Bringing the outdoors in. (literally)

 So, I have a couple of simple and super cheap projects for you today.  Back in like May, I collected all of these sticks around my yard.  I had the intention of doing this project back then but... well... here we are. They sat in a little vase on my shelf for months and the other night I had my glue gun out and decided to just give it a go.

Have you guys seen those driftwood balls people are putting everywhere?? They have really caught my eye. So I thought I would try to re-create one but with random sticks from my yard.

 I started by making a weird cross thing like this. It will be the base to your ball and hopefully keep it fairly round.  Try to use 3 straight sticks that are really close in length. Otherwise you might have an ovalish ball. I used hot glue and it worked great for this project.  I didn't take any pics of the process because I was on a roll... (I'm good at making stupid puns) Anyways.  I just glued in a ball type shape. All around my cross formation I started with.

I think it took me about an hour, but I was also watching tv and if you know me, I tend to get sucked in... Like, don't turn on the tv on a first date if you want to talk because I will tune you out so hard, kind of sucked in.  It can be embarrassing (for me) and frustrating (for Tom) "Oh, what?? You've been telling me a story for the last 20 minutes?? Yeah, totally listening that whole time."  Tom has learned to quiz me after and 90% of the time, I fail.

 Anyways. What I'm trying to say, is it didn't take long at all.

Now I can set her anywhere I need some nature in my house. Like on a stack of books.

Or on my mantle... You get the point.  She's cute and she fits in almost anywhere. Now go start collecting sticks.

Next we have an ALMOST fail.  I bought a straw wreath form at the DI (Utah's goodwill) for $1 and decided I would try my hand at a pinecone wreath. Anyone else obsessed with pinecones this season??

I went to a local park where there are TONS of pine trees and picked up a giant bag of pinecones.  Now here is the catch. I picked them up right as the sun was setting so all I could really see were dark spots. I would pick one up, examine it, and if it had one good side, in my bag it went.  I brought the bag home and started glueing away. Again, I used hot glue for this.  Worked great.  I made sure to alternate the directions of the pinecones... bottoms up, tops up, side down, just picking what end looked best. Super easy.  Halfway through, I saw something move in my bag. A GIANT daddy long leg was in there with my pinecones.  I am deathly afraid of spiders of any kind.  If I see one, I have nightmares that night and don't sleep well. So I was freaking out.  First off, I picked it up to put it in the bag, second off, it was in my house. Tom wasn't home so I dumped out the bag and hurried and stepped on it.  Super scary you guys.  I never kill spiders.  I have gone as far as going to get my neighbor to come kill a spider. No matter the size.  I can't gamble that I might miss and it might crawl on my hand or shoe. Okay. So spider killed, it took me a lot longer to finish the wreath as I had to kick around each pinecone before picking it up to glue it on the wreath.  I wouldn't suggest this.  It made my house VERY messy. I'm sorry, I'm babbling now.

My saga isn't over yet. Once it was done, I posted a pic of it to my instagram.  One of my friends commented that I had to bake the pinecones to kill all of the little bugs that live inside it. WHAT?! Suddenly I hated my wreath.  It literally scared me.  I used hot glue and straw so baking was out of the question.  So I put it in a garbage bag and put it in the freezer over night.  And then I went to bed and didn't sleep because I thought bugs were crawling all over me.  Literally you guys, I got 3 hours of sleep.  Should I seek counseling? I dunno.  But I did manage to sneak out of the house dressed like a homeless person (in the random things that were on my livingroom floor) at 7 am to get donuts for Tom and I.  I never get there that early and all of my favorite flavors that are normally sold out (blueberry!!) were still there. So that was good.  And I managed to get the courage to hang the wreath inside my house.  I just don't think about it and cross my fingers the freezer killed the bugs...

I love how all of the different shapes, sizes, and colors look once combined.  Very organic.  I was planning on collecting more and making like, tons of pinecone things but after that whole bug fiasco, I just can't. One bug wreath is enough for me.

And in case you do decide to brave it and make one,  learn from me, BAKE THEM FIRST.

350 for 30 minutes.  And then send me pictures of your creations.

How do you feel about bringing a touch of the outdoors inside? Would you do it?

What is your favorite way?

Some random things

So first off, hey.  It's been awhile.  But to me, it doesn't feel like it's been that long.  The past few weeks have been non stop.  Between Halloween, House-sitting for a week, being out of town, and school.... Well I forgot about blogging. Until Tom said "You haven't blogged in forever. You should probably blog." Right. So, there you go. I would like to thank Tom, my blogging policeman for making this post happen.

Sitting on the couch one night and Stella comes up, sits next to me, and flops backwards onto my lap so she's on her back and I'm holding her like a baby. (you can see all 4 feet in the air above^)  This isn't the first time this has happened.

And then she proceeded to snore for the next while.  Kid at heart, I tell you.

We carved pumpkins with some of our friends.  Guess which one is mine.

Hint: It's the simple one. ;)

Halloween costume 1.  The party was zombie themed and so much fun!

Costume 2.  I put this together day of.  Because I'm on top of things like that.

(shark and swimmer)

Costume 3.  This was on Halloween night and these were the things we found in Tom's parents closet. Put together 20 min before our friends were over.

(bikers)

So... this year, I didn't really plan our costumes out, which we ended up wearing 3 different ones.  Next year, I'm planning it out.  Because 3 costumes was ridiculous. (even though they all took little to no effort)

Stella loves watching me do my makeup.  So the other day, I drew some eyebrows on her with white eyeliner so she could participate.   haha I thought it was hilarious.

Thrifting with my mom.  I was in LOVE with this brass coffee table.  It was super heavy and the good, expensive kind of brass.  It would have needed to be shined up and fixed a little but I wanted it... Oh if only we had the space.

6 years ago we went out to visit my sis and bro in law when they lived in D.C.  My parents bought these copies of the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights to frame. Well... last week we finally made that happen.  We found 2 identical frames at the thrift store for $3, sprayed them and the mats black and then mounted them.  Since they are different and odd sizes my mom wasn't sure how to mount them or if she should get mats specially cut (hence the 6 year waiting period) but I said nay, just mount them on top of the mats and there we had them. $6 and 10 minutes later.

Found this thrifting the other day and I'm wishing I would have bought it.  It was huge and so pretty.

My parents recently renovated their office... You should see the before.  I have been spending some time thrifting with my mom and helping them put the finishing touches on it.  They still need a desk but it's coming along!  I helped her hang a gallery wall last week.

I laid everything out on the floor to get an idea of how it would look.  I made sure to measure the wall before so the layout would fit.  We found 4 van Gogh prints at the DI for $4 each!!! I was soo excited.  They were already framed in these pretty gold frames so it was perfect.  We sort of centered her wall around 2 of them. I have learned that the key to a good gallery wall is simple frames and lots of different sizes, shapes and orientations. If you stick with black, white, gold and some silver for the frames they won't take away from your artwork or look too busy. Also hanging some landscape, some portrait, and having some square really helps.  I tried to just balance it out so there wasn't a clump of white frames and a clump of black frames but they were all mixed in.  Otherwise it could end up looking awkwardly heavy in some parts. 

Here it is hung up.  We still need to add a row or 2 to the bottom because I want it to be floor to ceiling but doesn't it just add SO much to the room? Almost all frames were thrifted (a few she had on hand and we sprayed them to fit in) We did a mix of art and family pictures so that it would have sentimental value.  I will do a separate post with close ups once it is done.  

What do you think?  I have done a few gallery walls and this one is my favorite by far.

Can't wait to show you all the office once it's complete!!

We just need to get her a desk and style her book shelves.

(Thrifting all of the items takes time!)

Ps... I didn't really measure.  I measured the top row all out so it would be evenly spaced to each edge but the rest I just held up and marked with a pencil where the nail should go and hammered away.   It worked out well and I didn't have to move any nails around like I thought I might.