When I was home a few weeks ago for my grandmother’s memorial service, I spotted some adorable placemats on my family’s kitchen table. They were simple bamboo mats that had a few giant tassels on them. Since I’ve never met a tassel or pom pom I didn’t like, I though it would be the perfect…
Although warmer weather and full blooms remind us that the grey days of winter are officially behind us, nothing rings in the season of margaritas (on the rocks with salt, please!) and outdoor fiestas like Cinco de Mayo. This month on Upholstery Basics, we create a geometric maze of colors with a simple striped fabric…
With my busy schedule, the thought of sitting down to create a handwritten note for a friend back home in Tennessee seems to instantly calm my soul and warm my heart. And what’s more, I am a sucker for nearly everything that might be categorized as stationery — beautiful notecards, custom address stamps, a well-designed…
This week’s Every Day DIY was inspired by the massive piles of paper that are currently smothering my laptop. It wasn’t until I had to clear off my section of our communal desk for a special afternoon tea ceremony treat that I realized how much trouble I was in. Under piles of bills (whoops) were…
Sometimes two heads are better than one. After excitedly planning and making this week’s DIY project, I ran into a crafting snafu- now going on a major fail. The “10 minute drying time” has turned into 24 hours so I had to bag it for today and lean on my trusty teammate, Max to help…
Every now and then a craft project falls into my inbox and I’m blown away by how the simplest ideas are often the best. This clever plaster push pin project comes from blogger Mandy Pellegrin of Fabric Paper Glue. She was kind enough to share it here with us today- and she has another DIY…
Today we’re wrapping the week up with a DIY mini-series that will continue for the rest of the month. I love being able to share detailed and involved DIY projects on D*S, but sometimes you just want something quick and easy you can finish during the week, on your lunch break or while you’re catching…
Photography by Maxwell Tielman Hi! Jessica of Miniature Rhino here. It’s been such a pleasure to create some projects for you for this Embroidery 101 series and hope you’ve found some inspiration or your next project. I wanted to end on a stellar note with one of my favorite subjects and stitches, stars and french…
I’ve had plants and gardening on my mind all week, so it only seemed fitting to roll up my sleeves and make a few garden markers of my own. I haven’t worked with sculpey clay since I was probably seven years old, so this project was both a blast and a great flashback for me….
Feeling like “you live in a cubicle” 40+ hours a week and hardly get to see the sun and living growing things on the weekdays? We’re lucky enough that even when we can’t make it outdoors, we’re surrounded by beauty and greenery. We want everyone to be able to have a daily slice of the…
Since mid-February (I’m in Austin, y’all), I’ve been elbow deep in garden soil planting my veggies for spring. With arugula, lettuce, and Swiss chard growing like weeds, my hands have been full trudging back and forth from the garden to my kitchen. This month on Upholstery Basics, we build a garden cart from the ground…
Three years I ago I took the adventure of a lifetime traveling to India and Nepal. We rode trains through the foggiest picturesque landscape, drank real chai tea from unfired clay cups, took a boat ride on the river Ganges, witnessed a holy dip in Allahabad, visited temples where cunning monkeys stole sweet offerings, and…
Over the last five years or so, it seems that the world has become totally and completely inundated with… water bottles. Probably due to a combination of people becoming more environmentally and health conscious, water bottles—whether they be plastic, metal, or glass—seem to be filling retail space lately. This is probably a good thing. I…
With Brimfield around the corner, I’m starting to feel a familiar itch again. The itch that means wooden boxes are near. The first year I went to Brimfield I came home with about a dozen old wooden boxes. I collect them in all sizes: big, little, ginormous. You name it, I’ve got an old wooden…
Today’s Embroidery 101 project is inspired by a great friend who has “Luck” tattooed down her ribcage, just so she always knows that luck is truly on her side. Bold move my friend! While we’re using a different kind of needle, we’ll have the same confidence boosting outcome. This project is a great way to…
I’ve gone planter crazy lately so I’ve been looking for creative DIY planter projects to share here on D*S. Thankfully a great one landed in my inbox a few weeks above from D*S reader Tempest of Ellomennopee. Tempest is an electrical engineer, so she works with copper tape on a regular basis. It’s a great…
I have no doubt that the single greatest thing about my job is getting to work with people who inspire and continually impress me with their dedication, talent and creativity. Two of those people are Alethea Harampolis and Jill Rizzo of Studio Choo. For two years they wrote “We Like It Wild” for Design*Sponge and…
I’ve really enjoyed getting to delve deeper into specific craft skills this year, and this month we’re keeping things going with an Embroidery guest series by Jessica Marquez of Miniature Rhino. Over the next four weeks, Jessica will be teaching us an embroidery stitch and a DIY project you can complete with that stitch. We’ll…
Sometimes I have to sit back and marvel at the sheer amount of incredibly talented artists and designers working in Portland, Oregon. From fashion designers and crafters to photographers, stylists, chefs and woodworkers, it feels like everyone is making something fantastic. And today I’m thrilled to have three of those incredible people contributing a great…
Today is the last day of our Family & Pets theme (though we’ll always include those ideas in our regular posts), and it felt right to honor that topic with a special family DIY project. I love it when small-scale crafts get blown up into larger-than-life proportions, so this project from D*S reader and crafter…
