Bobbi Pins

My grandmother uses bobbi pins to put her hair up in pin curls, which she then brushes out and teases a little to get her signature 'do.  I am unsure if anyone left alive besides her still knows how to make a pin curl. (She has also worn bright fuchsia lipstick as long as I've known her.)  Personally I use bobbi pins to put my hair up in a messy bun - it takes all of five seconds and looks fine for the office or a party (and I can skip blow drying my hair). 

So imagine my delight when one of my favorite accessory sources came up with some fancy bobbi pins!  I was tickled pink to find that ban.do had a host of bobbi pins to add to my collection of sad little black bobbi pins. 

My favorites are the jumbo party bobbi (in gold), the sunburst bobbi set and the crystal crush bobbi. They are all $20 or under so pretty reasonably priced especially for the amount of glitter they provide.  I already own two of the three (still coveting the crystal crush bobbi) and they come in lovely packaging with a smart little note about how adorable and special they are but that you can feel free to wear them to the grocery store (so I figure the office is just as good since I could hardly wait to show them off).


jumbo party bobbi via ban.do



sunburst bobbi set via ban.do



crystal crush bobbi via ban.do


If your budget is a little bigger or you need a bobbi pin for that special occasion (and let's face it what occasion is complete without a bobbi pin) then might I suggest the crystal swirl brooch bobbi.  It's shiny and fabulous and probably not for the grocery store (since it come in at $130).  It reminds me of old Hollywood and black and white movies. 


crystal swirl brooch bobbi vian ban.do

 I am sure I will be adding more of these bobbi pins to my collection.  In the meantime I picked up this and one of these from ban.do's new spring/summer collection (in addition to the bobbi pins). 

Balloons!

When I was a kid balloons were pretty simple.  You had a few latex balloons at your birthday party and sometimes you got a fancy mylar balloon if you went somewhere special (I remember I got one from the zoo when the pandas came to SF from China). 

But there is a recent trend in party design of giant balloons with the most fantabulous strings attached.

One local company here in Los Angeles is Geronimo Balloons.  The company hand makes all of the streamers and you can pick them up right here in Los Angeles.  If you're not local they will send the deflated balloon to you (and then you find somewhere to inflate it).  The balloons run between $60 to $200 per balloon so it's not cheap but they are oh so pretty.  The balloons are three feet wide so prepare to have somewhere to transport them.

Image via Geronimo Balloons

Image via Geronimo Balloons

Another company, bonbon balloons, is based in the UK and have some different types of fringe that they use for tails.  The balloons are 25 pounds a piece (don't ask me to convert that I lived in London for a few months and the exchange rate was so bad everything was double but I think it is actually less now).  You choose the color of the balloon and can provide some details to help them personalize the balloon string.  These balloons are only 15 inches wide so a little smaller than the Geronimo balloons but still pretty fabulous.

Image via bonbon balloons

Image via bonbon balloon

If you'd like to try your hand at creating one yourself you can buy the big balloons here.  You can then either create the fringe yourself or cheat and buy fringe online. You can find some fabulous garland at 1Pixie Place (my favorite are the colorful dots and the party garland). You can find party fringe at your local party supply store or here or for more fabulousness buy a tissue tassel and attach it to your balloon.  If you DIY you could make a simple balloon for between $8-$15 each.  Personally I can't wait to try my hand at putting one together.

Ikea Vika Fintorp Table Legs

I will never ever remember the appropriate name for anything at Ikea.  I only remember what the items I want look like which then means I am having a conversation with someone in a yellow shirt who is looking at me like I am crazy (how do they not know what I'm talking about they work there?). 

Anyway - at some point last year I saw this picture over at Better Homes and Gardens web page of the Vika Fintorp Table Legs:

And I decided right then and there that I wanted those desk legs to create a long desk the length of a wall in living space.  Then I discovered that those legs are no longer sold at Ikea.  Argh.  I went on a desperate Internet search to see if I could track them down via Craig's List or some other entity - no such luck - and apparently I was not the only person looking for these legs. 

Fast forward to last Saturday.  I went to Ikea to help a friend pick out a dresser and to find some sort of storage solution for craft supplies.  Before we loaded up in the self-serve area we headed to the "as-is" department.  I have never had any luck there.  My friend scored some awesome red chairs there once that were both new and discontinued at the same time (?) as well as some other not as exciting items.  I was not prepared for what I saw when we came around the corner - the silver Vika Fintorp Legs on the stainless steel tabletop.  The tabletop appeared as though someone had taken a hammer to it.  Multiple times.  The legs were in near perfect condition however.  While my friend went to get a cart I refused to move from the table.  

I am an expert at getting Ikea boxes into my SUV but this was put together.  We were fairly certain that this would not fit in the car assembled but decided we could take the legs off and have it loaded in a spiffy.  This is where the fun begins.  The last time we were at Ikea they had handy dandy tools mounted on strings on the wall.  I always wondered what for but now I knew.  But (of course) they had been removed (I can only assume some child poked it's eye out).  We then asked at Customer Service for a screwdriver.  What they gave us was barely a screwdriver but still we were hopeful - that is until we realized almost all the screws were stripped.  Eighteen stripped screws and the worst screwdriver ever.  We abandoned the plan and hoped it would fit in the car.

It didn't.



It looks like it will fit - but it wouldn't. 


What followed was some mild cursing, a slow speed drive to the other side of the parking lot (with the back of the car open and my friend holding the table) to a Target to purchase an assortment of screwdrivers and 60 minutes of heavy duty unscrewing.  In the end the legs came off and the table and all other purchases made it home.

Now I just need to figure out what kind of table top I want but in the mean time the legs will be safely stored away (the table top is likely headed for a dumpster).

Busy Week

I have been working on multiple projects all week in my "free" time and have so many goodies to share today.

Earlier in the week I sent out Easter "cards" that I spent all last Sunday making.  These cards were not, in fact, cards but rather jumbo sized plastic Easter eggs that I filled with some treats and confetti (lots of confetti) and a birthday candle (only because I needed something else to put in there really).  I really wanted to paint some tiny animals gold and put them in but all I could fine were tiny plastic army men, which by the way look awesome painted gold with another layer of gold glitter paint but I didn't think were appropriate for an Easter egg - they will have to find their way into other packages.  I then wrapped a ridiculous amount of packing tape around them and sent them on their merry way (there was also a covert trip to the post office to drop them in the mailbox as I was pretty sure if the staff saw the eggs they would have given me dirty looks).  I don't have a picture of the making of the eggs - let's say that keeping the dog away from the chocolate and his hair out of the confetti kept me busy enough.  But one of my best friend received hers and shared a picture of it.

This egg made it from LA to Boston!

On Monday I decided to take my hand at making my own version of the Kate Spade Rosewood Dot necklace.  I had just bought three Kate Spade bangles so I thought I would see if I could make my own version of the necklace before forking over more cash.  The only problem is that I have never made jewelry before so there was some trial and error with the tools and what not but the end result wasn't so bad. (Excuse the lousy picture of it on me - I can't get Instagram to work on my phone.)

My handmade necklace.

On Tuesday I did some painting on tiny canvases.  I have been obsessing over confetti and wanted to see if I could "paint" some.  I used a pencil eraser to get them all a uniform size and then went over some of the "confetti" with a glitter paint in the same color to get a different texture.  I did three in gold but I think I may try another color next time or bigger confetti on a bigger canvas (I am thinking a cork would work for bigger confetti).

My tiny canvas



On Wednesday my bar cart arrived and I spent the evening unwrapping it and getting it set up. 

Then last night I finally wrapped my sister's Birthday present (a few weeks late) and went a little overboard with decorating the box. Hopefully it will make her forget how late it is and make a postal worker smile (and forgive me for mailing the eggs).

Some neon tape, neon paint and neon scrap paper to brighten my sister's day!

  

 

In addition to my lack of photography skills I have a apparent inability to actually tape a box properly (but the message might make up for it).

There's also been some exciting online shopping and soon this and this will be arriving and I'm sure more fun projects will ensue.

Have a lovely Easter/Passover weekend!

Runway to Win

The Obama for America 2012 shop is in full swing and the Runway to Win section features designs by some A-list designers. 

My personal favorites this time around are the t-shirts by Jason Wu and Marc Jacobs.  (Maybe you will have more luck getting the Jason Wu t-shirt here than you did getting any of the Jason Wu for Target collection.) The Jason Wu design is simple and yet still recognizable as the Obama logo.  The Marc Jacobs shirt is very retro inspired and makes me think of campaign buttons from the 1960s.

Jason Wu design for Obama for America 2012 (Image via Obama for America 2012)

Marc Jacobs design for Obama for America 2012 (Image via Obama for America 2012)

Personally I don't like any of the bags as much as I liked the one I got during the 2008 election by Diane von Furstenburg.  I thought this one was much more creative than the 2012 versions which all predominantly feature red, white and blue as part of the design.  The collection seems to grow so I would keep checking back through to see if any new designs pop up in the coming weeks.

DVF 2008 Obama bag - LOVE.

I think I will need to drag this one out of storage to use this year and just add some new 2012 buttons.


P.S.  If you are a dog person you will be happy to note that given the addition of Bo to the Obama family since the last election there is a lot of dog election gear this time around!