Gum-balls for Grown-ups

If you are looking for a fun way to brighten up a space and can't decide on a colour, choose them all with gum-balls! 

For a truly bold look, you could add this rug to your room.

Image from Darling Notes.
Gum-ball rugs can be found at Hay or  YUMMI

Feeling funky? These coasters are sure to be conversation starters.

Image via Honey Canada

Even though these are laundry balls, having them stacked in simple bowl will add a pop of colour to your decor and make your space smell fresh. 

Image via Lena Loves

Gum-ball garland would be a super cute alternative to traditional Christmas garland. 

Image via Made Mary

For another holiday alternative, why not switch out that boring old wreath for a colourful one like this? 

{and of course your wreath will be hung right next to your moose, right?}

Image via Pickles. Found on Apartment Therapy.

And for those of you who are like me and spend a lot of time in the kitchen, here is fun trivet! 

Image via Happy as Larry

Colourful Cozies

I learned how to knit today! Well, learning actually... I'm only on my 8th row. Jen, of Darling Notes, is teaching me. She gave this adorable cup cozie a few days ago and I decided that I had to learn. 

Jen recently posted some really cute knitted cozies on her blog and a week later she is working her third or fourth one. These cozies are great; they are reusable unlike the cardboard version and they look much cuter too. Just keep one in your bag and you are set the next time you stop for a latte or hot tea. 

 Images from Wayside Violet via Darling Notes

For the weekend, when you are curled up on the couch with a coffee and a good book, you can use this cozy. It buttons to fit perfectly around a mug handle. 

Image from Natalya's Studio via Black and White {Side By Side}

For another twist on hand-made cozies, Make It and Love It has a tutorial for making these colorful fabric wraps. 

 Images via Make It and Love It

Ingredients as Art

Cooking and baking is definitely an art form, but the art is usually the finished product. In this book, Homemade is Best, the ingredients are laid out in a most creative fashion on a page with the finished product displayed on the  next.Why didn't I think of this?

Images via Ikea Homemade is Best

Fabulous Fabric Ties... with a Twist!

I'm a big fan of Creature Comforts so I was super excited to flip through Gifted Magazine today! It is full of gift ideas, stories, inspiration and projects. I definitely need to make some of these fabric twist ties!

Fridges of the Future?

How bizarre would this thing look in your kitchen? I'm trying to picture putting a cake in here...

What about this space-saving concept for a small apartment or small family?

Now this is a good idea! As someone who has had many house-mates, I would say that a fridge like this could be useful.

All images from dornob

DIY Trick-or-Treat Bags

About a month ago, Jen over at The Finer Things blog, posted some reusable Halloween totes. What a great alternative to the plastic pumpkin or shopping bag!

I thought they were so cute that I decided to make one for each of my nieces. Jen was kind enough to post my project as a follow-up to her original post. Thanks Jen! 

Supplies:

~ 4 sheets of 9" x 12" stiff felt. For one bag, I used 2 sheets of orange with 2 sheets of glittery black. For the others bag, I used 2 sheets of green and 2 sheets of glittery white.

~ Embroidery floss and a needle

~ Thick yarn 

~ Halloween shapes made out of craft foam

~ Scotch Maximum Strength Adhesive (this worked well for the felt and foam)

Directions:

For the front and back of the of the bags, I used the full sheets of felt, no cutting needed. Then for each side, I folded the 3rd sheet of felt in half, lengthwise and cut it down the middle. To make the bottom, I cut the last piece of felt to be the same thickness as the sides. You will have about 3/4 of a sheet left over. 

To sew the pieces together, I lined the sides up flat and used a simple stitch that also became the border. 

Once all of the pieces were sewn together, I cut the yarn to the length I wanted for a handle and sewed it into place on either side at the top, inside of each bag. To make sure the handle would be strong enough to hold a bag full of candy, I cut small squares of felt and sewed them right on top of where I attached the handles. Not only does this reinforce the handles, but it also covered the ugly knot at the end of the yarn. 

The last thing was to decorate! Rather than create my own shapes from scratch, I saved some time by buying pre-made foam shapes and gluing them on. Each bag got a spooky ghost and pumpkin, but on the other side, one got a haunted house while the other got a witch's hat. This glue took about a day to be fully dry, but they seem super sturdy now.

I can't wait to go trick-or treating with the girls on Sunday and see how well they hold up! 

Have a Spooktacular Halloween!!

all images via The Finer Things

Introducing... The Inspiration Pad

When I was in high school, I lived about 4 hours away from my best friend Liz. We exchanged letters all the time and somehow our letter writing became a contest to see who could write the longest letter or who could find the most creative paper. I wrote her a letter on a roll of toilet paper once. And on another occasion, I made a tiny book from giant graph paper {the size of a big desk calendar} and then filled it. I think she won the award for lengthiest letter, though; I believe it was somewhere around 30 pages. At that point, we were pretty much sending each other a diary so we decided it was time to start cutting back...

When I saw this notebook, it reminded me of sending Liz those letters that were almost like a puzzle to read. It would definitely be a challenge to read some of these pages!

Found on Dornob, Images from Behance Network