The Violet Hours

1 Day 'til Christmas: Glossy Christmas Tree Trunk Stands

 

One of the best parts about living in New York City during the holiday season are the sidewalk Christmas tree vendors. Every few blocks, you walk through a tunnel of yummy pine air, over a temporary, trampled carpet of green needles. And you see people walking home with a tree slung over their shoulder, just ripe for the decorating. 

To give the tree it's best chance at a lasting through the month, the vendors will slice off the bottom of the trunk (kind of like cutting your roses before putting them in water). So the sidewalks are often littered with small tree stumps that are just tossed out with the trash. Tree trash is a crafter's treasure.

To make these lovely, glossy candle stands, I primed then spray painted pieces of tree trunk with bright spray paint, and then topped it off with a gloss varnish. (Here are the colors I used: Ketchup and Frozen Strawberry by Montana Gold, and Prussian Blue by Liquitex) Use these as place cards, food markers, candle stands, dessert stands...you name it!

Well, dear readers, this craft marks the last in my 10 day series of projects leading up to Christmas. I hope you were able to keep yourselves (and your kids) busy with creative pursuits over the last ten days. And if not, I hope you will pin them for next year!

Have a very merry and bright Christmas!

xx

Time for Spring Break Staycation Crafts

I just started contributing to a very cool, newish parenting website called Mom.me, where you can explore crafts, behavior advice, recipes...basically everything under the sun that comes along with the parenting gig. They asked me to come up with some fun Spring Break staycation crafts. I tried to make each project something that would be just that: a project; not something that would only take 5 minutes. So here are a handful of the ideas. You can see the whole gallery here at Mom.me.

Snap Happy ABCs sends kids on a scavenger hunt with a camera, looking to find something from every letter of the alphabet to photograph. Upload the photos to picmonkey.com to add text then bind it with zip ties in paper-covered cereal box sides.

Growing up, my sister and I had a self-cleaning Lego mat like this Road Mat. You just push all of the toys into the center, then pull the drawstring and there you go! Clean-up is done-zo! My 2-year old son Oliver cannot believe how lucky he is that this is Mommy's "work".

The play value in this cardboard castle is huge. Let your kids spend the week constructing, and they'll play with it endlessly!

I don't think there's anything more satisfying than putting together a terrarium. Send the kids out in the backyard to gather moss, sticks, and rocks, then arrange them on top of soil in an upcycled plastic snack container (the one I used was from Target's addictive trail mix).

In most homes with young kids, you can find a handful of popsicle sticks. Just add some velcro dots to the ends and watch the kids come up with a gazillion ways to play with them. I call this, Popsicle Stickies. It's good, I know.

Check out the rest of the craft ideas on Mom.me! My second story with them will go live on April 4th; I'll be sure to remind you when it's up. (And follow them on Pinterest...they have good taste, I swear!)

Time for the First Day of Spring!

Spring has sprung (technically) so it's time to start planning some planting projects for the kids! Here are a few simple ideas that will really get them excited about gardening...

 

Remember my perler-bead craft post last week? This planter is so amazing, it's a product. If you aren't such a planner (this design would take some design skillz), this would even be cool if you just did stripes of color. Via Peaches & Keen.

Cut a hole in a plastic animal toy and create a succulent planter. Genius! Found via Digs Digs.

 

This one was a new one for me...I'd never seen a plant in an ice cream cone! Adorbs! Found via Home DIY Pins.

 

It's the simplest idea, but one of my all-time faves: a planter in the bed of a vintage truck toy. Found via Charming Spaces.

Time for Patchwork Inspiration

I can't even describe the visceral feeling that I get when I see these amazing aerial photographs by Normann Szkop of tulip fields in Holland. Those colors! I'm obviously not the first nor the last to think of gorgeous patchwork quilts when looking at these squares of bright hues. But then it made me wonder if patchwork has a place off the bed and into other design-y places in the home. I think I've discovered the answer to be yes. {Photo via This is Colossal.}

Patchwork walls are a dime-a-dozen, but this one from Decor8 grabbed me because of the mix of paper genres, so to speak—scrapbook paper, posters, book pages. I think if you try to control it too much you get trapped into a corner of color, style, or shape. But when you fully let go and let it be as random as possible, you can't mess it up.

 

I'm crazy about this patchwork tiled floor from an old issue of Budget Living that I found on Pinterest. Individually, I would never pick most of those tile patterns, but once they are all put together, they form such a soft, cool patchwork effect.

 

Fabric is obviously the logical material to use for patchwork. These lovely cushions spotted on Chic & Posh are a great surprise when you pull the red chair out from the table.

I'm feeling the patchwork itch. It's a perfect motif for kids since it's so free form. Where will it end up in my book?

Time for Unusual Planters

I think February is usually the month when I say "I'm done with winter. Gimme green. Now." Thank goodness I married a guy with a green thumb, or else I'd really be hungry for plant life. There are so many clever ways to incorporate plants into your decor these days.

This gorgeous light fixture/planter blows my mind. Via Design Vagabond.

I have 2 jean jackets in my closet that I can't seem to part with. I kind of love the idea of using the pockets for a planter. Via Small Home Love.

Did you know you could turn an old lightbulb into a planter? How enlightening! You can use your trusty glue gun to add three small dots to the base to make it stand on end. Via 1 800 Recycling.

I do love my old typewriter, I do, but it just sits on a shelf under my desk and takes up space. How cool is this planter idea? And by the way, have you seen the digital magazine, Covet Garden? It's gorge.

Check out more cool planter ideas here. Clearly it's where my mind goes in February.

Time for a 2D Christmas Tree

I've seen a lot of space-saving ideas over the years, but never have I seen a holiday one quite this ingenious. This Christmas tree fabric from Ikea is ideal for the city (or suburban) dweller with either little space, a distaste for the traditional artificial tree, or an intolerance for cleaning up pine needles.

A few other uses come to mind:

• At $6.99 a yard, let the kids paint their ornaments onto it.
• Poke holes and push LED xmas lights through for a lovely nightime effect.
• At your holiday party, hang edible gingerbread men on it and let it serve as part of your dessert buffet.

And if you miss that seasonal smell of pine, just go out and buy Mrs. Meyer's Iowa Pine cleaning products. I swear to you it's the real deal.

Images via Oh Happy Day, Cote Maison, and Babble.

Time for Reusing Plastic

When I saw this photo of Shanghai built from cheap plastic containers (made by artist Bang-Yao Liu), it got me thinking about the plethora of ways to craft with ho-hum plastic containers and everyday items. (Found via Design Boom.)

Honestly, these are two of the cutest executions of plastic flowers I have ever seen. Yes, those tulips are made from plastic spoons! And the others from plates and cups! Brilliant. (I wish I could give credit where credit is due, but I found this image via Google Images and when I clicked on it, it took me to a site with no sign of this image. Hmmm.)

I seriously thought I'd seen it all in the way of trash crafting, but this is amazing! I would so live with this on my wall. Found via Snike Larten.

Time for a Postcard Garden

These take tabletop gardening to a whole new level! Introducing Postcarden...

Combining gift and greeting card, PostCarden is a fun and simple pop-out card that transforms into a mini living garden. Choose from a cityscape park, a botanical garden, a little backyard garden, or a football field.

Found via Ohdeedoh.

Time for Things to Do With Wooden Crates

The wooden crate is a flea market staple. Next time you see a tower of them, you may be more inspired.

At my wedding, we used a vintage wooden crate as a "flip book" of old photos of me and Michael. It had a playful flea market feel.

Put some casters on the bottom and turn them into rolling toy storage. Found via Minor Details.

Crates work so well as shelves. If only they were all styled this beautifully. Found via Emmas Design Blogg.

Isn't a wooden crate full of colorful old wallpaper charming? Found via Decor8.

Dog bowl holder—so clever. Found via Apartment Therapy.

With imperfect slats on the bottom, wooden crates make great planters, as seen here on Diggin Food.

Time for Inventive Gardens

Aren't these the coolest the planters ever? Beyond...

 

How cool are Flora Grubb's Vertical Gardens? You can build your own for the bargain price of $100. It's looks like a living painting. Found via Oh Happy Day!

These gumball-sized seed-and-soil pods are sold specific to the United States region of your choice. So you can buy the West coast, East coast, or Midwest variety. Just toss them into your garden, no digging required. $6 at Anthropologie.

A true mobile garden. This light-weight portable bag enables you to go from terrace to rooftop, from one address to another, rotating crops year-round. It may seem silly, but how lovely would it be to safely transplant your veggie garden to your new home! From A + R Store. 

Sip a glass of rosé on your porch next to your chilled out human-shaped planter by Eternit. Found on Trendir.