Lamps!

See what my hubby bought me at Borders. It's an album. Inside are black pages with clear acrylic sheets that peel up. You put in your photos or papers, then smooth the clear flaps back down over your stuff. You know the type. But have you ever seen an album that was this cool-looking??? It's a Paperchase product, although I don't see it on their website.

Tissue paper pom-poms

I made these (just a sampling; there are more!) while watching So You Think You Can Dance last night. I'm hosting a bridal shower here, so I had to try out Martha Stewart's pom-pom decoration instructions. It's sooo easy. And fun. Tip: You don't need all that wire. You only need enough to wrap once around your accordian-folded stack with ends long enough to twist together. Maybe about 4 or 5 inches of wire. Or use string.

Painted pebble magnets

A little project from last weekend, inspired by the jar of FIMO clay packages on clearance next to the checkout counter at Blick.

To make them:
1. Shape some flattened balls from FIMO or Sculpey modeling clay. They should look like small pebbles. (Mine are about 1 inch in diameter, but make whatever size you want.)
2. Bake the little pebbles in your oven until hardened, following the package directions.
3. After they're cool, paint on them with acrylic paint.
4. Hot glue a magnet on the back.

Maybe I'll put some in the shop when I get a little time and see what happens.

Quiz: Fake or Photo?

See if you can tell whether each image is a photograph or computer generated in this quiz.

Moo now prints stickers

You can upload your own designs and have a book of stickers printed for yourself. $10 for a book of 90, at Moo.

(Image from Moo)

DesignTalk interview

The DesignTalk Decorating Blog has posted an interview with me. Thanks, DesignTalk! The site is a great resource for decorating ideas and organization tips. They love to field questions, too, so if you have a decorating dilemma, be sure to email them. Go browse and get inspired!

If you love books

Download some desktop wallpaper at Kate Spade (click "Downloads" once you get there). Then print some out and make yourself a bookcover made of bookcovers. Found via Craftzine.

(Images from Kate Spade)

Stuff to make!

Tutorials from around the web:

Shoulder bag with piping from U-handbag
Animal cutouts decorating idea seen at design*sponge
Reversible notebook cover from Kirin Notebook
Decoupaged wall letters from Craft Apple
Post-it origami flowers from Peace of Paper
Felt barrettes at Angry Chicken

Mr. Picassohead

If you need to put off a nasty task just a little longer, Mr. Picassohead can help you procrastinate. Create an online Picasso-like portrait of your very own. It won't sell for millions, but you'll have fun encouraging your inner artist.

Contemplating doing something crazy

Our second bedroom is pretty blah. We weren't sure what we were going to do with the room when we repainted the condo after we bought it, so it's just cream-colored with an inflatable airbed in it and serves as a guest room. But it's really sort of a wasted space, since we don't always have people here. I want to turn it into something useful and fun. A reading room? A place to leave craft stuff out and not have to pick it up? (But keeping the guest room functionality, somehow.) I'm thinking I'll be bold and daring with the paint. But can anybody recommend a nice-looking sleeper sofa / futon / something that converts from a thing you can sit on to a thing two people can sleep on? We've looked everywhere and haven't been thrilled.

Free Photoshop brushes

Find a collection of links to free Photoshop brushes like this one at Tutorial Blog. If you don't know how to load them, read here.

(Image from Tutorial Blog)

Online ASCII image generator

BB-Blog recently found this ASCII tree curtain, an interesting combination of beauty and geekiness. If you'd like to make your own ASCII image out of any photo (high-contrast images work best), go to Photo2Text and upload the image of your choice (must be less than 200k). In a second, you'll have your own picture made of numbers and letters. To fully appreciate it, back away from your computer and take a look.

(Images from Nienke Sybrandy)

I love washing dishes

Well, that's a lie. But I'm a sucker for a beautiful package, and last time we went to Target, I was delighted (again) with Method's products. I shamelessly admit I bought their dishsoap, handsoap, and bars of bath soap solely for their packages. Way to go, Method. I'm your dream consumer. Good thing your product is actually good, too.

(Image from Method)

Details

Here are some things from our living room that I like.

Candleholder that was an appreciation gift from church for doing lots of pro bono graphic design work. (This is not an invitation for future clients to pay me in candleholders. But this was a sweet gesture.)

Big emperor-sized stone stamp that Chinese friends engraved with our honorary Chinese names on the bottom. Lovely plate from my friend Kristin. Cacti that's fortunately hard to kill but needing bigger pots.

Fuzzy ball, somehow made of cattail, that we bought on a trip to St. Louis because we thought it was cool. Everyone who comes over asks what it is and pets it.

Take a peek inside our place

Several people have asked for more photos of our condo, so here you go. The building was built in the 1920s. We wanted a place that had a great big living room so we could have lots of people over, but units just weren't made that way. Then we saw this place, and the seller agreed to knock down the wall between the living room and dining room. Perfect! So there used to be a wall behind the couch. Now there's just a pillar, there on the left.

All our furniture is assemble-it-yourself stuff we've accumulated from Ikea or Lowes or Target, except for the couch and chairs from Dania. The light over the table is a Home Depot find that only took us 2 hours to put up. :)

We decided to repaint every room in the place. This is Behr "Expedition Khaki" if you're curious. I painted all the wall art (except for the brown diamond shape behind the dining table; that's a cool woven tray from a friend) and sewed all the pillows and coasters. See more paintings here if you want. The whole reason I started painting anything is because we had empty walls, and it's cheaper to make stuff yourself.

Those are modular Flor carpet tiles and an $8 Target floor lamp.

Our old wicker chair and Walmart lamp got spruced up with pillows and an Ikea lampshade. That lampshade might be my favorite thing in the room.

This is the first time I've ever decorated anything, and I think it's responsible for unleashing a love of design I didn't even know I had. We feel very blessed to have this place. If it should burn down someday, that's okay, because material things are just temporary, but in the meantime, I'm having lots of fun.

Bookmarks with vintage fabric

There's a stack of mystery novels from the library on my coffee table, and I decided it would make me happy to have a cute bookmark to use when reading them. But dragging out all the craft stuff wasn't worth it for just one, and all of grandma's fabric scraps were so lovely that I had to make MORE. So I did a bunch and tossed them into the etsy shop.

To make some like this: Use that super-sticky archival Canson self-adhesive paper and cut shapes in it with an X-acto knife. Peel off the backing, stick fabric pieces on to cover the windows you cut, and adhere a second sheet to form the back. Rounding the corners finishes it off.

[Note: Blick stores are the only place I know to get this self-adhesive Canson paper where it's on clearance because they bought out another retailer and are trying to get rid of it. So if you have a Blick near you, go there and buy some pronto. If not, you could try using either regular Canson paper, available in almost every art store, with some spray adhesive or a glue stick, or find other self-adhesive paper. I've seen little books of self-adhesive solid color cardstock at Walmart or Target—one of those big retailers; I forget which one.]

Take a logo quiz

See how speedy you are at identifying bits of well-known logos in this logo quiz. The clock is ticking...

Contribute to the forces for scientific and technical modernization.

Visit Maopost.com to see a huge gallery of Chinese propaganda posters with translated captions. Fascinating. And sometimes disturbing. You can also download a poster widget for your Mac or commission a work of Maoart, a personalized oil painting in which you are painted into a propaganda poster.

(Image from Maopost.com)

Fridge photos

After catching a glimpse of our fridge in the last post, a reader asked how I attached our photos to it. They're tacked onto two corkboards we bought at Target. The boards came with magnets you can stick on the back. I used to plaster the fridge with individual pictures held up by magnets, but 1) That looks messy 2) They always fall down. I like this way much better.

(Note: All our friends are in the witness protection program, so I have blurred their faces to protect them from mafia hitmen.)

We're growing things

Along with the sungold tomatoes, hot cherry peppers, sweet banana peppers, cayenne peppers, dwarf dill, thyme, and basil we're attempting to grow on the landing, this weekend we bought some purdy flowers to brighten things up. Now I like looking out the back door.