Color Therapy Thursday: my sewing room--holiday edition

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall

Mrs. Limestone from Brooklyn Limestone did a post on upcycling, wondering whether her readers upcycle things themselves and leaving a link to post their own upcycled projects.

Well, as a matter of fact, Mark and I have quite a few upcycled projects around the house. Here is the way it usually goes down. I drag stuff off the trash heap during our annual city cleanup...and he does most of the actual upcycling. And those pieces of furniture are definitely my favorites.

A few years ago we remodeled our master bathroom. We had one of those plain mirrors. You know the kind--no nice frame around it, just held up with little plastic clips. We definitely weren't going to use it in the new bathroom but we also wanted to keep a memento from the old bathroom. Luckily enough (right, Mark?), I had seen a great idea on HGTV. We bought one of those cheap doors from Lowe's--the kind you could easily punch your fist through--which was the same width as the mirror. Got different kinds of molding and a beautiful wooden medalion. Painted the door white, glued the mirror on with liquid nails and then trimmed it out with the molding.

I know it probably sounds this was a joint project. Actually my part was the idea phase. Mark did the actual work on this one.

It turned out great. We have it attached to a wall in our bedroom.

Taking pictures of a mirror...wow, that's a toughie. It's not like you can stand in front of it and snap the picture. Well, you could do that, but then all you would really see is a picture of me taking a picture of the mirror. So, apologies in advance for the photography. (And if any of you have better solutions on photographing mirrors, let me know, because I want to share the redo of our main bathroom, but keep getting hung up on the whole mirror/picture dilemma.)

Blog-hopping to the holidays

Mark and I have never spent a lot of money during the holidays. We both come from families where that wasn't an option, as the money simply wasn't there. But there is still a way to celebrate in a special way without spending a lot, and these are the places I'll be checking out on a regular basis:



Handmade Holidays is packed with ideas, with these categories each day. Make it: Lots of great ideas (complete with all the helpful tutorials). Buy it: Affordable things already handmade. Mix it: Yummy new recipes. Print it: Lots of free things like cute gift tags--just print them out on your computer. Win it: A chance to win something everyday.

Great decorating ideas, including ideas using things you may already have (plus a chance to peak into someone else's house...)

And of course, I couldn't leave out the quilters. Some of the top pattern and fabric designers will be sharing their latest and greatest.

And last but most certainly not least, I recommend checking in with How About Orange. Jessica always seems to find paper artists willing to share their creativity (check out these cute printable cup wrappers), plus she hunts down do-it-yourself projects from all over the place.

So happy blog-hopping. Spend a little time now and you are sure to find something to make your holidays special, without spending a lot of moolah.

iLove this app

I was reading my new issue of Sunset Magazine while eating lunch yesterday and came across this little (free) gem. The description had me from the beginning. "So...you love the color of your indigo scarf or eggshell teacups so much that you want to find the paint to match....Color Capture from Benjamin Moore Paints lets you match a snapshot (strawberries at the farmers' market? a friend's mocha shoulder bag?) to one of Benjamin Moore's 3,000 colors." I grabbed my iPhone and downloaded it before I'd even finished my sandwich.

I took a picture of this quilt...

...and then basically you just move your finger around the picture on the screen and stop on a color that you like. On the bottom of the screen it gives you the name of the Benjamin Moore paint that matches. If you love the color, you can save it in "favorites."

It has a color wheel where you just scroll around with your finger and paint chips with their names kind of pop up.

I only wish it would save the pictures in a photo album. Maybe it does and I just haven't found it yet... But if you are color obsessed, and fascinated with names of paint chips like I am, you don't even have to be in the market for paint right now to have a good time with this app.

Before and After, Start and Stop, Then and Now

I have a lot of posts swirling around in my head and I'm woefully behind on posting. so I'm starting with the Before and After, and then I'll move on.

Ah...the little things.

Before: my mousepad (which I really actually like but has now been relegated for use with my laptop), and something I use every single day when I'm doing medical transcription--the book with physician addresses. Worn out cover. Ugly.

After: Thanks to How About Orange and her fabulous fabric designs, I have this new mousepad that I LOVE, and I covered the ugliness of the address book with a bookcover that brightens up my desk...and my work day.

Be back soon. Promise.

I Heart This

I was looking through old magazines, getting ready to throw them in the recycling bin, in my continuing effort to clean up my space and simplify my surroundings. I came across this picture and forgot how much i.love.this.chair.



Unfortunately....it has gone up $250 in the last year! Don't they know we're in a recession? And ironically, the name of the company is gnr8.biz. In my opinion, they would generate more business if they lowered the price. Just a thought...

How I spent my President's Day "day off"

The seven-year itch. It hit pretty much right on target. We have lived in this house almost twenty years and about every seven years I MUST redo my office. It's weird. I get all antsy sitting at my desk, where I spend way too much time anyway. It becomes an obsession that then requires my surroundings to undergo a change. When we first moved in, my office walls were kind of taupe and the closet (we had taken off the doors and put in a desk top there also) was terra cotta. Next came kind of a grayish-green on the walls and darker grayish-green in the closet. Up until yesterday, the walls were, well, this color, and the closet walls were a paler shade.

This yellow started looking really muddy and depressing to me. Not to mention that my office has become overrun with "stuff." My transcription business requires a lot of stuff on my desk--monitor, hard drive, three printers.

Around the Block Designs business stuff is in the closet. And then there is the fabric.

But change is underway. Here's a sneak peak (and yes, I DID get green paint on my newly painted white ceiling. Ugh!)

These are a few of my favorite (Christmas) things...

Is anyone else still baking...addressing Christmas cards...trying to finish those last-minute Christmas presents? I'll be honest. At our house, the baking didn't happen at all this year. Which is bad and good. Bad...because there are no Christmas goodies to munch on. Good...because there are no Christmas goodies to munch on, which might make for a merrier January.

Christmas cards...also didn't happen. Mark and I usually find some fun and funky picture taken during the year and that's what makes it to our Christmas card. I don't know. Maybe we didn't do anything fun and funky in 2008. But we love receiving Christmas cards so please don't take us off your Christmas card list. Fun and funky next year--we promise.

And the last of the Christmas presents will be finished today. *sigh* Then I can just sit back and enjoy the lights on my tree.

Lights on my tree...which makes me think of my holiday decorations, which actually got put up pretty early this year. I know. Some people have "themes." The holiday magazines are filled with all these "decorator" Christmas rooms. I love looking at them. But really? My heart is warmed by the things we have put up for years. It is comforting. So my house will probably never have a "penguin" theme.

Nope. Instead we have this little trio. We have had them for years, for so long that I can't even remember where we got them. I think we got the strainer reindeer in Kansas, which means he is over thirty years old. We got the little soda can "caroler" when Aaron was small and for some reason it reminded us of him (I'm sure he will be happy to read that...). And the little basting brush Santa has been around for quite some time too. And they all live happily together year after year.
Okay, I have serious refrigerator-envy all year long...except for Christmas. Aaron and Christa have one of those fabulous "French door" refrigerators. You know the kind--with the double doors on top and the freezer unit on the bottom, satin-finish silver, beautiful...This snowman is the ONLY thing that makes me glad to have my old white refrigerator.

And a couple of days ago my parents dropped by the house with a tin of these. An old German tradition, pfefferneuse are little bite-sized pieces of spicy perfection. Yum...