Leafly

I'm a super creative person, and like most creative people I find inspiration at Ikea.  Whether I'm browsing the Lack table collection or munching on some Swedish meatballs, it feels like anything is possible at Ikea.  One of the hidden gems there is Children's Ikea.  Childless and childful people alike can find cute, colorful nylon things here.  Things that you might be shy about hanging or setting up in your house,but that Ikea makes ok.

A few weeks ago I took my sister to Ikea to celebrate her leaving for Australia by buying stuff for myself.  Maybe it was the clean Scandinavian design or the slight panic that begins to rise when you realize that the only way out of the Ikea maze is through Smaland, but I found myself lingering near a bin of stuffed broccoli in Children's Ikea, not wanting to go any further.  And then I saw what I never knew I needed, but knew I needed right away:  a giant leaf.

Ikea wants you to think that this is only for hanging above baby cribs or to confuse cats, but it's not.  It can also be used to legitimize a mattress on the floor, turning it into a real adult bed.  The look goes from post-college depression to grad school melancholy in the amount of time that it takes to hang the leaf - which is a pretty long time because it didn't come with screws and I don't like to look at the instruction manual until I have exhausted every other option, including crying into my "Kelly" heart pillow.  But once I jumped that hurdle the leaf was up and running.

See?  This bed was made for this leaf.  And the leaf was made for this bed.  It looks extra great because there is a skylight above it that usually wakes us up at 6am, so now we can sleep in until at least 7.  It's changed my life for the better, I don't think that I could go back to sleeping under a leafless canopy.  So thank you Ikea, for making things that look like tents but aren't, and for taking things found in nature and making them look like things found at Ikea.

Dream Big or Go Home

Dream boards are a great way to put your dreams on a board.  And while a lot of people use Pinterest to share their hopes, dreams, and recipes, I recommend having a real life board to pin things on.  Something that you have to look at every day, something hanging on your refrigerator or directly across from your toilet.

When I decided to make my dream board I looked at other dream boards for inspiration - I needed to be inspired to really be inspired.  So here are the dreams that shaped my dreams, the boards that gave me reasons to pin.  It sounds like the beginning of a great social media site, but I don't want to exploit my hopes and dreams that way, they're private, and I don't want anyone copying me.

This is a great example of a classic girl dream board.  It encompasses everything that girls need to remember on a daily basis in order to be girls.  From "pretty" to "flirting" to "love" to "sex", this powerful word sequence is juxtaposed with strong imagers of pudding and an engagement ring.  This definitely gave me a good start, but I still needed to do more inspiration research.

This themed weight loss board is most likely the precursor to thinspiration boards, back before people knew about not eating.  The all caps lettering and interspersed exclamation points along with sporty pics of tan, blonde women really keeps the focus of the board on fighting fat and being confident about fighting fat.  Noted.

This dream board spoke to me, personally, because I am trying to become a professional and need to remind myself of my successful career future so that I can get out of bed before 10am two mornings a week for my internship.  I've also taken some marketing classes, so I know that these words are very important to many text book editors.  By this point I was pretty sure that I was inspired.  Time to make my own dream board!

Because I am fairly crafty I mixed both paper and fabric for a dual material effect.  I then cut out images from  calendars and library books (don't worry I work at the library so it's nbd), and put some drawings I found in my boyfriend's backpack on the board.  This board inspires me to see the beauty of each day and to not get too down on myself when I can't finish crossword puzzles even though my grandma can.  It also reminds to dance like no one's watching and only eat meat if it's hunted down in a forest.

I hope that this inspires you to get inspired - sweet dream(s) boarding!

Wine Not?

Sometimes the perfect nightstand is right under your nose.  In your kitchen.   Holding an empty bottle of wine for decoration.  At least that's how I found an innovative bedside table.  After I realized that I would probably never own a bottle of wine long enough to keep in a wine rack, I decided to put this framework for the fermented to better use.

It took some trial and error to realize that most things (alarm clocks, glasses, tissues, lamps) fall through the slats no matter how good you are at Jenga.  It needed something.  Something flat, and something I had in the recycling bin:  cardboard.

In a stroke of genius I found a crocheted, plastic decorative-type square.  I'm not really sure what its purpose is, so this seemed like a good outlet for it.  The cardboard was miraculously the same size as the crocheted square (you will see that this happens fairly often in crafting - it's like faith, you just have to believe that it will fit).  The next step was to layer the two squares on top of the wine rack - again, there are no wrong answers in crafting, so you can do this however you want, but I chose to put the blue square over the cardboard. 

It's pretty much perfect.  You could also use a tray, notebook, or magazine to achieve this look.  The squares are a little small for the top of this but like I said, if you believe that it fits, it does.  

Pillow Perfect

Airlines used to give out free pillows according to my grandma, so she has plenty to give out as gifts and party favors. I've been the lucky recipient of quite a few and while they make great TV trays, these stuffed rectangular sacks also make beautiful decorative throw pillows.

Sewing is hard, so I don't advise it unless it's absolutely necessary, and even then glue is almost always the better option.  I came across a great little place mat from Ikea, the luxury type that are made out of two separate pieces of material and can cost upwards of $5.  Luckily you only need one, and I happened to have it on my table.

Sew cute, right?  Wrong.  This fabric-cutting cute.  All you need is a sharp-ish steak knife or maybe scissors if you own any.  But don't stress yourself out, you can always use a house key if you can remember which purse or doorknob you left it in.  Once you have the proper tool it's time to crack open a beer or bottle of champagne because this is a house project, so treat it like one.  Then slit the short side of the place mat open - if you make a" mistake" and cut the long side instead, that's ok too.  There are no wrong answers in crafting.  I ripped the seams and left the threads dangling for a post-modern ironic affect, but if that's taking too long you can just cut the fabric.

See?  It looks like a pillow case already.  Because it is.

Now slip the pillow inside and you're done.  There's no need to close up the open end because you might want to take the pillow case off to wash it or use it as a place mat again.  So just leave it as is, it looks great.

This homespun pillow project is sure to add new life to any couch, chair or floor.  Sit back, relax, and prepare for departure... from boring pillow cases that cost money.