8/21/20
3/27/20
Friday Flower Love: Weekend Inspirations
Mood boosters:
a walk outside
a thoughtfully prepared meal
a spoon of Nutella
Facetime with friends and family
yoga
Fleabag
How are you all doing in this new temporary (I HOPE) reality?
Yesterday I picked up roses and tulips at the grocery store and paired them with yellow mums from a few weeks ago to arrange my birthday from-me-to-me flowers.
I'm planning on celebrating on Sunday by making a mini brownie cake, a batch of Russian potato salad, and facetiming with my family.
TGIF.
1/23/20
Pomegranate & DIY Leather Earrings
For something a little different, I wanted to share with you my new hobby: making leather jewelry! It all started when my friend Kate bought a pair, and then my twin bought a pair, and then I thought about buying one, but instead made my own!!
Here are a few other examples:
The ones above are made from recycled leather from a wallet! All the earrings have sterling silver hardware and are very light in weight, but big in their presence.
I've had a lot of fun making these and sold a few to friends and a boss's boss's boss!! If you want your own, check out my Etsy page ;)
12/20/19
Weekend Motivation: Flower Friday
TGIF!! Wanted to share a photo of a flower arrangement I created with gorgeous blooms I won from Darling and Daughters!
11/19/19
Flower Arranging: Hand-Tied Technique
This past Sunday I did two things for the first time: taught a flower arranging class and taught at Hill Center!
After attending a few flower arranging classes, assisting 3 classes at Smithsonian, and being a life-long flower enthusiast, I proposed teaching a class at Hill Center, and to my great joy they said YES.
8 students signed up to learn from me! Yes, I was nervous. Yes, I created an Excel spreadsheet with several flower arrangement "recipes," and yes, I brought home made brownies to sweeten the deal.
After meeting my students and discussing the basics of flower arrangements, learning about their favorite flowers and their first flower memories, we went on a field trip to Trader Joe's to pick up the flowers.
Back at Hill Center, we sipped on mimosas, snacked on the brownies, and I demonstrated how to create a hand-tied arrangement: you build the entire bouquet in your hands and then rubber band it to keep it intact.
The students then created their own arrangements. They all turned out great!!
All the photos throughout the post are of the arrangement I created with a few extra flowers left over from the class. This "recipe" contained mums, roses, eucalyptus, and alstroemeria.
Eight happy faces with their gorgeous creations.
I hope to repeat this class again!!Let me know if you'd like to learn this technique.
3/8/19
Weekend Inspiration: Macrame Wall Hanging
TGIF! Happy Friday and happy International Women's Day.
I wanted to share with you the latest arts & crafts project I made last weekend: Macrame Wall Hanging. Doing this simple wall hanging reminded me of all the macrame projects I did at a summer camp in Moscow. There's something magical about completing a project that is seen daily in your home.
Go create something!
1/28/19
Upcycle: Pallet Coffee Table on Pin Legs
Remember when 6ish years ago I made a pallet coffee table that ended up being featured on ApartmentTherapy and then some dude tried to sell it on Etsy? Well, I took the coasters off and added pin legs!!! Love the updated look.
Below is my original creation! Also an old lamp, painting, table, chairs, and blah walls.
And now the new table! It was so easy: I took off the red wheels (what should I do with them?) and attached pin legs I bought on Amazon!
And here is how it looks in my living room with my "birch" wall, big plants, new'ish lamp and all the stuff ;)
10/26/16
How To Decorate Pumpkins Without Carving Them
My current obsession is mini pumpkins! They are so cute, inexpensive and cheerful!
You don't have to carve them. Leave them as is or add a bit of liquid glue and glitter!!! Easy, chic, and they can last through New Year and serve as winter decorations.
Don't forget to check out my nail polish pumpkin decorating tutorial from a few years back.
What are YOU obsessed with?
2/12/15
Easy DIY: How To Make Marble Candles
Today I'm going to share with you a super quick and adorable DIY project. It has nothing to do with cooking or food, but this is my blog, so I get to do whatever I want ;)
Remember my post on decorating a pumpkin using nail polish? Well, this How To Make Marble Candles project uses the same technique.
1) Start with plain candles. I've had these candles for probably a decade. I never lite them because they are on a candle holder that is on my wall (see a photo above).
2) Find a bucket that is large enough to hold enough warm water and to have enough extra space to dunk in your candles. I used an Ikea planter because I did not care that its insides would get messy.
3) Add a few drops of nail polish into the warm water inside of the bucket and using a toothpick swirl the drops around. You can use several colors if you wish.
4) Dunk in your candle. You can dunk just half of it, or a third, or the whole thing: it's completely up to you!
5) Let the candles dry completely. If you aren't entirely happy with the look, you can repeat the above steps.
These turned out so adorable! I love that the nail polish adds a bit of color to my room.
7/3/13
How to Paint Your Stove Knobs & Photos of my Kitchen
If you came here to see Red, White & Blue recipes for 4th of July, you will be highly disappointed. But feel free to do a quick search for salads, sides, and beverages in the search window to the right :)
Instead, I'm going to share with you a few fun projects I did around my condo: I'm always doing something!
A few weeks ago I became obsessed with changing up the knobs on my stove from black to red. I was hoping to be able to buy red replacement knobs, but no such luck.
So I decided to spray paint them! One of the easiest projects ever.
How to Paint Your Stove Knobs
This is the before photo:
I bought red spray paint that works for plastic surfaces and doesn't require any prep at Ace Hardware and last Saturday night went outside of my condo to spray paint. All you need is an old shower curtain, a spray paint bottle, some patience, and a few sticks.
Oh, and BUG SPRAY!!! I did not have bug spray and got bitten three times.
I put the stove knobs on random branches I found in the parking lot and spray painted them red. Then stuck the sticks in the ground to dry. Repeat 3 times.
Note: because I have a gas stove, I did not need to leave the "high," "medium," and "low," markings on my stove knobs intact. I can see the flame when I turn the stove on and can regulate the heat that way. If you have an electric stove, you'll have to make sure not to spray paint over those words.
And here is a wide shot of the stove with some of my favorite Le Creuset.
Now for a few extra projects around my kitchen: I finally decided to make a collage wall with a few pictures, cutting board, a beautiful wooden spoon from Pati Jinich and a grater, aka mystery object, I found in Brooklyn.
Another project I did a while back was taking empty container of Nudo Italia olive oil and using super glue to stick a few magnets to their backs: instant pen holders!
And just to show you another way I like to add color to my kitchen, check out my magnetic knife/utensil holder:
But wait!!! This is not all ;) My DIY projects don't just happen in the kitchen. They also take place in my bedroom.
Here is a bonus project: just by adding a bit of yellow ribbon and a drop of super glue, I completely changed the look of my bedroom lamps.
And before I say good bye and wish you a very happy, here is my fully accessorized shelf at the entrance of my condo (it used to be vertical in my bedroom, but I moved it out and put it on its side).
12/18/12
Spoon Me! I'm Talking About Decorating Spoons Of Course ;)
Spoon me!!!
In between going dancing, cooking, going to a Speakeasy event at Sixth & I and editing photographs, I managed to get bored this weekend. I could have exercised, or done my laundry, or de-hoarded...but instead I decided to do something crafty: decorate a few wooden utensils. Doesn't everyone do that when they are bored?
I used the blue tape and the green paint I had left over from painting my kitchen, the polyurethane from my sofa table project, and permanent markers.
Basically, I taped off parts of the handles, painted them in green (a few coats!) and let the paint dry before removing the tape. I then used permanent markers to add extra color and put a coat of polyurethane to seal my creation.
Some of the color from the permanent markers bled a bit: maybe I should have waited a day before putting the clear protecting coat.
Don't they look adorable though?
I'm guessing these should not go into the dishwasher, and I would not stir any deep pots with these spoons since I don't know if the polyurethane is food safe. But still, these would brighten up any kitchen, and you can use them when stirfrying or sauteing something in a shallow skillet.
Thoughts?
{PS Don't forget to enter for a chance to win AirBake cookie sheets}
10/31/12
DIY Sofa Table Project
Remember my DIY Pallet Coffee Table? TodayI bring you another DIY project. How is it food related? Well, I partially build this Sofa Table so that I could have a place to rest cups/glasses/plates when I eat my dinner sitting on the couch and watching TV.
The project actually started when I noticed that my AC unit was leaking. Oh the joys of home ownership! I had to move my couch away from the window and make sure the hardwood floor was ok. And then I decided to use the space between the couch and the window wall and build the sofa table!!
So I took a few measurements, asked my friend Cindy to drive me to Home Depot, and got to work.
Basically, I decided to make two shorter tables instead of one long one. It was a great decision: 1) easier to build 2) sturdier 3) easier to move around when needed.
I got all the wood cut according to my measurements at Home Depot for free. All the materials for this project (including an electrical sander) cost me about $100. Not bad for a custom piece of furniture.
What you need: wood, L brackets, screws, sand paper, electric screwdriver (I already had one), wood stain and gloss. I bought wood glue, but could not figure out how to open it, so it did not get used. I also bought little "feet" to put on the bottom of the table in order not to scratch my floors.
Here's what I did:
1) sand all wood pieces
2) attach the feet to the bottom of the pieces that would be the legs for the sofa table
3) pre-drill the holes for L brackets and then attach them to the top and leg pieces of the sofa table
Do you like my little assembly line??!! Doing this project inside my condo was not easy, but not having another option I managed.
4) stain the tables
5) apply the gloss finish (I had to do this multiple times even though the fumes were horrendous)
Ta da!!!
So now I have a place to set my dishes and to display my plants/flowers!
You can barely see the table looking straight at the window. At first it bothered me a bit, but now I'm completely used to it.
This was a fun project for sure.
Lessons learned: always double check the number of screws you buy for a project. I was 10 screws short and had to go back to purchase them.
Have you done any DIY projects lately?
PS I wanted to share a quick design project: I turned my existing book shelf upside down to use on the wall by my front door. I added a framed poster (thanks, mom!) and accessorized the shelf with cookbooks, photo frames and flowers.
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