A WOODLAND PARTY

my son and i share a birthday. it was not planned like that at all, but thats how it is. labour is not necessarily how i wanted to spend my thirtieth birthday but it did mean i got the best birthday present ever! i was planning on having a bit of a party for my thirtieth but when i found out i was pregnant and due so close to my birthday, i put off celebrating. so this year, for my son's first birthday and my thirtieth [plus one], we put on a combined party. here are some of the pictures from the set up. we went for a bit of a woodland theme, with grass and moss covered cupcakes, and feathers, wood slices and pine cones for decoration. our cakes were super simple but i was really happy with them. hope you like them!

as you walk in our front door, there is our linen cupboard with a chalkboard door. so i did a party board!!!! the trick was using a chalk pencil for the fine lines, i just find if i only use chalk it looks clunky.

outside on the deck, we used balloons, feathers and pine cones. some of the feathers were dipped in gold glitter which looked great in the sunshine!

our cakes were a simple carrot cake, one with two layers and one with three, both with a healthy amount of home made cream cheese icing. the bunting was handmade, and the animal figurines from mini zoo

with the help of family and friends, we were able to put on a great spread. there were mushroom cupcakes [that needed a whole bottle of food colouring!!!], moss cupcakes, critter cookies [thanks ikea for the cookie cutters!], meringues and fruit, and it all looked and tasted amazing!

the light above our dining table has a branch, with six pendants off it. we added a little embellishment in the party theme, with white flowers, pine cones and feathers.

and here is the sweet birthday boy!!! he kept his crown on for the whole party [hand made with a piece of felt] and he enjoyed his first taste of cake. the high chair banner was also handmade with all materials from spotlight.

 it was heaps of prep but totally worth it. it was a great time celebrating our boy and that we had made it through the first year of parenting, and that we are all still alive. it was fun celebrating my thirtieth also, albeit a year late - i don't mind waiting if its for this precious boy!

TRANSFORMATION: BEDROOM DRESSER

this set of drawers was found by the side of the road. at the time i was a student with no money and i just needed furniture. i'm pretty sure my dad helped me carry this set of drawers to my room in the garage, and there it stayed until i moved, and it has travelled with me to my different houses since. it was not exciting, but it was free, and it held my clothes.

i had been thinking it was time to upgrade or to redo this piece, as i had worked out most other things in our bedroom. when we moved we bought our yellow bed (which i love), i had stained and painted some wine crates for bedside tables, i had put in a shelf (above this dresser) to hold pictures and trinkets, and this was one of the last big pieces in the room that i wasn't happy with. when i was looking at furniture redo projects, i started seeing the two-tone timber and white which i really liked. but i love colour, so had to work out how to get that in as well.

so i took off the old knobs, took the drawers out and started sanding (that is always the least fun part but you can't do the fun bits until the sanding is done!). i borrowed my dad's belt sander which was really helpful for the drawers. as i was staining these (as opposed to painting) i had to get much more of the existing stain and gloss off than on the body. for the body, the main priority was getting the gloss off so the new paint would stick. after sanding the main body, i got out the spakfilla to fix up some dents, but i did this only on the body as you would see it after staining on the drawers. once ready for paint, the painters tape came out. the top was painted first (i think i did four coats), then the remainder of the base was painted. after this came my critical error :( i used spray gloss over antique white house paint. it went yellow :( i was not very happy at all. so i undid my hard work and sanded it back. this time i used a primer coat of white, then used a vivid white with the gloss in the paint instead of having to coat it. worked much much better (it still looks white!!). the final touch was the knobs. after much umming and ahhing (they are real words right?) i decided on these ceramic ones. there were some glass ones i really liked that i could only order online, and without seeing how sturdy they were i was worried they might break. i think the ones i ended up with work well, as they tie back into the white body.

here is what i ended up with.

it is not an overly well made piece of furniture, with some bits being a chipboard type product, and others being regular pine, but with a bit of a makeover, you wouldn't know it unless you got out a fine tooth comb and magnifying glass.

do you like it? what transformations have you undertaken and were they a success?

all materials i purchased from bunnings except the knobs

paint:
- vivid white in semi-gloss by dulux
- safflower in low sheen by taubmans
- quickdry gloss by dulux (do not use on white!!)

knobs:
- white etching ceramic knob from zakkia

DIY CHRISTMAS IN MAY??

so this is not really the time of year to be posting about christmas...i'm about 7 months to early (or 5 months late which is closer to the truth). i had intentions of making these for christmas last year, but with our trip to north america and arriving home two weeks before christmas i didn't get to making them. and then i just wanted them off my list of pending/unfinished projects so i made them in april. anyway, here they are. they are all super easy to make yourself at home and are inexpensive, and will definitely glam up your tree.

project 1: gold and white ornaments

the base for these was bought from hobby lobby in the states while we were there, as was the gold leaf. they were made for decoupage and just had a brown kraft paper finish.

you will need the following materials:

- ornament shape from your craft store

- white paint (i used some left over sample house paint from buntings, but normal white acrylic should also work)

- bamboo rod or stick

- two chairs

- paintbrushes (x2)

- PVA glue

steps:

1. hang the ornaments along the bamboo rod or stick and suspend between the chairs. this allows you to get to the bottom of the ornaments when painting

2. paint the ornaments in the white paint (i just did the bits that weren't going to have gold on them plus a little extra to allow unevenness in the gold, but you could just paint the whole thing). The ornaments will need two coats of paint so the colour of the kraft doesn't come through.

3. Once dry, its time for gilding! this is a fiddly process and took much longer than anticipated! Cover the part of the ornament that you would like to gild. wait until tacky and, using the other paintbrush(s), place the gold leaf on the part where the glue is and then use the paintbrush to dab the gold down to stick. repeat until the parts you want are covered in gold.

a couple of tips with the gold leaf. firstly, do not put the gold leaf on as soon as you put the glue down. this will end up slightly discolouring the gold leaf finish. you need to wait until it is tacky. secondly, when using the paintbrush to stick the gold leaf down, use the side of the brush bristles instead of the end. i found this tore the gold leaf much less. thirdly, as you are waiting until the glue is tacky, you may need to go over an area more than once to get full coverage. i went for a rustic type look in the finish and edges so it didn't matter so much if there were a few gaps, but if you want to do this i would suggest painting the whole ornament white before gilding. lastly, try to use your fingers as little as possible and don't any glue on the paintbrushes you are using to apply the gold leaf! it just sticks to your fingers and the brush and gets messy!!

project 2: natural baubles

these are great to complement a busy and already glammed up tree and are super easy!!

you will need:

-polystyrene balls from your local craft store (i got mine from riot). they come in a variety of sizes so just pick the ones you like!

- calico or cream homespun fabric (or any fabric you like really) OR pages from an old book. i used homespun and then pages from an old book from a second hand bookshop on streets. this meant i had some line drawings and maps thrown in for a bit more visual interest. you could use an old map, sheet music...whatever takes your fancy!!

- pins with just a small silver head

- twine (from bunnings or your local craft store)

steps:

1. cut the book pages or fabric (whichever you are using) into lengths that are long enough to do a full circle around the sphere

2. pin in place. i used one pin every few strips as i didn't need one for each one, and the paper gets quite tick with all the layers so minimal pins is best!

3. repeat until full coverage is achieved. make sure that you overlap the strips of paper/fabric so that if they move around a little you can't see the polystyrene underneath.

4. using a piece of twine between 15 and 20cm long, tie so that you get a loop.

5. pin the loop to the bauble. i put the knot end on the bauble and stuck the pin through the knot to make sure it holds.

project 3: cookie cutter decorations

i think these are my favourite out of the three. and i always love a bit of gold and white together!!

you will need:

- air dry clay (or fimo. i found the fimo ok but if its cold, its a lot of work to get it flat if using a whole block in one go and you then need to bake it. i prefer air dry clay as long as your have a couple of days to let it dry)

- christmas themed cookie cutters (i used a scone cutter for the circle ones and got the dove, nutcracker, snowflake and bethlehem star from sur la table in the states, and the bell is available in lots of different places)

- rolling pin

- baking paper

- skewer or knitting needle

- nail file

- masking tape

- spray paint in your choice of colour (i went for a muted gold)

- twine

steps:

1. roll the clay or fimo out so that it is around 4mm thick. i found this thickness about right as if thinner, it will curl as it dries and if thicker it just takes ages to dry. i rolled it out between two sheets of baking paper to stop it from sticking to my rolling pin and kitchen table. the only thing to be careful of in doing this is that as the baking paper absorbs some of the moisture, it can crease which shows up imprinted in the clay. to alleviate this i would get two new sheets of baking paper for the last bit so there were no creases in it

2. using the cookie cutters, cut out your shapes. rework the clay and roll it out again to reduce wastage (and then you get extra decorations!

3. THIS STEP IS IMPORTANT!!! using the skewer or knitting needle, create a hole where you want the twine to go through. if you forget this one you will have lovely pieces that you cannot hang!!!

4. once dry (i usually left them for 48 hours to be sure, there should be a slight colour change - the clay gets a bit lighter), use a nail file to tidy up the twine hole and the edges. i found the cutters did not give me completely clean edges, but a nail file was enough to fix them up

5. using the masking tape, mask up the areas that you want to stay white. you can see in the picture that the nutcrackers, doves etc. have white bits and gold bits, this was just masked up with the tape (and scissors to cut the shapes). make sure the tape is well stuck down and covers all areas that you don't want to get paint on them - spray paint will find the spots that don't have some good taping going on.

6. using the spray paint (outside on a very big sheet of paper or the like - it has a wide spray and again, seems to have quite a far reach), spray your ornaments. i usually found that at least two coats were needed. follow the instructions on the paint for distance to hold the can, time between coats etc. you can apply as many or few coats as you like. try not to drown the ornament, as this can end up in a pubble on the paper which the back of your ornament is then sitting in while drying which can affect the finish.

7. once the paint on the front is dry, turn over and repeat step 6. make sure that in both steps 6 and 7, you still get the edges.

8. once all dry, take off the masking tape and, using 15-20cm lengths of twine, thread them through, knot and you're done!

HOW TO: MOODBOARD/INSPIRATION BOARD

mood boards can be soooo helpful when it comes to working out or refining your style. since having my own virtual moodboard (i.e. pinterest) i have been able to refine my style so much more which means the decisions i make for my home I generally end up much happier with! so, how do you do this exactly? its really quite simple, it can just take some time to nail it! there are two methods of preference, however the method is generally the same.

1. find material that you like
this can come from several different sources and doesn't need to necessarily be interiors focussed. my suggestions for inspiration would be as follows:
- magazines
- books
- blogs
- fabric
- wrapping/packaging
- photos
- prints
- type/font/words (for the content or the typeface)
- ribbon
the material you select can be picked for any number of reasons...you like the colour scheme, the feel of the image, a pattern, an object, the lines in the picture. it could be interiors, clothes, outdoors, balloons, people...anything that you look at and go 'there is something about that'!

2. collate
to get a really thorough idea of your style, collating the images into one location is best, as the single items you love give you a glimpse into part of your style, however everything together gives a much more holistic view of what you love. putting it all together, you will also start to see recurring colours, styles etc. that you are drawn to.

3. physical or virtual
boards can either be virtual or physical. its really up to you!

physical: all of your pretties can be mounted to a piece of cardboard, pinned on a corkboard, sticky taped to the wall (you could use washi tape for a fun spin on it - pick one you like so it says something about your style), put in a frame (again, be selective about the frame). my preference is to use a flat medium as opposed to a folder as its all in front of you in one glimpse. having said that, i also stick things in my notebook and enjoy flicking through that (i did this for our wedding). once you've decided on your medium, lay everything out and stick it down. put it up somewhere so you can look at it as you go about life, and feel free to add or take away over time either based on your changing taste or your further refinement.

virtual: my virtual method of choice is pinterest, but tumblr blogs are also heavily image based and could be utilised. alternatively there is photoshop, illustrator or indesign if you want all your material in one print or image. for pinterest, you will send a request to join and they send you an email once they've let you in. you can see pinterest and everyones boards before this, you just won't be able to create your own. once you get your own login, you create boards. you also follow people. initially they suggest people and you can add people who's pins you like so they come up in your 'feed'. you can repin the images to one of your boards or you can pin images from anywhere on the internet (except facebook) onto your boards. this then means that all you images are stored in one place. pinterest also saves the links for all your pins with the image so you can get back to the original source of yours or another person's pin. again, feel gre to add or take away as your taste changes or you refine your taste.

a note before you get started - whatever your taste is is ok. please don't feel like you have to pick things you think others would like, or what your friends like, or what style your existing spaces are. let loose. lots of people have different taste to me, but i have learnt the long way around that if you are trying to fit into someone elses style for whatever reason, you won't be happy with the outcome.

the end. yep, its that easy...and there's no wrong answer or right way to do a moodboard...so go get started!!!!! here is some inspiration...

image: shannon fricke

image: shannon fricke

image: shannon fricke

image: brown dress with white dots

image: decor8