#nomnom PLATES.

 Alright.

Before you go all "Hey Laura, 2008 called and wants its catchphrase back" ... let me just say...well...okay fine. You're right. Go ahead and say it. Nevertheless, I still am amused if I see a meme with a tiny rabbit eating a huge carrot or something like this:

(source)

Yup, still gets me. As if I'm still living in the "Ihazcheezburger", I use the word "nom" all the time. So when I was bored one afternoon with some plates from Goodwill and a Porcelain pen- what did I do?
I made some #nom  plates.

This project cost me grand total of $1.38. Crate & Barrel plates for $0.69 each from Goodwill, and the Porcelaine pen from my friend Lindsay. Bam. I just scrubbed the plates, dried them, and started writing!

Once baked in the oven- the Porcelaine pens are food safe, so head to your local craft store to find one.

The finished products!

They fit perfectly together. Now I just have to find the right friend to give them to...

Anyone else made any quirky crafts lately?

...or know anyone that would like these #nom plates?

xo, lp

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*also:

My original intent was to create a .gif. 

Problem 1: I have no idea how to do that.

Problem 2: I don't have Photoshop or a Mac, which is what Google says you need to make one. 

So, for fun Pinterest purposes, I give you this:

THANKS JAR STRIKES AGAIN

Normally on Tuesdays I share a recipe, but today is a special day my friends. Today is the Young House Love Pinterest Challenge! 

  I'm sure you all know about Sherry and John's blog, right? Sure you do. Their blog is the first one I ever started following, and is always a fun source of inspiration. I even got to meet them when Michael and I lived in Richmond (yes, I freaked out slightly), and have their new book pre-ordered. Total YHL nerd over here, people. 

Alright. Enough blabbing. So last year I tried to be cool and replicate Sherry's Thanks Glassing Project, and well... it didn't turn out so hot...so this year I gave it a facelift:

Oh, wait. 

I should probably explain.

So, every day of November (or earlier) until Thanksgiving you (and your spouse/partner/family/kids/etc) write something on a slip of paper you're thankful for and put it in the Thanks Jar. Then, on Thanksgiving you read them all! 

WAIT. Before you go judging and thinking this sounds a little goofy- let me assure you that it is not only sweet, but also HILARIOUS. Last year both Michael and I individually wrote cheese and whiskey on one. Class acts. 

Well, besides being ugly, the problem with last year's Thanks Jar was that you could see right into it, which means any nosy Nelly could check out what was on the slips ahead of time. No good. Thus, this year I decided to upgrade it....by painting it GOLD:

All you need:

Gold spray paint

Spray Adhesive (regular glue works too)

Mod Podge

Glitter

 After painting your jar gold, just spray some spray adhesive on in lines and layer your glitter on in whatever manner you so choose. I went with gold & copper tones from Martha Stewart, but clearly it doesn't need to be an fall color scheme! If you'd rather do a Thanks Jar for the holidays, blue & gold or red & green would be fun too!

We had so much fun with it last year, we actually started a month early. We've been writing one a day since the beginning of October and the jar is getting mighty full!!

If you want to have a Thanks Jar this year, get your butt in gear - you have 2 days!!!

Have another holiday tradition to share?

I'm a sucker for that stuff...so let me know!

xo, lp

TALE OF TWO (LAZY) PUMPKINS

There are a lot of creative people sharing cool things on the internet. 

Wow, vague statement of the year, no?

Where I was trying to go with that useless sentence was that while cruising through Pinterest I saw some majorly cool pumpkin ideas that other bloggers had come up with, and got all inspired.

So I went out, bought some mini pumpkins, and settled in to be oh-so creative and let that inspiration just go crazy. Wellllll I think sometimes when you try too hard to be creative-you just get stuck in trying to decide what to do to top what you've seen. 

So rather than get to wild and crazy, I stuck to some simple basics, monogram & dots. 

(we all know I've done both of those... here and here):

All you'll need is:

Black puffy paint

Gold Acrylic paint

Gold glitter

Foam brush

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The first one is simple. Do you know the first letter of your first or last name? Did you learn cursive in 2nd grade? Well, then you can make this happen. I just drew out an L in pen and traced it out with black puffy paint. Stay with me here folks, I know you're blown away. In the end, you'll get this:

The second one might be even easier. I included a foam brush on you "need" list, but imma level with you, I finger painted this pumpkin. Like I said, why go complicated when you can go so simple? I highlighted a few dots with gold glitter and bam. Done. Kate Spade-esque, right?

Here they are together on our shelves. Please note that I have a Shel Silverstein book there. Yup.

Just for good measure, let me share some cool ideas I saw out there:

1.  Ashley's gold dot pumpkins.

2. Erika's edgy chic pumpkins.

3. Aimee's washi tape pumpkins.

4. Shannon's gold thumbtack pumpkins.

How did you decorate your pumpkins this year?

Please tell me someone else finger painted. Please.

xo, lp

BOOK IT

These bookends rock.

Especially when you consider the fact they started out looking like this: 

I found these babies at a thrift store in Richmond, and with a $2 price tag, there was no way I was leaving them behind. 

I know some people are too cool for thrift stores, but really- it's all about going into it with an open mind. I always imagine everything in there with a fresh coat of white paint, and suddenly it all seems better. The best part about thrifting items is that you can change the look of them as many times as you want and don't need to feel bad about ruining an expensive piece! (I'm looking at you, $78 Pottery Barn Bookends)

So what did I do?

Sanded 'em

Painted 'em white (acrylic paint)

Painted 'em green. (spray paint)

Rocket science here, people.

 Look what I was left with! Pretty green guys that add a nice little pop of color to the room!

 Total cost of this project: $4.50

I can get down with that.

Have you ever scored any great thrift store/garage sale finds?

If you've made them over & shared on your blog, leave the link below!

xo, lp

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For those of you wondering, these are a few of my favorite books (and one of Michael's):

* East of Eden:: John  Steinbeck (Classic.)

* The Passion:: Jeanette Winterston (Not to be confused with The Passion Of the Christ. TOTALLY different.)

* Team of Rivals :: Doris Kearns Goodwin (this is one of M's. Abe Lincoln loving nerd)

* Shantaram :: Gregory David Roberts (Long, but worth it.)

DIY Collage Coasters

I have an unnecessary amount of coasters.

No, really. 

Between the DIY scrabble drink coasters I made a while back and the Minnesota themed ones, I have enough coasters to have a small army over for a very condensation-free dinner party.

So what did I do while at the dollar store a while back? Well, pick up some tile coaster bases, naturally.

 Why not add to the coaster hoarding problem?

 I stashed them away and completely forgot about them, because my craft boxes are black holes...but found them a while back and decided to do something with them. Since we're moving, I decided it was finally time to cut up some old clothing catalogues we didn't need to bring with us (sorry J.Crew and Lands' End!). After longingly gazing at all the pretty clothes I'd missed out on, I cut out my favorite colors and patterns:

I cut them up into a ridiculous amount of squares and started separating them out by color, with the intention of making a gradating color pattern: 

After a quick dry-run to make sure I had cut the squares to evenly line up, I simply started using my trusty gluestick to adhere the squares. Difficult, right?

I decided to make one a more green-blue-purple, and one a yellow-orange-red-pink-purple, sealing both with a two layers of Mod Podge:

So here they are folks:

I happen to be madly in love with them. Yeah. Coasters. Madly in love. Deal with it. For some reason it makes me happy to recognize some of my favorite patterns (like the blue lobster seen above from a pair of preppy men's chinos). 

What do you think?

Anyone else a coaster hoarder? No? ::crickets:: Fine.

xo, lp

p.s it's my last day of work today (ah!).

Kate Spade Inspired DIY Jewelry Tray

I love Kate Spade. The flawless jewelry, the classic handbags, the stunning shoes- I love it all. 

Unfortunately... my budget doesn't love Kate Spade. Wop-wop. 

Thus, I made this:

I love the Ticker Tape Tidbit china, and thought a single plate would be fun as a jewelry dish. Although I have no doubt it's worth every penny- each plate comes up to $50. Again: Wop-wop. 

Someday when I make my millions or win the lottery I'll buy one of everything online-mark my words!

Until then, I'll have to DIY what I can.

Kate Spade Ticker Tape Tidbit China

I stopped by a local thrift store and picked up this glass tray for a whopping $3:

 After a good sanding and a couple layers of white acrylic paint I got everything I needed ready:

- Foam Brush -    -Painter's Tape-    -Scissors-     -Martha Stewart Glitter (yellow barite & copper)-  

-Index Card-     -Metallic Acrylic Paint ( Deco Art Splendid Gold)-      -Mod Podge-

Next I cut a small hole in the index card, reinforcing the card with some painters tape:

Slowly but surely I added gold dot after gold dot, stopping every 10 or so to allow time for them to dry without smearing. The best part about the Kate Spade design is that there are overlapping dots- so anytime I messed up I simply let it dry & painted another dot covering up my mistake! 

 Continual dot adding....

 A little bit of glitter just for good measure & some Mod Podge to seal it all off!

 The finished product!

 Of course, the best part was adding a little bit of my jewelry- just a few of my favorite gold pieces:

 Jewelry:

Cobalt Studs: Fornash

Red Studs: Marc by Marc Jacobs

Gold Leaf earrings: Thrifted (for $1!)

Watches & Bracelet: Charming Charlie

Tiny Gold Locket: c/o Hibiscusdays Jewelry

Gold Circle Diamond Necklace: Gorjana (c/o Shopbop)

I am THRILLED with how it turned out. It's shiny and glittery and completely wonderful. 

It may not be real Kate Spade, but I sure do love it. 

Would you keep your jewelry favorites on this DIY tray?

If not, what's your go-to jewelry storage?

xo, lp

Pssst: I know was all people could talk about a little while ago..but how perfect are Kate Spade watches?  Le Sigh. 

DIY Abstract Art How-to

*pssst! hey! so glad you stopped by B&B today! to find out more or for more colorful inspiration, be sure to stop by Instagram and say hi! --->@lpodlich*

*For a free month of ROCKSBOX just go HERE and use code "laurabff462" !* 

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I love to paint.

Am I good at it? No. At least not at painting objects in such a way that you can actually tell what I am painting.

Lately I've been trying to make some abstract art for the apartment, and let me tell you- it isn't easy.

I know, I know- I've been that person at the museum too who looks at a canvas with a big square on it and said "REALLY!? A four year old could do that!" I know, I'm a jerk. Don't act like you've never done it. Or maybe you haven't, because you're a better person than I am. Well, allow me to insert my foot into my mouth, because after many attempts- I've found abstract art is actually kind of difficult. After trying a few techniques, I finally settled on a triptych I like for the dining room. 

Here's how I made it happen:

Step 1: To create a base for the painting I just randomly swirled some white and mint green paint on the canvases, and made light, sweeping motions to cover the canvas without fully blending the colors. 

Step 2: I started with the mint green again and laid out a sloppy vertical line down the canvas. I made light sweeping motions with a foam paintbrush left, right, left, right to leave a pattern vertically down the canvas.

 Step 3: I simply repeated step 2 with a turquoise, and then a navy blue, each time moving a little to the right of the previous design, allowing for a slight overlap:

 Step 4: Then I began layering the colors once again, starting with white, mint, turquoise, and navy. It's important to give each color a few seconds to dry between coats so the paint is still wet enough to blend a little, but not fully mix to become one solid color.

 And after a few variations of the paintings I was left with these babies:

 Not currently perfectly centered and straight- but you all know I am wayyy to impatient to make that perfect before snapping pictures. Maybe someday when I'm an oh-so-famous blogger (coughsarcasmcough) I'll make the perfection happen. Until then, here's what we've got!

Will YOU be attempting some abstract art this week? If you have any other tips, please share!
xo,lp

PSST!

Do you LOVE Instagram? I'm always sharing a little bit more on my Instagram feed-- 
find me here --> @lpodlich!

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