of July on the Savannah River.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Tip of the day: reusing wedding decor
After moping about the exorbitantly priced placemats yesterday, today I remembered something that lessened the blow:
At my request, my mother-in-law made 12 table runners to decorate the banquet tables at our wedding reception. She then had the brilliant idea to transform the table runners into a new set of placemats, napkins, and a table runner for our table at home. Isn't my mother-in-law awesome? Dwell, thanks for offering the overpriced but gorgeous placemats and everything but I don't need you anymore - I have my own set coming my way, and they remind me of our wedding day to boot!
Here are some shots of the table runners:
Mark's mom did an AMAZING job! The runners fit in perfectly with our other decor:
1. white tablecloths/napkins
2. white chairs
3. gobs and gobs of flickering candles
4. strands of white lights in the sculpture garden
5. a few pops of color in green and purple to pick up the colors in our wedding invitations
To be honest, we didn't put too much thought into a color scheme. We chose to hold the reception at a contemporary art gallery for the simple reason that we loved the look of the gallery itself. We kept it simple, hoping to highlight the interesting art and sculpture on display. Obviously, we're minimalists at heart - give me whites, neutrals, texture, and a few pops of color and I'm a happy girl.
For the runners, I chose a delicate black and white floral fabric at Joann's and Mark's mom ordered the fabric from her local store. We gave her a few measurements and then trusted her to do her own thing. I loved them -they were elegant and added some visual oomph but they didn't compete with the vivid contemporary art tableaux on display.
Tip of the day: If you DIY for your wedding, try to think of ways you can reuse decor items afterwards. If you intend to use the decor at home, pick something that complements your and your spouse's style (obviously).
I can't wait to throw a dinner party and reuse my transformed table runners. They are special because they were handmade by Mark's mom just for us. These babies are basically a new family heirloom... though I may rethink that when I knock over my glass of red wine for the tenth time!
*photo thanks to our wonderful photographer
At my request, my mother-in-law made 12 table runners to decorate the banquet tables at our wedding reception. She then had the brilliant idea to transform the table runners into a new set of placemats, napkins, and a table runner for our table at home. Isn't my mother-in-law awesome? Dwell, thanks for offering the overpriced but gorgeous placemats and everything but I don't need you anymore - I have my own set coming my way, and they remind me of our wedding day to boot!
Here are some shots of the table runners:
Mark's mom did an AMAZING job! The runners fit in perfectly with our other decor:
1. white tablecloths/napkins
2. white chairs
3. gobs and gobs of flickering candles
4. strands of white lights in the sculpture garden
5. a few pops of color in green and purple to pick up the colors in our wedding invitations
To be honest, we didn't put too much thought into a color scheme. We chose to hold the reception at a contemporary art gallery for the simple reason that we loved the look of the gallery itself. We kept it simple, hoping to highlight the interesting art and sculpture on display. Obviously, we're minimalists at heart - give me whites, neutrals, texture, and a few pops of color and I'm a happy girl.
For the runners, I chose a delicate black and white floral fabric at Joann's and Mark's mom ordered the fabric from her local store. We gave her a few measurements and then trusted her to do her own thing. I loved them -they were elegant and added some visual oomph but they didn't compete with the vivid contemporary art tableaux on display.
Tip of the day: If you DIY for your wedding, try to think of ways you can reuse decor items afterwards. If you intend to use the decor at home, pick something that complements your and your spouse's style (obviously).
I can't wait to throw a dinner party and reuse my transformed table runners. They are special because they were handmade by Mark's mom just for us. These babies are basically a new family heirloom... though I may rethink that when I knock over my glass of red wine for the tenth time!
*photo thanks to our wonderful photographer
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