What I Wore: Memorial Day (5/28/12)

Tuesday, May 29, 2012
hat: Kohl's
t-shirt: GAP
pants and shoes: Urban Outfitters
knit flower pin: Laura May's Cottage, Lindsborg, KS
bracelets and earrings: Claire's (similar bracelet here, here and here)(buy earrings here)

I had a very eventful Memorial Day Weekend. On Friday I took my parents and younger brother to see Men In Black III. If you didn't catch it this weekend, RUN to your local movie theater and check it out. I also traveled to my former college town, Lawrence, KS, and hung out on Massachusetts Street and caught up with old friends. I picked out my clothes specifically to capture the spirit of the holiday this weekend, by wearing a lot of red, white and blue. 

For Memorial Day, I am remembering military loved ones past and present such as my maternal grandfather who served in the US Army in WWII and took a bullet in the leg on the beaches of Normandy, my paternal grandfather who served in the US Air Force in WWII, and my paternal step-father who also served in the US Air Force in WWII and whose travels took him to China. Thankfully, they all survived the war, but they are no longer with us and I'd like to remember them for their service. Happy Memorial Day!

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What's Making Me Laugh: Will Ferrell's Tight Pants Song

Monday, May 28, 2012

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A Royal Anniversary

Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Hey everyone! Remember this old thing? It's hard to believe that it's already been 1 year since we all had Royal Wedding fever (spawning such ridiculousness as the book Knit Your Own Royal Wedding- see below).


You may remember that last year, I created my very own Will and Kate cross stitch to commemorate the Royal Wedding, but after doing all of the work it sat upon my shelf with it's left over aida cloth still attached, waiting to be finished, prepped and put on display. So in honor of the Royal one year anniversary, I finally finished it off.


First, I trimmed off the excess aida cloth, leaving about half an inch of aida cloth around my hoop. Next, I found a scrap of cardboard and traced the inner most interior circle of my embroidery hoop onto the cardboard and cut out the cardboard circle.  Then I took out my trusty glue gun and glued the edges of my aida cloth to the inside of my embroidery hoop. Finally, I shaped my cardboard circle to fit inside of the back of my embroidery hoop and glued it down so that it covers the loose embroidery threads in the back. Now my cross stitch is ready to hang. If I wanted to be even fancier, I could have glued a piece of fabric over the cardboard for a decorative "pop of color" or I could have glued a picture hanger to the cardboard.


Have you done any cross stitching or embroidery lately? Do you also struggle with finishing your projects?Has the royal anniversary re-ignited your British Royalty fever? Let me know in the comments below.
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feeling stitchy: Become a part of DIY History

Monday, May 21, 2012
The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum has launched a micro-donations campaign to help support acquisitions of work by all the artists in the forthcoming show, 40 Under 40 Craft Futures.

Donations of $10 or more will be recognized online, and if you donate before July 11, 2012 your name will be credited in the exhibition. To give $10, text Renwick40 and your name to 20222 or visit Support 40 Under 40: Craft Futures. 

So, if you love the Smithsonian, love the arts or just want to have your name recognized in the exhibition- donate. I just did!

Portions of this post were re-posted from feeling stitchy's blog at http://www.feelingstitchy.com/2012/05/become-part-of-diy-history.html
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What's Making Me Laugh- Community

Saturday, May 19, 2012
Do you love the show, Community? Do you love RPG video games? Did you catch this week's 3 all new episodes on NBC? Well, if you missed it, you need to check out one of the latest episodes of Community- "Digital Estate Planning". 

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My Limited Edition Sketchbook

Friday, May 18, 2012
I did it again. I signed up to participate in the Art House Co-op's "The Sketchbook Project: Limited Edition." This time I opted not to choose a theme and to leave my sketchbook Untitled (which was a challenge in and of itself). Originally, I hoped to complete a drawing everyday so I wouldn't feel so rushed to turn it in at the end, but ultimately things came up and I still ended up staying up late to finish up my final pages before the deadline. But at least I turned it in on time.

While working on my sketchbook I read the books One Drawing a Day: A 6-Week Course in Exploring Creativity with Illustration and Mixed Media by Veronica Lawlor and An Illustrated Life: Drawing Inspiration from the Private Sketchbooks of Artist, Illustrators and Designers by Danny Gregory and got a lot of inspiration and motivation from these books.

Unfortunately, since I was working up to the deadline, I didn't have time to photograph and scan my all of my sketchbook drawings, but I signed up to have my sketchbook digitized so my sketchbook will (eventually) be able to be viewed in it's entirety online.

Delano Roundabout (pen)
(nearly) continuous line drawing of still life and The Boy playing video games. (pen)

Homer J and Cookie Crumb Donuts (pen and watercolor)

My view while eating donuts at the Donut Whole (water color)

View from my grandma's window (pen and watercolor)

grandma, mom and dad (pen)
The Keeper of the Plains (watercolor, pastel and colored pencil)
If you're interested in learning more about the Art House Co-op and/or The Limited Edition Sketchbook Project, click the links.
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What I Wore: 5/13/12 and 5/15/12

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Thor T-shirt: borrowed from the Boy
Black Jeans: Gift
Cuff: Baroque and Roll (2009)
Avengers Poster: Prarie Dog Comics (on free comic book day)

So, I've made three attempts to see The Avenger's in IMAX 3D (two out of three times were sold out) and I ended up wearing this outfit twice in honor of the occasion (because I hate to have a comfy/ cute outfit go to waste), but I'm happy to report that I FINALLY SAW THE AVENGERS AND IT WAS AWESOME! Have you seen the Avengers yet?

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Five Facts

Monday, May 14, 2012
    1. I studied the German language for 7 years.
    2. I won a most beautiful baby contest when I was 2 years old.
    3. I have a tattoo on my back of a rose from Salvador Dali's painting Meditative Rose.
    4. I read (nearly) everything from cover to cover (books, newspapers, magazines, whatever. Even if I'm not that into it).
    5. The first celebrity I ever met was Eddie Cibrian. He was signing autographs at a nearby mall while he was on the soap opera The Young and the Restless.

     
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    Happy Mother's Day!

    Sunday, May 13, 2012
     I just wanted to say Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mommies and Grandmothers out there. In honor of mother's day, here are some really old photos of me and my mommy. Enjoy!





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    What's Making Me Laugh: Mike Birbiglia's Short Film

    Saturday, May 12, 2012
    I secretly dubbed this week "Ira Glass Week". No, not because I'm secretly having an affair with Ira Glass, but because I am seeing 2 showings of This American Life with Ira Glass in person this week. Once on a movie theater screen on Thursday May 10, and again in person at Salina's Stiefel Theater on Saturday, May 12. If you're a fan of the NPR radio series, I highly recommend that you check out one of the live performances if/ when it comes to a town near you. One of the funniest parts of the show was seeing Mike Birbiglia's Short Film with NPR's Terry Gross and lucky for you, the movie is available to watch online (see below).

     

    You can also like it and share it on your Facebook or Twitter by clicking the link here.
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    Kate Middleton's Shawl

    Friday, May 11, 2012

    Last fall I kept seeing images of Kate Middleton grocery shopping wearing a very pretty green shawl. So when Christmas rolled around I knew that I wanted to knit something for The Boy's Britain loving mother, and I decided to knit this shawl. Unfortunately, I ran into several snaffoos along the way including running out of yarn, having to purchase yarn to be dyed to match my original yarn, and having to wait 2 months for the yarn store to dye my yarn. Luckily, The Boy's mom was very understanding and accepted an IOU for her Christmas present.

    Finally, the wait is over:


     

    I actually finished knitting this shawl in March, but I wasn't motivated to finish it off and weave in the ends until this week. To knit this shawl, I used the Cambridge pattern by Carol Sunday and 2 skeins of The Spectrum Collection Fluffy Stuff DK dyed an olive green color. I did do one alteration to the pattern by slipping knitwise wyib instead of slipping the first st of each row purlwise wyif.

    Now if only I could get someone to take a photo of me wearing the shawl at a grocery store. I'm pretty sure The Boy's mom is going to love this.
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    Gone Fishin'

    Thursday, May 10, 2012
    Nautical | Everybody, Everywear

    Cardigan: Forever 21
    T-shirt: Gap
    Trouser Jeans: Gap
    Socks: Target
    Knitted necklace: Made by Me

    You may say that I'm a day late and a dollar short on this post, but I still wanted to participate in the Everybody Everywhere blogging event. Keep in mind that I live in the middle of the United States hundreds of miles from any ocean, so my "nautical experiences" stem from summer vacations long ago to area lakes, TV and magazines, so this is as nautical as I get.
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    What I'm Listening To: Gooding

    Saturday, May 5, 2012
    This Thursday, I crammed myself inside of a little coffee shop (The Riverside Perk) with the Boy's younger twin brothers to see the band Gooding (who are possibly one of the best local bands still out there today).

    Gooding

    The Twins
     

    If you've never heard of Gooding before, you can check out 2 of their music videos below. But, the best way to see this band is LIVE. They're currently on tour promoting financial literacy to young people, and chances are that they'll be coming to a town near you soon.




    And if you STILL can't get enough Gooding, you can get more information about their tours and merch here.
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    My Spring/ Summer 2012 Wishlist

    Wednesday, May 2, 2012
    As you may already know, I am a frequent lurker of fashion blogs and I try to keep up with the trends in fashion magazines, and on Pinterest (add me here). Here's the list of what I'm coveting for spring/ summer.


    • Pink blazer
    • Black (faux) leather motorcycle jacket
    • Striped blazer
    • gingham
    • Bright blue pants
    • mint green or emerald pants
    • Ikat pants
    • cat eye sunglasses (I've misplaced my pair from the late 90s)
    • Toms shoes
    • Moccasins
    What's on your wish list this season? Let me know in the comments below.
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    Explorations in Painting

    Tuesday, May 1, 2012
    In February, I met up the the Plein Air Painter's group at the Exploration Place science center. I'm not sure if you would call that day's paintings Plein Air since we painted indoors while looking out of the window.

     
    outdoor view
     
    view of the banners in the Bird Room (with masking fluid)
    view of the banners in the Bird Room (without masking fluid)

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