Besties Reunite

BabyBestie is finally home from China!

So the other three Besties got together Tuesday night

to make signs and meet her at the airport.

Unfortunately, we had the wrong day...

so we waited at the empty airport for an hour-ish

while panicking just a teeny bit

and after e-mailing&texting and wanding the airport

we had to give up on our Bestie's Wednesday morning arrival.

The next day, only two of us could make it to greet her

(BFF couldn't make the hour-long drive twice)

and the excitement mounted while Ricky&I stood with our signs.

We peered through the sliding glass doors

(watching our cars to make sure they weren't ticketed)

then suddenly we saw her.

I almost ran into the glass... it took way too long to open!

And we ran into the airport yelling, "LINDS!"

Hugs&giggles all around!

It was a short&sweet reunion...

waiting to claim her baggage we got to talk a bit

then we all headed home to sleep.

It's nice to know she's just a short drive away now.

And back in our time-zone.

Woot!



SangriaMonster

I created this little guy out of stripped, recycled fabric knotted into one long string and knitted without a pattern for my friend Peggy's son, Everson. She named it Sangria - in honor of the bottle we shared.

Jars&Birks

I've been collecting jars for a while now.

I have boxes&boxes full of them.

Someday, I'll blog about all the ways I use them.

I've got some big plans

and I keep the ideas in the back of my mind.

A different bright idea I had

was to fix my disintegrating Birkenstock

with goo&binderclips,

which actually happened to work.

Dye Job

I've been wanting to join the world of trendiness with this season's sleeveless button-downs and lace accents, but I hate spending money on things that aren't completely my style. I found this one at T.J. Maxx for cheap, but the pastel purple was ugly, so I dyed it "wine" when I got home.

The new color is much more "me."

Muted Beauty

Paint Speckles from Crafting

Pale Orange&Yellow Flowers

Teardrops Behind Sunglasses

An Uplifting Message from Dove

Address Box

I've been working on this wedding project for Barbie for a little too long. Finally, it's finished... not perfect, but finished. She found an address box on Etsy to use as a guest book, but the price was crazy, so I told her I'd make one for her myself. It's been a fun project - maybe someday I'll get better at making them. I am really glad that I learned how to make those fabric flowers. I kinda want to make a million and embellish everything with them.



Eclectic Couch

I acquired bunni's couch after her passing

though the cushion for the pull-out got thrown away

by an obnoxious sorority sister

the couch is still a staple of my current bedroom

(complete with new mattress)

and I've been working to recover parts of it

to make it fit my decorating style a little better.

I found fabric in scrap bin at the craft store

to keep my costs at a minimum

and the eclecticness maximized.

I can't wait to have my own living room

to showcase it in.

Bleach&TieDye

I’ve been in a very crafty mood lately. I attempted to clean my closet out and simply couldn’t get rid of anything, so I decided that I need to make the clothes-I-own the clothes-I-love. Since I also don't like spending money on "trendy clothes," that means some of them need some tweaking.

(I’ve also decided, I need to wear every single item in my closet once before I can ever wear anything again.)

So, I took this pair of ugly pants one of my cousins gave me and sewed them into skinny jeans then did this wild dye job on them. TheBaby told me about this dying technique where you put Elmer’s glue on fabric before dying it, so the places with glue don’t dye… creating a pretty sweet design, which is where the stripes on the left leg came from. With that, I dyed them dark blue, then –after rinsing – I rubber-banded them up and bleached for about 3 hours to white-wash them. May have been a day-long project, but I absolutely love them now and can’t wait to wear them.

Beaded Sunnies

So, I’ve had this pair of sunglasses since the summer of 2009 and they’d been my favorite until the bottom of one frame broke. I superglued it back together, but the fix looked pretty tacky, so I quick wearing them. Over the weekend – in a crafting frenzy – I decided to finally do what I’d been wanting and cover them in beads. Throughout the day on Saturday, I put layer-after-layer of superglue over the beads to make sure the beads stay in place. And, once they finally dried, I tried them on and loved loved loved them. I need to get a new case for them – with some wicked padding – but I definitely dig with them.

GreenZigs&Bleach

Over the weekend, I decided to dye this really old pair of khakis I’ve had in my closet for about 10 years. There has been some weird stain on one hip that never seems to come out, so I figured I’d try dyeing them some fun colors instead before parting ways with them. I did the Elmer’s glue trick to create some zig-zag stripes and dyed them green. Then I tie-dyed them with dark brown before spraying them with bleach for fun dots.

I was so excited when they were complete. Mr.U’s mom thought I was so silly for all my hard work, but ended up agreeing that they were worth it. I wore them to work today and loved every minute.

#BFF's Crafts

This past saturday my #bff had a craft show at her house called the Merry Marketplace.

Her, her mom, and some of their crafty friends have it every year and showcase all their fun holiday goodies.

I always find craft shows to be inspiring

...they remind me of how capable I am

and that I simply need the crafting fire lit under me

in order to put together such adorable things.

I purchased a pair of super cute earrings and an orniment that #bff had made

and decided that I want to try to make my own christmas orniments this year with family pictures.

ArtPrize 2012

My sister-in-law, mom, aunt, and grandma went to ArtPrize in Grand Rapids early Sunday morning and spent a few hours walking from building to building and enjoying artwork.

I snapped pictures of some of my favorites.

 

(The one with the Spring Break quote was ironically hilarious in timing since Mr.U&I had just been talking about how wild all my girlfriends&I were on Spring Break back in the day.)

Denim Details

.I.
.love.
.patches.
.rips.
.stitches.
.and.
.details.
.in.
.my.
.denim.

Quilting Weekend

I started this t-shirt quilt forever ago with all the shirts I’ve collected throughout highschool&college.
12x12 Shirts
Rainbow Pattern

Black&White Checked Border

Then I’ve got the grays&browns to make some patters once I finish the base.

Unfortunately, it’s a huge task and I get overwhelmed by it quickly.
This weekend, though, I had a burst of motivation to finish my quilt, so I spread it out and finished stitching on the squares I’d previously cut. All weekend, my brain was saturated with quilting ideas and I can’t wait to finally have it finished someday. Once I get the base figured out, I need to find a seamstress who’ll do all the detailed stitching.

Hopefully by winter.

StreetFair Weekend

This weekend was the Street Fair in our cute, little town.

Craft Stands

–

Deep Fried Everything

–

Live Music

Also, an excuse for past graduates to converge on the city and fall back into ‘old times.’ Both Friday and Saturday night Mr.U&I had friends over to pre-drink and play games before walking over for the festivities. Both nights we missed out on all the big stuff – shocking since Mr.U’s been talking about the Street Fair since we moved – but I think it was all more about the weekend experience&reunion&atmosphere rather than the actual fair.

Birthday Bracelet

I made RickyBobby a perty bracelet for her b-day.

Fishnet Boutique

There’s a little house around the corner from my family’s vacation house that’s been turned into an eclectic boutique. Apparently it’s been there a couple summers now, but this year was my first time in. I immediately loved the décor – very shabby.white-washed.beach-house with hand-painted mermaids, unique trinkets, and homemade jewelry. The accents were adorable also – the open sign were close-pinned letters, above the front door’s key hole hung a string of old keys, and the broken plaster had been left to expose the house’s bones. It definitely catered to an earth-friendly, creative-minded clientele (which I pride myself to be) and I absolutely fell in love with it. How wonderful it would be to own a little summer shop – to make my own items for display and work at my own pace for my own reward.
Someday – maybe someday.

the People's Pickle

One of my grandmother’s best friends was a woman she’d met in the campground of our summer town in the Upper Peninsula. They’d been calling their children from the payphone outside the office in the early 1980’s. They bonded over their creative sides – Suzie was an artist and my grandma an avid knitter – and became fast friends. It turned out that each other’s actual homes were quiet close to each other in the northerwestern part of the state, so the friendship became even easier to maintain.

Suzie was an advocate for the arts in our summer town, showcasing her creations at the Market Place – a shop where local artists could sell their crafts – and joined the campaign to preserve the Pickle Barrel – the actual pickle-shaped, summer home of a Chicago cartoonist that had found its way into our town. Through in rough condition, Suzie’s passion kept locals&toursists on the trail to restore&preserve the home.

Suzie never got to see the Pickle Barrel in all its glory, though. Suzie passed away in 2009. An unexpected heart-attack blindsided all of those who loved her. And – when the Pickle Barrel was finally ready to open – a plaque was placed in the garden in her honor.

As years pass, traditions find new generations. My brother’s girlfriend’s daughter was so excited to peek inside the Pickle Barrel. She learned the story of the original creator’s cartoons, went on a little scavenger hunt, and excitedly took in the antique restorations adorning the home. It was fun to tell her about Suzie and show her the plaque.

A beautiful woman with a heart that simply couldn’t be as strong as it was creative will not be forgotten in our tiny, summer town.

Manager Beads

All the ladies in the upstairs office of my building kept complimenting my necklaces and bracelets, so I let them know that if they gave me a color-scheme, I’d make them something since I’m trying to get rid of the unorganized pile of beads taking over my coffee table. The first to volunteer her desires was our Canadian-American, incredibly fashionable manager who requested long&black.
So, I spend a weekend putting one together and brought it in a couple Mondays ago. I let it hang by my desk, though – worried it wasn’t cute enough or looked too homemade – until she walked into my office yesterday and pointed out how badly she needed a long, black necklace for the outfit she had on.
I showed her my creation and she loved it.

Relief.
Today she brought me in a lotion from the new Burt’s Bees line.
It’s fun to have someone else to bead for besides myself.