DIY: Yarn Letter Ornaments

I love Anthropologie, but really....who doesn't? I rarely ever buy anything from there though, I have a really hard time justifying their hefty price tags! When I received the latest holiday catalog my heart skipped a beat.  I just fell in love with these little ornaments...

                                              

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Well at $8 a pop, I couldn't possibly afford to add one to every gift that we give this year.  So the boy and I decided to make our own.  Here's how:

Step 1

Materials:

collected sticks and twigs

yarn, string, and ribbon

scissors

hot glue

Step 2 

To make this project a bit more educational, 

I had the boy first draw a picture of the letter that we were going to make.  

Then I would trim the twigs down to size,

 and have him arrange them as the needed to be.  

Then I hot glued them in place.

Step 2

Loop the ribbon around the top of the letter where you want it to hang.

Don't worry about how sloppy the knot or ends look, 

they will be wrapped and covered.

Step 3

With you choice of yarn/ribbon/string combo, 

start wrapping tightly around the sticks.

Don't forget to tuck your ends in so that they can be wrapped up.

This entire project cost me $5.  I was able to find all of my yarn at a local thrift store, and then pulled the rest of my string and ribbon from my scrap box.  While I am not doing the entire alphabet, I am making about 25 ornaments to use in gift wrapping.  Happy Crafting!

Wynwood Part 3

Wynwood Part 2

As promised, another round of my favorites from our last trip to Wynwood.  In these pictures I really focused on the simple messages.  Not all the wonders of Wynwood are huge, insane murals.  There are a lot of positive messages, sweet stickers (or slaps as they are known in the graffiti world), shout outs to lost friends, and even really cute homeless kids....oh wait, no that's my kid, filthy and taking a street nap.

inspiration lookbook: beautiful bones

for a long time growing up and even still now, I thought that I wanted to be a medical illustrator.  In the many anatomy classes that I took in high school and college, my favorite thing to do was draw the skeletal system.  It's so eire and beautiful. So in honor of October and Halloween quickly looming near, here are some of the most beautiful skeletal images.

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Wynwood Part 1

We went to one of our favorite spots yesterday. The Wynwood Arts District in Miami is a street art lovers playground.  I always find myself with tons of pictures on my phone of some of the amazing masterpieces, but this time I bucked up and brought my real camera.  So instead of bombarding you with them all right now, I am going to break it up into a few blog posts. Enjoy!

So I have this chair...

I have this chair...well it's really a stool. It's in my kitchen wedged in between a beautiful antique cabinet and my not so beautiful teak Formica counter tops. But at about 4:30 in the afternoon the sun comes in to my kitchen window and shines right on this spot. It's become my happy place. I go and I sit. The boy enjoys a few minutes to himself and I enjoy a few minutes of spacing out. No one bothers me as my bum falls asleep on this precarious little perch.
Moral of the story. Find a quite place and allow yourself to tune out the world. Even if it is for just a few short ass numbing moments.

Thankful Thursday: Boys with Brushes

Today's Thankful Thursday has no cute quote reminding us that we should show gratitude or try to be better human beings....it's simply one single thing that happened today that deserves recognition and praise.

As I was sitting on the sofa this afternoon, somewhere between my crazy caffeine buzz wearing off and talking myself into a shower, I was confronted by the boy. With a brush.  Raised up over his head. Honestly my knee jerk reaction was to protect my face (since every object in our house has become some sort of ninja weapon lately).  But much to my surprise, there was no "HIIIII YA!" or black eye (and yes...I actually flinched), rather there was a sweet little voice asking if he could brush my hair.

I quickly agreed and sat down on the floor under his little feet that dangled off the side of the couch.  At first, I anxiously anticipated every stroke, expecting a smack or a snag to really rattle me.  Then once I realized that he genuinely just wanted to brush my hair, I started to ponder.... why?  All I could come up with was this: he was embarrassed by what the fuck ever was happening on my head....did I mention that it was before my shower, around 1pm....use your imagination! ha!

After a while I was able to just sit.  I wasn't scared he was going to hurt me, and I had come to grips with the fact that he was going to judge me for the rest of my life.  So I let it all go and just enjoyed it.  Each sweet, sensitive stroke of the brush relaxed me just a little more.  It brought me back to a time when I used to bribe my little sisters for back rubs....there is just something about those tiny people hands!

My grooming session only lasted for about 10 minutes.  But I was thankful for every millisecond of it! And I will make sure that it happens again!