(I literally wore the outfit translation of this room today. Im going to show you later!) 

I obviously picked all the ones I liked the best, but they had a much larger variety with a bunch of styles… not just these bold geometrics.

So all of you people that claim you rent and can’t wallpaper, DO THIS! Its so cheap($35 per stencil)  and cool, and if you screw it up, you can just paint over it.

I really would love to do this somewhere, but WHERE? I may have a tiny little wall that I could do it on in my kitchen. OR, I could scrap the hummingbird paper in the kids room and do this in a white/aqua combo.

Another idea, is to take the stencil and do something more intricate, like this:

This is wallpaper by the Paris based  company called Minakani Walls.  It’s obviously much MORE intense than the stenciled walls, but you could take the stencil and fill in each triangle in its own color. You could also do it on a background of something other than white.

These are just ideas… now lets see what we all do with them. Someone do this and report back to me please!

In the meantime, I’ll think of a project I can do. Even using these for Ikea Hacking would be amazing!

I’ll keep you posted- have a great day!

Aight, so this is one of my best creations ever. As you know, I got a new Fuji x100 for Chanukah. Amazing little vintage looking babe of a camera. I also bought the brown leather case it came with… which is also gorgeous, but I was eh on the strap. My husband actually gave me the idea to make one. Obviously, I hit M&J, and the strap was as good as done. Once you have all the supplies, this couldn’t be easier to make! When I saw the green and red stripe, I obviously thought: VINTAGE GUCCI! Yum, yum, yum…

You need:

1.5 yards of striped webbing… thats what the thick canvas strap part is called.

2 swivel closures -if the bottom of the clasps aren’t wide enough for your webbing, you also need

2 D-rings, I found amazing leather covered ones

2 buckles

Glue, sewing machine, or iron on hem.

(A lot of these items are available in store only or by emailing info@mjtrim.com)

Instructions:

First you thread the buckle onto the webbing, then you thread that through the D-Ring to which you have attached the clasp. After that you thread the webbing back through the buckle, underneath the first piece. Sounds complicated, but I promise when you are in the moment its obvious. Then you glue/sew or use iron on stitches to secure the end piece of the webbing back over the edge of the buckle onto itself. NOT onto the long part that goes around your neck because then you won’t be able to adjust it. And thats it. The whole thing takes 5 minutes.

The reason why you can use glue here, is because the webbing and buckle are so secure that even if the glue did open, the camera wouldn’t fall. We are just using the glue to hold the end down… You could also take it to the shoemaker and have them sew it for you.

(Thanks to Courtney of Breaking Down the Big Beige Box, for modeling for me! PS, she is so beautiful, look for more photos of her showing off my shit in the future. And guess how we took these photos? The Brown leather camera case is empty cause I needed it for the photos! )

I also made one with a raffia band, for summer, or you know, when you are on safari and stuff.

Even if you are a novice DIYer, this one is easy, manageable and professional looking when finished! ENJOY!

Anyway, this dog leash was made back in the day, before I was allergic to him and Baci was MY DOG. I’ve had it sitting around for years, and I finally decided to post it. I took it apart a little bit so that I could show you all how to make it. It looks super high end in person, like Bottega Veneta.

Sources: Cord, tape, clasp.

I borrowed Truffles, my friend’s french bulldog for a little demo:

She was a great model! And how cute are her owners little rain boots with the bows?

Enjoy your pets people! You never know when a horrific allergy is going to spring upon you out of nowhere. Boo.

When I saw these rings over on JewelMint’s site, I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do with them… An Alexander McQueen style clutch. Those famous clutches have knuckledusters attached to a demure hard bag that almost looks like a sunglasses case. The rings are adorned with skulls.

Our bag, references that…first in that we are using rings as a handle for a bag and second in that they look kind of skeletal in an I’m a tin man kinda way. I love the idea of the acrylic box as purse… this DIY is so easy, and its super cheeky and fun…

Basically, you start with an acrylic box from the container store. Then you just position the rings, use a glue gun, E6000 or liquid nails to secure it, and hold it in place until it dries. Et Voila! In the past, I’ve drilled into lucite boxes to make clutches, but there was no way to drill into these… I tried!

Hope you enjoyed this, it sure was fun to make! Thank you to JewelMint for the fabulous products!

So first I spray painted them black. I had a moment when I wanted to keep them all black. But then they were too dark… So after they dried, I scrubbed the paint off parts of the earrings… thus giving them that brushed and burnished look. Truth be told, they looked awesome as is, and can definitely be worn that way… But I then decided to use a scrap of luggage colored leather to back the earring. To me… the look is very Ralph Lauren goes home for the holidays… you know? And the best part is… you can take that piece off any time (because all you did was poke the back of the earring through the leather) AND you can use multiple colored leathers to change up the look! (When they are on the ear the earring is centered on the leather. When you lay them down, it doesn’t look centered because the post is sticking up… FYI.)

(The look: Ralph Lauren goes home for the holidays?)

So at first I wasn’t sure if this was a good project… But I wore the earrings out to my friends secret santa last night. I didn’t tell anyone that I made them and I just didn’t say anything about them at all…. Lo and behold, ALL THE GIRLS NOTICED THEM AND LOVED THEM! They even put in requests that I make them a pair! Tomorrow I am going to show you how awesome they look on. (When there is someone around to take a photo of me!) For now, enjoy the DIY. Its so easy and you can totally do this to any pair of faux diamond earrings… I think Im going to try this on a pair of studs too…

A big thanks to JewelMint for sending over the products!

I am so super excited about a week long collaboration with the amazingly cool company JewelMint. In case you don’t know, JewelMint is your all access pass to the latest in cool  and affordable jewelry… Kate Bosworth and stylist Cher Coulter scour everything from vintage shops, runways and style blogs to come up with the coolest and latest in amazingly awesome jewelry.

You sign up, do a little “style diagnostic” and viola- your jewelry personality type is chosen and pieces are hand picked for you. And the best part is – its really affordable only $29.99 for each piece.

Sooo… You know I am super pumped that JewelMint and its sister company StyleMint asked me  to use some of their latest products in a few DIY’s, and of course, offer you, my dear, darling, beloved, never ever mean to me readers a few giveaways while we are at it!

In addition, Sketch42 readers will be able to purchase one JewelMint product for 50% off HERE with the promo code “SKETCH”!  I’m making some awesome pieces with the stuff they sent me! Cant wait to show you…

Looking forward to a week of fun with you all!

I actually found throwing pots to be a very therapeutic and fun thing to do. But… the class was all the way downtown, during the evenings, and so I just did one 10 week session.

Anyhoo- this was one of the first little bowls I made. And I finished it, it a white matte paint… I’ve had this bowl, and the few others I made floating around the apartment for years. Well, yesterday I got the idea that this bowl needed balls attached to it. Black balls. So I busted out the clay I had on hand… yes I had modeling clay in my apartment ready to go. AND my home supply of paint (yes I keep some small tubes of paint at home for emergencies like these) and I made little balls of clay, let them harden, painted them black and then kind of mashed them onto the bowl. Jury is out on weather or not they will fall off when they dry completely. If they do, I’m prepared to glue them.

Side note: my husband thought I painted blueberries. I thought they looked more like poop.

Sooo, many of you will not be making your own bowl, but you could obviously do this with a store bought bowl. I am going to make a massive version of this very soon… wait and see.

In other DIY news, my painted orb is home and its a damn masterpiece…. if I do say so myself.

I usually like BIG things to make a big impact, but this little dude is packing plenty of punch for its size. (See the DIY HERE.)

I love how it plays off the painting near it:

Whoops, painting has no color in that picture.

I just got a new camera from el hubbo for Chanukah. Its a beauty too. The Fuji x 100. Amazing camera, but its hard to use and Im still figuring it out. I spent all weekend playing with it…it took me a REALLY long time to figure out how to take a single non blurry picture!

Anyway… have a great day everyone! Happy DIYing!

It was inspired by the ceramic sculptures I saw at the Elle Decor Showhouse in Miami by Reinaldo Sanguino. Obviously, I went in a little bit of a different direction here… but the idea of a painted orb somewhere in my house was not letting me rest.

Soooo:

In my dreams, paint dries instantly and I can take photos with this piece already in my apartment. In reality, this thing needs a good 2-3 days.

So…. blah blah blah. I like to put paint on stuff.

Hi, my name is Nicole, and Im a paint-aholic. What’s new with you?

While in Miami, I also hit up Design Miami, a sister fair, comprised mainly of furniture and housed in a tent across from Art Basel. I was OBSESSED with this gallery’s booth. So many good ideas here. 1. Cover everything in sheepskin.  2. That corner is amazing. Someone try that at home and let me know how it goes, will ya?

Cabinet by RAFAEL DE CÁRDENAS - HULK

RICKY CLIFTON Sofa and chairs. Inspired by Ancient Egyptian Campaign Furniture. 

RICKY CLIFTON - PAPER TILE WALLPAPER From Box Project

One Hundred and Twenty- five Sheets of Paper Tile Wallpaper Paper, Paint. ($2,500 EACH TILE!)

Learn more about the Johnson Trading Gallery HERE.

Photos by me, and via JohnsonTradingGallery.com

No prob, I said. I love a good dye job. DUH. Am I not the go to girl for making a mess and attaining plumber-looking hands for the  next week or so? Yes, why yes I am.

I also had a pair of simple pointy toe pumps, literally older than my marriage, that had been destroyed by the streets of NYC. So, I picked up some RIT Dye, she brought over the shoes, we ordered in dinner and voila! New shoes for us both!

So this is what we did: You follow the package on the RIT dye for dying on a stove.(You can read them HERE too) You mix the packet with water, a tablespoon of detergent and a cup of salt. You let it simmer. At first, we painted and sponged on layers of dye onto the shoes, but when that just wasn’t doing it for us… it wasn’t covering the stains, we submerged them in the pot and went to eat dinner. Hence the “boil boil, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble” photos!

20 minutes later we rinsed them off and repeated the process. (You can leave them with the dye on them for as long as you want. The longer you leave the color to sit, and the longer you leave the dye on the shoes before rinsing, the stronger the color will be.)

And there you have it! Giving old shoes new life with a little bit of dye. And also anticipated that less than 6″ pointy toe pumps will be in again. And soon.

For Casey’s green shoes we used a combination of Kelly Green, Teal and Denim Blue dye. For my red shoes we used Wine colored dye. You can see that my shoes still aren’t perfect. Methinks they need another round in the old witch’s cauldron….

Also, we had TONS of extra dye laying around… You know I can’t waste some good dye, so I took the opportunity to make a scarf. Stay tuned for the reveal in the next post!