London Inspired Christmas Table {DIY}

I received a message from a very dear friend living in London…It read along the lines of “Sam please help me with some Christmas table Inspiration {or rather Instructions}”.

With the theme "London" in mind {having never been there} however It seams like a town rich in history and literature mixed with an eclectic modern vibe I "shopped the home" for a few items to help me create two London looks:

Basic table setup

Linen tablecloth (Ikea)

Table Runner (Ikea)

Plate chargers (I used black)

White dinner plates

Wine glasses

Modern British Table – Option 1

Paper doily (Dollar store) used as coasters

White Christmas tree (dollar store)

White pot (Ikea) to put dollar store Christmas tree into

Mirror ball Tree ornament - These make great take home gifts for your guests (A memory of the occasion)

Black and white twine to tie around napkin (like a gift)

Vintage London Table – Option 2

1 x vintage book

vintage napkins (I got a set of 8 vintage napkins from the thrift store 50c each)

Various vintage candle holders, brass, glass, white

Clay tag Tree ornaments - These make great take home gifts for your guests (A memory of the occasion)

Scrap of paper for place cards

Vintage books are hilarious and rather inexpensive, I bought this one for $1 from an antique shop

The December 2011 Issue of Real living Magazine also has some great table setting inspiration

I am seriously lusting over that gold cutlery set....

Have a gorgeous London Christmas Al!

The Chihuahua who attempted to steal Christmas {Giftwrap}

Somebody was way to exited and couldn’t wait for Christmas day, Bella attempted to open her Christmas present early however she was sprung in the act by the Mr. Snaps to me as gift was wrapped with extra care and a whole lot of twine.

Tree with the lights on.

Some of you might remember my DIY paper doily lights from last year.

Does anybody like gift wrapping more than me? here is this years Christmas all wrapped up, I used a mixture of white and brown paper I embellished this with cute little Christmas reindeer stamps in silver, presents were tied with silver or black and white twine, paper doily's and mini pegs, Instead of name tags I cut out letters {either initials or full names} free hand using glitter fabric.   

 

A big warm welcome if you are a new follower of Black Velvet Chair please feel free to leave me a comment, I love meeting new people and would love to say hello.

Sequin Garland {DIY}

Just wondering if I am the only one whom if thrilled when your hole punch explodes all over the floor as it reminds you of weddings in the 80's and 90's where people threw confetti to celebrate. This DIY By Caitlin Wilson reminds me of just that!

What you will need:

1. A circle die cut or punch

2. Colorful paper- metallic and a sparkly

3. A sewing machine and thread

 

 

The how to:

Step 1. Cut out a bunch of different colors of paper with the hole punch

Step 2. Organize them by color in the order for the garland.

 

Step 3. Line backsides of circles together to make it go faster.

Step 4. Sew them together.

I think a Christmas tree full of these would be so effective, mental note for Christmas 2012.

Mirror Mirror on the wall {DIY}

Here is a quick and simple DIY mirror that I did recently, with the holidays approaching you have probably seen a lot of beautiful reasonably priced plate chargers in the stores, I picked up two from the Myer home wares sale at 45% off $5.95 (steal) they are a light weight sealed plastic. I then purchased two coordinating size mirrors from the dollar store for $2.95.

This DIY literally takes 5 minutes (I think it took me longer to find my hot glue gun in my messy craft room).

1.       Firstly do a quick test and apply some hot glue to the back of the plate charger just to test the reaction, all went okay with my test.

2.       Liberally apply hot glue to the charger face in the centre and around the centre edges.

3.       Quickly applied the mirror face to the centre, wait for it….Ta da… a beautiful mirror.

 LOL It is hard to take a picture of a mirror without getting them camera or yourself in it, gym gear and all.

These mirrors are relatively lightweight so I fixed them to the wall with three 3M Velcro picture hanging tape (this stuff is super great "damage free hanging" I had some frames on the wall before and was able to pull them off with no trouble).

What do you think? $6.50 mirror for your wall? I hung one either side of our headboard to flank our bed.

Dining room {Before and After}

For a sneaky peek of some new Before and After pictures of our dining room please feel free to pop over to Hyphen Interiors.

You have all probably aware of Kirstys painted chair makeover?

Before:

After:

Rock My World...

Pink Quartz pieces turned into magnets so easy to make, craft glue + magnet + quartz rock = fabulousity and oh so pretty to hold up bills, bills and more bills in places like the fridge where you might not forget to pay them.

Yes I am collecting the Thomas Dux stickers, a new set of steak knives would be fab, are you collecting? The promotion ends 29th January 2012.

As you might remember the above pretties were inspired by these pretties

***

The hydrangea flowers from my mothers garden have been getting pinker {not that I am complaining, the pinker the better as far as I am concerned}.

PS: Just in case you were wondering the "S" in the frame is for my married name.
& Yes that is a bike handle bottom right of the picture above.

Zig Zags, Umbrellas & Crafty stuff

I bought an umbrella recently, yes I was drawn to its Chevron Zig Zags {Missoni like} appearance maybe the Chevron love affair is not quite over. I have been using the said umbrella quite a bit lately as the weather has been super ordinary!

Last night I was walking along under the protection of the umbrella pondering the beautiful bright colours when I realised exactly why I was drawn to this umbrella, I had created a chevron print very similar to this one year ago.

Exhibit A "umbrella" from Forever New

Exhibit B: Stuff I made

It seams quite fitting that a whole year later I am posting about the very same chevron print.

Gifts {A spot of shopping}

Gemstone Magnets $36.00 for set

These magnets would look absolutely glamorous on any fridge!

they don't ship internationally....

so I feel a DIY coming on really soon!!!!

I also found in my travels:

Chrome stick lighter $40

Much more fancy looking than the $2 red one I use for lighting candles (I wonder if this one is refulable?)

Pet salt & pepper shakers $42

How is your holiday shopping going? finished? just started?

I am about 80% there.