Blinging the Cube

Hola!  80's movie reference, anyone?  Christian Slater fans?  

Well, I've finished up on some jewelry and gem items, but I got distracted by beautifying my faux office, so we'll start there.  Cubicles, bleh; forty hour a week cages, but why not pretty and who says what's acceptable (upper management?)?

  I couldn't take anymore grey or polar vortex, so I had to brighten up the place and Target has some sort of siren song that calls out to me from aisles of items I simply don't need...  So I caved and found a reason to buy some very lovely wrapping paper and various items from the (not always a) dollar aisle.  It isn't quite done yet because with me, a little almost always turns into a lot, but here's what I've got so far:

The view as you walk into the area.

Yeah?  Nice?  Better than grey!  Cream and gold striped gift wrap from Target, $4 a roll, the plants I already had, and an "over sized" (aka engineer print) print from Staples.  The black and white 3' by 4' pints are about $7.  This is a photo of my daughter taken while we were getting ready for my wedding (photos by Sleeping Robot Productions).

DIY circus elephant planter.

New chair cushion with gold leather tag to match the decor.

I brought my elephant from home and made it's green bits gold.  Then I looked online for a fabulous chair cushion since that seemed to be a common element among office spaces that "have it goin' on", but my taste is expensive and this is a VERY wide open space.  Who want to put a $75 throw pillow on a park bench and see if it's still there later?  Um, not me.  I found the fabric that I had at home that would work best in this space and so, my cushion was free.

Other side!

Another over sized print, more existing plants, same file as before, new photos, and the same frames painted green.  I order a few Nutcracker photos every year that my daughter dances in it.  The 2013 photos just came in a week ago, perfect.  I wanted the picture frames to be a similar to the green of the plants; thank you Martha Stewart acrylic paints.

The frames at home after drying.

The mug my friend made is broken, but now it holds flowers from Mr. Husband.

Yep, that's Target again.  Threshold ceramic container, dollar aisle pens, and some gold clearance pencils.

I discovered the wonders of metallic Sharpies during this process.  Plastic, orange handle scissors?  Not a problem!  Now they're gold!  Yellow top on that ceramic canister?  Not with Sharpie!  And so on, and so on...

Recognize my tiny cake?

And a detail of my new photos in freshly painted frames.

I still need to apply paper to the front portion of wall and re-hang my mirror.  I also think a rug would be a nice finish and make this space amazing.  I encourage you to grab the Sharpies, acrylic paints, gift warp, and stapler and make some bright and crisp fabulousness of your own.

A couple of finished DIY's

Hola!  I finished painting and (almost) repairing the dresser (1 leg to glue!).  Here it and an ink stain are for you to view:

We're adding rugs... lots of rugs, but we also need to rent a carpet shampooer.

Do you remember this pin?  Originally seen on Poppytalk.

The process was fairly basic.  I chose a color swatch from Benjamin Moore that matched my bedroom and then I bought a bunch of samples.  I also labeled them according to the drawer that they went on so I wouldn't get confused.

Last week I was talking about the Jelly Planter from Angus and Celeste and thinking about a DIY version.  I did order a pink one and I have no idea when it will be here, but I do know where it's going.  Anyway, the jello tins I ordered came Friday and I went forward with my DIY. 

I love it!

I used some green cord that I already had and some Montana Cans flesh spray paint (also already had this for another project).  The plants are some from around the house.  This photo was taken in the living and the planter matches the wall, but the bathroom is white and that's where this planter is living.  I'm happy with it and I have a few more tins to try things out with.  I took photos for a tutorial, but I haven't put that together yet.  Once I work on it a little more, it will likely be available in my Etsy shop.

I fell in love...

...with the jelly planter.  It's amazing right?

It's in Australia though and the shipping fee is almost as much as the planter itself.  I've been a little plant hungry lately and so I've been perusing what's out there in the world of hanging plants.  I found this one on Etsy and thought it was ceramic.

It isn't.  It's track lighting and it comes with the succulent inside which is nice, but not exactly what I'm looking for.  So it gave me an idea, what would happen if I punched holes in a tin jello mold and gave it a coat of spray paint?  The wheels are turning!  I ordered a few tin molds from eBay today and I should find out within a week.  Woohoo!  Still though, I love that planter.

xoxo,

b

It's Oh So Quiet

Took a stab at cleaning, but it almost always goes back to worse than this.

Cleaned out dead plants left from the drought and I am now attempting to root and re-plant the little healthy bits.

Found this guy and took care of him for a week.

Started the Couch to 5K program and completed 2 days so far.

Spent a rainy day with this guy napping and then found a forever home for him and his brother.

I also updated my Ipad software and made multiple pom poms.  I spent most of my long weekend at home trying to clean the house, but getting distracted.  There was so much rain which is a change from the previous drought.  I seem to mess with the outdoor plants when it rains.  I went out and clipped all the plants that went to seed and cleared out the dead things.  I think this was phase 1 of pre-fall lawn prep.  It was all very lazy and quiet.

xoxo,

b