Curly Grosgrain Ribbons for Valentines Day Wreaths
Share Something nifty today: Curly grosgrain ribbons! So cute! I happen to fancy doing this today. Besides making darling wreaths with them, curled grosgrain ribbons are ideal to embellish a bunch of creative projects I’m working on. You need them too? How to Curl Grosgrain Ribbons The traditional recipe of baking curls [...]
Beads Beads Beads
Share Oh, and the things you can do … with beads. And I’m referring to those beads that are iron-able and shape-able into pretty much any thing you fancy, called perler beads. Creations Made with Perle Beads After you’ve made Zhu zhu pet food [...]
Fun Junk Antiques in Rome
Share Last week, we stopped by this fun and funky antique store in Trastevere, a favorite downtown area in Rome. This antique shop is a rare breed. It reminds of American lifestyle fashion furniture stores which also sell (vintage) Oriental furniture. Such shop is a rare find in Rome. What makes this shop more special [...]
Shabby Chic Mercury Glass Candle Holders
Share Mercury glass is so popular right this minute and I’m fully supporting this trend. I love its shabby chic look, and how you can transform plain glass object, from vase to goblet, into a magnificent vintage silver mirrored home accent. Eg. Look what I picked up : two darling glass candle holders. [...]
Soy Wax Candle Making
Share 2012 comes with a commitment to myself it to live more soulfully and to reflect that on the blog. So, out with the paraffin candles and in with the soy candles. Let’s make some candles! Here’s the howto. Soy Wax Candle Making Supplies Needed soy wax flakes (European readers / I get [...]
Designer Lamps from Recycled Drinking Straws
Share How novel. Recycle 3000 clear drinking straws, and you can make this wonderful lamp. According to designer Tim Fishlock, it takes 7 days to complete. Like it? Make your own? The Howto 1. Tim does not give us a clue as to how it’s made other than sharing that he interconnected all [...]
French Country Lamp
Share : I spotted this darling French country kitchen lighting and just have to share it. Vintage funnel + bit of wire-cover fabric + 3 string ties made a plain light bulb into an exquisite shabby chic kitchen lamp. You can do it. It’s a winner. [...]
Tassels, Fun Handmade Home Accessories
Share : shabby chic tassels like these are handmade home accents that transform a house. This tassel is 100% recycled, and made of remnants of a sheer curtain & a shirt sleeve; a tiny bit of pre-used ribbon; and a broken bead spacer for the top. The white ribbon from which the tassel hangs [...]
Howto: Bolster Pillow with Romantic Print
Share Pin It This handmade romantic bolster pillow is so authentically French. It looks like the most sophisticated, delicate hand embroidery. Yet, Nan, from ‘You Could Make That’ showed us how to make this so-French pillow by simply printing the design onto fabric. Easy-to-make accessory for a romantic bedroom!
Contemporary Hexagon Pillows :: Free Sewing Pattern
Share : this hexagon designer pillow pattern reads like a nature mosaic. Something soulful about handmade pillows that have such attention to painstaking detail. It’s an exquisite sewing pattern and it’s free. By centering 6 identical petals, the master seamstress team at Sew4Home has orchestrated yet another winning design. They share the sewing [...]
Personalized Desk Calendar Tutorial
Share January 2012 Here is the scrapbooked January page in my personalized CD Jewel Case Calendar. Like it? So easy, so fast, so fun. How-to: Calendar Page: Recycle a cereal box; cut to CD-case size. Glue on wrapping paper remnants. Glue on printed calendar month. Embellish with (very old) recycled foam flower. CD [...]
Handmade Ruffle Rugs
Share : easy rug-making technique that even kids can do. This handmade DIY ruffle rug offers a great way to blow new life into the mountain of unused or outgrown t-shirts in your family’s (and your neighbors’) closets. Fabulous and colorful, they would make hip and fun floor mats for bedrooms and bathrooms. With colors [...]
DIY Animal Stencil Mugs
Share : this fun and easy way to spruce up plain white mugs and to personalize them with the kids (or your) favorite animals and designs. Stencil your way to the farm …. Country Living offers free stencils to download of cows, sheep and pigs.
Felt Ruffle Rosette Pillow Pattern
Share Tired of snow, rain or otherwise gloomy winter weather? Cheer up. This happy orange pillow tutorial will bring you into a good mood again. Dazzling ruffles are fast to produce on this easy-as-pie pillow. The tutorial :: Felt Rosette Pillow Step-by-step Instructions 1. cut circles 2. fold them twice and [...]
New Year Umbria Jazz Festival
Share Happy New Year from Italy!!! We were partying here on the first day of the New Year. Umbria Jazz Festival is held every year around this time in the gorgeous Italian city of Orvieto. As this year, New Year’s day fell on a Sunday we enjoyed the happy opportunity to actually go see [...]
New Year Table Centerpiece
Share We all celebrate New Year’s Eve in our own merry way. This year, my hubby & I are not planning to give a party but to kind of quietly stay at home instead…, (although Italy is FULL OF SURPRISES and one can never be sure as to what kind of fun might actually happen…). [...]
Christmas Stocking as Holiday Pillow
Share Just a quick tip to repurpose your excess Christmas stockings that you might have been gifted over the years as holiday pillows. Aren’t they fun? How to Make Your Own Christmas Stocking Pillow No sewing machine required, just fill them up, and close them with a few stitches (or if you’re really [...]
Getting Kapok
Share How Much Kapok Do You Need ? Depending on the exact measurements you’ll choose, for a zafu meditation pillow like this, you will need approximately 2.5 lbs. of kapok. Where to buy quality Kapok? At Carolina Morning. I’m excited to announce our new affiliation with Carolina Morning. The folks [...]
Why Kapok in Zafu Meditation Pillows
Share Pin It Last New Year, I posted a tutorial on how to make your own Zafu Meditation Pillow, as meditating is a wonderful New Year resolution. To sit comfortably while you meditate you really must have a zafu. If you haven’t made one of these pillows yet, now is the perfect time [...]
Sew a Wild Scrappy Pillow
Share : a unique quilting pattern. Quilting may sound kind of tame, however, with Alisa Burke, quilting changes tack and sails the winds of adventure! Look what she did…. Step-by-step Fabric Painting, Sewing & Quilting Instructions 1. Hand stamp & hand print your own fabric. That is: make your own stamps with [...]
Anthropologie’s Kitchen Decor (Santa Monica)
Share Pin It I love wandering through Anthropologie. Do you? The creative input of a visit is like flipping through 17 lifestyle magazines and half a dozen groovy design books, all at the same time. Yes, I was lucky to spend quite a bit of time in the Anthropologie shop in Santa Monica, LA [...]
Bathroom Design Inspiration
Share I’ve been looking through bathroom designs for inspiration for our new to-be-built Italian country farm house. I find it all a bit daunting to get my mind around that I get to design every element of that house from scratch, so I need your help. I’d love you to comment on which bathroom you [...]
DIY Bedroom Bench
Share A winning tutorial: easy, fast and gorgeous. Pin It Some bloggers are amazing, and this is one of them: Carry from ‘Two Friends, Two Cities’. She created this lovely bench from start –to – finish in just 2 hours for the tiny budget of $65. I actually just bought this exact same bold marine [...]
Halloween Ghost: Awesome!
Share Pin It Truly spooky!! Just when I publish this article on DIY Halloween ghosts, I come across an even better Halloween host diy. Take a look at this amazingly realistic garden ghost, made out of chicken-wire. Wow. It’s almost poetic, so beautiful and … realistic !!!! Would you believe: all you really need [...]
Handmade Rugs
Share Most visitors to this blog have found our feature of this eco-green towel-recycling DIY bathroom mat. I’ve noticed however, that not everyone has good ‘bathroom mat treatment’ habits, so I thought to share a few tips with you today, to begin with, and then I’ll give you an overview of the various rugs I’ve [...]
Rug from Recycled Sweater
Share I have this thing for recycling cable sweaters. I’m sure you all seen this recycled wool sweater lamp, which I just adore. It just looks so warm and cosy. Now, here’s a DIY tutorial to make yourself a matching rug for that chair near the window. Direct recycling aka very-eco-green designer Diane Durkes pulled [...]
Holiday Indian Corn Centerpiece
Share I came across this husky centerpiece and fell in love with it. It’s so simple, elegant and appropriate. I bet that the shine through the husk leaves is wonderful. The mix of the luxurious velvet ribbon with the simple husks is just perfect. As such, the ribbon is both a functional and a design [...]
Bed Skirt with Pockets – Free Sewing Pattern
Share For readers in bed, there’s a solution….. a place to put your glasses and your book, when your night stand is full… or if you wish to keep things uncluttered. Anyhow, I think these pockets are so so handy for lip balm, clean socks for freezing feet, … as well as anything romantic. Click [...]
Abundance Seed Balls
Share Great decorating idea for thanksgiving is making these seed balls. An inexpensive craft project with the kids, or even just all by yourself, having fun being creative. image: bhg.com Symbolic Meaning Cornucopia, the overflowing horn, is an ancient symbol of abundance, and the seeds can represent both the seeds of [...]
Back-to-School College, Teenage & Kid Bedroom Decorating
Share This article on ‘College, Teenage & Kid Bedroom Decorating Projects & Ideas’ finishes the ‘Back-to-school Ideas’- week, however, during September we’ll add a few more individual back-to-school ideas, as they pop up in our minds. College Room, Teenage & Kid Bedroom Ideas Child Bedroom Furniture Stencil Plan This article contains free templates [...]
