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♥ Are vintage girls the new feminists?
♥ I really can’t get enough of the tie-neck blouse trend.
♥ This is cool: Donate $10 to Operation Uplink and you’ll provide 25 soldiers in Iraq & Afghanistan 10 minutes of free phone time.
♥ These gorgeous DIY satsuma candle project are perfect for a wintery dinner party.
♥ I want to make a million of these maple-cream topped cakies. They’re healthy if squash’s in ‘em right?
♥ Speaking of healthy eating, I’m filing this crockpot cheddar beer chicken recipe away for nacho night. Holy yum.
♥ How sweet are these hand-drawn patterns by Alyson Fox? I could look at them all day.
♥ As if I wasn’t ready enough for spring’s arrival, along comes Sessun’s spring/summer collection.
xo,
Meghan
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: diy, domesticity, holiday how to, how to, thrifted materials, thrifting
I have this horrible tendency to hang on to way too many things, vintage tea tins being one of them. Which is why, in the course of the past week, my kitchen has been transformed into a veritable tea tin candle-making factory. If you, too, find yourself in a last-minute gift-making frenzy, here’s the how-to.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
❤ Miscellaneous vintage tea tins—all of mine were from thrift stores, where you can find them easily, priced anywhere from 25 cents to $2.
❤ Microwavable soy wax—a four-pound box of microwavable soy wax ($10 at Michaels’s with a coupon) flakes made three average-sized tea tin candles.
❤ Wicks of the extra-large variety (tea tins are pretty big in diameter, so you need a fat wick)—also available at Michael’s
❤ Silicone chalk (for the tins that are not water-tight)
❤ Wick holders (optional)
❤ Newspaper (not optional)
HOW TO
Step one: Test your tins. Fill your tins with water to see if they leak. If you find some are not water-tight, seal the inside bottom rim, corners and sides with a silicon chalk. Do not be an eager beaver and skip this step! (Unless scraping a counter-full of wax off with an old credit card sounds fun—then by all means, skip away!) Follow chalk dry time instructions before moving on to step two.
Step two: Cover your work space with newspaper. (Again, please learn from my mistakes!) Center your wicks in the middle of your tins, making sure the bottom of the wick is flush with the base of the tin. I prefer to use wick holders to accomplish this. (If you don’t want to buy holders, you can dip the bottom of the wick in melted wax and then stick/center in the bottom of the tin.)
Step three: Melt your wax—fun! I melted four-plus cups at a time in my glass liquid measuring cup. Four cups took about 4-5 minutes to melt entirely, quite a bit longer than the box o’ wax predicted. If you have a thermometer to test the temperature (per package instructions), feel free to do so. I did not and everything worked out just fine.
Step four: Fill your tins on up with wax, but not all the way up, just close to it. Wicks will need adjusting after you pour the wax; this is totally normal. It’s also normal to run out of wax before a tin is full. Just get going on nuking the next batch right away and add it when it’s done.
Step five: Leave your tins alone for 45 minutes to an hour. Go watch a Golden Girls episode, read a magazine or take pictures of your cat…I’m not one to judge.
Step six: After an hour or so has passed, poke a few holes near the wick, going all the way to the bottom of the tin. This allows air to escape and makes for a more evenly topped candle. Top off your candles with a little more wax.
Step seven: Leave them alone again, this time for a while. In a few hours time…boom. Tea tin candles are ready to go. Cozy on up and enjoy your handiwork.
xo,
Meghan
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: collage, diy, ephemera, Flickr, vintage paper
I skipped grocery shopping after work the other day to stay in, cozy up and make more paper packs. Sprawled out on the floor, surrounded by such unique, old materials motivated me to look through my Flickr favs for collage inspiration. I can’t wait until January to have more time to work on projects of my own! As you probably surmised, vintage paper and ephemera will always trump newly purchased materials for me. When it comes to collage-ing, it’s also no surprise that my favorite artists incorporate old images, illustrations and scraps into their works. Enjoy the eye candy!
{both c/o mishuevospeludos}
{c/o tinylights}
{c/o goofbutton}
{c/o Bill Zindel}
{c/o woefoep}
{c/o franz falckenhaus}
Ugh, I could go on and on and on. Peruse for your own favorites in The Vintage Paper Collage, Collage Crazy, Cut ‘N’ Paste & Notpaper groups.
xo,
Meghan
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I finished my first macrame project last night and already cannot wait to start another. Discovering Sally England’s simple, lovely work this morning (pictured above) just added fuel to my nascent rope-knotting obsession. My sweet little plant holder doesn’t hold a candle to Sally’s large-scale works of genius, but it was a fun starter project to be sure.
Supplies (two packs of blind cord and a small metal ring) cost me $15, and it took two episodes of “Gossip Girl” worth of time to complete. So yeah, craft-night success! The only downside of the process was having to lock the pets away while I knotted. Twelve 16-foot strands of rope flying around everywhere = heaven for my playful kitty! Don’t let the innocent face fool you, havoc-wrecking could be this gal’s middle name.
Now that winter’s nearly here, have you gotten back into the swing of making things? If so, what are you working on? Who is inspiring you? I’d love to hear!
xo,
Meghan
Is it wrong if I want to skip actually shopping for presents this year and skip ahead to the part when I spend an entire evening listening to Christmas music and wrapping them up all cute? The trio of gift-toppers featured below can all be made mostly with materials you can find easily at, where else…your local thrift store!
♥ These Monopoly tags, c/o Glossary, give new life to a vintage game that was missing some pieces.
♥ Personalize a prezzie with a yarn-wrapped pipe-cleaner letter or go all out and do the lucky recipient’s name. Once the gift’s unwrapped, these would make great ornaments. (Idea c/o giddy giddy.)
♥ File this under why-didn’t-I-think-of-this: Dyed paper doilies, c/o Blue Eyed Freckle. How sweet would a single poof be atop a package? Very, I say.
Ahh, now all I want to do is sit around and wrap gifts! Fortunately, I do have some crafting action of my own going on tonight…working on this Saturday’s limited edition Mighty Swell giveaway. It’s going to be so tight…I can’t wait to share it with y’all!
xo,
Meghan
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: design sponge, diy, mighty swell vintage
Just about a month ago, Rae and I had the opportunity to create the photo backdrop for Design*Sponge’s book party at the Anthropologie store in Edina. The 8 x 8 backdrop needed to be portable, yet sturdy, pretty from a distance yet photogenic up close. After a week of brainstorming, we settled on the idea of a trinket wall. We thrifted the trinkets (or doo-dads, as I like to call them) from Unique Thrift stores. From dolls to magnets, beads to toys, coasters to tiny plates, game pieces to buttons, nothing was safe from our glue guns.
The backdrop was made from plywood and scrap wood I had stashed in my garage from my bathroom remodel. We washed it with a light mint green stain (Minwax Water Based Wood Stain in Antique Jade, to be exact) which allowed the pretty grain of the wood to come through. After Rae traced the diamonds on the dry plywood, we hauled it piece by piece into my living room, where we proceeded to sit and glue trinkets and watch Parks & Recreation. Approximately 100 years later…we were done!
The day of the signing, at literally the crack of dawn, we hauled it over to Anthro and did a few last minute touch ups. It was such a relief when the set-up was done. And I have to say, I think it turned out pretty awesome.
You can see for yourself in this gallery of photobooth photos from the signing.
Many thanks to Grace and Amy from Design*Sponge (pictured above) for giving us the opportunity. Although I might be fine with never seeing a glue gun again as long as I live, it sure was fun to put this together.
xo,
Meghan
{Image above c/o Cathy of California.}
Does anyone else get discouraged when looking for new DIY projects online? I consider myself a pretty good at the Google and even still my searches are fruitless, turning up posts by glue-gun crazed moms and little else. Even my consultations with the few vintage craft books I own has left me wanting for more. It seemed like fortuitous timing then, to discover Cathy of California via Lena Corwin’s awesome blog. Simply reading through Cathy’s posts makes the ice that is my creative brain start to thaw. Her artist profiles are fascinating and incomparable to anything else I’ve read. Obviously, I had no qualms at all about ordering her book, Vintage Craft Workshop, which includes designer how-tos for 24 vintage projects and is supplemented by artist profiles and craft history. I hope the UPS man hurries…
xo,
Meghan
P.S. What are your favorite DIY blogs? I need to know.
P.P.S. I put together a back-to-school beauty supply list over on Beauty Bets today. Every product costs less than $7!
Happy hump day!
Here’s a trio of pretty, easy DIYs that have caught my eye lately…each of them featuring easily thrifted materials!
1. Super easy DIY wall art, c/o Pear & Peacock
2. Faux gold dino pendant, c/o Papernstitch
3. Summery T-shirt makeover, c/o Thrift Candy.
I’m looking forward to hosting a small crafting /doggy play session/happy hour tomorrow with some really awesome gals…we’re making these mood mists c/o Martha Stewart. I hope y’all have wonderful days!
xo,
Meghan
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Beauty Bets, diy, gettin pretty, how to, sea salt spray
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Do y’all remember John Frieda’s beach blonde sea salt spray? I rocked that stuff out like crazy in high school! Sadly, the geniuses at JF discontinued it eons ago. (Bring it baaaaack!) Happily, I’m a make-do kinda gal and have been whipping up my own version in my kitchen for ages. It’s ridiculously easy to crank out at home and costs next to nothing. And really, why would you pay more than a few bucks for glorified salt water!? Anyway, you’ll have to hop on over to Beauty Bets today to read my whole how to. I hope you enjoy!
xo!
Meghan
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: diy, how to, Lune Vintage, Refinery 29, thrifted materials
Happy Sunday!
Here’s a trio of pretty, easy, summer-y DIYs that have caught my eye lately…#1 & #3 use easily thrifted materials!
1. Crocheted planter cover (no crochet skills necessary!), c/o Lune Vintage
2. How to weave a flower wreath, c/o Refinery 29
3. Fabric art piece made from scraps, c/o Sunshine and Carousels
Speaking of DIYs, have you tried out Craft Gawker’s app? I just downloaded it and am having fun browsing handmade projects when I’m away from my computer. Like when I was waiting for what felt like a lifetime for the printer lady at Office Max yesterday…it came in handy.
I hope you’re having wonderful weekends so far!
xo,
Meghan
