5 Things I Read This Weekend

How many times have you gotten the "free" glass with purchase at theme parks or restaurants, only to take it home and put it in your cabinet {never to be seen again or better yet, sold it at a yard sale for 25 cents}? Well, on the Sugar & Cloth blog, she has a brilliant idea for repurposing those glasses. See the post here.

I am constantly in awe of the pretty visuals on the Fresh Exchange blog. This post in particular, called Art to Outfit is one of my favorites. It features a beautiful painting, then translates the colors into a bold outfit.

The Beauty Department is one of my go-to sites for hair or makeup tips and tutorials that I have used over and over again. Last week they posted a DIY that's sure to be one of my all time favorites: using a contact case for makeup touch ups. I am doing this as soon as I find a leopard print contact case! Get that tutorial here. And, check out my other favorite DIY from them that I actually tried, the headband holder. Find it here.

If you were anything like me as a kid, you loved popsicles. I remember chasing the ice cream man every summer! I ran across this recipe for strawberry margarita popsicles and really, who needs the ice cream man when you have these. Find the recipe here.

I love tips on getting a "look for less" and on the Note to Self blog, it is a regular feature with Hers/Mine. See my one of my favorites featuring Ashley Olsen here.

That's my five, did you run across anything that you loved and is share worthy? If so, please share it with me in comments-I love finding new blogs! Have a great week!

DIY: Fabric Headband Holder

I don't know about you, but sometimes I am good with the DIY and sometimes I am not. And, I consider myself pretty crafty! One of my favorite sites I have mentioned a few times is The Beauty Department. They consistently produce tutorials that anyone can do. 

When I saw the DIY for the headband holder, my mind immediately went to my headband drawer. Oh the jewelry I could fill it with if it were empty! So, this weekend I did it. I thought I would share some photos, and my finished product (above), to hopefully inspire you to try it.

And it is simple. You literally take a paper towel roll, wrap it in fabric, hot glue the fabric on and glue a painted ruler to the bottom so it has a flat surface. This took me less than an hour to complete and looks awesome on a shelf in my bathroom. The one thing I would note is-I would have someone help you with wrapping the fabric around the paper towel. It seemed hard to get the fabric tight on my own, so luckily my mom was there to help out. Find The Beauty Department headband holder DIY here. Let me know if you try it out!

DIY: Hang Artwork Quickly and Easily

Usually when I buy artwork or any accessories to hang on my wall, I end up with multiple holes in the wall where things just didn't line up perfectly. It was fine when I was in an apartment but once it was my own condo...I didn't want to have to worry about repainting a wall. I bought some vintage film reels (at Red, of course) to go over my tv and was given a tip on an easy way to hang a group of photos or accessories. 

First, pull out that old wrapping paper from Christmas and lay the white side up on the ground. Next lay out the group on the paper how you plan to arrange it on the wall and use a pencil to mark the placement of your art and your nails. (As seen in the photo above...yes, that is a Yorkie helping me!) Then, using tape, hang the wrapping paper on the wall where you plan to hang the photos or accessories. Finally, put nails up where you marked the paper. Rip the paper down, hang your artwork. This worked great for me, hope it works for you! 


Images from: group of photos

A Very Mad Men Headboard

Last week I watched every episode of Mad Men (season four) in preparation for the season premier this week. While I was watching, all I could think about was the missing fantastic velvet headboard. Where did it go and why did they get rid of it?! It was SO beautiful and now...it is just a wooden headboard. Like everyone else, the style and decor really draws me in to that show. Although I do love Don's new apartment, I still miss that headboard.

A couple of years ago, when I started watching Mad Men I figured the Draper headboard was pretty pricey and so I started on my adventure to find one somewhat similar. My only "must" was that it had to be velvet and had to be tufted.

Target and Wal-Mart actually had some pretty cute headboards online with tufting in all shapes, sizes and colors. I LOVE this pink!

Then, my mom ran across one from Ballard Designs, called the Camden Tufted Headboard. I have ordered quite a few things from Ballard, so I went with them and narrowed it down to a classic color, chocolate brown, seen below.

The headboards are really nicely made and sturdy, was adjustable in height and fit nicely to my king size bed. But, I must admit that I wish I had gone with a lighter color. I find myself lint brushing this one a little too much. And I miss that wow factor the blue has.

In the next couple of months I think I might try to make one myself in orange or pink velvet. I found a great tutorial online that seems hard, but attainable.

DIY: Freezing Seasonal Fruit

As fruit starts to come into season, it is the perfect time of year to visit local farmers. This year, we decided to stock up on strawberries and freeze them, so we can enjoy them throughout the year.

As I mentioned in my blog post yesterday, we visited Marburger Orchard. Since, this type of fruit doesn't last as long as the store bought-I wouldn't go longer than a couple of days to freeze it. First, we picked up supplies at Wal-Mart. I am sure you can buy these anywhere, but we bought the Ball Canning brand, made specifically to freeze, as well as some sticker labels for the jars. 

Once you clean the fruit and let most of the water drain (about 10 minutes) cut off the stems and any areas that look too bruised or bad to you. Then either cut the strawberries in half or in quarters. We ended up cutting the medium-sized in half and left the smaller strawberries whole. 

Next, you need to decide how you want to freeze your fruit. We choose to sugar (or Splenda) freeze this batch for sweeter flavor (this also helps to preserve the fruit), but you can also "dry freeze" your fruit. To sugar freeze, add 1/2 cup of sugar per quart of fruit and mix gently until all the sugar is dissolved and the fruit is coated. It almost seemed to turn a bit syrupy because of the water, which is fine. Then put the strawberries in jars and place in freezer. 

To dry freeze, place fruit individually on a tray in the freezer until frozen, then remove and quickly put in freezer bags and return them to the freezer. We plan to do this with our blackberries we pick in May.

The strawberries will be perfect to use to make strawberry crepes, pie, smoothies and I hear they are great semi-frozen. Make sure to use them within the year!

Day 244, Freezing Strawberries

Saving yesterday's loot! I will be writing a DIY about it on my Viola Pearl blog.

Day 163, Screen Printing

Sent from my iPhone

DIY: Project End Table

Cheap and cute is a bit harder to find in the style I like, so I have found that repurposing not so great painted furniture with beautiful lines seems to work best for me. I picked up this blue table at a store in Fredericksburg for under $40! Although it is a fun color and actually probably could have worked for me, I really wanted something neutral.

So, how do you turn the not so perfect into the perfect table for you?

1. Pick up fine gage sandpaper, cheesecloth, primer and the color you wish to paint it.

2. Sand it until it feels smooth, making sure to go along the edges really good. On this table in particular, they had distressed it with a very rough sandpaper, so it took a LONG time for me to get it to where I wanted to paint it. I actually ended up temporarily turning my hands surf blue, so you might want to do the sanding outside if it is a color.

3. Next I used the cheesecloth to go over the piece to pick up what I had sanded off. This also took some time and many packages of cheesecloth.

4. Prime the piece. You may not need to if you don't have such a bright color, but I didn't want to have to redo the project, so it was better safe than sorry.

5. Paint it and voila!