acorn love

Yup, I returned to the acorn necklace project for a friend's birthday (Maya, to be exact). Making felted acorns is super easy, and I suppose I should provide a tutorial one of these days...but honestly, it's soooo easy that you probably don't need a tutorial. Just work your felt into a sort of acorny shape (like an eroded pyramid, yeah?) and glue it into a spare acorn cap. You will have to find the caps somewhere. I stole my acorn supply from Catherine & Nicholas' backyard.
I assume they weren't missed. 

Oh, the other thing is that you'll need to drill a couple holes in the acorn cap. It's surprisingly easy.
Um, I'll just go ahead and admit that I use one of my felting needles to accomplish this task.
I know: so bad! But I don't have any drilling implements and the felting needle gets the job done.
I just used a little piece of jewelry wire to make a loop to attach to the necklace. 

See? Easy and sweet.

On my honor, it's a birthday!

Yup, today our little blog turned one.  Zucchini spice cake all around!

Estate-ing my way through the day

I made it to a few estate sales on Sunday and finished the afternoon with several new treasures. I always love coming home and laying everything out on the living room floor. I sort it all into piles and clean and exam all my finds, and then Matilda comes by to check everything out. This usually involves Matilda deciding to sit on one of my newly acquired treasures--a purse, a map, a piece of fabric--she likes to be in the middle of what's going on. 

vintage bell ornament

vintage clipboard

I love its 1960s faux marble pattern. 

vintage travel wallet

Holds your passport, airline ticket, landing card, letters of credit, and

any railroad tickets you might acquire along the way. They do tend to pile up. 

I also stumbled upon a treasure trove of vintage fabric.

All the more incentive for me to get my sew on. 

Of course, this isn't quite everything. I don't mean to be withholding, but a couple items are destined to become part of a larger project...hopefully. 

Dale Chihuly, eat your heart out!

* I'm editing this blog post and going with my gut Chihuly references so whatevs.

I saw this ingenious diy light fixture on design sponge a while back.  It's been on my to-do-list for quite some time.  Last month I ventured up to Ikea with Nicholas and mother and purchased 2 standard-sized paper lanterns to modify. After gathering the rest of supplies from the craft store (tacky glue), I started cutting and gluing like mad.  You want to make a paper lantern? Of course you do--I'll take you through a step-by-step process. Let's begin!

You're going to need some tacky glue. Make sure you buy one of the bigger bottles.

You'll need paper and a pair of scissors.  I just used computer paper, but if you're feeling crazy,

you can go with printed paper (it will definitely make for a more expensive project). 

Start cutting the paper into spiky strips.  Make sure you don't make them too big.  
The top should be between 1-2 inches.  

You're going to need lots and lots of strips.
Don't worry about making them perfect, they all blend together.
I cut multiple sheets at once.

This is from Ikea. I think I paid about $5.99.
You have to buy the light attachment separately.

Pop your lantern open.

Now start gluing on the strips from the bottom up.  Make sure to put on enough glue. 

It's slow going at first, but once you get into a groove, it goes much faster.

Keep working around and around until you get to the top!

When you turn it on, all of the layering gives the light a crazy-cool glow.

I've made two lanterns.  In total, I probably spent $15 on the two (remember hooks to hang it, if you don't already have them).  I think it's a worthy investment.  The lantern takes about 1.5 hours to make.  You'd be surprised on how much paper it takes to coat one of those lanterns.

When I look at my light, I think about Dale Chihuly.  His glass has always reminded me of sea creatures.  Obviously, I don't think that my computer paper Ikea light is like Dale Chihuly's glass, but it reminds me of it.  It also reminds me of a jelly fish and an anemone.  What do you think?

Chihuly and glass

Jellyfish

Anemone

Chihuly

Chihuly

In other Chihuly-related news, I cannot think about Chihuly without thinking about Monika recommending I dress up as him every Halloween from 1998-2009 or so.  She would say, "get a bright shirt and an eye patch." One day I just might.

Oh, pickles!

Um, does anyone make awesome home-made pickles? I really want some. Enough with buying pickles in stores. I'm through with all that. I just want people to make pickles and leave them on my doorstep.

 Nicholas, I'm talking to you.

Catherine, tell Nicholas I'm talking to him.

This has nothing to do with pickles, but I'd also like Nicholas to make me another one of these mojitos.

I'm serious about those pickles though. Serious.

Hot kitties!

It's a little bit toasty here today, and the cats are definitely feeling it. 

Don't worry though, the cats still look cute as they try to stay cool.

Please observe.

When you're hot, the ground is the best level to be on.

Full sprawl.

Once you get tired of being on the wood floor...

You should definitely move to your tissue-paper box and stretch out.

Stay focused or you might end up falling victim to a heat nap!

If this fails, hang out in the dining room looking cute and you might get a treat!

print crush

I have a monster crush on the artwork of Michelle from the blog unitedthread.  She has a super-sharp eye for all the precise patterns and details found in nature. Her stuff is gorgeous. You should definitely investigate. 

moths by Michelle of unitedthread

brown pelicans by Michelle of unitedthread

cloche by Michelle of unitedthread

hive by Michelle of unitedthreads

citrine crystal by Michelle of unitedthreads

Visit unitedthread on esty for more of Michelle's wonderful work. Love, love, love it all.

little visitor

This little lady or gent was clinging to my screen door this morning.  I wish I could be more specific, but I'm not a moth-sexer, so I'm afraid we're out of luck. Wow. Moth-sexer just sounds sooooo wrong. I probably could have just said lepidopterist and sounded like a normal person. Sheesh. 

OK, so I did a tiny bit of research. I think it might be a Catocala parta (also known as Mother Underwing) and I think it might be a female. When it flew from the screen door to my very dusty picture window, it started vibrating...much to Matilda's delight. A chorus of tiny meows immediately followed the sighting. 

Oh, I learned a new word pairing as a result of this sighting! One of the websites referred to the underside of the moth as verso. Thus I stumbled upon: recto & verso.

Recto: The right-hand page (or front side) of a book, manuscript, or codex

Verso: The left-hand page (or back side) of a book, manuscript, or codex

I love new words. 

Paper gangsta

Tonight I've been knitting and watching Lady Gaga videos.  Yeah, that sometimes happens.  Make sure you stay tuned later this week when I reveal a new project!