Buy or DIY: Wall Hangings

Has anyone else been enamored with woven and tassel wall hangings? (No, just me? whatever).

Like seriously my Pinterest is flooded with them. At Texas Style Council Camp last year we had this as a DIY activity. Let’s talk about time consuming. Granted, most things in life worth doing are. I still want to try my hand at making my own, but luckily there are quite a few on Etsy and I’ve bought one from the Dallas Flea before.

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So whatcha think? Are you into the trend? Would you buy or diy?

The DIY Five

I love a good DIY. This comes from years of wearing puffy paint sweatshirts and was only drawn out by my stint of working on a major craft store as a client.

So, I present to you the five DIY projects I’m totally crushing on right now. DRUM ROLL PLEASE.

One. These gorgeous leather key rings.

Two. These not-so-prickly paper cacti.

Three. These cool geode rings.

Four. Because I’m still not over this tribal kick, here’s a hip DIY floor pouf.

Five. I can’t help but love this DIY iPad Holder. Perfect for all those plans of baking that turn into Netflix visionaries.

 

Crafting Dates

There are few things better than waking up on a Saturday morning and enjoying a little crafting with your friends. This weekend Traci and I hosted a succulent planting party (complete with iced coffee and mimosas).

 

Here are a few tips for hosting a fun planting party:

• Stock up on fun containers – anything goes! Check the dollar section of Target, etc
• Make sure to share knowledge of how to best plant succulents (if the pot doesn’t drain, you’ll need rocks in it to avoid root rot)
• I like doing this as a BYOB, but provide basic coffee and some snacks

I love all the planters we created (also nothing beats the blues about not having summer off like having a happy plant at your desk). What’s your ideal crafting date?

Great Weekends

Sometimes you just have really, really good weekends. The kind of weekends that make you remember how awesome life can be in the most simple ways!

It was one of those weekends. And like all good weekends, it started with nail art.

 

I went to Central Market and couldn’t help snagging some flowers.

I saw this on Pinterest and had to give it a whirl. I call it cookieception (a cookie inside a cookie). Just bake halfway through plop a a circus cookie on top, finish baking and voila!

 

Naturally, I did some DIYs. I love the pom ring and tassel key chain. Oh and still trying to perfect DIY midi rings. They are all love children of my I’m-not-paying-for-that-I-can-make-it attitude that often comes on in boutiques and Anthro…

But I did cave at the huge Anthropologie sale section and bought these flats. Whoops….

I also watched Mean Girls twice and went to Spiral Diner with a friend. So all in all, a GREAT weekend. What did you do?

 

DIY Inspiration

I love to try a bunch of different DIY projects so I though I would share a few that I am itching to do from my Pinterest.

 

via Pinterest

via Pinterest

via Pinterest

via Pinterest 

Deck the halls

Have you been decorating for Christmas? I know I have! Decorating in a small rented space can sometimes be a challenge, so I wanted to share some of my favorite decorations from around the loft.

I love bottle brush trees. They are small and come in so many sizes and colors (you can even make your own! My favorite tutorial here). The below are from World Market.

Our tree is covered in adorable felt ornaments. That little penguin is so cute!

I feel like since last year bottle brush trees turned into mason jar snow globes have been HUGE! I made the below last year when I refused to pay an arm and a leg at a particular store for one…Plus super easy to make! Just hot glue a tiny tree to the lid of a mason jar, add snow and screw on the lid. Viola!

I adore that tiny tree ornament! It’s definitely one of my favorites!

Casey and I decided to go with a real tree this year, but to ease us into it we got a tiny table top tree from Whole Foods (they had a great selection and you don’t have to worry about a stand). We love this because it’s small-space friendly and hard for Lola to attack!

Last but not least are stockings. I got these at West Elm a while ago. I just added a blue ribbon to mine, but I’m thinking of replacing it with a huge homemade pom pom!

Christmas Wrapping!

I love Christmas, and more importantly I L-O-V-E Christmas wrapping. I love seeing all the clever ways people make their gift packaging unique. I’ve pulled together a few that have caught my eye recently:

1. Pom poms are so in right now (in case you haven’t noticed). Why not make some to be a gift topper? Wrapping genius by Joy Cho.

2. I love little tiny packages – they are so cute. Especially when you add a ton of ribbon or accessories. I want a side of gift to go with my wrapping please – this one I found on Pinterest.

3. I kind of rock a lot of polka dots, so my Christmas presents should be no different. Plus and over sized tag? I’m in love. This one was also found on Pinterest.

4. Like I said before poms are IN. It’s official. Purchase your yarn now. This pom pom covered package was found at Mon Petit Violon.

There you have it. My currently favorites that will probably change by the time Christmas gets here.

It’s almost December

It has been too LONG since I have posted. Sometimes you just get busy living.

Last month, Casey and I visited our friend Alex in the L.A. area. It was amazing to see her – I missed that little nugget so much!

I also took a calligraphy class recently- it was amazing! I definitely plan on taking the advanced class soon.

I’ve also begun my Christmas wrapping – I love adding small bottle brush trees with some super thick baker’s twine.

Gold Confetti Vase

ALL GOLD EVERYTHING! Or at least that’s how I have felt lately. I’ve had this plain jane vase sitting around for a while and luck would have it, I just bought new gold paint.

 

Martha is the queen of crafty. I’ve yet to be disappointed by her products.

 

Well there you have it. It’s a perfect addition moving into fall and Christmas time!

Easy No Slip Hangers

So, I love no slip hangers. I found decently priced knock off huggable hangers at Nordstrom Rack, but I thought it would be fun to make my own.

I have all these wire hangers from the dry cleaners and I thought it would be super wasteful to just throw them away. I’ve seen tutorials were they use multiple wire hangers, but I wanted to keep mine super thin and just kept it one. Also, side note, this is kind of a long project. Dependent on how fast you can wrap, it takes 40 minutes to an hour to make one. So, it’s a good project for TV watching!

Here’s how mine turned out:

I used a bright colored yarn and did it the way you do for friendship bracelets. Just tie a knot at the beginning and then make a number four and pull the yarn through. Keep repeating this until you’ve covered the entire hanger. I don’t recommend just wrapping it because when you hang clothes on it, it may unravel – eek!

These could be a unique house warming gift or gift for a recent grad moving into a dorm with limited closet space (these are super thin, so they save serious closet space).