living artfully

decorating inspiration

Color. Pattern. Texture. Balance. Good design. I think that home decor and scrapbooking have a lot more in common than you might think. My favorite layouts have kraft cardstock and a few key embellishments. At home I like a neutral base with well-placed pops of color. I don't like my pages or my home to be visually overloaded.

As a young girl, I loved to rearrange my bedroom and was always wishing for a new comforter set and paint color. These days, we're renters who are pinching pennies for our dream home. So I get my design fix from this list of blogs that I love love love. My favorite home bloggers are real people, featuring their own homes, diy-ing and solving real-life design dilemmas.

russet street reno
 

 

Sara from Russet Street Reno is easily one of my favorite bloggers. She blogs from south-eastern Wisconsin. Gotta love a local girl! She's an honest and hilarious DIY-er, fixing up a two-story home with her soon-to-be hubby.


house tweaking
 

 

When I picture the decor in our dream home, Dana's house at House Tweaking immediately comes to mind. Dana's family just put their house on the market to down-size into a home they can pay off quickly, so Dana can pursue her design dreams. I'm cheering her on!


nesting place
 

 

Nesting Place is my favorite place to go for DIY projects, like her fur ottoman, tree tump side tables, and wall of plates. Love her thoughts on imperfection, living in a rented home, and thrifting.


young house love
 

 

John and Sherry of Young House Love are immensely popular, and for good reason. They're remodeling and redecorating their second home, keeping it fun, affordable, and inspirational along the way.

I'm seriously hooked on these home design blogs. It's fun to be invited into their homes to see how they decorate and make each space their own. What about you? Do you find inspiration in home design?

hugs, sharyn

christmas classes

Christmas is still on my mind. Early last week, I was dreaming about Christmas decorations. Well, I just couldn't resist temptation. So yesterday, I enjoyed a peppermint mocha from Starbucks and this went up...

 

Too early for most people, but feels perfect to me :)

The other holiday item I've been thinking about is my December scrapbook. In 2008, I followed Ali Edwards' loose December Daily structure. And in 2009, I followed Jessica Sprague's free Holidays in Hand class. I really liked how my 2009 book turned out, having prompts to follow... especially for those days when we didn't do anything especially holiday-like.

Without a question, I'll be making another December album this year. They are so much fun to pull out and remember the details of the holiday season, which otherwise could blur together year after year. And with a little prep in November, they can be totally manageable in December. So my dilemma? Which class to follow this year.

Ali Edwards is again taking us through her December Daily approach. There is no fee, so all you have to do is visit her blog for inspiration and tips. Generally, December Dailys involve designing a page per day with photos and words in mini-book format. There's also an active Flickr group for sharing your pages. Even if I follow prompts from a different class, I think I'll still be borrowing inspiration from the December Daily concept.

 

I'm also looking at Tracy Clark's class for Big Picture Scrapbooking, Picture the Holidays. This class gives you daily photo prompts for all 31 days of December. The downside is that there isn't as much of a focus on words, but I do like the idea of being challenged to photograph the holidays in new ways. Instead of capturing nearly the same images as last year, I think Picture the Holidays could really help me see things in new light.

 

And of course, I'm also looking at Shimelle's Journal your Christmas class. I've never spent money before on a class to organize my December album. But I do like that once you enroll in Journal your Christmas, you have permanent access, including access to years past plus all future years. This class gives you journaling prompts as well as a photography focus = best of both worlds! And in addition to the prompts, there's the message boards, a digital kit, an online party, a workbook for bloggers... gosh too much to even list! Go read about it :)  As you can probably tell, I'm super tempted to join in, but the practical side of me is saying I can make this album without paying a class fee. What to do?!

Any recommendations? And did I miss any other great holiday classes? I would love to hear how you're approaching your December album as well as your suggestions!

 

i'm dreaming of a green christmas

It never fails. This time of year, my mind always skips ahead to Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I love Halloween and I love love Thanksgiving. But Christmas always feels so magical to me and I can't help but think ahead.

I am not one of those people who minds seeing Christmas trees in the stores in October. Bring it on. Love the inspiration. Instead, I'm the girl who needs to take down the holiday decor as soon as we pass New Years.

Last year, we had a white Christmas. We weren't planning on any changes to our decorations for this year, until a walk through Michaels last week led me to the most gorgeous light green ornaments. Immediately, my mind was racing with ideas. I would love to keep our white theme going, but add in some more touches of green.

 
(brennaball)

 
(aesthetic oiseau)

 
(good housekeeping)

Besides using green ornaments, there are some goregous ideas out there on how to incorproate other green touches.

 
(good housekeeping)

 
(good housekeeping)

 
(country living)

We love having our tree up for Thanksgiving, which means I only have to wait for another 2-3 weeks before I can start decking the halls! I can't wait!

So what about you? When do you like to put up your holiday decor?

 

mother's day

I hope that everyone had a lovely Mother's Day! We had two beautiful get-togethers. Last weekend, we went with Steve's family to a cute cafe for brunch and celebrated with his mother. And this past weekend, we had my mom and grandma over for a homemade brunch. Unfortunately, my dad had to work but we still had a nice little celebration.

 

 

I was in desperate need of new place mats, so we ran out this weekend and picked out a new set. After decorating the table for brunch, I think it's official... I have a new favorite color!

 

 

 
  
I am dreaming of pops of yellow all throughout the house. I am so loving yellow right now :)

homemade embellishment stand

In the latest special Tips & Tricks issue of Creating Keepsakes, I read that next month Simply Renee is releasing a new floor model of their popular Clip it Up. I absolutely love the floor model Clip it Up, but not the price -- the MSRP is $230. So this weekend, my brother and I put the finishing touches on our homemade multi-tiered embellishment stand.

 

There are a lot of resources and tutorials available online on how to make your own embellishment hanger. Most of the tutorials are based on the concept of using lamp shades as your rings. The video that inspired our project was from MsKoolKat007 on YouTube. To build ours, we basically followed the format in the video below.

Once we had all the necessary supplies, the project came together in about two hours. And in terms of cost, we put together the whole unit for about $70. The majority of the cost was associated with the three lamp shades. I opted to buy them from Wal-Mart for $45. It could be done less expensively if you have spare lamp shades at home or pick them up second hand. For me, it was important that they matched, so I bought new.

If you attempt this project at home, here are a couple important things to keep in mind:

- Make sure you purchase lamp shades that have a spider support system. This means it will have a washer in the center and then at least three arms that are attached to the outer ring.
 

- Besides making sure it's a "spider" lampshade, you'll also want to pay attention to the strength of the metal. If it seems thin and flimsy, it will likely bend once you hang your embellishments. Once you load it up, all those stickers and alphabets are quite heavy!

- Avoid lampshades that have metal support bars between the top and bottom outer rings. If you purchase this style, you will have to cut off the metal support bars.

- Make sure your first purchase is your lamp shades. The hole in the center washer of the shade will dictate what size of threaded rod, washers, and nuts you will need. We brought the lamp shades into the home improvement store to test and make sure it all fit before making the purchase.

- Measure the tallest package that will hang on each tier and then add a few inches to determine the height of each tier. Some of my tallest packages are over 13 inches tall, so we made the tall tiers 18 inches. The top tier for little packages is 10 inches.

- In terms of stability, we placed numerous large washers on the threaded rod along the parts that are hidden by the PVC pipe. This helped add stability and reduce the amount of bending. A larger threaded rod adds stability too, so keep this in mind when selecting your lamp shade. You could also drill through the center metal washer of your lamp shades so a larger rod fits through. My version has a 5/16 inch threaded rod but ideally I think it needs to be even larger than this.

- Lastly, keep in mind that spray paint could transform the look of your stand.  There are some great colored and metallic spray paints on the market, which you could use to personalize the color to match your space.

 

I definitely owe my brother a HUGE thank you for his help with this project. I am always amazed by his ability to build things from scratch and to brilliantly improvise as he goes. Power saws and wrenches are not my forte; I could not have made this without his help!

If you have any questions on how to make your own embellishment stand, please feel welcome to leave a comment and I will get back to you!

 

new scrapbooking shelf

Okay, it's official. This is my new favorite piece of furniture in the house.

 

The weekend project was to spruce up my scrap room by replacing my old shelves and plastic boxes. I never thought my old storage system was ugly, just feeling a little tired. You may remember the "before"...

 

Now that I've made the upgrade from the old steel shelves, I'm delightfully surprised at how the new shelf combines form and function.

 

Oh, and it was the right price, too! The shelf is the Expedit from Ikea, which we picked up for about $150. It's a solid piece of furniture and was easy to assemble in under an hour. Previously, I had considered purchasing storage cubes that can be stacked into your own configuration. I've seen these by various brands like Crop in Style and at stores like Michael's and Target. But with each cube ranging in price from about $35 - $50, it would have easily cost me $300 - $400 to put together something the size of the Expedit. And I doubt it would be as versatile or sturdy. Ikea offers various sizes and colors in the Expedit series; I definitely recommend checking it out if you are looking for new shelves.

In case you are looking for storage ideas, here are a few notes. All the white boxes are from Ikea and are part of the Kassett series. I think they look expensive, but each box ranged from about $2 - $5 and they sell the boxes in multi-packs. The paper is all stored in vertical files from Cropper Hopper. For the record, sadly these files did not fit into the shelves. I already had them on hand and did not want to replace them, so I trimmed about 1/4 inch off the top of each file. Now they slide in perfectly. And lastly, all the clear glass storage came from the kitchen aisle at Walmart. The cookie jars that hold ribbon were just $3 and all the mini jars and sugar bowls were even cheaper. I am a huge fan of repurposing items instead of overpaying for something marketed as scrapbooking storage.

 

As a finishing touch, I added a few elements that I already had on hand. Like the apothecary jar, which I filled with my most favorite ribbons, the vases, and a few treasured photos. Now I'm ready to do some more scrapbooking!

If you have any questions on sources or how anything is stored, please feel welcome to leave questions in the comments! 

 

chaos

I have a tendency to rush into projects... as evidenced by the chaos in my scrap room. The new shelf is purchased and assembled. Empty white boxes are ready.

 

 

Any guesses what I'll be doing today?!


Tonight, we are celebrating the 2nd birthday of our sweet nephew...

 

Love that little bit of potato chip stuck on his face! And can you see what he and I have in common? :)  Happy Birthday, Buggy!!

 

scrapbook room redo

I am a firm believer that the size / quality / decor of your crafting space does not make you a better scrapbooker.  

For many years, my supplies were stored in half of the pantry closet in our tiny apartment; and I stood at the breakfast bar to scrap. I didn't have my own room. Heck, I didn't even have my own closet. But those were good days, when I'd take my toolkit off the shelf and a cat would jump in its place. I love the layouts I made standing in the kitchen, with the pantry closet open so I could see my scrapbooking stash.

These days, I've been able to stretch out a bit. Since we have two bedrooms and no kiddos yet, our spare bedroom became an office and crafting space. I feel very lucky to have a space dedicated to scrapping.

When I set up the room two years ago, I picked up two cheapo shelves from Target and a bunch of those inexpensive plastic boxes and drawer units. Personally, I find it easier to scrap when my space is clean and organized, when things are stored where I'm used to finding them. The creative process is a very personal thing and for me organized is what works best.

 

I spend a lot of time in my scrap room. Like, a ton. I spend my mornings in here before going to work, trying to squeeze in a little creative time to start my day doing what I love. In the evenings, I'd much rather relax in here than in front of the TV. So after two years, I'm feeling tired of the current look and am ready for some small changes.

I'm not trying to win any interior decorating awards. I don't have hundreds of dollars to convert the room into something magazine worthy. I just love this little room and what I do here... and I want to keep increasing the joy and creativity in this space.

So the small changes I have in mind? Right now my goal is to switch out my shelving from the stainless steel units to something made of wood. And I'd like to have more unity in the storage containers I use. Maybe white acid-free boxes instead of the plastic ones I have now. Other than that, I'd just like to change up the artwork and I think I'll be set.

I'm excited to breathe some fresh air into my scrap room! I hope to share photos with you over the next few weeks as I work on this project!

PS - If you like seeing photos of pretty studios, check out the scrap space section of the Making Memories blog.

 

organizing

If I could pick up and move into someone else's house, I choose Benita Larsson. Right now, I'm obsessing about organization and redecorating. Maybe because of the new year?

 
(Benita Larsson / Chez Larsson) 

Those who know me at home and work know my tendencies toward organization. I can be pretty type A, hate clutter, and keep little out on my desk at work (even in the midst of my very busiest moments).

In the years after college, living in apartments, I felt very sorry for myself because of my white walls. These days, I dream of decorating with white. Is it nuts that I desperately want white sofas?? More likely purchases in my future: a white Ikea desk and all white office storage. My game plan is to do some serious purging and planning, then convince the hubby to make the two hour drive with me to the nearest Ikea and Container Store.

So with my goals of reorganizing in mind, I've gathered up some favorite links.

- Obviously, Benita's blog, Chez Larsson
- Top 10 Organizing Tips from Chez Larsson @ Apartment Therapy
- Aby Garvey's blog, Creative Organizing
- Carly Robertson's blog, Perfectly Pretty
- Home Made Simple

And a few more photos from Chez Larsson that inspire me...
 

 

 
(Benita Larsson / Chez Larsson) 

Are you thinking about organization, too? Simplify101.com is offering a very affordable ($7!) one-week workshop on how to begin organizing, starting on January 12th. I haven't taken a course there before, so this may be the first one I try. I'd love to hear if you've ever taken a workshop at Simplify101.

Did I miss your favorite site for home organization info and inspiration? Please share!

 

noel banner

I hope you are enjoying the 12*12*12 Holiday Blog Hop! Can you believe all the lovely projects and recipes?! I am dying to try the brownie recipe Melissa just posted. And the good news is that the fun is not over yet! Now that you've had some sweets, it's time for another project... 

 
 
If you are looking to add a little festivity to your space, a banner is something you can easily put together with your favorite scrapbooking supplies that you have on hand! Just choose a holiday sentiment and create banner "bases" for as many letters as are in your word. Then embellish, string all the bases together, and hang. 

For my noel banner, I used a banner set from Jenni Bowlin. But if you don't have a set, you could simply cut triangles from cardboard packaging (like the sheets at the back of packs of paper) or adhere a few sheets of cardstock together to create a thicker base. And if you like the papers in this banner, it's Basic Grey's new holiday line: Eskimo Kisses.

One of my favorite parts of creating this noel banner was putting together tissue flowers. I was going for a shabby chic look, so I think these tissue flowers are perfectly imperfect for holding the letters. To create your own:

1. Start by gathering tissue, cardstock, adhesive and something to cut a small circle with. I used the same tissue you'd use for stuffing a gift bag.

 2. Take two sheets of tissue, one on top of the other, and cut so it's about 12 inches high. The width will depend on the number of letters in your banner. Mine is 7.5 inches wide.

3. Cut your tissue into strips that are about 1.5 inches wide. I cut a few more than I needed, just in case!

4. Take each "2-ply" strip and crumple for texture.

 

5. Then un-crumple and fold strip into a very rough accordion fold.

6. Place adhesive on a small cardstock circle; mine is about 1.5 inches. Then take one end of the strip and set onto the circle.

7. Work your way around the circle, setting the folded tissue onto the cardstock. For extra texture, put a bit of adhesive between the two layers of tissue and pinch extra folds into the top layer.




Banners are such a fun and affordable way to bring a little more holiday cheer into your home. They'd also make good gifts or even cubicle decorations!

Did you work up an appetite?!  Good!  Because in just a short while, at 6pm CST, Carrie at Through the Camera Lens will be sharing something you won't want to miss!

And once the 12 hours of holiday fun are over today, I'd love for you to stop back and share your thoughts! Happy Holidays!