Spice Pencil Cup

Back in February, I went to Duluth for a long weekend with my friends. I brought home this lovely little package from the antique shop... 

What's inside? 

 Why this, of course! A container of Allspice, bought at the antique store. Sounds yummy, right?

 Okay, so maybe not so yummy.

But, I got very lucky. A few minutes with a pair of pliers easily removed the sliding mechanism that used to fill the hole on the top of the tin. I was able to dump most of the Allspice directly into the trash can, and a quick rinse took care of any lingering dust and odor. I bought the tin with this particular project in mind. They had another one in the same collection that held Celery Salt. I have NO idea what that would be used for, or what it smells like, so I decided to play it safe and go with Allspice. When I opened the tin, I noticed that the smell was pretty weak. If I hold the tin right up to my nose, I get a whiff of it sometimes. In short, my fears of celery salt might have been overblown, but I'm happy with the Allspice!

 I then looked carefully around my apartment until I found the other supply required for this project. Do you know what these are? They're the magnets on the back of magnetic notepads. I always have one hanging on my refrigerator, which I use for making grocery lists. When the paper is gone, all that's left is the magnet. I hung onto these ones just waiting for a chance to put them to good use. It's here!

 I picked off as much of the paper as I could, though I didn't do a perfect job. I then cut the magnets to make sure they were the right size. This is my test run! All that was left was to heat up the glue gun and gob some of it on there.

 After just a few minutes of drying time, I was ready to roll!

It blends in just about perfectly, doesn't it! Keep your eyes peeled for a pretty old spice tin next time you're out antiquing. This project is SO cheap and easy - you could have one of these pencil cups in your kitchen any day now! 

Great Things

You guys know my place has white walls. This apartment and the one before it and the dorm rooms before that have all had white walls. I know that, when I buy a place of my own, I'm going to be excited to paint. When you have white walls, I think you've got to be careful about other objects in your place that are also white, or cream - especially stuff you're intending to hang on the wall. You can avoid buying the stuff, which is what I often do. But there was one thing I had that used to decorate my office in grad school.

Sorry for the blurriness in this photo - I hope you can still read the words okay. I mean, who doesn't love this message? I think its a little inspirational, especially to move you from the "I was reading blogs and thinking about how beautiful my house will be one day..." to the "I'm writing on my blog and actually picking up messes and doing projects!" It's good. Also, Anatole France is a historical figure who is somewhat familiar to me. When I studied abroad in France, my friends and I often went to a cafe after school that was located near a metro stop named in his honor. The cafe has since gone out of business, and the metro line is thousands of miles away, but I think of him. He's like a French F. Scott Fitzgerald.

With the cream colored metal sign a part of the permanent collection around here, the next step was to figure out how to display it.

I stumbled upon this guy - on clearance no less!

I don't have anything to hide: here's the label. Yes, in case you were wondering, this is from the teenager home collection marketed as Xhilaration at Target. Yeah, I went there. And yes, I was inspired to walk down the bulletin board aisle in the first place after I saw Jackie's post about her recent find.

I was originally thinking I would cover the cork with patterned burlap. I really wanted a blue polka dotted pattern.

They had a lot of choices at JoAnn's... seriously! I was imagining something sort of like the gold dotted fabric in the middle - but I couldn't do gold polka dots. I don't know where I got the idea that I wanted burlap. It was a little strange, though, because the burlap is the same color as the cork.

Then, inspiration struck. If the backgrounds are the same color, then maybe the answer is simple. Painted polka dots!

I've free-handed polka dots too many times before, and I'm just never happy with the result. So, I broke out the ruler and pencil, bound and determined to measure the distance between dots. I hadn't realized it before, but the pencil is definitely the wrong tool for marking cork. I decided to use the blue pen pictured above, which is actually a washable pen that I typically use for marking embroidery patterns. It's washable, so I figured that was a good sign. And, more importantly, I knew the color of the pen would be close to the color of the paint, so I felt confident it would blend right in.

I used the sponge tool on the left to make the dots, basically. I used the brush to perfect the dots. There were times the sponge did coverage that was good but not great, so I used the brush to add a little here, and remove a little there.

All done!

I tried it out in its new home. I was pretty happy.

The more I thought about it, though, I began to realize it was just a little too plain.

I found these little crocheted flowers in the dollar spot at Michaels. I tried a couple of different layouts, as you can see above. I thought I had my mind made up, but I was busy with other things, so I wound up putting the board back to display and putting the flowers away to keep thinking about it.

Once things calmed down again, it was time to get down to business.

I grabbed my Elmer's All Purpose glue and got to work. It didn't take more than a moment to glue all of these down. I also wasn't super careful about applying the glue, because I knew it would dry clear.

After giving the glue just a moment to dry, I slipped the whole thing back into position. Since I'd spent so much time dreaming about this one, I knew it was time to move on and act on my next project!

The flowers just add... something. I can't put my finger on the word, but, even though they were an extra step, they were definitely worth it. 

The gallery grows...

It's not the first time it has happened, but my gallery wall got a new addition recently!

I received this plate as a Christmas gift - sort of. I was at the St. Olaf bookstore just before Christmas and I picked it out and handed it to my mom so she could wrap it up and put it under the tree. It caught my eye in the bookstore because I had never seen anything like it before.

This is the box it came in. I was drawn to this item for a couple of reasons. I love Porsgrund pottery - made in Norway! While I was studying abroad in Norway, I actually went and visited their factory. It was so cool! (I was also reliving that story this week, because I had to admit that was the first time I had ever skipped school. To go to what was essentially a museum about the history of Norwegian pottery. I bet you never knew I was this cool.)

I was also drawn to this plate because Porsgrund actually manufactures Christmas Plates. For an idea of what they look like, click here. I'm really not a collector of those plates, but I know they're a "thing" in Norway. And I love the cobalt color. So, when the chance came up to buy one that was reminiscent but more special to me than any Christmas plate could ever be, I was totally sold.

I also wanted to show you the box because I have a theory, supported by the box. Doesn't it look like that sucker has been chilling in Grandma's basement for a while? Like, really, a long while? I'm pretty sure it has been in a basement somewhere. I think that the plate was actually produced in about 1974, when the college was celebrating the centennial it commemorates. I think this listing on Ebay suggests as much. But at the bookstore, it was marked $9.95! I bought it like the bandit I really am.

So, now, with Christmas in the rearview mirror by nearly a month, I finally have gotten around to hanging it up!

I bought a plate holder, which came with this hanging hardware. At first, I figured this was normal. And then I tried to hang it up, and encountered no success at all.

I began to wonder if this was a two person job, but decided to try masking tape before surrendering completely. When my hammering merely ripped the masking tape and smacked my thumb, I got serious.

I marched over to my tool bin, where I promptly dug out what was apparently a properly sized nail. Duh.

Oh, look, when I discarded their stupid nail, the hook worked like a charm!

 So, 30 seconds later, the plate was in position for all to see!

When I found the plate, I gave no thought at all to where I might display it. But, once I brought it home and started thinking about it, I realized that it would really well with the other blue tones on the gallery wall. Sold!

Rediscovered!

Hey guys! Sorry I missed you yesterday. As a government employee, I had the day off work on Monday in honor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. (That's his whole title, and the name of a street in St. Paul. One time, I addressed, by hand, a number of letters to an address on that street - Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Yikes! Though, if anyone is worth such a name, he's it.) So, anyways, my weekend is just wrapping up this morning.

Not very much exciting was happening here at the Marvelous Apartment:

Well, okay, this was happening. And I was pretty excited about it - finally putting the Christmas decorations away. Everyone else has already done so, but I hung in there until I just couldn't take it anymore.

This gave me the opportunity to "redecorate" my living room. What I mean by that is, I have so much stuff out usually, and so much other stuff I want to put out for Christmas, that I actually have to put quite a bit of the regular stuff away to make room for the Christmas stuff. And so, January looks like this:

 And this...

 And this...

As much as I'm proud that I have a "collection," I'm not crazy about the random, piled approach in the pics above. So, I spent some time over the weekend getting things back in order. I should have some updated photos soon, since I'm also working on some new projects to add into the mix.

The other excitement, though, is that I rediscovered something!

That's right, you've seen these before, actually twice. I must have put these away in preparation for Christmas in 2012. Then, in my haste to get my life back together in early 2013, I must not have removed them from the Christmas bins.

So now, here the are, back in position. They spent 2013 at rehab or on sabbatical or whatever. It doesn't matter - they're back now! And I love them so much, it's like I just found some brand new decor!

A little more Japan...

So, you read last week about how Daisy returned from her trip of a lifetime to Japan. She brought me some very cool things, most of which you've already seen. She was impressed I did such a good job as a plant-sitter ;) One thing she chose was a pink bandanna-type cloth. I decided to frame it!

I picked up this 20x20 Ribba frame at Ikea. Since the cloth was 19 and 3/4 inches, it fits like it was just about perfect.

I decided to use some of my new washi tape to dress up the frame. I had an idea what it would look like while it was on the roll, but I ripped off these small samples and stuck them to the white cardboard to get a better sense of what they would look like against a solid white background.

I wound up choosing a tape designed by Bengt & Lotta. I wonder if the day will come when it doesn't bring a smile to my face to know that I have washi tape sold in Japan and designed in Sweden. It's certainly not here yet!

Here it is. Folk art tape, Japanese graphic ginkgo design. Pinkness. Perfection.

So, on to the before. A bedroom with a pink and green theme.

And here's the after. It's still pink and green with a new graphic element. Yeah!

It's so fun to have this new graphic, colorful image making things a little more exciting. Thanks a bunch, Daisy!

It's finally here!

What? Advent! It's time for Christmas shopping, music, crafting and of course, decorating! In the marvelous family, "Black Friday" is a time to decorate Mom and Pop's for the holiday. We did even better than we have recently this year: we set up the tree, put it in position, and covered it with lights, garland and ornaments. Yes! I actually came home to my apartment late that day and then the "decorating the apartment" portion of the weekend set in. I had some cleaning to do first, so it took a little extra time. But, it's finally 'bout done and I'm ready to share!

Most of my work was concentrated in the living room, and you can see just about all of it in this photo. I'm still rocking the short little tree I inherited from my grandma. When placed atop a popcorn can, atop a 4 unit Expedit, it's almost tall enough for the space. As much as I'm looking forward to acquiring a full-sized tree, it sure is easy easy easy to set this one up. It wears a dry cleaning bag during the off-season. So, come Thanksgiving, all I have to do is wiggle the tree free of the bag and it's ready to go. Oh and while it wasn't designed as pre-lit, Grandma put lights on with clips, so the lights just go right along inside the dry cleaner's bag.

I hung my stockings right below the window so Santa can drop off the presents easily!

I've got company coming this year during the Christmas season, so I decided to use my Norwegian heart garland.

This is what it looks like, proudly displayed on the carpeting. I bet you can tell, from your little corner of the internet, that this garland is a gigantic pain to deal with. The "garland" is actually string that connects the hearts together. I have a total of two strands, and the one pictured above is definitely tangled on the right hand side of the photo. Bummer. But, I decided to go for it anyways.

One reason I'm looking forward to the chance to have a larger tree is that this one is overwhelmed by all of my ornaments. Seriously - all the branches at the bottom have more than one ornament on them. Oh well - it's extra festive, right?

I also set up my little tiny tree. I'm not sure why the Expedit it sits on is looking shiny, but it isn't. I don't think I've bought any ornaments for this little tiny since I graduated from college - in 2006. It seems to me like each and every one of these ornaments, even the ones I don't like that well, are treasured friends that are coming out at Christmas time.

Here's the last shot - ho ho ho! Merry Christmas from my home to yours!

Won it!

So, I know those of you who are blog-reading fools like myself know this, but maybe some of you don't: most blogs that are in the same genre as mine host giveaways. Like, all the time. Okay, maybe not all the time, but seriously - I feel like there are at least two giveaways in my feed at any one time. (You likely won't ever see a giveaway here because usually, the prize is contributed by a sponsor. Marv Minnie is sponsor-free!) Despite their popularity, it was only very recently that I entered my first giveaway. And, I WON!

Back in October, I noticed a giveaway of some really neat state art over at Home Coming*. I decided to enter the contest, and I was lucky enough to get to pick out some State Art from WordLust! A few weeks later, I discovered the mailman had left a special box for me in the lobby at my apartment building...

Open up the box!

And here it is! Yay!!! When I won the giveaway, I had the chance to select which color combo I wanted from the WordLust Etsy shop. It took me some time to decide, actually. You guys are probably aware that I already have some other state art in my place - some that I made, and some that I didn't. I didn't want to overwhelm my living room, so I had to think outside the box about where I might want to display this piece.

I went with the hallway!

This is the view coming out of the bedroom, the study and the hall bathroom. The doorway opening to the left is into the living room, and directly to the left (out of view) is the front door.

One of the choices I was allowed to make was whether the art would appear on a "dark" stained background or a "light" one. I saw some images on the WordLust site that showed a background that was nearly black - I thought that was going to be way too dark. Nevertheless, I was a little surprised by just how light the background was on the one I received!

I was skeptical, but I tried it out in the hallway. And then I realized it worked! When I was making my selections, I was thinking that I wanted something that matched the frame on the little basket chest below. That surely would have been striking. But what I got instead was something that matched the baskets - and which offers some nice contrast with the black mirror, the bronze basket, and the brown wooden awards on the right. It worked out better than I'd planned!

So here's the money shot - this hallway is such a gigantic pain to photograph. There isn't all that much natural light in the rooms that open onto it - especially in November, grrr! And given this hallway's size and shape, none really makes it through. But, I hope in this last one you can get a little sense of what it's really like in the hall - including the reflection in the black mirror! My place is updated -- and I won it!

* Please note, these links are not sponsored in any way. It was not a condition of winning the prize that I blog about it. I decided to share these links with you because I enjoy Kayla's blog and think the product from WordLust is pretty darn cool!