How To: Fabric Bankers Boxes

I love when things are organized. Keeping them that way, however, is another story.  Now & then I get the urge, and dump out a closet or two for a full on cleansing.  Since I have no warning whatsoever as to when these urges will strike, I never seem to have a stash of adorable organizational boxes on hand.  Plus, it's hard for me to pay a pretty penny on "cute boxes" that will be stashed in a closet anyway - maybe I'm just cheap! I know it's all the rage right now to have your closet not only organized, but absolutely friggin' adorable too for all of pinterest to awe over  - but let's face it, that takes some dough!  And there's no way my closet is getting the cute-ify funds before the rest of the house does, am I right?

I always end up using whatever empty box is lying around, scribbling on the side of it in sharpie, and wishing it looked better.  So when I saw this post from Craftaholics Anonymous, it really hit home. Cheap, Cute, and could be made on the fly with scraps around the house. I present to you, Fabric Covered Bankers Boxes:
Nice, huh?  I've covered boxes in paper before in the name of being cheap thrifty, and they never make the long haul.  I've decoupaged it on, covered it in packing tape, you name it.  This though? Perfect solution.  Fabric is durable, adorable, and you could coat it in a polycrylic if you really wanted some protection from dust & dirt.  Plus, isn't it nice to know that a standard bankers box, which runs you all of $2 or so, fits perfectly into IKEA's expedit shelf? I'll say!

How do I know it's an Expedit? It's creepy, really. I have no idea how this happened to me, maybe I was struck by Ikea lightning or something - but ever since my first catalog, I've had their inventory completely memorized.  This is a strange, effortless phenomenon - I can even quote you prices most of the time.  And I don't sit around studying the catalog all day either - this is a mystery to me, but hey - it works, so why argue.  Plus to double check, I read up on the blog that it is indeed Expedit. :)   Which is Ikea's newer line of affordable shelves, I think they are steering away from Billy.  Whoah.... too much Ikea there.  Suddenly I want swedish meatballs....

I originally saw these boxes over at Craftaholics Anonymous, but it looks like the original post is from  Adventures of Brad and Kendra.  So head over to either one, spread some love if you're feeling it, and get yourself some bankers boxes.  No home should be without!

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New String Art Designs: Halloween & Elephants

What a bad blogger I've been! I haven't been posting nearly as much, forgive me. After the vacation, I had to rush to finish up a ton of new string art orders, and I'm happy to say I'm caught up.  I'm also excited to show you the new designs! One of the great perks about having the string art so customizable, is the recipient and I come up with brand new stuff together.  I snapped a few photos before sending them out today,  here is a larger version of my sea snail - came out great:

She wanted it for a gallery wall, should look nice! Here's a festive take on my winter tree, a Halloween tree! This was a custom request, why didn't I think of this? I love it! Perfect Halloween decoration:

Another custom request was a spin off the bird tablets, this elephant:

I really like the Elephant! No - it's not political at all, that was a coincidence, haha. But I guess it could be, for the right person. Elephants are just plain cute. This is a birthday gift for someone, and was completely customized too.  So that's what I've been up to, plus three name plaques that I hope to be able to show you (and ship off!) tomorrow.

If you would like to order a custom tablet, get in touch with me here or browse the shop, I have a lot of custom orders set up & ready to go.  All colors of stain & string are customizeable.  Have a fun day!

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Pinterest Picks: Fall is here

Surprise! Today is the last day of summer! Snuck up on you, didn't it? I had a clue it was coming as the mornings got a little cooler, but I had no idea it was tomorrow! Sad to see summer go, but fall can be fun in it's own way, Halloween...Thanksgiving... just try not to think of spring & summer and you'll get through it! The best way I've found to combat the blues from knowing that it's about to get freezing (anything below 45 degrees is a personal state of emergency) is to just embrace it and ramp up for it. So for today's pinterest picks, I'm going to pull some pins that will hopefully get us all ready & excited for the Fall... click here to see my full fall pinterest board, otherwise - here we go!

Source: vi.sualize.us via Jesse on Pinterest

Pumpkins. We all love 'em.  An essential part of Halloween, and lately the pumpkin festivals have really gotten creative.  So there's something fun!  They have hay mazes, pumpkin culinary creations, pumpkin beer... and I don't know if they all have this - but one patch near here has a pumpkin launcher. It's as it sounds, you pay to pick a pumpkin out, put it in a giant sling-shot-thingy, and launch that squash out into the fields. Satisfying! Oh, and did I mention pumpkin beer?

Source: marthastewart.com via Jesse on Pinterest

And of course with pumpkins comes pumpkin carving. I, to this day, still love pumpkin carving. Plus, now with pinterest, there are SO many ideas literally at my fingertips. These are from Martha Stewart I think (pfft...ofcourse!) and show how you don't even have to do a face on that trademark squash.  With pumpkins being a dime-a-dozen you can get really creative and do all sorts of awesome alternative jack-o-lanterns.  Here's a pretty cool centerpiece with white pumpkins:

Source: wenderly.com via Jesse on Pinterest

I think to keep the top intact like that, this person probably hollowed the pumpkins out from the bottom. Clever! I've seen people painting pumpkins too, which by the way is really easy with chalk paint (remember this DIY chalk paint?) as that stuff sticks to everything and anything. Enough Pumpkins, never forget the main reason we enjoy fall, Halloween!  I'm not really a fan of candy, I'd take a steak over that anyday - but I LOVE all the crazy costumes, and here in Santa Cruz, Halloween takes over the whole downtown.  Everyone can dress up (and should) - I love this pregnant costume, best idea I've seen in a while:

Source: leftstudios.com via Jesse on Pinterest

Ha! That is so clever! and easy I bet. Next time a friend of mine is pregnant, I will insist on this costume. I'll even make it for them if I have to. Hear that future pregnant friends? I will make this costume for you! I guess it is a little gory. Who cares, so's Halloween. This is probably one of the lesser gory costumes, have you seen some of the masks? They are creepy just sitting in the store! Moving on, the most important thing in my opinion about Fall: THE FOOD.  Delicious, nutritious, ambitious & comforting food that heats your whole house & body.  My favorite stew, that I make every year is Drunken Irish Stew:

Source: crepesofwrath.net via Jesse on Pinterest

It takes a little while but it's so worth it. And yes, it's drunken - there's like 2 cups of wine and some beer in there, I swear it's not disgusting! The recipe is from one of my favorite cooking blogs, Crepes of Wrath.  I'm a picture person (could you tell?) and she does all her recipes in photos - step by step! You should make it. Or come eat it when I make it.

Source: pinterests-meat-recipes.blogspot.com via Jesse on Pinterest

Oh my Goo-ness....all kinds of chicken & wonderful going on up there.   Cooking in the fall is probably my favorite.  Sure, we don't get to grill as much anymore, but I bet if we did that all year it would really get old (yea right).  At least when it's cold & dark outside, cooking becomes the focus of the night, everyone talking and helping - and it always smells amazing.  So invite people over, have everyone help out and make fall really fun, oh - and serve these delicious adult bevvies:

Source: centrebridgeinn.com via Jesse on Pinterest

Hot butter rum!  If you've never had them, make this the year that you do.  They are delicious, effective, and terrible for you. And definitely not a drink you want to have any other time of the year.  It's hot & buttery, as the name suggests, and really only tastes good on a cold night.  If you pop these out at a dinner party in July, don't expect those guests to break your door down at the next festivity.  I'm kidding! I don't want to offend anyone who serves hot butter rum in the heat.  I'm sure you could serve them whenever, but why not keep them special for the holidays?

I've rambled long enough! Time for you to take it from here and find all sorts of ideas that get you ready and excited for fall.  Indoor projects you have yet to tackle, new cooking adventures, and tranforming your house into an orange & black explosion.  Whatever you do, make it enjoyable, stress-free, and most of all memorable! That way next year you'll be even more excited.  I'm not sure how your supposed to say "Happy Fall" so I'll just say.... Happy Fall everyone!

See the Full Fall Board 

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How To: Modern Leaning Shelf

I can't remember exactly if I have featured a Lowes tutorial before, or if it was Home Depot - either way, the two of them seem to be ramping up the creativity to get a good flow of projects out there for us. And why not? They have all the parts at the store - bring the ideas on! I spotted this leaning shelf a while back, and immediately pinned it. You'll recognize the style:

Stunning.  Best part is, this one isn't hollow laminate, oh - and you make it yourself! That always gets a few extra points, right?  The steps look pretty easy, labeled beginner, and can be found on the Lowe's blog, or click here.  One tip of advice, when you read the steps it's a little overwhelming & confusing, but once you click the "Project Diagram" it makes a ton of sense. 

Since you start with the raw materials, you have the steering wheel on this to totally customize it.  Stains, paints, you name it.  Plus, you don't have to lean this little darling on the wall (especially if you have kids, yikes!) it could easily be mounted somewhere.  What do you think, seem tackle-able?  Is that even a word...... anyway, thought I'd share! This is goin' on my project list, which is roughly 24 pages long, give or take. 

Good luck!

-Jesse

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Hawaiian Interiors

Part of coming home from a fantastic vacation is drudging through the post vacation blues.  I know, the positive outlook is to think things like "at least we got to go" and "smile because it happened" - but you all know exactly what I mean.  The souvenirs around you remind you of where you were last week, and all the pictures you get to go through and post make you miss it even more! OK - temper tantrum over, all in all, Kauai was an amazing vacation and I can't wait to go back!

All that warmth, sunshine & colorful surroundings does something to a body though - suddenly you get urges to wear nothing but tropical prints & redecorate your entire house in bamboo & palm tree prints.  The funny part too, is while you're there, in the stores... it all makes perfect sense! Hence why we had to buy an extra suitcase just to get it all back home. Oops! I behaved, most of it was souvenirs, though I am left with all kinds of great ideas of themes I could see incorporating into the house.  Now hold on a minute, I don't mean anything over the top like this:

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Sure, this might be paradise for some people, but for me? It's a little too theme restaurant-ey...

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