Pepper Design Blog

Man-Wrapping

A huge thank you to Kirsten over at 6th Street Design School for featuring our home during her Feature Friday series! I love this girl’s style and I’m so honored to be included.

Father’s Day in the States is tomorrow (eek) and if you are like me you are wrapping up gifts and adding ‘bacon’ to your last-minute grocery list for brunch.

Guys don’t expect much in the way of wrapping paper (do they even notice?) but here’s my simple solution for man-wrapping!

This year for Dad’s Day, I found these neat handmade wooden iPad stands by Shuttenworks on Brickyard Buffalo (a daily deals site for Etsy-type stores… awesome!) for the Dads and Grandpas in our life.

Pretty cool, right? Nifty for watching/reading something on your iPad (like a recipe in the kitchen or scores to the game at your desk) while you’re preoccupied and don’t want to hold or prop it up.

But my real reason for this post is my shortcut for wrapping these guys (or anything for the Dads). So easy and very man-looking. I used a ‘Dad’ tag on all of these, but some are being changed to ‘Grandpa’ and the like.

1. Cut a large strip of construction paper to wrap around your gift. 2. Use double sided tape along one edge. 3-4. Wrap gift in tissue (optional) 5. Wrap construction strip around gift tube-style and adhere the edges using the tape already applied. 6. Cut extra strips of paper for decor and to close up the opposite (and now open ends). 7. Wrap them around the gift perpendicular to the first wrap to close up the loose ends. 8. Decorate with Dad tags!

To download the Dad labels that I created, open up this document and save the PDF to your computer. Happy wrapping!

And happy, happy Father’s Day!!

Handmade Gifts for the Coffee Lovers!

Here is an easy gift idea that was inspired by a friend of mine who makes personalized bride & groom sharpie mugs as wedding gifts (so creative). I had a few white mugs left over from this chalkboard project and a few sharpies in fun colors, so Liv and I drew out (and painted) some fun designs to play around.

My favorites ended up being Liv’s gold sharpie marker creations and my geometric painted mugs. So easy! A great handmade gift for teachers (filled with treats) on a student’s last day of school, or for dads this Father’s Day.

Here’s how we made it happen.

I preheated the oven to 200 degrees and set the sharpie mugs inside for a couple of hours. Then I turned off the oven and waited until the mugs were cool enough to remove with bare hands, this left me with a permanent design on the mug.

For the gold mugs, I turned to my favorite metallic paint and used painters tape to mark out a geometric shape. The mugs each received 3 or so coats.

To capture that seamless line, score the edge of the painter’s tape with a utility knife (just like we did here).

Boom, perfect line.

Repeat with any other favorite colors, I used a teal acrylic as well. Baking the painted mugs didn’t make the paint any more permanent so I wouldn’t put these guys in the dishwasher but would hand wash instead. Also, be sure to not paint inside the mug.

Coffee lovers unite!

PS More handmade gift ideas shared here. And more Father’s Day gifts right here!

Our Fireplace Screen Sneaks Into This Old House!

Hey all! Something amazing landed on my doorstep this weekend and I couldn’t wait to share!

Do you subscribe to This Old House? It could be that we have a very old house but it’s one of my favorites. I was feeling a little courageous a couple of months ago and submitted our faux stacked log fireplace screen – and guess what! It was chosen as a feature in their recent July Before & After issue!!

When the editors called to ask for additional pictures and more details, I almost drove off of the road (don’t worry Cali friends, I was hands free).

I initially tackled this project when I was about six months pregnant, TOH asked me to shoot a few more step-by-step photos at 7 1/2 months and here I am at a full 9 months with moonbeams coming out of my ears!

(Sorry for the blurry photo, we kept moving during our little happy dance. And don’t you love that Liv is giving me a really great and exasperated ‘oh mom?’ look).

Here’s one behind-the-scenes shots at 7 1/2 months:

But they chopped (no pun intended) that one a down a little more and thankfully the belly was saved from the final edition.

Ahhhh, I’m so excited I can hardly contain myself. Off to purchase a dozen more copies to send to all of my family! Grinning from ear to EAR!