I have to admit…when Pinterest first started popping up all over the internet I was confused.  ‘What is the point? How can this be useful and not just ANOTHER waste of time?’ Well, I’ve found out just how useful it can be, and how awesome it is for corralling all of the random thoughts of my brain into a single area.  It’s also great for inspiration.  I love Pinterest.  The only downside is, I only have the ‘marklet’ on one of my computers…and for some reason ‘re-pinning’ doesn’t work on my drafting PC, so all I can do is look when I’m on there.  My fault, not theirs obviously.  But not a big deal, I take time to catch up on my laptop often!

So anyway…what is the big deal about Pinterest, you ask?  I’m sure if you’re reading this and you already know about it, then you’re ready to answer that question for me, but if you’re not in the loop then here is what the website is all about and how I use it: basically it is a place that you can catalog all of your online finds (like ‘Bookmarking’ using your web browser) but it is so  much better because it is visual and you can put each of your ‘pins’ onto different ‘boards’ and that’s how you can stay organized.  I use it for individual projects (i.e. so-and-so’s paint color ideas or ‘Harper’s Big Girl Room’ or so-and-so’s party), so instead of trusting myself to remember where I saw something, I can just ‘pin’ it to the specific board and then go back to review.  It saves the link, and you can write notes in.  The other good part about Pinterest is that you can ‘Follow’ someone’s pins and/or specific boards.  And you can re-pin.  So you don’t have to only save the things that you find online onto your boards, but you can see what others are pinning and save it to your own boards.  It’s awesome.

Here are some things I’m pinning:

I have a whole board dedicated to ‘Amazing Photography Ideas‘ – aka picture ideas I’d like to re-create/steal.

Bedroom paint color ideas for a client…

Baby boy nursery inspiration…

Birthday party ideas…

Halloween costume ideas, haha…

Things I want for myself…

Looks I love (and want to copy)…

DIY’s I want us to attempt (this one links to concrete countertop instructions)…

Food I want to make…

Products I love (and want to share with my followers)…

And much, much more…go see what I’m pinning here!

{click the photos to go to my pins…there you’ll find the links to the original web sources for the photos!}

Aren’t these just absolutely adorable?!? I love the color, the font, the patterns…and the margarita looks pretty tasty, too.  And you can make your own Cinco de Mayo Party Circles from a FREE download from Kim at The TomKat Studio!  Enjoy!

She also has some cute links and Cinco de Mayo party inspiration at the blog post – check it out!

Cinco de Mayo Party Circles – Tomkat Studio

{image via The TomKat Studio}

Cool product alert.  Have you wondered how to actually install a look like this? Is it a big board? Is it on a roll (like wallpaper?)?  Is it….hmmm…

{Image via Young House Love}

As you probably know, I’m working on a project that involves a local daycare playroom.  How fun, right? Right.    It’s been a great learning experience for me, and I am thankful for such enthusiastic and trusting clients.  So of course, we looked into a chalkboard wall for the kiddies.  And if you didn’t already know, it’s simply paint.  (You’re probably saying – duh! We already knew that!  Well…the folks at the hardware store didn’t have a clue to what I was talking about so you never know!!)  Anyway, you paint the chalkboard pigmented paint right on to the wall.  The pigments dry harder than normal paint, allowing for a good surface to write on and not damage, and can also be wiped clean.  You can find it in all sorts of colors, but I stuck with black for this project.  And we didn’t do an entire wall in chalkboard paint, we did a chair rail at about 45″ (so not technically a chair rail, but it worked with the mantle above the wood stove visually!) and painted the lower half of the entire room with chalkboard paint.  A dream come true for little ones, right?  I know Harper already loves to take stray pencils to my kitchen cabinets…

I love how they painted the top of the table in the packaging, too!  You’ll have to do some web searching to find different colors, but this black version is available at Ace Hardware.

And to step it up a notch, pair it with a magnetic primer under the chalkboard paint because what kids don’t love to play with magnets?  We only have 3 letters from Harper’s alphabet magnet set left on our fridge…the rest are probably underneath it.

But this way you can paint the magnetic latex primer right on the wall to make any surface magnetic. Just a word of caution stemming from experience – if you’re going to prime, prime the entire wall or section.  I.e. don’t just put this where you want a magnetic surface and leave other areas unprimed – you can see what parts have magnetic (or any) primer, and what areas don’t after you paint a top coating on!

Either way it still looks cool and works great!  Very excited to wrap this project up – not because I want to be done with it, but because I love to see an end result!  Hopefully I can share it with you within the next few weeks!  If I ever get online to blog…

Last December, Glenn and I (ok, mostly Glenn) painted our kitchen cabinets white.  It happened to be on the day that our daughter turned 4 months old, and so we decided to immortalize the day on our living room wall.  We rolled a little of the low-VOC paint on her little foot and stamped it up on the wall by the front door.  I love seeing it as I dash out of the door, and everyone likes to comment on it when they come to visit.

Strangely enough, later in the day my dad called to tell me that his mom had died that morning, so it’s also a nice way for me to think of my Grandma from time to time.  Miss you, Grandma M.!

So what did we do on the 1-year anniversary of that day?  Well paint another footprint, of course!  Now we have 2 growin’ footprints on our wall from when Harper was 4 months and 16 months old…and I’m hoping that this giant new footprint means that she’ll be tall – just like her daddy’s family!  But then again I’m only 5’3″ with a size 9 foot…I know…I’m a hobbit. 

I am so excited to share an adorable little nursery project with you today, not because I designed it (because I didn’t – I wish I could take credit for it!), or not only because it is darling, or hand-crafted with special little details, but because it is the bedroom of a sweet little girl whose mama is an old friend of mine!  And as you can see a very artistic and creative friend at that!  But if you knew Janet in high school, you would know what an artist she is!  A good example showing that whatever profession you choose, you can still be an artist (Janet is a nurse!).

A big thank you to Janet (and Reese!  And Matt!) for sharing her little nursery project with us – I absolutely love it!  My favorite part has to be the hand-painted details; two tones of yellow in two different finishes and don’t forget the hand-painted ‘R’ (yes, that is painted directly on the wall!) with glitter accents, a painted border and a wooden frame tacked to the wall.  I’m sure it is something that little Reese will be so proud of when she starts to learn her ABC’s!    Here is what Janet had to say about it:

“As for the “R” – I modeled it after a font I found at Pottery Barn, but I decided to draw/paint it free-hand since I wanted it so much larger. The brown and blue frame is painted as well, and Matt cut and nailed up the final white frame around it all.  The R is painted with the same color as the stripes, and has a few glitter accents. It was very fun!!”

And here’s the break down to make up a sweet little nursery, just like Reese’s!  Thanks for sharing, Janet!

Paint

• Primary wall color – Dutch Boy ”Honey Bear” – Flat finish
• Stripes - Dutch Boy ”Just Enough Yellow” - Semi-gloss finish
• “R” – Painted the same color as the stripes with glitter accents. Framed with blue and brown paint (color, brands unkown) used left-overs that a friend had.  Matt finished it off with the white trim.

Furniture/Decor

• Crib – hand-me-down from Reese’s four little cousins
• Bedding – Baby Martex CoCaLo bedding – Australian Animals (I think this has been discontinued) – From the Baby Depot
  • Note from Lindsay – it’s called Down Under and you can buy it here!
• Rocker- a baby-shower gift. From Target
• White Dresser – Bona Vita “Peyton” Dresser/changing table combo – from The Baby Warehouse in Petaluma
• Credenza – given to us from the Funeral Home where Matt works – Don’t worry – it was in the lobby – It fits in there perfectly and is decorated with all her favorite stuffed animals.
• Martha Stewart’s Tissue paper pom-poms – from Michaels
  • LOVE these!  -Lindsay
• Pictures (above dresser)- White frames from Aaron Brothers -a little collage of pictures we had taken at the house when Reese was two weeks old!

If you have a room you’d like to share, please e-mail me at lindsay[@]lindsaychristensendesign.com!

And P.S. – sorry for the interruptions throughout the background of the post – I’m tweaking the blog template and those boxes should be on the right – thanks for your patience!!

First thing’s first – my Rosebud Card giveaway has ended and using random.org, we have chosen a winner!

The winner is comment #5 – Colleen – congratulations, Colleen!  We’ll be in touch!

I can’t wait to hear how she loves her cards.  Thank you Rosemary at Rosebud Cards for your generosity, I appreciate it and I’m sure that Colleen will as well!

Up next, if you haven’t noticed yet – there is a new little ‘tab’ at the top of the blog, pointing you to the new “Lillie + James” page.  Lillie + James is my new venture in partnership with my sister-in-law, Erin.  We have been crafting and coming up with decorating ideas like crazy, so please contact us if you’re interested in taking advantage of our services!

We had a ball setting up this Christmas table, and photographing it was interesting to say the least…can you say ‘timer?’   Thank goodness Erin’s son came home so he could capture this angled shot for us, ha!

Read more about Lillie + James here.  Happy Monday!  And happy birthday to our other sister (or sister-in-law, in my case), Kayte!

xo,

Lindsay & Erin (aka Lillie + James)

Okay, I just couldn’t help myself with the title.  Only tacky because I’m talking about tape…get it?    I’ve been thinking about Christmas a lot lately; buying gifts, packaging them, mailing them, making cards, and also making cute packaging and craft fair items for Lillie + James.  How can I make my gifts or packaging stand out?  I’m really bad at wrapping gifts and tying cute bows, so when a short-cut comes along that can help me in any way, I try to keep it in mind for future reference!  Enter…decorative tapes.  I know these have been all around the blogs before, but I think that it’s an appropriate time to bring them up, don’t you think?  Especially with new holiday collections coming out!

After seeing a few photos and videos of these decorative tapes in action, I knew I just had to have some. I think the first company that I ran across is called TapeSwell, a unique line of decorative packing tapes. You can easily dress up a plain old brown paper bag gift-wrap job with these (it’s an easy way to recycle – yippee!), or make a conversation starter for when you’re standing in line at the post office to mail the gift! But they’re not just for wrapping packages…you can put the tape on anything you want to dress up; glass, candles, picture frames, lampshades, gift bags, and they even suggest making headbands and necklaces out of the stuff! Check out their “Tacky Ideas” section on their website here! There are tons of great products and patterns, so I’ll shut up and let the pictures do the talking (I especially love their new holiday tapes, though!!).

Okay, I’m piping in again…how great are the containers that they come in?  You can buy the tape as a single roll, or in a combo pack as shown below.  I love those little tins!  Click on the pictures and you’ll be taken to that particular tape on their site.

These are their holiday patterns…

They even carry these adorable Holiday mailing labels on a roll.

And speaking of mailing labels, tape isn’t the only thing that they do.  Check out these Envelope Wraparounds (perfect for sending Christmas cards!).

But don’t let the tape limit you, check out these Tacky Ideas (I like the cards, especially!):

Now check out this video I found, via Daily Grommet.

Cute, right? There is really no limit to how easy it would be to dress up your packages, gifts, envelopes or anything else that you could think of! Prices range from about $7 – $20 depending on the combo that you buy, and I know a lot of people that spend more than that on wrapping paper every year!

I also want to point you over to Happy Tape – a website that distributes Japanese masking tape (Japanese because it’s made out of Japanese washi paper, which is a little different than traditional masking tape that we know and love).

Look how cute the tape looks, dressing up a plain cardboard pastry box.  And they also have ‘new’ holiday patterns in pretty metallics!

This is simply a package wrapped in tape, with a label attached at the seam.  Adorable!  I have to get some of this before the craft fairs come up…

And this is a garland, made with…what else? Tape!  Look at the little fruits on the table with toothpicks and tape flags…perfect for a baby or wedding shower as a placecard!

Single rolls start at $5.50, or you can buy 10-packs for $34.00.  I’d even scour eBay or Etsy to see if I could find some I haven’t heard of, and do a web search for more crafty ideas…you could make some crazy wall art with these for sure!  No painting, only taping, and at $5.50 or less for a roll it would be an easy and cheap project.  Just like I like it!

Happy wrapping, everyone!  xo, L.

{all images via TapeSwell or Happy Tape.}

Are you a stitcher?  Embroidery is becoming very popular and I’ve been noticing it more and more in home decor (and not just on throw pillows!).  Have you noticed this trend as much as I have?  Hanging an embroidery hoop is an easy way to fill an awkward space, and it is a great way to add some personalization to your decor.  I think the idea is just absolutely adorable, inexpensive to buy, and even more inexpensive and easy to DIY.  After seeing a lot of embroidery work, or embroidery hoop art around the web, a lot of the paths lead me here: Sublime Stitching.  I love their motto: “This ain’t your gramma’s embroidery!” They have the cutest (and edgiest) embroidery patterns, lots of how-to’s if you’re not sure how to get started with embroidery, and a shop for all of the tools you’d need to take up this easy-to-learn hobby.  I was clicking all around the site a few months ago, and I even bought one of their ‘Ultimate Embroidery Kits‘ with the intention of making some personalized art for my house, and a few Christmas gifts…well Christmas is only a month and a half away so we’ll have to see if I actually follow through. 

Not into stitching?  Try hanging an embroidery hoop stuffed (is that the right word?) with your favorite designer fabrics and you have an artful arrangement that makes you happy every time you see it.  I’m kicking myself for not buying a lot that I found on Etsy of various sizes of embroidery hoops…haven’t found another lot at such a value since!

I love this studio space, via Apartment Therapy.  The owner’s blog can be found here (called The Locker – she makes lovely fabric-and-paper cards in her Etsy shop).

Do you love the embroidery stitching look, but don’t want to stitch your own?  Well, fortunately there are a few sellers on Etsy that make them for you and they are amazing!  Here are a few that I’ve found that I’m sure you’ll love as much as I do.

This image above is via Green Wedding Shoes, and links to a post about giving these as a wedding gift, but the actual images are from an Etsy shop called Miniature Rhino where the owner will create a customized design for you!  How.  Stinkin’.  Sweet.

This is another piece from Miniature Rhino (I found the image at Lara Lewis’ blog here) but I don’t see it in the Miniature Rhino shop while I’m looking today.  Wouldn’t this be a great gift?  I’d keep checking her shop if you like it!  Stitching a constellation is a such a cute idea.

I really can’t get over this look – it’s like a parlor wall, where most people would arrange a huge wall of photos, but these hoops just make me smile!  I think a wall with both photos in frames and embroidery hoops would look amazing!  Image via Nea on Etsy. Below is a close-up of the little grey and green hoop on the bottom.

I love the grey and green branch.  This is Nea’s ‘Branch Wall Wear“.  I’ve had this one in my Etsy favorites for a while.

You can even put a chalkboard oilcloth in an embroidery hoop.  Love it!  Via Bliss in a Teacup on Etsy.

How about using fabric scraps in an embroidery hoop as a bulletin board?  Via Apartment Therapy.

Another example of mixing some cute patterns in an arrangement of hoops! Via Things I Like to Look At.

This is an image from the Etsy shop andwabisabi where you can buy this set of cross stitch patterns for $3.00, and you’ll get it practically immediately because it’s sent to your e-mail address as a PDF.  All you need is an embroidery hoop, some embroidery floss, a needle, a piece of fabric and a pattern, all of which can be attained very inexpensively and at any craft store or online shop like Sublime Stitching. I’m inspiring myself to pick my project back up and create some art for my wall!

How about you?  What do you think of embroidery or embroidery hoop wall art?  I, for one, am loving it and the handmade look that I’m digging right now.

I love my little white MacBook.  It’s 3 years old now, which is probably ancient in computer years, but I’m hoping that I can squeeze a few more years out of it.  I’m a self-taught PC convert, and I love all of the little details that Macs offer, and make my life a lot easier!  You can see my “Dock” below, and some of the most frequently used programs that I use.

I just want to say how much I love iWork, mainly because of how intuitive the programs are, and how versatile they are as well.  Pages is technically Apple’s word processing software, but it’s more like Word, Publisher and more rolled into one.  Numbers is the spreadsheet program (think Excel) but this is the program that I use to create e-decorating boards like this one:

Now how did I take a document that I created in Numbers and turn it into an image, which I saved in my Flickr account? Here’s how you do it on a Mac: File/Print/Click the PDF button, and there is an option that says “Save PDF to iPhoto” and it turns it into a .jpg and saves it in iPhoto.  This is a sample of something I was working on in Pages.

When I send a file to my clients, I convert whatever I’m working on, whether it’s a contract made in Pages, or a paint schedule made in Numbers, into a PDF.  I simply use the Print function here again and convert it to a PDF.

You can use the “Export” function as well, and this is how you convert to a Word doc, and it works well with multiple pages or sheets, but sometimes a header is missing or something, so I like to just print what I see.  If you also hit the “Preview” button, it converts it to a PDF to see how it will print, and you can save it from there as well.  Gotta love it!

Another great thing about Pages and Numbers is that it is also compatible with Microsoft documents (you can convert them so that PC users can read them, and you can open Word docs in Pages).  They think of everything…

Now I want to say that I am jealous of the interior design students who are still in school, because right after I graduated they incorporated a lot of great new classes into the program (I attended California State University, Chico – woot woot!!).  When I was there we did it all old-school; hand-drafting, hand-rendering, cutting out photos, gluing samples and creating large and multiple boards for each project.  We took an AutoCAD class (one class), but it wasn’t incorporated into our other classes.  We photographed our boards and created portfolios on the computer.  I’m trying to keep learning as much as I can, but I really loved being in school and love learning!  So keep that in mind while you view…my…portfolio.    And remember, I created EVERYTHING in Numbers…even my logo.  Enjoy!!

Numbers and Pages are great because you can save a page as a template, which is exactly what I did here to add pages to my portfolio.

I love the “Alpha” tool.  It removes backgrounds…just like Photoshop.  You click on the color that you want to remove, move your mouse outward, and it will find anything that color and remove it.  I completely removed Glenn from a picture using that tool when I needed a good picture of me for a mailer that I made, ha!

If you notice my samples (tile, paint, fabrics, etc.), you can easily make them all the same size by “masking.”  Masking is like cropping, but instead of deleting the part of the image you remove, it’s just ‘masked.’  That’s nice if you need to make changes, plus you can drag the image to show what parts you want to show instead of moving every single side like cropping.

You might notice that I also added shadows to give the pages a little more depth.

Pages and Numbers also has those cute photo frames, making the image look like a paper photo with the edges curled up.

I also love the color tools…just simply take the eyedropper to choose EXACTLY what color you want something to be.  For instance, on my e-decorating boards, I make a paint ‘splatter’ using a font (‘A’ looks like one paint splatter, ‘B’ looks like another, etc.), and then I make that ‘letter’ (paint splatter) the color from the Benjamin Moore paint website.  So great to show paint colors!!

You can also adjust image colors right in Pages and Numbers.  Very, very helpful.

These programs make it very easy to line images up, center them, straighten them…they really are very intuitive and all-in-one.

One thing that I did get a little experience with before I graduated was sustainability and education about eco-friendly design practices.  Now you can major in Sustainability!

This was my first attempt at SketchUp.    I love SketchUp and would love to learn more about it – I’ve seen some amazing SketchUp projects!!

And the end page…hand drawn by me!

So there you have it – the products I like to use.  I like to think that I use them a little creatively, but because they are so easy to use I can’t help it!  If you have any questions, I’d love to answer them for you…leave a question in the comments and don’t forget to check back or e-mail me at lindsay@lindsaychristensendesign.com.

xo, L.

I am all about short-cuts and simple tools for real people. And with all of the options out there, you can find some really easy products that don’t have to cost an arm and a leg. I have used Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, AutoCAD, etc. but as a small business owner living in a small town, buying the expensive professional version for my own use isn’t always an option. Plus I have to stick with my 3 year old MacBook for now so even if I did buy a big, fancy software program, my poor little computer probably just couldn’t handle it anyway!!

I get asked a lot about what programs and software I use, so I thought that I’d run through a few that I like, and share some tips and tricks that have helped my work look like I own a bunch of fancy programs! If you’re curious, I use a Kodak EasyShare Z1012 IS. It’s not a point-and-shoot, but it’s not an SLR, either. It’s in between (I think it’s called an advanced point-and-shoot). It takes high resolution photos and HD video, and it has some manual features for advanced picture taking (that I haven’t really figured out yet), and you can take panoramic photos by stitching photos together, so it works great for what I need it for.  Plus my photo editing programs that I use help me out as well.

First up is Flickr. This isn’t technically software, it’s a photo storage and sharing site through Yahoo, but I host a lot of my photos and images here so that I can free up space on my hard drive and on my blog. Plus it makes it easy to organize them and retrieve them, no matter what computer I’m on. I purchased a ‘pro’ account for $24.95/year, and it gives you unlimited storage, account stats, and HD video storage.  Flickr rocks!  You can find some really great eye candy on there as well!

I use a variety of different photo editing programs, depending on what I need them for.  I download them from my camera into iPhoto. From there I can easily organize them, uploading them to Flickr, or wherever I need them to go. If I need to make a collage, like the one below, I like to use Picasa. Picasa automatically imports my pictures from iPhoto, so it makes it very simple to gather them for a pretty collage.

I do most of my photo editing in Picnik. This is an online application that you can easily add some cool effects to, and it allows you to link to you Flickr, Facebook, MySpace, or you can even grab a photo from a website. If you have a Flickr account, just hit “edit” on the photo that you want to edit and it will take you to ‘Picnik Mode.’ From here you can crop, resize, add effects, text, frames, etc. They actually have some pretty fun Halloween features, so I’m excited to see what they come up with for the holidays. You are limited with what you can do using their free version, and this is another account that I splurged a little on because I like what you can do with it. Not really a splurge at $24.95 a year, though. Check it out.

This is a photo that I took when we went to Costa Rica this past April. I’ve edited it a few times using Picnik features, and they’re all pretty darn fun! You’ll see what I mean.  Here is the original photo:

This effect is called “Fancy Focus.” See how I chose the central flower to be in focus, and it made the rest blurry? That’s my favorite effect that you usually need a fancy lens for. Now you can DIY!  It looks great with photos of faces.

I like this one, too…I don’t know why I’d use it, but I like it.

This one is called 1960′s. It even rounds the corners for you.

This effect is called Holga-ish. Again, I’m not really sure why it’s named what it’s named, but I like how it makes the photo look dark and moody.

I know I could easily google these names (this effect is called Lomo-ish), but I’m really more interested in how they look than how they’re named. I like how it saturates the colors and plays with the contrast.  Let me know if you know who Lomo and Holga are.

Here is a cool one – Focal Black and White. You choose where you want the color to stay, and the rest is converted into black and white.

Finally! A name that matches the effect. This one is ‘Gritty.’ Isn’t it cool?

And here we have ‘Orton-ish.’ Very nice.

I really like all of the effects that are available by the click of a button in your web browser.  Picnik is what I used to edit my cupcake topper photos for my Etsy shop.

This is just a small sample of what you can do with Picnik.  I’m sure you diehard Photoshoppers out there know of many more cool effects to use, and know of the advantages of Photoshop over simpler software, but I think that programs like this can help us Etsy shop owners make our listings look a little prettier!

Tomorrow I want to talk about how I use iPhoto along with other iWork tools (Pages and Numbers) to create graphic projects.  Instead of purchasing Illustrator and InDesign, which was recommended in my Portfolio class in design school, I created the entire thing in Numbers.    Stay tuned for that, plus I’ll post my actual portfolio from school – yikes!!

xo, L.