The Violet Hours

Time to Upcycle Wine Bottles (or Happy New Year!)

Just a little crafty thought as you head into a night of boozin'...here are some lovely uses for your wine bottles, saving them from the recycling bin.

Happy New Year from The Violet Hours! xxoo

How gorgeous are these wine bottle torches? Find the how-to on Design Sponge.

I love this frosted look, like these bottles have been sitting out in the snow. Found on Style Files.

Turn a wine bottle into a mini terrarium. Here's a how-to on cutting the bottle. Love the fiddlehead ferns! Found on Wedding Bee.

How's this for an amazing reuse? Instead of buying those blown glass balls to automatically water your plants, use a wine bottle! Found on Chica and Jo.

And of course, the bottle chandelier. For sale on Pottery Barn.

You'd have to be a brave soul to load this shelf up. Found on DeTnk.

And the corks? Well that's a post for next year. Here's to safe, happy, and healthy New Year!

Time for Personalized Baby Prints

My standard baby gift for years has been Ida Pearle's name print (see below). The world of personalized prints has expanded before my very eyes. Here are my current faves...

  

  

When I saw these prints, I had one of those "why didn't I think of that" moments. Brilliant idea No. 1:  numbers mark the child's birthday. Brilliant idea No. 2: the intersecting circles have mom and dad on top and bottom with baby in the middle. By Ruka-Ruka. Found via All the Beautiful Things I Want.

The primary colors in this alphabet print spell out the child's name. So crisp and graphic. By Made by Girl.

English Muffin Shop's name prints are punctuated with cute little animals. So sweet.

                  

And of course here are Ida Pearle's name prints. A classic in my household.

Time for Calendars

I used to look forward to buying a new calendar at the end of every year. I'm sad that this tradition died with the efficiency of the computer calendar. But it's undeniable...the digital record can't be beat. Thank goodness for people still making creative calendars...like these.

This perpetual calendar/journal from Design Sponge is my fave of the season. The idea is very simple — flip to the current date and at the end of the day, write down something that happened. Some days it is big things like “Annie took her first steps.” Other days it is small, like “needed more than one cup of coffee this morning.”

Instead of recording an event per day, this calendar from Brigada Creativa allows you to record your mood by drawing an emoticon on a yellow circle. How do you draw brilliant?

I love the Twenty Eleven calendar from The Moustache. No page flipping required.

I love the detail that went into this perpetual calendar by Chelsea Nordstom.

This calendar allows the user to arrange the year as one sees fit. Are the days ordered in a strict chronological fashion or does it appear more like a blur? Does winter feel longer that summer and so on. The individual dates are held in place by magnets, so each day can be moved around. The different days can also be used to hold in place theater tickets or reminders. By StokkeAustad.

You know those tear-off calendars with a word-of-the-day? Or a Cathy cartoon? Well here's font of the day. For the love of fonts. Check out Typografie.

Time for Snow (Globes)

We had record snow fall here in New York the last few days, so in honor of the gorgeous, thick white blanket covering the city, here are the most fabulous snow globes ever!

Found via Black Eiffel. You can see the full collection of globes here.

Time for Typewriters

Do kids today even know what a typewriter is? Will the nostalgia of typewriter fonts keep them alive? There does seem to be a fascination with them in the design world, as proven by these ideas...

British artist Keira Rathbone uses typewriters to create amazing images. Take that, MacBook pro! Found via One Cool Thing a Day.

Even though it's become rather common, I love the idea of a typewriter guest book at a wedding. Found via Project Wedding.

I'm in love with these dinner plates that are embossed with typewriter strikers. For sale on Inaeent's Etsy store.

Time for Holiday Wishes

Wishing you a very sweet and cozy Christmas!

(2D Christmas tree by Tanja Soeter. Found via Bloesom.)

Time for Christmas Crafts

Yes, I know it's late to be posting Christmas crafts (if yours aren't up yet, then really, just don't bother). But late is the story of my life these days with an infant. 

Here are some crafts from my Christmas caroling story for the December issue of Parents Magazine.

The letters for this garland were cut from colored index cards.

Little felt florettes decorate moss wreathes. Full instructions here.

This is a great craft for even little kids. The trees are made from circle punches with clothespins as the trunks.

If you go out caroling, be sure to carry lights. These little lanterns are made from small water bottles. For reals.

Come in from the cold and stir up some hot chocolate with these handsome choco spoons.

 

Time for Fonts

Cool fonts and font humor...both make me giddy!

Can't help but love the play on words with the font tie-pography.

If font humor makes you laugh, what does that say?

 

Yes, a font made from beards. Nothing is impossible. Via Design Milk.

This sign says it all. Found on Amanda Wolfe's pinboard.

Time for Downloadable Gift Tags

It's the final countdown to Christmas and it's seriously possible that you've run out of cards, stationery, or gift tags. Thank goodness for the generosity of creative people in the blogosphere. Here are some of my favorite free downloadables...

Simply perfect. Really. By Eat Drink Chic.

Cuteness courtesy of Orange You Lucky.

I love how sweet and prissy these are. By Simply Modern Mom.

If you want to steer clear of the Christmas jargon, these tags by Whisker Graphics are darling.

Not a gift tag, but how clever is this downloadable garland? I do heart Fawn & Forest. Found via Creature Comforts.

Time for a Modular Dollhouse

I'm always on the hunt for a great new dollhouse. I came across this one today called the Stackhouse on Handmade Charlotte and I love how the kid can do her own (sub)urban planning.