hey singer

i have a pretty new friend to introduce to you all tomorrow! yippee!

*** hey singer is a little inside joke between my mom & i. she has lead worship at our home church for years. one of the little girls from the church always said hi to my mom afterwards ... "hey singer". it always made us giggle. (now that little girl is a senior in high school! boy time flies).

speaking of mom - it's her birthday! a big one. i won't reveal the exact year! but a big ol' happy birthday, mom. can't wait to celebrate w/ you and the gang tomorrow. xoxo.

 [singing with mom - obviously sometime in the 80s!]

thurs-DIY: merit badge stationery

i try to make at least 1 gift for wade each year on his birthday. so this year along w/ his usual "old soul" birthday gifts: renewed membership to cheekwood botanical gardens, a copy of annie dillard's pilgrim at tinker creek & this amazing 8-cup coffee maker ... i decided to make him a new set of stationery.

first - you must know - i mentioned my snobbery over sewing vs no sew glue the other day ... well wade is a bit of a snob when it comes to stationery. we all have our quirks. HE ONLY USES CRANE & CO! for this set of stationery, i used crane & co's pearl white folded note - a box of 20 clean kid finish® note cards with matching envelopes.

i also used speedball's stamp making kit! this was my first adventure in stamp making - thanks to the encouragement of pottery friend amy - and i will admit i'm completely hooked!

1 // make your stamps!

a) i designed basic merit badge shapes in illustrator.
b) i traced them w/ a piece of tracing paper and pencil.
c) i used the side of my fingernail to transfer the traced illustration to the rubber carving block.
d) the kit includes a wooden handle and 2 tips: a cutter and a gouge tip. i also used my exacto to carefully cut out my shapes.

CUSTOM STAMPS, y'all!

2 // roll out a teeny tiny dot of block print ink w/ your speedball rubber brayer. the ol "just a dot, not a lot" totally applies here. then roll your brayer carefully over your stamp! and go to town!

i absolutely love how they turned out! and wade was pretty stoked too. he favors the little trees and the tents - while i absolutely love the other 2. we might just have to share! 

happy stamping! :)

tues-diy: camp pennant party favors

camp isn't official w/o a camp pennant, right!?! so i decided to make each individual camp their own vintage-inspired camp pennant to mark their territory!

 

here's how i did it:

1 // i cheated and used illustrator to layout each name. a) i set up a file for a 17.5" by 5.5" pennant. b) i created the tents and a "name box" to determine the fit of the name. c) i hid the "name box" and typed out the name in my preferred font. d) i placed the typed name under the "name box" and un-hid it. then using envelope distort, illustrator automatically made each name fit the pennant.

i simplified the printing/cutting process by expanding the object & fill on each word and creating a separate illustrator file with the letters tightly packed together. each name was a different color to avoid confusion. 

that's a lot of illustrator-speak. want a copy of the pdf? email me here.

2 // i pinned and cut each name out. thankfully the olympics were the perfect distraction from this task! i also cut my pennants out of a heavy green felt. and my little tents out of gold and tan felt.

 
3 // i've never used liquid stitch before (i've always considered it cheating. yes i'm a sewing snob at times), but it was essential for this project. there was no way i was going to stitch each letter and tent on 30-something pennants!

4 // another quick fix! i used my cutting board to cut 1" x 6" strips of fabric. for each pennant i needed 1 strip for the front and 4 strips for the ties (2 sets of 2). i pinned and sewed these in place.

yes - i was a bit too ambitious. but aren't they cute?

a few instagram captures from our campers:

{credit: a. newell, j. wagner, k, pardue & r. willard via instagram}

into the woods ...

over the weekend, we went camping in celebration of wade & my 30th birthdays w/ 42 of our friends. yes - 42!!! i'm so excited to share all about our adventure! i mean - i probably have a good 7 blog posts to share with every little detail! but of course, i should first "invite" you along on our little journey ...

the invitations:



a mini field guide w/ all the necessary details for our trip:



merit badges to be earned:

• map reading - a map + directions.
• participation - a tentative schedule of events.
• camp cooking -  the menu. w+i purchased/prepped all the food ahead of time and each camper brought $10 to pay for their part. that's right $10 for a full weekend of yummy camp food! (next year i'll have to perfect my vegan and vegetarian cuisine as well!)
• camp making - a guide of what to pack.

 

everything was packaged neatly together w/ baker's twine and placed in a hand-made craft paper envelope:



think you've seen this before? that would be because i borrowed inspiration from christine & ian's amazing woodland wedding invites featured on oh so beautiful paper. ah-mazing w/ pop-up trees and embossed type, right? sadly my inkjet and exacto knife skills aren't quite up to par. yet still ...

i love how they turned out!

in even more important news ... though we celebrated over the weekend, today is wade's actually birthday. time to head home to celebrate.

{courtesy: reed hummell photography}

an itty bitty redwood forest

remember that mushroom kit we got as a very random wedding gift? well we're trying out another growing kit. wade did really good this year for my birthday - and one gift was this adorable dawn redwood bonsai forest kit from potting shed creations:

redwoods are pretty special around here. this little forest will be a mini version of the the giant sequoia redwood tree in boston public gardens that we were engaged beneath. best gift ever, right?

want to know a few fun little redwood facts?
• these tiny trees are actually ancestors of the giant california redwood - which can grow up to 10 STORIES tall.
• the redwoods found in boston public gardens are super special bc they normally grown in much milder weather. that's why they thrive in northern california.
• dawn redwoods were thought to be extinct until the 1940s when one was discovered growing in a rice field in central china.
• even though its towering relative is an evergreen tree, the dawn redwood is one of only two known deciduous conifers. woah science talk. that means that its needles turn from green to yellow then copper in the winter.  a mini remind of the seasons on your desk or kitchen window.

{credit: potting shed creations, mini us retouch by me!}

and now i wait impatiently for our little forest to grow! 

while i wait - it's time for me to start gathering ideas for wade's big 30th. 

got the perfect gift idea? let me know!

{30 before 30} my birthday challenge

so yup ... it's my birthday! w + i are headed to grand rapids, michigan for the coast guard festival this weekend and more importantly to celebrate the recent nuptials of our friends taylor and reid. but before we go, i'm kicking off a BIG OL' challenge for the last year of my 20s ...

my 30 before 30 list:

1 // finish our wedding book!

2 // be able to do 15 of those special pushups where you hold plank and touch your knee to your shoulder in between ... pushup, right knee, pushup, left knee = 1.

3 // enter a pie into the martinsville agricultural fair pie contest.

4 // learn how to make homemade gluten free gnocchi.

5 // take a hip-hop dance class.

6 // knit my own pair of socks. and wear them!
7 // crochet flowers.

8 // take a cooking class.

9 // do an unexpected/romantic thing for wadely (at least) once a week.

10 // read a book a month from time magazine's all time 100 novels.
1 - 8/13 catcher in the rye
2 - 8/28 animal farm  
3 - atonement
4 - revolutionary road 
5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

11 // go to a roller derby match.

12 // see a movie by myself.

13 // walk to work 2x a week.

14 // create and keep a budget.

15 // learn 5 christmas carols on the piano & accompany a family sing-a-long during the holidays.

16 // learn at least 1 non-christmas song on the piano.
17 // purposefully run into the "mean girl" from high school when home visiting my grandma - and ask her about her life + little girl. (this might kill me - or at least give me hives.)

18 // find an organization i’m passionate about and volunteer my time regularly.

19 // send 1 postcard/handwritten note to a different family member or friend each month.
1 - 8/13 care package to bro-in-law 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

20 // relearn to write in cursive - and become comfortable w/ my penmanship.

21 // go to a u-pick farm.

22 // host a fancy dinner party and use china!

23 // open an etsy shop.

24 // purchase and master the tajine.

25 // watch the sunrise at percy warner park.

26 // purchase & complete a coloring book.

27 // finish rosetta stone french. (this is a BIG ol' challenge!)

28 // take a pottery class through metro parks. {8/22 - enrolled!}

29 // read a book on music therapy.
30 // visit ethiopia.