Future Momo Jewelry

Dorm Decor: Remake Your Space with More than 35 Projects review

Dorm Decor: Remake Your Space with More than 35 Projects
by Theresa Gonzalez and Nicole Smith

Published by Chronicle Books
$19.95

I received a copy of the fabulous Dorm Decor from Chronicle Books recently to review on CraftGossip and was instantly excited by the fantastic projects inside.  Chronicle Books is well known for excellent designs and clear layouts of its books and Dorm Decor does not disappoint!  The fun, colorful projects are a great antidote to boring dorm rooms!

Dorm Decor is divided into five sections: Where you sleep; Where you dress; Where you study; Where you hang out; and Where you wash.  Each section has anywhere from five to eleven projects.  Some sample projects include a reversible duvet cover, monogram shams, hanging closet organizer, embroidery hoop photo mobile, fleece robe, and embellished towels.   Several of the projects have little to no sewing required for those not handy with a sewing machine.  The projects are cleverly divided into skill levels that are reminiscent of college courses, like 101 for Freshman and the easiest in skill level.

The book also gives suggestions on room arrangements, sewing basics, choosing fabrics and a fabric care guide, which is perfect for those new to being on their own and perhaps doing the laundry on their own for the first time.  There are also tips on ironing and a glossary on sewing terms for beginners.

Although the book is clearly geared toward college students living in a dorm room setting, some of the projects would also be great for those with a youthful, modern decor and skilled crafters who can adapt the projects to their own tastes and personal style.   The silhouette message board and tufted seat cushion are just two projects that anyone can adapt for suit their own style.

Pick up this book on Chronicle Books' own website, your favorite local bookstore, or Amazon.

See the CraftGossip review here.

Happy Memorial Day

I hope you are having a warm, wonderful Memorial Day weekend!  It's freezing here in San Francisco, but I am enjoying it anyway!

Strawberry shortcake soap

Just listed on Etsy - strawberry shortcake soap!  This soap smells of juicy strawberries, fresh whipped cream, and sweet shortcake!  

Please check it out here.  

And even more Vancouver

While in Vancouver, I couldn't pass up the chance to visit the botanical gardens on the Univ. of British Columbia campus.  Being the botany geek that I am, I always love visiting botanical gardens whenever I visit a new place.  

I got a bit lost on the way to the gardens because there were no signs, and I ended up wandering around for a half hour until I finally found someone on the street to help me find it.  I had gotten turned around when I got off the bus, so I set off in the totally wrong direction! 

I thought this fern was beautiful and the shapes reminded me of seahorses.

The garden is divided into two main parts - a giant Asian garden and then a separate section that has native British Columbia plants, a food garden, medicinal plants and an Alpine garden.

I spent most of the time wandering around the Asian part of the garden, which didn't look very stereotypically Asian, but was beautiful in its own way.

Hmmm..... If only I drank beer!

I thought the remnants of this leaf was beautiful

A giant stump, with the pretty little seahorse like ferns...

There were some very interesting flowers growing there!

I loved the way this tree looked

And this one too...

This is in the lily plant family.  It sort of looks like a giant cabbage with a peace lily growing out of it!

I loved the lines and curves on these leaves.  They were giant and so shiny that they caught my eye while walking under the trees when the sunlight shone on them.

I have more pictures from the beautiful medicinal garden that I will share another day.

After the gardens, I went over to the Kitsilano neighborhood for some shopping.   "Kits" is a very fun, youthful area with lots of cafes, shops, vintage and consignment shops, restaurants and yoga studios.  

I had lunch at a delicious and incredibly popular cafe called Coco et Olive.  I had a yummy veggie panini and some of their cookies (picture from Coco et Olive website)

They had a very interesting panini made of brie and raspberry jam, but it was all sold out by the time I got there, so I must remember to look up a similar recipe online.

After lunch, I just strolled around and shopped.  I didn't buy too much, but I did wander into a fun store called Step Back, which was filled with lots of vintage goodies and new products with a vintage touch.  There were lots of cute little things, but it seems like everything I wanted was too heavy to carry!  A very cute store though.  

Everyone in all the shops were really nice and most thought I lived in Vancouver because they were asking me about Victoria Day, but whenever I told them I was from San Francisco, they were surprised that I would be visiting Vancouver and would ask me questions about San Francisco.  When I told them just how short of a flight it was, I think I made a lot of people want to visit!  All in all, it was a nice area to wander around in.

Vancouver part two

I was only in Vancouver for a few days, but it seems like I did and saw so much!  One day, I headed to the Vancouver Aquarium because I heard it was great and I love aquariums. 



It certainly didn't disappoint me!  There was so much to see and they even had an outdoor area.


There was a tropical area with pretty corals, anemones and tropical fish and other animals



and a rainforest with birds, sloths (which were hiding) and

I think snakes and other reptiles are really pretty - when they're separated from me by glass!


This is called an axolotl and I hadn't heard of it before, but it was really interesting to watch.  It is a Mexican salamander and it is critically endangered.  It's also been eaten as a delicacy since the time of the Aztecs.  I'm not sure I would ever want to eat one of these, but it was fun to watch!

They also had an amazing jellyfish section


I could watch jellyfish all day.  They are so hypnotic.


These were some of my favorites...



They also had beluga whales


They had some otters too, which I think are adorable, but they were hidden away so their tank could get cleaned. 

After the aquarium, I set out to explore Stanley Park, an enormous park at the tip of downtown Vancouver and where the aquarium is.  I started out walking along the famous seawall, which runs around the entire perimeter of the park


I made it 2 kilometers to the totem poles they have there


After the totem poles, I decided to head back to downtown, and was happy to discover the seawall kept going out of the park too, making a very pretty walk.

I "met" two little duck families



They had absolutely no fear of humans!  People were jogging and walking by and they just kept walking along....




I kept on walking until I got to Canada Place, a convention center and cruise ship terminal.   It's built to look like it's a ship too.


And I saw a float plane flying in.

I don't think I would want to fly on one of these!

Then I wandered around Gastown, the oldest area of Vancouver.  Apparently, the city tore down a lot of its historical buildings back in the 1960s and 1970s and Gastown is one of the few areas with historical buildings.  It was a mix of fun, trendy boutiques and bars and tourist shops.


The steam clock is one of the most famous tourist attractions, so I gave in and took a picture!  It was a really cute area. 

Vancouver!

I have finally been able to start editing some of the pictures from my short trip to Vancouver last week.  I went up from Tuesday to Saturday just to get away from San Francisco for a bit.  I discovered that Vancouver is only a two hour flight away, which makes it a great easy getaway even though you do have to go through customs.  

Vancouver is a very green city, with lots of parks and trees and flowers all over.  

There were tulips everywhere - and I mean everywhere!  All different colors and color combinations.  I love tulips so it was great to see them all over.

They had these eagles as public art throughout a lot of downtown.  I think each was painted by a different artist.  

This was on a Blockbuster Video in the Kitsilano neighborhood!

This was in a park across from English Bay on Bidwell Street

The view from English Bay, a beach in the West End area that has great views.  But, as you can see, it was a little overcast that day and not too many people at the beach!

I thought it was really funny to see Obama written in the sidewalk in Canada!

I visited a little park called Heritage Square with a couple of Victorians around it



This is Roedde House.  I hate to be biased, but I like San Francisco's victorian houses a bit more than these!  But Vancouver doesn't have too many historical houses left, so at least they have these!

I headed over to Granville Island to see the famous public market and all the galleries

 

 

There were cute houseboats....

 

 

The view of downtown from the island.  There are a lot of giant glass tower apartment buildings!

Granville Island was a really cute place and I spent most of the afternoon wandering around.  The public market was interesting and had a food court, arts and crafts vendors, and also lots of food vendors.  I went a little touristy and bought lots of maple flavored things, plus salmon jerky as gifts (pics soon).

I ate at Bin 941 my first night, a popular tapas restaurant downtown and tried the Kettle Valley wine, made in Canada.  Both the food and the wine were pretty good!  

Okay, more pics coming soon!

I'm still alive!

I just got back from a short trip to Vancouver and came back with a cold and a sinus infection, so editing and posting my pictures is taking a bit longer than I had hoped!  It was a fun trip and a nice city and I am thinking about going back and visiting more of the surrounding area, like Whistler and Victoria.    Pictures coming soon!

On the trip, I read this great book

 

It's a young adult book, but a great, fun read.  I've been a fan of Neil Gaiman for years and this one didn't disappoint! 

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all your mommies out there.  I went with my own mom (and dad) to Sausalito today for lunch.  Sausalito is just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, but it feels like another world.  It's very small, with tiny, narrow streets and not a lot of stop signs or signals, but gets very crowded in warm weather, thanks to its beautiful sea wall walk.  It's also a very affluent place to live, with beautiful houses perched on stilts on the hills. 

Here you can see San Francisco off in the distance.  The bridge to the left is the Bay Bridge over to Oakland, Berkeley, and the rest of the East Bay.

It was beautiful out today and there were lots of boats out in the bay.  Sausalito is a popular place for marinas and houseboats....

I thought these painted houseboat mailboxes were really fun and pretty.

And this decorated car across the street from these mailboxes was really funny.

We had lunch at one of the little restaurants on the main street, walked along the bay and then headed back.  Sausalito is cute, but there wasn't too much to see but galleries so my mom decided it was time to leave.  Still, a fun little outing to a city I have only been to 3 times ever!

New - Cinnamon Stick soap

Just listed in my Etsy shop - Cinnamon Stick soap!  This is a sweet and spicy cinnamon and smells a lot like Red Hots! 

I'm having trouble adding this to my shop right now, so it's only available on my Etsy. Please check it out!

Spring planting

I am so excited because the other weekend, I picked up the prettiest plant stand at Target.  Each spring, I plant some new flowers and herbs to cheer up my house since I don't have a backyard, and I have been running out of places to put the containers where my cat won't eat them all up!  So, I picked up this stand

Isn't it cute?  Just ignore the ugly carpet and shelves behind it.  I know they don't add much to the picture.  Long story short, I have a leak that has caused damaged to wall and floor in that corner and have been waiting - for years - for the Homeowners Association to cough up the money to make the repairs.  But it is finally being taken care of and soon I will have pretty new flooring, repaired window frames, and freshly painted walls.  I can't wait! 

Anyway, I love the stand and how it can fit so much on it.  To celebrate and to try something new, I decided to do a little craft project for the newly planted flowers.  I am always forgetting what I plant in each and always mix up the seed packets I put next to the containers.  So, I decided to pick up some chalkboard paint at Michael's, paint some affordable pots and label the pots directly so I can never forget what's inside! 

I just bought 3 new pots and white chalkboard paint

I had to put on about four coats to get good coverage with the white paint, then found some colored chalk, and planted!

    

The chalkboard paint wasn't completely smooth, but chipped somewhat easily, so I couldn't think of a way to really sand it down.  It did say to condition it by rubbing chalk on it, but with only colored chalk, it would stain the white, so I just wrote directly on it.  I don't have the neatest handwriting anyway, so I am happy with the way it looks!

I also got a new orchid because I love them

And my other orchid, which I have surprisingly kept alive for a year and which rebloomed

 

I'm excited because little seedlings are already growing!  I had planted some other things recently, but then we had a freak heat wave where it was in the 90s every day for a few days, and they got really dried out and I don't know if I will be able to revive them.  Still, it's all part of the fun for me. Now, the weather has totally flipped and we are having very late rainstorms, but the plants are happily growing despite the cold weather.