How to Make a Felted Wool Ball Garland

Before the holidays I was over at my friend Tiffany's apartment in Brooklyn. She had this amazing garland of wool balls hanging on her wall that she bought from a little shop. When I was home for Christmas, we got a little snowed in for a couple days so I pulled out my suitcase full of wool and felting materials and made my own garland in white. (I'm in a very uncharacteristic-of-me phase where I do things in white-- and even white on white. My furry-orange-shirt-wearing 12-year-old self wouldn't even recognize me. :))


Image sources: 1, 2 (Anthropologie), and 3. My mom has always been interested in using wool for projects, but it wasn't until I went to this fiber arts fair in my hometown that I really got into making things with wool.


When you grow up in a sheep-raising family, it is only natural for wool to by a go-to craft supply. ;)



How to make felted wool balls:



When I was stringing my wool balls together, I put little wooden beads between each of the wool beads.


A whimsical addition to our living room Indiana art. While the little balls are time consuming, I'm glad I made them. If you ever get locked up for a day from snow or just want a project to do while watching a show, this is the one.

Emily's Bob Dylan Tour of NYC

A couple weekends ago, one of my closest friends, Emily, came to NYC to visit Sean, Adele, and I. When Em was bopping around on her own, visiting me at work, or walking around with us as a group, she kept taking photos of things and places associated with Bob Dylan. By the end of the trip she had so many Bob Dylan-inspired photos that I started to call her little trip "Em's Bob Dylan Tour of NYC." :)


"...the bricks lay on Grand Street where the neon madmen climb."
-Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again


Cafe Wha?
-Where Dylan played some of his first shows.


The Hotel Chelsea - mentioned in the song Sara, "Staying up for days in The Chelsea Hotel writing Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands for you." OR where Dylan wrote Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.


"And the all night girls they whisper of escapades out on the D train."
-Visions of Johanna


Greenwich Village- From Emily, "Where Bobby D bopped around- see the lyrics of Talkin' New York: "You sound like a hillbilly, we want folk singers here."


And finally the famous cover of Freewheelin' on Jones Street. Emily actually begged us to go down there just to take this photo and I'm so glad she did. :)

PS-- My Bob Dylan Halloween costume. :)

DIY Sparkly Statement Necklace

About a month ago I took a little trip to the trimmings shops in the Fashion District that I discovered over 3 years ago. (Ermg. Serious chuckles at that post from my first time in NYC.) I found this incredible collar necklace base tucked away in one of the boxes in the shop and I was really drawn to it.


I've been really envious of my roommate Adele's statement necklace that she bought at this consignment shop in Princeton, NJ last spring. When I saw the collar base in the trimmings shop, I decided to try and make my own statement necklace.


To make the necklace I collected some of my broken necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and sparkly beads that I had kept over the years. (I was home for Christmas so I could root through all of my old stuff. :))

I laid them all out and eliminated the ones that didn't fit with the necklace vibe I was going for. Then, slowly, (with a lot of Mad-Men-rewatching) I stitched the necklace together. It probably took me 20 hours total, but it was just the project I had been itching for. This is definitely my favorite project as of late and it is probably the most versatile thing I've ever made.




One thing that I found really helpful when I was making the necklace was using rhinestone trim to outline the sides + design. I also followed the design in the lace of the collar. If you find a lace collar, (like this one on Amazon or this one) I definitely recommend following the pattern it has. Makes it so much easier and you don't have to doubt your placement/design choices as much.


Very much into the sparkly antique aesthetic right now. :)


Also pairs with fox shirts. I just have so many of those lying around. ;) #wish


:)

DIY Triangle Lamp Shade

Out of all the decor I've collected over the years, my owl lamp is one of my favorites. (Much to my mother's disgust. She hates the little guy. ;)) I found this lamp when I was in college, my friends and I were walking around this neighborhood-wide garage sale on Berry Street in Greencastle, Indiana. The garage sales were full of things like an entire set of N*Sync bobble head dolls, strange clothes from the 90s, and old barn windows-- and this owl lamp. There were two, actually. My friend Kelsey and I saw them and decided they had to be ours. We probably would have paid $20 each for the lamps, but we asked the lady selling the lamps how much she wanted for them. "Make me an offer," she said. Kelsey and I tittered off to the side, $10? $20? We just wanted those owls. We came back to the lady with polite, hesitant smiles and said, "$5?" "Sold."

And that is how Pidwidgeon and Errol came into our lives for $2.50 each. ;D


Recently I had the opportunity to participate in Lamps.com's lampshade contest where I received a white lamp shade to decorate. (Go and vote for your favorite shade and you can win $100 to Lamps.com!) :) I spent a lot of time on Pinterest trying to brainstorm the best lamp shade with my owl, but I finally decided that the geometric triangle pattern I've been really into lately. I thought about doing black and white triangles, but chose white on white instead. I've never really done white on white anything... ever... but it's really grown on me. You can have these crazy patterns and designs, but they still look a bit refined when they're white on white. :)


Here is the plain white lamp shade I received.


The first thing you need to do is measure the space that you want to fill with triangles. The height of that space on my lamp shade was 9" so I decided to cut out 1" triangles.


Small note: It is much easier to cut out triangles if you have a boyfriend who remembers how to do high school math. :) After you cut out all of the triangles, you just need to take your loaded glue gun and start glueing them to the shade. It's a good task to catch up on all the 30 Rock you've been missing. ;)












I am really excited about the results-- I think it totally fits with the 1960s-Royal-Tennenbaums-meets-Indiana-rural-expats vibe we've got going. Ha. ;)

PS-- Vote. Win $100. :)

Film Photos: Icy Mornings

While we're supposed to be getting snow and ice and bitter mornings up here in the Northern Hemisphere, it's been quite mild this year. I found a few photos of my shivery-est winter days when I was home for Christmas and wanted to share. The photo above is of the "Snowpacalypse" of 2011 when I was still at school. The one below is of my parents' lake cottage when I was growing up. These photos are nice but mild winters are pretty nice too. :)

Project 365: My Favorite Photos of the Year

For 2012 I made the resolution to take a photo every day and blog it. I did it to become a better photographer, to document my life, and to have a visual representation of my year. While it was tough to get a shot on days I felt uninspired, I am so glad I did it. 2012 was a huge year for me-- I went to some amazing weddings, I bought a new camera, I left one job, moved across the country to NYC, started another job, and started decorating my first apartment. 2012 has been good to me. :)

While I am already the type of person who takes photos of everything and I plan to continue doing so, I am so glad I have a year documented this way. Here are some of my favorites.

















This year I stopped using so many filters and focused on shooting in manual. I played with little techniques and just had a bunch of fun. I definitely recommend this type of project to anyone who wants to try, you never know what you'll learn!

xoxo