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This weekend my friend Steph and I made this chair together. Well, to be completely accurate, we took an old chair and turned it into this vision in white and gold. Inspired by a chair I’d seen at Anthropolgie, we took a free swivel chair I’d been given by my sweetheart’s parents and transformed into a modern glam masterpiece in about four hours for exactly $4.71.
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Although coat season is going to be winding down soon (or is it?), purse and accessory season has no end! Ideas for clever coat/purse hangers are in season, and this one is no exception.
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At this point in my relationship, we're sorta past making a big deal for Valentine's Day. As I look back, we never really did much, but these days, it's simply a reminder that we're a pretty great fit for each other, and that every day feels special. I'm grateful that I don't have show up with gems and jewelry, but can we'll likely just stay in, make a thoughtful dinner together and treat ourselves...perhaps with a bottle of champagne.
Of course, as a crafter, I can't just leave things alone, and it's precisely because there are no expectations that I wanna do something a little extra. So, this year, I'm customizing our celebration bottle with a special message in type.
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The inspiration for this easy holiday project came to me in a dream. I know, I know...that sounds like an elaborate and somewhat ridiculous setup for a blog post, but it's true, in this case. Sparing you the details, I'll just share the effect- in which I woke up a few days ago, and immediately felt compelled to Google "sparkly OR glitter platypus ornament". No results. Surprised?
At some point that day, I decided I couldn't bear to live...
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It's not surprising that I spend quite a bit of time at the craft store. As a full-time craft, design, and art blogger, I've grown quite familiar with my looped route of hardware store/craft store/art supply shop/other craft store/supermarket...in that order.
So, it's always a pleasant surprise when I find some new material or media I've never seen before, and to think of all kinds of cool stuff to do with it. This holiday season, it...
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Truth be told, I've never actually owned, made, or utilized a dining table "centerpiece." See, I'm lucky enough to have any dining area at all in my urban apartment, in which I barely manage to fit a small table big enough for four. Once the table is set, filled with glasses, place mats, and the like, there's no room for extra decor. I would need an actual dining room, with an actual dining table.
But, this holiday season, I decided to make one anyway. Small space concerns be darned, my table deserves to be as decked as my halls. (I don't have a hallway either...) And since I've decided to embrace the glitter, I figured this was the perfect opportunity to get sparkly.
This project took less than ten minutes of work, and cost me well under $10.00 in materials. That's a lot of glittery cheer for the effort, in my book. So, there's no reason not to make one yourself!
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I feel sorta bad for the nutcracker as an object... I mean, people like to eat nuts during other, non-holiday times of the year, right? But then, some German Romantic fantasy writer decided it made a pretty good gift from a crazy, creepy uncle, and then good old Pyotr Ilyich thought that adventure made a mostly awesome subject for a ballet, and now, any glimpse of those wide-jawed wooden soldiers simply screams, "It's Christmas! It's Christmas!"
Or, perhaps, I feel bad for most actual nutcrackers...cause they're, well, kinda tacky. I mean, I know there are really quality, beautiful, carved wooden ones, especially the handcrafted ones from the German forrest tradition. But the ones sold nowadays in discount stores are low-quality, poorly sanded and hastily glued pieces of mass-produced junk.
Which means they're perfect, inexpensive opportunity for a modern, minimalist makeover. Like this:
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Against all my expectations, my daughter Ayla is a princess-loving, pink-obssessed, necklace-wearing girly girl. She's two, and yet she often demands wardrobe changes several times per day. Honestly, I don't know how this happened; I always kind of thought I end up with a tomboy, but no, her favorite games are 'jewly' (jewelry) and and dressing up her 'babies.'
It's cool, though. I can adapt. And here's proof: this fall I was driving by an...
:format(jpeg)/http://assets.curbly.com/photos/0000/0015/0308/dsc_0098_thumb_1_large.jpg "credit: Starr Family [http://akstarrfamily.blogspot.com/2010/08/fan-project-what-breeze-har-har.html]")
Okay peeps, alert the media, because this makeover is genius. Genius, I say! (It also makes me wanna smack my head and ask myself why I didn't think of it on my own.) Check it out, a cheap-o Hawaiian Breeze fan went from boring to brilliant with the help of a can of
:format(jpeg)/http://assets.curbly.com/photos/0000/0014/7520/picture_2.jpg "credit: Mark Montano [http://markmontanoblogs.blogspot.com/2011/08/photo-of-dayhouse-beautiful.html]")
No, it's not just a comment on its color or pattern. This pillow was ACTUALLY made using a plate, AND, I might add, Curbly's favorite spray paint: Krylon. Here's the shopping list
This month, Krylon is sponsoring a series of thrifty, creative DIY projects:
Over the last month, we've been giving some love to our favorite room in the house ... our porch. Earlier this month we spruced up our porch coffee tables and a rocking chair. Then we kept the momentum going and re-did some candle-holders. This week's project was both functional and fun, and we were thrilled with the results.
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If I were to tell you that this builder-basic chandelier was really a diamond in the rough and you'd want it in every room of your house, would you believe me? What if I told you the key to success was a few metal baskets? See for yourself.
:format(jpeg)/http://assets.curbly.com/photos/0000/0014/1782/diyafter.jpg "mercury glass-1")
For the past few years I've been amassing my own personal collection of mercy glass. I love how it feels classic, yet modern and can fit in with virtually any color scheme. So I was really excited when Krylon came out with their own do-it-yourself paint,
This month, Krylon is sponsoring a series of thrifty, creative DIY projects:
:format(jpeg)/http://assets.curbly.com/photos/0000/0014/1898/before_large.jpg "credit: Not that bad, but not quite perfect")
:format(jpeg)/http://assets.curbly.com/photos/0000/0014/1902/dsc_4603_large.jpg "credit: Reminder - here's where we left off last week.")
Because we don't have a power outlet on the porch, we use a lot of candles. In our initial search for candle holders that were the...
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Artwork. For my money, it's the number one way to add personality to a room. Sure, a $25 can of paint can make a big impact, but I'll take a white room with loads of art over boldly painted walls any day.
But, of course, you can't just go to the artwork store and scan the aisles until you find just the right piece of scale and color that matches your decor. Real art takes time to create, and fetches appropriately not-cheap prices, and...
This month, Krylon is sponsoring a series of thrifty, creative DIY projects:
:format(jpeg)/http://assets.curbly.com/photos/0000/0014/1194/before_large.jpg "credit: An iPhone crash stole my real 'before' photos, so this (really) old photo will have to do.")
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This eyesore of a bench had seen its day. The outdoors had done its work on the poor thing, and it was showing it. But one DIY-er could see the beauty within this beast and went to work, creating a new garden bench from her old, splintered one.
This month, Krylon is sponsoring a series of thrifty, creative DIY projects:
:format(jpeg)/http://assets.curbly.com/photos/0000/0014/0680/dsc_4324_large.jpg "credit: A reminder of what the trike looked like before we got our hands on it.")
Using three cans of Krylon Dual spray paint (in white, purple, and watermelon), some custom decals we created using a Silhouette cutting machine, and a new set of wheels, we made a one-of-a-kind...
Last summer, my mother-in-law came across a Radio Flyer tricycle at a garage sale. It was in the "Free" section and she nabbed it, thinking that if it were cleaned up a bit, our daughter Ayla might like to give it a pedal. It sat in her garage for a year until we came upon it a few weeks ago.
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It was in a sorry state; discolored, wonky steering, rusty spots, old tires and old cheese...
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Brooke says, "I have seen some SAWEEEEEET lamps out there right now with spheres on the lamp bases. I wanted to try and make my own version, but it has taken me a few weeks to come up with a worthy alternative for the lamp base. If I used styrofoam, it wouldn't look smooth. If I used circles of wood, it would cost too much."
And then she figured it out, and the results are mighty clever. Can you guess what she used?