'A Casarella

4.12.2012

Validation!

This makes all of those hours spent on Pinterest seem somehow worthwhile ;)

Stylelist Home's Hot on Pinterest: 5 Pinners to Follow Now

(Probably makes sense to link to my boards. You can find them here.)

As some of you may remember, my recent trip to the thrift store was full of fabulous and interesting finds. You might also remember that I brought very few of them home. In fact, the only item that did come home was neither fabulous nor interesting: a bag of vintage wooden pants hangers.

As promised, I will now show you what I did with them.

But before I do that, I need to show you my laundry room:

Well one side of my laundry room. (The machines are on the opposite wall.) As you can see, it's not terribly exciting. In fact, some might even call it a little bit depressing. (For starters, I have to do the laundry in there...) And while a major laundry room overhaul is definitely on my list of things to do, I won't be getting to it anytime soon.

But that doesn't mean I can't pretty it up a little in the interim, right?

Here's how I used the thrift store hangers to do just that.

First I gathered my materials, starting with the hangers:

And some cardstock:

(I chose a package of assorted cardstock in neutral colors. I'm sure I'll be able to use the rest of it for other projects.)

And some Command Hooks:

(You can read more about my love of Command products here.)

Once I had those, I spent a little time trolling the internet looking for cute laundry room art to print out on my card stock. I happened across this site which had two printables that I loved. I really wanted a third piece but couldn't find one that I liked. Then I had an idea: I did a search on "clothespins" and clicked on images. That brought me to this site.

Once I had selected my images, I printed them out on the card stock and inserted them in the hangers:

I hung them here, using the Command Hooks:

As you can see, the new pictures inspired me to gussy things up a teensy bit.

And for those of you keen-eyed readers who want to know more about these...

...I am going to direct you here or here or here. Because, frankly, while mine are fine for holding bits and pieces in the laundry room, they didn't actually turn out that great.

But the pictures did :)

(Dontcha think?)

From the Ridiculous to the Sublime

Oh the lure of the thrift shops...

Last week I happened to be in the vicinity of one of my favorite thrifts. Though I didn't have much time I just had to stop in for a look around. Despite my rush I decided to take pictures of the items that caught my eye. Here they are, from the ridiculous to the sublime:

Falling squarely in the ridiculous camp was this dachshund dressed as Elvis. You know what's even more ridiculous? The fact that I regret not buying him for $3.00. As a "dachshund aunt" and former dachshund owner myself I should have just ponied up the three bucks. Oh well...

Also ridiculous? This life-sized model of a human skull. Okay, I'll admit, it was actually kind of cool and a cursory look around ebay seemed to indicate that I could sell it for a profit, but do I really want to be a skull peddler? (Notice that I'm not actually answering that question...)

Probably the most ridiculous thing I saw? Yeah. Silly, silly.

Now moving on to the sublime (otherwise known as things I considered buying):

As I mentioned back in this post, I began my thrifting "career" looking for little girls' clothing. One of my favorite brands to find was Lilly Pulitzer. Her shift dresses are adorable and always sold well for me on ebay. Since I'm not selling much on ebay anymore, I left her there (sniff). That took a lot of willpower.

This was also hard to leave behind: four canvas panels which, when put together, made up a map of the United States. Originally sold by Pottery Barn, they were in excellent condition. They didn't fit with the decor in either of my daughters' rooms, though. If they had I probably would have picked them up.

I know I've discussed my love of Pyrex in previous posts. This Snowflake Blue Casserole was beautiful, but a little pricier than I might have liked, so I left her behind.

Also left behind? This bad boy. And if you hear a faint thumping noise it's the sound of me kicking myself for not buying it. The truth is that I need to be careful when thrifting. Once upon a time I thrifted with reckless abandon. The result was bins full of things that seemed like a great idea while I was shopping, but turned out not to be. That has made me extra cautious while thrifting, especially when the item in question is expensive or unfamiliar to me. I tried using my ebay app. to research these while I was in the store. They seem to sell well but I didn't know enough about this particular model to risk spending $24 so I ultimately left it (and its case) behind. It sure was cool, though.

At this point you might be asking yourself, "What did she buy??"

And here is your answer:

For three dollars I bought ten vintage wooden pants hangers.

I've seen many great Pinterest projects that use these and I plan to do one of my own soon.

Stay tuned for that in a future post.

UPDATE: Click here for my hanger project.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Linking here:

http://herlibraryadventures.blogspot.com/

http://apronthriftgirl.typepad.com/

http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/2012/04/nifty-thrifty-tuesday-no108.html

http://coloradolady.blogspot.com/

http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

http://frommyfrontporchtoyours.blogspot.com/

http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

http://stylishonceagain.blogspot.com/
http://www.blueeyedowlboutique.blogspot.com/2012/04/thrift-score-thursday-45.html
http://boogieboardcottage.blogspot.ca/
http://southernhospitalityblog.com/thrifty-treasures-begins-for-2012/

Be our guest! Be our guest!

...Put our service to the test

Tie your napkin 'round your neck, cherie

And we'll provide the rest...

Did you read that in your best Disney voice?

Good.

Because this week's been all about the hospitality.

And Disney.

(As in Disneyland.)

You see, this week is spring break for my kiddos.

And while one kiddo is off on an adventure with her aunt, the other one needed a little somethin' to keep her occupied.

And that's where living in Southern California comes in handy. Hop in the old minivan and you can be at Disney in under two hours. Seriously. Handy.

And though we're back at home now, today I'll be accepting a little more hospitality.

This time it will be from The Frugal Girls where I'm doing a guest post. It's my first time guest posting and I'm really excited to be sharing a recipe that I love:

Mediterranean Chicken.

So, not to be inhospitable or anything...

But, why are you still here?!

Go check it out!

Getting My Kumbaya on

Okay, so here's the deal: this is going to be kind of a sappy post. All kinds of sentimental. If that isn't your thing you might want to stop reading now. (Don't say you weren't warned.)

So I've talked a number of times about blogging, both why I started and what I'd like to get out of it. As it turns out, my favorite thing about blogging is something that wasn't even on my radar until I'd been doing it for a few weeks: the friendships and connections that keep springing up as a result.

Not that I didn't want connections, I simply wasn't looking to make them via the blog. (In my mind that was what Facebook was for ;) I'm not sure why, I just hadn't envisioned blogging as such a give and take type of thing. But of course, this is the internet and nothing is done in isolation. Nope, if I write something in the morning I'm often getting feedback before lunch.

And so far, the feedback has been so... nice. No, not just nice. Nice doesn't cover it. It's also been interesting and... somehow fulfilling. I've gotten feedback from people all over the world. Like New Zealand (I'm looking at you Simoney). Or Italy (okay, I suspect this woman stopped by because my blog has an Italian title, but she stayed long enough to leave a comment: "Sono fantastiche. Bravissima. Ciao," and I now follow her blog which I faithfully translate from Italian to English).

And of course there are all the friends that I've made here in the US. One in particular, Linda from It All Started With Paint, stopped my my blog in its infancy (which admittedly was only a few weeks ago ;). Her encouragement really inspired me to take things up a notch and I am oh so grateful. She also sent some really nice blog-friends my way (seriously, she told a bunch of people to come read my blog--and they did!) and now some of them are also dear blog friends (ahem, cough, Karianne).

Believe it or not, I'm going somewhere with this.

You see, yesterday I was awarded The Liebster Award.

Twice.

In one day.

For those of you who aren't familiar, Liebster is a German word which means "dearest" or "beloved". It can also mean "favorite". The idea behind the Liebster Award is that it's given to up-and-coming bloggers (with fewer than 200 followers) in order to create new connections and bring attention to some wonderful, growing blogs.

And now I get to pass the Liebster Award along to someone else! Here are the rules:

1. Link back to the person or people who bestowed the honor on you.
2. Pick 5* blogs with less than 200 followers to pass the award forward.
3. Leave the awardees a comment informing them about their designation.
4. Post the award on your blog!

The two bloggers who bestowed the award on me were Lisa from Budget Design Girl and Emily from Sweet Bliss Bakery.

Lisa is clearly a kindred spirit. We're both Midwestern transplants (living in Southern California) who are doing our best to feather our nests without breaking the bank. Her home tour is beautiful and she's done some amazing projects (like this vintage desk redo).

And Emily, well, just go to her blog and click on the cupcakes tab. Trust me, you won't regret it!

Thanks ladies!!

Now accepting an award is easy but the bestowing part is always a challenge for me. The last time someone gave me one I was so paralyzed by indecision that I simply never followed through. (I still feel ashamed about this.) Truth be told, at that early stage in my blog, I just didn't feel qualified to give anyone an award. (I kind of envisioned the recipients going, "Who are you to be giving me an award?" which is silly when you consider all the nice things I've just said about the blogging community.)

Now that I've been at it a bit longer I feel a slightly more qualified to give out the Liebster (*though I've only picked three recipients as opposed to the usual five).

Here they are:

Sara from Everyday Sadie. Sara is funny and I love funny. (Here is an excerpt from her "About Me": I'm a coffee-connoisseur (read: addict)... and I've been married so long I'm practically a sitcom. See? Funny. (Plus this recipe looks awesome!) So please, go and check her out. (Tell her I sent you ;)
Next up is Courtney from Thoughts From the Birdhouse. At some point Courtney quietly came by my blog and became a follower. When I stopped by to return the favor I was delighted. Courtney is smart and articulate and I love her blog. In short, I totally want to be Courtney when I grow up. The problem with that? I'm also totally old enough to be her mother. Yup, Courtney is in high school. (And I am sooo glad that she'll be running the country when I'm old and in need of care.)
My final pick is a person I know in real life. Her name is Sabine and our daughters do children's theater together. Sabine is a true Renaissance woman. Her "real life" job is something technical (that I don't understand). At home she's a mom to three beautiful (tri-lingual) children. She's also an amazing cook (did I mention she's French?) and an avid crafter. In her copious amounts of free time ;) she started The Tech Foodie a blog that chronicles all of this. The blog is new, but she's already posted some amazing recipes and I'm sure there's lots of great stuff to come! Please be sure to check her out!

So that's it! The Liebster award is just the latest warm and fuzzy thing that's happened to me since I've begun blogging. Can't wait to see what's next ;)

Help Me Internet!

Hello internet friends I need a little favor and I was hoping y'all could help a sister out. It's actually not me who needs the help. It's my friend Sheri who sent me the following email:

"My son's birthday is April 1. Since it's April Fool's Day, we always try to do something fun/crazy instead of just cupcakes for him to take to school. Last year we made little hamburgers out of cookies. They came out pretty cute!! We've done dirt cake with worms and a few other fun things. I thought I'd check to see if you had any ideas for me for this year!! I have been looking but haven't found anything that really caught my eye. If you think of anything, or see anything that looks fun, will you let me know?"

I was just about to get my Google on when I thought, "Wait, I have all of these crazy-creative people at my fingertips. I should ask them..."

So here I am, asking all of you... anyone got any good ideas? If you think of anything you can find me trolling around Pinterest. I'll be the one searching for food disguised as... something else.

(Yup, that's just what I did.

And then I started her a Pinterest board called "Sweets in Disguise." Check it out.)

UPDATE:

She went with the candy sushi:

Rice Crispie treats rolled around gummy worms, sliced and wrapped in green apple fruit roll-ups.

Auction Basket, Part Two (aka: Wrapping Things Up.)

(If you didn't read Part One, please go here.)

So when we left off, I had three auctions baskets assembled, two of which needed to be wrapped.

Honestly, I don't claim to be great at this wrapping part. Cellophane tends to give me agita. If you're looking for a blog about perfection I'm definitely not your gal (though I can probably refer you to 100 gorgeous blogs that will fulfill that need). If, however, you're looking for a blog that will make you feel good about yourself in comparison, well, my friend, you've come to the right place!

So without further ado, here is my process, warts and all:

To begin with I got out my "tape" and my cellophane. Tape is in quotes because I don't actually use tape for this. Instead I like to use glue dots or, in this case, a "dot glue runner," because they're less visible.

I also used two large rolls of cellophane. I still had tons left over from last year.

I decided to place the insulated tote beneath the large Trader Joe's Sampler basket (as opposed to including it inside). It seemed to fit better that way. So I put the insulated tote on top of the cellophane. (It was actually two rolls of cellophane criss-crossed over one another to prevent big gaps when it was all gathered up.)

Then I put the basket on top of the tote...

(Don't worry. I remembered to snip the tag off that basket.)

...gathered the cello from one roll up in a big bunch...

...and temporarily secured it with a large twist tie.

Then I gathered up the second roll of cello and repeated the process until it looked like this:

See all of that extra cellophane sticking out at odd angles around the sides of the basket? That's where the glue dot runner comes in. If a piece of cello is sticking out in an awkward fashion, pop some glue on it and then fold it over so it sticks snugly to the side of the basket for a more streamlined look. (Unfortunately I couldn't apply the glue and take a picture so you'll just have to believe me.)

Then it was time to tie up the basket with some decorative ribbon. I had some of my favorite paper ribbon set aside just for this occasion but strangely, I couldn't find it anywhere. Fortunately, I had tons of Christmas ribbon available as a substitute.