How To Make Your Own Spectacularly Cool-Looking Wine Chiller
DIY Projects
DIY Golden Creature Terrarium
The other day, Kendrick and I had dinner at our friend Erin's house (she of the awesome Pinterest and crafting blog and Peekskill-trip planning skills). She and her husband have an amazing midcentury buffet table in their dining room that they use to display various odds and ends that they've collected and/or made over the years, and when I spotted a tiny dome housing even tinier gold animals sitting on the buffet I was immediately transfixed. I had visions of them wandering through some obscure thrift store in some adorable middle-of-nowhere town and stumbling across priceless gilded tigers the size of thimbles that had once been the playthings of royal children during the Qing Dynasty, but that they had managed to score for five bucks.
Or something.
Five seconds later my son had whipped that glass dome off and plucked the animals off of their stand, and I was running towards him, with visions of him destroying some precious, irreplaceable artifact (and thereby destroying our newish friendship in the process). I snatched them out of his hands (--> tears), only to discover...
DIY Scented Sea Glass
OK, so you've probably gathered by now that I'm a semi-obsessive home scenter, but as much as I love candles, they're not always ideal - when entertaining large, multi-child-inclusive crowds, for example, open flames aren't particularly advisable. As a flame-free alternative to keeping your home smelling lovely, potpourri works…but if the nuts-and-dried-flowers thing isn't exactly in line with your aesthetic, how about something a little prettier and more modern-looking?
I've posted a couple of times about my black lava rock potpourri, and the other day reader Heather asked for a more affordable alternative. At your service! I made this scented rock potpourri with sea glass, but any unscented (porous) rocks would work, and you can find lots of options at craft stores. Just dye them whatever color you like, add the fragrance of your choice, and put them in a pretty container (I especially like the idea of a rustic iron container like Mad et Len's), and presto: a perfumed home for just pennies.
Yard Sale 101
I've heard of people who dread having yard sales. Who feel like they have to do it to get rid of their overload of stuff, but really don't like holding them.
This does not compute.
Yard Sale Day legitimately ranks up there with my Favorite Days Of The Year, somewhere alongside Christmas morning. I'm totally serious: on Saturday morning I practically leaped out of bed and was busy making Kendrick crazy with all the running around and dictating and coffee consuming within seconds.
Easy (But Elegant) Craft Ideas
My favorite find from our day trip to Half Moon Bay: a sort of outdoor discovery garden filled with different crafting tables. But not, like, yarn and sparkles and such…amazing things. Like giant abalone shells and air plants and blue jars and tiny squares of sheet music and twine.
And a table full of ideas for just what to do with all these amazing things, like make planters and lanterns and messages in a bottle. Crafts that I not only wanted to make…but that I wanted to keep, and display. Crafts that I think you should try out, too - and especially if you have a kid-and-adult-inclusive party, because I'm telling you: everyone will love these.
