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PILLOW TALK...

I bragged about my book binge a while ago.  Here's another one of the  books I bought:

I have to say I was seduced by the Amy Butler fabric'd pillow on the cover.  I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I didn't really like the book.  I'm sorry, I wanted to like it, really I did but it didn't get me all fired up to whip out the seam ripper and begin my 'sewing' excursion.  I mention seam ripper because when I sew, it seems that I spend a lot of time with the darn thing.  I did buy another sewing book at the same time on a whim, it was cheap and I was feeling crazy.  I can tell you this, I didn't want to buy the book because I didn't like the cover.  In fact, I think if they re-did the cover they could probably sell  heck of a lot more copies as I REALLY liked the book and the author Diana Rupp.

Here's the current cover:

I know, it's supposed to be 80's wacky or something, to appeal to all those irreverent alternative crafter types, but really, it's ugly right?  The French cafe font with this cover?  What were they thinking?  The colors, my goodness.  Okay, enough, now here's where I sing the praises of Diana's book.  She has a great voice, she's funny, she's inspiring, creative and cool.  This book is chock full of easy sewing projects AND 10 patterns! Here are a couple of my favorite projects:

Yes, pillows!  That bolster pillow is boss! Love the stripes, very Jonathan Adler-esque.

I thought this next project was perfect timing with my new job and having to dress more corporate:

Here's the cute skirt:

This is great for all those new babies being born left right and center that need organic, unleaded toys (how thoughtful of you):

And this is a super easy zipper project for those afraid of the 'ol zipper foot, this is great practice, plus you get to show it off.  You don't really go around showing off your other zippers unless they are down and that's just embarrassing. Be proud of your zipper efforts:

Now get back to work! Oh yeah, you can get your book book here.

NEEDED: TIPS + TRICKS

Okay, I know the peeps that stop by this boring 'ol blog are super crafty and creative, so I need to get some info from you'all.  I figured it would be easier than emailing individually, especially since I don't know everyones email.  I am having some technical difficulty of grand proportions.  I noticed that everyone (it seems) and their mother's have all successfully scanned and posted images from mags on their blogs or sites.  I on the other hand scan and it looks like crap.   I would love some scanning tips + tricks, suggestions for a new scanner anything, anything, anything that can help me with this very frustrating dilemma!

Thanks!!!

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT...

I have been in love with this piece of furniture from French company Grange, since the day I first laid eyes on it.  It's so simple in it's appeal and such an easy d.i.y. project that I could do with all my furniture (If that's the route I was going to go...)

No not the intricate woodworking or the lacquered ebony but that flash of unexpected color.  It just thrills the color phobe in me.  It means I can have the best of both worlds a classic piece with color that can be put away when I am not feeling that racy.  My problem then was what color?  This hot pink was looking pretty good but that would be so out of left field for me and I don't know if that would work on a full-time basis.  I considered a sunshine yellow as yellow is always happy right?  How could I go wrong with a dash of yellow?  I went to the store and then got cold feet, I couldn't do yellow, but a very pretty blue-ish green is always something that I feel comfy with--yes, please move me inside the Tiffany box and I would be right at home...

So this is what my drawers look liked prior:

They looked so old, depressing cheap motel-esque.  I actually do open my drawers quite often as this piece is what houses my supplies in the studio.  So imagine my new little thrill when I open them now and see this:

Yes, it's the little things in life that make one happy, no?  I know it's lame and I know it's not the Grange piece, but it' s my little surprise and I am just thrilled with the end results.  I used Benjamin Moore's 'Scuba' in an enamel finish.  You don't need an enamel finish, I'm sure a semi-gloss would work just as well, I was trying for extra, extra shiny, but enamel is like painting with tar, near impossible.  I do think the color turned out a little more green than I imagined (probably because I didn't use a primer, hey I was excited to get started) but it's okay I still like the color and it feels clean and fresh to me...

MISS B'S LIVINGROOM...

So this is my livingroom and we really do live in it.  Yes, I set the table every night because I cook almost every night (infact, my Fancy seems to think he has his own private chef, but I'll rant about that another day).  One of the things you'll hear nightly in our casa is, "Do we really have to set the table, again...", then I answer him, "Yes, if we are going to eat dinner on the floor in front of the television set then I need to have this one concession..." So there!  I know what you are thinking, you are so happy that you don't live with my neurotic self.  Well at least I live in my livingroom! When I was growing up my grandmother had her sofas covered in (gasp) plastic, in fact the whole house had plastic everywhere, there were even plastic runners on the floor (and toilet seat) and we never ate with the good China or any China, ceramic or porcelain for that matter but on (yes you guessed it)--plastic!  Just so you know, I use the good dishes and silverware EVERY night, one never knows...I also have a squishy couch that we sink into and comfy throws and we allow the girls on the couch (my pups), I just don't allow my Fancy's feet on the coffee table, that's like allowing him to have his feet on our dining table...

Yes, I did make that coffee table. It was really easy, I promise.  I needed an oversize coffee table because my livingroom is really large (they always made these Spanish style flats with huge livingrooms) since I didn't have enough money to fill the space with furniture I made an oversize coffee table which diverts attention from the lack of furniture in the space (it's also great when you have a casual get together you can put plenty of vino and apps on the table).  So, to start I went to Ikea and measured coffee tables to see if there was a standard.  Once I had the measurements, I went to my local lumber yard and picked out wood and paid to have them cut it.  I bought mahogany which is actually the color of pine (who knew?).  They loaded the wood in my ancient Jeep Cherokee (I have to start it like Fred Flinstone with my feet).  I bought some of this:

Only the best and strongest wood glue on earth! Read the directions!  I didn't and had to sand like a maniac when it dried (trust me on this).

Then I also bought this:

And that's it!  I got everything home and put the piece that was to be the tabletop on the floor of the livingroom (yes, I built it in the livingroom, if you have a garage, don't brag...) and glued the pieces that were to be legs to the corners of the tabletop (okay, I could have turned this over when it was dry and called it a day) BUT I perservered, when it was dry I flipped it over and then I used nails to hammer through the top into the legs.  What kind of nails you ask?  I used roofing nails.  Why?  Because they were the prettiest of course! (Yes, I live on the 2nd floor, and I hammered Mahogoney thick wood in my livingroom, my downstairs neighbor Eve is hard of hearing...).  I then sanded the whole thing and started staining.  Once it was dry I added a matte polyurethane (this was before I knew about the whole 'green' thing). When it dried, it seemed so plain, like a pretty girl absent of blush, so I looked for nailheads and found really cool oversized ones and just added them to the corners (too much 'blush' and she'd start to look like Crazy Baby Jane..)

And that my lovelies is how to build your own coffee table, this of course can work for benches and work tables too!  Imagine the possibilites....

THE BOUDOIR...

As promised the tour continues...Welcome to my boudoir!  I have OCD when it comes to bed making, it has to be made every day and a certain way (I know, I annoy myself!).  I thought it might be fun to give you some d.i.y. info as I showed you around.  The sheets are wrinkle-free because of this incredible secret:

No this is not filled with expensive linen water (which I just figured out how to use last year), this is just regular 'ol H2O.  You spray where there's a wrinkle(s) and then just run your hand over the sheet, the wrinkles disappear like magic!  It's amazing, plus if you did use linen water you could freshen your sheets at the same time, I don't but I like to know what the stuff is for (finally).  I never, ever, ever use bleach on the white linens because eventually bleach ruins the fibers and turns them either yellow or gray.  I found this really amazing substance that's been around for years:

It makes your whites look bright white without bleaching or chemicals (do I sound like a commercial?)  Make sure you read the instructions, I didn't the first time (how hard could it be?) and I ruined a load of laundry...The pedestal on the wall is from 'Ross Dress for Less', they have a ton of shabby chic items gone awry (think faux 80's marble), I spray painted this with 5 coats of glossy white lacquer and think it turned out pretty great (it was only $5!) I made the soy candle as well, I make them all the time in the microwave no less!  Really, it's that easy, this is scented (velvet peony) but it took me years to figure out how to make a great scented candle, but you my dear might be more precocious than moi, so give it a try.  Here's a link for a soy candle kit

Last there's my pup Bella on her black and white toile bed, wherever you put the bed she will sleep, sometimes I put it under my desk so I can warm my feet on her (she doesn't mind..).  Tomorrow I'll try to post another section of the casa if I have time....

Oh yes!  I nearly forgot! The bolster pillow on the bed was made from instructions from that great book I mentioned in a prior post:

I HAVE FOUND 'IT'....

I suppose my usual knack for finding something fab ahead of everyone else is waning.  What's happening to me?  I use to be the girl with her finger on the pulse now...well...So, I found this gorgeous chair in the new issue of 'Country Living' that I bought because they told me I was going to be in it, okay not me per se but 'Bella Bella', I wasn't, which is fine, I didn't want to be in their dumb magazine anyway, who would?  Okay, I lie, I was bummed!  Anyway, looking through the mag, I found the chair, not just any 'ol chair thee chair, that I want as my next desk chair:

Granted this chair is a little too femme for moi.   I started re-upholstering it in my head. With my bright white office and ebony wood floors, I could do just about anything.  I could do a yellow and white, just imagine this wallpaper as fabric:

or do a striking black and white fabric, very mod, both vintage and modern...

BUT WAIT!  This is a D.I.Y. blog, let's face it, you come here to make stuff, I blog because I have stuff I want to make.  If you want to spend $$$ that you need to burn you check out the real design blogs and go for it.  I d.i.y, for both necessity and because I have a need to customize everything (ask my Fancy, he's completely different since we first met...

So, I started thinking, wouldn't it be great if I could design my own fabric and then it would be mine, mine, mine!!! So I did a search and low and behold if you are as insane as I am, they have companies that do low-run, custom fabric, can you believe it?  It's not cheap, but a lot less expepensive than spending $1,800 on most designer desk chairs!  You can harrass these people.  If you can't design, you can scan in cool things like your kids drawings and have slip covers made for their rooms or pillows, duvets, curtains...How about scanning in an old map of Paris and making that a fabric?  What cool pillows would that make???  Or you can make a lamp shade like the darling Lara Cameron.  This my friends, had me preoccupied most of the weekend!  Oh yeah, I almost forgot, the darn chair is available here...

OFF THE WALL...

Now you know I wouldn't be writing about interior design if it didn't have a d.i.y. bent.  This little lovely was chanced upon when I was looking for a stencil for the inside of my bureau drawers (more about that fiasco at a later date...).  Yes, this is a flip, flappin', jackin' stencil! No teddy bear or inspirational saying in sight!  Of course, this is a little on the wild side for moi, but I can still appreciate it's mod appeal. It was inspired by an 18th century idea modernized (which is how I feel about the ol' Bella Bella co.) add your own photo's for an instant art gallery. This is cool too, in it's Hermes-esque vibe:

and for the more glam amongst us there's this:

All these are available from the Stencil Library in the U.K.  I wish I was patient I would order one in a heart beat, but alas I can not wait for the overseas shipping and need to find me a stencil--STAT!

 

WINDOW SEAT ENVY...

I've had serious window seat envy since I saw my first 'Baby Alive' commercial at four.  It seemed after that all doll commercials took place in a window seat nook.  I unfortunately am nook-less, but on the bright side I do have windows!  I was  trolling the internet for something else (as usual my searches are fruitless for what I originally  intended them to be for) but I came across and old fave blog called Ikea Hacker that had a recent submission on making an Ikea tv bench into a window seat. My mind started swirling with the possibilities.  I figured that I would wait to start this glorious project when I get my grubby hands on this upcoming book on delicious pillow love by Shannon Okey

It's supposed to have 25 full size patterns (yes even a bench seat pattern).  I would pre-order it as I am insane, but I have a limited budget these days and I already have the new Lotta Jansdotter book on pre-order (she's another one of my obsessions).  This darn bench got me thinking of another book I own called Handmade Modern by Todd Oldham (LOVE)

there are a couple projects in here that could help in doing Ikea conversions or even starting from scratch.  I really, really
love this book and I am surprised it wasn't even more of a hit since it's fairly simple to complete your own furniture projects and what Craftista worth her (or his) salt wouldn't want that?

...AND THE GENIUS AWARD GOES TO:

CREATURE COMFORTS!  Ah, if you haven't trolled this woman's blog, what are waiting for?  Why would you be here when you could be there?  My goodness!  The author of the blog EZ has made it even more insanely easy to procrastinate for hours on end, ahem, I mean do research of course...

This is her brilliant plan to take over the world (it must be her plan as no one who finds this can be impervious to clicking one beautiful link after another, thus not getting any work done and shutting done the world as we know it..)

She masterfully shows you a gallery, you pick something like say this:

She has supplied a link and you go to said Lickable Design and then click through all her links and by the time it's all said and done it's Sunday and your loved ones haven't seen you for days but you are now ten pounds lighter and can fit into those skinny jeans, but **sigh***, alas they are out of style so you are a waif in vain...oh well...

WILL WORK FOR FURNITURE...

   

    Oh how I wish I had the cash to re-do my atelier.  This is after all the place where I spend the majority of my waking hours.  I am pretty good with the DIY but I did f-up (yes, that bad) my wood floors when I attempted to stain them ebony.  Then to my dismay I realized that now I could see all the shedding that Miss Bella does, for a neatnik like myself this is very disturbing. 

    I may not be in the position to do anything at this moment, but I can start planning for that mystical, magical day when I'll have oodles of cash or a couple extra bucks to start my makeover...  I did find this gorgeous inspiration from The Beach Studios in the U.K.  I think this is a good start..(note the white floors..) 

PHEW!

A lot has changed since TypePad put me on restriction for not having a valid credit card number.  Oh it was valid all right, it just wasn't working.  Ah, to be going into middle age and still not be fiscally responsible--sigh... Well, as I always like to say 'Do as I say and not as I do', it's much more fun the other way around, but fun doesn't always pay the rent.  I am trying though!  Speaking of fun I have been very busy at the Bella Bella Co. with the Couture Correspondence.  Who knew that people would actually pay for my little ol' cards?  It thrills me to no end.  Miss Ashley G.  (no relation to Ali G.) said that a blog is essential to her success and since she CAN pay her rent doing something fun, I will follow in her lead and see where it takes (lets hope I can remember to pay my credit card in time...)

BTW, this is what the shop looks like today...

SATURDAY, SATURDAY...

Oh how I love Saturdays!  Even though being an entrepreneur usually means you have zero days off, unless I suppose you are a very good and organized entrepreneur, but alas even though I am a good person and extremely organized my entrepreneurial skills might be considered sub par BUT I do have tons of entrepreneurial  spirit.  In fact I spent most of Saturday designing my new collection of petite cards and I am so happy with the way they turned out.  So here are some of the latest for y'all to get a gander at.  There's much more up at the Bella Bella Couture Paperie so don't be shy and stop by.

THE EVERYTHING ATELIER

So here it is in all of its glory, not even minutely done in my opinion, but better than it was before. The top row shows detail on my newly gilded chair, I really liked how it turned out. There's no paint that I know of that can mimic the sheen of metal and the faux silver leaf does the trick (btw, just so you know I bought the cheapest one they had).  I love the way I was able to establish a worn look to it, so it didn't look like a new chair,( okay, I lie, I was going for the idea of chrome and as I progressed I realized the mistakes were better than my original vision, so there, you caught me, happy?)

The 2nd row is the chandelier (I think all ateliers should have one) and the raised curtain rods which make the ceiling seem like it goes on forever.  The rods are a brushed aluminum and the finials are inlaid mother of pearl mosaic (I'll have to get on a ladder to get you a nice close-up), I got them at Target for basically free but they are really nice quality and feel like window jewelry (I DIDN'T get those beaded pearls). The curtains are sheers from Ikea, it seems to me they're the only inexpensive home retailer that sells their curtains at an extended length, making me think that maybe the Scandinavians have been doing the ol' raised curtain  trick for many moons.

Okay there's Boeuf, my insane Frenchie, in her chair that I gilded for her, (or so she seems to think).  That table is just a temporary, I plan to make an 85"L x 35"W table with a long shelf that runs the length of it so I can stuff all the WIPS and cutting mat, etc under it and look like I am really a neat. I could try drawers, but my woodworking skills are not that advanced, not good to be an easily distracted individual when you decide to venture into woodworking.  The floors are Ebony and were near impossible to do.  Strands of my long hair (that is apparently falling out) are embedded in the polyurethane top coat.  I could of gone with a matte finish or semi-gloss, but with a high-gloss you get a sheen and reflection that makes the floor look like a body of water, the finish makes the room feel larger as well, something I wasn't planning on but a nice treat.  Phew, the last row, first pic is my faux-mercury glass, so EASY, if you like this look you must try!  The last photo is the inside of the closet, which I painted Tiffany Blue (sorry I can't remember the darn real name) BUT almost any Anawalt can mix you a custom color for no additonal cost, yea!