Design Folder: Your Online Design and Decorating Resource

diy: paper roses

Lilli’s first post about her Baguio trip made me want to post something about flowers! (For our non-Filipino readers, Baguio is the flower capital of the Philippines. Its cool climate makes it perfect for growing all sorts of flowers) Fortunately, I came across this really simple diy on paper roses over at Flickr via dozidesign.

This is very much similar to how you make a rose using an orange peel. Only three simple steps:

1) draw a spiral

2) cut along the lines you’ve drawn to make a long strip

3) roll the paper into a rose shape and glue in place

This is a perfect craft project for kids especially in time for Mothers’ Day in May! -ardel

.

diy: weekend crafting

Inspired to make a craft project over the weekend? Here are a couple of easy crafts that you might want to try:

• Decoupage chair using fabric (top image) via Poppytalk
• Decoupage end table using scrapbook paper (image above) from Plaid
• Place cards and wrapped candle votives (images below) using printables from aprintaday

Happy weekend!

beyond earth hour: make do and mend

Last Saturday, many cities around the world joined Earth Hour and turned off their lights for an hour to show their commitment to sustainable living. After that, what?

Turning off the lights for Earth Hour is representative of the small deeds and actions, when observed by everyone, will contribute in making the earth a better place to live in (sorry for the beauty pageant cliche). After Earth Hour, what else can we do?

Make do and mend!

During World War II, Make Do and Mend was the slogan of the people to promote a more frugal lifestyle because their supplies and financial resources were limited. Now, we may have the money to buy all sorts of material things but our natural resources, especially energy from fossil fuels, remain limited. Plus, land pollution, because of solid wastes, remain to be one of the leading global environmental issues.

So, say goodbye to wasteful living by being a mindful shopper/consumer and by using your stuff (not just clothes) until they ‘die’. Learn how to repair, re-purpose, and recycle to cut down the amount of solid wastes that go into landfills. Hope these pretty vintage posters will inspire and remind you to make the most of what you have.

*images via farouche, clare owen, and this is temporary

diy: elle’s secretary

Paint is probably a decorator’s/designer’s best friend, especially when projects are in a tight budget. Most designers (me included) would tell you that the best tip that they can give is to maximize the use of  color through paint if you want to make a huge impact at a low cost.

For decorating fan Elle Uy of switcheroom, this old beat-up secretary, which she bought from sulit.com,  is a beauty. In spite of its cracks, dents, and wobbly drawers, she saw the furniture’s pretty shape. After painting it with a  dainty color combination of soft pink and gray, the secretary takes on a more youthful appearance.

You can find the step-by-step transformation of her secretary plus the rest of her diy projects here. [Thanks Elle] -ardel

.

diy: valentine’s day treats

I’m not exactly a big fan of Valentine’s Day. I’ve always thought of it as a marketing scheme of capitalists to give people an excuse to give gifts and buy expensive things for their significant other. Or maybe I was just bitter? Haha!

However, back in 2^nd year high school, my attitude towards the ‘holiday’ changed after my friend, Shar, gave us, her close friends, cute pink balloons (if i remember correctly) on Valentine’s Day. I then realized that Feb. 14 is a good excuse to be cheesy towards your friends and tell them how much you value their friendship. But instead of buying gifts, take time to do or make something for them, even if it’s just a simple note or a packaged treat.

Here are a few  free printables to turn ordinary edibles into sweet nothings:

(from top image)

- matchbox valentine with mints and m&m’s inside from inch mark

- cupcake wrappers from skip to my lou and creature comforts

- fruit labels from alpha mom

- goodie bags from twig and thistle found here and here

- teabag wrappers and tea tags from creature comforts

For the more creative ones, use these projects as inspirations and come up with your own designs. Enjoy! -ardel

.

diy: gift wrapping ideas

Wrapping gifts is one of the things that I love to do. But as much as possible, I want my presents to look special. I don’t want it to look like any other gift. You can easily achieve that with the interesting colors and patterns of Lili & Nana wrappers! But if you like mixing things up when wrapping up your presents, here are three alternative uses for your pretty Lili & Nana papers:

.

PLAINS AND PRINTS

(Image above, rightmost gift) Wrap the gift box with a plain paper. I used turquoise Japanese paper for the above gift but you can also use white hopia tracing paper (my choice of paper for pencil drafting when i was a student.) and brown craft paper.

Cut a narrow sheet of patterned wrapping paper and use it as a sash/accent panel in the middle of the box. This does not only make the patterned paper stand out, but it also allows you to have a two-toned package. Finish it off with a ribbon and a bow parallel to the sash.

PAPER GIFT BOW

Call me granny, but I’m the type of person who saves the wrapping paper from my gifts, especially the really nice ones. I re-use them as wrapping papers for smaller gifts so the creases won’t be noticeable. Thankfully, I found a tutorial on making recycled paper bows. Instead of using magazine pages, like what the tutorial suggested, I used my stash of old gift wrappers. I hope this will also encourage you to minimize your trash this holiday season.

GIFT ENVELOPE

Create designer-like gift envelopes using patterned wrappers. Cut a letter-size sheet and fold it up as shown in this tutorial. This is perfect for ‘wrapping’ cash gifts and gift certificates.

I hope these will inspire you to make your presents extra special (at least from the outside) this Christmas. -ardel

.

diy: beach table setting

When we go to the beach, I often ask Green Guide to look for nice, interesting corals and shells that I can bring home. After cleaning and bleaching, I use them as additional accessories when styling some of my interior projects.

As expected, the beaches of El Nido are like coral heaven! The white dead corals are really white. No need for brushing and bleaching! There are also a lot of rounded blue corals which we’ve never seen before, even in Coron. Sadly, taking home corals and shells is prohibited in El Nido.

Because I don’t want to put Green Guide’s found treasures to waste, I decided to use some of them to decorate our table during our group’s private picnic lunch in one of the islands. Hmmm, actually I didn’t exactly decorate the table setting because I just scattered the corals around, haha!

Although the view is more than enough to set the ‘island paradise’ ambiance for our picnic, the corals made the table look extra special.

objects of design: christmas is coming!

Hello Christmas! And hello holiday traffic! =/

Sorry, let’s skip the Mr. Scrooge attitude and start the festive holiday mood!
Here are some pretty images to inspire you to decorate your homes for Christmas. If you have the time, you can make these ornaments yourself using found objects at home (and save yourself a trip to the mall):

1) glittered paper snowflakes (you can find snowflake patterns here)
2) doily wreath with fairy lights
3) flower wreath with fabric ribbons
4) abaca twine snowman
5) wreath of yarn and christmas balls

Green Guide and I will be joining a half-day build in a Habitat for Humanity site in Pasig tomorrow. I hope that the architect and the interior designer will make good construction workers, heehee!

Happy weekend everyone! -ardel

.
*images (2-6) via marthastewart, designsponge, & houzz

diy: halloween decor ideas

.

here are some of my finds while searching for halloween eye candies over the internet. make your own version of these decors using paper plates, scrap fabrics and patterned paper, dry branches from a tree in your garden, the ever dependable black cartolina, and a lot of black and orange acrylic paints.

happy halloween!

♦ halloween bunting and tree of mini treat bags from womensday

♦ spooky plates from design mom

♦ halloween dining setup from apartment therapy

♦ heirloom gem spiders from design*sponge

♦ halloween crafts from martha stewart living

♦ halloween decors from pottery barn kids

.

.

.

.

spacelift: ina’s stockroom makeover

I know how difficult it is to put an order to a messy stockroom aka bodega. But I’m sure many of you will agree that it has a lot of potential to be more than just a room that accumulates old, unwanted things. If clearing and cleaning a stockroom is considered a challenge, transforming the dreadful place into a beautiful, functional room would be more of a dream come true. So, I can just imagine the fulfillment that df reader Ina got from the makeover that she did for their mess room. What used to be their official tambakan is now their home office/library/exercise room. Read more about her makeover story here.

Here are some of the things we particularly love about her decorating project:

• Personalized wall décor: framing 5 of the most expensive and powerful Magic the Gathering cards (scanned images only) for her husband
• Random arrangement of wall displays that looks creative and spontaneous (tip: wall frames are from sm homeworld ranging from P200 (small fames) to P600 (large frames for posters)
• Steel file cabinet used as a message board with magnets

Thanks Ina! -ardel

.