Cre8tive Designs Inc.: Interior Design & Crafts by Stephanie Norris

I couldn’t of asked for a more perfect birthday

By Stephanie on January 24, 2012

I always thought I would have boys, but I was given 3 beautiful daughters instead. Raising daughters can be trying to say the least, they are emotional, moody, and sometimes stubborn. But luckily they are also very thoughtful, caring, fun to hang with and very sweet. For my 50th birthday, my wonderful daughters went over and beyond what any mother would expect her daughters to do. It will be a day I will always, always remember.

I kept being asked by my family what I wanted to do for my birthday, the big 50, and I just couldn’t decide. I knew I didn’t want a big party, but I felt the need to do something but I just couldn’t come up with anything. They kept asking me day after day, so I just told them my dream day… I would love a day at the spa, lunch with some friends, dinner at my house with just my family prepared by a chef and served by a waiter, and play a murder mystery game during dinner. Sounds good right? Well, to my surprise, those three girls pulled it all together and made my dream day happen.

I want to show you my wonderful day, captured with unprofessional pictures, some of them not too flattering, {which I am sure is going to make some of my family members irratated at me}, but hopefully it will depict the love my girls put into my special day. {settle yourself in, cause there are lots, and lots of pictures!}

My morning started out seeing this cute note made by Tiffany in front of my coffee pot {she knows that is the first place I go once my feet hit the floor} I say the letters O.M.G. a lot, so she made sure she put that on her sign LOL Yeah, turning 50 is OMG!

Breakfast was prepared by Shannon {and baby Carter}. Then I was told to get dressed and meet them in the garage. They said to bring a change of clothes but that was about it. Here I am looking confused but dressed and ready to go

Throughout the day, I was given these cute cards made by Shannon as to what to expect on my adventure

The night before, Shannon had sneaked over late at night and decorated my convertible {Shannon has a 5 month old baby, which means very little time to sleep. To take the time to go out late at night to do this just for me, just melts my heart} Dang I need to go get that car washed after seeing these pictures

My daughter Tara was the designated chauffeur and event director. {Daisy the dog was just trying to figure out what the heck was going on}

Then they gave me a boa and crown to wear to the spa which I reluctantly did. I think secretly they wanted to see their mom look goofy, a pay back of sorts LOL, One lady asked me at the spa if I was dressed up for Marti Gras…guess she couldn’t read the “birthday queen” tiara.

I was greeted at the spa with a glass of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries

After my spa treatments, we all had a lite lunch. Then I was whisked away to a Dry Bar in Del Mar to get my a scalp massage and a blow dry. I had never heard of a Dry Bar before, it is a salon that just does blow dries. It was pretty cool. And they served Skinny Margaritas along with the blow dry, yum.

The night before my birthday, I was given Tiffany’s surprise. She amazingly put together the Murder Mystery game, I was shocked! That was NO little accomplishment. She spent 14 straight hours of figuring out the characters, sending emails and printing out the script for all of us to use for our characters. They say to give yourself 6 weeks to do put together a Murder Mystery party, that kid did it in one day, and rocked it. Here is the youtube video she sent all of us. My niece Alexis did the opening line, and then Tiffany read the story.

Amazing right? Tiffany gave me the character of Janis, the younger woman wanna be actress/model of the murdered husband. I decided to do my best and play the part. I searched through my closet and found a dress one of my girls had worn for their formal back in the day when they were in high school. The dress was perfect for the part, something I would never of worn outside my house since it was a little risque for me, but I poured myself into it for the sake of the party. When I came walking out in it, Tiffany gasped! She said “Mom!!! That is the dress I wore my freshman year for Homecoming!” Even though she was horrified seeing me in her dress, I must say it felt pretty good as a 50 year old that I even fit into it lol. Here are most of us dressed up in our characters before we sat down for dinner.

Here I am getting prepared for my part {I was just goofing off here, I don’t drink gin from a bottle…well not when people are looking that is…}

My husband opted to be the Roy, the murdered person. So he had Tiffany put ketchup on him and took a picture. He always wanted to be an actor, he acted well for his part don’t ya think?

My nephew Brady was the accountant

My daughter Tara, the mystery writer author

My daughter Shannon, the sculptor

My son-n-law Nate, the motorcycle store owner

My daughter Tiffany, the lawyer

My nephew Connor the house manager

My sister and brother-n-law shared the doctor character

My friend Tammy the loner daughter who still lived at home

Tammy’s husband John, the inspector

And of course Carter just hanging out enjoying the festivities. A HUGE thank you to my niece Alexis who took all these pictures for me!

I have to tell you, we had a BLAST doing this murder mystery game. Yeah, we didn’t have a lot of time to prepare for our parts, which is why we are always looking at our folders in these pictures, but it still was so fun! We laughed and laughed and just enjoyed ourselves in our characters. And not having to cook and be able to enjoy myself…priceless

For dinner the chef prepared a cream of cauliflower soup with a really cool egg in it {they gave us all the low down on the special egg but I can’t remember what it is called. It looked raw but it wasn’t}

Then a berry salad which I don’t have a picture of. And the main course was a Filet with a potato puree and prawns

Ending with dessert, banana foster and bread pudding

Then to top it all off, as if they hadn’t done enough, right? Shannon made picture collages called “then” and “now” with some cute notes and stuff from over the years. You can see in the boards in the background in this picture. She even gave everyone a trivia test at the end of the meal. My sister got the most correct, 12. My husband…he got 5 correct. LOL

{I don’t know if you notice it or not, but I say “seriously?” a lot on my blog, because I actually say it a lot. So from now on, when you read “seriously?” on my blog, this is the look I am giving}

This party was my dream, and my girls made it come true. I don’t know how in the world I got 3 wonderful daughters who are so thoughtful and caring, but I do know that I am the luckiest 50 year old mom in the world!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 50th birthday | Leave a response

Goodbye 40′s…

By Stephanie on January 16, 2012

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Well, today is the last day of my forties…why does that sound so much more younger than 50′s? I have a spectacular birthday of festivities planned thanks to my wonderful family. I am sure I will get used to being 50, but it sure doesn’t sound so great right now. My sister told me this weekend that I looked 43. Years ago I would of gasped at that comment, took it as an insult, but now, it sounded pretty darn good when she said that. Thanks Cin.

I ended my 40′s doing something I always wanted to do. It is really nothing huge, like going sky diving or something, but I felt more empowered after doing it. What is the big accomplishment? You are going to laugh, but I hard wired a light fixture all by myself! {well my sister held the light fixture for me while I wired it, so I did have a little help} But I wasn’t electrocuted and the light even works! {I did tell my sister who was very, very against me doing this task on my own, that if I was electrocuted, I would probably be remembered as dying young cause I was still in my 40′s, LOL luckily that didn’t happen}

I fell in love with these two empire style beauties at a vintage store in Ocean Beach

I couldn’t believe there were two of them, and they had the vintage glam look to them that I was looking for at the river house in the “FUN” room

They were the plug in style fixtures, but I knew I could cut the cord and hard wire them {well, I knew it could be done but I had never done it before} So I convinced my sister to go out to the river house with me for 3 days to work on the “fun” room.

When I told her that I had planned on doing the wiring myself on the hanging lights, she was not on board with me. But she stood by my side as I carefully took down the old fixtures, cut the cord off the new fixtures and wired them to their new location. Ok, to be truthful, the first light I hung didn’t work. We even changed out the light bulb, thinking it must be a bad bulb and not my electrical work, but that didn’t work. So I took down the fixture and low and behold the wiring had slipped out of the wire nut. From there on I made sure the wires were put on a lot more tighter and secure, and ta da! They worked!

Here are the before hanging light fixtures, just to jog your memory

Of course in all my excitement of now being an accomplished electrician {cough, cough} I forgot to take a picture during the day. But wow, these beauties are stunning in the room, and they give off the funnest shadows on the walls at night {ha, ha, get it? FUN shadows?}

I seemed to be on a roll attempting stuff I would normally have my husband or hire someone to do these last days of my forties. I went out and bought all the components at Home Depot to make this rod and bracket that I had seen on Show and Tell

The only problem was, they only sold the galvanized steel pole in a 10′ long piece and I needed 9′ 6″. Home Depot does not cut galvanized steel for you. So what is a girl to do? Take out the hack saw and use those 40 something muscles that I have been working out 3 times a week and cut, cut cut. Oh my GOSH! Cutting galvanized steel is so dang hard! I could never make it as a lumber jack. Then to top it off, I miss cut the pipe and had to go back and chop another 1/2″ off a second time. What a work out that was. Since I didn’t have any clamps to hold down the pipe, my sister was my trusty assistant and held the pipe for me as I huffed and puffed that skinny blade through the steel.

This rod and brackets were so simple and inexpensive to make! {well, not including cutting the pipe which was hard} I got all my supplies in the electrical department, a flange to attach to the wall, and an elbow for the rod holder. Both components came threaded, which meant I only had to screw them together. Can’t get any easier than that! Using 1″ galvanized pipe eliminated having to use a center bracket, it is solid as a rock. I tried to finish sewing the curtain while I was there, but unfortunately I ran out of time.

I also switched the box spring to a low profile one. Having the bed lower really shows more of the headboard now

I picked up a grey 15″ drop box pleated bed skirt at Target, and then just cut off the excess fabric I didn’t need and used iron on hemming tape for the hem {I did iron the bed skirt, but evidently my ironing skills aren’t one of my strong traits}

Slowly but surely this room is coming together. Which is kind of like how I feel right now, slowly getting used to being 50. I just have to remember to keep this picture in my mind when I think I am getting old

Posted in Decor, River House | Tagged galvanized pole curtain rod, grey & yellow, plank headboard, vintage empire light fixture | Leave a response

If you are going to drive a Range Rover, buy like you own a Range Rover!

By Stephanie on January 10, 2012

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Ever have those moments where you just go huh? Really?

It happened to me this weekend. I was standing in line at my favorite home decor store behind a woman who was heavily negotiating down prices that she was purchasing. It seemed like she was really on a tight budget, asking if she could put half of the stuff on layaway. Not that I am against asking for a better price, or putting things on layaway, but this process was taking forever! I was having to wait, and wait and wait in line to pay while she negotiated her purchases. During this long wait of mine, I had to listen to the woman talk about how beautiful her house was and how her house should be in Romantic Home Magazine blah, blah blah. “Come on ALREADY” I was saying in my mind, I just want to pay for my stuff and go! So when I finally get out to the parking lot after I made my purchase, I see her loading her car, and she is driving this new tricked out Range Rover. Seriously? If you have to put stuff on layaway paying a month at a time, then you shouldn’t be driving a Range Rover right? Makes no sense. What is the point of driving an expensive car if you really can’t afford it. I just don’t get that. Or it could of been a borrowed car. But if you are going to borrow a Range Rover, you have to buy like you own that Range Rover. Or here is a novel idea, buy what you REALLY can afford. Ok, that was my gripe for this weekend, I just had to get it off my chest!

I did do a couple of little projects this weekend besides griping. On Saturday, I made a sign for my friends salon I am helping with the design and she is on a tight budget {and no, she doesn’t drive a Range Rover lol}. I did it on a whim, pretty much an excuse to use my silhouette machine. I used this piece of artwork I had forever that I had been wanting to make into a subway sign. {I snapped all the pictures with my iPhone, because I was too lazy to go get my camera}

I first sanded off the paper image because I knew there was porous surface underneath that I could paint. I painted the front using the blue she has on her walls at the salon and a darker grey around the outside edges. I cut out two of an enlarged damask image from my machine using white contact paper. After laying out the stencil and inserting the small pieces to fill in the design, I painted a lighter blue on the stencil.

I love that you can import any font into the silhouette software. Once I found the font that she is using for her salon, I imported it and enlarged the letters to fit on the sign. I used my roll of white contact paper to cut out the letters, that $5 roll is lasting forever!. Once I had it all done, I noticed there were staples showing all around the edges of the board, so I used crystal trim to cover them up.

I know this is a poor picture, but in person it looks really cute. I will take a better picture when she hangs it in her salon.

Another project I tried, was stenciling on curtains. Everyone is doing that lately, so I wanted to try it. I bought a trellis stencil last year and have never used it. The problem with it is that the pattern is reversed. Meaning, if you want the skinny lines to be white, you have to start with a white background. I was using an Ikea grey curtain with white acrylic paint with a little textile medium

See what I mean? The curtain was becoming mainly white rather than a white outline with a grey background. Not to mention it was sucking up so much paint, I seriously thought it was going to take a gallon of paint for two panels. Getting a smooth solid white look wasn’t easy either, and evidently the stencil didn’t adhere very well in spots so it bled outside the stencil

So this was a totally fail. These Ikea curtains come really long, so I am hoping that I can cut off the stencil part I did and still salvage the curtain. I ordered the correct stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils, hopefully when I get the new stencil I will be more successful.

I also came across these two very funny blogs this weekend. I love a good sense of humor, and these two ladies have it down pat.

http://mylifeandkids.com/2011/12/my-10-favorite-posts-from-2011-and-yours/

Check out her Vlogs at the bottom of the page, I loved the Woot one.

http://www.mamakatslosinit.com/mama-kat/

Overall it was a nice relaxing weekend with a few fun projects done. What did you do this weekend?

Posted in Damask, DIY & Tutorials | Leave a response

F U N progress on the bedroom

By Stephanie on January 5, 2012

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Last week I started the process of redoing one of the bedrooms at our river house. I had previously done this Olioboard for the room for my inspiration

So I took advantage of some down time, drove the three hours out there to start to tackling this room. Usually when I go out there by myself, I take advantage of the quietness and the mild weather and just relax. Even though I had this beautiful view tempting me, I stayed focused on the work to be done

The before started like this

The first thing I wanted to do, is make the wood board I brought out into a headboard. Let me tell you, the wood on this board is dense and hard. I think it must of weighed 80 pounds at least. Moving it around by myself was not an easy task.

I was pretty proud on how I was able to pull this off. It is what I came up with while browsing HomeDept. I used the wonderful cutting service at HomeDepot and had them cut a 2×4 to three 15″ pieces. Then I bought these metal brackets, which I have no idea what they are called, and screwed them to the wood plank board and the cut 2 x 4. I did this on both sides for extra stability.

Did I mention how heavy and large this board was? It was 60″ long and 35″ wide and really hard for just one person to move around.

I then drilled holes through the 2×4 and used a bolt and a nut to secure it to the bed frame. My method worked out perfect, the headboard was very stable and sturdy {patting myself on the back on this one!}

Once I took out all the floral bedding and striped valances, then I started taping off the walls. The taping for me is probably the worst. I actually did pretty good this time, which surprised me! Our house is on the outskirts of town, and running to Home Depot takes an hour round trip, so I just used what ever brushes I had out there, which was really limited. The painting began and man, I forgot how hard it is to paint walls! I can’t say I was in love with the light grey color, it has a lavender tone to it, but I wasn’t going to drive all the way to town and get new paint, so I just went with it

I was trying to achieve a lacquered look with the dark grey, so I used a high gloss Martha Stewart paint. It turned out ok, not as shiny as I was hoping for. I might even go back and paint a high gloss sealer over the top to give it more shine and depth.

The grey duvet from Westelm that was on my Oliobard was not working, so luckily I had brought this mustard duvet as a back up. It is from Westelm as well, but was on clearance for $40.

I was on the fence on the lighting and the nightstands. Now that I don’t have the valances and the wreaths on the wall, I can for sure go for a longer and wider hanging light. The 3 light chandeliers are seeming wimpy now {I know the ceiling fan isn’t attractive, but it has to stay due to how hot it gets out there in the summer, it is a necessity}

I would love to use these from Restoration Hardware, it brings in the glam but also the rustic. But they are pretty pricey. I am hoping I can find something similar

The nightstands are too visually heavy and need to be replaced with an open curvy leg. I am thinking these from Home Decorators Collection could work

But I would paint them high gloss white. The bed needs to be lowered so that you can see more of the headboard, so now I am going to get a low profile box spring. Then I have to address how to cover the box spring. Since I don’t want a bed skirt, I think I will use a grey fitted sheet to cover the box spring. But the rug and bench are perfect!

The last thing I did was hang some fun letters on the wall. And I mean that literately

Aren’t those fun? lol They are vintage marquee letters that I found here locally at Urban Barn. I am going to keep them the blue. I was originally thinking I might want to paint them white or plum to match the room. But to me they are a piece of artwork, and having them blue makes them feel more like artwork than just an accessory to the room.

I still have the other side of the room to do which I haven’t shown you. But I am happy with the progress I have gotten done so far. It will take me awhile since it isn’t convient for me to just pop over there and work. This part of the room was the hardest and I am glad I got it done. But the next time I go out there I am for sure going to take more time to relax, oh and sit in the room and marvel at my headboard.

Posted in Before & After, River House | Tagged grey & mustard bedroom, grey bedroom, marquee letters, restoration hardware, westelm | Leave a response

Something I actually made without Pinterest inspiration

By Stephanie on December 28, 2011

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There is SO much inspiration on Pinterest, sometimes I wonder if it makes me not be as creative as I used to be when I didn’t have Pinterest. Anyone else feel that way?

Last month I was pining a lot of Christmas inspiration ideas on Pinterest, and of course I ran out of time to do all the items I was inspired by. I was able to get this quick and easy ornament flower holder done. Well, my version that is.

It is an ornament glued to a small round mirror to hold flowers. For mine, I used light bulb ornaments that I got in a 3 pack from the dollar store

I used my glue gun rather than the glue they recommended and it worked perfect. The ornaments even held water for the fresh flower I put in it from Costco

It was a super quick, inexpensive and an easy project to do, I made 10 of them in probably 15 minutes. I will for sure be using them again next year. {I got the round mirrors from Michaels, I think they were 8 in a pack for a couple of bucks}

But what I am really proud of, is that I did a LAST minute non-Pinterest inspired idea. Can you believe it?

I needed something other than putting cash in an envelope to give to the younger kids in the family on Christmas. We do this every year, rather than try and figure out what each kid wants, we figure we can’t go wrong with cash right? Last year I made cute felt envelopes to hold the cash and hung them on a tree

So this year, I was going to do fold the money into a Christmas tree, which I pinned on Pinterest. But you had to buy the instructions! Lame.

I started messing around with the bills, and realized that it was going to take some time to figure it out on my own, time which I didn’t have. So I did what I always do, come up with a plan “b”. I made money wallet cards using my Silhouette machine.

I purchased the gift tag template from Silhouette for .99. I adjusted the size to 3″ wide by 7″ long and cut it out on Christmas scrapbook paper, using my Silhouette machine. I then laid out the money on the inside of the card and tied the bakers twine across the middle of the cash to hold it in place. Then I wrapped the twine around the front of the card and tied a bow.

Pretty simple, and they all loved them. {I don’t know if it was the cash inside or my cute holder though LOL}

I am pretty proud that I actually made something where the inspiration came from me and not pinterest. Feel free to pin it LOL

You don’t have to have a silhouette machine to make these though. You can achieve this same concept by using decorative card stock and 2 inexpensive punches

The corner punch (rounds the outer corners of the paper)

And a Christmas tree punch

I liked how easy and fun my plan “b” turned out, I am thinking I might do a birthday version and cut some out to have on hand when I am in a pinch. A Valentine version would be cute too with a heart cutout. I might just have to experiment with all the holidays, I love any excuse to use my silhouette machine again! Plus now that I know I still have some non-Pinterest creativity left in me, it has motivated me to come up with more of my own ideas {when I am not pinning of course}

Posted in Christmas, DIY & Tutorials, Pinterest | Leave a response

What I got for Christmas

By Stephanie on December 27, 2011

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Merry belated Christmas! Have you recovered yet from all the festivities? I know I was beat today. We had a fun, family filled Christmas weekend with lots of wrapping, cooking and entertaining and of course lots of last minute decorating.

Santa was good to me this year, and I couldn’t be more happier with the thoughtful and generous gifts I received. Wanna know what I got?

My early Christmas present was my new Nikon d5100 camera

My favorite perfume Carolina Herrera Parfum Spray

Dance Wii {need to jump start my cardio, what better way than to dance!}

A new iPhone 4s and cute phone case. I was due for an upgrade a year ago, but was holding out just in case a newer model was going to come along. My family surprised me and made the decision for me, woohoo! Now I can facetime with my grandson Carter!

And something only an interior designer could want…12 chavari chairs in silver

Goodbye plastic Costco folding chairs hello chavari! {this picture was taken after we had cleared the dinner and all my pretty decorations, but don’t they look great?}

What a difference they made this year at our Christmas dinner for the extra seating. Should of asked for these years ago. And they stack 7 high, so they store nicely.

Two of these square ribbon cake stands! I can never have enough cake stands, I use them ALL the time. A perfect gift.

Which I immediately put them to use for my this inspiration pin for our Christmas dinner {I even already had those cute polka dot cups to use}

The gifts I received are pretty excessive for just one Christmas, but my camera broke and my iPhone was old school according to my family. So the timing couldn’t of been more perfect. But the best part of my Christmas? This guy

Spending Christmas with Carter, his first Christmas. I got him this walker and he hasn’t figured out that it is his legs that are moving it, but I am sure he will real soon!

He wasn’t opening any presents but was very curious as to what was going on. Such a treat to be his grandma.

So what was under your tree this year? I would love to hear what special present you got.

Posted in Christmas, Decor, Entertaining | Leave a response

Christmas tablescape

By Stephanie on December 22, 2011

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I finally got my new camera! I feel whole again! It was weird for me not to have a camera, and my iPhone camera just wasn’t cutting it. Now I get to show you some fun stuff I have done in the last couple of weeks while my camera was away! So get ready for lots of pictures in this post…

The thing I am most excited about is how I was able to re-create this inspiration picture form BHG that I pinned on Pinterest

Oh how I fell hard for this centerpiece. I just knew I wanted it on my table. I saw the boxwood wreaths on sale at Joss & Main online right after Christmas and got giddy over finding them so soon. So I anxiously waited for them to come in the mail. When they finally did, I was just a tad surprised. They were smaller than what I had expected, and I hoped that my glass cake plates I already had would work. Well, two out of the three did, and so I went on a hunt for the third, the smallest one. Luckily, it only took me 4 stores to find the perfect small glass cake plate, Pier One had just the right size

I was shocked when I found the silver bird at HomeGoods, I wasn’t even looking for it and there it was! It was if this centerpiece was meant to be

I liked adding a little bit of depth and color when I decorate, so I changed it up a bit from the inspiration picture

I got the little glittery reindeer ornaments at Steinmart, they are just so cute the way their heads are looking up at the arrangement

I used the Christmas plates, glassware, place mats and most of the other stuff on my table I have had from years past.

I even kept the runner on the table that I used for Thanksgiving and just added glittery birds, ornaments, xmas greenery, and some fun green pear candles

I did buy these two large reindeer this year, {Homegoods, where else?} they were just so striking I couldn’t pass them up. The height and the size works really well in the room, plus I love the pop of color it gives the table

I added just a tad of greenery and glitter to my chandelier

I love the overall look of the whole table

I guess I had an eye for reindeer this year because I bought this white reindeer head from West Elm. I put it on my buffet where I will put all the desserts come Christmas day

Whew that was a lot of pictures! Gotta love a new camera! But wait there is more!

I am finishing up my hot chocolate/apple cider station that I did last year, which was a huge hit. I don’t know if I will have time to post about it before Christmas, but here is a glimpse of how it is coming along

Ok, I am done with bombarding you with pictures. I hope you were able to stay with me on this long post. I don’t know about you, but I am running way behind on getting prepared for Christmas. I still have lots of wrapping to do, {actually all of my wrapping to do, who am I kidding} food shopping and a few decorating details I am hoping to get done. Christams comes way too fast every year, I would just like for one year to be done by now…oh well, there is always next year right?

Linking up to My Crazy Beautiful Life Holiday Link Party

Posted in Christmas, Decor, Entertaining | Tagged BHG centerpiece, boxwood wreaths, christmas tablescape, reindeer, west elm reindeer | Leave a response

Christmas Subway Style Sign

By Stephanie on December 20, 2011

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I am getting to know my Silhouette machine a little better. It really is a fun machine to play with, especially to make signs. Which I recently did this last weekend, and I must say, it is addicting once you get the hang of it.

Subway style Christmas signs and printables are all over blogland and Pinterest, and I was itching to make one myself. I am also loving the use of turquoise and red everyone is using for decorating this year.

I had some leftover oak cabinet fronts that were perfect to use for this project. My original plan was to stencil the letters in white, but I really liked the look of the white contact paper that I used, so I just went that route. If you have a Silhouette machine, I highly recommend buying a roll of white contact paper to use for your vinyl. It is way cheaper, easy to use and goes a long way.

This is the sign I made for myself

I bought the actual words from the Silhouette on line store when they were having their .50 sale after Thanksgiving. It took the guess work out of trying to find the right font for a saying. Plus I can use them again next year for another sign or project.

I think it turned out pretty cute. I spray painted the red first, Colonel Red, then I brushed on the turquiose color from a left over sample pot I had in my stash. The white contact paper is very forgiving, I was able to pull off the letters easily if I needed to, and re-adjust them. I had to do this a lot since I didn’t really have a template that I was going by.

Not to let things go to waste, I put the ones that I had cut out in the wrong size on a crate in my office.

Since I was on a roll using my Silhouette machine, and had all the supplies out already, I decided to make a sign for my friend to bring to her Christmas party. The is the same party that I posted about yesterday on my plan “b” desserts. The cabinet front that I used on her sign was long and narrow. I still used the same sayings but had to adjust the sizes and positions differently from my sign. This time I was smarter, and actually measured the actual space that I had on the front of the cabinet and input those numbers into the paper size on the Silloutte layout.

This saved a lot of time that is for sure!

I know it is an odd hostess gift to give, but I knew she would love this more than the standard bottle of wine

And I was right, she loved it!

Now that I have a little experience under my belt using the Silhouette machine, I can’t wait to make more signs! I gotta tell ya, I am finding this machine a little addicting. I am so glad I finally pulled the trigger and bought one this year, I see a lot of future sign making for me in 2012.

Posted in Christmas, Decor, DIY & Tutorials | Tagged Christmas subway sign, silhouette machine | Leave a response

Santa Hat & Parfait Desserts

By Stephanie on December 19, 2011

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I have a lot of talents, but one of them is NOT baking. But now with Pinterest and all the eye candy of anything and everything to bake, I pin really cute desserts, as if I am a baker. So when I was going to go to my friends Christmas party on Saturday, I offered to bring a dessert. She had said that she was going to make theses Santa Hat brownies off of Pinterest but didn’t think she could find the time to make them

Santa Hat Brownies

“No problem” I said, “I will bring them!” She was SUPER excited. I decided to follow this recipe which seemed simpler because they used melted white chocolate chips for the white on the hat

I was hoping to buy ready made brownies, but decided, like an idiot, to make my own, Well, in my baking skills kinda way, from a box mix. To eliminate cutting out circles from a large pan of brownies, I decided to pour the batter into mini cupcake pans. Fail. Where I went wrong I have no idea. I greased the pan, I pre-heated the oven, I left them in for as long as the box said. When I took them out of the oven, they were hard as a rock, and wouldn’t even come out of the pan with a sharp knife! Seriously, I am so not a baker!

I had also decided to make some Christmas styled parfaits that I pinned on Pinterest.

Christmas Parfaits

So while the brownies were baking, I made a red velvet cake {boxed mix}. Again, following all the directions to a “T”. Yeah, well, that didn’t turn out so great either. The whole bottom of the cake was burnt. Here it was 6:00 in the evening, I hadn’t showered, and the party was an hour and I at this point had NO dessert to bring. So like I always do when something doesn’t turn out the way I had planned, I try to think of a plan “b”

Since I already had the strawberries, all I needed was a bottom to sit the strawberries on and some type of white top for the hat. And it came to me. Oreo cookies! I always have those on hand and today was no exception. I pulled apart the oreo cookie very carefully keeping the thin frosting part in tack on one side of the cookie. I put the strawberry on the top of the icing, and split a tooth pick in half and attached a mini marshmallow to the strawberry. I really didn’t know how these would taste, so I figured I better display them really cute, since that is one of things I am actually good at, unlike baking. I added red and green sprinkles to the dish along with some white snow like sprinkles.

Ta Da! My “plan b” Santa Hats

Now that those were done, I needed to finish my parfaits. I decided to cut the burnt part of the cake off and cut the good part into cubes. I used the rest of my strawberries, and added vanilla pudding {colored with red food coloring}. I just layered them in cute glasses that I had used for my parfaits on 4th of July. I topped these off with the other half of the Oreo cookie I had left over. I ran out of vanilla pudding, so I made a cool whip with white chocolate pudding for the remaining parfaits. Crumbling up the over-cooked-brownies as a topper.

And just in case they might not of tasted good, I made sure the presentation was super cute. I added Martha Stewart Christmas tape around the small glasses and glued together some felt into a santa’s hat to the plastic spoon like the original pinterest picture. And then set them on my “go to” cake stands.

These are the only pictures I have of my “plan b” desserts. Since I was running so far behind, I wasn’t able to get out my NEW camera and take pictures. My friend took these for me at the party. And oh yeah, SHE LOVED them. As did everyone else. I think it was the presentation really.

But if you aren’t a baker like me, I think my Oreo version works just as good, and is just as cute. Except either you have to tell people to watch out for the toothpick when they bite into them {like I did at my friends party} or add a little frosting or something to the marshmellow to make it stick to the strawberry. I think I am going to stick to decorating, and leave the baking to my sister, who really is the baker in the family.

Posted in Christmas, Entertaining | Tagged christmas parfaits, desserts, santa hats | Leave a response

Chandelier artwork

By Stephanie on December 15, 2011

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If you know me, you know I have a love for chandeliers. Old, new, large, small, it doesn’t matter I love them all. I am a sucked into any room that has a chandelier. So when I saw this cool chandelier artwork on 4men1lady blog I was in love. It is from a store in Vegas called Ninush

At first glance I thought this was made out of metal. Doesn’t it look like the chandelier is cut out from a metal box? I really can’t say for sure, and there wasn’t anywhere on their website where it was for sale, so I guess I will never know.

But I got to thinking, it would be an easy look to achieve as a DIY project. The supplies would be simple, a large white canvas, white glue {for the raised scrolls on the outer edges}, a chandelier stencil or wall vinyl decal and black spray paint.

I like this chandelier decal from etsy and it is only $25.99

I would trace the scrolls with a pencil first, then outline them in white glue and let that dry. Then I would center my stencil or vinyl decal on the canvas and spray paint the whole thing black. Or maybe use a different color to change it up.

Another pretty inexpensive and an easy DIY project that I thought would be awesome as well, starts with this shower curtain

Yeah, can you believe it is a shower curtain? And it is only $24.54. I found it here on Amazon. The first thing I would do if I got one of these, is NOT put it in a bathroom. Well, at least not hanging from a rod in front of a shower. I would use spray adhesive on the back side of the fabric and wrap that onto a huge white canvas or thin MDF board and use it as artwork for a wall. Seriously, wouldn’t that be such a statement in a room? I can envision it in a dining room, or in an entry way over a console table.

And if you can’t have the chandelier hanging from the ceiling over your bed, why not put it on the wall

Apartment Therapy

The shower curtain measures 6′ x 6′ so you can really get a lot of bang for your buck on this one. I just might be doing one of these art pieces myself. I am helping out a friend with the interior design of her hair salon. The budget is tight and this would fit in with her decor perfectly and fill up some blank wall space. If I do, I will share with your how it turned out.

So what do you think? Are you a chandelier lover like me? Would you hang one of these chandelier artwork on your wall?

Posted in Decor, DIY & Tutorials | Tagged chandelier, chandelier artwork | Leave a response

Cre8tive Designs Inc.

Interior Design & Crafts by Stephanie Norris

I couldn’t of asked for a more perfect birthday

Goodbye 40′s…

If you are going to drive a Range Rover, buy like you own a Range Rover!

F U N progress on the bedroom

Something I actually made without Pinterest inspiration

What I got for Christmas

Christmas tablescape

Christmas Subway Style Sign

Santa Hat & Parfait Desserts

Chandelier artwork

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