My No-Sew D.I.Y. Ugly Christmas Sweater

Today we have our holiday party at work. Like last year we’ll be doing a white elephant gift exchange which is always good for a few (or many) laughs. This year there will be some additional laughing because we’ve added an ugly Christmas sweater element into the mix. 

As a gal with a jam packed closet I struggled with the idea of purchasing an ugly holiday sweater that I would most likely only wear once a year. Sweaters take up prime closet real estate & that’s just something I wasn’t ready to support. So I opted to make my own “temporary” ugly Christmas sweater. I picked up an inexpensive ($9.99) grey sweatshirt at Marshalls & dug through my holiday decor box & in a few minutes I had a no-sew ugly Christmas sweater that can be dismantled & turned back into a comfy grey sweatshirt when the day is done.

Pink Valentines: Baby Head Bands & Big Girl Hair Clips

If you have little girls in your life that like princesses & anything pink or if you're just hoping she does, these valentines are for that little angel.   There's a lot of little ladies in my life some who run circles around me & some who aren't even crawling yet, but accessories are fun for every age.

Read on for more photos on how to whip these up for your little ladies.

PS: Happy Valentine's Day! 

PPS: check out some photos of my little models here & here.

Spiderman Valentines: Pins & Hair Clips

I know I said I'm not big on Valentine's Day but I am big on spoiling the mini valentines in my life & crafting. This mini project was a labor of my love for both of them. There is a ton of little men in my world that just happen to love Spiderman. One of the little ladies in my life happens to want to do everything the boys are doing so I came up with this Spiderman Valentine's Day craft that can work as a pin for a backpack or as a fun hair clip for your tomboy.

Click through for the step-by-step photos of how I made these.

DIY Holiday Gift: Homemade Pasta

My girlfriends & I had a secret santa dinner the other night. My secret santa was Alice, the girl who has everything & knows everything about food since she's the mastermind behind Culinary Agents.  With a budget of just $10 for our secret santa gift I thought the perfect gift for Alice would be some homemade pasta.  I used some cello bags I picked up at a local bake shop & printed some labels to seal the bags with. I opted for three different pasta shapes & gave Alice a bag of lasagna noodles, linguini & spaghetti. I'm excited to see what she cooks up with them.

 

DIY Holiday Gift Bag

I love packaging, an occupational hazard you might say.  I work on a team to create packaging for beauty products at Shobha. So I know the hours it takes to create & approve even the smallest details that go into the packages that you carry home with you in a shopping bag.  Shopping bags follow the same suit as packaging & is probably why I tend to hoard the 'good ones' & hate to just toss them.

This holiday season I repurposed a shopping bag from Anthropologie (you know a 'good one') for my secret santa at the office.  It was pretty quick & the results were pretty cute.

What you'll need:

• a 'good shopping' bag, one that isn't too well loved
• wrapping paper scraps
• scissors
• clear tape (or glue or modpodge)

Make it!

1. Cut a shape out of the wrapping paper.  Cut the shape into strips.
2. Lay the shopping bag on a flat surface.
3. Lay the strips out, evenly spaced on the bag in the desired position.
4. Seal the strips in place by covering them with clear tape, or use glue or modpodge.
5. That's it! Wrap your gift in tissue & tie a gift tag on the bag & you're ready to gift!

Photo GIft Ideas

Cameras are everywhere in all shapes & sizes. Mine (the best Christmas gift ever! from the hubs) is never too far away to capture goofy moments or yummy dishes.  If I don't have it with me I rely on my phone camera.

I have tons of photos on my hard drive that, well, sit on my hard drive. I did a quick search for giftable items to make with my photos & was thrilled at the results.

Aside from the classic photo album, these are my new top three faves!

1. Smartphone Case: gelskins.com has virtually every kind of case you can customize & put fun photos on of your loved ones... like this one of Chris! (suprise, you're on the blog today!)
2. Memory Game: (most possibly my favorite of the bunch) pinholepress.com allows you to make a classic card game your own with photos of loved ones or whatever you choose! This would make a great birthday gift of housewarming gift for homes with children or adults wanting to sharpen their memory skills.
3. Christmas Ornament: decorate your tree with your favorite photos with these great ornaments from shutterfly.com. Also, a great housewarming gift for new homeowners.

What other customizable gifts are you giving this holiday season? Please share!

Very Hungry Caterpillar Baby Shower Gift

Yesterday we celebrated my adorable & very pregnant sister-in-law, Marie.  Above is the gift that I crafted up for my new niece or nephew.  Clearly, it was inspired by the book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which was also the base of the stack of gifts.  Click through to see more photos of how I made this baby shower gift, plus my favorite part of this gift.

Plastic Bag Container

I'm usually the gal with fifteen reusable bags with me at the super market but sometimes I forget or end up on an impromptu shopping trip & end up toting plastic bags home. I try my best to reuse these mainly as garbage bags in my bathroom's waste bin.  More often than not they end up in a giant mess under my kitchen sink.  While perusing Pinterest I came upon this idea to reuse containers to make a plastic bag dispenser like as pictured in the above photo.  I reused my container from my fave Shobha Rosewater Freshening Cloths, but you can use whatever large container you have at home as long as it's empty! 

As the art director on the marketing at Shobha we really try to come up with sustainable packaging for our products.  The fact that you can reuse our containers for something useful like this is a tiny win in my world.

Score yourself a free mini canister of Shobha Rosewater Freshening Cloths (50 cloth count) for your house & future plastic bag storage container by answering a simple question on facebook (hurry the winner will be picked Wednesday, August 15, 2012!

Read on to learn how to make your own plastic bag container!

Easter Decoration Inspiration

I've always been surrounded by creative people in my life. Growing up we always had a craft room and it's been tradition for mothers and grandmothers to make the wedding dresses in my family (more on that later).  It just so happens that I married into creativity too.  Yes I'm that lucky.

These are pics I snapped from Easter at my talented mother-in-law's house.  Her sense of style and decor is a force to be reckoned with and would give Martha a run for her money.

I aspire to one day have chic seasonal decorations like her and to dress a table with every last detail being truly classy and never cheesy.  ( I also aspire to have a place to store these things too!)

"Peep" more pics after the jump!

A DIY Duble Duty Table Runner

 

For a fun dinner this weekend I served up shrimp and chicken tacos with a big spread of salsas, cheeses, avocado and hot sauces. Our urban living doesn't allow for us to keep lots of table linens but I thought ours needed something - that something was a parchment paper table runner.

This table runner served double duties as a catchall for food that dropped and as a way to label the food in a cute way.

Make your own table runner:

1. Cut a  piece of parchment paper long enough to cover your table lengthwise.  Leave enough to wrap around the underneath of the table.  
2. Tape the paper underneath each end of the table holding it taut
3. Finished by adding a center piece.  
4. Serve your food in colorful bowls or dishes and label your spread with a pencil right on the paper. 

tip: Use pencil on parchment paper anything else will smear (yes, even sharpie). 

An Easy Spring Bouquet

can you guess what types of flowers these are? mouse over to see if you're right!

This weekend Chris and I spent some quality time with some of our family at a small dinner party at our apartment. I whipped up this easy sprint bouquet to bring some fresh cheer to our table with some fresh flowers from Trader Joes and tape! Learn the easy steps to make your own after the jump!

A "Ready to Pop" Baby Shower

My dear friend is almost "ready to pop" these days as she is expecting her first baby (girl!). I couldn't be more excited and jumped on the party planning band wagon at the mention of her baby shower. After picking up some general craft materials and fabrics at AC Moore, I starting making the decorations for Lindsey's "ready to pop" baby shower. We decided to keep the decor bright and cheery with hot pinks, sunny yellows and limey greens. I was of course pinning on pinterest everyday to see if there were any other baby shower must-haves.

The decorations, food and smiling faces made for a really special day.