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DIY: Princess Skirt
My daughter Fiona is two and a half and crazy about dressing up. She manages to look as if in costume in her regular clothes, due to her pairings and color combinations. I adore her creativity and wild personality. For Christmas I decided I would make her a dress up box…well I didn’t make the box actually, I made what was in it. I thought I would post a quick tutorial on how to make this adorable princess skirt out of tule. It really is so simple and all you need is a sewing machine, 2 yards of tule, scissors, 16-25 inches of elastic and a safty pin. So…here we go.…
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Handwritten Letters
I have started hand writing letters in an attempt to create some authenticity in my communication with my friends. I have been growing increasingly tired of the flat and impersonal form of communication. Email and facebook and all other forms of electronic communication lack something that the hand written word expresses. I have been using sketch paper and folding it in slightly complex ways allows me to sketch in my letters. It also resembles the old fashioned letter writing of Jane Austen’s time. As an extra fun addition to my letters I used this wax seal kit my sister got me from Venice, Italy. It has a monogram M that…
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Drawing Inspiration
Since my Courage to Draw post a few months back I have been sketching consistently in my journal. It is amazing how sketching helps me write and vice a versa. The more I draw the more I write. To help me stay inspired I have printed out several images off of various free printable websites…the most notable being vintageprintable.com. There are lots of free images online that you can print and frame or you can use them as inspiration for drawing. I have been drawing a lot of butterflies lately. They are something I enjoy drawing and are relatively easy and diverse. Here are a couple of images that I…
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Tea and Knitting
Looking back at my recent posts I have done a lot of DIY recently, and I have not said a word about knitting. I have been working on a few projects. I have been drinking tea in the afternoons lately as I knit. I have a small collection of tea cups. I cycle them out daily, it is so lovely to drink tea out of a beautiful china cup. This one is a Windsor Bone China cup that I found at a thrift store. I will be taking pictures of the other cups as I use them. As for my knitting projects… I finished my smocking hat and am prepping…
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DIY: Hanging Mint Garden
One of my favorite Christmas gifts this year was from my friend Allyson. These tea light hangers are such a great purchase and work really well as hanging terrariums. I have recently had a love of mint plants. They are so hearty and I adore anything that you can grow from a cutting…it increases my chances of keeping them alive. Here is a quick tutorial on how to make a hanging terrarium. 1. Purchase this tea light hanger from CB2 or find one that is very similar. 2. Take a cutting of mint that has some roots attached to it. You can take a cutting of mint and put it…
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DIY: Succulents in a Jar
Happy New Year! I started off my new year by making a collage of a some of the latte art I have been pouring…still not nearly perfect but fun all the same to see them all together. I used my iphone4 to take all these photos and the apps Diptic and Instagram to edit them. I am thinking of doing the same thing using my regular camera and photoshop and then hanging it on my wall. Now to the DIY…I have a slight obsession with succulents. They are beautiful and easy to keep alive. Living where I do it is hard to find plants that I can keep alive,…
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DIY: Tulle Bow Headwrap
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! So this diy is a little bit crazy. I had been wanting to make a headwrap that was big and a little more out there. If I were getting married and having a bohemian hippy-ish wedding I might actually wear this for a more modern take on a veil. If I could find a way to make it not look like minnie mouse. Maybe this is just what you are looking for to accesorize your Disney themed party outfit. If you can’t get it to look right on yourself try it on a little girl…it looks amazing on my two year old! Take a length of tulle a…
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DIY: Boho Hair Style
I have been asked several times how I achieved the bohemian hair style pictured in my DIY: Double Strand Lace Headband. It is very easy but a few pictures should help you achieve this simple and beautiful look. To make the hair style more complex you can braid small strands of hair on the underside. It is not nessicary for the final boho look just something extra you can add. Place your headband over the top of your hair…like so. Starting at one side start to tuck your hair into the headband. Continue to tuck your hair all the way around and roll it in with your hands…
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DIY: Pinecone Ornament
I cannot believe Christmas is nine days away. This month is flying by and I cannot seem to keep up with the various work and personal holiday parties. It does not help that my family was ravaged by a winter cold. I always try to make an ornament that I can give away with my gifts or as an extra trimming to the way the gifts are packaged. This year I found some really beautiful pine cones close to my home and I spray painted them silver. Then I dabbed a bit of hot glue to the top and attached a bit of bakers twine for them to be hung by. I…
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Handmade Christmas {part 2}
So it has been a few weeks since my Handmade Christmas post where I dreamed about what I would knit with some very fabulous yarns. Since then I have (surprisingly and uncharacteristically) knitted several of them! I don’t think I am any closer to having my Christmas gifts done, at least it does not feel that way. However, I feel a sense of accomplishment and wanted to share. Here is a hat I am in the process of knitting for my oldest son. I think it will be a Christmas present…one of several. In the beginning of fall, when we took a family trip to Portland, I took Corin to…
