IKEA Catalog 2012 is here !

IKEA Catalog 2012

 I never mentioned it but I love, love Ikea for so many reasons. Each year I'm patiently waiting for the new catalog - it's like this old crazy habit of mine, can't help it. Looking trough the new Ikea catalog=joy!
So click on the picture and flip trough the pages chock-full of inspiration...enjoy! 

IKEA Catalog 2012 is here !

Yellow My Love !

I always loved yellow, since I was a little kid. This color cheers me up and makes me happy instantly no matter where I see it. Yellow brings sun and light in your life and home but it also attracts regards wherever you put it. Warning: this color isn't for the Faint of Heart, you must be a very special person to love it and use it. There you go blue-lovers !

For more inspiration in yellow you can visit my album 'Yellow My Love'

Yellow My Love !

Color Escape Neutral

Decorating with the Color Neutral?  I'm the first to tell you not to live in a beige painted house!  Strictly taken, there is no neutral color. Colors called neutral such as beige, ivory, taupe, black, gray and white appear to be without color. But don't be fooled, not only they reflect back the colors around them and enhance bold contrasts, they also have a color hue for them selfs. Neutral colors from taupe, ivory, bone, vanilla, through khaki and mushroom, to sepia and espresso can be used to wonderful effect. If you're not very confident with color, then using beige as the background interior design color for your room is safe. Then you can experiment with smaller items with accent colors which can be changed whenever you want. That's exactly what I'm going to do with my bedroom very soon.

Color Escape Neutral

Green Your Life Today

Today I present you part two on colors that I love. In my everyday life I really need some green around me. This color is soothing, healing, calming and beautifying.You can make it a focus theme or an accent color for artwork, fabric, paint, bedding, curtains, pillows, rugs,throws, vases...possibilities are endless. My guestroom is  monochromatic green with accents in white, grey and yellow and the walls in my bedroom are still painted the soothing greenish gray shade. Don't be to shy in choosing the hue, go with stronger and deeper shades of green, make a statement. There are so many different shades of green, starting from blue-green and going to vibrant, luminous yellow-green. A little green goes a long way. Green your life today and never look back!

Dr. Greenlove forever... For more inspirational pictures in green visit my online album.

Green Your Life Today

Red Instead of Boring

OK, I presume you know it already, I'm color obsessed right now. I'm not obsessed with one particular color, I love them all (all right, some MORE than others) as long as they are mixed with some neutrals and beautifully done. So I decided to start with the color red today.  What can I say about red? I love it! Of course...Still, I use it sparingly, like a hot sauce. It’s a color of life, joy, sensuality, strength and love. Please, don't live in a beige painted house...

For more inspiration in red visit my Red Instead of Boring online album.

Red Instead of Boring

Purple inspiration for my bedroom

Last weekend I found this recycled glass vase on liquidation table for 3$ only without knowing it's going to provoke an avalanche of ideas:

When we moved to our house four years ago we decided to paint the walls in our bedroom green. It was exciting for someone who newer painted walls in color before (me!) but soon I was very limited in decorating possibilities. So I decided to repaint the walls in a more neutral color this time in order to have always the choice of details and to be able to create different atmosphere rapidly following seasons and mood changes (the latter is starting to get rather embarrassing lately ;-)  So when I saw this picture I knew I found a perfect color inspiration for my bedroom for this winter:

The shine of satin gives me the impression of glamour and luxury and the best of all is that you don't have to be rich to obtain this effect. You can go with fabrics, little paint and some details in purple / aubergine / plum / magenta. That way it won't cost you a fortune (remember: recession design?) and you can still change it rapidly when you had enough of it. And I say you should always look at your place before you go buying like crazy and you might be able to find something usable. Here is what i found in my place:

This is a fabric I bought two years ago without knowing what I'll do with it (happens to me more often then necessary). There are approximately 2,5 meter (approx. 8 feet) of it - difficult to say because of the smock effect and stretchiness. I could double it with a nice and cosy fabric and make a throw.

This little vintage dress waits to be used for a pillow cover and this will be it's occasion to rise.

I can also imagine being able to find some nice lamps to repaint and recover also and to paint my two cheaper than cheap commodes in nice rich glossy purple. And I crave a chandelier for my bedroom for quite some time now. I saw one little, modern and cute at Canadian Tire:

It's name is Opulence (how suitable!) and it's 50% of on sale right now, can you imagine? Just 49,99$! Sold to madame in a purple dress!

By the way, there is a nice article over at my beloved Apartment Therapy site about decorating with purple. Take a look.

Purple inspiration for my bedroom

His first Halloween costume ever

Would you believe that I am about to sew my first Halloween costume in my very long carrier as hobby sewer ? First of all, where I grew up, we didn't have this holiday at all ! Last week my coworker / friend asked me if I could sew a costume for her 3-year-old son Noah, she wanted to have something more original then things she can by in stores, especially for his FIRST Halloween costume EVER ! I almost jumped for joy ! Of course I will : I love kids, I love sewing, I love Halloween, I love creating stuff of all sorts...
So I send her some pictures with the propositions of costumes for which I have a pattern. She picked this one with her son:

 

This pictures are rather small, sorry, they are the only ones I have. The costume and the pattern are from the Spanish sewing magazine called Patrones, issue 34 from January 2006. Aren't they adorable ?! You really should see all the others too, soooo cute, incredible ! I can post some other pictures,  if you are interested just tell me.

Well, needless to say, I went RUNNING to the fabric store to find all the necessary material (as if I needed a reason to yet another trip to fabric heaven...). I'm so excited, here is what I found :

  I especially love the printed one, I am going to make that lovely Chinese hat from it. Well I love it so much I am going to create Halloween candy bag in form of a Chinese lantern. This is what I'm using as an inspiration :

What I didn't find is a decorative ribbon to sew around the seams of the costume. We don't have lots of choices in my city and I can't order on the Internet because of the time / cost factor. I have only 25 $ to spend for all the materials so I have to find a solution for the ribbon that costs less then 5 bucks ! Sigh... Would you happen to have any ideas on this ? I would be really grateful for any helping suggestion of yours...
I'll keep you posted on the advancement of this project, there are more pictures to come next week!

His first Halloween costume ever