Some good ones from some of our favorites!

+ Lovely artwork by Kees Goudzwaard via Pinterest

+ Really cool mobiles like this one by AM Radio via Old Brand New

+ Mini Golden Cake recipe in this month’s issue of Styled Mag

+ Ephemera valentine DIY tutorial on Design*Sponge

+ Storage boxes from bookhou at home, pictured above

+ LOCAL STUFF: If you’re in Raleigh then you should definitely check out the First Friday Gallery Walk while the weather’s still nice! // If you are up for some early morning entertainment, the annual Krispy Kreme Challenge is going on in Raleigh on Saturday // It’s the last weekend to see the first year MFA students’ exhibit Built Forged Faked at UNC

Have a good weekend!

Today we have links from some of our favorite places to get you in the mood for Valentine’s Day!

+ Mini heart balloons from Mignon Kitchen Co. via Oh Joy

+ Handprinted Heart of Gold Stationery Set by Besotted Brand via Creature Comforts

+ Heart Measuring Spoons and Mulling Spices Sachet by Terrain

+ A Bundle of Cake Flags by Herriott Grace, shown above

+ Custom Arrow Mug by wandersketch

+ Shadowy Heart Posts at Anthropologie

+ Valentine’s Day DIY from the archives: Lace Tealight by Danny Hong, Chocolate Strawberry Ice Cream Sandwiches from Lisa Wong Jackson, Love Garden by Succulent Love, a Cranberry Tart from Fresh365, Red Velvet Sandwiches with a Valentine’s Day box and a printable DIY valentine!

+ Local Stuff: There’s not a whole lot going on around town, but Triangle Restaurant Week is finishing up this weekend! Be sure to check out and see if your favorite restaurant is participating. // It’s also the last weekend of Raleigh Winterfest, so if you have any little ones that still have gotten a chance to ice skate, they will have the outdoor rink open through Sunday!

Have a good weekend!

For your dad: Wall clock form Scandinavian Deko

For your mom: hand-dyed napkins from 100 Layer Cake

For your sweetheart: tiny polaroid magnets from Ambrosia Girl

For your grandparents (or teachers or neighbors or friends!): Paperwhite bulb bags from Joke on Frolic

For your sister: hand-drawn mugs from Creature Comforts

For the dog: t-shirts turned into rope toys by DIYourFaceOff

For the little ones: fabric transfer from How About Orange (would look great on t-shirts and onesies, too!)

For your brother: While it would be cooler (and easier) to get illustrator Kyle Hilton to create custom paper dolls for you, I love One Plus One’s idea of your loved one transformed into their favorite super-hero.

For the cat: DIY cat toys from Design*Sponge

 For your friend: ipad case by Lotta Jansdotter in the Anthology Gift Guide

+ Above, vintage stamp journals by Campbell Raw Press via Oh So Beautiful Paper

+ Large, airy colorblock scarves by scarfshop via all the mountains

+ A few, cool DIY projects: including a creative balloon centerpiece for outside dining, an ikat tablecloth how-to & a great stencil idea for onesies

+ Lovely vintage kantha quilts via Wit + Delight

+ We adore hand written recipes and this vintage recipe folder

+ LOCAL STUFF: If you’re in town, stop by Third Friday in Durham; our studio will be open at Golden Belt!  / New Exhibit at UNC Ackland Museum Store in Chapel Hill featuring book & paper arts (and work by fellow Golden Belt artist Brian Allen) / Last weekend of the NC State Fair / Autumn in the Arboretum tour in the Duke Gardens / Wild Flag at Cat’s Cradle tonight

Have a good weekend!

Some of our favorites from around the blogosphere this week!

+ If you missed your chance at Target, Refinery 29′s got you covered with DIY Missoni-style Sneakers via Poppy Talk

+ Jennifer Collier makes everyday items from found pieces of paper with a great attention to detail, pictured above

+ Visual bliss: food styling by Dietlind Wolf via Seesaw

+ It might take her a few decades to complete them, but we love the delightfully simple designs branding the 10,000 lakes of Minnesota by Jennifer Meyer via Pitch Design Union

+ Hand printed textiles are always on our radar, and there are some good ones in Untold Imprint’s shop via Design Sponge

+ LOCAL STUFF: Minus Sound Research 6 exhibition / First Friday gallery walk in Raleigh / AIGA Raleigh 25th Anniversary at Busy Bee Cafe / IHF Fashion Show in Raleigh

Have a good weekend!

Cabbages & Roses is a renowned fashion and housewares brand out of England, and they recently launched the Northcote Range of quilting fabrics with MODA. It’s a beautiful vintage floral collection, with bold stripes and motifs thrown into the mix, and it’s the first time the fabric will be available in the U.S. Order reservations can be made through The Fat Quarter Shop.

Christina Strutt, owner of Cabbages & Roses, has shared her Fabric-Covered box tutorial (below), which is from her book Home-Made Vintage. To see the full DIY instructions, you can download the tutorial here.

Cabbages & Roses is also offering a giveaway of the three fabrics below to one lucky reader! To enter, leave a comment on this post by Friday, telling us what you’d like to make. Good luck!

I really miss my printmaking college days, so when the book Print Workshop: Hand-Printing Techniques and Truly Original Projects by Christine Schmidt of Yellow Owl Workshop came out, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy. Luckily, Potter Craft (an imprint of Crown Publishing, which is a division of Random House) offered to send me a copy to review. As soon as it arrived I started planning out which project to try first, and one of my absolute favorites in the book is the one above (image via poppytalk).

My project (above) was inspired by various textiles we have lying around the house. Potter Craft has generously allowed me to share the DIY step-by-step in this post!

MATERIALS:
Template or your own labels
Clear packing tape
Bone folder (optional)
Bowl of lukewarm water
Clean glass jars
Cloth and 70% isopropyl rubbing alcohol (optional)
Clean rag
Mod Podge Gloss
1″ (2.5cm) flat brush

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Print your labels—in color or black and white—on a laser printer or just photocopy the template. Do not use inkjet print.

2. Cut a piece of tape and lay it over the printed design paper. Burnish with bone folder or fingernail.

3. Cut the paper along the tape’s edges and submerge the tape in the bowl of water for 5 minutes.

4. Remove the tape from the water bath and turn it paper side up. With your finger, gently rub away the paper so that only the ink remains on the tape. If you are making a long strip, start at the top and roll the paper down and off the strip of tape.

5. Cut the tape transfer onto the label size you want and adhere to the outside of a jar (I recommend spending and extra minute and cleaning your jar first with a cloth soaked in rubbing alcohol). Beginning at the center, smooth the label out with your finger to remove any air bubbles.

6. With the rag, wipe away any excess water and paint an even layer of Mod Podge over the label and its edges. The gloss medium will disappear when it is dry, so no worries.

Troubleshooting: If the paper isn’t rubbing off easily, try soaking it longer.
If the inked portions of the image rub off, repeat the process with a longer soaking time and rub more gently.

With my project, I found that a bolder design worked best (the design on the short, round bottle was a little too minimalist for this project!). I also soaked my paper longer and even rubbed the paper off while it was submerged in the water. The labels were still a little sticky after being rinsed/rubbed, so don’t stack them!

This tutorial has been re-printed here with the permission of Potter Craft. Thank you!

For many more easy, at-home printmaking projects, you can purchase Print Workshop right here.

some great Valentine’s Day DIY projects & recipes from the archives:

Above, Lace Tealight by Danny Hong, Chocolate Strawberry Ice Cream Sandwiches from Lisa Wong Jackson, Love Garden by Succulent Love, and a Cranberry Tart from Fresh365. (Other favorites: Red Velvet Sandwiches with a Valentine’s Day box and a printable DIY valentine!).

These DIY thumbtacks are so cute, and a great way to use that pile of fabric scraps you can’t throw away.

(You have one of those too, right?)

Most of our new-house projects have been of the non-glamorous, non-photogenic variety. We quickly realized that washing machine/plumbing problems and the busyness of the holiday season trumped decorating dilemmas, so our kitchen looks just like it did on the day we moved in, and we’re still working our way through boxes. But! We did make one big change… our dining room, which was inexplicably painted three different shades of white, is now a beautiful light gray with bright white trim. (You guys gave us a ton of great tips on the grey color, and we ended up going with Sherwin Williams’ On The Rocks).

And our ugly chandelier got a quick DIY makeover, which only took us an hour, some new bulbs, and a can of black spray paint. Voila!