Four / 52

Oh, hello.  Sorry for the radio silence.

We have this floral vine/bush outside of our house.  I believe it's called a Clematis plant.  Not really sure.  I do know that I love this bush.  Even before it blooms it's really green and lush.  Our whole backyard is like this.  Our landlords did a great job picking out plants and flowers.  Come August, it's seriously like a jungle.  There are flowers I've never seen before that bloom.  Sadly, no peonies.  But, the park down the street literally has 100 of them.  They are almost all in full bloom.  I've been on a full time peony watch for the last few weeks now.  But anyways, this is the pretty vine/bush.

It was getting a bit overgrown.  We couldn't back the cars out of the driveway without hitting it.  Which was sad.  So, I trimmed it so we could fit through without hitting the bush.  If you've ever really looked at vines they are crazy.  I would love to watch a time lapse video of these grow.  So, I finally pulled off enough so we could fit through the driveway.  I had this handful of beautiful greenery and couldn't even think of throwing it away.  So, I did what anyone else would do in this situation.  I made a garland and put it in our kitchen.

Ta-da!  This literally took me like 10 minutes to put together.  Because it is a vine it was super easy to get a few pieces to stay together.  The most difficult part was getting the garland to stay on the nails I put in the wall.  I love having the plants up high, because I don't have to worry about the boys getting into the plants.  So many plants are poisonous for animals and at the rate my dogs eat plants, grass, and just about anything else they can get their paws on.  I'm thinking we need to get some hanging plants for the kitchen.  Because, folks, this is so not permanent   It's terrible humid here and the poor thing has been hanging for less than 12 hours and already looks sad.  But it was totally fun.  If you want to really get crazy with a floral garland this is the way to go.  But for a free garland that will last you one day, go outside and find some greenery.  While you can probably do this with anything, I found the vines to be super easy to work with.  Now, go make some pretty garland!

Happy Weekend!

I know it's only Friday, but that's basically the weekend right?  I'm hoping to soak up a lot this weekend.  Celebrating a friend's birthday, exploring the local farmer's market, spending time with my brother-in-law, and getting lots of time with the hubs.  He is leaving for China soon and will be gone for about two weeks.

It's been raining all week and I'm really hoping for a rain free and (hopefully) sunny weekend.

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

xoxo,

L

Image taken at Kettle Moraine State Forest in Wisconsin two weekends ago.

An untold story.

I've never been someone who has a favorite quote, but last summer this quote hit so close to home.  Last summer, I hit my three year anniversary at my job.  I never expected to be there for three years, but it happened.  My time spent there was great, but I knew that it was time for me to move on.  But, I wasn't quite sure how.  There were times when I physically knew that I needed to move on.  So, I wrote down this quote and slid it in the ID holder of my wallet.  Every time I opened my wallet I saw this.  And it reminded me that I needed to find the courage to move on.  As you know, I did.  But, I've been meaning to share this.  Better late than never.

Hope you are having a great week.

xoxo,

L

Worth Watching / Bill Cunningham New York

So, we watch Netflix a lot.  We don't have cable, so Netflix movies happen a few nights a week.  There are a lot of terrible movies on Netflix, so I'm going to update posts with good ones, ones that are worth watching.  I'll just warn you about the bad ones to save you some time.

I'm a bit behind the time here, but have you seen Bill Cunningham New York?  Oh my gosh, this was so good.  It's been on instant stream for a while, and finally decided to watch it last Thursday while working on a project for my 2D class.  I didn't know much about Bill Cunningham so I learned a lot.  He is such an awesome person and he seams very real.  And how awesome is it that he is in his 80's riding his bike around New York City?  During the documentary Bill is beginning the process of moving out of Carnage Hall into a new apartment.  I had no idea there were people living in Carnage Hall!  There are a few parts of the documentary where Bill and his neighbor sit around and reminisce about the past.  It was hilarious and totally heartwarming at the same time.  Oh, and another favorite is the man with all of the suits.  If you've seen this movie you know what I am talking about.

Enough of me ranting on, go watch it!  Have you seen it?  What did you think?

xoxo,

L

Three / 52

This was another project for my 2D Design class.  The assignment was to create an abstract drawing and a non-objective drawing based on piece of artwork.  I drew inspiration from from this Wayne Theibaud's painting.

Wayne Theibaud | Yellow Dress

 Abstract

Non-Objective

I used charcoal on bristal for these two pieces.  It was my first time using charcoal and it was fun, but I definitely need some practice.  

On to the next one!

xoxo,

L

Two / 52

I decided that since I'm working on art projects in class that these should count towards by 52 projects. So, here goes!

This was the first project I completed in my 2D Design class.  We had to create four different illustrations.  One with only vertical and horizontal lines, one with only curvilinear lines, one with only diagonal lines, and one combination piece, putting it all together.

I used tech pens for all of the drawings, and overall was pretty happy with how they turned out.  I was really concerned with making the four of these go together.  That wasn't the point of the project, but for me it was important.

I also realized that I need to triple check my straight edges. I promise they are straight(er) in person.

xoxo,

L

One / 52

Have you ever made something and then when you look at it, you realize it looks like something, but not what you intended?  I did just that this weekend.  If you are thinking, huh? I'll explain.

Nick wanted to make some toys/tugs for the boys this weekend, so we took a trip to the fabric store.  I really need a case for my laptop, so I thought I would try and make a laptop case.  Not that difficult right?  We ended up using the same fabric for our projects, just because we liked the duck canvas.  Saturday night turned into a crazy craft night that included Chemistry goggles, lots of sketches, and our dining room table covered in fabric scraps.  Side bar, I have a really good track record for breaking needles on my sewing machine and we were using pretty thick fabric, so as a precautionary Nick made me wear them.  We finished the dog tugs, but didn't get around to my laptop case until this morning.  At the end of the day it is functional, but it could be improved, but my sewing skills are pretty basic.

We are pretty early in the game here.  After this shot, I'm pretty sure I ripped all the seams out and made a few adjustments.  Did I mention that all but one seam was ripped out and re sewn?  Sounds like fun right?

It fits!  Well, after an adjustment.  Before I ripped one of the seams it didn't fit.  I had to put it away for a few hours because I was just a little frustrated that I made this thing and it didn't fit my laptop!

So, do you see it yet?  What it looks like?  A mailer you buy at the post office?  Yep!  This was not my intention, but now it's all I see when I look at it.  One of my best friends was telling me that she saw someone using a bubble mailer as an iPad case and now I feel like that, but that I went through the effort of sewing one myself.  Hah!

It actually looks even more like a mailer in these photos, it's slightly brighter and more marigold in person.  

I was thisclose to not posting this because it didn't really turn out how I wanted, but then I remembered that's the point of this.  To make things and move on.  Record the good and the bad.

So, now I have a laptop case and it fits my laptop.

Okay, one down.  It's a start!

xoxo,

L