5 Citrusy DIYs to Try

And just like that: it's summer! I'm looking forward to warmer temps, trips to the beach, and maybe an inner tube float down the river. Oh, and I wouldn't mind sipping on pink lemonade under a beach umbrella. Get a kick-start on your summer crafts with these citrusy projects!



1. Gemstone bobbypins by Tell Love & Chocolate (I need to make these - so pretty!)
2. Great paper fruits by Mr. Printables
3. Handmade citrus stamp by Say Yes
4. Washi tape thumbtacks by How About Orange
5. Citrus doormat by The House That Lars Built

*All photos via their respective sources.

Spotty gold

I've been on a gold kick lately and apparently I'm not the only one! Better Homes and Gardens blog featured DIY Gold Polka Dot projects last week, and whaddya know, there's my gold leaf confetti bowl project!



Click through to see some other great spotty gold projects that you can try yourself! I'm especially loving that cute tray from For Chic Sake. Happy Monday!

Follow me, maybe?

A couple months ago Google broke my heart and announced that they were suspending their GoogleReader service. Ha-what?! But I use Google Reader every day to read my favorite blogs! If I just keep using it every day like nothing's wrong, it won't go away, right? Alas, we're coming down to the deadline and I'm getting the daily reminder alert that my beloved reader will be nowhere to be found come the first of July. Booo...

In the wake of this news, lots of other great reader alternatives are making themselves known. My two faves so far are Bloglovin and Feedly. If you use these, too, just click here or the "FOLLOW" button in my side bar. It'll take you to a page with links to both! 

All Things Paper, by Ann Martin

Today is a special day! It's the release day for All Things Paper; a book full of fun paper projects by my friend Ann Martin from the popular All Things Paper blog. I'm so happy for her that this day has finally arrived, but also a little happy for me, because the book includes one of my projects!


Here are a couple of shots of my screen printed paper coaster project!

I've been waiting on pins and needles for what feels like forever (actually, about a year and a half) for this day. I'm not kidding when I say I did a little happy dance when I received my very own copy a couple of weeks ago. I was excited to scope out my own project and now I'm itching to try out some of the others. There are lots of great projects included for every skill level.


You can find your own copy of All Things Paper on Amazon. There's a Kindle version, too!

*Disclosure: Affiliate links are used in this post. I may receive a commission from a sale made by using the above links. But, as always, all opinions are my own. 

All Things Paper, a new book!

I was so excited over the weekend to hear from my friend Ann from All Things Paper that the book she's been hard at work on, All Things Paper: 20 Unique Projects from Leading Paper Crafters, Artists, and Designers is currently being printed and will be out on bookstands on May 28th! I'm especially excited because one of my own projects, Citrus Slice Coasters is included as well!

The book is available for pre-order here on Amazon, so make sure to checkout with a copy next time you're doing some online shopping. I can't wait to try out the projects myself. Happy Wednesday!

Favorites: No Barcode Blog

I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorites here every now and then. If you're a regular reader of my blog, chances are we have similar taste, so maybe you'll enjoy these products/websites/projects/blogs as much as I do!

I don't recall how I stumbled upon this blog, but I'm so glad I did! No Barcode by Javier Garcia keeps a visual library of vintage packaging, showing off their colors, fonts, and graphics. It's hard not to get inspired by these great little examples of graphic design. Here are just a few:

So click around to see some fun examples of vintage graphic design. The clean, simple photography really makes the graphics pop, don't you think? All images from No Barcode. You can also find samples of Javier's own graphic design work on Flickr. Happy Friday, friends! Enjoy this last weekend before the holiday madness really hits. I'll be working on a few screen printing projects and thinking up some winter crafts to share here on the blog. Have a good one!

Lucky 105!

Hey, this is my 105th post! I meant to have a 100th post announcement, but it got away from me so let's celebrate 105 instead.

I've been sprucing a few things up around the blog. Have you noticed I have a new "About" page?  Check it out if you want to learn a little more about me and what I do. I've also been organizing my blog content and tags to make archived posts a little easier to navigate. I'm working on a few new tutorials and some exciting projects that I can't wait to share. Thanks so much for reading! Here's to the next 105!

What I've learned.

As I announced early last month, I participated in Holly Becker's Blogging Your Way 2.0 course. While the coursework has been wrapping up, I've had lots of time to reflect on everything I've learned. I'm motivated with a new-found enthusiasm for blogging and appreciation for all of those super-supportive fellow bloggers out there!

In addition to tons of practical tips and tricks that I know will be helpful in my blogging career, the one topic that really struck a chord with me was Holly's personal story. Hearing how she started out slowly, making her own way, following her heart and doing what she loved has (years later) blossomed into a creative career doing wonderful things like writing interior design books to traveling all over the world to teach. I think the main lesson I got from her story is that things take time, but it you slowly work at them, taking little steps in the right direction every day, that you can reach your dreams. And your dreams can take you other wonderful places that you could have never imagined. How could you not be inspired after hearing a story like that?!

I've also become more grateful for my blog and the positive influence it has in my life. To me, blogging helps keep me balanced and reminds me to do things I love. It's easy to get bogged down by the daily grind of commutes, office stresses, bill-paying, family matters, bla bla bla. At some point I realized that I needed to be creative to be happy and healthy, so keeping this blog is a wonderful way to stay motivated and organized with these activities. I love sharing, have always enjoyed writing, and I'm constantly working on creative projects (or just dreaming them up). I also love connecting with my readers.

So there you have it. What I've learned and why I love blogging. If you were thinking about taking one of Holly's courses, I highly recommend it! I've learned lots and made a few new friends along the way.

*Shout out to the lovely ladies I met last weekend at our Nor-Cal Bloggers Meet-Up: Sharon from A Fanciful Life, Starlet from Can You Come Home, Rebecca from Design R, and Carol from A Laughing Gate.

Blog feature: All Things Paper

Today I'd like to feature the blog of one of my web buddies: Ann Martin from All Things Paper.

All Things Paper is aptly named since it's a blog dedicated to paper arts of all kinds: origami, papercutting, paper jewelry, quilling, you name it! Ann features artists from all over the world who do wonderfully interesting things with this media.

Quilled works from Yulia Brodskaya

Paper butterflies in an Anthropologie window

Papercut thumb print art

Fluffy bird and paper caterpillar from Diana Beltran Herrera

Paper lighting from Paula Arntzen

With stunning images like these, I look forward to seeing a new post from Ann pop up in my reader! She was kind enough to feature me a few months back and wrote the nicest post (see it here). Ann is actually a paper artist herself, creating highly detailed quilled wedding certificates and cards. She offers many informative tutorials (some in video form) on her blog if you're interesting in trying your hand at quilling yourself!

A quilled marriage certificate

Woodland themed marriage certificate

Lovely lavender blossoms

And there's exciting news on the All Things Paper front: there's a book in the works! Set to release in 2013, it will be a project book full of fun, modern, and useful paper crafts with step-by-step tutorials. It's exciting news for me as well since I am a contributor! That's right, one of my projects will be included. Needless to say, I'm excited for it's release and looking forward to trying out lot's of new paper crafts.

*all images via All Things Paper

A little thrill.

It's probably a no-brainer, but I'm a huge fan of the Retro Renovation blog. Do you follow it? It's all about retro homes, their unique features, and preservation and re-creation of the style (from 50's mid-century modest to funky 70's) I'm not a homeowner yet, but someday I dream of a ranch of my own with lots of glass, a courtyard, some built-in planters, and a pink bathroom. Maybe if I put it out there in the universe it'll come true...

Image from Plan59

Over the weekend, Pam at RR opened up her site for readers to upload photos of their favorite thrifty finds. I joined in on the fun and added a few of my own. I was so excited to see that Pam had featured my photo of the Aztec fireplace in my (previous) backyard on the Retro Renovation facebook page! With close to 20 K followers on FB, I felt like it was a brush with celebrity!

I realized that I never shared that on my own blog, shame on me! I also shared some photos of my other finds: some glass ware, lamps, my coffee table, and my ceramic plate collection (that I have shared here on the blog, if that's redeeming in any way). The fireplace and my plate collection pics were added into Pam's next post called "What to collect" all about thrifting ideas. So cool!

(Top two photos via Retro Renovation. Last photo by me, Casey)

I LOVE the blue and green rug in the top pic, and that Broyhill bedroom set? So nice. And there are my plates. Love them! I found a bunch more great ones at Goodwill this weekend.

If you haven't perused the site and have a few hours to kill, head on over. You won't regret it and you'll be in the company of lots of other retro enthusiasts who will share your excitement over starburst cabinet hardware and other cool home details and products.

Friday finds.

Can you believe it's almost May? Where does the time go? I'm still getting settled in my new place and things have been busy! Here are a few things from the internet that caught my eye this week, in no particular order:

Fluffy Raspberry Mousse recipe from DesignCrush. I literally have a batch of this chilling in the refrigerator right now. It looks so delicious and makes me think of my grandma. She was a master of Jello.

Origami bow tutorial via How About Orange. These are so easy to make and really fun! I made a few from old construction document plans at work. Once you get going, you'll want to make a bunch of these.

Paper calla lily gift toppers, from Oh Happy Day.

These super cute bento boxes, via Creature Comforts. I want the blue one in the middle!

I can't stop looking at these amazing photos of the Beattie residence, via Modern Findings.

These lovely bird feeders (and a few planters) from Gainey Ceramics are on sale through Fab.com. Gainey is a well-known name in mid-century ceramics. I'm so tempted by that little aqua number... If you're interested, hurry up! The sale ends soon!

Well, that's all I've got for now. Happy Friday and have a lovely weekend!

Crafts from the 60's and 70's.

I think I'm a little late to the game, but I've just recently discovered podcasts. I've been blasting through craftypod series and just yesterday listened to the January, 2007 interview with Cathy Callahan of Cathy of California. In the interview, she talks about her collection of vintage craft books from the 60's and 70's and about the blog she created to catalog some of the imagery from these books. Having painted my fair share of rocks and made my own paper-mache pinatas, I was excited to visit the blog and found a wonderfully curated collection of craft imagery from the era.



Party paper ad from 1967. This guy is serving the ladies like a champ!

Artist Margaret Wentworth in her Big Sur home. 

I love the textile fish on the tiny piano.



 Headless mannequin supervising some sewing work. McCalls Craft book, 1968.

  

This sewing machine ad is great!

Pantyhose art, anyone? This is actually quite pretty. From "The Pantyhose Craft Book" 1978.

Fondue party! I'd love to get my hands on those teal plates. 1962.

I love these bold graphics, 1962.

Coincidentally, Cathy just released her own craft book, Vintage Craft Workshop. This book adds a modern take to the crafts from the 60's and 70's.

It looks like a fun read! I especially like the crocheted vase cover and the mobile. You can find it on Amazon. All photos are from the Cathy of California blog. Head over to check out many more retro craft projects and photos!