I posted last week about the uptrending ‘oceanic’ pieces that have been catching my eye lately , so I knew I wanted to do some sort of DIY surrounding the theme.  Not only is the gold urchin super on trend, but it’s crazy easy and clean up is so simple.

ONE cut a 3″ foam sphere in half TWO snip wooden skewers into lengths ranging from 2″ to 4″ and everywhere in between. THREE stick your skewers into the domed portion of your foam.  Make sure that each skewer appears to be originating at the same central point.  FOUR spray your urchin outdoors on a few sheets of Bounty paper towels.

Do you want to hear the best part of this post (not that the urchin isn’t awesome)? To help you get your DIY on, we’re giving away (drumroll please) some Bounty of your own and a $250 to the Home Depot!  Crazy awesome!

The people at Proctor and Gamble (who sent me some Bounty to clean up my mess) and Home Depot want you to keep on creating, so we’ve teamed up on this amazing giveaway.  It’s easy to enter!

To enter, leave a comment below or share this giveaway on social media (the come back here to comment letting me know you did!).  Something like, “Enter this crazy awesome giveaway on @houseofearnest” would be phenomenal! There is a potential for two entries per reader.

Entries must be posted by next Tuesday, June 25st, at 11:59 p.m. EST, and one winner will be chosen at random*.

*Limited to readers in the U.S. only. Entries for this giveaway are made on the House of Earnest comment page and by sharing this giveaway via social media. Winner will be contacted by email once entries close, and announced at the bottom of this post soon after. Total retail value is $255. This post has been sponsored by Proctor & Gamble and the Home Depot.  All opinions and creations are my own.

Every so often an artist or shop comes along that really blows me over.  The art and design of Lauren Alison is one of those things.  I first discovered her shop on Etsy and soon feel in love with all of her amazing work.  Her drawings are beautiful renditions of nature done on bright, happy, color which make the napkins, pillows, and tea towels she creates simply one of a kind.

Are you as impressed as I am?  If you haven’t already check out her shop, you should! I swear you’ll love every piece in her shop more than the last.

Have a colorful Wednesday, guys!

Brights and the contrast they provide with this seasons smooth candy-like sorbet colors are everywhere in fashion and decor. This past Saturday, I set out to put together a pretty garden cocktail party using the same color scheme.  Big bunches of peonies (a total score at the market) and creamcicle colored linens and peach straws brought a soft edge to all of the beautiful color.

While guests were invited to make their own cocktail concoction, I also provided a couple of easy recipes to give people a place to start.

I provided the party with the alcohol (Smirnoff Sorbet Light vodka, which is lower in calories, so it made up for all of the juices), the mixers (mango juice, pineapple juice, pomegranate juice, rose champagne, and flavored sparkling waters), and fruit garnishes (mint, basil, thyme, raspberries, cucumbers, lemons, limes, watermelon, and honeydew). Once they were comfortable with the mixing ratios, people starting creating all sorts of fabulous flavors!  It was a lot of fun to see what everyone came up with!

*Quick Tip:  Freeze your fruit garnishes to keep drinks cold without watering them down!

I wish I was better at taking more photos once the action get started, but something about holding a frosty cocktail glass and a DSLR doesn’t work well together!

I hope this gives you a place to start on your next summer get together!  What would you make with all of this goodness?

*heads up!  This post was sponsored by Smirnoff and the fabulous sorbet vodka was supplied by them.  All opinions, photos, and recipes are my own!

So often, I think bloggers write about this or that crazy expensive product that we’ll never actually buy, loving a new thing over here, dying over that nugget over there. While there is definitely some fun in dreaming of beautiful pieces to surround ourselves with, I am trying to focus on taking action to the things I talk about here. When I wrote last week about the beauty of going with the flow, I was serious about my desire to implement all-white bedding into our master bedroom. This weekend, I went out and got a duvet cover I’d been eyeing for some time.  It’s a seersucker striped number from Target which has enough texture to be anything but boring.

It’s currently paired with some dusty grey-blue euro shams and an embroidered lemon yellow pillow.  I plan to get some fun poppy color to replace the dusty blue, but in the meantime, it will work.  It’s bright, airy, and I absolutely love it.

I am also committing to coming back in the next few months and keeping you guys up to date on how the upkeep of all of these layers of white go!

Have a happy Monday out there!

p.s.  in the same vain as ‘white out’ bedding, I’ve painted my nails white this weekend (as documented on Instagram) and I like it way more than I thought I would! It’s very summery and neutral… and you know how much I love neutrals.

ONE for the (pretty good) price of $234 I could have this dreamy cream bicycle to ride around town.  See it, buy it at Keep.com TWO a leather envelope to carry my important documents is much better than the cram-in-my-day-planner method I currently employ. This one is handmade with lots of love – $150 from ODSY workshop. THREE pretty scalloped basket from jenny rose handmade $43. FOUR gradient blue nesting plates come in a set of five from ceramics shop design lump $207  FIVE this is what I tell myself when I don’t want to wake up early to GSD.  Dreams art print from Note to Self: The Print Shop comes framed at just $33. SIX I love the hexagon pattern of this indigo shibori pillow.  Considering the time intensive handwork that goes into shibori dying, you could understand the $99 price tag. See this and others at Pieffer Studio.

Summer is here in the Souder house (even if it isn’t technically summer yet)!  Is it present for you yet?  Some years I just don’t feel the summery vibe until after the 4th has come and gone, but this year it came early with the sunshine and warm days.

This weekend I am seriously getting a bike.  I’ve been wanting one for a few years now and I am going to bike the bullet! Maybe you’ll see me driving around town!

What’s on your weekend agenda?

I’ve heard multiple people talk about the sport (or art) of surfing and how going with the wave – riding it where it takes you – is key to being a successful surfer. We cannot try to fight it, because it’s so much bigger and holds so much more power than anything we posses. Now, I don’t surf, but in other aspects of life, at what point do we stop fighting certain constants and just ‘ride the wave’?

I am going to make a silly comparison, but, hear me out.  I’ve been fighting a duvet cover situation for several years now.  I want white. I want ALL white. The issue is that it get so dirty.  It’s the grime left from where I grab it at the top, the sunless tanning spray that I neglected to wash from my legs,  the paw prints from our hairy little four-legged monster who jumps up, the coffee that may or may not get dribbled when I drink it in bed, it’s just inevitable that there will be things which show up. Constant washing seems to just make patterns and colors dull and crumpled – looking worse than the dirtiness itself.

In the meantime, I’ve bought a new (non-white) duvet cover probably every 6 months, trying to fill a void that just cannot be satiated.  I had an ‘aha’ moment the other day when I was thinking about hotels, and the reasons they use all white linens – they can easily be bleached.  Something that you certainly cannot do to any other color.  They’re riding the wave.  Using the benefits inherent to the nature of the beast. I didn’t consider working with the white linens because I was so gung-ho to work against them.

I’m here today, giving into the currents of nature, ready to go with the flow and ride the wave.

What’s your wave? Are you going against it?

When office organization becomes customizable enough to blend in with the rest of your decor, then I’m in.  These galvanized air vent caps can be easily painted to any color you’d like, hung on simple tacks, and with a couple mighty mini magnets, turn themselves into your new center of organization.

I’ve hung up anything from wash tape to a wall paper swatch I love, to a couple cards for restaurants I’d like to remember. I honestly think this is one of the easiest projects that makes one of the prettiest impacts.  If you’re not comfortable hitting up your local hardware store for some duct caps, just use the lids of those christmas cookie tins that you have nothing else to do with.

Is there a little nook in your home that could become an instant office?

ONE stacked sea urchin lamp from Horchow $275 TWO Nate Berkus for Target crab figurine $15 THREE seahorse salad servers from World Market, $20 FOUR sea urchin mercury glass vase, $38 from Pottery Barn FIVE coral sculpture, $24 from Colom and Brit SIX octopus hook $48 from Anthropologie SEVEN whale tail doorbell ringer $55 by Michael Healy Designs EIGHT sea urchin serving platter $50 by Michael Aram at Macy’s NINE nautilus embroidered pillow $76 from Layla Grace.

Shop Oceanic:

Dad might be the master of grilling, but treat him this father’s day with a little outdoor dining experience that he won’t have to lift a finger to enjoy.

The idea of a picnic sounds so wonderful, and with a few key items, a weekend afternoon is all you’ll need to spoil dad and enjoy some relaxed time together.

This picnic has a bit of an italian flair, bodes well in warmer weather, and packs up  nice and neat in case you have a bit of a walk to your picnic destination.

Garlic stuffed olives and proscuitto wrapped melon are wonderful aside some sandwiches served on crusty Italian bread.  Lemonade for the kiddos and a bit of prosecco for the adults both mesh perfectly with this feast. Include a throw, a few appetizer forks for communal nibbling, and a structured basket that can be used as a table to complete the occasion.

You don’t have to hike too far to enjoy a picnic.  Set up this moveable feast in your backyard and eat under the sun, but not far from any other item you may need.  Enjoy the relaxing time spent together with your dad, grandfather, or husband.  I’m sure he’ll relish the time away from a hot grill!

ONE serve in style with this quadrille tray in a cool (goes with everything) grey. $115 from Calypso St. Barth. TWO coffee tables are usually either cool or practical, but this one from World Market is both – and it’s on sale at $429. THREE I’ve never experienced a better smelling citronella candle.  It’s good enough to burn indoors – that’s how great of a scent the people from Illume have poured into their outdoor starlight tins.  $22.50. FOUR & FIVE non-ugly outdoor pillows are hard to come by, but the selection at Terrain is so cool that the outdoor factor is mostly a bonus.  At $128 they’re expensive, but better than the ones at half the price that you’ll have to throw away at the end of the season. SIX I love this lamp!  That’s really all there is too it. $122 on sale from JCPenney.

It’s been a long week for me and I couldn’t be happier that it’s Friday.  How about you?  Isn’t it just funny how some weeks seem to fly and others seem never ending? It’s been a beautiful week here in the midwest and I’m hoping to parlay that into the weekend.  I have some pretty blog projects to work on, some seriously laundry to get done (so I don’t have to go out and buy new undies!) and a couple of tasks to get done around the house.  I’m hoping to sneak some fun in there too!

What’s on your weekend agenda?