Wednesday, July 18, 2012

unsolicited wedding advice wednesdays : olive manna





Ok, so I'm not saying that this place has the best prices but boy is the site pretty to look at. Check out Olive Manna for lovlies like these.

row 1: Industrial Metal Tray ($46), Barkboard Rustic Chalkboard ($38 small, original size sold out)
row 2: Ruffled Tin Cake Stands ($25 small, $32 medium, $45 large, $95 for all three), Ballonoff Kitchen Tins ($36)
row 3: Twill Ribbon (20 color options, $8 for 5 yards, $60 for 72 yards), Solid Baker's Twine (12 color options, $8 small 50 yard spool, $30 large 800 yard spool)
row 4: Scalloped Hanging Chalkboard Sign ($18), Wood Gift Tags (8 color options, $9, pack of 8)

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

local wildlife



One of the things that I really appreciate here in IL is the amount of green space carved out of the suburbs. It's definitely different from Southern California where green space is planned and created by man with designated parks using non-native plants. It's hard to believe that Southern California is actually a mild desert climate because of all the green plants that are kept up thanks to the use of modern irrigation (aka, sprinklers). Squirrels and geese are common animal friends found anywhere in IL but this weekend we got to see a less common sighting of a Black Swallowtail Butterfly outside our apt.

Monday, July 16, 2012

omd : mulberry


I love sturdy leather bags ... part masculine, part feminine. The current OMD (objects of my desire) are these bags from Mulberry. The top one is the Brynmore for MacBook Pro, it has a compartment specifically for a 15" MacBook Pro which would be perfect for me except for the fact that it costs $1,200, holy cannoli!

The bottom two bags (East West Bayswater and Alexa bags) are a little more mature-looking but still beautiful. I guess I'm thinking about trying to dress my age more.  I'm gonna be in my mid-30's in a couple of years, yikes!



Wednesday, July 11, 2012

unsolicited wedding advice wednesdays : little borrowed dress






I saw a beautiful post on Style Me Pretty in May for Little Borrowed Dress and I thought I'd share the vendor with you too!

Little Borrowed Dress is a company that rents (or sells) dresses for bridesmaids.  How awesome is that?! Basically you (or the bride) choose a style/color, you pick a size, they mail you the dress, and you mail it back when you're done. For more info, check out the website, here.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

cork board makeover


Here's a fun little project that I did in one day.  I made-over an old cork board that I've had for years and years. The poor thing was looking a little drab and the holes were becoming too noticeable so I thought I'd paint it to give it new life. Here's how I did it.

Materials:
white and neon orange acrylic paint (I mixed the two to make the third color)
brushes
plastic container to hold paints
plastic bag or damp paper towel (to wrap brushes and palette when not in use to keep from drying out)
old newspapers
ruler, pencil
masking tape/painter's tape

Instructions:
1. First, paint the entire cork board and frame with white acrylic paint and let it dry.


2. Next use a pencil to mark off the measurements of how you want your board divided. I chose to divide the board three sections high and eight across but you can do whatever you'd like. As far as the colors go, follow the repeating pattern of 1, 2, 3 across each row. Assign a color to each number and follow the pattern. I chose to let 1 be the darker color, 2 the medium color, and 3 the background color (white). I pencil marked the measurements directly on the frame and on the masking tape so the pencil wouldn't show.  Just paint over the marks on the frame at the end to erase.  


3. Use masking tape to paint sections at a time. I taped off the top and bottom rows (leaving the middle row for last). Then, I taped off all the dark colors and painted them first and let it dry.  Then I did the same with the medium color. Paint several coats for an opaque look or keep it streaky like I did for more of a watercolor effect. 


4. Remove the masking tape after finishing the last row and you're done!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Pin It button on image hover