Fill in the Blank Friday

It's been a while since I did a Q & A on the blog. These are from Lauren at The Little Things We Do.

1.  My favorite room in my home is   my office  because    it's the most "me" room in the house so far.

2.   My current decor style is   bright, bold, and quirky  .  but I wish it were more     soft. My living room is much softer than my usual style - French Country influenced, really, and I love it. The rest of the house is more dramatic - which I also love.

3.  I wish I could redecorate the     closet / dressing room     room in my house to make it more      spacious . . . but I'm concerned about these walls being able to handle the weight of all my clothes! So, for now, I have big racks in the room taking up all the floor space. That said, grateful to have an entire room for my clothes!

4. My dream house absolutely has to have a   huge master bath with an extra large tub.

5. One house item I am willing to splurge on is   anything that needs to last. I was brought up to believe you buy the best quality that you can afford, and then you take good care of your things. When it comes to decor items that I know I will tire of, I either make it myself, or buy second hand or discount.

6. A decor trend that I just don't "get" is   all white everything. To me, a room needs texture, depth, color, shine, and color to sing. Even an all white room, to me, at least, should have a variety of "whites" so that it doesn't look like a padded cell!

7.   Dogs are   is a little touch (okay, in my case, not so little) that makes my house feel like home.

Funky Kitchen Refrigerator Art - How To

As I've mentioned before, I'm staying in the guest house on my sister's ranch for a while due to a family emergency. This is the kitchen . . . which I plan on giving an update with some paint in Spring. Since I can't change out the refrigerator, I decided to update the refrigerator with some vinyl cutouts.

I purchased the cutouts on eBay for $13.99 each, so it was a super cheap update!

Ultimately, the kitchen will have white cabinets, with black and white prints, and red and turquoise accents.

Here is the before photo of the refrigerator.

After giving it a good cleaning . . .

The vinyl transfers come with paper on both sides. You pull back the paper side, so you are left with the see-through transfer paper side with the design on it. The see-through part enables you to lay out the design where you want it.

I started the layout of the designs. On the lower door, I used some extra chain links to be able to place the chandelier lower on the door. .

 After peeling back the paper backer, you place the design where you want it. Use the paper to smooth the design in place

Once it is smoothed onto the surface, you peel back the paper on a 45 degree angle.

Sometimes when you peel back the paper from the backer, a piece will stay on the backing.

Simply smooth it back in place and then peel back again until the entire design is in place.

Then place the design on the surface and smooth the design in place to make sure the design is adhered where you want it.

You will be able to see that it is adhered because it will peel back slightly from the paper. When you begin to peel the backer off, you will be able to hear a slight difference in the sound if the design is still stuck to the paper.

I applied both designs to the surface, making sure both were adhered well, and then peeled off the backers.

Keep in mind that you will bet the least lifting of the design, keep pulling the backer away on an angle. 

And here it is finished!

I am super excited to  . . . after I purchased these designs, my sister bought this Silhouette Cameo unit . . . and she gave it to me to learn to use . . . there are perks to being the family geek!

It was quite easy to learn . . . and within minutes, I'd cut out this design for my sister's mailbox. I'm so excited to pick up some new vinyl and other surfaces to cut!!

 

Coffee Filter Wreath Project

I know there are a lot of coffee filter wreath projects on the net, but I'm including mine because I have done a couple of things a bit differently than I've seen others do . . . I don't think you can do this wrong, if you like the final result. 

Here are the supplies I used . . . a styrofoam wreath, and "Hold the Foam" glue, scissors, approximately 200 coffe filters . . .

And these floral pins.

Start by folding the coffee filter in half.

Fold it again, in half.

Next, cut off the point. I did this because for the size of my wreath, I felt that the filters stuck out too much from the wreath.

Just FYI, you don't have to cut every filter individually. I grabbed 8 - 10 at a time, and then cut them and used them in groups.

I folded the cut filters in thirds.

Then, I added glue to the cut tip edge.

There are several ways to do this, but I chose to place the filters going in two directions - horizontal, vertical, horizontal, vertical, etc. The reason I did this is that I wanted a puffier design. If you put all the filters going in the same direction, you get lines of the filters that look like stacked ruffles. It is just a matter of preference.

After I did the first row, I added the floral pins to stabilize the base, because after you do that first inner row, each of the subsequent rows basically tucks under that first row as you go.

You can see here what it looks like to have the horizontal/vertical rows together:

You can see the layers of rows as I was adding them around the edge of the wreath.

And here is the finished wreath . . . sitting on my mantle!

Umba Box - March 2012

"Umba Box is subscription service that curates the best handmade products available and delivers them to subscribers each month." 

This month, the products are from Rinse Bath and Body. It is a business that started as a hobby, and turned into a business for the owner. The products are natural, handmade, and do not use animal testing.

The products included: 

Cafe Mocha Mask. An antioxidant mask for all skin types. 

Almond & Honey Skin Stick. It is a solid lotion that melts into your skin. From the web site, "The perfectly portable lotion (purse & pocket friendly.) Throw it in your purse & apply it here, there or anywhere (including on the airplane - no resealable bag needed here.) 

Great for your cuticles, knuckles, elbows... anywhere you're dry.  Some of our customers have reported great results using the Skin Sticks 2-3 times a day for cracked fingers & knuckles even eczema & psoriasis spots too. 

Made with Cocoa & Shea Butters along with Apricot Kernel, Sweet Almond & Avocado oils (all wonderful moisturizers). They give you a rich, non-greasy body moisturizer that you can apply on the go."

Lavender Tub Truffle - a bath bomb. The web site says, "This Cocoa Butter based bath bomb fizzes in your tub as the Cocoa Butter slowly melts away conditioning your bath & skin.  There is just enough cocoa butter to lightly moisturize the skin."