Happy February 15th!

I started working on this after dinner last night, but Tom wanted my full attention on cuddling and Downton Abby watching. He pointed out that my Christmas post came roughly six weeks late, so publishing my Valentine's post a day or two late would be a great triumph. I could hardly argue with that, so...

I ended up taking my desire for more honeysuckle and less beige literally over the last week or two by breaking out the paints and construction paper and pink-ifying everything around here. 

Paints plus excessive Pinteresting led to a burst of craftiness that resulted in some redecorating. I started with a project inspired by copied from here. The heart looks black, but I swear it's a really deep red.

{Beyond My Wildest Dreams is the title of our first dance song.}

Then I stole this idea and painted some watercolor hummingbirds. I'm pretty sure that I came up with the multi-lingual I love you painting myself, but I may have absorbed that from the internet too.

{The San Diego coastline print on the left was a gift from Mo, and on the right is my fledgling globe collection.}

Valentine's Day was lovely in these parts. I gave Tom an oversized novelty card from 7-11, and he brought home calla lilies and made an amazing dinner of oysters and filet with a blueberry bourbon sauce. So yeah...he won. But that's as it should be.

{Oysters and steak don't really photograph well, but it was divine.}

I really do have the best valentine.

Halloween Re-Cap

West Hollywood does not play when it comes to Halloween; the costumes are really incredibly. In fact, half of them could probably more accurately be described as floats...

 Take this duo (there was a guy in the scuba suit) and their under-the-sea masterpiece, for example.

Most people seemed to find safety in numbers...group costumes were the order of the evening.

No idea...

Again, no idea, but to be fair, these guys have something to do with a show that hasn't even premiered yet... 

These guys, I know. Sesame Street fo' life.

This guy had a cat accessory and he went around performing card tricks...

I think that Halloween is the day that all of the cologne-drenched boys at my gym work toward all year long... partial nudity was a popular costume. These guys managed to capture all of the big three: float-like costume, group effort (admittedly less cohesive than most), and partial nudity. Also - sparkles.

As if all the costume-peeping wasn't enough entertainment, they had several stages set up, and we happily bopped to Vaud and Villains' first set. With over 19 people, including a guy with a flaming tuba, on stage, it was quite a spectacle.

Gumby and Pokey prepare to get down...

And now, the best costume of the night...Mayans, complete with pyramid and Mayan calendar, carrying warning signs of the end of the world.

And then Miss Honey Boo Boo herself showed up and the "Mayans" insisted that she pose with the sign explaining her role in the apocalypse.

Tom and I decided that we need to go in costume next year, which means that we are going to have to start brainstorming now.

Week 19: Spring Decorating

 Unlike most people who use spring as a chance to clean, I opted to add to the clutter by making totally unnecessary butterfly garlands! This was more a product of my inability to sit still and just watch TV than anything else. Also, I have a tough time throwing magazines away, and this project was perfect for justifying my collection of back issues of O, Real Simple, Shape, Elle Decor, Better Homes and Gardens, Traveler, and The Atlantic. Note to self: consider cutting back on magazine subscriptions.

Anyway, as Tom and I vegged out one evening last month, I whipped up a bunch of these guys. I got the idea and instructions here (how I came across a German blog in the first place is beyond me). In case you aren't fluent in German...

Find a colorful page and rip it out.

Cut out a 10cm x 7cm rectangle and an 8cm x 8cm square (those wacky Europeans with their crazy metric system!).

 Diagonally fold both pieces accordion-style.

Stick the rectangle on top of the square and connect them. I used floral wire.

Do that 10-12 more times, and - boom - butterfly garland!

Week 17: Pinterest Project

On Week 17 (way back in April), I had to run to Michael's for a non-fun, non-crafty reason (specifically, I had to buy 5x7 envelopes for work), but when I took a lap around the store, I found some inspiration in the toy section. Technically, I didn't so much find inspiration as I was reminded of something I had pinned a while back. You see, according to whomever decides these things, brass animal figurines are the hotness right now. Meaning - if I were the type of person who "styled" her home (and, trust, I wish that I were), I would definitely have some sort of a brass animal figurine placed just so on my credenza (naturally, I would have a credenza), or bookshelf, or coffee table...

{ 1 - 2 - 3 }

Apparently however, these delightful, albeit totally nonfunctional, brass animals (branimals?) are pricey, so the internet is full of examples of people making knock-off versions. This is all to say that when I spotted a rubber giraffe in the clearance bin at Michael's, I knew that he should come home with me. This wasn't the first time I have turned a Pinterest pin into reality, but it was the first time for this particular craft (if you can call it that), so I decided that it could count for my new thing of the week. Now, pay attention because this is a blink and you'll miss it type of "craft."

Start with a giraffe. My giraffe is called Melvin, but I don't think it matters if your giraffe has a different name.

Introduce him to some spray paint.

 

Go to town.

Place Melvin (or Phyllis or whatever...) atop a pile of books and call Elle Decor or House Beautiful to see when they would like to come over for the photo shoot.

Week 12: Fun with Succulents

 

I have recently developed an obsession with succulents. I mostly blame Pinterest. I have been saving pictures of all kinds of succulent-based projects for a while now, and when I showed my mom a picture of a succulent wreath a couple of weeks ago, she was all, "Let's make one!" Boom, just like that. If I had more Mom-based motivation in my life, my house would be full of fully realized Pinteresting projects... Animal bookends!

{Hi Sugarplum via Pinterest}

In any event, a couple of weekends ago, I went to Coronado to hang out with the fam while Tom was at South by Southwest. My mom had heard about a free class on orchid care at a local nursery, so we decided to combine that with a succulent-buying spree. The orchid class was led by Phil, a real orchid aficionado and epic storyteller.

{Phil}

Phil taught us that the state with the most species of native orchids is... wait for it... Alaska! Anyway, after Phil told us everything there is to know about growing orchids, we picked out some succulents and some moss before heading to Michael's for a metal wreath form. Once we got all of our supplies back home, we realized we would have been better off taking clippings from the plethora of succulents in my parents' yard and neighborhood because we ended up pulling the plants we bought apart since it was too hard to get the roots into the wreath after we packed it with moss.

I forgot to take a picture of the finished wreath, but it has to lay flat for a week or two until all the clippings have a chance to take root so I'll wait to post a picture of the final reveal when I can get a shot of it hanging on my parents' door.

Anyway, the success with the wreath and the realization that I didn't need to spend a bunch of money on buying succulents set me off on a stealth mission to sneakily take clippings of every succulent I passed for the next week.

{My stash}

When I had pilfered gathered a sufficient stock, I dropped $2.50 on some revolting "art" from $2.50 at Goodwill and started on my Pinteresting succulent project number two.
The inspiration was this project from Better Homes and Gardens:

{BHG via Pinterest}

First I ripped the hideous painting off of the frame, spray painted the frame blue, and stapled chicken wire leftover from my jewelry display project to the inside of the frame.

 Next, I flipped the frame over, stuffed moss leftover from the wreath project up against the chicken wire, poured cactus soil over the moss, and then stapled and nailed the "art" where it belongs, on the backside of the frame.

I can already tell that I should have had a piece of plywood cut to fit the back of the frame because I am pretty sure that the painting is on particleboard that will probably fall apart after a few waterings... I was too lazy eager to get started to make the trip to the hardware store for plywood, but I figure I can always replace the back later if it falls apart.

The next step, arranging all of the cuttings in the frame, was the most fun. Since I had to make do with whatever succulents were accessible and unguarded, and because my crafty efforts are never as perfect in reality as they are in my mind, I knew my final product would not be as cohesive and color-coordinated as the masterpiece that the professionals at Better Homes and Gardens created. And it's certainly a mishmash, but it's coming along...

Week 8: Fun with Clay

So I'm two months into this little project, and my goal of posting my new thing every Sunday is already well out the window. No matter. Deadlines aren't really my thing anyway. I'll be happy if I end up with all 52 weeks documented, besides, starting every post with some sort of half-baked excuse for why it's late is beyond dull. So I hereby renounce any commitment to scheduled updates on this matter. Moving on.

Last week, I looked to Pinterest for new thing inspiration, specifically, new crafty thing inspiration. I went in search of a project that would make use of the clay I had from my attempt at Christmas ornaments (results were mixed on that one). I wanted to attempt something slightly more sophisticated than than the ashtray I made for my non-smoking father in the fourth grade, but not so sophisticated that it would require a potter's wheel and Patrick Swayze's ghost to complete. I looked through all of the crafty things I've pinned and decided that something like this or this seemed relatively doable.

This is what I was going for.

Source: honestlywtf.com via Kate on Pinterest

My finished project looks nothing like that. In fact, it looks more like the aforementioned ashtray than that charming little bowl, and I really wanted to do it over in order to have something more presentable to share here, but... I needed to prove that a new thing was, in fact, attempted in week eight.

So, while I definitely did not create a masterpiece, it was still a fun, easy little project. I mean, really, I like any craft that can be done whilst watching Bethany Ever After or the Real Housewives of Wherever because I feel like trash TV is more easily justified when enjoyed in conjunction with another, slightly less mindless task.

Whatevs. Here's the (entirely self-explanatory) lowdown.

[Side note: I thought that a feather would make a cool pattern, so I went on a forty minute walk around my neighborhood in search of one. Nada. I did not find one single feather. For some reason, I had expected to walk outside and have my pick of feathers...probably because my soon-to-be brother-in-law seems to always have a feather tucked jauntily into his cap.

I will have to consult Buckley on the best places to find wayward feathers. Anyway feathers were a no-go, I tried leaves but they didn't really work, so I went the doily route. Side note on the side note: Do doilies have a use outside of craft projects?]

Bake. Or air dry depending on your clay.

I attempted to sand down the edges but quickly realized that my bowl was destined to be wonky. I will most likely trash it because, as it turns out, I have no real use for a tiny, shallow, wonky bowl. Nonetheless, playing with clay is fun. Took me back to the Play-Doh days.