cross-stitch.

i bought embroidery hoops at the thrift store. sweet oval ones. i don't really embroider though, but i liked the shape and thought they'd make nice wall hangings. and i think they were fifty cents. how can i pass that up?

and since i don't really know how to embroider, i cross-stitched. i think it's a skill i mastered when i was eight and haven't used since i was about eleven.

i made these awesome chevrons! and then i got stuck.

now i don't really know what to do with the rest of the space. i'm thinking a word. something silly and a bit pointless. so i need suggestions.

and go!

lucy.

lucy is quite the lady.

she loves many things.

lucy loves lamp.
lucy loves hot dogs.
lucy loves her lucy sized bench.

and i love lucy.


and thanks for the bench katie!

random.one.

sometimes i take pictures of random things that make me happy. and then i play with photoshop settings.

this is a perfectly hard boiled egg that's been imperfectly peeled. and a sweet vintage plate i got from the thrift store. it's enamel plated metal, which is super awesome. eating things off of it makes me feel vintage. as does this photoshopping.

i think i shall make a regular habit out of these random photo posts. hence the one in the title.

another gnome.

i've finally got around to making a gnome of my own. this time complete with sculpey mushrooms!

he's quite similar to lilly's gnome--giant nose, no limbs, sweet beard.

the green sculpey was on its way out though. so he turned out, let's just call it rustic. but gnomes are allowed to be rustic.

he's going to live at my office. i don't think the moss will last very long. but that's ok, i dug it out of the lawn with a spoon. and there's more where that came from.

letterpress.

jon and i are taking a letterpress class at the art academy of cincinnati. tonight was my second class (jon's third, i missed last week), and i'm having a lot of fun.

i'm really taken by the drawers full of wood type. i can't help it. they're beautiful. this is what i'm working on right now. it's an a. a. milne quote from winnie the pooh.

today i spent the whole time opening up all of the drawers and picking out fonts i liked and trying to get the different lines to block similarly. i was briefly distracted when i found the drawers full of special symbols--stars, arrows, and the like. some of these seemed to sneak into my design. not sure how that happened...

*note the picture is flipped vertically to make it easier to read. you actually lay type from right to left. i get confused a lot when i'm laying it out. d's, b's, p's and q's are cruel letters.

science!

these are just regular scallions from the grocery. i think we used them for tacos. normally i would've just tossed the rest back into the fridge, forget they existed, then throw them out a while later when they had turned into limp, brown pile of gross.

instead i planted them. couldn't hurt to try.

then about a week later, new scallions! take that sustainability.

it's like having magic in your kitchen.

do it yourself. you know you want to.

for jon.

jon sharp is a funny kid. but i kind of like him. and since i like him, i let him do some crazy things. like turn our dining room into a pub.

he built this. it houses beer. and so that everyone knows what's in it, i made him an awesome chalkboard sign for his birthday.

it started out as this lovely piece of art that i got at a habitat restore for five dollars.

a little bit of paint later...

a swell chalkboard sign for all your informative beer needs. complete with pictures of hops.