Editor's note: The following is a guest post written by journalist Lisa Ling, program ambassador for the Ikea Life Improvement Project — a program designed to inspire people to make a positive impact on their homes and the lives within. Below, Ling shares tips for turning your home into an oasis. 

When my husband and I built our house, we wanted to make it our oasis — a warm, inviting place for us to make roots and raise our family. And because I travel so much, it was important to create a space that I’m excited to come home to. We were really involved in the building and decorating process and created a space that is truly our oasis. Based on this experience, these tips, below, will help inspire you:

• Focus on You: Your home has to be a relaxing space for you, so make your space personal and a reflection of you. Since my husband and I are environmentalists, we had our home LEED Platinum certified — the highest environmental rating a home can be awarded — because that is what is important to us. If you love to read, display your favorite books on large bookshelves in your living room. If you’re a passionate cook, hang your pots and pans and display your best chef’s knives in the kitchen. The most important part of making your home an oasis is personalizing it to your own tastes.

Pictured: Ling's living room

Read on for more tips from Ling on turning your home into a peaceful abode.

We're excited to present a guest post from Matthew David Hopkins, Creative Director of 360 Design Events as well as soon-to-launch Matthew David Celebrations!

When you consider the bouquet for your upcoming wedding, make sure to think about your dress, along with your profile in it. The bouquet is a big part of your fashion statement, as well as an opportunity for a fashion twist. Here are some gorgeous bouquets with an obvious nod to the dress itself; how stylish is that?

If you have an heirloom gown that you want to wear for your wedding, then you will most likely need to have the gown reshaped and resized. The leftover pieces of fabric are perfect for wrapping your bouquet. I spoke with master dressmaker and tailor Guillermo Molina of Guillermo Couture about how pieces of an updated gown can be used to wrap the stems. He noted that when a gown is updated, it often features elements that are no longer in style — like bell sleeves or a big collar. When he updates a dress and removes these elements, they become perfect pieces of satin or lace to use in wrapping the bouquet.

Maybe you don't already have a gown to harvest from? Check out the bargain section of stylish secondhand stores like Housing Works in NYC or look on the web; this shop has a bargain section with gowns for as low as $70.

I love to use fashion accessories like beaded pins, buttons, or ribbons in fun ways. Again, remember to look to your gown for inspiration; are there fabric-covered buttons? Does it feature grosgrain ribbon? Find one element and then mass it. You might sew 100 (or more) of those buttons very close together and then use that to wrap the stems. Ribbon looks fantastic when the stems are tightly overwoven with ribbon and then accented with a few streamers emerging from the bottom for length.
Where to find inspiration for the project: you, silly! Your personality and the shape of your body will inspire the dress. There is something out there for everyone. Your personality and that of your fiancé should inspire every decision about your wedding. There is a way to do just about anything for any budget. Whatever you choose, the goal is for you to be calm and present on your wedding day.

We're happy to present a post from Valerie at Spark Letterpress.

Letterpress is a wonderful printing method that combines beautiful papers, ink, and a deep impression to create a distinctive stationery suite your guests are sure to enjoy. The biggest advantage of using letterpress, besides that it is just stunning, is that you are inviting your guests with something special that they likely haven't received before. We hear from so many of our clients that the invites really felt like little works of art. In addition to that, just being able to feel that impression of the design, and the fact that most letterpress companies use eco-friendly materials and practices, are additional reasons why you can feel good about your stationery.

Current Trends

We are seeing a lot of gray and metallic inks and papers being used this year. We also have been doing a lot of letterpress suites with lovely touches of metallic and pearlized foils. Foil seems to be omnipresent these days, so we are using more unique foil offerings for our clients or pairing them with fun papers or other finishing touches for a unique look.

We also recently introduced laser cutting into our repertoire of services that has been a huge hit with our client base. We are dressing up a lot of simply done suites with classic typography or imagery by adding a laser cut wrap or belly band. It keeps the overall look of the suite in the classic realm but gives you that wow factor when a guest receives their invite.

Keep reading for tips on fonts, imagery, and adding on to your wedding suite!

When it comes to buying cut flowers, sometimes it's hard to remember that behind those beautiful blooms sometimes lurks something more sinister — namely thousands of miles of shipping and herbicides and pesticides. That's why Deborah Prinzing, the author of the new book The 50 Mile Bouquet, recommends that you buy local and sustainable flowers for those you love (like your Mom this Mother's Day). Keep reading for Deborah's great tips on local and beautiful bouquets, and if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, check out Deborah's event at Flora Grubb on Mother's Day.

As more florists and designers discover the negatives of that green foam block (also called florist's foam or Oasis), they are returning to some tried-and-true techniques for stabilizing stems in a vase. The problem with the foam is that it is a formaldehyde-based product that does not break down in landfills. Many designers I've interviewed express concern about breathing and/or exposing their skin to the material.

Alternatives to Floral Foam

• Vintage and new flower frogs. I started collecting these years ago and they're easy to find at tag sales and vintage flea markets for under $5 or $10. Use and reuse!
• Pebbles, glass beads, and marbles.
• Excelsior fibers. Also called wood aspen, you can find this packing material through craft stores or wine shops. Insert a tangle of the fibers in your vase and then you can stick stems through the fibers to stabilize. When you're finished with the arrangement , the excelsior fibers can go into the compost pile with other clippings.
• Chicken wire.I have a $15 roll of 15 inch by 5 foot-long poultry fencing that I use over and over again. Just use wire clippers to cut off a 12-inch section of the wire so you have an approximate square. Form it into a loose ball to fit the interior dimensions of your container . If the container is shallow, use sticky clay (available in the floral department at Michael's or other craft stores) to anchor the chicken wire in place.
• Twigs and branches. I learned this technique from several designers I interviewed for The 50 Mile Bouquet. As a first step. arrange a framework of decorative twigs inside your vase, placing each one at an angle that crosses over the next. This interior matrix is then perfect for inserting other floral branches and foliage — and the twigs become part of the design.
  
  Keep reading for more eco floral design tips!

We're excited to present a trendspotting post from Alana and Sara, designers behind the chic Australian party goods and stationery company Poppies For Grace.

Rainbow Multi

Poppies For Grace creates rainbow button envelopes and confetti bagstissue balls. We see this trend in fashion event decorations, stationery, upholstery, and almost everywhere we turn. We started producing the multi colored envelope packs around the same time as Japanese washi tape was becoming hugely popular in Australia.

We think this is the perfect time in color history for us, as we love to wear brights. That means there is an abundance of choices, which is something we haven’t seen before.

Our color choices take inspiration from floristry art. The perfect bright bouquets get us very excited! Nature has always been the key inspiration in our designs as we look forward to Spring each year, and keep the Spring feel alive in our studio year round with bright colors.

Having children has also heightened our love of color. We want their children to be surrounded by color, which symbolically represents celebration, glee, merriment, joy, and extravagance.

Pastels, Neon, Metallic

These combinations are the pairing of great friends. Two are loud and totally extraverted, while the other is quieter and softer. While they are different, all are full of beauty and bring different elements to decoration.

Confetti System got this party started with their beautiful garlands. Poppies For Grace is about to release a print entitled 'Hope" in gold. The print features sweet wooden animals, which are sparkly and rich.

Thanks ladies! We're wondering, what are our readers seeing as Spring and Summer trends?

We're excited to present a post from guest writer, eco lifestyle expert, and all-around awesome guy Danny Seo.

Late last year, I had the privilege to sit down with one of the co-founders of One Kings Lane, Ali Pincus, and talk about our favorite places to shop, how I'm addicted to the home shopping site, and to talk about ways I could get involved with One Kings Lane. We came up with the idea for me to do a TasteMaker tag sale where I could collect some of my favorite vintage and antique items from my home and put them up for sale on the site. I agreed under one condition: if we could donate the proceeds to my favorite charity, Baby Buggy.

Baby Buggy, in case you aren't familiar, is the wonderful nonprofit founded by Jessica Seinfeld that has the motto "Love, Recycled." It's so appropriate because they accept lightly used baby gear, clothes, and new baby and children essentials to help families in the greatest need. They are a clearinghouse of sorts that works with a network of nonprofits who call Baby Buggy with a wish list of goods they desperately need. And like a fairy godmother, Baby Buggy always comes to the rescue. With the proceeds from this sale, Baby Buggy will be able to buy the most needed essentials to help families in need. In the spirit of Earth Day, selling vintage and antique items is green for Mother Earth since it's reusing what already exists; the sale proceeds will coincidentally help many mothers here on Earth.

In this special CasaSugar post, I'm excited to give you a sneak peek at three items for sale and the unique story behind them. I've traveled the world for work and always found time to visit out-of-the-way antique stores, flea markets, and galleries to search for beautiful things. I hope whoever buys these goodies will cherish them as much as I have over the years.

Indian ArrowHead Collection When I was filming my TV show "Simply Green with Danny Seo" (all episodes on Hulu now), I made a point to visit a small antique store in the sleepy town of Point Pleasent, PN. Down an alley and past a blacksmith shop (of all things!), I found a little antiques store that was going out of business. Rummaging through box after box, I came across a collection of mounted arrowheads, all hand mounted on colorful felt with a hand pounded metal backing in glossy black frames. What I loved about these pieces is that clearly someone had scavenged the woods of Pennsylvania for each arrowhead, cleaned them, and displayed them in a very beautiful and interesting pattern. I also love the pop of color in the background.

Keep reading to learn about two more special items from the sale