The Big 1-0-0-0!

I'm excited and freaked out and just the tiniest bit emotional to announce that today is Design Muse's 1,000th post.  Our 1,000th post, people.  I've been cheesing all day just thinking about it...in fact, I even brought in cake batter rice krispy treats to work in celebration.

Since the big 1-0-0-0 calls for some reflection, I got to thinking about my favorite posts over the last few years.  Turns out we've gone through a lot together, you and I.  We've powered through design overhauls and the re-organizing of the blog itself, survived a salon opening and reveled in the excitement of starting a more hands on design business, had some sappy moments (prime examples here and here), mourned a national tragedy, and had a blast doing everything from throwing a Breakfast at Tiffany's themed party to actually having breakfast at Tiffany's.  So!  In lieu of my usual Working For The Weekend links, I decided to use today to count down my top 10 favorite Design Muse posts of all time.  Let's take a quick stroll down memory lane, shall we?

10. Disney Princess Makeovers: I've gone back and laughed at this post dozens of times over the last few years.  It's a personal fave, plain and simple.

9. Crafting with Maps : This short series was a lot of fun to put together and really turned out beautifully.  Ideas that don't cost much and make a fun statement will always top my list!

8. Vintage Beretta: This post is filled with hilarious pictures of outfits I "designed" when I was a kid.  It's ridiculous and laughable but it's always made me smile for a handful of reasons.

7. Gabees Lip Balm: I'm so enamored with my Dad's many "Most Interesting Man In The World" hobbies, so when he named part of his empire after me I was smiley to say the least.

6. My Bedroom and Living Room Makeovers: These particular before and after posts were high points for me for very practical reasons, but even years later I'm still thrilled with how they turned out.  It was important for me to learn first hand that a little bit of re-decorating changed more than just my space, it changed my disposition.

5. Best Day Ever: I'm excited to continue this series in the near future because we had such a great time putting together our first post.  They're sometimes a challenge to orchestrate but I'm determined to make personal style posts a regular part of Design Muse soon and very soon.

4. Project Pep Talk: This post will always be very close to my heart as it centered around a really special present I made for my partner in crime.  It took some time to orchestrate but it was worth every second!

3. Banana Nutella Bread and Nutella Stuffed Brown Butter and Sea Salt Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies: When it comes to Foodie Files, these two recipes tied for my favorites...though I think we can all agree the real winner here is Nutella.

2. Amazing Race-Cation (parts 1 and 2): By far the coolest thing I've ever done.  Period.

And my #1 favorite post of all time...

*drumroll*

Table For Twelve Tuscan Night: A breathtaking night and precious memory...up there with my favorite evenings of all time.

So there you have it!  I enjoyed writing (let's be honest...almost) all 1,000 but these 10 have a special place in my heart.  I wish I had words to tell you guys how grateful I am for your willingness to keep coming back and allowing me to share my adventures with you.  The fact that even one person out there would find what I have to say interesting is so humbling to me.  Thanks for showing up and engaging...we've built something pretty cool together, don't you think?  Here's to at least 1,000 more!

An Experiment in Beauty

I had an idea the other day...one of those funny, 'this is either going to be really good or really bad' ideas that pop up in your head from time to time.  I called my dear friend Nina, as I so often do when I get this variety of idea, and we decided to 1) drag a few more friends into the action and 2) give said idea a shot.  And thus our evening of homemade beauty treatments was born.  I did a little research and, using only items found in my kitchen, made a few masks, scrubs and the like from the various super foods I had laying around.  There were a few success stories and- as you can imagine- a few things that went somewhat horribly wrong.  But most of all there was laughing.

Let's start with our happiest discovery...the star of the night was a face mask, made by mixing 2 eggs with 1 single serve container of plain Greek yogurt.  The instructions were simple...mix, apply to your freshly washed face, let dry (takes about 10 minutes) and wash off.  All four of us agreed this was a gem.  My favorite part was how smooth it left my face feeling...two thumbs up on this one.

Now let's jump to the night's low point.  We attempted a banana, avocado and coconut oil hair mask that didn't exactly pan out as planned.  In retrospect, I would never let someone smash a banana or avocado in my hair without putting up one heck of a fight, so I don't know why I ever thought it was a good idea to allow it in the name of beauty.  It was disgusting.  Smelled great!  But felt really, really gross and took forever to wash out (seriously...shampooed twice, conditioned twice and was still picking out pieces).  I found the recipe a few different places online...mash 1 ripe banana, 1 ripe avocado and 1 TBS coconut oil per hair mask, apply to hair, cover with saran wrap and leave in for 15-20 minutes.  I had high hopes due to all the glowing reviews but this one is a no go.  While it definitely did make my hair feel softer, it wasn't worth the nightmare of a process.

The other two experiments of the night were actually pretty great.  We put together a lip scrub comprised of the juice of 1 lemon slice, 1 tsp honey and 2-3 TBS brown sugar.  Not gonna lie...it tastes awesome (of course I tasted it...it was sitting right there on my lips).  It actually worked pretty great, too!  Natalie and I liked the fact that it was a little tingly while Nina and Courtney couldn't actually feel it tingle at all...we all used the same batch so you can file that one under unsolved mysteries I guess.  While it didn't make some crazy, dramatic difference in the condition of my lips, it was an enjoyable process to be sure.  I feel good about recommending it.

Lastly and most simply, we tried the 'ol cucumbers on the eyes trick.  The instructions I read said to cut one inch slices, which seemed really thick but we went with it.  My suggestion is to pair this one with the face mask like we did...it was awesome...so cooling and relaxing!  I can see why this home remedy has such staying power.  It's simple but effective!

While the night's results weren't perfect, we had an absolute blast experimenting.  It's a worthwhile activity to be sure.  What about you?  Any home beauty treatment suggestions or horror stories you want to share?  I sure would love to hear them below!

I'm The Map, I'm The Map, I'm The Map: Part 2

As promised, here's part two in my who-knows-how-long-this'll-go series on crafting with vintage maps.  I know I let the cat out of the bag yesterday in regards to what the project actually is, but here's the breakdown on how to create a cute little cake banner of your very own.

Here's what you'll need:
-Ruler
-Scissors
-Pencil
-Needle or pin
-At least one sheet of alphabet stickers (depending on what message you're writing)
-A small section of vintage map...a 5x8 piece should be more than enough
-A small piece of card stock
-Two 12" wooden shish kabob sticks
-Red and white baker's twine

Create an inverted stencil by measuring and drawing an Isosceles triangle onto your piece of card stock (and you thought you'd never use math again after high school...for the record, my measurements were 1" x 1.25" x 1.25"...also for the record, I didn't think I'd ever use math again after high school, either).  Cut out, place on your map section and trace.

Minimize the amount of cutting you'll have to do by tracing your triangles in the pattern below...see how you can use the triangles facing up and the ones facing down?

Cut out your tracings and erase any pencil marks left behind.

Add stickers to write out your message, then take your pin and pierce the top corners of each pennant.  

Cut a 16" length of bakers twine for the top portion of your text and an 18" length for the bottom.  String the pennants from left to right, starting with the first letter of your message.  Depending on the thickness of your pin, you may need to increase the size of your piercing with a shish kabob stick so the bakers twine feeds through easily.

Center your text and tie bakers twine onto the top of the shish kabob sticks, leaving an inch or two on either side.

Secure sticks in cake and serve.  And if you missed our killer cake recipe from yesterday, make sure you check it out (strawberry cake from scratch, yum)!

I'm The Map, I'm The Map, I'm The Map: Part 1

One of my other fun flea market purchases was a handful of vintage maps.  It's crazy to think that not too long ago there was no GPS, no Google maps, no one to yell "recalculating" at you...only these awkwardly large pieces of paper with shockingly small font.  Still, there's something almost romantic about maps.  I can't quite put my finger on it but I suspect it has something to do with nostalgia.  I've got a lot planned for my new map collection...in fact, I've already scheduled another map do-it-yourself craft for next Friday (how on top of things am I?).  Now...today's DIY couldn't be easier.

Here's what I used:

3 sets of hinged double picture frames

3 photos of people I love

3 maps from where said people live

Scissors

A pencil

I've lived a few different places now and had the pleasure of establishing really meaningful relationships in all of them.  Add to that the fact that my family and friends are getting older and growing up and starting new lives in different places.  So, at this point, little pieces of my heart are all over the globe!  I thought it might be fun to illustrate my loved ones' little corners of the world in a "you are here" mall map style.  I used my parents' picture in one, made one for my roommate of her adorable niece, and went ahead and made one to remind me that there's plenty of special people right here where I live (most notably, my incredible brother).  

First, I printed out a few wallet sized photos.

Then I opened the picture frames and used the pretend family photo as a template for the map portion of the project (keeping the width of the frame itself and what it's overhang would cut off in mind).    

I centered the city I wanted to use and traced around the template with my pencil...

...then simply cut out the city and put it in the frame. 

Voila!  How cute is that?  Between the frames, maps and pictures I spent about $15 total which is not too shabby if you ask me.  Can't wait to show you my next map project (it's awesome)!

Le Paperie

Raise your hand if you love Anthropologie!  I raised both, for the record, but had to put them down to continue typing.  Much to my delight, they recently expanded their wedding line, BHLDN, to include decor, keepsakes, stationary and all kinds of other unforgettable pieces.  In true Anthropologie fashion, the selection is drool-worthy...you can check it out here.  I'm just gonna warn you now, however...you're gonna find some beautiful things.  Things you're gonna want.  Things you may not be able to justify buying.  And that can be a major bummer.  But fear not!  I've got you covered...at least with one beautiful item.  They put together a series of gorgeous paper flower bouquets and garland that sort of taunted me.  I saw it and said "I kind of feel like I can make that?"  So I tried.  Here's what I ended up with.

Not horrible, right?  I put together a little tutorial in case you want to give it a go.  Paper flowers for everyone!