Decorating for Spring...Bringing the Outside In

We are experiencing some amazing weather here today and it really has my head spinning with decorating ideas for spring. Oh, the possibilities!

Why is it with every new season, I want to completely redecorate my entire house. Notice I said...want to....I don't actually get to. I find the best approach when I get this itch to redecorate is just to re-purpose accessories I already have from around the house in new ways. That, plus, a few fun, new season-inspired accessories seem to do the trick....and keep the peace around my house. :)

Here are a few of my must-have items for bringing a little bit of spring into my house.

A big green boxwood wreath for the front door...



A few planters filled with pretty, fresh herbs....

And of course, the instant update for any room...a few new throw pillows...

 

Now, it's your turn....
I would love to hear what you guys do to bring a little bit of spring inside your home! 

And, in case you missed the post on our Facebook page....we just got a new shipment of fun fabrics for the shop...which means lots of fun new pillow covers will be making their way to our online shop very soon!

Don't forget, the birdcage cosmetic bag giveaway is still going on, so if you haven't entered yet read all about how to do so here.

Now, I'm headed home to take advantage of this beautiful weather and start conquering the chaos that is currently known as our backyard! Details on our backyard renovations, along with before and after pics coming soon. 

Happy weekend friends!

~Melissa

Home Decor Trends for 2011 + Cosmetic Bag Giveaway!!!!

Christmas has passed and Spring is crawling near!  All of us art inspired, thrift store hunters, fabric junkies, sewing freaks, self-proclaimed interior designers are looking at what's in style this year! We tend to let our inner design voice guide our choices of projects and new ideas. If you're like me, most of your best design and craft ideas come at the strangest times....In particular, I will be focusing away and straining my brain on a well thought out structured project and then BAM!! That perfect idea pops into my head and I hustle around, gathering all that I will need to start another project!



One of my many work spaces around the house.....



There's that little thing we say, "I have too many ideas and I don't know which one I want to start?" Or we say, "I'm stumped...No ideas are coming to my brain. What is wrong with me?" But this year I think we've fallen somewhere in between those two! Both Melissa and I have a huge LOVE for all design and decor that's classic, modern and chic. So here we go, we've talked a bunch about dividing our craft time into thirds. One third sewing, the second third something, and the third third something?! We get together on our occasional lunch outings and talk up a storm for two some odd hours, blabbing about our ideas or lack there of....

Let me share a little something real fast.......

We have literally shopped thrift stores and flea markets since we met in sixth grade. Both our mother's instilled this love for good thrifty finds. But don't kid yourself, you still have to be "thrifty" while shopping at thrift stores.  Key note: going on the sale days!  Just ask Melissa, her "Martha Stewart" closet is filled with millions of thrift store finds just begging to be up-cycled!  Spending money anywhere just adds up. You may ask, "why do you need to wait for a sale at a thrift store??" I know, it sounds like an oxymoron...Thrift store/Sale...? But to truly get those great finds worth up-cycling or repurposing it's a must!
 

Vintage-Inspired Book Stack

Up-Cycled White Chic Coasters
http://www.poshhouseoriginals.com


 So here's where the second third of our divided craft time comes into play. We have both recovered, refinished, revamped, re-everything and we are now going to pass these awesome treasures on to you! Vintage-inspired, modern-chic, you name it, we are going to do it!

Back to the subject at hand....2011 Home Decor Trends... I usually refuse to research trending topics. How could I do such a thing?  I tell myself, a true crafter and designer doesn't follow trends but sets the trends.  So, I did it. I GOOGLED it... I sat down to write this post and thought that I had to have  something backing up my claim. And I'm so excited to report that Posh House has hit the nail on the head! Our new Spring line at Posh House Originals is spot on.



http://bit.ly/ClS6l


According to Michelle Lamb, the editorial director of "The Trend Curve" shared her design outlook for 2011. She states that "shoppers can expect to see furniture and accessories which combine classic elements with contemporary details, incorporating texture into upholstery fabrics, metals and wood." I'm getting so excited even thinking about the possibilities this year! You will see "puckers, pleats, tweeds, frayed edges, woven-in ribbons and embossing. Understated raw looks are rising." Michelle Lamb defines 2011's style as a "merging of vintage and modern." Traditional style is going to collide with modern chic details. A combination like this is going to rock your socks off! There will be no limits to this combination! My favorite of all and something that we have already began to include in our shop are reclaimed woods and upcycled items.


Trellis Design with Floral Accent Broach
www.poshhouseoriginals.com

It has been said that 2011 will be about adding balance to the trends and moving towards simplicity. Simplicity is a concept many people are adopting in every part of their lives. Lamb says, "it's about making the most of a single element. Decor will exemplify clean lines, geometry and a lack of embellishment. Products will be multifuntional and manufacturers will use transparent materials."


http://bit.ly/gLd1Vg

Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy!! Whether you are a craft junky, design enthusiast, or a shopaholic,  this means the mesh of styles and textiles are endless this year....

Now it's time to talk COSMETIC BAG GIVEAWAY!!!

Here's how it works....Read carefully so you don't miss out on any details!!

Visit our Shop www.poshhouseoriginals.com and "Like" us on Facebook. If you already "Like" us on Facebook, go ahead and post a comment on our facebook page about which item you like the best!  When you're finished come back here to our blog and post your favorite item or items in our shop and some of your 2011 design ideas for your chance to win this little white birdcage bag! It features a heavy duty grey canvas on the interior and is 100% machine washable. We will randomly pick a winner and you will receive this cosmetic bag!

www.poshhouseoriginals.com

We love to hear your ideas too. After all, that's how we all get our creative juices flowing! Good luck! The Giveaway starts Thursday, January 27th and ends Thursday, February 3rd!

Best,
Katie

Posh House Originals is Being Featured on SIMPLE Today + a Giveaway

Today Posh House Originals is being featured on SIMPLE - a blog dedicated to sharing tips and product reviews with moms (or dads for that matter) who want the latest and greatest for their little ones! They feature and review a wide array of products and give honest feedback about how they worked, what they liked about them and what they didn't.

Head over there to check out their review of our burp cloths AND enter for a chance to win a burp cloth set of your own!

The winner will be selected randomly on December 8th, and will get to pick a free burp cloth set of their choice from our online store.

** All photos were borrowed from the SIMPLE review of this burp cloth set.**

On another note...Happy {early} Thanksgiving everyone!! We hope you spend the day surrounded by people you that love who make you feel thankful for all that you have. :)

Gaga on Cherry Street welcomes Posh House Originals

We are so excited to announce our expansion into the local shopping scene! Posh House Originals is NOW available at Gaga on Cherry Street! We have been little busy worker bees the past couple of months and it has finally started to pay off just a little. We have big hopes and dreams with the Posh House brand and we can't say thank you enough to everyone that has been a part of our launch success! We look forward to more growth this coming New Year.




Posh House Originals "Green Shelf" items!

 


Our beautiful burp cloth sets!





For anyone that is local and loves going to great craft shows, we will be joining two shows this December! Come see us at Darnaby Arts and Crafts Show on December 4th at the UMAC and the Cascia Holiday Boutique on December 5th at Cascia Hall. We are working our tails off to bring fresh hot products! Hope to see all of you there!

We are constantly working on new items to add to our shop. Check back frequently for news, new products and giveaways.

We love hearing about your ideas and crafts that you enjoy! Don't hesitate to leave a comment or message us. Let us know what holiday crafts you all are working on at this time.

Because Everyone Loves Free Stuff, Right?!?!

Posh House Originals has teamed up with Tales and Trails this week to host a giveaway for one of our Large Cosmetic Bags!

Head over to the Tales and Trails blog to read the rules on how to enter your name for a chance to win. The winner will get to select the Large Cosmetic Bag of their choice from our shop. 

This giveaway ends on Friday, October 29th at noon EST so don't miss out! :) 

DIY Costumes - Simple, Low Cost and with Originality

20 Days until Halloween 2010...

Yes, it's mid October and Halloween is just SCREAMING around the corner. Have you found the perfect costume for your little monster yet? Are you not wanting to spend a fortune? Or are you just a last minute kind of parent? Whatever the reason may be, we have gathered some trendy DIY costumes that take little to no time, money or SEWING so let's take a peek!

Sure, your kid could be a pumpkin, a football player, or pink princess, but those are all the common costumes that show up year after year. If you are looking to try something new, one of these DIY costumes may be just what you are looking for...and we guarantee you won't see 10 other kids running around the neighborhood in the same costume.

Big Green Turtle
For those of you that can remember the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, how about this Turtle Costume Kit for $15.00? An adorable, ready to make turtle! You could add a sword or grenade and make your little guy a "Warrior Turtle". This Etsy seller has a variety of DIY Costume Kits. Find this costume online HERE.

If you don't want to order and rely on the costume to be shipped in time for your child's Halloween Bash then DIY it! Here are some helpful hints on putting together your little turtle guy:

• Green sweatshirt
• Green sweatpants
• Backpack
• Green fabric or poster board to cover the backpack
• Light green fabric, poster board or felt
• Glue
• Safety pins

Directions

Using the fabric or poster board, cut out the shell shape. Next, cut out small and medium sized circles to put on the turtle shell; apply those with glue. Now you can attach the shell to your child's backpack with safety pins. Be careful where you place the safety pins, you don't want your little one to get poked while scavenging through his candy bag. If you want to go further with this DIY transformation, cover the backpack straps in front with your leftover fabric or felt. Lastly, just slip on that green sweatsuit! Your turtle is ready to crawl the neighborhood.

Batman on a Stick

For those that are simple minded and don't feel like making a single item, how about Batman on a Stick? I know that sounds like a type of sucker, popsicle or something you'd find at the fair, but for $5.95 you can purchase this Batman mask on a stick and head over to your closet and pull out those trusty old BLACK pants and shirt! That sounds easy, right? Check out this mask on a stick costume HERE.

For the real DIY types who like to get a little creative, go to your local hobby or craft store and pick up the following items:

• 2 pieces of black felt
• 1 dowel rod or popsicle stick (these are all near the unfinished wood products)
•  Scissors
•  Glue

Directions

Draw your Batman silhouette on a piece of scrap paper, lay it over the black felt and start cutting! Apply glue to 1 piece of felt, lay the stick on the far left or right side of the face, then put the second piece of felt on top. Viola, you have "Batman on a Stick". Let this dry for approximately an hour.

Pale Pink Piggy

For the main part of your little piggy you need a sweatshirt two sizes bigger than what your child would normally wear. You can find this at a discount store for around $5 each. You will also need a hot-glue gun and scissors.

Directions (via Parenting Magazine)

1. Cut the sleeves off a pink sweatshirt; fold in and glue raw edges.
2. Turn Sweatshirt inside out and glue Poly-Fil or batting to cover inside, front, and back.
3. Turn sweatshirt right side out. Glue on a tail made from a coiled pink pipe cleaner.
4. Add a pink turtleneck and pink leggings.
5. Hat: Cut two 7-inch-long triangles from one of the cut-off sleeves and glue them (fleece side out) to a pink knit hat for ears.
6. Snout: Cut an empty toilet paper roll to 1 1/2 inches. Cover tube with a glued-on piece of sleeve (fleece side out). Glue two pink ribbons inside tube (to tie snout on head) and a large pink button on front.

Blue Butterfly

Thanks to Family Fun for this beautiful bright blue butterfly. Your little bug will stay warm in this costume. The bright blue is eye catching so you will be able to keep track of that little fluttering butterfly of yours.

Here are the supplies you will need. The following items can be be found around the house and at your local hobby store:

• Pencil 
• 2 sheets of corrugated cardboard 
• Utility knife 
• Tempera paints and paintbrushes 
• Cellophane 
• Glue 
• 8 feet of cording 
• 2 silly straws 
• 2 googly eyes 
• Knit ski cap 
• Blue shirt 
• Tights 
• Socks 
• Sneakers 
• 48-inch piece of batting 
• 24-inch piece of nylon 
• Diaper pinsDirections

Directions

• For the wings: Draw the butterfly wings on one piece of the cardboard that extends roughly from the top of your child's hips to the back of his head and no more than 8 inches beyond his shoulders (our butterfly has a wingspan of about 2 feet).
• Draw a simple decorative pattern on the wings. Cut out the wing shape and pattern using a utility knife. Trace the shape onto the second piece of cardboard and cut out.
• Paint one side of each wing shape. When dry, place one wing paint-side down on your work surface and cut pieces of cellophane to lay over the cutouts in the wing.
• Glue the second wing on top so that the cellophane is sandwiched in place. Poke three holes in the wing and thread the cord through them so it hangs evenly.
• For the antennae: Glue one googly eye to the tip of each silly straw, then tape the straws about halfway down the ski hat. Fold up the brim to hide the tape.
• For the body: Have your child put on the blue shirt, tights and sneakers. Pull the blue socks on over sneakers. Wrap the batting around his middle a few times, then tightly wrap the piece of nylon over the batting. Use a few diaper pins to pin the nylon in place.
• Put on the wings: Hold the wings up to your child's shoulders, then help him put one arm through each cord strap, so he wears the wings like a backpack. Run the cord ends around his waist a few times and tie in place.

Now go, go, go!  Start looking around the house for any materials you may already have on hand and then head to your local hobby or craft store to pick up the rest of the items you will need to create your child's Halloween Costume!

A Twist on Traditonal: Halloween Party Set and a Special 24 Hour Discount

We are so excited to introduce the first set in our collection of Party Decoration Kits! This Halloween party set features traditional black and orange Halloween colors, but we gave it a twist by adding unexpected patterns such as damask, stripes and polka dots to make it feel fresh.

This Halloween Party Set can be purchased on our website as either a Do-It-Yourself Printable PDF set or as a Pre-Printed Set. All of the items featured can also be purchased individually as well.

Over the weekend we put together a Halloween Party table to showcase our new Twist on Traditional Halloween Party Set! We hope this will get you in the mood to start planning a spooky get together of your own. All of the details about this party table, as well as where we purchased the items we used can be found below.

  

All the Details: 

  

Table Decor:

We used platters, glass containers, bowls and a two-tier iron basket that we already had on hand. This is a great way to save money and use all those serving pieces you have sitting around.

We started out by draping our table with an inexpensive orange plastic table cloth from Hobby Lobby. Next we added a little texture by draping a creepy black spider web table covering that we found at Dollar General over it to add interest. We completed our table set up by adding another inexpensive black plastic table cloth, also from Hobby Lobby, behind the table.

The following Halloween items helped to finish off our table decor:

- Witches Way Buffet Sign - Dollar Tree

- Black Basket with Orange and White Liner - Dollar General

- Plastic Spider, Bat and Skull Rings - Dollar Tree

- Black and purple jack-o-lantern - Hobby Lobby

- Black Tissue Pom on the side of the table - Posh House Originals
- Black and White Striped Ribbon - Hobby Lobby

- Black and Orange Polka Dot Cupcake Liners - CupcakeSocial on Etsy 

                                                                     Party Food:

We made lots of easy to eat party foods and tried to stick to things that fit within the black and orange theme when possible. We include cheese puffs, black licorice, popcorn, "children of the" corn chips, caramel apples, "orange you scared" punch, orange and white cupcakes and "don't be a" chicken roll-ups.

The "don't be a" chicken roll-ups were made from a friend's mom's recipe (Thanks Joy). We added our own Halloween spin to it by changing the name slightly to fit our party theme. We have included a downloadable copy of the recipe below to help get your Halloween Party menu started!

SPECIAL 24 HOUR DISCOUNT:

We are offering 10% off your entire purchase from Posh House Originals for the next 24 hours. Use the coupon code October5 to receive your discount today!