I'm not sure why this week has felt so long, but I'm glad it's Friday! I've decided to publish the Under $50 Friday posts once a month, instead of weekly, and see how that goes, though I will always try to have a balance between inexpensive items and splurges/investment pieces in my everyday posts. I don't put a lot of stock in horoscopes, but I do like zodiac imagery. Thomas Paul's iteration: traditional zodiac motifs on dishwasher-safe melamine coasters, shown here alphabetically ($48, Home Remedy). I'm a Sag, all the way, in case you were wondering. As hard as I try, I'm more of a piler than a filer, so I need to make sure my papers are well-organized within those towering stacks. Large (2-inch) glasses-frame-shaped Specs paper clips ($7 for 10, Umbra) will get the job done in a noticeable, funny way. My cramped 1950s kitchen was able to fit very few of the things from our old house. Anything from medium-sized small appliances to all the decorative items are still packed away. But we have two empty walls (literally, no cabinets or anything) next to which my grandparents used to have their kitchen table. We have a table there for extra counter space, but eat in the dining room. As they're some of the only walls in the house not wood-paneled, I'd love to hang art like Australian artist Belinda Marshall's Possibility print ($44, Leif) to bring some life into the room. This is supposed to represent a calm meditative space. My kitchen and I both could benefit from that! I just felt like sharing my favorite clear lip balm, which is Mor Cosmetics' Lip Macaron in passion flower ($10, beauty.com). I wear it all the time, especially now that the weather is getting chilly. It's light (not sticky), I love the fruity scent, and the little tin feels more special than a regular stick of balm. This quirky plastic Kipik hedgehog toothpick holder made me smile; it can either perch on the edge of a bowl or be used freestanding. The little guy comes with 22 picks ($25, MoMA Store).
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Pumpkins seem to be anything but orange these days. This weekend we're going picking with the girls and my parents, and I've been getting inspired by the pumpkin decorating projects I've seen online. Here are my favorite looks for pumpkins right now: The marbled pumpkins (above) from Say Yes to Hoboken are so sophisticated-looking and grown up, but easy enough to do with kids and a bit of supervision. And options are endless since nail polish colors are more than plentiful. I love the patterns and colors on these decoupaged botanical gourds created by Country Living, especially the one on the top left with the small orange leaves. Inspired by this string art pumpkin from Lines Across, I think I'd actually be a little more traditional and use the nails and string to create a large spider web, then glue a plastic spider onto it. I was surprised to find no pictures online of this idea. You could even paint the pumpkin black, apply the white web (or spray it silver before tying), and get a glow-in-the-dark spider. Maybe it's the school nerd in me, but I've always loved dioramas. So it's no surprise that I love the idea of a diorama set up in a hollowed out pumpkin. This scene from The Art of Doing Stuff, definitely captures the spirit of Halloween without being too scary or gory. This is obviously the most time-intensive, but how fun would it be to pick out and arrange all the tiny accessories inside? I like the little skeleton hand creeping out at the bottom! I always love a little edge, even on seasonal fruit. A studded pumpkin by Small Shop feels a bit punk inspired and takes very little time to achieve.
images via say yes to hoboken, country living, lines across, the art of doing stuff, small shop Xx a I don't know about where you live, but it's been pouring here in CNY (as it pretty much did all weekend), with a tornado advisory thrown in for fun. Rain can sometimes be a total drag, but I love this creative idea I saw on Brit + Co. It reminds me of the interesting pictures or slogans I'd see spray painted randomly on the sidewalks in New York, but with a sort of Invisible Ink quality. It's a surprise for when you might need an extra smile. Rust-Oleum has a product called NeverWet, which is a two-step moisture repelling system. Introduced as clever Home Depot contest entries (here, with tutorial and here), the idea is to use NeverWet and a stencil to spray your sidewalk, porch, or anywhere really, with a design that will only appear when the rest of the ground is saturated with water. The original idea was to create street art, but if you're feeling less public, it could be a great project to do with kids on a driveway or back patio. Rain puns are an obvious choice, but I wonder what I would stencil. Probably something cryptic and silly to make myself laugh—like the first half of a coded phrase from the original Get Smart: The blue sun melts the red snow. The snail image is adorable. The fun is that it can be as simple or elaborate as you want it to be.
It also occurred to me that if your child is into spy stuff as much as I was (am), you could do something like this as part of a spy-themed party or activity. And if you don't want to keep it forever, when the top coat finally wears off and the water no longer beads you can skip reapplication, or according to Rust-Oleum's site, you can wipe the surface with mineral spirits. What design would you spray on your sidewalk? Late last night, our closest friends from New Jersey gave birth to their second son. We were pregnant at the same time during the first go-round, and it was so nice to have someone to experience everything with since she was only a few weeks ahead of me. In their honor, I rounded up a few cute baby gifts. Welcome to the world DJM, can't wait to meet you!! Xx Though I'm really not a monogram person, I do sometimes make exceptions. I love these precious personalized embroidery and felt hoop art pieces (above), $20-$27 each, from bluewithoutyoukids at Etsy. I can get a little touchy about overly gender specific items (don't get me started on all the pink), so I love the cute unisex robot blanket from Little Auggie, $78. This teether (with too-sweet app icons) won't fool them for long, but at least in the early months, it is nice if the phone they're chewing on isn't yours! Canadian maple laser-engraved teether, $12, 3PrincessesStore at Etsy. Illustrator Wayne Pate now brings his adorable designs to wearable items, $28, exclusively at Serena & Lily. Love the little seafaring bird with knit cap and pipe. I'm a huuuuge fan of baby and kids' toys that are made of wood or fabric. These fruits and veggies are so cute and are made and stuffed with certified organic Egyptian cotton, $8 each, Under the Nile. Even better, they are machine washable. There are so many reasons to start teaching your baby a foreign language, and of course starting when babies are young is easiest. These blocks come in Mandarin, $37, or Spanish, $34, UncommonGoods. images via bluewithoutyoukids, little auggie, 3princessesstore, serena & lily, under the nile, uncommongoods
Xx a Over the weekend, I finally started working on the decorations for our 10th anniversary vow renewal taking place this Friday. I'm kind of freaking out at how soon all this is happening. I don't feel ready, though a lot of it is falling into place. The weather even looks like it might be nice enough to do the brief ceremony outside. We would really like that since ten years ago it rained until right around when our ceremony ended. We didn't get to have any of the cocktail hour outside, though we did get some great photos because of the overcast sky. Bonus: no squinting! None of the DIY decorations I'm doing are revolutionary, by any means. I'm sure it will look a lot like what you've seen on Pinterest, but I'm limited by time and budget, and it's a small intimate gathering. I know I make it sound like I never do anything DIY, which actually isn't entirely true. It's just that most of what I have done has been stationery related. I did every bit of stationery for our wedding, and spent hours and hours cutting out japanese wrapping paper into small squares to make pockets onto larger squares of card stock. Into these pockets went another square with the name of the table people were sitting at, and the guests' names were written at the top. Also all the names of the tables were named after squares in Manhattan: Madison Square, Washington Square, etc. I was really into the theme... At any rate, we started the table decor and the dipped tealight holder came out pretty well, so taping and spraying the rest is on the agenda today after I work on captions for an article. Speaking of dipped and DIY, I'm glad I'm not the only one still into this trend. Here are three DIY dipped projects that anyone can do. Click the images for the tutorials. These dipped bottles are similar to what I'm doing, but mine are all in gold. I love the palette Liz from Say Yes to Hoboken chose on these. Carving pumpkins is fun, but this idea from Brit + Co. would really stand out on a stoop or front porch! This project is a little more involved because Emily, of The Sweet Beast, had to remove pre-existing supports for a lower shelf. It's still a really doable project and inexpensive. I love how glossy the finish looks with the Polycrylic coat she applied at the end.
The last several days have been a bit insane, so I'm glad it's Friday! Hope everyone has a fun weekend planned! A few lovely things I saw this week (click images for purchasing/details): This 14" diameter bowl ($40, Horchow) is made of recycled metal and jute rope. The pattern reminds me of dream catchers without the feathers and it's always nice to have natural materials mixed in with your decor. I have an oval dining table, and it seems so hard to find placemats that I like and will fit well all next to each other. But regardless of fit, I love the colors of these ($36 each, ABC Home) and the metallic thread woven throughout the raw hemp. I also like that they're handcrafted at an economically sustainable embroidery co-op in Vietnam. I know, I know. These have been around a while, but I do truly love the color combos and the space-saving quality of these nylon whisks ($18 each, Gretel). And I never got to feature them when I wanted to, so let me get it out of my system. There. I'm curious to know how they stand up under regular use. Has anyone used one? This is one of those cases where something functional has been made beautiful. Looking at this piece you almost don't realize it's meant to put flies and other pests down ($14, Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co.). It's handcrafted in Germany and made from leather and beechwood. Little Sun ($28, MoMA Store) is a solar-powered LED lamp developed by artist Olafur Eliasson and solar engineer Frederik Ottesen. Every purchase makes it possible for Little Suns, which provide clean reliable light, to be sold at locally affordable prices to the 1.6 billion people worldwide living in communities without access to the electrical grid.
One of the easiest ways to create a look that's truly your own is to include handmade products in your house. The best thing about handmade goods is that they're generally limited in quantity, so few people will have the same pieces as you, and even those that aren't so limited are still special because it's very difficult to achieve uniform precision on each creation. But, I bet artists and designers prefer it that way; the happy accidents and imperceptible mistakes behind each piece may be totally unrecognizable to you but tell the story of their process. The story behind each piece, or more precisely, the story behind the Maker of each piece, is exactly what the site BRIKA is after. How the designers got started, what music they listen to when creating, what inspires them—all of that matters and creates a connection to people all over the country pursuing their passion. One of those people is Karen Young (above), the Brooklyn-based designer behind Hammocks & High Tea. Karen is a joy—I've been lucky enough to work with her in the past—and is just one of dozens of women (mostly) and men featured who've dedicated their lives to the imprecise, but monumentally fulfilling, work of crafting their products by hand. Karen is selling some of her fabulous dopp kits in exclusive patterns for the site. Also, completely randomly, I came across jewelry maker Penelope Rakov who went to my high school, graduating only a few years ahead of me (I remembered her name)! Small world. Many of the products featured on BRIKA are modern interpretations of traditional techniques practiced by past craftspeople and artisans, and the founders of the site hope that the pieces bought today will become new heirlooms to be passed down. Here are my favorite products available at BRIKA right now (click the images to purchase or see more): Check out the site and let me know which pieces are your favorite! product images via Brika
Xx a I have done some minimal fashion and beauty coverage here and there, but it's not my forte. With all the spring 14 runway shows happening though, I thought I'd give fashion a nod with my under $50 picks for this week. The upshot of suburban life? The new designer collections at Target aren't totally decimated when you stroll in there at 8pm on launch day. I scored this pullover ($35, above), a skirt, and another top. I love coats with funnel collars; whenever I wear them it makes me feel like some sort of undercover operative. For this baby ($49.95) from H&M, it's a toss-up between the gray and the black version, which has imitation leather sleeves. I don't wear tons of jewelry because I'm sensitive to metals (not real gold or platinum, lucky for my husband), but I like the matte finish and style of this cuff ($48) available at Macy's, so I would wear it as regularly as I could. For some reason I don't usually go for cap toe shoes, but I do like the blue and black pairing here ($49.50) from Loft.
This seemed like a very long week to me (though I'm thrilled to report the baby slept through the night again, so I'm not as tired as yesterday). On Sunday we'll be attending the local Parade of Homes, which is like a showhouse tour to promote area builders. Local interior designers, stagers, and sometimes the builders themselves decorate the houses, so I'll be looking for new ideas and inspiration. I'm looking forward to it, as I do every year, but more so this year because there is finally (finally!) going to be a contemporary style model, as in one that is not Colonial or Craftsman. I'm hoping to see enough good design to be able to write about it for Monday. But first, some under $50 fun! Nothing spooky for Friday the 13th. I'll wait for Halloween, my favorite holiday of all. How pretty are these delicate wood bottle stoppers ($22 each) from Leif? 80s kids and mix tape lovers, this cookie cutter ($16) from Annie's Blue Ribbon General Store has you covered. Now you just have to decide what angsty name to frost on each cookie. A bright set of letterpress coasters by Thimblepress ($8 for set of 5; green pattern not pictured) from Brika. The set is usually $10, but is currently discounted because it just launched on the site. Adorable paperclip holder ($14.75) from Maxiga. I love how it looks like he's in tall grass! They also have a deer, polar bear, and swan. (paperclips not included) Balloons and so-cute clowns and circus folk adorn this kids' pillow ($42.80 with cushion filler) from Zara Home. Missed last week's under $50 picks? Click each image for details.
During late spring/early summer, I worked on my first project with Redbook magazine, a supplement to their September issue called Kidbook. It came out a few weeks ago, but it had limited exposure because it only went to subscribers.
I did all the market work from Syracuse, which was a first for me; but it worked out really well, thanks to my amazing pr contacts/friends and the editor who worked with me. I produced two stories: One piece was about organizing kid clutter and the other was a cute bath decor story. I think both stories have a lot of really fun, useful products, and I'm excited to share them with you! |
#checkout this blog with shop-themed puns
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