ohbrooke

Sheet Metal and Chalk Ink

When I painted and decorated my home office, I hung a piece of galvanized sheet metal to use as a magnet board. After that project, I swiftly moved on to another, and haven’t been using it as effectively as it could be. With a little tip from my sister Shelley, I bought some chalk ink from Michael’s craft store {a little spendy at $12, but not bad with the 40% off coupon they have readily available}. Now my magnet board functions as a work board, where I can keep track of my current web design projects, and personal to-dos. The chalk ink wipes off of any non-porous surface with a wet paper towel. NOW my work board is fully functional!

Here’s the before…

And here’s the after…

Laura’s Berkeley Wedding

My designer friend Laura and her fiance Casey got married last friday at Tilden Park in Berkeley. Laura did all the designing; the invitations, name cards, favors, you name it. She did a great job pulling all the details together. Here are my favorite shots from the night:

Dear Mom, I’m Sorry We Made Fun Of You…

Week after week, my most important chore was to dust the trophies and the books on the shelves in the living room. This was no simple feat! Seven children, each with some fourteen trophies or so {maybe more from the more -ahem- atheletic of the bunch}. The Encyclopedia Brittanica lining the bottom shelf {the reading of which was threatened punishment should any of us squeel “I’m bored!”}, and rows and rows of endless books. Dutifully, I took each book off the shelf one by one, dusted it and replaced it, all the while making snide remarks about how you had so delicately organized your books not by name or topic, but by color. Should I need to do a book report on paintings, I wouldn’t move toward the non-fiction section of your personal library, but instead the area somewhere near hex color #F0d855. It didn’t seam logical to me or any of your other witty children, but today I’m having Oprah’s trademarked “AHA! Moment”. Please accept my sincere apologies for this blatent disregard for your artistic notion, and please enjoy this gallery I have put together JUST for you. Happy early Mother’s Day…

Photo credits:
http://www.colourlovers.com
http://4.bp.blogspot.com
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com
http://hookedonhouses.net/
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/

Birdie Baby Shower Invitations

My friend and I are throwing a baby shower for our friend Shannon. We decided on a little birdie theme for her baby boy. After having seen these adorable invitations from Jordan Ferney, I HAD to make them. These are the birdie invitations I made:

Since it was birdie themed, my sister, mom and I came up with these little wording changes:

Please help us get {mother}’s nest ready, baby {last name} is ready to hatch! -and-
A little birdie told us she was registered at…

I used:

1. All white jordan almonds for the filler candy because they look like little birdie eggs. I found these at Wal-Mart in the wedding section.
2. A Martha Stewart birdie hole punch to show some negative space on the outer label.
3. 8 1/2″ x 11″ full-size Avery labels, and printed 5 name bands per sheet. I found these at Office Depot.
4. Adobe Illustrator to layout the design.
5. A corner punch to round the edges. I bought this at a craft store.
6. Istock to buy the bird nest illustration and Adobe Photoshop to edit it.

And LASTLY, I now have 25 extra plain kraft jewelry boxes that I’ll sell for $12 if anyone wants to take this project on themselves!

Time To Get Rid of Old Junk

My blogging buddy Jess of Make Under My Life has a weekly routine of sloughing off her unused and unloved items in her “Weekly Exfoliations.” Week after week she takes something that she is no longer using and donates, recycles, or tosses as she sees fit. The weekend sun got to me this weekend and made me want to do some serious organizing. I put together a roundup of what I might “exfoliate” this week. I would LOVE to simplify my life by getting rid of the clutter in the house. Here is what I came up with:

1. Aqua rice paper lantern and black light cord
2. Track lighting that works, but was replaced with a chandelier
3. A stack of books
4. A metal vase {oy… do those things have a real name?}
5. Wire shelf organizers
6. Motorola Razr phone charger
7. Gel mousepad
8. Four square canvases that can be painted over
9. Bluetooth earpiece and charger, never been used

Last Chance… any of these are free for the taking before I head to the donation truck… leave a comment if you are interested!

My New Polaroid Camera

Stopped by my friend’s garage sale she put together for her mom and picked up a Polaroid Camera. Her mom had film in the house that she let us use, and we had so much fun with it. I’m loving how the pictures come out, the imperfect emulsion and yellowy colors. Be sure to let me know if you have boxes of Polaroid film in your attic… please send my way. ;)

Here are the pictures of me, my hubby, and my friend April at her mom’s sweet garage sale.

Organized Jewelry

I’m pretty neat at home, but my jewelry drawer can get unruly. I battled it yesterday with $5.50 at Wal-mart, and here’s how I did it:

Here’s the “before”… I had an acrylic container I had inherited along the way somehow, and everything was crammed into it. Yes, my jewelry shares the same drawer as my toothbrush. When I brush my teeth in the morning, I pick out my jewelry, and I take it off as I brush my teeth at night. It makes sense to me.

I searched all over Wal-Mart for something cubby-like for my needs, but couldn’t find anything. As I had thrown in the towel and headed toward the exit, I spied these:

1 ice cube tray for $1.50

2 plastic butter dishes for $2 each

The 16 small cubbies of the ice cube tray was EXACTLY what I needed. I am LOVING IT! AND the ice cube trays stack nicely if I need additional cubbies!

JUST when I thought I was a GENIUS for thinking of this, I Googled “ice cube tray jewelry” to find the numerous geniuses who preceded me:

thehome.com
apartmenttherapy.com
associatedcontent.com
thriftyfun.com
…and the list goes on…

Real Estate Blog Design

Mueller Austin is a progressive and exciting master-planned new home community in Austin Texas. The homes are a mix of different homebuilders and home styles. What better way for neighboring cities and potential residents to keep up on the news at Mueller than a blog? The Mueller Journal just launched today, designed and developed by yours truly at my nine-to-fiver. I’m loving how this turned out both aesthetically, and for the communication this opens up between the development and those that are interested!

Wicked Headbands

My lack in posts was a biproduct of my sister being in town from Virginia. We went to the city and saw Wicked {thanks Mom!} and did a great deal of shopping. Wicked was amazing, and I haven’t stopped listening to the music since. If only I could finish the book…

And how I made it out of Urban Outfitters without buying this headband is beyond me {could have been the $26 price tag}. But I’m seeing it again thinking, “want it, want it, WANT IT”.

Reflecting on My Homeownership Mistakes

As I sit here eating my corndog {I know – ew} 10 minutes before I have to leave for my volleyball game {double-ew: jumping up and down on with a stomach full of corndog}, I’m reflecting on all of the decisions and surprises we have had when owning property. I thought I’d just jot them down really quickly to see if others agree.

• Clouded Judgement: Looking for houses can get so exciting that we sometimes overlook important features: square footage, number of bathrooms, and above all, price. It’s easy to get talked into paying a higher price than you had initially set as your budget. Through our three home purchases, we stayed WELL below our budget. This was one of the few things that I know we did RIGHT.
• The neighborhood: When we first moved to Sacramento, we hadn’t visited there longer than a weekend. We really didn’t know anything about the different neighborhoods. We were feeling like we couldn’t wait to buy the house. In retrospect, we probably should have rented for a few months to get to know the areas before we purchased.
• DIY home renovating: Two words-LAME. I’m a painter, and I have no problem painting, or even some light tile work, but professional work is always better. It goes quicker, there is less mess, it looks better and is more attractive to the next potential buyer than your shoddy attempt.
• Know EVERYTHING about your loan: Seemingly impossible, but it’s very important to ask all the important questions about your loan. What are the terms? Does it adjust? How many points will it cost? Is there a prepayment penalty? There is a steep learning curve with loans, especially during the craziness of the most recent housing market crash, where my husband and I spent time paying 11% on our ARM loan. Ouch.
• Keep track of ALL your receipts: If your home becomes a rental property and then is sold, you can write off ALL those major improvements. Keep the proof!

Well, I know we’ve made PLENTY of mistakes with our three properties, but these are the few that come to mind now.

Chalkboard

These fun little chalkboards have frames printed on them and adhesive backing. They are at The Paper Source for $14.50 and I have been thinking that this would be a good kitchen board for needs, or in my “croffice” to layout my to-dos. I love getting organized…

Inbox?

Yes, you know I’m back from the dead when I’m out shopping. I’m thinking about this little $36 beauty from UrbanOutfitters.com for myself as an inbox/outbox for my freelance projects.

In Much Need of a Weekend

Do you ever feel like you are going to crawl out of your SKIN? This month has been tiring to say the least, mostly because of the possibility of change. Things have been wacky at my 9-to-5er, my friends’ priorities are shifting, my work focus is morphing, and my house is a MESS. Somehow, when one piece of my foundation shifts, the reverberation is powerful; and like Jenga blocks, the tower goes a-swayin’. So here I am, counting down the minutes until the weekend and trying not to fall asleep in my chair {funny how a little indecision and lack of focus can make you EXHAUSTED}.

So, with that, I digress. My sister sent the link to this video this week, and I have thought about it at least three times. I think it’s hilarious, and totally encompasses the movement of my thoughts over the last few weeks. Don’t worry… I’ll be climbing out of the rut soon.

Meanwhile, some high points from the week:

I received my jewelry order from JessLC and am LOVING it. It has inspired me to organize my jewelry and I’ve asked for her help. I have also teamed up with Tristan and Jules to create a new blog design for thebrightsideproject.com. I am very excited about this redesign project!

ohbrooke feature on MakeUnderMyLife.com

Ok, yes, yesterday’s post was an April Fool’s joke. I got such pleasure out of picking out the Raggedy-Anne and wild horse wallpaper borders for my “best-of”… thanks for playing along.

But today’s post is for realsies. Cute and bubbly Jess of MakeUnderMyLife.com has done a feature of me on her blog. I have had the pleasure of working with her over the last few weeks, helping her goose up her blog’s cool factor. We have had fun emailing back and forth in our own timezones, and I am anxiously awaiting some of her jewelry {jesslc.com} in the mail. I am having a lot of fun making new connections on the internet… oh just another way for me to push my carpal tunnel to the limit.

If you get a chance, sneak over to www.makeundermylife.com and see Jessica’s advice as a self-employed business woman, fashion tips, and organization. I’m sure you’ll love it.

Wallpaper borders are BACK!

I was driving in Livermore the other day, and could see through someone’s bay window into their dining room. They had the most lovely burgundy and hunter green wallpaper border. I got to thinking, how is it that this inventive splash of color phased out? Well, if we do our part, we can bring it Back! I’ve put together some of my favorite patterns that I found on the internet. Enjoy! You can see the best of the best here.