Bauble Bar Pop-Up Shop in Soho

Have you been to Bauble Bar's pop-up shop in Soho yet? Before wedding madness took over I had a chance to stop by last month to take a peep at the online e-tailer's spacious set-up on Greene Street.

Whether you're looking for that great statement necklace or just some every day essential, there's a lot to covet at at the pop-up. If you have questions about buying costume jewelry online, this is your perfect chance if you're in the NYC area to see the goods in person. The pop-up shop will be featuring the same items that are available online through August 13, 2013. 

In addition to jewelry, there are a number of fun events happening and the next one features one of our favorite crafty ladies, Jenni Radosevich of I Spy DIY. So if you're around this Wednesday, July 17th, stop by for a chance to DIY with Jenni, sip Godiva cocktails and receive a complimentary leather pouch for attending. Just make sure you RSVP to rsvp@rmo-weatherly.com.

If you can't make the event, the pop-up is open Monday-Saturday 10am-8pm and Sundays 11am-7pm.

Super Easy Healthy Banana Oat Cookies

Cookies have been food group that I've had to severely reduce since I began cutting gluten, dairy and eggs out of my life. Seriously, I think countless friends have told me that I've lost a lot of weight, and it's not that I am eating less, but I am eating less in terms of baked goods. When I can get it though, I've always appreciated Babycakes Bakery's cupcake tops and cookie sandwiches as well as Enjoy Life's Snickerdoodles in the grocery aisle.

So when a friend told me at a recent get together that we were going to make sugar free, butter free, egg free, gluten free cookies, I had my doubts. Have you ever made a recipe from Pinterest? I guess there is always a first time for everything. I tried on 2 occasions with slightly different sets of ingredients and quickly learned what works best. These aren't cookies in the traditional sense, they are a bit more like dessert bars, but still tasty nonetheless.
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Tips:
*Use very ripe bananas, the more brown spots the better.
*Use quick oats. You can use gluten-free rolled oats, but quick oats works so much better. Since I'm not celiac, and I couldn't find GF quick oats, I just used regular quick oats, but they exist :)
*Mini chocolate chips work better than the chunks
*Not necessary but if you want a bit of a richer flavor, add a teaspoon and a half of melted coconut oil to your batter. You won't be sorry.

Pretty much the base recipe goes:
2 bananas
1 cup of quick oats

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet (don't skimp or your cookies will get stuck). Mash the ingredients together and add any mix-ins. Spoon tablespoons of your mixture onto your cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes until firm and lightly browned on the edges.

DIY: Lady Mary Crawley Inspired Wedding Tiara

There is no bones about it, I am a huge Downton Abbey fan. Ever since I first entered the world of the Crawley's I have admired the style and poise of all of the "Lady's". Naturally when their weddings aired earlier this year for all of the world to see, I couldn't resist admiring Lady Mary's bejeweled tiara that weighed in at 45 carats and cost about $200,000. Being a bride on a budget, that tiara was most definitely out of my price range, however I could not shake the lovely laurels from my head. Thankfully I happened to stumble upon this laurel brooch while browsing eBay and I found myself an affordable solution. I ended up ordering 2 brooches and a pack of 10x5 Navettes on eBay, buying myself a comb in a craft store and some super powerful glue (E6000) and seeing what I could do with a little bit of grosgrain. All in all, I think I spent under $20 for my own laurel wedding tiara. While it's not as large or bold as Lady Mary Crawley's I think I still get to have a little touch of Downton on my special day.

The pieces I ordered on eBay were actually brooches, so the first thing I did was snap off the backing by pushing in on the brooch pin and pulling back and forth a couple of times.

DIY: Custom Wedding Signage

A couple weekends ago I wandered into an art supply store with Jeff because he had a plan to make a Jackson Pollock inspired painting. While looking around the shelves I saw some super affordable wood board panels called "Birch Board", so I picked up a 5 different sized pieces and some acrylic craft paint all for the grand total of $16.89 with the grand ambition to make some cute a cheerful wedding signage the likes of which I've been seeing on Pinterest.

Unfortunately I failed to pick up a decent paint brush and after some failed attempts to paint signs with a terrible paint brush, I decided to help Jeff splatter his painting instead. Fortunately this past weekend I found a couple of better paint brushes at home and I took a second go at painting. I used some nylon bristle size "0" and "4" brushes along with Navy Blue and Silver paints for some signs that I am very excited to have at my wedding.

DIY: Pollock Inspired Painting

I've been meaning to fill up some of the empty wall space in my room with a DIY painting but winter put a damper on my plans...until this weekend!  The weather was amazing so I decided to hit up my local art store to pick up some supplies.  I'm by no means a painter (I'm an accountant for Pete's sake!) so if I can do it - anyone can.  Seriously.  This is a super fast project and a bajillion times cheaper  (that's my official numerical accountant talk here) than buying a "real" painting or a large print at somewhere like Ikea.

DIY Polka Dot Nails

Polka Dot Nails are an easy fun way to bring some whimsy and attitude to your nails. You don't need an expensive dotting tool, all you need is a pin and a piece of paper.

First choose 2 contrasting shades of nail polish, one for the base and one for the dot.  After applying base coat, apply 2 coats of the color for the base.

Place a little dot of the contrast color nail polish on a piece of paper (I tend to use an old piece of mail or a business card I don't need anymore). Carefully dipping the end of your pin into the contrast shade place dots on your nail as desired.  If the contrast nail polish starts getting too thick, you can just place a new dot and continue for both hands.

Once nail polish has set, finish off with a clear top coat.  Voila - polka dot nails to take you on your way.

DIY Matthew Williamson Pom Pom Bracelet

Matthew Williamson Bracelet Left, DIY Version Right

The Matthew Williamson Pom Pom Bracelet is pure fun with it's vivid neon colors and dangling pom poms.  Upon closer examination I realized that if I could find the right trim, it wouldn't be too difficult to re-create the look for myself for a fraction of the price.  I simplified the way the cord is added to the chain to make life easier but the end result doesn't look too far off from the original.

Supplies:
1 Yard of Brightly colored cord - I used satin Rattail, but you could also use elastic cord
6" or so of heavy chain - depending on your wrist size
6" or so of pom pom trim 
Approximately 21 Medium Sized Jump Rings - I used size 0.8 x 8
1 Lobster Clasp + 1 Larger Size Jump Ring as your closure
2 Pairs of Flat Nose Pliers
Scissors


I picked up the cord and pom poms from Daytona Trimming
Jewelry Supplies and Chain I picked up at Toho Shoji

DIY: Re-Upholstering Chair Cushions

A little while ago I shared my recent addiction to making over my living room.  I’ve been busy as a bee whenever I get a spare moment sanding, painting and finishing furniture I have to take it from a random assortment of furniture that I ended up acquiring into a home.  Now that my furniture was nicely painted in burgundy I decided that I had to get some new fabric to liven up the look.  I went to several fabric stores in NYC before deciding that Mood seemed to have the best selection of upholstery/home dec fabrics I could find - the entire lower floor for that matter.

I brought my color swatches and took pictures with my phone to remember what the print would like like and got swatches to bring home and make sure that it still looked good before purchasing the fabric. The fabric I originally chose ended up not looking like the correct shade of grey once I saw it against my table and I went back to the drawing board before finding this retro geometric print that I loved.  Since most of my furniture in the apartment is solid, a print is great compliment to add life and character to your furnishings.

I bought 1 1/2 yards of fabric just to be on the safe side but I probably could have done fine with 1 1/4 yards.

Tools you'll need:
1 1/2 yards of fabric - depending on the size of your seat cushions
Screwdriver
Heavy Duty Flat Staple Remover
Pliers
Safety Glasses (I actually just wore eye glasses)
Heavy Duty Staple Gun
Heavy Duty Staples
Pen/marker/chalk
Sharp Scissors

The first thing I did was remove the cushions from the chair frame using a screw driver.

Then using a staple remover, gently slide the remover under the staple and I found that a slight wiggle helps loosen the staples to pull them up.  If only one end of the staple comes out, you can use pliers to easily pull the other end out.  There were a couple staples that brute force couldn't muster out so I just left them in the chair.

My chairs were previously covered in 2 layers of fabric and starting to get really thick so I pulled both layers off and used the original fabric covering as a pattern for cutting out my new fabric.  If desired you can iron out the fabric so it's nice and flat (but I didn't bother).  Now carefully trace out the pattern from the old covering with a pen/chalk and trace out as many as the number of chairs you are covering.

Cut out the traced patterns using sharp scissors and center the chair seats against the wrong side of the fabric.


Carefully place pins as you center the seat in the fabric with a gentle relaxed but firm pull.  Do not pull too tight or you will get puckering.  Once your fabric has been placed you can use the staple gun to staple down the fabric.  I started at the centers of all four sides for even distribution of fabric and worked my way outwards.



When you get to the corners pull gently as you carefully fold the edges to wrap the corners - kind of like wrapping a present before securing with staples.

After months of re-painting, sanding and finding the perfect fabric I was so excited to see the finished results!  At last a room to call my own...now to tackle my next furniture project!

DIY: Waxed TOMS

I've been wanting to wax some of my shoes forever - but never wanted to deal with the mess of melting wax....until I came across a wax in a bar format (no heating/melting required) called Otter Wax. After scanning their blog I noticed a post that showcased The Coveted doing a DIY on a pair of jeans which would also be a great project! (click here to check out the video if you're interested in trying this out on a pair of jeans)

If you know me, you know that I love TOMS for their comfort and philanthropy - and since they're canvas, I thought they would be perfect for this project.

DIY: Basic Wedding Veil - Under $10

I recently posted about how to DIY a Birdcage Wedding Veil since my bridesmaid duties recently put my crafting skills into work.  I had no idea that wedding veils were so expensive and we ended up making one for under $10 - the tulle was about $7 on sale and the comb was about $1.50. It was fairly easy and much faster than I  anticipated so it’s perfect for those Brides-to-be’s on a budget!  Since my friend the bride-to-be wanted a classic wedding veil for the ceremony and a birdcage veil for the reception we experimented with tulle until we got exactly the right proportions she was looking for.  Please note that this veil was not made to cover the face.

Materials:
2 yards soft tulle (I used 96” wide tulle so I would have a lot to play with but we trimmed it down a lot)
Sharp scissors or a rotary cutter and board
Ruler
1 Comb
Needle and Thread
Decorative Touches (Flower/Ribbon)

DIY Birdcage Wedding Veil

So one of my closest friends is getting married next year and since I am probably the most craft-y person in her bridal party I volunteered my services to help her make 2 DIY projects – 1st the Birdcage Veil, 2nd a more traditional tulle veil.  Since I’ve never made any veil before I looked at OnceWed.com for basic directions and made a couple of modifications as I went.

Materials:

1/2 yard of 9” wide Russian Veiling – You can buy this on Etsy or at specialty fabric stores like Mood

1 sheet of felt (cut into 2 4”x4” squares) – we used a navy blue to be her “something blue”

Needle & Thread

2 Small Hat Combs – Purchased from Etsy

Scissors

Fabric Glue

Measuring Tape

Silk Flowers and anything else you might want to add

The first thing I did was cut 2 hearts out of the 4”x4” squares of felt that are the same shape. 1 will serve as extra stability and to cover up any unattractive stitches later on.

Cut a 14” piece of the veil (you can add an inch or 2 for fullness).  Cut the veiling right above the little knots where the “X” of the veiling comes together.

With a needle make a running stitch through one of the cut ends of the veiling and secure to the felt.

Repeat on the other side.

You can make a running stitch through the finished upper edge of the veil to gather in the fabric and tack the edge to the felt heart.  Place the heart on your head in the mirror to determine if you like the positioning of the veiling and re-distribute and add more tacks as necessary.

On the other felt heart secure the hat combs with needle and thread.  I angled them to help ensure they will stay in place on the big day.  Put this aside for the time being.

We found our flowers at Walmart and they were slightly too big so we removed some of the petals to make them the desired size.

Arrange the flowers on the veil and pin them in place.  Make sure you try it on to make sure they are in the ideal location.  Using needle and thread or fabric glue you can secure the flowers into place.  I personally felt safer using needle and thread to make sure it wouldn’t easily come apart. Using fabric glue or needle and thread attach the other heart that has the combs attached into place.

Voila! Check out the finished product.  We may add some additional accent flowers as the big day approaches and the wedding décor has been nailed down but for now we kept it simple.