Princess and the Pirate: Not trying to brag, but...

Ever since I saw this beautiful woven board tutorial on Jones Design Company's blog, I knew I had to try and make it. Since you all know that I've completely admitted to being one of these, I went for it. 

At my job, we have had some changes take place and an idea that has been in the works was finally OK'd by my boss: The Brag Board. I love the idea of a Brag Board at work. It is supposed to be fun and it is one way that you can thank others for lending a helping hand. It is also the place to share things that seem too personal to send out over staff e-mail...or maybe it just seems too small to mention. I believe it's these things that make us human; these are the bits of info that connect us in a place where our only connection is the job we're there to carry out.

So, I recruited my friend and partner in crime, Ashley to help me. Did I mention how talented she is?? Yes, I think I have...

After like a month of procrastinating, we finally dove in and stayed late at school one evening...then realized that we didn't have enough burlap to start. *enter: last minute trip to Hobby Lobby*

Once we got back to school, we started 'The Cut-n-Weave':

Ashley was the cutter...

And I, the Weaver

I stapled as I went, because we couldn't remove the board from the wall

The *finished* product...well, the background at least!

That was the hard part, kind of. The rest of it was "figure out as we go."  I had added a newspaper border to cover the edges, but the board was fighting me. So I attacked it with a stapler. HA! (But then you could see the fifteen staples at each cinch...) Clever Ashley fashioned these punched-paper circles to thumb tacks and Voila! Problem solved.

We added those all around, along with the scrabble-tiled thumb tacks we'd envisioned (we had our counselor do the grunt work on this tedious project!) This is what I got for 'farming' out that job:

Hey! I almost spelled 'FAMILY' We LOL'd on this one.

After the pins-through-the-shoe mishap, we were on our way...we continued with some trimmings and this adorable lil' banner o'flags that Ashley made:

And it was finished! Here is the before and after:

Before...snore.

After...muuuuch better.

Here are some of the sweet little details that we added:

Scrabble Tile Thumb Tacks

Sticky Photo Frames--don't try this at home. They are a paaaaiiinn!

"A Little Birdie Told Me..." with a newspaper birdie--thanks Ashley!

Ashley's fabric flower

My watercolored newspaper flower I added to the black frame...I think it looks better in person!

My "stiffie" glued fabric flower I added to the green frame. Yes, you can laugh at the name of the glue...we did!

The Brag Tags...from The Handmade Home blog

There you have it! Lots of sweat, laughter, thought, and procrastination went into this project. This is one act of piracy I am proud of. Ashley found the gift tags we used as Brag Tags here. I will post how to make the different fabric & newspaper flowers lay-tah. I'm sure you're tired of scrollin' by now...

Anything you'd like to brag about? Go ahead...don't be shy.

Princess and the Petal: April Showers Bring May Flowers

It is no secret to those that know me...I love flowers. In a pot, in a photo, on my clothes, and ESPECIALLY, in my hair. I have been wearing flowers in my hair since before it was cool. {I state that as a fact, not in a way to declare myself as a trendsetter. It's relevant to my story, I swear.} 

In fact, my fellow playground princesses decided to forego kickball in favor of making flower chains for our hair (and necks, and ankles, and wrists...) You know, the ones you slice a little opening in the stem, link another flower through, and then promptly dodge all the bees that follow you around the school yard? Yeah, those.

Maybe it's because I've always had a curly 'fro and I felt a petalicious distraction was just what I needed to keep people focused away from my fugg curly bangs or my new-haircut-gone-mullet in the 80's. My sister and I even have a theme song for my hair, but I'll spare you on that one.

I once wore a bright pink Hawaiian flower (by my ear) to a Denton bar and got eye rolls from all the cute college girls (the same ones--I might add--who are probably wearing flowers on their clothes now, 5 years later. Ha!) That instance even spawned a nickname for me from a friend's crush du jour. I simply say all of this because although I am pretty timid when it comes to trends/fashion/risk-taking/being daring in any way, shape, or form, this is the one area where I've never cared about ridicule. I'm not sure why, but I have worn, and always will wear flowers on my person without the bat of an eyelash. In fact, it has helped me examine my life in other areas...why can't I feel this free with my writing? with boys? with dreams? with {insert ANY area of my life here}?

So, today I needed inspiration for upcoming choices I must make about my life. I decided I'd post a pic of a flower I wore to my beautiful friend's shower last weekend, appropriately themed: April showers...bring May flowers! Loved it. 

Ps. Sorry for the "I just took at pic of myself for my Myspace page" angle. I was going to send this flower pic to my bestie, but then decided that was too weird. But not too weird to post it for all of the interwebz to see. Hm.

Princess and the Pearls: The Bieb Bag

Today I went to a baby shower for my childhood friend Amanda. She looked adorable with her big ol' baby bump (at what point is it no longer a bump? Just curious.)

Anywho, the shower was great, but that's not what I am writing about. I was talking with my other childhood friend Jill about life and things and somehow Justin Bieber came up. Well, I'm no stranger to admitting my love for JB and working that into a convo (yes, I'm 32...shut it). There's no shame here. Would I wear these to a movie theater (TWICE!) if I cared about what others thought?

I promise I am getting to the point...you have to follow my rabbit trail to get to the Pearl.

Jill's little girl has a rare disease and has been a little fighter (just like her mommy--love you Jill! *wink). You can read about her story on her Caring Bridge Page. The reason I am posting about this is because Jill told me about this teenager who was inspired by the Biebs' song 'Pray' and decided to help raise money for Ava & a few other charities by making The Bieb Bag out of the vinyl record. They are a little pricey, but for each bag sold, $10 will go to each charity (I believe). How cool is this girl??! I seriously want to meet her...

The Bieb Bag

I call this section Princess and the Pearls because I SOOO love how people take the grit of life and allow the Lord to coat it with His Grace.  This little girl Ava, and now, this teenager, have done just that. Plus, I just love pearls--they are so beautiful & miraculous.

So if you see me walking around sporting 'The Bieb Bag', you can't make fun of me...cuz now you know it is for a good cause! What do you think? Know any little tweens (or 32 year olds, ahem) that could use one of these??

Princess and the Plug: Oh Happy Day!

                         

               **WARNING: Shameless plug alert!**

I want to use my first 'Plug' post to introduce you to a friend and co-worker of mine, Ashley. I have never found someone at work who shares so many likenesses to me, and yet, with such a different personality. It is awesome!

Just today after school: we shared some jokes, shared some serious stories, talked about our upcoming trip to Canton (my first time there!), and then we laughed/cried as I demonstrated this dance move I am 'working' on, with a twisted ankle {from doing something ridiculous at work yesterday I might add}, ALL while holding onto two uneven recycle bins to steady myself. Did you follow that run-on?? Yeah, that's what our friendship is like...and I love it.

Since she is part of the inspirational 'push' I needed to expand my blog world to more closely match my personality, I decided to make a shameless plug for her super-cute-crafty blog (click on pic) and her online store...seriously people, she can make just about ANYTHING! Check her out.

{More pics to come of our trip to Canton...they will probably be of me making this face because I'm too broke to buy anything, but oh well! At least the company is great, right??}

Katie