Crafts/DIY: Spray Painted Wrapping Paper

I know this is a post too late. It slipped through the cracks. I just remembered it because I've been attending a lot of birthday parties lately, and DIY gift wrappers are so in.

Last Christmas, I made some. We had a ton of spray paint in our house, and I figured I can use it to make wrapping papers by using stencils and thick kraft paper.

I wrapped the box first, because I wanted the effect to be perfectly placed as so. I made a Christmas tree stencil, and spray painted it with fluorescent pink. I topped it off with a gold seal embossed with our monogram.

Here are other spray painted wrapping paper for your inspiration.

[top] Oh, hello friend DIY - Polka dot paper

[middle] Eddie Ross - Lace paper

[bottom] Crafted - Camera Print paper

Crafts/DIY: Valentine's Day Bottle

Valentine's Day is just around the corner. Instead of using envelopes to tuck your love letters in, why don't you upcycle a glass bottle and use that?

It so happens that I have lots of Starbucks Frappuccino glass bottles lying around. Yes, I was once addicted to their contents. I kept the bottles because they're glass and I love the size. And you know me, I don't throw away cute stuff even if they're just containers.

So I cleaned one up. I used Goo Gone for the sticky substance left by the clear sticker, like the way I did here. I created a template using the Love Park in Philadelphia as inspiration. I used pink card stock for the Love Park template. My life would have been easier using an electronic cutter, but yes, I manually cut it myself. Haha. Then I tied it up using pink/white twine from Divine Twine and an apple green paper clip.

Want the template? Here is the link.

Food: Vanilla Cupcake Bakery

There's a new cupcake shop in town. Probably not that new anymore since there are multiple branches popping up around the metro. It's called Vanilla Cupcake Bakery.

I first heard about this shop from my sister last year. She got a few because she thought their packaging was cute. So I first tasted their cupcakes without seeing the actual store. I had a chance to visit the TriNoma branch sometime last year -- probably around Halloween, I forget. At first glance, this cupcake shop looked like a grown-up scale girl doll house. It's Cath Kidston meets retro diner.

But I'll talk about the interiors later. Food first. Haha. Here are their cupcake and cookie lists.

Look at the yummy goodness. They even used decorating tips as part of their display.

I got the Vanilla Chocolate cupcake. Pretty good I must say. :-)

They serve each table a carafe of water. I use carafes in our home too instead of the usual glass pitcher. They are awesome if you have little space in your fridge and on your table.

They also have cute little cupcake candles like this on their tables.

Chairs make a space. In the tiny space that Vanilla Cupcake Bakery occupies, it made use of Ghost chairs with chair pads that reminded me of Dorothy.

Soft armed chairs with the same fabric and white piping, and pops of color from the Daphne chairs.

Yes, the Daphnes are originals.

The space is surrounded by a white picket fence. Very cute, but probably the best part of it all for me is the refrigerator. It's a Smeg!

Here are some dainty displays...

... their buffet table --

-- where they displayed cake stands and shakers.

They even have adorable cupcake packaging so you can get some yummies to go.

Stationery Love: The Met's Ionic Correspondence Cards

Let's start the week with another stationery love.

One of my personal favorites is this set of correspondence cards from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This was given to me by my dear sister-in-law. It features a gold-embossed Ionic column, the design of which was adapted from the actual marble Ionic column part inside the museum. The capital and shaft was once part of the Temple of Artemis in Sardis.

It's very simple but very elegant. It comes in a blue sturdy box, which contains 25 cards and envelopes. Each correspondence card has the gold-embossed ionic column on top of fine white stock.

You know, I always feel short-changed about stationery sets with only 10 pieces in them. It makes me hesitant to use them. Haha. I think 25 is the perfect number.

Love: Goo Gone

One of my pet peeves is the sticky substance left behind by price tags. I got a couple of white ceramic animals from West Elm way back, and while I was cleaning our bedroom, I saw the dirty, sticky goo on the animal. I tried baby oil at first, but there was still some residue left. Then, I decided to try Goo Gone, because a lot of moms swear by it. It worked! I am hooked.

I tried it once more on this big wooden 'A' I have. Because I got it on sale at Target before, the tag left this sticky mess on it. It seemed like all of Target's red tags (sale or clearance tags) have really sticky backing. Haha. I just noticed. I put Goo Gone on the cotton ball, and then apply that on the sticky goo. Goo Gone still worked its magic.