must write ideas down, NOW

I'm 100% guilty of not following through with my many ideas. Fleeting dreams... Well, not dreams exactly, but wonderful things I wanted to make. My friend knows I'm guilty of this and sent me the link to this Idea Book sold online at Poketo. If you don't feel like paying $8, you can just draw boxes in your moleskine.

Idea 1: Making a leather clutch. 2: Making a family cookbook. 3: Writing a zine. I'll keep you posted with these projects.

They also sell these cute bookmarks. Adorable for cookbooks!

yours truly,

Valeri

Covering wood with moss

I'm always in awe of the display at Anthropologie. Everything looks very handmade. Sometimes a little too arts and crafts, but creative and inspiring nonetheless. I remember seeing the visual display artist using moss to cover an ostrich made of paper and chicken wire. "Hm, you can buy moss," I thought. "Hm, I should cover a large piece of wood with moss." I found a small piece of wood on the street and decided to practice on that first. I bought the moss from Beverly's.

Away I glued.

I used Elmer's glue because I didn't have a glue gun. I think a glue gun would've worked better because you can pack the moss on a lot more.

I recommend using a larger board. The bigger the better! This one works for my room and especially if you're renting.

yours truly,
Valeri

Painting clay pots

I spent part of Saturday making red velvet cupcakes and painting these clay pots. They're going to be perfect for my cacti! They're also perfect for starting seeds. May to June is a really good time for planting cilantro, parsley, and basil. If you use acrylic paint, make sure to spray/ paint it with a water based varnish to seal in the paint.

yours truly,
Valeri

DIY: Space saving night stand

We keep on using my wicker nightstand as a projector stand. I was sick of moving my nightstand around, so I decided to make a new one. I bought the wall shelf and brackets from Home Depot for less than $15. The Ikea wire basket was put under the shelf to add additional storage. My new night stand is a lot more functional and uses less space. This worked really well because my bed is parallel to that wall. If you use the wall perpendicular to your bed, a wall shelf might be too wide. Here's alternative solutions:

(via Apartment Therapy)

(you can make/ buy one of those at designmyworld.net)

yours truly,
Valeri

DIY: Revamping Lampshade

I found this on the side of the street. The lampshade was dirty, but I loved the etched glass. I kept it with the intention of buying a new lampshade, but it was hard finding the right lampshade. Finally, I gave up and decided to make it myself, like all DIY projects. I used this video as a guideline:

How to Re-Cover a Lampshade
Uploaded by Howcast. - Parties, dorm life, and other college videos.

Videos are great how to's, but you definitely have to improvise according to your lampshade. For mine, I didn't keep the initial lampshade, since it was dirty. Instead of reupholstering an old lampshade, I just made a new one. I had to cut the fabric with an extra inch on each side so it could be wrapped under and on top. I chose a peach cotton fabric and glued it with Glue Touch, fabric glue, as I wrapped it around the wire frame. You can choose any fabric really. I chose to cover the peach fabric with a thick orange lace. The lace was cut and glued on the same way as the peach fabric. The hardest part of this project was keeping the fabric and lace smooth and free of wrinkles as I wrapped it around the metal frame. After a few hours, voila:

I was a little hesitant of the lace and orange combo, but strangely it's worked for my room. It's one of those ugly-pretty aesthetic.

yours truly,
Valeri