Wrapping up two months of Neon

I can't say that without a shadow of a doubt,  I'm done with neon.  But I started to realize that I have let it seep into my own life both in design, clothing and craft projects.  I just took a quick look back at some of my projects over the last couple of months and I think it might be time for a change.

There was, most recently the wrap bracelets, before that wrapping with neon twine and post-its, printing neon lace designs,  neon felt flower rings, neon coffee cuff,  a look at wraps in neon and a look at neon in design.

I think it is time to move on to other summer joys and inspirations ... okay with a little neon tucked in here and there.

Wrap it up Thursday - Wrap Bracelets in Neon

When I picked up all that neon twine from the hardware store and started playing around with it for wrapping in this post, I realized it would be great to use for wrap bracelets.

Along with the twine, I assembled the other elements I had used for our bracelet making sessions I talked about here.

I played around with a few of the ideas we used for our bracelets made from embroidery thread, but I think this summer, we can come up with all sorts of ways of using neon twine as a bracelet.

One of my favorites is this simple braided bracelet.  Two colors of each strand simply braided together.

To make the loop for one end, I broke the strands into two of each color grouping and braided one side. (top middle)  Then I formed a loop, tied it all together and trimmed. (top right)

At the bottom I broke the strands into two color groupings and braided those and knotted (bottom middle)  Those two strands are the ties for the loop.

For the simple friendship bracelet I just used one strand of each color and followed the friendship bracelet instructions from this post.  I simply braided each end after the knots to make a simple tie. (middle)

With the bead chain and neon twine I wrapped round the leather cord like we did in our previous bracelet post.

Oh neon, I wasn't sure you were for me but now I see so many possibilities.  Just a touch of neon brightens a look and adds a little punch to your wardrobe or interior space.

I think the neon twine is going to make its way to the camp pack... I figure by then I will be sick of it and ready for fall ... Oh fall, yummy burnt orange, greys and browns ...

Learning to LOV3 my home

You might recall that in the new year I pledged to try and embrace the perfectly imperfect and show my love to home, family and self.

My girls embarked on a sparkler project on New Year's Eve on the beach, and one miscalculated the "E".  However, I realized that I loved that LOV3 and everything it represented.  

I thought I'd share some of my recent efforts to show some love around here and to embrace my house - even though it isn't perfect.

This project was based on a similar one I found in the book Crafting a Meaningful Home by Meg Mateo.  I think I still need to play around with the frames to keep them "perfectly" together but I love seeing all the family love notes up on the wall and out of the box.  It reminds me everyday of where we have come and what it means to be a family.

Just below the frame, I worked on another way to show this space some love.

My husband brought this old red bean bag ottoman from Pottery Barn up from the basement to rest his feet when he watches world cup soccer.  Yuck - it was driving me crazy so I pulled out the scraps from our old linen slipcover and sewed up a cover that makes me so happy - it's not perfect but I still LOV3 it!

This is another reminder of love.  Every year (maybe a couple of slips) we have taken a picture of the girls at the beach in our neighbourhood.  It all started with the picture on the top right.  Ali was just under a year and her big sister Helana just over 2.  I had these crazy hats on them.  That was the start and every year since we have tried to capture them in their winter coat and hat - it is a way to remember how much they have changed over the years and it really fills the hallway to our basement with a clean look but one that has meaning and personality.

I'm hoping to continue this LOV3 of home this summer, tackling some projects that have been weighing on me.  Things that maybe seem like a mountain to climb but if I put one foot in front of the other I know it will help me to embrace this perfectly, imperfect life and feel the LOV3.

Wrap it up Thursday - Father's Day

With Father's Day coming up this weekend, I thought I would do a mini round-up of some cute ideas for the dad, grandpa, uncle, friend or mentor in your life.  Don't you find these guys are the hardest to shop for.  Nothing ever seems quite right but I thought no matter what I do for a gift this weekend, these little add-ons and doable kid crafts would make anything I come up with more special.

I think the Super Dad printables for special treats (top) is absolutely adorable, from L'il Luna.     My husband loves certain treats and this would be great to take to the office for a mid-afternoon pick me up.

Scott also loves to get new socks.  I know - weird right?  But how cute would it be to find some black and white socks (the only kind he wears) and wrap them up in these adorable downloadable labels, from Hello Lucky.  Danyelle from Dandee put together this basket with a yummy sandwich for teachers this year but I think it would be great for Dad - you could take him to his favourite park and play ball, frisbee or just rest on a blanket in the shade.  And finally every dad wants to think they are the best.  How sweet is this downloadable Father's Day card from Funkytime.

My own dad is a different story.  I always struggle to find him something he doesn't have - not easy.  I think this year I am going to put together an easy care terrarium  The one pictured left from Making it Lovely was featured by Nicole Balch on the West Elm Blog.  I went to West Elm and they have alot of products (including no fuss air plants) to help put together a simple self contained garden.  My dad is a huge cyclist (both mountain and road) and he loves a really good dark chocolate for a treat so this cute downloadable treat sleeve from Anything but Perfect will definitely be part of his gift.  I picked up the band aids from urban outfitters a couple of months ago, when I saw them.  These are perfect.  My dad always has a slash, cut, sore etc. from all his sporting events.  This will be a fun thing to show off when the bikers meet for coffee after their ride.

Finally I plan to wrap it all up in this adorable printable from Hermes.  When you go to the site, highlight the Travel the world with Hermes Icon and it will take you to half a dozen beautiful downloads, for a paper bag to cut out.  I think he will love this one.


I wish I could show more but with school finishing up, my on-line blogging class and a trip to plan, I am running out of time.  I'm hoping that with a couple of these ideas no one will know I ran out of Father's Day planning time ...

Wrap it up Thursday - Neon Office Supplies

Earlier this week, I had a try at making some lace wrapping paper and while I was putting it together I came across some great twine at the hardware store.  I am sure it is always there but for some reason that day I noticed it.  Well that twine, combined with some great post-it notes Ali picked up for exam preparation, came together in a perfect storm of neon.

What I realized is that the post-it notes are perfect for embellishments on packages.  They already have a sticky top and by working your design around that sticky top, you can quickly come up with little enhancements, to what would otherwise be a simply wrapped package.

I played around with making a leaf or feather shape.  The base is the sticky part of the post-it.  This worked for dove-tailed banner shapes as well.

I really like the simplicity of the cording on it's own (left).

I loosely braided three different colours together and added my feather motif (centre).

The sticky part of the post-it at the top of each flag also helps to hold down the twine as a banner (right).

These supplies tucked into my wrapping box mean that I can wrap up a gift - lickety split.

Now I have to figure out what goes inside - whatever it is- it needs to be happy... don't you think?

Rolling out a Lace Print - DIY

I've been playing around with some neon paints trying to create a lace patterned paper.

Last week I spied this beautiful lace print via a pin from Leslie Shewring on Pinterest from Ideas Magazine.

I set out to make something like this for myself although I must admit, my results are slightly different.  However, I still like the outcome.

I started with a lace doily from the craft room, a wooden rolling pin and some modge podge (1)  I covered the rolling pin with modge podge (2) and rolled on the doily (3) trimming it to fit (4 and 5)

I coated it with a layer of modge podge to give it a little seal (6) and it was ready to go (7)

With a box lid as my tray, I rolled the doily covered rolling pin in a few different shades to create some wrapping paper.

I tried combining the colours on the same sheet and also cutting strips of different colours to act as ribbon.  

I am going to try this project again and look for some different lace to create a more solid print as they did in ideas magazine.  In the meantime, I still like the lacey, loose print created with the cotton lace that I used for this.  It was fun to combine it with bright coloured twine - as seen above - a sneak peak of this week's  Wrap it up Thursday.

Wrap it up Thursday - Teacher Gifts

As mentioned last week, I wanted to wrap up my purchased (Yeah!) Teacher Gifts with something simple.  To have this almost complete a couple weeks before school is out is a major accomplishment around here. (Remember our holiday gift)  So when I considered chalkboard cookies or making a key,  for our tag, one of my two daughters had to remind me that we were going with a ready to go gift in order not to have a stress during exams.  

Okay, all right, but I couldn't help making them a little extra special and when we found this chalkboard style quote from Balancing Home, we knew we had a theme.  

After a download(following their directions), print and mount on black construction paper, we added a name tag, chalkboard style with a white watercolour pencil.  On the box there is one picture showing our water bottle with an infusion of cucumber.  I found some recipes from NancyCreative.  Yumm .  I've been trying them the last few days to perk up my filtered water at home.  I love the citrus and fresh mint (centre)  We wrapped up the print-out of  recipes with twine and we will place it in the bottle, for ideas on how to use the water bottle.

I hope it comes in handy for all our teachers, office staff and bus driver.  I really respect the work that our teachers do and I can truly say that,

A Teacher takes a hand, opens a mind & touches a heart

ps.  sorry wrap it up Thursday is on Friday - it's been a busy week