Homemade Gift Wrapping Series - How to make your own elegant gift wrap

What a beautiful way to wrap a gift.  I don't think the paper underneath matters as long as you overlay it with lace.  And a simple ribbon to finish it off makes this look.  And who wouldn't love a gift wrapped up in a little bit of lace.  So elegant!  Be sure to leave one end of the package without any lace to show off the frilly edge.  The sky's the limit, what will you come up with? 

Here is the link.

Homemade Gift Wrapping Series - How to make your own gift bow

LOVE this!!!  I have some cute little boys who like to get into my cute little wrapping drawers and make cute little presents for me...using my store bought gift bows.  So when I run to my drawers to put a bow on a gift, oh no, I'm all out.  Those little cuties used up all my gift bows.  Now you can make your own using just a little decorative paper.  Why not even using some complementing wrapping paper.  Here are the instructions.  Have fun!

Homemade Gift Wrapping Series - How to make your own ruffled ribbon

We've made a gift bag out of newspaper, we've made a gift bow, how about making a ruffled ribbon out of newspaper and put a homemade bow made out of newspaper on top? 

1. Just cut a stip of plain paper 1 inch wide to the length you want. 
2. Then cut a strip of newspaper, or any paper you like, into a 1.5 - 2 inch wide strip twice to three times as long as the 1 inch strip of paper depending on the look you want. 
3. Glue the wider strip over the 1 inch strip bunching it up to create that ruffled look. 
4. Put it around your gift and put the complementing gift bow that you made on top. 

Voila!  So chic!!

Here is the link if you want it.

Homemade Gift Wrapping Series - How to make your own gift bag

When my kids were younger I prided myself on always having just the right wrapping paper, card, or gift bag for a gift I was giving away.  These days, I don't always have time to run out to a store to grab what I need for wrapping a gift let alone think so far ahead as to be prepared.  FOR SHAME!  But, hey, I gots me 4 kids and I'm a super busy mom!  So here is what you do if you are like me...make it.  And make it look chic!  Here are easy instructions with detailed pictures.  You don't have to use newspaper.  You can use whatever you dream up!

Elegant and Easy way to hang your towel

If you have little kids and big towels it can be hard for little hands to fold up and place over a towel rod.  And picking up towels off the ground is not a favored chore for busy mommies.  (Or maybe your sweetie can't get the towel where it belongs.)  Make it easy on your kid and yourself.  Here is something you can do.  If you don't want to make the whole thing yourself you can just get a cheap hook board from your big box hardware store and place crown molding on top.  I think the look is stunning!

Sock Collection Agency

I have heard that some households have a nasty, voracious sock monster living in their washing machine.  Do you have one of those?  Or do you have Littles that steal your kids' socks in the night and use them as sleeping bags?  Whatever you blame for all those missing socks here is a clever way to manage this problem, because eventually they almost always turn up.  "No Sock Left Behind"!

See what inspires me

I've been hearing a lot of buzz about a new social media site called pinterest.  So one day I hopped on the site to see what it was all about.  So cool!  I get to pin all the things I like and things that inspire me onto a board.  And then I get to display it for others to see or repin to their own boards as they like.  I am always collecting pieces of paper with ideas on it, but no more!  I will pinterest my inspirations instead.  You can click on my link (the red pinterst button up top) and see what I pinned.  Or you can start your own, but beware...you might not be able to stop.

Paper Fixes Everything!

My adorable dad says I am a sucker for wall decor.  In a moment of defense I denied his claim, but in reality, he's right.  I do love to have pretty things on my walls.  But I can't always afford to buy all those pretty things.  I have kids with bottomless stomachs.  So I have to come up with clever ways to put pretty things up without starving my kids.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this. 

It happens to be that I LOVE paper.  It is about the fastest, cheapest way to decorate almost anything.  Walls included.  For this project I just bought some 12"x12" paper at Scrapville http://www.scrapville.net/ , an adorable store in my hometown.  My DH spray painted the edges black.  Then I Modge Podged it onto MDF (you can find a recipe for home-made Modge Podge online).  When it was dry I sanded the edges and corners to distress it a little bit.  I put hanging brackets on the back and hung them on the wall.  It is just that simple!  I love that the paper had a door and windows on a couple of pages.  I placed them to appear as though you were looking at the wall of a humble villa.  Super cute! 

Repurposing a Twelve-foot palet

When you embark on a remodeling project, you better expect fairly large things to be delivered and plopped right on your driveway.  "Sure, Mr. Delivery Man, it's not like I'm a crazy, busy (a little more crazy than busy) mom with 4 kids and need a place to park my van.  Go ahead and plop that palet smack in the middle of my driveway".  You can imagine that we received many large 12 foot long palets during our second story addition.  And what do you do with all those palets?  They could end up on the side of the yard and take up space or you can get desperate like I did.

I have been begging my DH for about 15 years to build me an arbor.  His excuse was that the wood was too expensive.  How about FREE?  He couldn't argue with that.  All I needed was the braun (check), paint (check), and some cement ($5 check).  It really only took a weekend to make and I just love how it looks.

No Fire, Just a Hurricane

Every summer our family travels out to Utah.  And while in Utah I visit a particular store called Tai Pan Trading.  I love this store.  It is a designer's PARADISE!  I kid you not.  When I walk in it is like a kid walking into a candy store.  I just go wild with excitement.  This year I came across a pair of ornate, distressed iron sconces.  They were gorgeous and 20% off.  They're mine!  In the cart they go. 

After a long drive home with my treasures nestled amoung suitcases, we finally get them home.  I hang my beautiful sconces up.  They are perfect.  Now to find candles for them.  But, oh my, these sconces are meant for very large, very tall $20-$30 candles.  Um...yah, like I have that kinda money just for a pair of candles.  Not on my budget!

I took a trip to my local Micael's to see if I could get any ideas.  And bingo, I find a pair of glass huricane lamp covers for $2 each.  I took them home and spray painted the inside of them and stuck them in the sconce.  A match made in heaven if I do say so myself. 

Laundry Room Door Take Two

A little over a year ago my DH (darling husband) and I put on a second story addition.  As it happens, the new stairwell begins where the laundry room ends.  So the door to the laundry room folded open and blocked the stairwell by about 12 inches.  And you know how little boys LOVE boxes and are really great at finding new ways to use them?  Well, my two little boys decided to make a sled out of one and ride it down the new set of stairs.  BANG!  Right into the open laundry room door and broke it clean off the hinge.  Our laundry room to this day remains door less, but moms are pretty great at finding new uses for things as well.  I had my DH cut the folding louvered door into 4 panels.  I had my DH paint the taller set to match the trim of the outside of our house.  I distressed them by sanding away some of the paint with my new favorite tool, the electric hand sander.  And then I hung them up on the porch.  The shorter ones I distressed and hung up in my hallway.  I think they look pretty cute!

 

Crash!

Welcome to my blog!  I live a life of simple sophistication by default.  I like things to be sophisticated with a good share of class, yet simple with a little sass thrown in and very approachable.  Everything I do is a combination of both, from my behavior and opinions on etiquette, to art, my writings, photography, decorating, my sense of fashion and style, and life in general.  This blog is definitely in its infancy, but stick around and you will see how I bring both seemingly opposing worlds together.  So come on, let's go!