DIY Stamp Storage Tutorial

I've been struggling to find an easy and affordable system for storing clear and cling stamps.  I don't have enough stamps to justify investing in an expansive (and expensive) stamp storage system, but I have enough stamps that I needed to do something to protect them and make them easy to access.

The best solution would have been to simply keep the stamps in their original packaging, except that some of that packaging is not durable enough for extended use, plus the original packaging comes in all shapes and sizes, making storage a bit cumbersome.

How to Decorate With a Brown Sofa

*this post originally appeared on House Revivals in 2014, but it has been so popular with my readers, I thought I would share it again.

Now don't gasp when I say this, because I know brown sofas are so five years ago, but I have a brown sofa and I love it!  Mine is actually a giant sectional out at our beach house, and I never worry about it looking dirty. In the Pacific Northwest, our sand is kind of grayish brown.  Also, dirt is brown.... and so is chocolate... and those are the three things most likely to get on my upholstery.

Another reason I bought a brown sofa? I knew it would be easy to convince my husband to buy that color, and I wanted a new sofa. Plus, it's super neutral, so I have lots of options for the rest of the space, and I can change up the look of the room with a thirty dollar can of paint and a couple of throw pillows!

I know white sofas are all the rage right now, and too many dark surfaces in a room can feel a little dreary, but don't despair if your sofa is dark! There are so many things you can do when decorating around the color brown. If you are feeling stuck, and not sure what direction to go with your brown sofa (maybe yours is leather?), here are seventeen ideas sure to inspire!

Eclectic Living Room by Sharon Interior Designers & Decorators Reservoir

Tuck a blanket over the back, to break up the expanse of brown. In this case, a coral color is the perfect accent to the brown sofa.  Keep the walls light, and have fun with the trim work!

Traditional Living Room by Brooklyn Media & Bloggers Lauren Gries

Hang pretty curtains that include the brown of your sofa -- then use the print as a jumping off point for choosing other colors, art, and textiles in the space.

Eclectic Living Room by Jamaica Plain Interior Designers & Decorators Dietz & Associates Inc.

The pink and orange end of the spectrum looks phenomenal with brown.  Just saying....

domino magazine

Use your brown sofa to anchor an assortment of pretty colors... and yes, you can pair black with brown -- beautifully!  Add accessories in white to balance everything out.

House  Beautiful

Embrace your brown sofa, and build the room around it, choosing a variety of prints in the same color. Add some punch with accessories.

Contemporary Living Room by Toronto Photographers Aristea Rizakos

Blues and browns get along beautifully. Enough said.

Contemporary Living Room by Chicago Interior Designers & Decorators Buckingham Interiors + Design LLC

Choose a beautiful rug that includes brown. Pull your accessory colors from the rug colors. As you can see here, a rug that goes with your brown sofa does not have to be brown.

Lighten things up and add whimsy by adding a handcrafted garland to the space.  Use vintage materials that have patinaed over time, and the undertones will work beautifully with the browns in the space.

Eclectic Living Room by Portland Design-Build Firms Vanillawood

By keeping your sofa in the same neutral tones as other large elements, such as this hearth, you can allow the art in a room to shine.  In this case, the sofa takes a supporting role to a Platner table, a Noguchi table, and a Bertolli chair.

source

Use your rug to tie the room together, without being too matchy-matchy. Keep the walls white, to bounce lots of light around, and accessorize with gold metals. Gold looks amazing with brown. So does red, if you get the undertones right.

via decorpad

Use your sofa as a back drop for your collection of folk art textiles. Build your color scheme around one central textile (which also has a brown similar to your sofa).

Traditional Living Room by Los Angeles Interior Designers & Decorators Emily Ruddo

Balance the light with the dark.... and throw in some sophisticated, but pretty accent colors.

Contemporary Living Room

Keep things from feeling heavy by painting woodwork bright white, and painting the walls a light pastel. Add punch and balance with a large bold piece of art.

via

Accessorize with vintage wine crates filled with fresh blooms.  The natural wood will tie into your sofa color, and the blooms will add a pop of color!

Modern Living Room by Toronto Interior Designers & Decorators Sealy Design Inc.

Build your room around one textile in all neutral tones, for a calm masculine space.

Eclectic Living Room by Toronto Photographers Peter A. Sellar - Architectural Photographer

Have fun. Keep your sense of humor. Don't be shy. Surround yourself with what you love, and the room will come together.

Contemporary Living Room by Smyrna Interior Designers & Decorators The Hunted Interior

Choose a classic print, containing your sofa color, and build your color story from there -- and remember what we said about black and brown working together? Here it is again!

If you love your sofa, and it works for you, and you have built a beautiful space around it, that's good design. And good design is timeless, so it just won't matter that brown sofas "trended" in year "x".  Good design is always current. What are your tips for working with brown sofas?

Watercolor Pencil Bible Art Journal Tutorial

Hello friends! Today I want to share a tutorial for an art journal page, using watercolor pencil. I used a bible journal, but if you're not into bible journaling, but love altered books, scrapbooking, mixed media, or altered art, you can apply these techniques there, too.

If you don't already have a set of watercolor pencils, I would encourage you to pick up a set -- decent sets can be found for just a few dollars.

What to Put in Your Smash Journal

I recently shared a tutorial on how to put together a smash journal, using items from the dollar store as well as "found" items you may already have around the house. The post was getting pretty long, so I decided to break it out into a tutorial, and a flip through that included ideas for what to include in your own smash journal.

Basically, if you can figure out a way to bind it, and it fits (more or less), then you can use it in your journal! Don't feel limited to paper, either -- you may find cool pieces of plastic from packaging or old report covers that can be re-purposed.

Make a Fun Smash Journal From Dollar Store Supplies!

Hello friends! You may have noticed that I've decreased the frequency of my posts in the last couple of weeks. Don't worry, I'm still here and I'm still making stuff. I just decided to slow down the pace for a few weeks over the summer, to make more time to hang out with friends and family.

One of the fun things I made recently is a smash journal, using Dollar Store supplies!

I am IN LOVE with the smash journal concept. If you have drawers and boxes full of vintage ephemera, or if you've simply collected an abundance of pretty paper over the years, this is a project you might love, as well! This is a project inspired by a Heidi Swapp video. Heidi made a scrapbook for her daughter using a plastic 12x12 paper holder.

I started by grabbing a few items from the local Dollar Tree, including a plastic document file, some pretty note paper, and a package of  binder dividers. All you really need, however, is a plastic file, and a drawer full of random paper.

Begin by cutting off both fused ends of the file and discarding. You can even up your cuts with a paper cutter afterward, if you need to.

Next, go through your papers and dividers and cut them down to a size that will fit inside your smash journal. I used the plastic divider sheets from the document file as a guide. Get creative here. Fold some pages over, create pockets -- anything goes! As long as your items fit in your book, they do not have to be the same size.

I cut down the pocket divider from the Dollar Store set that I bought. Assemble your pages and bind together. I have an O-ring binder, but if you don't have one, you can take your stack of pages to a printer and they can bind it for you -- or you can punch holes and add rings or cord. I bound my plastic file right into the journal by folding it back on itself and and adding it to the back of the stack before inserting the O-rings.

I LOVE IT! This smash journal was made as a gift, to encourage a friend, but you can be sure I will be making more very soon.

The book is full of pretty things, vintage book pages, hand drawn doodles, pockets, and note pages.

I was planning to do a "flip through" in this post, but it was getting so long, I decided to save it for another post.

Have lots of fun decorating the cover of your smash journal. Since the cover is translucent, I made sure the top page was something pretty, then I added a tiny banner, made from tiny scraps and embroidery floss. The elastic closure was dressed up with fun foam flowers. The recipient's name was added in glittered foam letters.

If you have a stash of fun papers, you'll definitely want to try a version of this project!

If you enjoyed this project, please subscribe to House Revivals in the sidebar, so you won't miss the fun projects we have planned. Find us on Facebook, too, so you won't miss any of the "in between" stuff, and see what I'm working on daily on Instagram. Feel free to link today's project to you favorite social media sites.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Make Washi Tape Beads!

If you are looking for a bead project for the kids this summer, you're in the right place. This is a simple project that is so easy, even grown-ups can do it! All of your supplies can be found at the dollar store, as well. Bonus!

Gather up your odd bits of washi tape, lace tape, and ribbon tape and spend the afternoon making pretty jewelry with the kiddos.

The Beach House Studio Reveal

Are you ready for the 2015 House Revivals craft room reveal? Okay, maybe not "the big reveal", but the "this is where we are now, and where we'll probably stay until my schedule frees up in, ohhhhhh, I don't know, January 2016 maybe?"

At the beginning of the year, this attic was a big overwhelming mess.

Mini Composition Book Travel Journal

With summer just around the corner, many of us are planning to get out more and take some trips. This is a perfect time to "get your feet wet" with art journaling.

I remember, as a little girl on road trips, my mother would give the kids notebooks and tell us to write and draw about what we were seeing.

A Beautiful Mess

As we head into summer, we are gearing up for lots of guests at our beach house. Entertaining can be pretty stressful, and I think we all pressure ourselves to "be the hostess with the mostest".

We plan elaborate parties, with fancy decorations, and worry about whether all our guests will be impressed. During our parties, we're constantly tidying up, checking on toilet paper, putting out dry towels, and making sure there is plenty of ice.

Craft Storage From Altered Tins

I love a good upcycling project, and these upcycled Altoids tins are no exception.

I have some lovely sets of Melody Ross debossing tools, but while the alphabets and numbers came in beautiful tins, some of the smaller sets came in blister packs.