{create} book *snowflakes*

A couple weekends ago, Chris and I fled to the coast to relax before the upcoming holiday craziness began. We don't have cable at home, but our beach house does have cable. So while we're there, we catch up on as much HGTV as possible. That weekend, Emily Henderson's holiday special was airing. And friends, it was amazing. So, so, so inspiring. I think it's coming on again soon, so make sure to catch it if you can.

One of the crafts she made for the episode was flowers/snowflakes out of old books. I LOVE them. They're so very Anthropologie-ish. I went online to see how she did it, but I couldn't find a tutorial - or even photos - anywhere. I wanted to incorporate them into our holiday/winter decor, so I set about recreating them this weekend. And took pictures, just in case you all are interested in creating a few. :)

Gather up a few old books. I actually went to Goodwill and bought a few random, super cheap books. I apologize to any Koontz fans out there ... I'm sure his books are amazing. But, I prefer them in flower form :).

Then you do the unthinkable ... you break the spine. Gasp! In a couple different places. You need the spine to easily form a circle.

Sorry about the totally creepy finger photo! Ugh!

Then gather up a bunch of pages to form the first *petal*, and fold them into the book. Play around with the amount ... it will totally depend on how thick you want your petals. If you gather too many, it'll be harder to glue. Add a couple spots of hot glue to the page where you're folding into.

Keep moving through the book, folding pages inward and gluing until you have a flower!

The one part that tripped me up with the cover. I recommend removing it before you get started. Or, when you get to having only the cover left, cut the pages way down and glue together.

Which will look like this.

Once you have a bunch made, they look really beautiful in a grouping. Clearly, they look more like flowers, but Chris keeps calling them snowflakes, which is adorable. And fitting for this time of year! So, that is how you make holiday snowflakes.

And, here is how they look in our decor. See more of them here.

Did you make any holiday crafts this weekend? Have you ever destroyed a book in the name of crafting and decor? I felt a little weird doing it, but I love how they turned out :).

Update 12/12: I'm linking this post up at Centsational Girl's holiday craft party. Pop over to check out all the amazing crafts! 

{inspired} school house electric

Do you know School House Electric and Supply Co.? They make the coolest lights I've ever seen and they recently bought a huge, old, gorgeous warehouse in Portland to create a factory and showroom for their new line of furniture and home goods.

Last night Chris and I stopped by their holiday open house after work. It was so fun to see all their new products in person! I took a bunch of {iphone} photos of my favorites.

This bed. OMG. Love. I also really love the mirror hanging above it.

These dishes. Chris loves them too, which maybe means ..... ? The black accents are beautiful, and they'd be a great compliment to our current dishes. Does it sound like I'm trying to justify them? Because I am :).

How amazing is this blanket? The pattern, oh my goodness!  It's also really super soft.

I would love to only have schoolhouse lights in my house. Maybe next house? This one in particular though, I would install on each side of our bed. Beautiful.

We also both really like this vintage school clock. It's HUGE. But comes in such fun colors and would be an awesome statement piece in one of our small rooms.

I also took some photos of vignettes and the party. It was super fun. Lots of people, food and drinks. And just enough holiday decor to feel festive, with out being in-your-face Christmas.

Have you guys ever heard of School House Electric? Have you ever bought one of their lights? If so, which one ... I need to live vicariously through you :).

Have a great weekend friends! 

{inspired} decorating for Christmas

So, am I the ONLY one in blog land who hasn't even begun decorating for Christmas? :) 

We don't even pull the decorations out until this week. I never realized just how much I compartmentalize my holidays until I became a blogger. I have no Christmas creativity until AFTER Thanksgiving. So, this week I've been thinking a lot about how I'll decorate this weekend. I usually go for lots of red, white and greens. Traditional Christmas colors. But this year I want to do things a little different. 

Here's the color scheme I've worked up:

Wood grains, turquoise, greens, white, gold (yes, that's gold? I have NO idea how to make gold in photoshop. Obviously ;), and a hint of red accents.

I'm going to be working a lot with what I already have and making the rest. I see a weekend full of crafting/decorating. And maybe a little shopping on the side ;).

Here are some of the images/items that have been inspiring my Christmas scheme so far.

somewhere splendid

once wed

emily henderson

cottage and vine

Are you all done with your decorating? How will you be decorating for the holidays this year? Taking any color risks?