Weekend Project: Bake a Beet Cake

beet cake from tiger in a jar on Vimeo.

I absolutely love this video by Tiger in a Jar, a creative studio run by husband and wife duo, Matt and Julie. They make videos, plan parties and hunt far and wide for amazing vintage decor. Click here to get the accompanying recipe (and a larger version of the video). Have a great weekend and long weekend (if you're visiting from the U.S.)! Via Muse Per Gioco.

Weekend Project No. 2: Kindergarten Teacher's Gift Idea

A cute little idea for a kindergarten teacher's gift. Handmade stationery (shown here) and a personalized stamp. Beautifully presented by AmberLee of Giver'slog. (Via Charlotte's Fancy).

Weekend Project: Build a Backyard Sandbox

I'm a wee late with the weekend project idea, but found this cute little tutorial on how to make a backyard sandbox via Baballa.  Love the size and the french beach-looking stripes don't you?  Click here for the instructions. 

Weekend Project No. 2: Paint a Closet!

Wouldn't it be fun to open up a closet to colourful walls like this?  Here is inside a dressing room at a LillyPulitzer store in Palm Beach. Looks like all you need to do is grab a heap of paint samples from the paint store, make a rectangular stencil paint in strokes to emulate water colours –not painting perfectly, let dry then hand write with a thin sharpie the colour names on each rectangle. Via Lilly's Notebook.

Weekend Project: River Rock Postcard/Photo Stands

Love this idea of wrapping florist wire around some river rocks to become photo stands by Danny Seo.  Especially holding vintage postcards. Read more about it here. Have a great weekend!

Weekend Project: Woolly Bench

Photography Chris Warnes

This week's weekend project takes us downunder to the fine folks at Real Living magazine and their mother site ninemsn.com.au.  They have a pretty nice DIY or craft project page with heaps of ideas that I came across recently. I'm particularily drawn to this woolly bench project inspired by guerilla knitting.  This is more like guerilla wrapping mind you, which makes it all the more approachable for everyone (and there's even a video on it at the bottom of their page).  Now we just have to find a slatted bench!  Happy weekend!

Weekend Project: Paint by Number Wall - Camp Wandawega

This week's weekend project takes us to the most amazing place, Camp Wandawega. If you follow The Lettered Cottage at all you probably know all about this place, but if not, you most certainly have to check out their posts on Camp Wandawega (if you like camps). Owners David Hernandez and Tereasa Surratt bought a tumbledown lakefront resort in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, fixed it up, got married there and now have a baby girl. They've created a special place that includes four buildings ––a hotel, cabins, an archery range, a basketball court, shuffleboard courts, a garage, two piers, and some horseshoe pits. They've even since built an amazing treehouse with the help of their friends and tent hill, a collection of vintage, perfectly weathered, Boy Scout tents. So when expecting their little girl, they created this paint-by-number wall in her nursery (see post about it here). A great cottage nursery idea (or anywhere there are dreaming children I say).

Find an old paint-by-number (on ebay for instance) and give each of the colours a number, matching the numbers to selected paint chips. And once you've selected those, project the paint-by-number on the wall and trace it out using pencil and start painting!  

 

I couldn't help bring a few photo's of the rest of the camp here to show you, but it's a must visit to see them all at The Lettered Cottage here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4.  And check out Camp Wandawega's site.  Lots of fun pictures, history to ponder.  Transport us! Have an awesome weekend!

(photo: Bob Coscarelli)

(Photos by Aimee Herring)

Weekend Project: Build a Firepit

South African magazine, Home Magazine offers up the full how-to on how to make this easy-to-build firepit using bricks, sand and cement.  Click here for the instructions.

Have a relaxing weekend!

hamacamundo.fi via RTIF

Find a soft nest (love this striped one),  soak up the sun, catch some rays, and have a fantastic weekend!

My posts this week at Family Style:
Gorgeous Relaxed Eating Spaces: 20+ Ideas
20 Cool Decorating Tricks for the Home
Crocheted Lamps from Finland
Fun Weekend DIY's
Amazing driftwood jewelry from the Pacific Northwest
20 Stunning Workspaces to Inspire

Sunday Reading: Drawing Inspiration from H&H

I'm loving the "Weekend Decorating" article of the latest House and Home magazine (Sept '11) produced by Stacey Smithers, (text Kimberley Brown) and photographed by Angus Fergusson.  Titled "Drawing Inspiration" Stacey created some super obtainable DIY's  to help create a more relaxed look with painterly brushstrokes, handwritten embellishments and more.  I wanted to show everything - I loved it all so much, but of course shouldn't.  So I picked my two most favourite, above the bedroom with it's paint imperfect walls - notice the uneven brushstrokes left by a paint roller , colour-block shutter doors, the bookcase used as a headboard (isn't that brilliant), instead of sconces a hanging pendant from a hook, and keep looking, I'm sure you'll find more.  And below a quirky handwritten label painted onto a used wine bottle to serve water with.  If you're hooked up with Zinio you can purchase the digital version here. This article alone is worth it!

Wall colour, Setting Plaster 231 and shutter doors - from top - Plummet (272), Slipper Satin (2004), Down Pipe (26), Farrow & Ball
 

My post at Family Style today - Fun Weekend DIY's

Weekend Project: Family Tree

I received an email the other day from Erika, the daughter to one of our daily readers Melissa in El Cajon, CA of Darby's & Pumpkin's Daily blog. Her mom suggested she email me with her Family Tree project, and I'm so glad she did.   The entire project cost $50.

Materials:
Frames (big and small)
cork self-stick drawer liner
scissors

She says it's quite simple, just time consuming with a lot of it spent cutting.  Using a roll of cork self-stick drawer liner, Erika cut out this beautiful tree free hand using no reference design.   Didn't she do an amazing job?  And if you get a chance be sure to visit Melissa's blog, she has some gorgeous little Cardigan Welsh Corgi's and the most amazing pomegranates (which I've never seen growing before) in a beautiful setting of rolling hills. Thank you Erika and Melissa!

Weekend Project: Ikea Hack Coffee Table

This rad coffee table was made by the very clever folks at Weekday Carnival by using Ikea's VIKA LERBERG stands and a wooden board.  Love the wood with the white together. And I keep thinking about getting that Batgirl print by Mini & Maximus {BODIE and FOU Exclusive}. Coffee table DIY via Bodie and Fou.  A fun weekend project, yes?

I write for for the Family Style section at Babble (a parenting site).  Here's my posts from this week:

Top 10 Summer Decor Trends
2012 Ikea Catalogue: What's New?
New Arrivals at Kate Spade
Let's Go Camping!
40+ Decorating Ideas - Boutique Hotel Style
Hot Summer Day Books for Kids

Weekend Project: Make Someone a Picnic Kit

I love this idea as a gift.  Remember Matt and Julie of Tiger in a Jar?  (They made that beautiful Bake a Beet Cake video we posted about a few weeks back).  Recently they posted about a picnic basket they received as a wedding gift from a friend of theirs who creates the most amazing gifts.  Check it out here, such a wonderful idea and a great little weekend project to make for a special couple.

Weekend Project: Tin Can Hanging Planters

I came across this crafty little DIY project idea yesterday which combines two of my favourite things, recycling and decoupage.  Wabi-Sabi Wanderings created them which I'm thinking would be fun hanging under a veranda outdoors for the summer.  Click here to see.

I've started to write family style-related posts for the parenting site, Babble; here are my posts for this week if you're interested:

• 10 Awesome Summer Craft Projects for Kids & Teens
• Giant washi tape for your walls
• New Fall 2011 Collection from West Elm
• Summer DIY's You'll Love
• The Best Affordable Art Online

Weekend Project: Create Glass Lanterns for the Backyard

Illuminate your outdoor festivities this weekend with this super easy (and affordable) project.  Using mason jars, sea glass, LED flickering tea lights and some wires, these glass lanterns are a fun way to make an evening outside a little more magical. Click here for the how to.  By Layla Palmer, the Lettered Cottage for HGTV.

Weekend Project: Embroidered Bow Top

I just thought this little embroidered pink and black bow top was rather adorable and a fun weekend or Mother's Day project. If you're skilled in the embroidery world, this one doesn't look too time consuming, and hey, you can grab the pdf for the buttons and bows online. Jenny from Sublime Stitching gives you the details on everything here! Happy Stitching!

Weekend Project: Easter Centrepiece

Vintage coloured goblets and bowls of different sizes/heights and colours with daffodils planted in them. A super-easy centrepiece idea from likainen. (Via Emmas blog).

Weekend Project: Summer-ize Your Home

Add new summer pillows and rugs (or wallpaper). vtwonen

Spring weather is so unpredictable, I think it even snowed south of us yesterday, so maybe it's a little early still to be out in the yard or balcony working this weekend for some of us, so why not start summer-izing inside?  It's one of my favourite spring pastimes (seriously).  Brightening up a space with new colours and accessories for me is a complete pick-me-up after a long dark winter. I'm thinking new summery pillows and rugs (even wallpaper), colourful baskets for a new wall display perhaps, paint the piano... the list goes on. What's your favourite spring pick-me-up?

Hang some colourful summery baskets.  Photo: Jitske van Leeuwen for vtwonen

Paint a piano:  Photo from  Addicted 2 Decorating via Pinterest

Weekend Project: Updating Your Kitchen for Free

House & Home

I may have mentioned this here at one time or another, but I came across this photo this week and thought the idea would be perfect for a weekend project. Before we bought our townhome, and when we rented apartments, the first thing I did when we moved into a place was remove the upper kitchen cabinet doors and gave the inside of the cabinets a fresh coat of paint (sometimes out of need to get rid of the grime and other times, because I just wanted to).  And when I did this, I always preferred the doors removed, and left them that way.  It just gave the kitchen a cozy feel (plus I never close cabinet doors, so why have them)?.  This is a fast and easy way to update your kitchen and is very do-able over the course of a weekend.  Paint isn't always needed, but sometimes when you remove the doors there is discolouring from where they were screwed on.

I noticed a while back House and Home's Michael Penney did the same to his galley-style kitchen (shown here).  Doesn't it look quaint?  And if you rent, just store the doors in a closet, and when you move out, hang them back up again!  A free and simple weekend project this week.  Have a good one!

Weekend Project No. 2: Embellish a Headboard

Photo:  Louis Gaillard Réalisation : Pascale Chastres, Alix Chatillon

An adorable idea for a headboard; home decor mimics fashion with these felt flowered embellishments. Wool cut out flowers (make or buy) and attach to a like coloured headboard. This one in linen.  Simple and feminine. From Marie Claire Idées.