Okay, this might be something a lot of you are like, “Duh, I’ve been doing that for years!”, but I’m going to share it with you anyway.
I was in the kitchen cleaning out the fridge, listening to She & Him on my iPhone, and I said to Greg, “We should get some iPhone speakers for the kitchen.” Without saying a word, he brought me a glass, reached over, took my iPhone, cranked up the volume, and put in down in the glass. Woah! The kitchen was immediately filled with music.
Greg just walked out of the room, ignoring my total geek-out moment. He later explained that the concave shape of the glass amplifies the sound and that he saw it on LifeHacker a few years ago (check out that post here). And here I was thinking he was just super genius.
She & Him has a lot of reverb on the vocals, and the glass tends to add a bit more; so I got scientific and switched out the glass for a coffee mug. It’s a bit shorter, so, for some reason, it tunes down the echo effect. I’m sure there’s a long, explanation as to why, but I’m not that smart. I leave that up to Greg – who should probably be the one writing this post come to think of it.
I like how I don’t have to have a big bulky speaker on the counter or anything to plug in. It’s a simple and easy solution. It’s so simple it’s silly. Pretty cool, right?
Okay, so I may not have all of my Christmas shopping done just quite yet but as I buy a gift, I always make sure to wrap it as soon as possible so I won’t be stuck with a bunch of gift-wrapping to do all at once. This year, rather than using ordinary gift tags, Greg and I thought it would be fun to mix it up and DIY some simple chalkboard gift tags.
These little guys are super easy to make and are sure to wow your Christmas gift recipients. Woah, that sounds formal. To make these fun chalkboard gift tags, here’s what you’ll need…
[STEP 1] Take your piece of chipboard (or heavy cardstock) and draw your shape. Since most boxes and bags are rectangular, I decided to go with a simple, round tag to add some shape variation to the mix. To make all of the circles uniform, I just traced the bottom of the Rust-Oleum can. Easy! I was able to get nine circles on one 8×10 piece of chipboard.
[STEP 2] Cut out each circle then use a large hole punch to make the hole for the ribbon. Make sure the hole will be large enough for the ribbon you are going to use. I’m using 1.5″ ribbon for all of our packages, so I used my 9/16″ hole punch. You can find these in the scrapbook section of craft stores like Michael’s or Ben Franklin. If you don’t have a large hole punch, you can also cut a slit in the top of the circle wide enough for the ribbon using a sharp craft knife. Btw, it’s important to do this step before you paint so the cutting won’t cause the paint to chip or flake off.
[STEP 3] Now it’s time to break out the Rust-Oleum Chalkboard Spray. Simply put, I love this stuff! Take your chipboard gift tags outside (or a well-ventilated area) and… well, you know the drill! In my best informercial voice: Be sure to hold the can about 10″-12″ away from the tags. To prevent splotches, keep the can moving. As usual, when spray-painting, it always works best to do a few light coats rather than one heavy coat. We ended up doing three light coats.
[STEP 4] Normally, waiting for paint to dry is the hardest part, but with this particular project, the drying time isn’t bad at all. After only 5 to 10 minutes, we had a complete set of chalkboard gift tags. Holla! I can’t wait to show these guys off under the tree!
Now how’s that for a super easy upgrade to ordinary gift tags? It makes me want to find more things to use this Chalkboard spray on… Bentley better watch out today!
How about you… How’s your Christmas shopping coming along? Barely started or just about finished? Or are you trying to make us all look bad and have had your shopping done since September? Like my mother! Shame on you.
Oh! And speaking of gift-wrapping, one of our favorite gift wrap/fine paper resources, Smock, is having a great sale today and tomorrow (Monday & Tuesday) with an even greater cause… 100% of proceeds from items purchased from the sale section of Smock Everyday items will be donated to Earthworks! Sale items are 50% off & they’ve got some great gift items as well as holiday cards, holiday gift tags, fill in holiday party invites, and much much more! Visit their blog for more information as well as a gift guide with some of the best items from the sale section!
For months, I’ve been keeping paint swatches of the colors we’ve used in our house in my wallet just in case I happen to come across fabric or wall art that might look good somewhere. The only problem was, the swatches were so small, it was hard to really get a good idea of how the combination would look.
The obvious solution was to make something a little larger that would accurately capture the wall color. It didn’t need to fit in my wallet, just my purse. Of course, this isn’t exactly the biggest problem in the world, so it just sat in the back of my head, and I didn’t really give it much more thought until I stumbled upon this at Office Max in the scrapbook/craft section:
It’s 5 pages of 6″x6″ chipboard, made into a “book” with a metal ring and cut into a cool pattern. I’m not sure what they are normally used for, but it looked like a good alternative to my teensy weensy paint chips.
When I got home, I gathered the paint from the shed. At the moment, we only have four paint colors, including the trim, so I’m just saving the fifth card until we have another paint color to add to the mix. Now, when it comes to painting, I tend to make a mess. Apparently I’m not coordinated enough or something. I don’t know. So, just in case, I laid down some kraft paper in the dining room, and set each card on a paper plate to dry:
Once they were dry, I put the cards back on the ring and ta da! New and improved, larger handy dandy paint swatches for when I’m on the go:
These swatches are so much fun to use, I ended up making a second set to keep in my desk.
Now, I’m not sure what I’d do without these. They’re small enough to fit in my purse, but large enough that I can get a real idea of what something might look like against our walls. The perfect solution to a small problem!
How about you? Any on the go decorating tips up your sleeve?
