DIY or Buy: Cozy Kindling Mini Tree

Posted in Inspiration by Jennifer | Stick Girl JAM

I know it’s still November and Thanksgiving isn’t even here yet, but if you’re gonna start DIYing the Christmas decor, then you have to get started now so it’ll be ready to put up the weekend after Thanksgiving, right? Right.

I love love love the look of this little tree for an entryway or desk, or even kitchen table! but at $88, it’s a little pricey for a stack of twigs and colored thread. How about an easy DIY?! I think it’d be fairly simple to wrap the twigs with cotton (sort of like batting cushion for the thread), wrap with colored thread, yarn, twine – whatever you choose!), and then stack and glue the sticks on top of each other. You may need to use supports to get them highly stacked. Or just really strong glue. I wonder if it’d be easy to drill a small hole through the sticks and use a dowel? Worth a try, right?

I have some left over eucalyptus branches from Declan’s Lumberjack Lunch that are pretty big (too big to stack like this) but they’d be really cute and festive wrapped in fun colors laying in our unused fireplace! I just may give it a go.

25Jan2013

DIY or Buy: Ifs Painting

Posted in For the Home by Jennifer | Stick Girl JAM

Falling Ifs Print by Matthew Heller, CB2

What do you do if you love art but live on a starving artist’s budget when it comes to decorating your home? Make it yourself! I am very inspired by this “Falling Ifs Print” at CB2 but at $199, I think I could probably make something similar myself using a blank canvas (usually on sale at Michael’s), paint or marker, and stencils (or even freehand if I was feeling adventurous). The word “if” is a powerful one, full of possibilities. When I see this, I like to think of encouragement to live in the “What If” of the future rather than the “What If” of the past. Wouldn’t this be fantastic hanging in your office?

There are certainly other words out there that are full of possibilities and hope — maybe LOVE for a bridal shower, or random letters or numbers to decorate a kid’s room. Endless options!

If you’re not a DIYer, here’s the skinny from the CB2 website on this special, limited-edition print:

“LA-based artist Matthew Heller asks infinite questions with two simple letters falling in a graphic cluster of repetition. Originally stenciled in black acrylic on canvas, ‘ifs’ gather in a spontaneous heap of contemplation; an unpunctuated world of possibilities; open-ended hopes and fears. ‘I often stumble through my work searching, exploring the human condition in order to discover the piece,’ Heller says. ‘While working on this series of poem paintings, I had been thinking a lot about the power of individual words and I was inspired to make a painting of a bunch of ‘ifs,’ using them as the figures or characters of a story.'”

28Nov2012

DIY or Buy: Wood Tree

Posted in For the Home by Jennifer | Stick Girl JAM

Wooden Wall Tree from west elm

What do you do if you want to decorate a tree this holiday season but don’t have space for a tree? This chic, space-saving wooden wall tree from west elm is a great way to add a little Christmas spirit to your home or office without sacrificing floor space (or having to clean up pine needles…or water off your floor). There are tons of variations on the wall tree, but what drew me to this one is that it could quite easily be a fun little DIY project using craft sticks, popicle sticks…heck, you could probably even walk outside and gather some sticks off the ground and create a more rustic version! Make it easy on yourself and use hot glue if you’re going the DIY route, and be sure to add a few layers of “branches” so you can hang some lightweight ornaments. And don’t forget to stack your presents underneath!

(Update: the wooden wall tree from west elm is no longer available on their website so I did some searching and found some other inspiration — see here and here — plus a great DIY for a wooden wall tree from Swoon!)