Simple personalized wrapping paper

You know you're cheap when . . . you won't pay for a dollar store gift bag and card for a graduation gift.

Normally, The Dollar Tree is my favorite frugal source for getting a gift together. But, when the graduation gifts mount to three or four at a time, even the cheapo cards and bags start to add up. Plus, it's easy to mix the gifts up when it's three identical gifts being carted off to one shared graduation party.

So we made personalized wrapping paper and cards using Microsoft Word, tape, scissors and a cut-up black folder.

Simply repeat the recipient's name over and over in a Word document. (If you like, add a big set of initials as we did.) Print and tape a few together.

We cut vaguely card-shaped rectangles out of the black folder, folded them in half and added white paper to the inside to make cards.

Instructions for making the ribbon are here.

The wrapping was a surprise hit of the party. People came over and took pictures of it.

They were obviously unfamiliar with the depths that some people will go to save a buck.

DIY Wednesday: Make Chanel-inspired accessories

Last week we learned how to make a poppy flower pin from scratch using bits of silk or cotton.

Naturally, you can wear this as a pin. Or, you can do as Kelly Framel, aka The Glamourai, did and pin your flower to a chain.

Or you can incorporate your hard work into Chanel-inspired clogs and bags.

Below is the inspiration - Chanel's Spring/Summer 2010 collection. I'm not sure what, if anything, the model is wearing on her bottom half, but focus on the bag and shoes.

Chanel has lots of basket-y looking bags this year, including the infamous picnic basket, below.

Of course, we mustn't forget the Claudia Schiffer bag that started this whole thing.

To embellish your own a la Payless or thrift store clogs, you can simply pin the brooch right to the clog. (Clogs are back, by the way. Walk carefully.) If your clogs lack a strap, you can attach your pin to a shoe clip with a bit of velcro.

If you lack the toe-curling skills required to wear clogs, poppies will work with mules, too. All it requires is the guts to wear them.

For the bag, keep an eye out at your friendly local thrift stores for straw totes or black Chanel knock-off bags. For the black bag, look for the iconic Chanel shoulder strap - a gold chain with a strip of leather woven through it.

For the lace embellishments, cut leaf shapes from fabric and lace. You can freehand them or use this template. Make a backing by cutting the same shape from a piece of white felt and a piece of plastic from a container (such as the kind used for takeout food.)

Make the lace embellishment by hot gluing in the following order - felt on the botton, next the plastic, next some white fabric. Top it off with two or three lace leaves. Wrinkle and pucker the lace as you glue it down.

Flip the lace embellishment over and glue a pin back to the back side. Then attach to your chosen bag.

I tried a couple of different bags and combinations of lace and flowers. The first one seemed too much. The second one seemed too small. Then I came across a much cuter straw bag at a thrift store and started all over again.

Here's the cute bag with flowers sans lace.

In the end, a few flowers and a little lace seemed to work best. This is a bag I would actually wear.

Studio living

The Bromeliads started out life in a 350-foot studio apartment. We slept on a murphy bed, which made tidying up in the morning a snap (literally). Also our "bedroom" instantly converted into a living room as soon as the bed was put up.

However, a bed planted firmly in the middle of the living room doesn't always look so bad either. Take for example the living room of uber designer Thomas O'Brien. Technically it's not a studio aparment; he chose to put the bed in the living room and turned the bedroom into an office/dressing room.

He even serves dinner at the foot of the bed. Below are a few more bed-in- a-living-area combos that I could live with.

Have you ever lived in a studio apartment? What did you do with your bed?

Images: Unknown via Angelo: Home; House & Garden; Elle Decor; Apartment Therapy; unknown; Tom Delavan; Gustavo Martinez; Vincente Wolf in Metropolitan Home.

Summer fashion tips

After observing thousand of visitors and locals tread past my door trying to keep cool and look chic at the same time, I am qualified to offer a few summer fashion pointers.

Undergarments: It should not be obvious to a passerby that you either are or are not wearing a bra.

Capris: Wear them if you must, but know they are doing nothing for you. If you are going to the trouble of putting on pants, then wear real ones, which will make you look taller and thinner, and who doesn't need that? If it's too hot for pants and you can't face the exposure that shorts offer, then opt for a summer dress. They are cooler than capris and look better.


Summer dresses: A great way to stay cool and still look civilized. Note that two percent of the world's population looks good strapless. Also, if the dress hangs only inches below your bottom, it is not a dress; it is a swimsuit coverup.

Flip-flops: Great for the shower or poolside schlepping. Not to be worn in public otherwise.

Boots: Boots are stylish. Boots are hip. But if it's 95 degrees out, boots are nasty.



Any tips you'd add?

Images: Style Sightings via Definitely Golden; Hayden+Harnett via The City Sage; J.Crew summer catalogue.

DIY Wednesday: Make a fabric poppy pin from scratch

As one of you correctly guessed, today's DIY is inspired by Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld, specifically the Spring/Summer 2010 collection and more specifically the photo below, which appeared in Elle and made me fold down the corner of the page. Does no one remember this ad?

Anyway, I though the bag would be an easy DIY. Hot glue a silk poppy and some lace to a thrift-store purse and hang it from my slender Claudia Schiffer-like shoulder, and I'm set for the summer. Except a big red poppy was hard to come by, and I liked the idea of trying to make my own. Below is the Chanel poppy, which is hand-made by the venerable French company Lemarie.

And here is mine, hand-made by the upstart low-brow DIYer who runs this blog.

I made my red and black poppies from silk pocket squares, which, if you're local, can be purchased at The Baltic Bazaar thrift shop for a buck. The white ones came from a ripped men's dress shirt.

You'll also need some black felt, some felt that matches your flower color, heavy black thread, spray starch, fabric glue, hot glue (optional), a pin back, scissors, needle and sewing thread (optional). You'll also need some pieces of thin plastic from the recycle bin. I cut mine from the lid of a strawberry container.

To stiffen and add texture to silk or other lightweight fabric, spray the fabric with heavy starch, twist and clip. (If your fabric is heavier, like cotton, you can add the wrinkles later.)

When the fabric is mostly dry, untwist it. If it is too wrinkled to lay flat, spritz with some more starch and stretch it.

Cut out 12 to 14 petals. You can freehand them or use this template for the petals, center and back.

Cut a piece of plastic about 1/2 inch wide and about three inches long. Wind the heavy thread around the strip. Spray with starch and allow to dry.

Stack your petals and either sew or glue them together, fanning out the petals as you go to avoid any "bald spots."

At this point, if you are using a heavier fabric, you can add your wrinkles here. Spray lightly with starch and fold the petals up like a bud. Hold loosely with a rubber band and allow to dry.

Now we'll put together the back of the brooch. Cut a small circle out of matching felt and thin plastic. Glue to the back of the flower and top with a pin back. Allow to dry.

Flip the flower over and glue a smaller black felt circle to the center of the front.

Now for the fun part - making the eyelashes. Slide the thread off the strip of plastic. You can do a little at a time and cut the thread or do it all at once.



Dip one edge of the thread in fabric glue. (I don't recommend hot glue because it hardens too fast.)



And place along the edge of the felt.



Your flower is done.

Alternately, you could buy a silk poppy, which is on sale for $1.68 at Pier 1.

Come back next week when I will drag this project out to a second post and we'll talk about ways to use your pin and also clogs. (Yes, they are back.)

DIY inspiration

Here is the inspiration for tomorrow's DIY project. Anyone recognize the designer and/or fashion house?