quick gift tag diy

I was organizing my tea this morning and emptied out a Yogi tea box. Instead of throwing it out I decided to do something fun with it. Make a gift tag!

Have you ever noticed the inside of the box? It's so pretty! I was actually thinking of cutting out one of the squares to frame. But since Christmas is around the corner I opted to go the gift tag route.

Here's what you need:

• Empty Yogi tea box
• Exacto knife
• Ruler
• Cutting board
• Hole punch
• Ribbon

Directions: Cut into any shape you like, punch a hole and voila!

Pretty cute!

new project: sunroom office

It's time to work on my next project - the sunroom! It's been a bit of a sore spot because it always seems to be the gathering place for everything that doesn't fit anywhere else. I'm always trying to keep stuff to a minimum, but it never seems to work. It's where I work so I'm looking to make it a place that's fun and inviting.

I'm pretty sure I know the culprit - the bench! 

It always looks messy because I've been using it as a shelf for some of my papers and things, but I'm ready to make a change. I'm going to put a cushion on it (a la this bench from I Heart Organizing) with pillows and find somewhere else for all the stuff (it's questionable I even need this stuff!).

I also want to get this room cleaned up because you can see it from the dining room so something a bit more inviting would be nice.

A couple more shots of the really neat space :).

I want to keep the bench fabric pretty neutral and I'll dress it up with some pillows. Here are some options from Tonic Living I'm looking at:

Courtyard, Oyster

Cross Section, Charcoal

Geo Maze, Ash

Graphic Fret, Flax

Small Ikat Dot, Buff

What do you think? What would you choose? Any others from the site? The Geo Maze, Ash and Courtyard, Oyster are speaking to me, but I'd love to know your thoughts!

ps-Thanks to Shannon for giving me some tips on taking pictures of windows! Getting there!

according to plan

In the spirit of Janice's recent post about keeping it real, I thought I would share a project I half completed that hasn't gone according to plan. Like many of you, I have furniture from my university days (can I still say that when I graduated 11 years ago??) namely two Ikea Lack tables. One is a console table and one is a coffee table. I've had it in my mind to make an ottoman out of each one of them - one for the living room and one for my bedroom. So I finally got to work a couple of weeks ago.

Here's the coffee table before:

I took a trip to fabricland* to pick out the fabric and the foam to make it cushy. I hemmed and hawed, but found some cozy grey fabric with some colourful flecks in it that I thought would be nice for the winter months, but when I got it home I just wasn't sure. I kind of thought maybe the wrong side of it would work better because you could see the colours better.

Ultimately, I decided on the right side and I got measuring. Instantly I realized the the cushy foam wasn't going to be thick enough, but it was all I had (and $35 a metre!!) so I stuck with it. I stapled the fabric etc. and all was fine until I was finished and turned it over.

It was kind of blah.

My hubby thought it was kind of blah too so I was pretty disappointed. So here it is... where it has been sitting for a few weeks**:

Leo has been having fun with it -- using it for balance and such while standing. But I have to do something with it. I don't want to spend the money to buy more fabric because I don't want to be disappointed again, so I still might try to make it work. I dunno. Obviously it still needs legs. I might take a trip yonder to Home Depot or Lowes to see what kind of legs they have to finish it off.

Here it is in front of the couch where I would have liked it to go. I pictured it (with legs :)) with a tray on top (and basically nothing else because I have a child who will knock everything off of the tray...).

So there's my dose of reality for today (that and all the toys laying around!).

What would you do with it? Suggestions welcomed!

*this is getting tougher with a little kid in tow by the way - strolling him through the fabric bolts I'm sure he's wondering where the eff his mother is taking him now...
**What do you think of the martini glasses being so close to the kiddie table with all the books? :)