How to Wear: Lovely, Casual Braids

Model and actress Farris Patton is certainly stunning. I don't know if it's due to her features, the clothing styling or her flaxen hair, but doesn't her ability to pull off a hint of a loose, non-constricting braid look stunning?

As a hairstylist, I would hope I had the ability to pull it off. Surely, I would look more like a Pippy Longstocking though. But today, I'm going to give it a shot. I think that keeping it low, slightly disheveled, yet smooth is the key point, while keeping the rest of your hair carefree.

For a top part braid like in the first pic, lots of ideas here and instructions here. The skinny tight braid is old news, keep it low and loose, work it into a smooth, but messy side bun. Tons of ideas online.

This is a fishtail braid. Fergie has one here with pretty good instructions on how to do it.

Remember to keep it somewhat tight when braiding, but pull pieces apart when done.

The hidden braid. You don't even need to tie it off for a natural look. Just add a hint of gel or wax to your hands when you braid and then twist a bit of wax over the braid once you are done. Happy experimenting!

Inspired Room: My House of Giggle's Dreamy Striped Bedroom

 Tracey of My House of Giggles featured her lovely gray and white striped bedroom so I am finally getting around to showing you some of it. Be sure to visit her best of 2010 projects, they are all so beautiful and full of inspiration. I love her use of gray, blues and white, and the careful additions of stripes. I tried my own striped little cake pedestal stand, and though I love it, I simply could not get the lines to be as straight as I would have liked.

 Her chandelier work is enchanting, and so inspiring. See how she did another one here.

  I would never have thought of using two, thin, ornate contrasting colored mirrors like this. Love it.

 As a jewelry designer, I am in desperate need of cute and creative ways to store jewelry, I adore these.

 I did ballet as a toddler, does that count if I want to add some ballet slippers in my room?!

 Aren't her flower paintings lovely? She also has an etsy shop, which is currently closed, 

but hopefully she will add more items soon!

DIY Cuckoo Clocks

I have always loved cuckoo clocks. They remind of the fall, since they usually feature woodland themes, so it's really the perfect time for them. My mother in law has a very ornate one from Germany when they lived there and it's so sweet. One day I would love one of my own from my own world travels. This diy pair from ever kelly are simple crafts, complete with an instruction list and tutorial here.(click here for pdf version)...something that could tide me over and look charming in our home.

Inspired Craft: Vintage Stackable Flower Tutorial

 Zivile from No Snow Supplies, and I collaborated on a little project. She sent me some of my favorite vintage stackable flower findings in exchange for a little advice on how to use them.

If you frequent antique malls or estate sales, you will see these very flowers in lots of vintage designs. I see them mostly used in large, clip-on earrings, usually with some pearls or rhinestones in the centers, and glued to the edges of the petals, see here for examples.

 First, you need some finding backings, which you can get pretty much anywhere. For the centers, you can use beads, pearls, cabs, rhinestones, basically anything semi circular that will fit in there. These flowers are a very flexible plastic, so they can work with each other really well, Just stack, glue, hold together, stack, glue.... Hot glue works great, but it peels pretty easily, so an adhesive made for jewelry is best. I like E600, though something that dries quicker is probably better.

Here, I have ring bases, earring posts, bobby pin with pad, and a pendant. You can also use wire, brooch backs, a piece of felt with a safety pin attached... pretty much anything. I would love to see a series of these flowers stacked up and held together to make a statement necklace. I've even used them to make flower fabric brooches a while back. They would even make a festive little garland or cute decor for wreaths or other little home projects. Use them to jazz up some napkin rings or refrigerator magnets something.

You can order these soft, plastic stackable flowers from No Snow Supplies to create your own projects!
She also has beads, cabs and findings in her shop, mostly vintage and colorful combinations. She is in Lithuania, and it takes about 8-12 days to arrive, a lot faster than I was expecting. If you use them, I'd love to see your projects. If you don't, what kinds of things can you see these in?

Ruffle Shirt Tutorial and Layering Cardigans

Sachiko, the talent of Tea Rose Home has a beautiful ruffle shirt tutorial here.  In fact, she has several different ruffle shirt tutorials, and many other tutorials on making wonderful things as well. They are much more sophisticated than my layered lace shirt tutorial. All are beautiful but this one with the horizontal ruffles, and the demure fabric roses is my favorite.

Maybe it's my favorite because how soft it looks, or the calm, grain color, or even how it is paired with this cardigan in the perfect shade of robin's egg blue. Do visit here to see the step by step instructions (with clear photos) on making this shirt. Then, find a nice, light, cardigan you can layer over it. How about one of these?

 vintage 1960's cornflower blue ~ revive vintage

 vintage 60's embroidered sunny yellow cardigan ~ annetheia vintage

 vintage 60's fuzzy baby pink angora cardigan ~ the greedy seagull

 

 vintage 1950's pale yellow cardigan ~ bonjour dolly

Homefront: Easy and Inexpensive Ephemera Collage Art

This little art project takes about 15 minutes and costs about $15. It takes up a nice little piece of wall space too. If you were to get 4 canvases and put them in a square shape, it could make a nice headboard as well.

First, I got a pack of 2 stretched canvas for $9.99 and some corsage pins for .87 cents. You need 4 pins per main paper, and one pin for the middle paper. So, 5 pins per piece of canvas.

I had a pack of ephemera I got from dodipc, mixed with some papers I had been collecting. Ephemera is essentially vintage papers, maps, patterns, photographs, text, bookplates, receipts, postcards, love letters, ledger papers, music sheets, flash cards, ticket stubs, advertisements... Very easy to collect at antique malls and packs can be found on Etsy or Ebay. You probably have something right now you could use. Or, visit The Graphics Fairy and print some free vintage images. Try tea staining some current papers for a similar effect, lots of methods explained here.

There is something so romantic about ledger paper. The crisp, black ink, and the nearly perfect fonts of the handwriting transports me to a time when men were gentlemen and took such care in the way records were presented. Each capital letter is curled beautifully, and the words form on the lines in straight perfection.

 I didn't paint the canvases, but any craft acrylic paint will do if you wish to paint. If you do, remember to paint the sides of the canvas as well. I was going to tape the ledger paper directly on the canvas, but tape doesn't stick, so I used the corsage pins instead. You could also glue the paper down, but I prefer to change things at random, and have a hard time gluing down certain vintage papers, so I kept it as reversible as possible.

I taped the pins down on the back of the canvas to help keep them in position, though a stronger tape would probably be best. Or, you could always embroider the paper down instead of pin it. I love the elongated pearly tips and angled them to emphasize the corner of the papers. Vintage hat pins would work as well.

This project is so quick and easy, with minimal clean up after wards. The papers you choose is limitless, and they don't have to match perfectly either. You could even use a photograph of your children as the center piece. Or glue the back paper on, and change the front paper depending on the season. You can frame them as well if you want, but I just wanted a quick and simple piece of art for this wall space.

Linked to: Simply Designing Linky Party, Finding Fabulous Frugalicious Friday, Tater Tots and Jello DIY Linky, The Shabby Nest Frugal Friday

Homefront: DIY Painted Stripe Accent Furniture

I've run across a few striped furniture pieces that have really called to me (shown later in the post). So, I wanted to experiment with something small. In 30 minutes, I had a new look, and now know if it's worth doing a larger piece in the future. (it is)

Last year, this adorable plant stand broke and I was only left with the top. My husband pretty much thought I was nuts for saving it. I glued it with E6000/hot glue (can't remember which)  to a candle holder pillar. Now I have this cute little pedestal cake stand, though I wouldn't put a cake directly on it because it isn't sealed.

I spent about 60 seconds laboriously sanding the top and side that I would be painting. If you do not want the unpainted part to be distressed, then sand after you put the tape down.

I took some electrical tape and made my stripes 2 strips worth. I used that little tape piece between each set of tape I laid down to make sure they were the same width apart. I think blue painters tape would be better as my tape stretched out of shape too easily and didn't lay down as flat so the paint smudged.

I took regular white craft paint and watered it down, and painted the exposed areas. Then, I pulled off the tape while the paint was still wet. I was able to get those smudgy areas off the stripe edges by gently wiping them off with a damp paper towel. If I were extra ambitious, a bit of black paint would have worked too.

After the paint dried, which was really quickly, I lightly sanded the stripes. Though, I think I will go back and sand it down more for less contrast. (I think white and a soft gray would look perfect.)

before in black

after

Stripes on a small piece is a fast and simple change that adds just a touch of spunk to a corner. And if you don't like it, no biggie, just paint over it or sand the heck out of it.

*More stripey furniture inspirations for you*

 My House of Giggles striped painted table. I love how her stripes are varying widths and how she kept the side of the top base the one stripe color. She does another striped table top with wide stripes here.

 In the Fun Lane painted the stripes from the top down the front for a coastal beach feel. 

 Her sea side dresser isn't technically striped, but  with the drawers painted a different color and the addition of hand painted numbers, it gives a same effect. Perfect for those who have a hard time making straight lines.

I love the muted tones here. It would work well in so many settings and wouldn't be as difficult to decorate around should your decor change. 

Great Oak Circle has a diy post on this table she painted. Love what she did to the writing desk.

 I truly adore love this home featured in Coastal Living. The idea of doing the large stripes on a dining table is lovely. I am pretty sure this is how we are going to do ours now. 

This Mini-Kildare dresser by TreeHouse Trading Co. shows that there are lots of ways to play with stripes and colors, especially on detailed pieces with doors and trim. 

*Linked to Strut your Stuff Thursday @ Somewhat Simple, Transformation Thursday @ Shabby Chic Cottage, Life as Lori's Get Your Craft On, Fireflies and Jelly Beans' Show Off Your Stuff, The Shabby Nest Frugal Friday, Tater Tots and Jello DIY Linky, Finding Fabulous' Frugalicious Friday.