Recycled Side Table

At work we print a lot of mock-ups on our 36" Epson printer, resulting in A LOT of corrugate tubes just waiting to be upcycled into something clever. A co-worker is using the recycled tubes as a bench in his office, which is a wonderful (and comfortable) edition to limited seating space.

I wanted to make something out the tubes myself, I decided on a side table for my office. Another co-worker took 10 tubes home and cut them in half for me.

I needed a clever way to the paint the inside of the tubes and ended up using a narrow paint roller with a pencil (or dowel) as a handle. If you ask me, it looks like corn on the cob with the yellow paint!

I taped the ends of the tubes (something I rarely take the time to do), to make sure I wouldn't get any paint on the top or bottom side of the tubes.

It was a long process, you can see some in-progress tubes in the background.

Finally, three months later, here's the finished product:


I attached binder clips on the bottom of the tubes to secure the tubes and bought the beautiful turquoise elastic from escidus on etsy to keep the top together. I originally wanted to add a glass table top, but I've come to like it without!


We've also got a bunch of Epson ink cartridges that I'm excited to upcycle! Check out some fun ink cartridge lamps at boxlightbox!

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,
How are you and the Mrs.?

I've been mostly good this year and having been enjoying everything you gave me last year. Since you were so generous in '08, I've decided to expand my list a little this year.

First on my list is a house. Look at how cute this little guy is! Doesn't it just look perfect for me? I can just imagine the charming hardwood floors, all the detailed woodwork inside, and adorable gardens in the back! I would be good ALL year next year if I found this under the christmas tree.

The lovely pieces above would help me furnish my new house or would be the perfect start to a collection in the future.

And of course the more practical items on my list:

1. KitchenAid Mixer in Martha Stewart Blue

2. White serving trays (I've spotted some lovelies from Target, CB2, or Crate & Barrel)

3. A drill for all my drilling needs (not that I have many right now, but it just seems like so much fun and useful in the future)

4. Folding worktable, very useful in the current time for all my crafting and party needs

5. Chi straight iron, to make my hair even more fab

6. Gardening shears. Again, to make my hair even more fab...

Some other items on my list would be a chunky silver hand-forged ring from one of many etsy sellers, Gap Close perfume, a Garmin because I'm always getting lost, a screen-printing kit or other crafty supplies, and an FM transmitter for my iPod. (Those weren't nearly as cool to illustrate)

Thanks Santa. I hope all is well with you in the north pole. I'll set out some carrots for Rudolph and look forward to a variety of cookies under the tree for yourself.

With love,

Stephanie

Sweet Felt Gingerbread Houses

Happy Turkey Day! As we gear up for Black Friday tomorrow, I wanted to share one of my favorite little plus-ups at Hallmark this year for Christmas. I'm loving wool felt, it was #70 on my 100 Things to be Grateful For list, it was the material of choice for the DIFFA wreath, and there will be more about it in upcoming posts.
This year Hallmark has these sweet little gingerbread houses made out of felt, preciously adorned with rick-rack, glitter, and pom-poms. They're just too cute and so crafty. I think I'll use them for gift embellishments... or I might just keep them for myself!


I'd love to have a small tree filled with felt ornaments and garland. Here are some of my other favorite felt ornaments from etsy shops.

Big Green Acorn from astashtoys
Perfect for the squirrel-lover!

Winter Felt Garland from anastasiajaminhome
Delightful in white or chartreuse!

Penguin with Red Scarf from allthingssmall

Felt Stockings from rikrac
The ruffle ones are super cute too!

100 Things to be grateful for: 91-100

91. Everything in it's place.
92. Cleaning as you go.
93. Volunteering
94. Bold patterns and stripes
95. Family in the same city
96. Cats
97. Google Reader, Calendar, and Maps
98. Friends who visit you on your birthday.
99. Visiting friends.
100. Vector art.

And there you have it, 100 things I'm thankful for this year. Happy Thanksgiving!

100 Things to be grateful for: 81-90

81. Saturdays
82. Hallmark's design resources
83. Big brothers, the related kind
84. Cowl necks
85. Handmade items
86. Telling the truth
87. Early morning sun. It's what gets me going every morning.
88. Red Box. Best invention ever. (ok maybe not the absolute best, but it's pretty awesome)
89. Hugs. Nobody beats bear hugs from my daddy.
90. Closets, cabinets, and drawers to hide a mess.

100 Things to be grateful for: 71-80

71. Getting packages at work
72. Books organized by color
73. Fancy cigar boxes
74. Bi-weekly 40% off coupons for JoAnn's Fabrics
75. My new hairstylist, Keja
76. Thickening + lengthening mascara
77. New eye glasses
78. A new car that doesn't rival me in the number of weird noises made per day.
79. Parent visits
80. Good massages

100 Things to be grateful for: 61-70

61. Modern Furniture
62. Ingrid Michaelson, my current fav musician
63. Seeing my friends happy
64. Curiosity
65. "Spontaneous" road trips to Chicago with a great friend
66. Lindsay and Megan for encouragement at the gym
67. My new muscles for going to the gym
68. Being able to say I did 150 push-ups in one work-out. Boy-style.
69. Random sweet notes & text messages
70. Wool felt

Baby Tooth Chart

A friend and new mom is working on her son's baby book and was looking for a cute baby tooth chart, but couldn't find anything suitable. She asked me to design one for her to use. It's cute and functional and hopefully someone else can get some use out of it as well.

2.22.11 Update: Check out this link for a pdf (high-res) version! (Thanks for all of the lovely comments)

100 Things to be grateful for: 51-60

51. Roomates
52. Being "grown up"
53. Apartment Referral Rewards
54. Neenah paper samples and swatch books
55. Tabloid extra sized paper
56. Etsy
57. Regretsy
58. Cash back on my credit card
59. Exact change.
60. Good typography

100 Things to be grateful for: 41-50

41. Co-workers who bring me soup
42. Co-workers who take corrugate tubes home to cut for me
43. Co-workers who entertain
44. Co-workers who don't judge my snack obsession
45. Co-workers who listen
46. Co-workers who fill the birthday sock
47. Co-workers who give you your very own golden chalice to use on your golden birthday
48. Co-workers who give you compost items on a daily basis. You know, banana peels, coffee grounds, burlap, etc.
49. Co-workers who craft
50. Co-workers who assist you on crazy pie quests. Mmm. Strawberry rhubarb.

100 Things to be grateful for: 31-40

31. Day light savings time
32. Spring mornings
33. Navy, the color
34. The Big Bang Theory (the TV show), it makes me giggle every time! Bazinga!
35. Nerds
36. Trips back to Iowa with the changing seasons
37. Barns
38. Changing colors of Fall
39. the smell of fresh cut grass
40. White Winter Wonderlands

100 Things to be grateful for: 21-30

21. Good food
22. Sewing machines
23. Laser cutters
24. Nicknames
25. Green flowers (not the fake kind, Sheryl)
26. The wholesale florist on my way to work
27. Patio gardens
28. Differences of opinions
29. Cozy blankets and pillows (I have to sleep with at least 3 pillows!)
30. Friends finding their true loves

100 Things to be grateful for: 11-20

Post numero dos with ten things I'm grateful for:
11. Friends that accept, support, and encourage my nerdiness (like expanding my work Halloween costume name).
12. Pantone, my webkinz cat from a co-worker
13. Computers
14. InDesign and Illustrator
15. Optical Kerning
16. Command Z
17. Antique stores
18. Recycling Centers
19. The internet
20. Blogs

100 Things to be grateful for: 1-10

Taking a page from Oh For Heaven Cakes, I'm going to blog 100 things I'm grateful for, 10 per day counting down to the big Turkey Day! Here's 1-10, all foods, in no particular order:
1. Deal's Orchard Apple Cider
2. Blue Koi, probably my fav restaurant in KC
3. Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
4. Peanut Butter Blossoms. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. Scotcheroos. Anything with peanut butter + chocolate
5. Crasins
6. Moscato. Sangria. Riesling.
7. Laughing Cow Cheese, which is even more delicious when paired with a delicious Granny Smith apple or crisp celery.
8. Vegetables. Yum.
9. Homegrown tomatoes
10. Cucumber rye sandwiches

atc: Safari/Circus

This month's trade had three themes: Magic, Safari, & Circus... I went the Safari/Circus route and hand-cut silhouettes of animals on reversible black and leopard print paper. I was inspired by Precious Moments figurines that I had as a child, the packaging they came in was reminiscent of a circus train. Now that I think about it, it's a little sad to see the animals in their train cars... hmmm, I don't know how I feel about that...

DIFFA Holidays by Design Wreath

This year is my first time participating in DIFFA Kansas City's Holidays by Design, where they auction off holiday items created by Kansas City designers. DIFFA-KC supports the prevention of HIV and AIDS by funding education and awareness programs in Greater Kansas City.

I was inspired by the flat, stylized and modern bouquet clocks and other modern graphics that have been simplified to a flat surface, very reminiscent of the modern take on cabriole legs.

Above is my crafty-modern mistletoe wreath. I fused 5 layers of alternating chartreuse and kelly green wool felt to create a substantial base wreath background and cut it in the simplified greenery shape. I added the red felt berries as an area of interest and a cute button on the back for easy hanging. Hopefully I'll be able to attend Holidays by Design this year and see what other designers have created!