A HANDMADE TREE TOP ORNAMENT

***For the post with full instructions, click here***

I have to admit: I have never put up a Christmas tree so early in my whole life. In Brazil we would put up the small ones, about 3 weeks before Christmas at the earliest! This is my second Christmas with my husband here in the US, and my 7th year in the US altogether, so by now I'm pretty americanized.

So we finished putting up our tree today and I realized: "we have no tree top ornament!" Again, in Brazil we would have cared less, but here I am all out! So I decided I really wanted a start and I wanted it now.

I spent a while trying to find a how-to for making a star out of paper, since I had the idea in my head and the card stock. I wanted the five point one. After patiently looking for a good how-to, I finally found not only a how-to, but the template ready to print out here! PERFECT!

After using some Photoshop to add the patterns to the template, printing them out and somehow making them stick together with glue and tape, here is the result:

Click here for the template.

In less than 40 minutes I pulled off a star for our tree, which I'm actually pretty happy about it. and by the way, don't you love that cow ornament? I got it from my SIL last year and am totally in love with it.

Now there is a tree for a pretty and cozy place :)

Oh and yeah, Happy Thanksgiving!

DIY BIRDS WALL ART

So I had some left over fabric from my Vanity project and here is how I used it:

I printed the birds silhouettes in black and voile! Instant wall art. :)

xoxo

A VANITY MAKEOVER

Ah, the vanity... it has got to be the project I am most proud of so far. But then again, I haven't done many projects on furniture. I plan on doing many more. Luckily my husband works at a thrift store so that makes it very easy for me to find old furniture :)

Anyway, the vanity is probably what got me back into my design craze. It all started with me looking for a vanity where I could do my hair and make up easily. All of the ones I kept finding online were just too small for me and too expensive.One day my husband calls me and says this old vanity desk came in and he could get it for $15.

At first it looked pretty pitiful and just plain old, but then I thought: "Why not?" After all, it's only $15. If it doesn't turn out well, I can just dump it.

The mirror and the chair came later, separately. Also for bargain prices.

After doing some posting on The Nest and getting some opinions, I decided to paint it white. I got the knobs at Anthropologie and the fabric at Joann, online.

In my head, I had planned to finish it in one weekend. But I ended up having to order the fabric online and exchange the knobs, since I ended up not liking the ones I initially ordered.

Two weeks later, after the painting, the varnishing, the upholstering and the knobs drilling, I had made myself a brand new vanity, perfect size and exactly the way I wanted it to be!

I think the thing I love the most about this Vanity are the knobs. They are SO gorgeous in person!

So yeah, this is the vanity that got me excited about working on many other projects, like this dresser for instance:

So many possibilities... Stay tuned!

xoxo

ETSY FINDS: COZY OFFICE SPACE

Etsy is one of those places where finding a nice and unique item is like finding a needle in a hay stack, EXCEPT, instead of hay, there are just more and more needles. So I decided to create a post where every week, I will choose a theme and post coordinating items found on Etsy. This week's theme is "Office Space". These are mostly vintage office items that will make any home office or work office stand out:

Now there is a recipe for a pretty and cozy office!

1. Russian Mechanical Alarm Clock, $35 / 2.Paper Clip Notebook, $7 / 3.Vintage 70's Typewriter, $175 / 4. URGENT brass clip, $14 / 5.Retro Elegance Lamp Shade, $185 /6. Tangerine Clipboard, $14/ 7. Birds and Hand Print, $10

xoxo

MY NEWEST ADDICTION

Thanks to my fellow nesties, I found out about this amazing website, Polyvore. I'm in LOVE with it and below you can see my first creation:

A Woman's World by nobrechick featuring hermes scarves

I could spend HOURS in this website...seriously!

PRETTY AND TECH

I really need a place to just write whatever I have in my creativity bubbling mind. And right now I just need a place to post pictures of these tech things I want this Christmas! And yes, of course, they are all pretty ..

I just found a link for tech gift ideas on Design Sponge and I really love a lot of those.

Here we go. The first one I like is this awesome charging station:

Not only have I ALWAYS wanted a grass tray for decoration purposes, but this is like double win! And guess what? Only $24.99!

My second one is this super cute and practical magnetic timer from Anthropologie:

How cute is that? Besides the fact Anthropologies is one of my favorite stores, I could really use a new cute magnet AND a timer. This baby is also only $12.

Lastly, these cute tulip USB hubs are totally not something I am in dire need for, but very cute!

Now tell me that doesn't shout "Stocking Stuffer"?

So yeah, these three surprisingly girly tech gifts will be added to my MASTER Christmas wish list, which I shall me posting here later.

xoxo