{Christmas Decor}: Wreath journey from Trash to Treasure

You've heard the 'Happily Ever After' story about child adoption.  Kudos to those people who has a big heart to open up their house to the needy kids.  My version of adoption is getting stuff from consignment store and transform it into a master piece in my house.  Due to super excitement I had to finish this project, I didn't take pictures of before and during transformation.

It was my lucky day to find all cone wreath with vines at Goodwill store.  I am not sure what I was gonna do with it but I bought it anyway.  Then one thing lead to another...

From $ 2.92 old looking wreath,

These vines was on the wreath.  I removed them.

To trendy yet cozy looking wreath.
I've added only one berry branch that I cut into pieces $ 0.99, 1 branch of wooden buttons $ 4.99, 3 Snowmen that I purchased from Michael's a while ago $ 1.29 each and 2 Poinsettias at $2.20 each.

I am still working on this wreath so come back again to see the final master piece.

Bringing {Vintage} to your home

All furniture in my house were bought from IKEA so there's no vintage looking to it.  We just hang on to it until we find a perfect house we call home. Then, I will do my yard the way it supposed to be, decorate the house with vintage and shabby chic style, have a real working studio etc etc.  For now I just create and adding vintage stuff to my house.

The best place to find 'vintage' stuff is Goodwill and other consignment stores, also garage sale.

This is what I plan to add in the dining room:  Burlap place mats and a rattan basket to store the place mats.  If I make my own place mats, it will cost me less than $ 10 for 10 place mats.  The rattan basket will range from $ 10-20.  I suggest to invest a good one, not the cheap looking one.

Tutorial

Basically you need burlap, stencil, acrylic paint, brush and blue painter tape to make these burlap place mats.

For the kitchen, I made a mason jar soap dispenser and threw away all the plastic dispense.
You'll need mason jar, spray paints, soap dispenser, drill and nose pliers. 

Tutorial

Tutorial click here

I am making these Wall Terrarium too, but with artificial plants :)  and paint the jars white and the clams black.

I am hoping to post my creation soon, hopefully by next week.  Till then....

{DIY} Hermes bag you call your own

Here's another version of Hermes bag.  Hope you have fun making your own Hermes bag.  If you can't buy it, you make it yourself, right?

source: Hermes

another {Hermes} bag to call your own

Here's another version of Hermes bag.  Hope you have fun making your own Hermes bag.  If you can't buy it, you make it yourself, right?

source: Hermes

{Hermes} Kelly bag to call our own

What can I say about Hermes.  It is a  girl's best friend, just like a diamond, I guess.  I, myself love the simplicity of Hermes design.
Out of curiosity, I went to Hermes site and found a fun DIY project that allows you to download, cut out and glue together a paper version of their famous Kelly Bag in several different artist variations and a plain one you can decorate yourself.

It made my day.  What a nice surprise for me.  I hope it's for you too.

You can add this logo on your bag

All about {FLOWERS}

In 8 days, we are going to start the Spring season.  All about flowers is my post today where you can see different flowers you can make out of tissue papers or old papers.

Click here for tutorial

source

I tried making these flowers.  Very easy to make and the sizes are varies depending on your tissue paper size.

Here are flowers from old yellow pages or school books.

Paper Medallion 

Click here for tutorial

Vintage Paper Wreath

Click here for tutorial

{DIY}: Chandelier cake and cupcake stand

Aside from my busy schedule making a castle cake, 50 cake pops and a quilted cake for this weekend, I was so enlighten seeing this cupcake stand.  I have been in search for a unique cupcake stand lately and this one definitely won my heart. Who would ever thought an old chandelier can be a cake stand....kudos to Jaimie Nye who thought of this idea,

This chandelier stand was an artwork of Jaimie Nye

Do you agree with me that this cake / cupcake stand is just gorgeous?

Materials:

• Old chandelier
• Wire cutters
• Super glue
• Wooden craft circles
• Curvy plate
• Primer
• Spray paint
• Pearl trim or ribbon
   

Instructions:
First snip off all the wires with wire cutters and unscrew the top.

 Next, super glue wooden circles onto the legs. Then glue a curvy plate to the top.

Once the glue is set, take the chandelier outside and give it a good coat of primer. Yes, coating it with primer is very important to get a perfect and true color paint later on. Then spray paint it with your choice of color...The pink in the picture used a dusty light pink. Once it is all dry, decorate the circle plate with pearls or ribbon.

 and now you can show off this stand in your next party.  I know I will.

{Christmas} carols by the cakepop-er

Last Christmas, I made these cake pops ...

This year, I decided to make something simpler

Chocolate Chiffon cake drizzled with chocolate ganache

Lapis Surabaya (sponge cake) sprinkled with powder sugar

 Maybe if I have time today, I make a simpler cake pops for your inspiration.

Burberry inspired {Mug Warmer} for Burberry lover

Burberry is one of my favorite brand.  Too bad they don't make a mug cozy....but if they don't sell it, I will make it.

When I found this Burberry pattern ribbon I was excited.  I know it will be an excellent addition to my mug warmer. 

My mug looks stylish, doesn't it?  Do you want one?

Cozy and stylish

You can get it from my Etsy store,c lick HERE.
Or, you can make it yourself.  (This is my first written and shared pattern. I apologize for the amateur-ity)

Here is the Step by Step on How to make a Burberry Mug Cozy.
Cup size:
Diameter 3"
Height 4"

You'll need:
no 4 crochet hook
medium no 4 yarn
tapestry needle
Ribbon of your choice to make bow
Ribbon about 7 mm width
button about 1" diameter

Direction:
1. Make 46 chain and connect.

2. Do 1 single crochet on each stitch (46 single crochet)

3.Make 1 chain, 1 single crochet on stitch 1 and 2.  Slip stich to stitch 3, then 2 chains.  Do 1 double crochet on stitch 4 and 5 .  2 double crochet on stitch 6.  Continue with 1 double crochet on each stitch until stitch 42.  On chain 43 do 2 double crochet.  1 double crochet till stitch 46. (total of 48 stitches)

4-5. Do 2 chains, turn and continue the rest with 1 double crochet on each stitch.  Now you are building the height.  Repeat this step 1 more time. (Now you are back at 46 double crochet)

6.  Do 2 chains, turn.  On stitch 2 and 3, make 1 double crochet on each stitch. Then 1 chain, skip 1 stitch, 1 double crochet and so on.  Until about the last 3 from the end, do 1 double crochet on each stitch. (You are making holes to weave your ribbon later)

7-8. Do 2 chains, turn and continue the rest with 1 double crochet on each stitch.  Now you are building the height.  Repeat this step 1 more time.

9. Chain 1, do single crochet all the way.  At the end make about 25-30 chains (for the hook) and attach it back to the last single crochet you make. (46 single crochet)

10.  Weave ribbon , sew or attach bow with glue gun.  Sew on the button and you are done.

Good luck !

{Christmas}: Perfect DIY Christmas's gift

I know I know but I love it so much I have to blog it today.

You'll know what i am talking about when you see the picture below.  Yes, yes it's not red, white and green for Christmas.  The color is suitable for Valentine's or Mother's day BUT the idea can be adopted for DIY Christmas present, right?  Just change the color to match the Holiday ambient.

This DIY container is created by Today's Fabulous Find blog ...

Isn't it pretty? It's an oatmeal container

The flowers is made out of party streamer

You can also make the flowers using ribbon, see my favorite tutorial collections below.



Are you ready to make your own present now? I hope the idea and tutorial help you.

{Cultural} Food Art

 Since I post about Japanese Bento earlier, I thought it's a good timing to introduce Indonesian Tumpeng, the upscale version of bento.

Tumpeng is originated from Indonesia. .  The typical 'Tumpeng' has a cone shaped rice, surrounded by dishes, such as fried chickens, potato balls and scrambled eggs. Tumpeng is like a birthday cake in the western culture.  It is served in any celebration, from a grand opening of a store, birthday, baby's birth or just appreciating of  God's blessings.

See how others make their Tumpeng.

Barbie Tumpeng from Sweet Brownie Kitchen

Colorful Tumpeng from Yoshiko.  She also makes amazing fondant cakes.

Mini tumpeng in a box.  Source, click here.

 After looking at these pictures, I am hungry now. Gotta go.

{Cultural} Bento Art

A friend of mine, Evelyn said that she is into cute bento lately and making it as side business for kids party.  She was the inspiration behind my post today.

A little introduction about Bento.  Bento is a home-packaged meal common in Japanese cuisine.  Japanese are so creative when it comes to packaging.  They serve food neatly and artistic-ly; sushi is one of the example.

My bento was my daughter's birthday.  I saw similar design on newspaper and thought it was a good idea for my daughter 1st birthday party.  We celebrated at the orphanage home and I thought they deserved a nice and cute meal.

Rice, eyes from raisins, eyebrows from dried pork meat, carrot nose, Japanese fishcake, fried chicken and 2 potato balls in a shape of chick.

Here are some pictures of Evelyn's bento creations.  Thanks for your inspiration Ev.

Aren't these cute?

Angry bird cupcake?  I mean cuprice? by mymealbox.comhttp://mymealbox.com/bento/angry-birds-bento

{Wedding}: What's HOT this FALL?

Some leaves have changed color last month, some started to turn yellow, orange, red and seldom brown, others have fallen.  We associate fall wedding with those color palettes. Those are the friendliest color to work with, not only a little fresh flower defect can't be seen, but you can use a little for bigger impact.  You can also slip in some artificial leaves here and there, no one would notice.

 Photo collage from Martha Stewart.  The bottom right is a picture of Mokara orchid boutonnieres for the guests.

 Source: left and right from the Knot, middle from diy.wed-central.com

Those centerpieces are very easy to assemble and can be prepared ahead of time.

As far as placement cards, you can use baby pumpkins or even oranges to hold the card, OR traditional card with 'fall' design.  My fave is the tree with fall color cards.

Source
left: http://lionscrestmanor.typepad.com/
The one on right is from my friend's wedding.  The leaves are velt sticker.  Simple enough to get people into fall state of mind.
bottom: Martha Stewart

I found one more picture that might be a great addition to the fall theme decor.  You can hang flowers or even leaves on fish strings.  Very in-expensive way for fall add-on.

{The City on MTV}: DIY Flower Power Headband

Knit headband with crochet flower

Love at the first sight... first time I saw this cute knit flower headband was worn by Whitney Port.  This one is a little snug on the head and will surely keep my ears warm while adding fashion to my hair this winter.

I made this for the newborn, circumference 13"

 If you are crafty, you can make it yourself.  I am no expert of knitting but I can show you how to crochet it.  After watching several tutorials and style of crochet headbands, I like the following tutorials the most.

To make the headband, follow the step to make the brown rim on this Cupcake Hat tutorial.

The flower is pretty easy to make.  I chose this tutorial because it shows you how to alternate color on each flower layer in case you desire to do so. 

Here is another style of flower that looks like rose and SUPER easy to make.  If you are a beginner, you might want to start with this one.

Happy crochet-ing