Category: Filing Cabinet

New Art Above Eleanor’s Bed

I planned a mini-makeover for Eleanor’s room a while back. It took a while for her polka dot wall vases to get here, and then longer still for me to finally get everything hung on the wall, but it’s finally done! I’ll show more of the finished room soon, but first, here’s a shot of the new art above Eleanor’s bed.

I laid it all out on the bed before putting it up on the wall so I could play around with the placement. The cat hanging is a vintage Tammis Keefe tea towel hung on wooden dowels, the lowercase ‘e’ was from Anthropologie and the uppercase ‘E’ from Urban Outfitters. I got the wall dot vases in an online flash sale, but they’re available directly from Chive, and the screenprinted flower is by three sheets 2 the wind.

June 19, 2012
Country Fare Vintage Dishes

Today is our last day in the Wisconsin family cabin, and we’ll be driving back to Chicago soon. The surroundings are beautiful, but there is just as much enjoyment to be found in the home’s details. These are the plates we ate off of last night for dinner.

They remind me of Heath Ceramics’ original Coupe line from the 1940s. I’ve shown their studio mug before, and that heritage Coupe line has long been at the top of my wish list.

The collection of Country Fare dishes here at the cabin have been in my father-in-law’s family for decades. The line was discontinued in the mid-1950s, but they pop up on eBay and are available through Replacements.

Aren’t they beautiful? They’re so obviously handmade, heavy, with imperfect edges and subtle ridges where people smoothed the clay with their fingers.

June 11, 2012
How To Make A DIY Leather Crossbody Bag

post by Andrea

They say necessity is the mother of invention, and I’d have to agree with them when it comes to most of my DIY projects.

I really love my simple leather pouch from American Apparel, so much so that my friend and I figured out how to make our own last year. But I kept running into the same problem when using it to go out for casual events like concerts and picnics, and that was where to put it and how to hold it when running around after kids or when the dining table was too full. So I decided to blend the functionality of a crossbody bag and the simplicity of the leather pouch into one great leather purse I could use all summer long.

This project does involve sewing, but since it’s primarily straight line sewing, someone with intermediate sewing skills should be able to tackle this project. (more…)

June 6, 2012
Family Movie Night (at Home)
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Brandon and I like to have stay-at-home movie nights with the kids. We gather snacks, dim the lights, and pile the couch with pillows. The other night, I spelled out the evening’s activity with our magnetic letters, and Eleanor got very excited when I told her what the words said. “Movie night!? YAY!” She ran to her brother, yelling “August, it’s movie night!”

It doesn’t take much to make an ordinary evening special. It’s in the little details, like jelly beans in a pretty bowl, getting drinks from a dispenser, and eating popcorn out of fun containers.
We all help to choose movies, but some are more family-friendly than others. (“All right, Ratatouille it is, kids. Let’s save Crank 2 for another day.”)

Do you ever make ordinary nights into something a little more special?

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June 5, 2012
Scientific Botanical Prints

Would it really be surprising that someone as fond of pink as I am would also be fond of flowers? Even the less girly among us can appreciate a good bloom, no?

A few people, in writing about my keynote at BlogPodium, noted that I had dressed to match my blog. My branding. The truth is that I’m just consistent in what I like. My blog matches my clothes, my home… even down to some of the book on my shelves. For example, here are two of my favorites.

The Rose: An Illustrated History, and more recently, The Art of Instruction. My dog rose print is the same one featured on the latter’s cover.

I designed two themes for Making it Lovely, and if you’re on the default “Lovely” theme, you’ll see an abundance of flowers in the background. Even if you choose to view the blog in “Minimal” mode, you’ll still see my custom floral illustrations in the header. As much as I love a good, clean site with a true minimal aesthetic, it’s just not me. The flowers (and colors and patterns) I use aren’t part of a larger, calculated move on my part to reflect my branding (though it works as one), I just like them. Simple as that.

I saw that a flash shopping site was selling framed botanical prints a few weeks ago. I had enough credits to cover the cost, so I bought one. They’re no longer available on that site, but they can be found (unframed) at The Evolution Store.

I would have loved to hang two prints over the sofa (like this), but the picture rail in my living room doesn’t leave enough clearance.

These prints are huge. I love the scale of mine, but I don’t know if that corner of my living room is interesting enough to warrant art of that size. Something feels a bit off too, between the print, the plant, and the vase on the other side of the TV. I’m going to leave things as they are for a while to see if I get used to the print’s (rather commanding) presence, but I may play around with the placement. It’s beautiful though; I’m glad to have it.

June 4, 2012
How To Make a Statement Necklace

post by Andrea

I’m quite enamored with just about everything craft related, but I get especially excited when I get to create a piece of jewelry or another type of accessory. I was so happy when Nicole was open to the idea of me sharing a jewelry-based DIY with you all, and I hope you enjoy it. And while the idea of making your own jewelry may sound a bit intimidating, I assure that if you’re even somewhat remotely ‘crafty’, you can create something for yourself with just a few basic items you can find at just about any craft store.

To get started with this particular statement necklace, take a trip to your local Michael’s (or other craft store), which is where I picked up everything you see below, including the beads, and pick up the following items:

Jade colored beads in multiple sizes (I used 3 different sizes), mono-filament jewelry wire (it looks just like fishing line), a package of jewelry chain, an all purpose pack of ‘jewelry findings’, which includes jump rings, crimping beads, lobster claw closures, and pin wires. You can buy all of these items in separate packages but if you’re a beginner or aren’t doing a lot of jewelry making, this all purpose pack is great. You also want to have a pair of scissors on hand, as well as a pair of needle nose pliers and wire cutters, which they sell on the cheap at a craft store, or you could always use a pair from your tool chest. Total supplies, if you include buying the tools, should run you less than $30. *Note that over the weekend I made this necklace again for a friend and this time I used a jewelry wire called Soft Flex in ultra fine. It was actually great to work with and because this necklace gets a little heavy, it is really sturdy and should hold up better over time. It is quite a bit more than mono-filament, but may be worth it in the end.

Begin by cutting a length of your jewelry wire (roughly 18 inches), and string 1 of the crimp beads and a jump ring through the tail end of one side. Loop the wire over the jump ring and through the crimp bead again, creating a loop that is held together by the crimp bead. Gently but firmly squeeze the crimp bead shut with your needle nose pliers. There’s an actual bead crimper that they sell, but I’ve never had a problem closing my crimp beads shut with my pliers. You’re now ready to begin stringing your beads. Once you’ve completed one strand, close it off using the same method that you began with, using a crimp bead and jump ring. Your other 2 strand will now attach to this single jump ring. Trim the extra jewelry wire. Note that each strand will be approximately 14-15 inches long when finished. You don’t want all 3 strands to be exactly the same length so that they lay better on your neck.

Since I’m not an actual jewelry designer and do this for fun, I always try to keep my designs relatively simple. I always love the look of mixed metals and gems, but I leave the real pattern mixing to the professionals, and stick to similar materials and tonal, or complementary, colors when creating something new. With this necklace, the only variations I made was to use a slightly different pattern with all three strands. One strand uses just the 2 smaller sized beads and has tiny gold seed beads spaced between each one. The other 2 strands contains a mixture of all 3 sizes, but in a slightly varying pattern.

Once the body of your necklace is finished, it’s time to attach your chain. I think adding the chain creates a more finished look, and it also makes the necklace adjustable. Snip off 2 pieces of chain with your wire cutters. My chain is approximately 2.5″ long on each side. Attach each piece of chain to the jump ring on either side. A tip when opening and closing your jump rings; if you have 2 sets of small pliers on hand, gently pry each end apart, as shown, and then squeeze shut. This helps to maintain the shape of the ring, but it’s not necessary. Grab 2 more jump rings and attach it to the end of one chain, and attach it to the lobster claw and chain on the other end. Now you have your closure. If you’d like to really lend a finished look to your necklace, you could grab a sapre bead and attach it to one of the pin heads and then run it through a loop of chain and twist it shut, nipping off the end with your wire cutters, but this is not necessary.

You’ve now finished your necklace and are ready to try it on! Total time to complete this necklace is 45 minutes or less, depending on your comfort level with working with the tools and beads.

I tried the necklace on with a white tee, a chambray shirt, and this red dress, and it looked great with all three options, but I really love the way it pops against the red. Jewelry making is one of the most rewarding hobbies I have, and I hope this inspires you to give it a try. Please let me know if you have any questions.

May 23, 2012