Style Cure -- Days 8 - 10 | Planning

Day 8: Monday, August 12

Assignment: Choose Your Paint Color & Think About Your Decor "Pairing"

Full assignment at ApartmentTherapy.com 

Day 9: Tuesday, August 13

Assignment: Research Your Decor Pairing Project or Pairing

Full assignment at ApartmentTherapy.com

Day 10: Wednesday, August 14

Assignment: Make a Shopping List and Set Your Budget

Full assignment at ApartmentTherapy.com

These three days/assignments all work well together so I am going to summarize...

There are a couple things that I want to work on for this project. We aren't going to do any wall painting but the decor pairing will be two-fold. First, we are planning to invest in a new dining room table and chairs. The table and at least four chairs will be white, with a few colored chairs for contrast and as the decor pairing. Second, I want to print photos from our trip to Cuba to decorate a wall in our dining room and one in our living room. We captured some beautiful and colorful moments. 

Then, I saw this on Pinterest:

one crafty foxx on etsy.com

I immediately showed my honey and he said, "you want to make those, don't you." YES. Looks like we may be adding a kitchen art project to the Style Cure list. 

Here is our tentative dining room furniture shopping list, although we haven't quite figured out the chairs yet...

Parsons Dining Table w/ White Top & Dark Steel Base. Crate&Barrel.

Slim White Chair. CB2.

Felix Red Side Chair. Crate&Barrel.

Vienna Apple Side Chair. Crate&Barrel.

I was going back and forth a bit on if now is the time to spend the money on new dining room furniture. However, I keep coming back to the fact that we really enjoy having friends and family over and so this is a great investment for more fun at home. Also, cooking at home is much cheaper AND healthier. Decision made. 

Photos: Memorial Day BBQ

This year my honey's birthday landed smack dab on Memorial Day. It took us approximately 10 seconds to decide that a BBQ was definitely in order. 30ish friends and family joined us to celebrate. We, and by "we," I mean my honey, cooked up some bratwursts and chicken apple sausages on our new grill and we served them with ketchup, a selection of mustards, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions, and sauerkraut. Our guests helped out the cause by bringing an incredible selection of appetizers, side salads, and desserts to add to those we prepared.

We had two families planning to bring their children so I picked up some inexpensive toys, including beach balls and bubbles, to give them when they arrived. The goody buckets got a thumbs up from both the littles and their parents.

Goodies for the littles.

How -- Food Labels/Place Cards: These food labels are so easy to make. All you need is decorative labels (two per food label or place card), toothpicks, and whatever you plan to stick them in. To hold the finished labels, I used lemons and limes, either halved or with just a little bit sliced off to create a "bottom." I also used some wine corks that had a nice flat end and stuck the toothpicks in the not flat end. To make them, first write the food or person name on two of the labels, stick a toothpick about 3/4 of the way up and in the center of one label and, carefully lined up so the labels match, place the sticky side of the second label on the opposite side of the toothpick.

DIY food labels.

Food Labels.

DIY label holders. You can also use wine corks.

We kept things pretty simple but I did try to bump things up a notch. You know, like with those food labels, tissue paper lined plastic cups as plastic utensil holders, and white wine sangria with pear and mango.

Left: Utensils in tissue paper lined cups.  Right: White wine sangria.

Crudités with Arugula Pesto.

Rosemary Roasted Almonds. Recipe.

Smoked gouda, fresh mozzarella, and manchego.

So much food, including marinated tomatoes and mushrooms.
(Recipes coming soon.)

Sausage toppings: roasted bell peppers, caramelized onions, and sauerkraut.

Caesar and spinach salads, made by family/friends.

Stella kitty spent most of the afternoon in a basket on top of shelves in our office but did make an appearance or two to charm the crowd.

Friends.

Desserts.

P.S. We will be eating leftovers all week.

How: Candy Cane Place Card Holders

Candy Cane Place Card Holder

Christmas is my favorite holiday.  For lots of reasons.  One reason is that my parents host a framily* get together and it is always a wonderful time.  For the last few years, I have prepared a few of the appetizers.  Last year I made little signs to label the apps.  This year I decided to step it up a notch and make these candy cane place card holders to fancy up the app labels. These took me maybe 15 minutes from start to finish.  Super easy and also awfully cute, if I do say so myself.

Start with two candy canes.

Glue the two candy canes together to create the label holder.

Glue on a third candy cane so the holder can stand on its own.

Add labels or place cards and ta-da!
(Yes, these are the apps I'm making for Christmas dinner.)

What You'll Need:
Small candy canes, three for each place card holder, unwrapped
Glue gun
Index cards or other heavy paper for the labels
Pens
Ribbon, optional

Directions: 
1. Place a dot or small stripe of glue along the side of one candy cane and press the second candy cane against the first.  Hold for a few seconds until the glue has cooled.
2. Glue the third candy cane to the back of the first two so that the holders can stand on their own.
3. If using ribbon, now is the time to add a little bow around the three candy canes.
4. Make place cards or food labels out of small tags cut from index cards, or other heavy paper, and pens.
5. Place finished cards in the candy cane place card holders.

* Framily = friends who are family

How: Party Poofs

Party Poofs!

Party Poofs, aka tissue paper pom poms, instantly transform a room into a festive space for the party of your choice -- birthday, bridal shower, graduation, whatever your party de jour happens to be.

I made five of these fun decorations for my friend's baby shower tomorrow.  The first one took a while but once I got the hang of it, I busted out the other four in just a few minutes each.

Materials: tissue paper and floral wire.

Fold eight sheets of tissue paper in 1.5-inch accordion folds.

Fold the floral wire around the middle of the tissue paper and twist tightly.

Trim the ends -- either rounded (as shown here) or pointed.

Carefully separate the layers.

Continue to carefully separate all of the layers. 

Fold and twist the floral wire to make a loop for hanging.

Finished polka dot party poof!

Trimmed ends.  Pointy on left, rounded on right. 

Materials: 

• Tissue paper: 8, 20x30 (or size preferred) sheets per poof 
• Floral wire
• Fishing line, for hanging

Directions: 

1. Stack 8 sheets of tissue paper together. 
2. Starting at one of the shorter ends, make 1.5-inch accordion style folds across the entire length.  
3. Fold a 12-inch piece of floral wire around the middle of the folded tissue paper and twist to tighten. 
4. Trim the ends of the tissue paper, either rounded or pointed. 
5. Carefully separate each later, lifting away from the center.  
6. Once all the layers are opened, fold and twist the excess floral wire to create a loop. 
7. Tie a piece of fishing line to the wire loop for hanging.
8. Repeat with remaining tissue paper.

How: Wine Cork Garden Markers

Basil growing in our garden.

Inspired by a photo floating around Pinterest, I grabbed a few supplies and created my very own wine cork garden markers.  It took me all of five minutes.  

If you are wondering what all we have growing in our garden, here is a list:

• Basil
• Cilantro
• Cucumber
• Rosemary
• Jalapeño peppers
• Zucchini

We also have roma tomatoes that I call our rogue tomatoes because they just appeared once we started watering our yard.  Thankfully, this has been one of our only surprises as new homeowners.  I certainly don't mind delicious surprises. 

Cilantro.

Jalapeño peppers.

Materials:

• wine corks
• long wooden skewers -- the kind you would use for kebabs
• sharpie marker(s) -- fine tipped work best

Directions:

1. Write herb/plant names on wine corks with a fine tipped sharpie marker. 
2. Carefully insert a skewer into the bottom of each cork.
3. Stick them in the ground, next to the appropriate plants.  

How: Baby Washcloths, Socks & Onesies Bouquet

Baby washcloths and socks bouquet.

A few months ago, in a fleeting Martha Stewart moment, I decided to make a baby washcloth and onesie bouquet for a friend's baby shower.  I wanted to share the instructions for others who want to channel their inner Crafty McCrafterson. 

Finished Bouquet.

What you'll need: 

• Baby washcloths, socks and/or onesies -- a total of 12 items
• Glass vase
• 12 green floral wire stems
• Green floral tape
• 6 - 8 "bunches" of plastic leaves (amount depends on how leafy you want the arrangement to be)
• Filler for vase -- i.e. glass beads
• Decorative ribbon

Materials.

Instructions:

1. Fill vase 3/4 full of filler (i.e. glass beads).
2. Remove leaves from bunches and set aside.
3. Make roses.  Washcloth roses video.  Onesie and sock roses video.  (The second video includes how to make roses from bibs as well.)
4. Fold over 1/2-inch of each wire stem and insert into the bottom of the rose.  
5. Secure a few leaves to the stem by wrapping with floral tape. 
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 with remaining roses.   
7. Insert all stems into vase.  
8. Tie decorative ribbon around middle of vase.

Close up of the "roses".