gift idea – Francois et Moi

DIY Candles: The Ultimate Guide

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Mon, 15 Apr 2019 17:22:03 +0000

Learn how to make candles for every season with these wildly popular candle project tutorials by Francois et Moi. Candles are something I like to keep around the house no matter the season for their scent, ambiance and air-purifying properties. My love for them runs so deep that I’ve even learned how to make them! And over the years, I’ve made ALOT of candles. I find the process satisfying and fun, so here are my 5 most popular candle DIY projects. Coincidentally, there’s a project for every season! 1. Essential Oil Holiday Candle with Printable Label There’s something about the clean, yet still festive scent of winter balsam trees that I’ve been craving as the weather turns cold. I kept meaning to pick up a winter balsam essential oil candle (which of course I spaced), so finally I decided just to make one. A no-brainer of course! The candle’s scent is mostly pine needle with orange added for sweetness and Wyndmere’s Forest Retreat Blend added to give depth and complexity. When picking out your essential oils, make sure to use pure essential oils and not essential oils in a carrier oil. They’re a bit more expensive, but […]

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DIY Glam Camera Strap

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Thu, 10 Nov 2016 14:00:33 +0000

Ken and I recently took a little babymoon to Boston and Nantucket in early October. While we were there I was lugging my camera from place to place either carrying it by hand (so it was convenient to snap a photo) or in my saddle purse, and I came to the realization that I needed a camera strap. Badly. Why the heck had I never gotten one?! They make life so much easier, whether I’m on a trip or at home snapping photos for a blog post. So when we got home, I set out to make one. The original idea was to use vintage ribbon, but while at the craft store, I came across this glam faux leather strap trim that practically jumped off the shelf and said “pick me instead!” Okay maybe that last part didn’t exactly happen, but it was the perfect material for a camera strap so I went that direction instead. If you’re also in need of a camera strap or have a photographer/blogger/travel-obsessed friend on your Holiday list, this glam camera strap tutorial is calling your name. Hop over to Sugar and Cloth for the full tutorial! And don’t forget to pin this project […]

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Inkdot Instagram Art

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Fri, 29 May 2015 12:42:09 +0000

It was a sad Thursday last November when my laptop decided it was the end of the road and crashed, taking with it about 6 years of travel photos, most of which my tech guy couldn’t recover. (A painstaking lesson in backing up, if I do say so!) Luckily, I also use my iPhone quite a bit for snapshots when we travel and some of my all-time favorite photos are ones captured through Instagram. So I was really kind of pumped to find Inkdot, a group of fellow Mid-westerners (Chicagoland), who are turning those favorite Insta snapshots into art, getting them off your iPhone and into your home where you can enjoy them in a more meaningful way. Surprisingly, iPhone photos an be blown up to any size so you can even create large scale, focal art with your snapshots if you like. The other cool thing is they print on innovative materials like wood and metal, which add another layer of depth to the prints. The carousel shot we captured near the Eiffel Tower in Paris is printed on the wood substrate and the ink is slightly pearlized. It’s tough to see in the photos, but it’s so pretty […]

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French Croissant Workshop for Mother’s Day

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 12:18:52 +0000

The art of French croissant making is something my Mom (blogger at Seam Sew Cool) and I have always wanted to learn. So per her birthday request, we signed up for Craftsy’s Online Class: Classic Croissants at Home, and spent the weekend in my kitchen chatting, sneaking bites of that oh-so buttery dough, and of course, mastering the technique for classic French croissants. The croissant workshop made a fun birthday gift, and so it got me thinking that it would also make a fantastic gift for Mother’s Day too. (It’s coming up, kids!) It’s a creative way to spend time with Mom, while learning something new. Here’s how it came together: I picked up the croissant ingredients, a bouquet of flowers (just because), and any additional tools we needed ahead of time. I wrapped up the new croissant tools with a pretty bow for her to open when she arrived. On Saturday, I pulled out a few fun aprons and had some French tunes humming in the background. If you’ve ever made French croissants, you know there are a lot of steps and a lot of breaks in between while the dough refrigerates or rises. My mom and I made them over a Saturday afternoon + Sunday morning so that we could have fresh-from-the-oven croissants for breakfast on Sunday, but you could also make and […]

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DIY Essential Oil Home Reed Diffuser

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 15:22:55 +0000

I love adding fragrance to our home with essential oils. They’re all natural, non-toxic, and give off a light, unassuming scent. Make one for your home or several as hostess gifts this year with materials you may already have at home. Head over to Homedit.com for the tutorial, and while you’re at it check out their new site design! Ow ow! Have a great week!

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DIY Pourover Coffee Stand

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 16:19:33 +0000

Thanks to the genius craft of a new favorite pourover coffeeshop in our neighborhood, I’ve been converted into a believer–a pourover coffee believer, that is. As Serious Eats so eloquently explains it, “[Pourover coffee] can hold myriad subtle and fanciful flavors that can get lost in the sludge of a French press, or the uneven extraction of most automatic drip machines.” After using a combination of a Keurig and French Press for the last 5 years, I’m excited about learning more about the art of making pourover coffee at home and switching up our morning coffee routine. Remember the DIY Gilded Accordion Sconce project from last month? We’ll the pourover stand uses the leftover lamp stand from that project! Materials: Target Wood Pole Desk Lamp (base only) 3″ Clamp ring (3″ is the interior opening dimension) Hario V60 glass coffee dripper with removable Red plastic base holder and handle Hack saw Measuring tape or ruler Sandpaper Pen Rustoleum White Appliance Epoxy spray paint. Make sure to use Appliance Epoxy and not regular spray paint, as Appliance Epoxy is a much more durable and wipeable finish. Drop cloth or newspaper Coffee filters + good coffee + teapot + mug Step 1. Cut the wood dowel on the stand down to 11″ […]

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Mind Your Beeswax: How to Make Beeswax Tea Lights

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Mon, 15 Sep 2014 13:01:17 +0000

Happy Monday! Over the weekend I pulled out the bag of raw beeswax we collected from the honey harvest, cleaned it, melted it down and made some beeswax tea lights out of it. We brought home a pretty blue lantern from Italy earlier this year, and I thought tea lights would be the perfect way to light it up. I’ve been reading up quite a bit lately on how to make beeswax candles and learned a lot of fun factoids along the way. Did you know that beeswax candles, in addition to being non-toxic and clean burning, they also purify your air (!!) by producing negative ions that clean the air of odors and allergens. How cool is that? Beeswax also has an inherently clean and pleasant aroma, so I decided not to add any additional scents to it. I felt it wasn’t necessary, but it sounds like you can add essential oils to the wax once it’s cleaned and melted if you’d like. Materials List: raw beeswax from a hive or pre-cleaned beeswax heatsafe pouring container (Thank you Scott & Caitlyn for loaning yours to […]

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