{diy: stamped ornaments}

Beautifully heavy, these lovely ceramic baubles felt much fancier than the $1.99 price tag (and 40% sale) suggested. I came home with three, fully intent on hanging them, pristinely white, on the tree. "It'll be so simple and Scandinavian," I told myself, happily imagining a whitewashed house, ten feet of snow, and a sauna in our (imaginary) basement.

And then along came this pin. Abby, of Aesthetic Outburst, had found the same baubles, and drew on hers. Is there anything that woman can't draw geometric shapes on?

After our anniversary plate painting, though, I'm a little wary of ceramic paints. Our fancy-schmancy Porcelaine pens dribbled, spat, globbed, or did nothing even after twenty minutes of furiously bobbing them up and down. So instead, out came the stamp pad. Two minutes later -- with no arm bobbing and minimal dribble (from the stamps, at least) -- ta da!

This is the point where everyone says, "Who on earth is Matilda?" -- yes, that's Tilly. Spin Tilly's bauble around and you'll see the year she was born printed on the back. (Spin mine around and you'll have no such luck... I'm predicting that there'll be a point in the not-so-distant future that I won't want that information available to the public).

Now, should I run back and get another one (two? three?) to save for imaginary, possible, hypothetical future family members, or is that really just asking for trouble? 

{diy: washi tape flags}

Washi tape. Chances are you've seen a roll in a pattern you can't resist, and bought it. Chances are, once you've got one roll, you've decided to become a washi collector. Chances are, you now have an entire cupboard piled high with red tape, blue tape, tape with musical notes, with Japanese stamps, with the entire words of Shakespeare printed in miniature. 

But what do you actually do with the stuff?

You make flags. And then you make cupcakes. And then you stick the flags into the cupcakes and have a jolly good time.

Having made millions hundreds dozens of little flags for Mossa's birthday earlier this week, I've got the method down. Is it so basic that you could probably do it in your sleep already? Yes. Am I going to share it anyway? Yes. It might save you a bit of awkward finger/scissor/tape/cocktail stick manoeuvring.

(Are you drooling over those cakes above? Bakewell Cupcakes, baked by my sister, Alice, they use The Best Cupcake Ever recipe that I shared the other day)

You'll need:

• scissors
• cocktail sticks (long or short. I prefer long as you can cut them to make short ones, too)
• washi tape

Pull one end of the tape out, a good ten centimetres, and place the unpokey (i.e. 'blunt', for people who use 'real' words) end of a cocktail stick in the middle of the length of tape.

Fold the end of the tape over the top of the cocktail stick, sticking it to the tape on the other side of the stick. (Note: at first I was very worried about lining up the edges on both sides of the tape, but then got over myself and decided it looked quite nice uneven anyway.)

Snippy snippy. One straight cut, to separate the flag from the roll of tape, and two pointy cuts, if you like the snake-tongue effect. 

Here's another case of unnecessary worrying -- I oh-so-carefully measured the first two or three flags, and then decided that it was all a bit faffy, really, and decided to enjoy a variety of lengths of flag. Perfectly imperfect. Or, so I tell myself. We also scribbled '90' onto the flags in a very imperfect and blobby blue biro. 

We stuck the flags in cupcakes. We stuck them in Fruit Pastilles. We stuck them in Cadbury's Giant Chocolate Buttons. We slotted them into the holes in Polo mints. I even poked a couple into the tail feathers of my Mum's favourite straw chickens, to give them a bit of festive 'pluck'. In short: stick a flag in anything, and it becomes more exciting. 

So, tell me: am I wrong? Do you have tons of uses for washi tape? Have you never heard of the stuff, much less been tempted to buy any? Or do you, in fact, have the complete works of Chaucer on washi tape instead?

{a spot of red in the room -- with dutch.british.love}

I'm excited to share this little series of guest posts with you -- creative minds from near and far, who have focused their ideas on red, just for us. Today, we're welcoming Jadyn of Dutch.British.Love, who has put together a collection of gorgeous interiors for your viewing pleasure, each featuring red elements. Old road signs and Union Jacks? I'm in love...

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Much like Astrid, I believe a bit of red brings things to life. While red isn't the main ingredient in the rooms here, imagine them without the red pieces in them and you'll see how red makes these rooms,
even if added in small doses.

{JMarx Atelier}

How lovely and vibrant are this fiery red desk and filing cabinet? Looks like such an inspiring and energizing place to work.

{Ellen O'Neill, via House Beautiful} 

This room struck me as very 'Astrid'. A white room with whimsical red chairs and a vintage British road sign? Yes please!

{VTWonen} 

I love the softer red on the painting and chairs here as well, giving this room a lively but slightly softer look than the one above.

{Canadian House&Home September 2009 issue, photography Michael Graydon} 

Just a bit of red on the pillow brings this room to life, don't you think?

{Image from MiCasa} 

Even red in small doses adds vibrancy, this room wouldn't be the same without it. 

Thanks for having me at RedRed, Astrid!

Thanks to Jadyn for the inspiration. We'll be modeling our kitchen after that gorgeous House Beautiful one, for sure! Watch out, neighbourhood road signs...