Pink of Perfection

I have long thought that one of the biggest obstacles to making a house feel like a home is all those blank walls. That’s why we made this giant horse silhouette way back when, why I hang album art, and why I frame vintage sewing patterns. But there’s a project I did awhile back that I never told you about, and it’s the kind of crafting I love: pretty fabric + junk you have laying around the house = something pretty to hang on the walls. Instead of framing fabric, which is a lovely idea, I wrapped box lids with fabric (as you would a present) and hung it right on the wall. This was originally conceived as a grouping of box lids in complementary fabrics (kind of like a quilt for your wall). I can’t quite remember how I ended up with just the pink birds, but either as a solo piece or a grouping, the project is equally successful — it’s just another way for me to great colorful, cheery fabrics into my home without having to haul out the sewing machine.

Continue reading “Shoebox Art” »

do you guys know about poladroid? i’m kind of obsessed

One of my favorite places to go in New York City isn’t a dimly-lit speakeasy cocktail lounge or a gargantuan structure that houses works of art from every corner of the globe; it’s my friend Alison’s apartment. When I walk into her home, I am always embraced first by my friend and then by a deeply comforting, relaxing fragrance. Alison understands the allure of fragrance. The scents are never overpowering or noxiously artificial — they are subtle, soothing, and mysteriously unplaceable. Is that orange or verbena or cassis? Who knows, it is just, simply, marvelous.

Scent is one of our more overlooked senses, I think, and one of the most powerful. And because fragrance is so evocative and personal, it can really tap into a whole ‘nother sense of ourselves. I always feel, for example, that if one is wearing a forgettable black dress coupled with a heady fragrance, one can feel herself transformed into the alluring, purring ne plus ultra of sex appeal. Can’t one?

The power of scent can be as transformative in a home. But ever since a boss pointed out to me that buying scented candles is literally burning your money, I haven’t been able to enjoy the spendy scented pillars quite as much. What I’ve substituted instead are lots of cheap tealights all around the living room with a quietly simmering saucepan of aromatics in the kitchen. Everything you need for a little home fragrancing can be found in the grocery store. And if you’ve ever purchased essential oils for DIY beauty recipes, dilute several drops of essential oil in a simmering water and you’ve got instant aromatherapy.

Continue reading “DIY Home Fragrance on the Cheap” »

To put it quite simply, I am in love with this book. For anyone who has wanted to sit at the knees of women older and wiser and cull time-tested knowledge of how to live with savoir faire, How to Sew a Button is your charming, funny, can-do guide. Erin Bried traveled the country interviewing grandmothers so that we could all be armed with Girl Scout-ish know-how whether we are suddenly asked to waltz at a ball (would that this particular situation cropped up more often) or are charged with building a roaring fire on our next camp out. This book offers up the curriculum we might have gleaned had home ec not been ushered out of the school systems, but in the infinitely more appealing form of a whimsically diagrammed text written by a woman you wish were your best friend. Random House is giving away a copy to one lucky Pink of Perfection winner. To enter to win, leave a comment about your most valued how-to skill by Friday, January 15, midnight EST. Sorry, but only US mailing addresses may enter.

Update 1/19: Congrats to KBG in DC! And thank you to everyone who left a comment to enter — what a skilled bunch you all are!

Originally, I meant to score one of the very cheap calendars at Muji and add a bit of rick rack trim to give it more personality. But when I finally made it to the store of Japanese minimalism and thrift on the 11th of the new year, there were no more planners to be had. “We sold out very fast this year.” Yes, I see that. But you see, my life needs planning, and I’m nothing if not a jotter: I scribble down each dollar I spend, appointments I have, assignments to complete, exhibits on the horizon, movies to add to my Netflix queue, ideas that strike when I’m falling asleep. Without a planner to scrawl all this in, I’m like a cowboy without a horse — utterly lost and not all that effective.

Rather than going to another store and plunking down more cash than I had initially intended to spend, I bought a plain notebook of graph paper for $1. How hard can it be to make a planner out of blank paper? Turns out it’s not hard at all, though it does take patience and a straight-edge. The reason, in fact, that today’s post is appearing so late in the day is that I have been steadily drawing lines and stamping out dates, creating order and delineation out of blank pages. This also gave me the perfect opportunity to catch up on this week’s The Bachelor. Nothing quite like crafting to cheesy entertainment!

Sometimes life buzzes along with so much excitement and celebration that the idea of sitting down to the sort of slow, methodical work that requires little more than counting and a steady hand is a welcome respite. Today, this was just what I needed. And now finally, twelve days into this new year, I feel equipped to take on the days.

Don’t fret little elf. If you’ve waited until the last moment, don’t bother with the mall. It will only make you want to scratch your eyes out. Why not just put together some very simple handmade gifts from the heart? It’s much more thoughtful than a cable knit sweater with a gift receipt, anyway. Gifts like this can help us remember the true spirit of the season, anyway.

Monogrammed pillowcases, bags, and handkerchiefs If at this point in the holiday game the idea of taking up needle and thread makes you want to call the whole thing off, remember that embroidery is not the only way to personalize gifts (and people love a personalization). Craft stores usually have a large array of iron on letters, or you could use fabric paint and stencils to paint on a monogram in a jiffy.

Coupons One of the most sought-after presents of my childhood were the handwritten paper slips, edged with pinking shears and the size of a business card on which was written, “Get Out of Trouble Free Card. One Use Only!” But I also loved getting the ones that said, “Redeem for lunch with mom and a trip to the Science Place.” The gift of your time is usually the most precious present there is. Give your friends and loved ones coupons they can redeem for a tarot card reading, a trip to the movies, or an afternoon of snow angels and hot chocolate.

Homemade bath products The Wake Me Up Scrub has already won raves from its early recipients and my guess is you have nearly all the ingredients in your pantry as we speak. Forget fancy homemade labels and elegant packaging if you’re running low on holiday juice. Just mix up the scrubs or bath salts in leftover takeout containers or empty jam jars and gussy them up with odds and ends from your sewing basket.

Delicious nibbles I truly love receiving a plate of cookies or a container of homemade pimento cheese (wink, wink) as a gift. I mean, what could be more elemental that a gift of nourishment? My mom, in fact, has already requested cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning and a weekend dinner of spicy kidney bean curry. But one of the ideas I love most of all is giving your friends a jar filled with dried beans and herbs so that after all the cheese, booze, and rich desserts, they can make themselves a pot of soup that’s wholesome and sustaining.

Required holiday reading:

10 Ways to Enjoy the Holidays That Have Nothing To Do With Buying Presents

There is something intrinsically magical about a Christmas tree. Maybe it’s how out of place it is, a forest figure transplanted into your living room, carrying on its branches whispers of moss and gnomes. As a girl, I brought my My Little Ponies downstairs and hid behind the tree to play. Lighted boughs were a richer backdrop to the drama of a pegasus than the brown carpet in my bedroom. And the times we’ve carried a tree home to our apartment in Brooklyn and strung it with lights, the magic happened when we could sit on the couch, quiet with a glass of wine in hand and a Christmas record on the turntable and feel as transfixed as if we had a new fireplace in the living room. The tree cast a bit of majesty, and in its presence we could just be.

We didn’t get a tree this year. The prices seem to creep skyward each year, and we could use $40 on something else. But I couldn’t help but wonder if not having a tree was affecting my holiday spirit. Channeling Maria’s curtain playclothes ingenuity, I decided to try to make a tree substitute. Besides, I told myself, isn’t it really the lights that make us most happy?

Last night, after watching Anne of Green Gables and cutting pretty things out from magazines, I finally felt the holiday spirit take hold. Setting out to make this glowing creation sealed the deal.

A nearby florist was selling bunches of white branches for $2 each, but you could just as easily grab some free fallen branches at a local park (and spray paint them white, if you’re so inclined). I put the branches in a vase anchored with lots of spare change and then twisted the lights all around. Easy as pie.

More Crafty Holiday Ideas:

Needless to say, I am making the lion’s share of our Christmas gifts this year. Except for those cases in which making things costs more than buying things, at which point I give up.

Here are some of the ideas I’m kicking around:

• Flavored vodka (like cardamom or pineapple) distributed in lovely flasks, more lovely flasks, or lovely bottles, with a label made by moi.
• Homemade, transfat-free nutella. Which sounds so delicious, you could present it by the fistful and no one would care.
• Agate slice* magnets, or pushpins, or pendants, tucked into a little velvet pouch
• A stack of felt rounds, for storing china, tied with a satin bow. Scratch that: better off buying.
• A six-back of homemade pizza dough balls.

We started talking about what everyone is making for the holidays in the forum, so what have you got up your crafty sleeve? –Katy

*By the way, have you seen these crystal lamps? Regardless of their supposed powers—mystical or complete mumbo jumbo—I’ve never seen anything so glamorous. Reminds me of the ice cave scene in Superman.

It is not very fashionable to admit one isn’t in the holiday spirit. As soon as the Thanksgiving turkey is packed into Tupperware, there seems to be a widespread belief we should all be decking the halls and checking our lists twice, instantly transformed into a state of merriment simply because the calendar calls for it.

I admit I have not been feeling particularly holiday this season. Maybe it was the way the mild fall hung around my neighborhood so long, but I have felt myself standing in the drugstore aisles listening to Blue Christmas with the cold detachment of a scientist observing rats. I’m aware the holidays are swirling around me, inspiring peers and passerby with mirth, but I haven’t yet been moved myself. There was a moment yesterday, a Monday which turned into a day of fun without pre-meditation, when I spooned hot and sour soup, stopped to lean down into the fragrant boughs of Christmas trees for sale outside a bodega, and watched as an errant snowflake sat in the seam of Sebastian’s collar before melting. I felt a whiff of it then, but only for a moment.

There are some years when we jump to buy eggnog as soon as it appears in the deli aisle and plot the baking of Christmas cookies weeks in advance. Sometimes we have even been knitting thick, loopy scarves for loved ones since September. But there are other years when the magic of the season, for whatever reason, doesn’t come over us in quite the same way. I share my own feelings this year less as a whispered Scroogey confession, and more as permission, in case you need it. It’s okay to not be making wreaths, to not have started your shopping, to not even want to shop for presents because frankly, there are expenses more pressing. It’s fine. Maybe we’ll feel merry and bright in a couple weeks, just in the St. Nick of time. Or maybe, instead, we’ll find ourselves embodying the holiday spirit — which includes the seasonless sensation of gratitude, love, and wonder — on a dark evening in January. Whatever works.

Continue reading “Super Simple Silhouette Christmas Cards and The Absent Holiday Spirit” »