pinspiration #8: ribbon bobby pins

i am always running out of ideas of what to do with my hair.  i see so many cute ideas on pinterest - but some are nearly impossible for me, because i have pretty low skills when it comes to styling my hair.

when i came across this pin, it looked so easy i just had to try it.

not only was the hairstyle super easy and cute - but mine came out just like the picture.  except for that little ribboned bobby pin.


so i got out my trusty glue gun [MAN does that thing come in handy!], some ribbon, and went to town.

i threaded the ribbon through the pin, tied it in a bow, and then dotted the hot glue over the knot to make sure it stuck.

i even went out and bought some big, pretty ribbon to make a few additional pins.  but the ribbons were so pretty i couldn't bear to glue them to anything.  i'll just leave them alone so i can wrap them around a ponytail or sock bun any old day. 

pretty much the easiest thing i have ever found on pinterest ever.

pinspiration #7: tea tin magnets

i made another pinspiration today!  and i am so excited about it.  i've been wanting to do this for a while, because i have a ton of tea tins i've been saving.  my fave tea in the world is harney & sons, which come in these beautifully delicate brightly colored tea tins.  my love of these teas go all the way back to when i was living in prague.  during my 2nd semester while pi was living in la, we would catch up via skype in the afternoon for a bit after my classes and while he was just waking up in the morning.  there were a few internet cafes by my apartment, but my favorite [and the closest] served up harney's dragon pearl jasmine tea.  it's jasmine tea serve in little sachets filled with pearls of loose jasmine leaves, and they explode in your tea to look like flowers, smell like a garden and taste like heaven.

but come on - how adorable are those tins?

since i fell in love with the jasmine, i've come to love quite a few of their others, including paris.  it has the most enchanting aroma but a very subtle taste.  the tin for that tea is the gorgeous deep blue... i had been keeping the eye-pleasing tins for a while with no clue what to do with them.  then one day i saw this pin and thought i'd give it a shot.

pin from bippity boppity  boo, but i can't find where.

i love herbs, i love my tea tins.  what could go wrong?   if you have cats, you can guess where this story ended.  my cats, trying to eat the herbs and knocking them over.  no go.

so when i came across this pin, i knew it was for me.

thank you, martha stewart!

for these bad boys, all you need are the tea tins, magnets, and something magnetic.  done and done.  i did go the extra mile of hot gluing the magnets on to the back of the tins.  this way, if you take the tin off of the fridge, the magnets stay with the tin and not on the front of the refrigerator, which i found annoying.

my paris tea tin turned out lovely!

pen holder, front and center

since i am not a huge pink fan, i made my second tin out of an herbal peppermint tea with a green tin.

more storage on the side of the fridge

i love them and if i had more magnetic surfaces i'd make six more.

til next time! 

high high #33

what can i say, i am easily amused.

it's a silly little thing, but my cat moussie destroys just about everything.   he enjoys eating fresh flowers, knocking over my vases, dragging his tail through wet paint, eating straws, stealing twisty ties to hide in shoes, and dipping his little kitty paws in everything from coffee to V8 splash to my water.

so when i was at my wit's end today, pi made me this.

it's basically a grown-up sippie cup (he drilled a straw hole through the lid of an old mason jar).  but it's almost totally cat-proof.  he can still eat the straw, but that isn't so bad.  but this is my high high today because it's just one of those totally small but incredibly meaningful things my husband does that remind me of how much he loves me - and how much i love and appreciate him :)

he's pretty much the best.

but the cat...

not so much. 

for tomorrow - i am super backed up on photos (i haven't even posted pics of my last trip to nyc to visit my little captain!) so i'll get on that.

happy monday! :)

pinspiration #6: bow tee

i love bows.

now, i'm not a big girlie-girl.  i don't like pink, i'm not big on ruffles or lace, and have never been into shabby chic.  but i do love me some bows once in a while, and this shirt definitely caught my eye on pinterest not too long ago.

so what is a lover of bows with lots of extra time and a pile of tees to throw out supposed to do?  make this shirt i guess.

bow shirt diy from amanda's closet

now i did not own, nor have i ever heard of anything called, liquid stitch.  but one order from amazon and $7 later it was delivered to my doorstep.  everything else i had, except the rotary cutter, and turns out a simple blade worked fine.

since this seemed a little tricky to me, i did a test shirt first on an old brown one i was just going to throw in the trash.

not too bad.

the edges were a little rougher than i had first imagined, but it was ok.  i learned the right way to pull the shirt so it didn't snag and how to use the liquid stitch.

before - boring shirt!

i used a white shirt for my real attempt, because too many colors with bows i feel like wouldn't be a good thing.  of course AFTER i cut the bottom off of the shirt i had the idea to cut some pieces off of other colored shirts i have lying around that i need to toss out to make multi-colored bows.  oh well.

after - much more fun shirt!

 it's not too bad.  in retrospect i got a little over-excited about the bows and made them waaaay too close together - if i did this again [which i probably will] then i would just make four or five slits further apart for bigger bows.

not too shabby.

but it's a fun colored shirt, way less boring than it was before.  next time i will definitely make less bows.

can you really have too many bows though?

UPDATE: ok, i made another shirt.  i had all the materials not so why the hell not.

MUCH happier with this one - except that it's black and white.  the three slits were much easier to make and i didn't have to cut the bottom of this one, so it's no shorter than a normal shirt, which is a plus.  when i find another white tee that i am ready to upcycle i will be sure to make more rain-bows.  hahaha.

pinspiration #5: t-shirt necklace

i have taken a looong break from my pinspiration series,  but let's be honest.  i'm not doing too much these days.  and i like it :) 

now, honestly, how hard could this possibly be?

DIY from a little tipsy

supplies needed are scissors, an old tee shirt, and a hot glue gun.  unbelievably, i actually have all of those things.  i have been the proud owner of a glue gun since my first pinspiraiton attempt.  not too shabby of a start for me - i usually need at least one trip to a craft store to get supplies that normal women have around the house.

finished product this morning

so, it's a little heavy for the flowers to hang on the side like i intended.  but by adjusting the knot in the back of the necklace, i got it to hang with the flowers in the middle of my neck. 

not too bad!  i'd make it again in another color - or maybe even use the cloth rosettes to embellish an old tank top or something.  they are pretty cute.  it's just a matter of if i'll actually wear it or not.

well, it's not a total failure!

til next time...

ikea night stand hack

i am loving the loft still.  and i am still totally craving some color.

so, i struck a compromise with my husband.  we picked the cheapy nightstands from ikea that i wasn't totally sure of - but with the promise that i could paint them a new, happy bright hue and of course he reminded me that the money we'd save could go to other fun items, such as:

my new footstool/coffee table from world market! should be here in a week.

which means that my ikea nightstands looked like this when we picked them up:

 my first step was to put them together.

but after getting through step 2 [seriously, has anyone ever tried to put something together from ikea?!], i decided to wait til pi got home so he could put it together for me. that worked much better.

 

 

once the nightstand was put together, it was actually pretty simple to paint and revamp the nightstand.  first, i had to pick a color.  i decided to go with my favorite color - blue - so if i get out of this color phase pretty soon at least they will be in my favorite blue color.

supplies: paint, paint brush, sandpaper, and of course a dropcloth.

because the nightstands were originally a fairly pretty grey-ish color, i decided to only do one coat of paint.  they grey base underneath really stuck out with just one coat.  when doing only one coat of paint, brush strokes are key.  after coating each side with the bright blue, i dragged the brush from top to bottom to keep the brush stripes the same and make it look more like i had painted directly over wood.

the finished product!

closeup of the top of the nightstand.

i am pretty happy with the outcome, i gotta say!  the bedroom still needs some pictures hung up over the night stands and a few other decorative accents - and once i have a few of those put together i'll throw some pictures up. 

but so far so good, and it's beginning to feel more like home.

happy sunday!  til next time...

bookcase styling is hard.

so guess what i learned today?

i learned that if you have a functional bookshelf [read: you actually use it for all your books] you can still make it pretty.

our bookshelves in our old house were always so jam-packed, mostly because we used them all the time.  both pi and i are kind of bookworms, so using our bookshelves for decor was always out of the question.  but i always loved the look of bookshelves that i saw in design mags and online - you know, the kind where each shelf has like eight books, an anchor and three picture frames. 

that just isn't practical for people who actually need to use their bookshelves for, you know, BOOKS.

so when pi the other day said he would start unpacking the books, i told him to hit the brakes and give me a day because i wanted them to look nice and not too packed in.

so here are the few rules i found helpful for those of you interested in styling useful but pretty bookshelves.

 1.  first sort your books by color, then by size.
this allows for books to be placed in color groups together, then then can be ordered by size later on the shelf.  sometimes ordering them by size takes a few tries.  line them up on the floor til you are sure you have the right size order. 

bigger books on the inside, getting smaller towards the end of the bookcase.

2.  then play with the the look. 
not all the books should be stacked up on their side neatly.  some of them can lie flat on top of one another [i find this especially useful for ugly books or ones you want to hide]. they can easily be hidden by a picture frame, or one nice book standing our front.

below, i have some smaller and unattractive books stacked up behind the etch of the saint.  

the picture and small book service to hide unattractive books behind.

 3. pick out some accessories in the same color family as the books for each shelf.
it's possible that you might have so many books not every shelf can have something pretty.  that's ok.  if you are like me, you own some pretty books you can stand our front or make the center of attention for that shelf.

a book of poetry, green vase and dark lantern go with the green books.

4.  use that extra space sparingly! 
i had little to no room for fun things like pictures - but by getting creative and turning books on their backs or putting the pictures in front of smaller books, i was able to let my sense of bookcase style stand out.

orange books get a gold frame and a a bright orange flower.

white books get a framed book page [my fave] and a stack of old books on top.

5. use the big bottom shelves for textbooks, coffee table books, and other big [or ugly] books you don't frequently need.
hide those nasty books with accessories out front. 


6. have a glass of wine and enjoy your fancy new functional bookshelf.

all this down time is leaving me with lots of projects - so tomorrow or this weekend i will share another diy. 

happy thursday!  til next time... :)