Embellish

The art of napkin folding has been tucked away with all our fabric napkins. To step-up your next party, open those linen drawers and get to folding!

Many Web sites offer napkin folding directions. For example, NapkinFoldingGuide.com, features photos and step by step instructions for common folds.

Every year, new books are published focusing on this origami-like art form. A hot one for 2008 is “Napkin Origami: 25 Creative and Fun Ideas for Napkin Folding,” written by Brian Sawyer. An older favorite is “Napkins with a Twist: Fabulous Folds with Flair for Every Occasion” written by celebrity event designer David Stark, features old and new techniques for the modern table and party.

For your next party, try the Rose Napkin Fold. Create a unique and beautiful table display by featuring a favorite bowl, filled with flowers or a floating candle

- Jamie K. Garcia

It’s a big world out there. A big, gadget-filled world, full of electronic beeps and abbrvtd txt msgs.

Don’t get me wrong: I love my Blackberry as much as the next girl, but from time to time, it all starts feeling a little soulless. When the tech-fry starts to happen, a little time with an Exacto knife and/or some construction paper can do a world of good.

Just Say No To E-mail
Surely you’ve got at least three e-mails from a couple out-of-town friends sitting in your inbox that are old, old, old. You didn’t answer them right away and now, six months later, you’re too embarrassed to e-mail them back them at all. You don’t have to! Instead, write a letter on a piece of impressive stationary and draw a little cartoon about how much you stink at timely correspondence. (Fabulous art skills are totally unnecessary.)

Evite, Schmeevite
Sure, e-mail-able invitations are quick, fun and free. They’re also never going to be as fabulous (or make a guest feel as special) as a paper invitation. Collaged cards, stamped vellum, hand-cut cardstock – the possibilities are endless when you do it yourself and your guests won’t have to create a profile just to tell you they’ll be there.

Cheese!
Desktop publishing is a beautiful thing, no question about it. But some of the software for photo printing is, in my opinion, robbing the world of ugly, handmade picture frames and heavy, smudged photo albums. Don’t let the slickness of the digital frame and the online slide show keep you from expressing your inner grandma – scrapbooks, albums and seashell frames complete the story the pictures are trying to tell

- Mary K. Fons

While on vacation, I went on a garden tour fundraiser in Gig Harbor, WA. Judy Ruffner of Gig Harbor used many household items in her garden in new and interesting ways.

To recreate this look at home, take old or new frames and spray paint in desired color(s). Judy used three different shades of metallic paint for the frames and kept the plantings in the same color scheme.

Bring a little of the indoors outdoors and into your garden space

-Concept, ideas and photographs created by Jamie K. Garcia

As someone likes to cook, I test and collect many recipes. In a short time, my collection has grown and I am always looking for a way to organize them. Finally, a solution!

Tastebook.com is a website that makes creating your own cookbook a cinch. Tastebook will allow you to select pre-typed recipes from several popular online websites like Foodnetwork, Epicurious, Allrecipes, and Cooking Light. You can even upload your own recipes and photos.

Tastebook starts at $19.95, which includes a binder book with section tabs and 25 recipes. Recipes snap in and out of the binder, so the author can order each recipe as he/she builds their cookbook over time. Each book can hold up to 100 recipes. Creating a Tastebook is a great way to organize favorite family recipes. Also, cookbooks can easily be reproduced, making this an ideal gift for family and friends.

- Jamie K. Garcia

I recently learned of a popular crafter’s website, www.Etsy.com. Upon exploring Etsy, I found an endless variety of handmade products for sale. Crafters from around the world are able to sell everything from handmade jewelry to handmade home goods on Etsy.
Etsy offers a forum, called “Alchemy,” for anyone looking for handmade custom pieces. For example, if you are looking for a custom vase for your dining room; you can post your request. Crafters from Etsy will begin bidding on your project, and you can select your favorite crafter to create your custom piece.
Posting your own crafts to sell is as easy as selling on Ebay. Crafters can also unite by joining groups, chatting and participating in online workshops.
Etsy is an invaluable site for inspiration. Do-it-yourselfers can peruse the site for ideas and examples the next time you are looking for the perfect DIY gift, party invitation or home decoration.

- Jamie K. Garcia

Someone told me a long time ago that if you like it, it matches.

I still come across these words of advice in style magazines from time to time and it’s my mantra when I’m channeling my inner DIY interior designer.

Now, this insight was never really true for me as I “decorated” my living spaces in college. As a cash-poor student, I was more focused on my studies and my, er, extra-curricular activities than my sense of home-furnishing style. Butterfly chairs, band posters and upturned milk crates did the job, made me happy, and didn’t require much thought or money.

Now at 28, I’ve developed and refined my style – and it ain’t bad, if I do say so myself. In the beginning of my journey toward nest fabulousity, however, I began to get worried. My tastes were clearly super varied – surely this was a problem. I like Versaille-inspired wallpaper in all its monochrome toile glory. I like striped wing chairs. I love bright hues like juicy oranges and emerald greens, but I like pale yellow, too. I’m a quilt lover, and East Indian accents make me drool. I can’t stand 1950s style furnishings, but I do have an adorable Formica-topped table. Surely, I’d have to pick one of these themes and stick with it, right?

Thankfully, that is so not true.

If you love, say an Oriental rug and a post-modern yellow-lacquered end table, you don’t have to choose one or the other. Your personality, your style, your vision will show through in all choices made in your home – that is, if you deeply love the pieces and you have at least one iota of actual style and taste. If you’re interested in Oriental rugs and post-modern end tables, this is probably true of you.

So as I launch into Project Nest these next few months – it’s a goal for me to have an inspired dwelling for guests that will be in and out of my home this summer and fall – I’ll cling to this piece of advice. Variety is the spice of life, after all, and yellow-lacquered end tables are just too fantastic to pass up

- Mary K. Fons

A recent survey by GE reported that 80 percent of Americans prefer to spend their time, energy, creativity and money to improve the homes they currently live in rather than move. Almost all of the respondents (96 percent) said that they are interested in new, fun DIY ideas for home improvement/home decor projects.

Surprisingly to me, only seven out of 10 people said that they think of their home as an extension of their personal style!

Just doing a small poll of people in the different areas of my life, I found that figure to be much higher. Personally, I am very invested in the elements (cheap or expensive) I include in my home; I’m choosy when it comes to my space because my surroundings have a huge impact on how I feel. I have a ridiculous number of magazine stacks and collections, a bookcase that can’t even handle another paperback, and the majority of letters and cards I’ve ever received are tucked away in a special place. Why? Because they’re a part of me like the photographs of my loved ones on my dresser and window sill, the assorted sketches, drawings and paintings dotting the hallway, and the throw pillows and cozy, knitted blankets in the living room. It took me forever to find new bedding because nothing felt right, but when I finally saw my current bedspread, I instantly new it was perfect. I have a favorite cup and plate that rarely make it back into the cupboard after the dishwasher; they get used immediately and often. I still use a homemade windchime I received as a gift from a close friend almost 10 years ago. If my home isn’t comfortable, inviting and full of pieces of me, then it’s not really my home. Crafts and projects that I’ve done or that friends and family have given me have a spot of honor in their given room - those are items on display and are in constant use.

-Mary Margaret Murphey

When entertaining this summer, try using these napkin rings made from recycled cardboard and raffia, an all natural ribbon made from palm trees.

Supplies for 11 napkin rings:
Cardboard insert from 1 paper towel roll
Pen
Ruler
Scissors
Double sided tape
Raffia, any color (“Rust” shown)
Paper clip or binder clip
Hot glue gun

Directions:
1. Measure the cardboard insert from a paper towel roll into 1 inch sections and mark with a pen. Cut into 1 inch rings.
2. Wrap the outside of the ring once with double sided tape.
3. Cut one yard of raffia from the roll.
4. Secure one end of raffia on the tape and begin wrapping vertically.

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