Been around the world (na, na, na)

Last year, post #PopGoesMyLung, when I was still bedrest-ridden at my parents, LT helped me out with a project I had had in mind for a while.

LT. Ha. There's a name we haven't heard in a while. I'll say his help on this was appreciated, and leave it at that. 

I found out the mileage, as a crow flies, to each passport stamp I've gotten and painted them on these pieces of deconstructed pallet. And then threw them in a box and they sat in my closet for 12 months.

My parents were over helping me do some yardwork when my mom brought it up. To be honest, I had sort of forgotten all about them. So we drug em out, laid em out, let my dad dig a post hole, and busted out the Makita. 

Less than an hour later, I have brand new yard art that I absolutely love. The only down fall is that I am already 4 signs behind, for the places I went in Australia!

I can only hope that my biggest problem in the future is needing a bigger pole because I've run out of room!

Going to Target for tennis balls: AKA the makings of a gallery wall

It started with an innocent trip to Target to pick up some new tennis balls so I could wash my pillows (I saw something on Pinterest and had been disgusted with myself that in my 26 years of living I've never once washed my pillows)

Naturally, in an effort to get the most cardio out of said trip, I HAD to push my cart around the entire perimeter of the store, and up and down every aisle.

Which is why I ended up in the picture frame aisle. The picture frame aisle full of little red signs from heaven. Known to most as clearance stickers.

And suddenly I HAD to touch them. And lay them out. And everyone walking past me that evening at Target was all 'what the hail is this weirdo doing sitting on the floor in aisle C7??'

Things got a LITTLE weird when people started asking me to point them in the direction of Draino and dog biscuits, but I realized I had a red shirt on and smiled and spouted off random aisles. I left Target with six or seven new frames, and headed around the corner to TJ Maxx to scope out their selection. Suddenly I was on a mission.  A mission that no longer involved tennis balls and clean bedding, since I completely forgot that at Target.

I used a few Christmas gift cards and walked out of the Maxx with two very full bags and headed home to play. Instead of going with all black frames, I picked up a mix of woods, metals, white ceramic and black frames to add a little more interest and make it look less catalog-y

I understand that some people are very organized and excellent planners and cut out templates and measure and use stud finders, yada yada yada. Meanwhile I grabbed a box of nails and a hammer and just started making holes.

Somehow it seemed to work out decently.

Now I have spent the past two weeks trying to decide what exactly I want to put INTO my frames.
(Does anyone else miss the days when they would put fake families in picture frames, at least that way my wall would LOOK like someone cared about me) 

It looks a little lot better than the ohsoboring bare wall that used to adorn my living room!

carpe the hell out of this diem

One of my girlfriends, whom I've known since middle school, did something totally awesome yesterday. She booked an "out of the blue" cruise with one of her other friends.

Let me give you a little insight, she is a wife to a military man, mama to a toddler,with another on the way. The fact that she up and gave her self the reprieve of a few days kicking back in the sun is AWESOME.

What's even more awesome is that she told me I was finally starting to rub off on her, after all these years. Which just made laugh at first, but I realized if there's one thing I do fairly well in this life, it's seizing the day. If you know me at all, you know spontaneity is my middle name, judging by my own fair share of spur of the moment trips in my lifetime.

To celebrate living life while you've got life left to live I'm offering up a discount code on one of my favorite 8x10 prints in my Etsy store -

Simply enter the coupon code SEIZEIT and receive free shipping on this print*! It's available in 12 different colors, but hurry - because I am only offering this steal for the next week, until I hop on a jet plane to the other side of the world!

(*Code is only valid for this print only!)

Is it water on the knee? Operation!

Once October rolled around my mind went into Halloween mode. I am one of those weirdos who hates buying a costume (slutty nurse? no thanks.)

I could always resort to the pinata costume from last year again.

As I was talking with a friend one day he started joking that I should be the Operation board game, following the year I had. Uh, hello... GENIUS.

In the span of a single Saturday afternoon I hit up Walmart and Joanns, dyed some horribly ugly white faux Under Armour, and cut out all my "pieces", the next night I attached velcro to the red side, and adhered them to my new tan body suit using a mix of sewing and fabric glue.

I added a "popped balloon" piece to commemorate the good ol' lung collapse. Adorned my nose with a dab of red lipstick, added some 'tweezers' and I called it a success!

Apparently no one over the age of 25 remembers the board game Operation, and no child plays it any longer. So, basically no one got my costume. Womp womp.

(PSA: Fruit of the Loom's "WarmWear" is incredibly high rise and has a very awkward extra panel that could accommodate for an adult diaper maybe? I'm not real sure. Consider yourself warned.)

At least my niece loved it!

Carpe the hell out of this diem.

I cannot wait to share these with you! I've been slowly and steadily working to build up the inventory in my Etsy store, which is so stinkin exciting (for me at least ha!)

I've recently taken two of my favorite quotes and created prints of them... this one is my ABSOLUTE favorite!

Source: etsy.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

If there is one life motto I try to live by, it's this. Remember my post about being a YES girl? The other print I just introduced is another fun little diddy, by that wise fella Henry David Thoreau 

Source: etsy.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

I can't wait to incorperate this into my gallery wall of all my vacation photos, but can you imagine how stinkin cute this would be in a little boys room?!

Anyways, both of these prints (and more coming soon!) are available in my Etsy shop. I hope you love them as much as I do! (If you have a special request that you'd like - either a print or handdrawn - don't hesitate to message me! I'd love to work with you on it)

 

Theory of Evolution.

Last weekend I was out doing some Christmas shopping and texted my sister-in-law to see what my niece was wanting for Christmas. The response had me cracking up in the middle of TJ Maxx

I wandered through store after store looking for some sort of fun dinosaur book, toy, puzzle, anything. The tiny figurines I found were just way too boring. I had an idea pop into my head, and last night I headed out for some supplies and got to work.

After taking to my handy dandy notebook to sketch up some dinos, I was ready to get this prehistoric party on the road....

And in just a few short hours, a stack of flannel evolved into cuteness of Jurassic proportions. I present to you Bronte and Stag (poor Stag still needs eyeballs added)...

I have a feeling the little monkey is going to love her new cuddle buddies!

 

Halloween Greats

Growing up my mom always made us our Halloween costumes, which has caused me to despise those mega-huge costume stores and opt to create my own costume every year.

This year's is still in the works, but how bout a look back at some past greats?

There was the Double Dare team from 2009

The Mail Order Bride in 2010

And the Bell-ringer of 2011

Do you DIY or do you save your sanity and buy something already made??

Stars & Bars Cutoffs

I've been seeing various red, white & blue attire popping up lately, possibly because the 4th of July is rapidly approaching, or perhaps everyone just really loves Merica right now. I pick the latter of the two.

 I scored some pretty sweet shades that fall under that category. 

But the tip of the patriotic iceburg was when I saw Monica rocking a pair of shorts she had found at le Tarjay.

Being that I'm cheap and stubborn. I refused to go buy them, because I knew I could make em myself.

I present to you: my DIY stars & bars cutoffs.

Sunday after Family Breakfast I had my mom drag out a box of old jeans that she had saved over the years for craft projects.

I attempted to squeeze my notsotiny toosh into a bazillion and twelve different pairs, and finally landed on some real fashionable wideleg white capris. Meow.

And immediately took scissors to them. Out came the craft paint and I set to work.

 I got a little giddy when I saw the red stripes coming to fruition. Yea, that's how lame I am. At least I can admit it. Heck, once the other side had a coat of blue I was blowing up Instagram with pictures!

I patiently waited to add my stars, and now... I present to you... probably the coolest pair of shorts I have ever made (Sorry 6th grade home ec teacher, the plaid boxers we made come in a close 2nd)

Tonight I am working on a pair to send to miss Melissa Jo! Spreadin the Merican' love my friends - that's what it's all about.

 

El Cheapo and DIY wall decor

I actually did a bit of decorating this past week, believe it or not! Maybe my anti-house-project attitude is finally starting to wear off? Not long ago, I was wondering through Anthropologie & picked up this packet of gift wrap. With absolutely no intent of wrapping any gifts with it (does that sound grinch-ish or what?!)
I had bigger plans.

 A little bit of patience, a lot of ModPodge and a set of gold-gilded hands later, I had a pretty cute little piece of art to adorn my bedroom wall!

Coupled with a $6 flower painting I picked up from the antique mall, a navy-hued crayon canvas I made over the summer and a oil-pastels-didn't-work-for-my-hair-so-I-actually-made-art-with-them piece (inspired by this)...

I now have quite possibly the cheapest bundle of artwork EVER hanging in my bedroom. I have plans to add a few more pieces to it too. But that may have to wait, because I am planning a jumbo bedroom overhaul here soon. I can't wait to share THAT, at a later date!

Hair Play - oil pastels

I bet you've all seen this little gem floating around the internet.

Source: strawberryswisher.tumblr.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

Before reading the caption I thought 'oh, colored extensions... that's fun - done that before!'

(Circa 2006)

Then I actually realized what it was - temporary streaks compliments of oil pastels! For all you non-art school kiddos, oil pastels are like a little oily crayon, a popular medium for drawings and paintings.

So I pulled out my set of oil pastels, settled on a blue color and set to coloring my hair one evening.

It was messy. Soft, oily crayon + hair = colored hands. And with my hair straight it looked those silly feathers that I despise!

So I played a bit more and ended up with this...

Is it fun? Sure. Is it worth it - in my opinion, no. Due to the nature of oil pastels, the color never really 'seals' even after multiple coats of hairspray it'll still come right off on your hands. Would it be fun for a quick pop on a night out, definitely. I personally would rather just throw a few colored extensions in though.

Hey, yah never know until you try though!

(And it surprisingly washes right out very easily, which I was sorta concerned about)