Super cute upcycled rope vases!

I just came across this great article I ripped out of the January 2009 Glamour Magazine. So simple, so sweet and so chic. You can cover bottles with any kind of string, rope or ribbon. For fall, think gem tones like plums and rich shades of blue and red. Grouping a couple of them together also looks nice. And guys.... you don't have to put flowers in it - you could put some cool leaves or berries in it to make for a more, ahem, masculine centerpiece when you make dinner, or serve breakfast in bed, to your lovah :) For my fellow crunchies.... think about just wrapping it partially with hemp or twine, and inserting end of summer wildflowers. Beach girls (you know who you are!) twine, sea glass and shells, ... need I say more?

Instructions:
Step 1:
Raid your recycling bin for interesting shaped bottles (Orangina's is awesome)
If you don't have a recycling bin (shame on you) head to your local Goodwill

Step 2:
Locate discarded shoelaces, twine, string, rope, ribbon or anything else you want to wrap with

Step 3:
Use superglue or a glue gun and start at the side bottom of your bottle. Wrap the cord so each row is touching and add a bit of glue here and there as you work your way to the top.

Tip:
If you're going with superglue as your adhesive of choice, have a bottle of acetone nail polish remover in reaching distance for those "oh sh*t! My fingers are superglued together!" moments of sheer panic.

Pucker up!

My obsession of the week... a sweet little orb, full of smoothing magic for your smackers! It's so cute, I leave it on display planted atop my PC next to my mini buddha. It caught my eye in Walgreen's and I'm a rather smitten by the Honeysuckle Honeydew. Then I found a multipack at Target containing even more lovely recipes! Packed with jojoba oil, shea butter & vitamin E, they're veritable moisture bombs. But don't toss that lipstick quite yet... there's no color involved here. Other things these little lovelies don't contain: parabens, petrolatum, gluten & phtlatates.

They're 95% organic, 100% natural and never tested on animals. At $4, they make a guiltless little perk-me-up, or cute extra item to pop in a gift bag.

Comes in:
Honeysuckle Honeydew
Sweet mint
Summer Fruit
Lemon Drop (with SPF 15) *not shown
Natural

Pricetag:
$3.99 each at Walgreen's
$10.99 for the 4 pack at Target

Sweet decoration for a simple room!

Upcyle fabric scraps into blooming flower garland!

What a fabulous way to upcycle fabric scraps! If you're not the crafty type who has scraps of all colors and textures lying around - peruse your local fabric and decorator shops, who will sell you remnant fabric on the cheap. Or be an even craftier recycler and cut up the clothes and scarves that you don't wear anymore to make your sweet little blooms!

This is a great way to decorate for a party, a wedding or for no reason but to make you smile when you wake up or walk into a room. You could also string the blooms on heavier duty quilting thread or embroidery floss and wrap it around a gift box several times in lieu of wrapping paper. And if you must use paper... think about recycling a brown paper grocery bag. There are so many other fun ways to dress up brown bag gift wrapping...hmmm... I smell another blog!

TIP:
For a quick tutorial on making the flowers, check out this blog http://bit.ly/ctcDVW but get creative... don't make all your flowers the same... vary the textures, colors, and edges. Think pinking shears (the ones that cut saw-shaped edges) as well as rough, edged fabrics like silk and chiffon.

Cool like ice cream spoons!

Finding new uses for old things is one of my favorite things to do, especially when it keeps throwaway items out of landfills. So, when I spotted adorable little taste testing spoons at Ice Berry in downtown West Palm Beach over the weekend, I had to rescue them and make a necklace!

Step 1 - Ask ice cream shop owner for his used tester spoons along with your fresh kiwi - chocolate sprinkled froyo while trying to appear as if this is a completely normal, rational request...

Step 2 - Use a thin drill bit to make holes in the top and bottom of the spoons


Step 4 - Bust out your beads, pliers, arts and craft supplies and get to work!

Step 5 - Show off your sweet new summer necklace!

Batt Those Lashes!

Move over DiorShow and FiberWig, there's a new wand in town, and it's won my wink! Tarte is one of my favorite makeup lines, first because they're cruelty free and second because I'm a devotee of their cheek stain sticks. And after an absolute marathon makeup session at Sephora over the weekend, I've flipped for this mascara!

'Lights, Camera, Splashes!' is the waterproof version of Tarte's original 'Lights, Camera, Lashes!' which promises to increase lash volume by 424%. I didn't whip out a measuring tape, but I must say, my lashes are looking sumptuous! As if that weren't enough to win over my peepers... they dressed this little wand in an adorable denim outfit complete with an anchor patch! Talk about an easy sale!

More great reasons (as if you need any) to pick this up,
are what this product DOESN'T contain:
Parabens
Sulphates
Phthalates
Synthetic dyes
Synthetic fragrances
Petro-chemicals

Price Tag: $19
Where to get it: Sephora
Tip: Sephora allows the return of any product you're not 100% satisfied with (whether you've tried it twice or 10 times) so hang on to those receipts.

Plastic bottle chandelier

I love this fabulous chandelier, created by Michelle Brand, especially because it's made from upcycled empty 2 liter bottles! I'm actually having to restrain myself from buying soda and dumping it just for the bottles. Being that I don't drink soda, and neither, it seems, do any of my friends... it's going to be a while before I can collect enough bottles to make one of these! Hmmm... maybe I can raid the recycling bin at work for the small water bottles we use and cut them into flower shapes. Or, I'll just have to don a makeshift Hazmat getup and go dumpster diving in my building's recycling containers.

What you'll need:

• Lots of 2 liter bottles
• Fishing line
• A metal hoop (maybe from an old lampshade)
• An LED (or other low heat) lightbulb on a cord like this one from IKEA - Januari $9.99 without bulb

Jam jar highballs and tumblers

I break a lot of glasses, and I eat a lot of Bonne Maman Raspberry Preserves. As a result, I have many a half-set of water glasses, and a lot of adorable jam jars. So when I came across this idea, I was ecstatic and launched scavenger hunt around my house to reclaim all the repurposed jars I had, tossed them all in the dishwasher and voila! I have the sweetest new set of tumblers which are rather strong, so they may actually be long-termers! And if they're not... my love of PB&J and Tartines will quickly render me a replacement!