#66...from me to you part cinq

This is the fifth and final pillow cover up for grabs in my weekly August pillow cover giveaway, and it is fall inspired, with its orange and yellow leaf print. The back side is a yellow and white gingham with a black and white striped button and herringbone ribbon envelope style closure. It fits an 18x18 inch pillow form. To throw your name in the hat to win, leave a comment below, and for more details on this giveaway, click to see my first, second, third and fourth pillow giveaways. Good Luck!

#65...pillow winner #4

Les Invalides garden flowers, Paris

Eight names went in the hat for my fourth pillow cover giveaway......AND THE WINNER IS...MELIFAIF...congrats! and thanks to everyone for playing. Tune in Monday to try and win next week's pillow cover!

christie.chase@gmail.com)

(Melifaif, email your shipping address to

#64...shoe storage

I saw a photo like this of photo shoe boxes in a bluefly.com advertisement years ago, and have always wanted to store my shoes this way. I somehow believe that if all of my shoes were on display for me to see on the outside of a box, then I would have more willpower when shopping and stop buying shoes............no luck though, as you can see that so far I have only photo catalogued about 10 pairs, and they are never what I am looking for, so I still find reason to buy more!

#63...surfing baby

Today I am headed to San Francisco to spend a few days with family and friends. I thought I would share a DIY project I did out there last year for my niece Audrey. My sister wanted Audrey's nursery to be a surfing theme, and we did it big with this giant wall mural. To create the mural, I drew it out on paper and then drew a large grid on the wall. Next I transferred my design on to the wall grid square, by grid square. I used a total of ten colors to create the mural, and you can see me below painting a section down by the floor. You can also see Tyler painting too... he did the silhouette of the surfer coming through the wave, which really makes the mural one-of-a-kind.

#62...dorm daze

This past weekend, I went to Austin to help my cousin get settled for her freshman year at The University of Texas. It has been quite a number of years since I have stepped foot inside a dorm, and walking through the halls, all of the smells, study lounges, community bathrooms, and tight living quarters brought me right back. Her dorm was built in 1969, and the wooden furnishings have a real mid-century vibe, including a bed that slides in and out to convert from couch to bed.


Inspired by the book House Proud by Danielle Proud, I made the bean bag cube pictured above for Natalie's dorm room. (You can never have enough seating right?).....The book gives good instruction on making and filling the cube. The corners are the trickiest part, as three seams have to come together, and require careful machine stitching and then some corner clipping to make sure they turn nicely.

dorm room before

This is the bland, blank dorm room before. And below is Natalie's new pad. Besides the cool bedding, rug, and cute cube, we added the striped background to her giant bulletin board using a $2 vinyl tablecloth cut to size, and some colorful thumbtacks for a border. Additionally, the backrest of the couch was made of a scratchy, vinyl fabric, and was kind of gross from all of the years of use. Using a $5 clearanced linen-like drapery panel and a glue gun, I reupholstered the back bench cushion. Natalie can just rip off the upholstery when she moves out at the end of the year. Hopefully, her cheerful new digs will get her in study mode, bringing her lots of schoolwork success!

#61...from me to you part quatre

This is the fourth pillow cover up for grabs in my weekly August pillow cover giveaway, and it is my personal favorite! It is made from the leftover scraps of Alexander Henry's Spotted Owl fabric, a cut up Urban Outfitters coverlet, and some textured white cotton. It features an envelope style closure, and fits an 18x18 inch pillow form. To throw your name in the hat to win, leave a comment below, and for more details on this giveaway, click to see my first, second and third pillow giveaways. Good Luck!

#60...pillow winner #3

Les Invalides garden flowers, Paris

Ten names went in the hat for my third pillow cover giveaway......AND THE WINNER IS...TYLER (no, not my Tyler)...congrats! and thanks to everyone for playing. Tune in Monday to try and win next week's pillow cover!

(TYLER, email your shipping address to christie.chase@gmail.com)