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diy modern and very cool cooler
well, just like last year, and the year before that — we’re throwing ourselves a little birthday picnic for our shared birthday week. so of course i have to make a thing or two. (last year i made the picnic blanket)
we decided a drugstore cooler is something in desperate need of a makeover – so cher and i got together, i mean gideon and i got together to do that. (that’s a really dumb clueless joke. i think you know that.)
materials
an ordinary cooler
white spray paint with primer
wood grain contact paper
spray acrylic coating
super glue
mod podge
xacto knife
canvas or nylon rope
01 | unless you get a white cooler, you’ll want to spray paint away the bright blue. do plenty of coats until you’re happy with the color.
02 | once it’s the color you want, spray it with like half of a dozen light coats of fixative. like until you feel like you’ve gone insane.
03 | cut a template out of the contact paper for the top, gently fold corners and secure all edges with super glue. do a couple thin layers of mod podge over the entire surface.
04 | spray your top with a ton of shellac too. we wanna protect this thing right?!
05 | once your handle is spray painted and fixed (unless it came in white you lucky sob), you can tie a canvas rope around to make it extra pretty and handle-y. i wanted to do some sort of fancy braiding, but i also didn’t know how. so we tied it around and secured the edges with super glue. clamp the end after gluing for 20 minutes to get it nice and tight. then wrap it as tightly as you can all the way down the other side, and glue and clamp again. the edges are pretty hidden on ours since they’re on the bottom.
disclaimer : i don’t really know how long it will hold up for, but i can let you guys know if you wanna know. because the top is contact paper, it might not be the most waterproof thing in the world, but i just don’t recommend sitting drinks on top of it is all. if you use your cooler like a normal person and not a wild animal, you should be a-okay!
that’s the first time i’ve shown my crazy knee on the blog. i ran a moped into a car on my birthday 10 years ago and still have that gnarly scar. but enough about me – go have a picnic!
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corn + tomato summer salad
a couple of weeks ago gideon made this as a side dish along with some salmon. and i immediately said “oh shiiiit”. so we decided to enhance it with a couple more ingredients, and used frozen corn so that it would only take a few minutes to make. like i like.
and unfortunately for me, just like everything, i love it served along with a piece of crusty bread – and then it totally counts as a full meal.
CORN + TOMATO SALAD
1 bag of frozen corn (or you can actually cook corn)
1 ripe avocado
1 package of cherry tomatoes
1 lime
8 basil leaves, chopped
1/2 red onion
olive oil
salt + peppercook your corn however you want to roll – then chop tomatoes length wise, half of the onion into thin slices and the avocado – mix all together in a large bowl. the ratio is really up to you.
chop the basil and add it to the mix.
squeeze the lime juice and add a couple of tablespoons of oil.
season and let marinade in the fridge (it tastes better cold)
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lake arrowhead, california
hope you had a great long weekend! we got back from lake arrowhead yesterday afternoon — we had planned on coming back on saturday, but on our way up the mountain – my car stalled out. it was pretty scary to get stuck on this one lane highway when it’s 100 degrees out without water and barely any cell reception, but we were able to call AAA and get towed. we didn’t know what was wrong with the car, so we just had to wait it out to see if they’d be able to fix it in time for us to get back. we had a car rental reservation for saturday but ended up hearing from them in the afternoon that it was ready to go. very stressful – apparently you’re supposed to change your oil. OOPS.
we spent the weekend at my cousins boyfriends house and on his boat, we drank a lot and cooked a ton and listened to a lot of 80s music and attempted to kneeboard and got too much sun – i got a gnarly sunburn so i ended up sleeping all of yesterday when we got back instead of doing DIYs for the blog. OOPS.
lake arrowhead is a beautiful mountain town with huge trees and the lake is idyllic. we didn’t explore the town but the grocery store is just great. and for fourth of july, they musta spent a million dollars because the fireworks show was unreal. we sat on the boat and drank champagne while we watched and it was perfect. i highly recommend visiting arrowhead if you can.
now bear with me this week because i have a lot of work and very little time to blog.
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i link you + happy long weekend!
i’m taking off early this week for the holiday – we’re heading to lake arrowhead with my cousin today to spend some time on a boat for the fourth (which is my ideal way to spend a summer day) – so excited. hope you have something fun planned!
01 | never have i ever seen a radder travel pillow (need supply)
02 | these diy palm frond cocktail stirrers are right up my alley (a fabulous fete)
03 | while i wouldn’t make a cat tower because that would be way too cat lady, i can definitely appreciate and admire (home tree atlas)
04 | as soon as you put food on a stick, i like it 10x more (style me pretty)
05 | how to make a weaving without actually weaving (kipi blog)
06 | these cherry tarts are a little gorgeous to eat (nanette for sugar & cloth)
07 | been wanting a ticking stripe apron forever – if only i sewed… (purl bee)
08 | not sharing a souvlaki recipe. sharing the best fight video ever. (and here’s the recipe)
09 | i love a functional diy you didn’t know you need like these diy geometric spools (maritza lisa)+ have a great weekend!
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printable july 4th sparkler packet labels
i know i’m overwhelming you non-americans with july 4th. and i’m really truly sorry. i swear next week i’ll be back to normal, but i just love fireworks and boats and hot dogs and beer. and sparklers. and sharing printables. k i’m done now.
all you have to do to make these little sparkler packets is to print the template on cardstock, cut out, and slice two little slits on top and bottom to slide your sparklers through. you can use more sparklers than two if you cut a bigger slit… like you couldn’t have guessed that. hand these out on the fourth and you’re the best person there.
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printable july 4th ice cream cup wrappers
FIRST OF ALL, HAPPY JULY! with july fourth coming up this week, i wanted to share a printable that you can use for the occasion. who doesn’t want to eat ice cream all day?! (well, i’m lactose intolerant, but i do it on special occasions) so if you’re eating ice cream – festive. it. up.
if you’re following me on instagram, you might know i’ve been getting obsessed with hand lettering – i wouldn’t say i’m good at it, but i do think i’ve improved a lot from the first day i was sick in bed to the last. 10,000 hours you guys. so i wanted to incorporate some into the printable. plus i was stoked with how “july” came out.
MATERIALS
- ice cream cups
- wooden spoons
- printable
- scissors
- tape
all you have to do is print the label on standard sized 8.5 x 11″ paper, carefully cut around the edges, wrap around your cup and secure with tape or glue.
see how well the labels coordinator with the watercolor napkins from last week? yeah, maybe not a total accident at all. do both projects and you can have a july 4th watercolor party!
- ice cream cups
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from the weekend
it’s been a while since i’ve shared my weekend on the blog — but i had a really lovely one so i wanted to! my friend (and bridesmaid) had her birthday on saturday – so before her sunset picnic, she had all the girls over on friday night to make flower crowns. it was such a fun way to theme up the party, and i just can’t stop looking at this photo. i highly recommend making flower crowns for every party.
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giveaway / harts & pearls
today you lucky readers can win one of two adorable headwraps from the very cute shop harts & pearls!
harts & pearls is a custom and handmade fashion forward accessory line for the modern woman, child, and baby. they have so many cute head pieces that would be amazing for your wedding or whenever — check out their cute flower crowns too if you don’t want to bother making your own!
up for grabs are the soile headwrap in lavender and the marquis halo!
THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED – congrats to the winners caitlin and kyndra!
click through to enter this giveaway!
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diy watercolor striped napkins
so if you like being festive for the fourth of july, but still have a hard time incorporating colors like deep reds and blues into your party color palette, here’s a good compromise. because i know i don’t want deep red anywhere.
these napkins were actually not the original plan, i was planning on just striped painted napkins but i hated them so i started playing around and loved the effect of the really wet brush. and because the colors aren’t so straight up july 4th – i think these napkins could work all summer long.
all you’ll need is some plain white napkins, fabric paint of your choice, a brush and a lot of water.
TO GET THIS EFFECT :
tape down your napkins flat onto your working surface. get your brush pretty saturated but then immerse it in water until there’s practically no paint on the brush. use a test surface or scrap to get the feel of it, and then go ahead and wing it, because that’s the fun part.
all of my napkins ended up looking a little different than one another because the brush starts the change the dirtier your water gets, so if you want to avoid that, keep your brush and your water clean. but who has time for that!?
btw – i ate two corn dogs while photographing this project. two. it was all for you guys, so you’re welcome.
SOURCES
gold flatware from west elm / ketchup nesting bowl c/o red envelope -
a little makeover
well looky here! you might notice the blog looks pretty different – a huge thank you to my blogzilla partner natalie for putting up with my million requests. the blog is now a little more spacious and minimal, and i just can’t stop looking at it. hope you guys love it as much as i do!
we’ve been working on getting a bunch of new themes ready for the shop – which will all be available this summer, so if you like mine — you can get yours looking like it too!
