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. 

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: Weekly Dry-Erase Menu Planner

Inspired by weekly menu planners online, I created my own this afternoon.  Since we don't have a color printer, I outlined the design with a sharpie.  It was super easy, inexpensive and I was pleased with the final product.  You could also do it with other planning tools. 

Weekly Dry-Erase Menu Planner

Materials:

• Computer and printer
• Printer paper
• Ultra Fine Sharpie Marker
• Frame
• Dry-erase markers

Instructions:

1. Copy, paste and fit image into a word document.  Print.

2. If desired, outline with an ultra fine sharpie marker.

3. Put it in a frame.  I found this one at Ross for $9.

4. Write on the glass with dry-erase markers.  I found some fun colors at Target.

5. Hang it up!

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".