Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas to everyone! I realized that I hadn't posted my Christmas Tree decorations and thought that today would be perfect! More puff balls of course!

I made some clear plastic puffs out of a roll of gift wrapping plastic and I think they may be my favorite puffs! They are sparkly and look like they are glowing in front of the Christmas lights on the tree.
Notice the paper chain I made for the tree. I used brown paper bags, plain white printer paper and some off white card stock I had laying around. To learn how to make this paper chain, check it out here.Here you can see that I liked the clear plastic puff so much that I made it my tree topper. It's so sparkly!I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with how the tree turned out considering I made all the decorations from bits and pieces of old craft supplies and recycled materials. it was certainly very cheap (free except for the Christmas tree) and very simple too! Making a fluffy puff ball doesn't take much expertise or perfection but the end result is fun and casual!

white christmas

After I wrote my last post about the color of the month, I received my daily Etsy shopping guide. Looks like I'm not the only one dreaming of a white Christmas. As you know, I have been busy making white puff-balls out of all sorts of things like yarn, plastic bags and paper. Finally, I made enough to start actually decorating with them! Here is the wreath I created.
I found a piece of cardboard laying around my house and used some mixing bowls to trace a ring shape onto it.
Next I cut out the ring and simply used some thin string to tie on all the different puffs. When putting the string around the puffs, I made sure to neatly hide it in the center of each one.The wreath turned out very cute, I really love the way all the different textures look together! It will be a nice welcome to our New Years guests!

color of the...month!

As you've probably noticed, I have not been able to blog much lately. I've been working a lot lately but also have had to deal with some pretty heavy situations and on top of it all I'm moving next month! In light of all these time consuming things, I will be doing colors of the month instead of colors of the week since they are pretty time consuming posts. It will also give me a chance to really incorporate the colors into my other posts.

This month, I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

1. Marimekko tablecloth/napkin at Crate and Barrel 2. Palm Canyon Top at Shopbop 3. Sweater Sleeve Candle at Anthropologie 4. Coral Lamp at Horchow 5. Patchwork Lace Shift Dress at Bloomingdale's 6. Braided Magnetic Cuff Bracelet at Couture Candy 7. White river stone mat at VivaTerra 8. White Tea and Ginger Cocoa Butter Soap by DancingMooney on Etsy 9. Long White Blosson corsage brooch by aaliciawedding on Etsy 10. Dick and Jane Snowball Scarf by BossyBootsDesign on Etsy 11. Dolman Sleeve Dress by James Perse

I love white in the winter. I think the years of "winters" spent in Los Angeles make me crave fluffy, snowy, white. My decorations this year are all the things I could find in my craft closet that were any shade of white, cream, grey and silver. What I love about white and the lack of color, is that texture really stands out. I've had lots of fun layering white yarn, paper, plastic, tissue and fabric to create all my decorations for free!

plastic snowballs

I first made tissue paper pom poms here and made some yarn ones here. My big plan is to make as many different kinds of puff balls as I can out of stuff I already have in my house to use as my holiday decorations. I'm going for a snowball inspired look using shades of white, cream and grey. I guess it's my way of having snow in Los Angeles for the holidays...for free ;)
Take an ordinary plastic bag, flatten it out.Cut off the bottom seam, leaving the bottom of the bag open. Keep the scrap piece for later.Then cut straight across to remove the handles, creating an even rectangle. Save the handle scraps to make smaller pom poms later.Next, cut out the printed portion of the bag. For this project, I don't want any color but I will definitely hang on to the colored parts for wrapping presents.Once you have 8 sheets of plastic, stack them on top of each other (trim any sheets that aren't the same size) and fold them using an accordion fold.
Once folded, cut the ends into your desired shape. Here I cut the ends into points, rounded ends make a nice scallop when fluffed.Tie the center tight using that piece of plastic you cut off the bottom of the bag. Then fan out each side and separate the layers.Fluff until you are happy with the way it looks. I think it looks just like the tissue paper version only this one is free and separating the layers is easier because of the slick plastic.
I hope you guys don't get tired of puff ball, pom pom tutorials because there are more on the way! I've got a few fabric and paper streamer puff techniques too. Once I've made enough, I'll be showing you how to make garlands, wreaths and Christmas tree ornaments out of them!

art i like

Tina Berning. I wish I could do what she does with ink and watercolors. Most of her work is illustrations for numerous magazines depicting gorgeous fashion models or famous icons. Her ability to create such clean, romantic figures with only a few strokes makes me incredibly envious.

One of my favorite outfits is the simple, classic look of a trench and turtle-neck as shown so wonderfully here.
This is the perfect example of Tina Berning's incredible talent, creating the most elegant silhouette with only a few key strokes.The gold bird is my favorite part of this painting.
Robert Kennedy. I remember having to do a contour line drawing portrait of my dad sitting on the couch using one single line back in high school. This reminds me of that drawing.
To see more of Tina Berning's work click here. I hope you like her paintings and illustrations as much as I do. Happy Tuesday!