DIY Wreath

How cute is this paper Poinsettia wreath from Paper Source? I want to run right down to 23rd to visit Paper Source and pick it up, then rush home to make it! Its too adorable! 

$19.95 and this baby is yours! With instructions and all the necessary pieces to assemble it.

Kristen's Hip Picks

 So most of you know I work at a great modern furniture store called hip. The other day I decided all the employees should pick their top three things and we would post it to our blog. Here is Lauren Taylors write up about my top three picks. Man of man was it hard to decide what three items I love the most out of the store.

Kristen’s Picks!

lauren

Nov 14, 2010

Furniture Talk

Meet Kristen: Operations Manager and one of our resident designers down here at HIP. Her interests include; peppermint mochas, cruise ships, blogging (http://kristenjpeterson.blogspot.com/), scrap booking, and hanging out with the cookie monster. We love her for keeping us organized and maintaining sanity in the shop.



The Savoy by Natuzzi is a piece that Kristen truly believes in. She recently ordered this sectional in 25 grade Status Brown leather. The comfort of this piece is something that all the employees here agree on. While we all vary in our preferences from soft to firm cushioning, we've concluded that the Savoy is something we could really put our feet up on and sink into. It also happens to be a piece that the owners, Dave and Susie, have in their home. (http://www.ubhip.com/products/sofas/savoy/)



The Zeta by Natuzzi is not only a modern beauty, but it happens to be the most comfortable item in the store. (http://www.ubhip.com/products/chairs/zeta/)



"I love all our new rugs! It's so hard to pick just one." said Kristen, "I chose this one [Vitalize 114.012.100 by Ligne Pure] because of the coloring and unique design." Not to mention that a wool rug like this can last up to 40 years! (http://www.ubhip.com/products/accents/vitalize_114012100/)

My Upholstered Headboard

Several months ago a coworker/friend and I decided we wanted to make upholstered headboards. We researched how to do it online including this great Tutorial. There are two ways to attach the headboard, directly to the wall or by making legs and attaching those to your bed frame. I choose to attach them the later way and found those instructions at another site (oops I didn't save it). After gathering all my materials and my handy dad I began following the instructions.

1. Cut plywood into desired shape and size

2. Cut legs to appropriate size

3. Attach legs to the back of plywood headboard

4. Lay out your batting and/or foam on top of headboard. I choose to double up on the batting as the foam was ridiculously expensive! 

 5.  Flip headboard over so the backside is facing you, make sure you keep the batting in place. 

6. Begin wrapping batting around back and staple in place. You want to make this fairly tight.

 7. Lay the fabric out as you did the batting and begin stapling down in the same manner. If your fabric has a pattern be careful to keep the pattern centered. Also be sure the fabric is very tight from all sides.

 8. Flip it over to see the final product.

9. Attach legs of headboard to bed frame and you have your very own upholstered headboard!

The beauty of the upholstered headboard is the fact that it can easily be changed by stapling new fabric over the existing headboard without having to redo anything! I hope this inspires everyone to create their own headboard! It probably took me three hours to construct this not including shopping!

I'm so over....

1. Animal print

Photo from bisazza.com

2. Animal hides (pony hide, cowhide, zebra hide)
 Yuck this is disgusting! Who wants to proudly display that there is a dead animal's skin on their floor? It seems so inhumane and so overdone!

Photo from animalprintessentials.com

What I'm loving...
 Natural items

Photo from decor8.com

Photo from Apartmenttherapy.com

Good bargains on home decor! My favorite store currently is Home Goods! Great designs on everything for your home and incredibly low prices! I can't leave that store without buying something!

 Photo from homegoods.com

When browsing the Home Goods site I found this great questionaire to help discover your style! (not that I need any help with that!)
http://www.homegoods.com/hghq_quiz.asp

Pinterest!

I love beautiful pictures more than anything! So many feelings, ideas and visions can be expressed through images. Now I can find great images and add them to categorized boards! This is a great way to create mood boards for spaces you are looking to design.

See my pins on pinterest

DIY gift bags, tags and cards

This year for Christmas I decided to make my own cards, gift tags and bags. Handmade things are always better. The best part about this is how inexpensive it was! 

Holiday Card

First I picked up some inexpensive items at Michaels.
- pack of 8 premade cards and envelopes for $1
-some glitter $1
-ribbon $1.50

Then I gathered items I had at my house.
-Christmas stamps
-stamp pad
-glue pen
-scissors   
-scrapbooking adhesive

1. Stamp the card in desired configuration 
2. Apply glue where you want the glitter to stick
3. Sprinkle on glitter
4. Glue ribbon down and tie in a bow
 The end result....

 Gift bags and tags

 The only thing I had to purchase for this were the plain gift bags ($5.99 for 13 at Michaels) and the ribbon.

 Items gathered from my house: Green cardstock, gold dots, hole punch, stamp, stamp pad, and oval cutting system.

1. Using the oval cutting system and carstock cut an oval in whatever size you think works.
2. Stamp the oval.
3. Apply embellishments.
4. Hole punch your oval.
5. Thread ribbon through hole and attach to gift bag, tying in a bow if you like.

Now you have great personalized cards and gift bags for all the wonderful gifts you will be giving this season.
Get creative and play around with other ideas to personalize your gifts! Remember, this works for any holiday (or birthday) not just Christmas!