I’m eclectic and love quirky striking designer pieces, but I have a soft spot for upcycled and old things. Patricia’s in the middle of giving her home an airy beachside makeover. Jasmin is gearing up to launch “Sparkle Affair”, a Swarovski crystal bedazzling company for brides to be! She’s totally engrossed in gloss, glam, bling and sparkle. We had a lot of fun visiting each designer’s vignette and picking our favorite pieces. Have a look through our collections. Which pieces would you pick?

My picks

Packing materials, boxes, furniture, and decorative accessories continued through all the aisles. It was controlled chaos. Pizza was on hand to help keep the energy up.

C. Wonder painted a bold blue wall with plates and a striking red framed mirror. Little red lions peek out from under the table. It looks like the decor is going to be Asian influenced. We passed by Dering Hall‘s booth, spotted a gaggle of Timothy Oulton pieces, and spied a lot of West Elm bags strewn all over the place. Miles Redd, one of my favorite designers, is also participating, but I didn’t catch it in all the bustle, so I’ll definitely be heading back!

Are your favorite designers in Design on a Dime? Check out the list, and drop by the show to visit their room. The show is FREE. It’s open to the public. And…you can buy everything in the show for 50 to 70 percent off retail, and it goes to a good cause!

Design on a Dime
Friday, April 27 – Saturday, April 28
10am – 6pm
Metropolitan Pavilion
125 West 18th Street, New York, NY

We’re going to make it EXTRA SUPER EASY for everyone! We’re supplying all the materials. You’ll just have to take it home, and add your own lamp wiring and light bulb. We’ve gathered enough six-pack rings for everyone. All the plastic lids will be pre-cut. Krrb is graciously providing additional supplies and a workspace at their Dekalb Market pop-up shop.

Also, make sure to check out other cool shops and food vendors at the market before or after the workshop. It makes for a perfect weekend outing.

Space is limited, so come by early to get a spot, or drop by and say ‘hello’!

Lisa had cups of store bought dyes and a couple homemade dyes she made from beets and purple cabbage.

There were a lot of decorating supplies like stickers, temporary tattoos, and sponges. I went with rubber bands. Wider ones work great for dying Easter eggs. For a perfect stripe use a rubber band that’s just a little smaller than the egg’s circumference.

To get a bright blue I rubbed undiluted dye right onto the egg. I used a small dry sponge to speckled the egg with the same blue dye. Speckle one side, and wait for it to dry before turning it to speckle the other side.

While we waited for our eggs to dye and dry, Lisa showed me a Rube Goldberg machine she constructed on her desk. She made it to celebrate the release of her book “Double Dog Dare“.

“Double Dog Dare” comes out just a few days after Easter. I have all her books. I can’t wait to get this one too!

When I finally took the eggs out of the cups, the store bought colors were super bright. The natural dyes took a while longer to take, but they came out in nice pastels. I made more elaborate eggs in one of Lisa’s previous egg dying parties, but this year I kept the Easter eggs simple with stripes and speckles.

As I was checking out, Glen asked if I’d want the gifts wrapped. Even though I like wrapping gifts myself, I said, “Yes, please.” I was curious to see how he did it. For many years, he’s been using an ingenious technique to give his ribbon tied gifts a sophisticated flair. Glen’s hands moved at lighting speed, apparently from years of experience with busy Christmas holidays.

I love the off-center position of the bow. The bottom of the gift is also completely flat as any knotting is on top hidden underneath the bow for a cleaner look.

Glenn ties a ribbon on a gift box.

1. Measure out the ribbon. Loosely run the ribbon from the bottom of one side of the box to the bottom of the opposite side. Do this twice for the length and twice for width of the box. Add about 2 ft more to account for the bow.

2. Pass the ribbon underneath the gift box. One side should have a length of ribbon protruding from it that is at least 1 ft plus the height of the box. If you have a very wide box you may need to make the length a little longer.

3. Cross the short end and long working end of the ribbon on top of the gift box to create the first loop.

4. Pass the long working end underneath the box and back up the other side to meet up with the short end again.

5. Pass the long end under the first loop to anchor the working end of the ribbon. Refer to steps 5a - 5d for more details.

5a. Pass the long end around and under the box.

5b. Bring the long end up and cross over the top of the short end between two loops. If needed, you can adjust the length of the two ends to make them even. Just be careful to hold the crossing in place while you shift the ribbon.

5c. Pass the long end under the loops.

5d. Pull the ends to tighten the loops.

6. Tie a bow.

7. Double up the ends and fold in half lengthwise.

8. Cut the ends at an angle.

the finished bow

Using this method, the obtrusive bump from crossing is on top of the gift underneath the bow, and the bottom of the gift is perfectly flat.

The host committee for the event was comprised of the who’s who in design, fashion, and society.  Miles Redd, one of my favorite designers, was in the committee! I didn’t think any of them would actually be there, but I was excited nonetheless. I love Restoration Hardware. I wanted to see their sping collection, and I honestly can’t pass up free hors d’oeuvres. In the end I didn’t see much furniture, but I was treated to an exclusive parade of industry celebs.

On the way to the party, Lillian August window displays by famed designer Amy Lau stopped me in my tracks. Saturated colors punctuated the elegant vignettes. Indigo crocodile chairs and hammered copper stools make an amazing combo! It turned out Lillian August was hosting an event too. Lillian August is a one stop shop for high-end furnishings, and they opened opened a NYC outpost.

New York Cottages & Gardens magazine, was celebrating their premier in the store. Judging by the window displays and a brief glimpse inside there’s more inspiration to be had. I grabbed a Lillian August magazine as I continued onto the party. I’ll have to pay them another visit soon!

A trio of well-dressed gatekeepers with guest lists were stationed on the carpet behind velvet ropes guarded by big bouncers. Alice and I made it through the gauntlet without a hitch and to be greeted at the door by male models. In fact, all the cater waiters, coat checkers, and greeters were male models.

Much to my surprise the celebrity parade started right away. Alice and I almost photobombed Gary Friedman and Carlos Albarini’s (Restoration Hardware’s CEO/chairman and co-CEO) photo as we leaned against the back of a Chesterfield style couch. We tried to edge away out of the frame as much we could at which point Tom Felicia walks in a to give the couch a personal test run.

Making our way to the back of the store we bumped into Stuart Sussman, a city savvy executive VP for Core real estate brokerage. I met Stuart last year when he graciously gave me a tour of his incredible apartment. He advised us that the bellinis were pretty good, so we swiped a couple glasses and sat ourselves on another Chesterfield style couch.

Ryan Korban came by and perched himself in front of us. I love his work. As one of the hottest young designers today, he wields romantic textures to fantastic effect, creating ultra lux interiors that are also super inviting.

Turning around I spotted Danny Seo! He frequently appears on talk shows, has authored countless craft and design books, and is one of the biggest names in eco-friendly home goods and natural beauty products. I met him earlier last year at an Apartment Therapy meetup where I gave him a couple upcycled mini candles. Reintroducing myself, I couldn’t help but giggle like a little girl, cause he actually remembered who I was. He said he saw me on The Nate Berkus Show, and he still has my candles!

Alice spotted a Pomeranian and had to rush over to pet it. It was no ordinary pooch. It was Change, Kevin Saer Leong‘s canine baby. Kevin oversees the design of Russell Simmons’s entire fashion empire. He and Rajiah Williams were really nice as Alice fawned over Change.

As the official end of the party passed the store was still packed with posh people sipping bellinis. It was too fabulous! Head over to Alice’s blog to see more of the party from her point of view.

I like to use fused plastic, because the material is easily available and versatile. I use in quite a few of my projects.

I made a cardboard tray and lined it by fusing a plastic bag directly on the cardboard. I also made the handles for the tray by fusing plastic around a nylon cord. My junk mail and magazine vases have removable fused plastic linings. This lets me fill them with water for fresh flowers.  I created plastic versions of my origami accessories with squares of fused plastic. These are great, because they’re more durable than the paper versions. I even use this technique to wrap gifts.

Fused plastic is waterproof, flexible, easy to work with, and a cinch to make. Let’s get started.

Supplies

• 1 plastic bag
• 1 pair scissors
• wax paper, parchment paper, or copy paper (Forego used copy paper. Ink from the paper may transfer onto your iron or the plastic. Use new copy paper. You can always print on the paper after your done using it to your fuse plastic. I’m going to use wax paper because it’s what I have in my kitchen at the moment.)
• 1 clothes iron
• 1 towel, ironing board

How-To

1. First, cut off the bottom seam of the bag.
2. Now cut off the handles.
3. Flatten out the bag.
4. If you’re using a towel, layout it out on your work surface. I prefer using towels, because I find it easier to fuse sheets of plastic on a larger surface.
5. If the plastic bag has printed graphics, turn the bag inside out. This prevents the bag’s ink from transferring onto your waxed paper or iron and smudging everywhere.
6. Lay a protective sheet of wax, parchment, or copy paper underneath the bag.
7. Place second a sheet on top.
8. Set the iron on polyester or rayon and turn of the steam.
9. Iron the plastic bag, running the hot iron from the center outwards. This prevents air from getting trapped in the bag and forming bubbles. If you do find bubbles you can pop them with a pin and iron over them. Keep the iron moving at all times running over the entire surface two to three times. The plastic bag will smoothen and the protective sheet will adhere to the plastic bag. Be careful to run the iron over the protective sheet only and not directly on the plastic bag, otherwise you may melt the bag onto your work surface and your iron.
10. Turn the plastic bag over while keeping it sandwiched between the protective sheets.
11. Iron this side of the plastic bag.
12. Allow the fused plastic to cool.
13. Once it’s cool to the touch carefully peel off the protective sheets. If the plastic isn’t fused completely sandwich it between protective sheets and iron again.
14. Now you have a two-ply sheet of fused plastic. You can make it thicker by ironing another plastic bag onto it. Remember to sandwich the plastic between protective paper before ironing!

Useful tips

1. Keep the scraps from the bottom and handles. You can place them on top and fuse them with the main part of the plastic bag too, so there’s no need to throw anything in the trash.
2. Ironing your plastic a little longer will cause it to melt and form holes. This can make for an interesting texture, but be careful not to burn it!
3. You can fuse multiple bags together to make an even thicker and durable plastic sheet. Fuse additional plastic bags by stacking one on top and fusing it completely before stacking on another. If you try ironing together a stack that’s too thick, the iron may not be able to fuse the bags in the center of the stack
4. Cut out shapes from different colored bags and fuse it on fused plastic sheet for like an appliqué effect.
5. I made my plastic origami accessories using four-ply fused plastic. You can even go up to six or eight-ply.
6. There will be minimal fumes, so keep the door to your work room open or crack open a window.
7. Here’s a tip from talented crafter,  Arely. You can use clear plastic bags to laminate paper. If you use a clear plastic bag, be careful because it tends to melt faster. After fusing, the plastic will still be clear, but it will have a matte finish.

This fused plastic was ironed a little longer, giving it an interesting holey texture.

Fused plastic can be layered quite thick. This piece is about 1/4" thick.

I had a great time, and I’m excited to share more of it with you in upcoming posts.

Hawaii’s fusion food and HOW TO make Spam musubi
If you like fusion cuisine, you’ll find it in abundance in Hawaii. With a mix of Portuguese, Japanese, native Hawaiian, and other cultures, there’s something delicious for everyone. I’ll show you my vacation eats and share one of my favorite (and easy to make) Hawaiian treats.

Soulfully salvaged jewelry
I visited the monthly Art and Flee in Honolulu. There were lots of t-shirts and seashell jewelry, but one new company stood out from the crowd with upcycled airport runway finds. I’ll introduce you to the artistic couple behind this high flying jewelry line and give you a peek at some of their favorite pieces.

Knitting on the isle with Sue
I wrapped up the my furniture collaboration with Krrb‘s Vanessa Londono earlier last month. It wouldn’t have been possible without one very important, creative, and courageous woman who taught me an essential technique. I caught up with her at her cozy shop. I’ll let you in on our little chat, reveal the technique she taught me, and show you how to use it in your own projects.

I have two ugly wooden chairs I found in the trash that I’ve been meaning to revamp. This was a quick fun project to get it started and help hammer out construction issues. Check out the Krrb post written by Vanessa. It has a bunch of pictures and details of the collaboration!

If you’ve been following my blog, you know my projects are in the realm of decorative accessories. They are smaller in scale and can be done on a kitchen table. I came up with a couple options. In the end, Krrb and I decided to go a little bigger. We’re taking a leap into furniture!

I met with Andrew (Krrb editor in chief), Vanessa (Krrb writer), and Flossy (needs no introduction) at the Krrb office to hammer out a few project details. Vanessa, graciously donated a piano bench and her deft hands for the weekend. The project should come out on their site soon, but here’s a sneak peak with even more pictures and a wonderful write up by Vanessa.

Make sure to check the rest of the Krrb website. It’s kinda like Craigslist but more neighborly, more crafty, and WHOLE LOT PRETTIER. They’ve got how to’s, a blog, meetups, and cool listings.