Marhaba Jordan

So are you ready to hear about our trip to Jordan? This was my first experience in the Middle East and I had a totally different idea of what was waiting for me. For reasons I can't quite figure out, I imagined a lot of color, moorish architecture and souqs. WRONG! It surprised in other ways too. The impectably maintained roads for example. The little flocks of camels that graze right on the side of the highway and the the locals laughing at us as we snapped photos of something so mundane. The very relaxed attitude of its people. And that's just to name a few.



Before I go on, I'll mention that yes it was HOT. A dry heat but still. As luck would have it, NYC was going through a major heat wave at the same time so it was probably a bit more comfortable in Jordan sans humidity than it was at home. Its worth noting that Jordan does have seasons and we just happened to come during the summer. I'm sure it would be far more plesant in fall.

We started off in Amman. A bustling city that has everything from run down lanes to five star hotels to ancient Roman ruins. My favorite memory from Amman isn't something I can show you in a photograph but rather hearing the dawn call to prayer over the hills and leaking into our hotel room. Quite a pretty sound.




After sight seeing in Amman, we made our way out toward the Dead Sea. The area itself is essentially one big resort town - but the swimming or I should say floating in the waters definitely lived up to my imagination. Loved it.




We made some stops along the way - a Madaba church to appreciate some beautiful mosaics and the ubitiquous stop at a mosaic 'factory'. (No, didn't buy anything. Souvenirs are quite expensive here. )





After a day here we off to Jordan's most popular tourist site - Petra. One of the new seven wonders, seen in Indiana Jones, you get the idea. The site is huge and impressive. More on that and our night in the Wadi Rum desert in another post.

Who is ready for Halloween?

Its still August but word on the street is that Halloween is at the newstands. Thanks to ABCD for alerting me that the October issue of Martha is somewhere out there waiting for me.


via martha moments

I admit, I've been a little let down by some of the more recent MS Halloween issues, I can't help but look forward to it each year.

So I guess this means I better get going on my Halloween projects right?

For those of you who go all out - have you done anything yet? Put me to shame (and light a fire under me please!) by sharing your progress and projects in the comments.

DIY Key Catch All Plate

Thanks to Hurricane Irene, we were holed up at home for half the weekend watching constant weather reports. So whats a girl to do with her time than complete a fun project that has been in my head for a while.



Using some sculptey clay I bought a while back, I wanted to make a little key catch all plate. I've never used this stuff before so I didn't know what to expect.

Materials: Sculptey clay, rolling pin, glass bowl, key, butter knife, oven








The end result isn't exactly as I hoped. I wish it had that nice matte look that real ceramics have (is it something I'm doing wrong or is it just a limitation of this product) - this is a bit more plastic looking. And there were way too many imperfections and little bumps due to my own poor sculpting abilities. All that said, I'm glad I gave it a go. I think I might use this stuff again for some Christmas gift tags.

Anyone master this material and have tips for me on how to improve?

Steal this Idea*: Old Book Table Lamp

Its Friday (yippee!) - time for another Steal this Idea* feature - a tiny show of appreciation for a well executed tutorial.

Today's idea came in front of me by complete accident and has no doubt been all over the blog-o-sphere (so how did I not see it until now??). Its so adorable and such a low budget project, its definitely worth a share. It comes from HGTV via Dan Faires.

Using the the two cheapest things you can find at secondhand shops - old books and lamps - to create a little personality packed lighting fixture. Love it.

Anyone else do this or something like it? Let's see it.

Read all about how he did it over HGTV.

postscript: *When I say steal, I really mean borrow nicely and give proper credit!

**If you have an idea/tutorial you would like me to consider for a feature, email me. I'd love to see!

Snapped: Bedouin

Oh boy am I way behind on my chores. I managed to get through about half of my Jordan photos this weekend before I chucked it and went outside.


I promise I'll be more blog-productive once the weather turns and I lose the hubs to football. Until then, one of my fav photos from the trip. Why did the Bedouin cross the road?

Recreated Vintage: What do you think?

I am admitted Restoration Hardware junkie. I love just walking into their stores and running my fingers longingly over their goods (that sounds dirty!). Their designers and buyers are really on trend as they reinterpret vintage designs into more practical iterations suited for modern life. I lust after their sofas and case goods (even though they are way too big for my house’s scale)

That said I notice that their store has become more and more filled with items that are straight up reproductions of display items you might spend years hunting down in flea market and estate sales. And not only are these reproductions, but they are priced at quite a healthy number to boot. While stumbling upon the real deal might prove pretty tough, this somehow feels wrong to me. I don’t know why – I have no objection to reproductions in general and I’m all about DIY knock offs.


Eyeglass moulds / Book Press / Scale / Trunk

So what do you think of this trend of recreating something old for mass production? Am I the only one who is bristling?

Love is Brewing: Seating Chart

Since you guys were so sweet about the Love is Brewing coffee themed invitations I shared a few weeks ago, I thought I'd show the coordinating seating chart. This project isn't technically home decor, the same process can be used to recreate a cheapo version of this rustic pinboard from Pottery Barn among other things.



Materials needed: wrapped canvas (or piece of plywood or homosote or anything else you have laying around), a roll of cork, some rustic material (I used dropcloth material b/c its what I had handy), spray adhesive or glue, a staple gun and tshirt transfer paper. And yes, I am the queen of misusing tshirt transfers. See exhibit A, B and C.


After you have printed out the designs of your choosing on the transfer paper, iron them on the fabric and cut to size about 6 inches wider and taller than your canvas.

Roll out your cork, cut to size, glue to canvas.

Stretch and staple your fabric to the wooden canvas frame, pulling very tightly as you go.

Voila! You have your pinboard. Couldn't be easier right? And you'll have a design of your very own.

Now since this was a seating chart, I had to do a few more steps like laying out my table numbers and getting all the guests names in order. The added bonus of this project for me was that the bride to be would have a little souvenir of her shower after party was long over.


As the pièce de résistance, I glued a coffee bean on each little tack. Who knows if the guests will even notice it but I love how it smells of coffee and just adds a little something.



And finally I added a quick coffee filter wreath (all over blogland but I might have seen it first at The Nester) to go with the vignette at the party.




Phew. Shower projects have now concluded. Please carry on with your day :)