Sunday, December 15, 2013

NEON & NATURAL POTHOLDERS


I've had such amazing feedback for the Neon & Natural Baskets I thought I'd try my hand at another Neon & Natural combination for the home: Pot Holders! 
 Now, I don't know about you, but my kitchen is incredibly tiny (a common affliction for New York City residences) and the things I keep in my home have to be really special, otherwise they are basically clutter, and ain't nobody got room for that. When moving in with my lovely boyfriend about a year ago, we scrambled to outfit our kitchen (and apartment in general) grabbing the first utensils that functioned and didn't completely offend our aesthetic sensibilities.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the things we picked, but there are a handful of items that I'm slowly replacing with prettier versions.
A couple of new potholders are a big ol' check off that list. The one we had originally bought functioned just fine, in that they prevented us from scorching our hands or coutertops, but it was a weird fuchsia color (not my taste) and collected dirt with it's grippy underbelly. It just always looked grimy, even after a fresh wash. So a remedy! What looks cooler and more clean that a splash of neon?

Sunday, December 1, 2013

AEROPLANE STATIONERY

I HAVE RUN OUT OF STATIONERY.

This isn't really a big deal, but I'm sure you have run into the same problem I have: it's harder to find cool stationery than a new friend as an adult (there should be a single friend site ... OKcoolfriend? I'll work on the name). Everything I have been able to find in the stores has been either too cutesy (flowers are great and all, but do they have to grace the cover of every card??) or too business-like (from the desk of Sir Jillington the Third). Can't a girl get a simple and fun way to say "thank you" or "hey, how are ya?" or "you have 2 days to release the next season of Game of Thrones OR ELSE"??

I decided to take matters into my own hands ... at least for the stationery bit. I saw a bunch of tutorials on how to make your own stamps on Pinterest, and I thought "how fun! But I don't scrapbook" (ain't nobody got time for that) "and I haven't needed to stamp things since kindergarten ... I should get some ice cream".

Ignore that last bit. I have no willpower.

So here's what I did: I got some ice cream. Only joking. No, I'm not.

I took an eraser, sketched a design of a paper airplane in pencil (or rather dictated and critiqued my boyfriend as he sketched the design. Artist boyfriend not included), cut away everything that wasn't the design with an Xacto blade, and stamped it on some folded card stock.

The whole project took about 30 minutes start to finish and cost 6 dollars ($.79 for the eraser, $4.99 for the ink-pad).

All in all, less time than me searching for my keys, accusing my boyfriend of hiding them, finding them right where I left them, putting on my shoes, and running to the stationery store. Plus, less money than buying 6 cards worth of a bad design.

As always, I'd love to hear what you think, how you would use this technique, and/or whether you also have a hard time meeting new friends without the aid of school/playdates.