The Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas.....

The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas is now one of the NEWEST hotels on the LV Strip, opening sometime mid-December of this year!  I received an email with some amazing pics displaying the luxurious & modern interiors of the rooms...let's just say, I was impressed. Hotels in Vegas have REALLY come a long way, from their colorful TACKY interiors.... to a more modern & sleek style.  


I hear they also have some Art-O-Mat vending machines, which will be another unique feature to the resort, (one of which was featured in the Andy Warhol museum at one point). The vending machines will feature artists from all over the world and with a pull of the lever you can also own a piece of art! How neat is that? I'm looking forward to checking this hotel out this coming Holiday! 

Have you been to Las Vegas? Where have you stayed? 

(click pics for larger images)

images via cosmopolitan lv

My DIY Pendant Light in Progress..... (Via Made By Girl)

I'm sure many of you have seen the Moooi Random Pendant light....well we've also seen how pricey it can be, especially if you want two of the medium sized ones. We're talking close to $2000!! So, I figured why not dig up a DIY online a take a shot at making one...why not right?!? Well, my guy was up for the challenge and that's what we did last night. 


It's still drying, SO HOPEFULLY it will dry nicely. We first tested on 2 small ones, with two different yarns and 2 different glues.....then we chose the best one and did the BIG one. Crossing my fingers!!

the one above is NOT my lamp! 

below is a peek at our DIY in progress

How we made the ball :

• blow up the exercise ball 
• mark a 6-7 inch circle off-center (this is for your hand so you can change the bulb)
• plastic on the floor (it will get real messy)
• wear gloves (it will get messy, I mean it)
• rub Vaseline all over the exercise ball (this prevents the yarn from sticking to the surface once the glue is applied)
• put wallpaper paste into a large bowl
• unravel the ball of yarn (we used 300 yards for a 31" ball) dip it into the paste & saturate it completely
• begin wrapping the saturated yarn around the ball randomly covering as much of the open space as possible without covering the drawn circle
• once the ball is all wrapped in yarn, let it dry about 24 hours (we placed ours on top of a cardboard box for stability)
• once dry, deflate ball carefully & pull it through the circle opening (the same opening used to change the bulb) very carefully.

Electricals:

A bit too long for this post, but you can email me jen (at) madebygirl.com for the instructions & I'll send them to you.

HGTV Urban Oasis.....

Welcome back everyone! I hope you ALL had a nice weekend. Mine was great, especially since we had under 100 degree weather this time, thank God! 

I watched HGTV last night and was wondering....how many of you saw the previews on HGTV for Urban Oasis 2010 hosted by Vern Yip? I can't wait to see what this is all about!  On Sept 1st you'll be able to enter a giveaway on the HGTV site, where you'll get a chance to WIN this apartment (below) located at The Residences at W in New York City + a luxury automobile! Wow, I can only daydream! 


Anyhow, below is a sneak peek of the apartment that was posted on the HGTV site today. Yes, the one YOU can WIN! They also have a 3D tour of some of the rooms via their site...very cool stuff! Good Luck!

images via hgtv

Your Weekend.....

Piggy by harry allen

image by jen ramos

Sandra Downie's Couture Dessert Tables... (Via Made by Girl)

Sandra Downie started out as a makeup & hair stylist for brides-to-be, BUT she now runs her OWN event design firm specializing in Wedding Planning & Design, Day of Coordination and Couture Dessert Tables! I LOVE stories like this! 

Her work is gorgeous, so I thought her tables would be a great way to start off the weekend!  Don't you think?? Sandra and her team, design and plan weddings, events and parties in Connecticut,  New York, Newport Rhode Island, Boston, across New England and beyond! 

If you're CLUELESS and want some great table settings for your upcoming event, take a look at her work, it speaks for itself. A very talented woman...

images via sandra downie

HGTV Giving Away One of My Prints!.... (Via Made By Girl)

It's always exciting to see my work featured on different design blogs and it was such a pleasure to wake up this morning and see the giveaway for my ABC Custom Kids Print on HGTV's home page! Yes, they are giving away one of my designs, how cool is that? Underneath Design Star winner Emily Henderson, (whom I was cheering for). 

I always like to thank God for things like this because I believe life is not something we should take for granted. Thank you Jenna as well! 

Now head over there & enter the giveaway, you NEVER know! It would be awesome if one of my readers WON!

All you need to do is answer this question on the HGTV blog,  "Whose name would you feature in your art and why?"

Chic Literature Jackets....by Neapolotian

Have you seen work by Neapolotian yet? It's pretty darn cool! You see, they re-cover vintage books by replacing the old original jacket with a hand-calligraphed, chic looking paper jacket. 

I can't tell you how much I adore this idea. If you saw this book on a coffee table you'd probably be sort of puzzled by the fact that you'd recognize the title but didn't recall it ever being in that jacket!! It's so unexpected....but adorable. I am looking to get 1 in the python printed paper, or maybe even 2, that's how neat these are. 

You can check out the rest of the items in their shop here.

 

below: decorated pink paper boxes

images via Neapolotian

Jenny From 'My Pink Door'....(A Home Tour in Australia)

Jenny from Brisbane Australia authors a blog called, My Pink Door.  In case you are wondering, she ACTUALLY DOES have a PINK door to her home!! (just scroll down to see it). Jenny wrote to me after she saw that I had featured some aboriginal artwork on my blog here and decided to share the ones in her home with me! 

I fell in love with her entire place, it's so GIRLY and cozy. She has an interesting mixture of patterns, that some of us may not be able to pull off...but Jenny seems to do it so nicely. So much so, I asked her if I could share her home with all of you! Feel free to leave comments letting her know what you think of her lovely place.

above: aboriginal artwork hanging above her sofa, don't you just love all the pink color? so pretty!

 above: her PINK front door

above: more aboriginal artwork hanging in her home

images via my pink door

Thanks to 'Style at Home'....

Thanks to Style at Home for featuring my home on their site....woo hoo! BIG hug to Lauren. 

My Affordable DIY Black Lamps.... (Via Made by Girl)

After writing this post, I was determined to buy the right lamps for my bedroom. Well, after deciding on a color (black) I looked all over the net and the least expensive lamp I found (that I liked) were $106 each! So, I thought why not just buy 2 aqua-colored lamps at TJ Maxx at $30 each and then buy 2 black drum shades at CSN Lighting for $26 each total, all for LESS than $125 so far! Not bad huh???


Ok, so I STILL needed BLACK lamps, so I headed to Home Depot & bought spray paint for $6.00!!

Below: what the lamps looked like before, these are not my lamps, (I forgot to take pics of mine).

With all that, I TURNED the Aqua lamps into some SLEEK black ones for my bedroom! Now, as I mentioned before...I may be MOVING.... (95% sure) and the new walls will be WHITE! Big difference from what my bedroom looks like now! 

(Below: and after....ta da!)

Below: this is not where the lamps will be placed, they're actually for my bedroom. Looking at then now, I think I need a more interesting finial, hmmm.

pic of aqua lamps via knight moves

pics of black lamps by jen ramos

P.S. I loved TJ Maxx by the way. I can't believe i had never been there before!