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diy drugstore candle makeover (with printable labels)
if you’re anything like me, there’s a huge difference between products with good packaging and products without it. there honestly might be a psychological reaction to good packaging, because i think a pretty candle just smells better. and that’s insane, i know.but seeing as how much you guys liked the diy pretty shampoo bottles, i think you are just like me!
chances are, you might have a couple tackier looking candles around your house. whether you just like the smell, or you got it as a gift, or you can’t imagine spending more than $15 on a candle — then pretty up your candles using the labels i’ve designed! also, today is earth day. and this post is totally about recycling. i planned that so well!
it was actually harder than i thought to find decent shaped / smelling candles in the drugstore. i ended up picking them all up from different stores to find a good variety (these are from target, walgreens, cvs & rite aid)
the labels say different ounces, just because i couldn’t figure out what minimal candle labels should say, and everything in french sounds fancy, therefore … bougie.
materials
full sheet label paper
an xacto
cutting board
t-square
pencil
washi tape
directions
01. remove the labels from your candles. if they’re being jerks, soak in warm water and/or use goo gone to remove residue.
02. print out the labels below. they don’t have any guides or borders because the shape and size of your candle can dictate how big or small your label can be. for instance, i decided on a small square shape for the small white candle. use your best judgment!
03. using your t-square, lightly mark the shape you want to cut on each label. make sure you cut as straight as you can.
04. once you have your labels cut out, use your washi tape as a guide to where you want to place your label. try to get the washi tape as straight as possible onto your candle, because it’s pretty hard to apply these on straight without a guide.
yay. you now have MUCH better looking candles without spending hundreds of dollars.
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wedding stuff : modern floral centerpieces
so this week i’m having a meeting about florals — like everything else in the budget, we’re not really sure how we can afford a normal floral budget. did you know how much wedding florals cost?! i’d like flowers on the tables and scattered around the property, but i’d also like to spend thousands of dollars on vacations over flowers.
i’m going into the meeting with low expectations for what we can accomplish with our tiny budget, but i’m still bringing lots of ideas.
01. we’ve talked about having vintage bottles scattered around the tables with various flowers and heights, a look that i love but i’m not 100% sure that’s what we should go with yet.
02. another idea i love but not sure i can afford it is wooden box planters. i could for sure DIY them, but then we’re left having to fill boxes with probably more flowers than other options.
03. simple pots stuffed with flowers and greens has such a modern feel and shape and i’m assuming all the greenery and filler keeps the prices down, right? is that even what is in this photo? i’m clearly no expert.
04. i am obsessed with the look of a crazy amount of simple terracotta pots filled with cacti and succulents. this would definitely work around the estate, but would this be pretty as centerpieces!?
05. now if i’m reaaaaally saving money, i could simplify the bottle idea and just have two or three little ones next to the water and wine and spread them out and call it a day. super super minimal.
06. i am just in love with a wild and organic bouquet like this – a couple of these spread out on the table and wowwww.
what’s your favorite look / idea? and if you have any tips for how to keep your floral budget down, please share!
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anthropologie event!
VERY VERY EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE that i’ll be hosting a diy workshop at anthropologie for mother’s day! i love the brand and store so much, and was beyond ecstatic when they asked me to host (i may have made a dozen “guess what!!!” phone calls).
we’ll be making scarves that you can keep for yourself or give to yo mama! so please come, i’d love for you to come!
if you live in southern california and you’d like to attend, make sure to RSVP as soon as you can!
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payday wishlist
friday came fast this week WHOA. i’m trying to go to this place tonight, but i never end up going to places that don’t reservations. but i’m going to attempt to! we’re also trying to pretty ourselves up because we’re doing our engagement photos next week! we’re both really bad at having our picture taken but apparently this is great practice for the big day. and i’m going to make these fantastic and easy cookies to share with you guys. hope you have a great weekend and for those of you celebrating, happy easter!
oh also — have you watched silicon valley on hbo? it might seem too nerdy for some people, but totally my new favorite show.
01. i really want to fill the apartment with plants. as soon as i’m actually focusing on the apartment i’m buying like 20 succulents and 20 airplants. and maybe this hanging planter.
02. sadly, i’ve lost my watch. maybe it’s somewhere in the apartment or in a jewelry travel case somewhere? or it’s been stolen. going to assume it’s been stolen. very sad. i guess i need a new one.
03. i cannot get enough of indigo and nude leather combos like this amazing tote. sooo pretty.
04. i’m sure you’ve seen herbivore botanical products everywhere because they’re designed so so well. our bathtub has been filled with stuff we want to sell for about 6 months now. after a trip to israel when i was 10 i was hooked on dead sea masks. and now i really want to take a bath with these salts.
05. the perfect simple leather sandals that you can wear at all times. i bought them last night in black, but i want them in brown too.
06. this beach towel makes me want to actually drive an hour to go the beach. it’s the best. -
diy leather handled cutting board
now that we’ve started using my stepdads tools for projects, all i want to do is wood projects. so sorry for them not being the simplest if you don’t have a saw, but don’t worry because next weeks project is BEYOND easy. to make your own cutting board, you essentially just need some wood and mineral oil. they say that certain types of wood are better for food, and others are more prone to bacteria — and i’m no expert, but i say just cover the thing in food safe mineral oil and you’re probably fine. but i live life on the edge clearly.
materials
a piece of wood
sand paper
* jigsaw
food safe mineral oil
coffee grounds for staining (optional)
leather
awl or leather punch
2 brass screws & 2 brass washers
drill* if you don’t have access to a saw, you can always make the board without the inwards cut and just do a rectangular board with a leather strap too!
01. measure and mark how you want to cut your board. using your saw, cut your board. duh.
02. sand like a maniac without rounding the edges. clean off all dust.
03. if you want to darken or richen the color of your wood, mix together some coffee grounds and water and apply with a cloth or paper towel. it works surprisingly well and you can do a couple of coats, but i actually wish i hadn’t stained mine because i now prefer the original color. but i’m also cray.
04. apply your mineral oil liberally and let dry. i believe you’re supposed to do another coat the next day to make it extra food safe.
05. to make your leather strap, cut a piece of leather to the size you’d like. once you have it centered in place, poke small holes through the leather into the wood to mark them. drill pilot holes into the wood. get your screws all the way into the holes to ensure your leather won’t spin around a ton.
06. put your leather strap in place, beneath the washers and screws.
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wedding stuff : the planning
so as i’ve complained a few times now (or more than a few) — you might know that the wedding planning is a lot more stressful than i anticipated. it’s not that it’s even hard work, it’s that i feel like with it coming up so soon – it’s hard to not have something i need to focus on almost at all times. this makes regular life and work and blogging really hard. but i decided to do a personal post on where we are in terms of the planning.
my mom decided we didn’t need a wedding planner and that i could do it and she would help, frankly we couldn’t afford one anyway, but i’ve done all the planning so far with the help of an old friend turned event designer and her partner of mein shatz. they’re helping me with all the design decisions and rentals and they’ll be coordinating on the day of. it helps so much just having someone to talk to and getting opinions on things. the absolute most stressful part of wedding planning is the budget. especially when you have zero experience budgeting a wedding. once i signed a couple contracts for a couple vendors – i realized i had already spent way too much of the budget. which i’ve found out is on the small side for the number of guests we have. my fault for having way too many relatives.
we’ve booked our photographer, color me rad and her photos are unique and stylish and she’s really sweet too.
we’ve booked our caterers, which was a hard decision for me to make, but ultimately, i decided i should just make a decision and little nelly was an easy choice. being decisive is not my strong suit, so it’s been a learning exercise for me to just choose.
we’ve booked our dj, smiles davis – which was an easy decision in terms of her, but i decided it was worth rearranging the budget and getting rid of a few things to have an amazing party.
we’ve also arranged our shuttle (a schoolbus!), our rehearsal dinner, sunday brunch and booked bartenders.
things we’ve had to sacrifice so far are : a calligrapher, a makeup artist (my maid of honor will be doing our makeup), a videographer (we’ve hired a coworker of my brothers to shoot), and possibly a photo booth — but i might spend my tax refund towards one.
we’re heading to palm springs in a week to meet with a florist, eat at the restaurants where our weekend events will be, and have our engagement photos taken! lots to do in two days.
we’re now trying to tackle rentals, which is way more expensive than my budgeting had anticipated. gideon and i always pictured using yeah rentals – but we’re just trying to figure out if that’s at all possible for us. we’re having these discussions about flatware that seem so important to me, but then i step back and think jeez. it’s just a wedding and no one will really notice if our flatware is gold or silver. if our budget was way larger, the planning would definitely be easier. not that i think it’s easy for anyone.
but i can’t help but think – all this for one day?
by the way – i sound a little bitter, but i’m not. planning has been fun, but i really am excited to get past the vendor stuff to the design fun stuff. which i should have already started by now. oh shit.
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passover printables : four questions place cards
happy passover! while i’ve never done a jewish holiday project or post, i’m attending my cousins seder this year and she asked me to make some special place cards for the occasion. well, i figured i must have two or three jewish readers, so why not share them?!
even though the four questions are usually for the kids – i thought they would make a fun theme for place settings. i’ve designed them so you can use them two different ways. you can cut out and keep them as is for placing on top of each plate, or you can fold them in half to create a more common style place card. there’s also a light grey box for writing your guests names.
download the PDF and print as many as guests you’ll be having onto standard 8.5 x 11″ card stock or any thick paper. these would look great on some colored paper too! carefully cut along the lines using an xacto.
enjoy and happy passover!
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payday wishlist
i finished my taxes yesterday, so i’m feeling very very ready for the weekend. i’m assuming everyone else did theirs like… weeks and months ago?! well good work. we’re sttttill working on the wedding invitations and the website, so i’m going to try to spend as much time actually finishing those this weekend as i can. it is SO hard to design for yourself, but it’s especially hard when it’s your wedding and nothing feels perfect enough, for our vibe and personalities and all that we have to consider. but we did lock down how they’ll be printed! hope you have a lovely weekend!
01. i was obsessed with birkenstocks when i was a kid. everyone at camp was replacing their adidas sandals with them, and i had to have some. so i subscribed to the catalog and would daydream about my own pair. i finally got some and never took them off. when birks started coming back a few years ago i was like “BLEGH” but i’ve now seen them on enough cute people that i want some again. this is how it works right? very easily brainwashed.
02. denim + triangles. i mean. so naturally i want this throw blanket.
03. the perfect beach / farmers market / summer / vacation bag ever.
04. i want every hanging planter i see, but especially love the color blocked yarn accents on this one.
05. who doesn’t need a pretty new notebook? well, probably me, but still i can want them. -
wedding stuff : bridesmaids dresses under $100
01 / 02 / 03 (sold out online! sorry!) / 04 / 05 / 06
i might be unlike most brides when i say firstly that i don’t want my bridesmaids to wear dresses that are bridesmaids dresses – they’re overpriced and i find most of them kinda stuffy. i definitely wanted the girls in a pale color, and have been scouring the every dress site on the internet with the terms “maxi / cream, beige, blush, tan” it’s way harder than i thought. i want something low-key but still dressy and i’m definitely not insisting they spend a couple hundred bucks on a bridesmaid dress. i’m just considerate like that!
i’m loving the matching on these super boho dresses, but i do have a hard time recognizing which one is the actual bride. (via style me pretty)
i also love all the pale tones of these mismatched dresses working together, which i know can end up looking messy if you do it wrong. (via ruffled)
but i ended up buying three of one of #3 (which is now unavailable online – but i had to include it since it might be the dress! it’s still available in stores) so we may have found our dress, i’m just still a little confused on whether or not i want the three of them all matching or mismatched. the bridesmaids say matching. i’m not 100% convinced! so i could return two of them and keep one girl wearing it… do you guys have thoughts? it feels surprisingly uncommon to see matching bridesmaids dresses lately — so maybe i’m just used to that trend?!
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diy ombre leather coasters
can you tell i’m not sick of hexagons yet?! also not sick of this white faux leather i have. ok i’m lying. i’m so so sick of it, but i accidentally bought a ton more than i thought i did (this is what happens when i buy supplies online) so i’m trying to use it all up. remember when i used it here? oh and how about here?
rachel of the crafted life has been “barely” spray painting glass to create this gorgeous ombre effect, so inspired by her – i half spray painted these!
materials
leather or faux leather
printable template for stenciling
rotary cutter
pen
spray paint in the color of your choice
directions
01. print out your hexagon. if you know what size you want and use photoshop, make yourself a template. if you want to use mine, click below to download. (these measure about 4″) cut it out.
02. if you have faux leather like mine, the back might have a soft backside which is easily draw-on-able. if you’re using real leather or a leather without a backing, decide which side is prettier and trace on the other one around your hexagons.
03. over a cutting surface, using your rotary cutter and a ruler, cut out your hexagons.
04. once you have them all cut, take them outside and place on a piece of cardboard. spray paint them by spray painting your cardboard surface and slowly work your way from side to side to cover some of your coaster. in retrospect, i may have liked them with less spray paint than these have. try the less is more approach, and add more after taking a step back. let dry.
