Style/DIY Inspiration: From The Most Unlikely Source

I'm already in the mood for crisp fall nights, sweaters, tall boots, and cozy scarves. Never thought I'd be drawing style inspiration from the infamous Miley Cyrus, but here we are with this just perfect fall sweater with embellished shoulders. Some chains, some studs, and maybe a patch and you've got yourself some celeb-inspired fall-wear!

Photo source

Cabin Porn (No Nudity, I Promise)

Whenever I'm really stressed out, I love checking out this website and imagining I'm on vacation in a remote cabin like these. It's especially inspiring to scan through these photos now, as I'm slowly uncluttering my life and new apartment. I'm seriously considering printing out some of these on poster size paper and plastering a wall with them.

DIY Home Inspiration: Watercolor Drip Art

Holy moly, how amazing is this?? I've never loved the crayon drip art, but I think this version, done by Design Gratis is right up my alley. And I may actually have some leftover paper and watercolors from my art class days in high school. Free artwork for my new apartment? Why yes, thank you.

See full tutorial here.

Moving Out, More Apologies, and a Haircut

So, unsurprisingly, I've been rather silent again on here the past couple weeks. In addition to dealing with some personal baggage, I'm also preparing to not only move into a new apartment (close to home but out of my parents' house) but also for a super important job interview next week up near Boston.

Which means, I've been going through all my stuff to get rid of things as well as try and decorate my new place on an extremely limited budget. I've also changed up my hair, which was long overdue, and gone a tad crazy at secondhand clothing stores to prep for my interview (you'll see what I mean soon).

So. Keep checking back here, make sure to stay tuned on my Etsy page (seriously about to be flooded with stuff), and follow me using those links over on the right :)

DIY: String Wall Art

As a renter, dorm room dweller, person who moves frequently, and/or lazy college grad still living at home, it's never a good idea to go nailing a million holes in your walls. As a high schooler, I had at least 40 tacks and nails in my walls at all times plus at least as many glow in the dark stars on my ceiling - let's just say my dad wasn't terribly happy about filling all those holes.

So what's a girl to do when she sees this kind of wall art (and this one and this one) that requires roughly a million nails, but really really really wants to recreate it in her room? ...this:

Put it on an old corkboard!

What you need:
Old corkboard, painted or "raw"
String and/or yarn
Lots of nails
A hammer
A printout of the word(s) (or you can freehand them)

I found these awesome white nails!

What you do:
1) Nail around the edges of your letters. I put a nail every inch or so, but this will depend on how large your letters are.

Be careful not to hammer the nails through to the other side of the board, as this can damage what you're nailing on as well as the wall when you hang your art! I definitely recommend doing this step outside.

My cat was kind enough to supervise my progress.

He was a real helper...

2) Run away from the mosquitoes and go back inside. Wrap yarn around the border of the letters a few times to give it definition, then randomly wrap around the inside. Begin and end each letter by tying the yarn to one of the nails.

You can push your yarn to be flat against the board, but I really liked the more 3d effect. Here you can kind of see how I wrapped the edge of each letter three times before zigzagging around the middle.

3) Cut off the dangling ends of yarn, and you're done!! I haven't figured out where to hang mine yet so for now it lives in front of my dresser.

Dudely DIY: Leather Wallet

Update! Love the idea of this DIY wallet but can't/don't want to actually make it? Buy it at my Etsy shop over hereeeee!

I woke to a text the other day from my good friend (who is also an amazing dj/musician/drummer - check him out via soundcloud here or here if tumblr is more your jam) asking if I could make him a new wallet. I've been trying to figure out a way to include all my dudely followers, since my DIYs tend to be on the feminine side, so I totally jumped at it.

However, I've never made anything even remotely similar to this before and in all my excitement, I totally forgot to take any process photos. So the steps sound complicated, but it's really a simple project!

What you'll need:
Leather pieces a la picture below
Waxed thread
Hammer
Nails
Glue

Six inner card pockets, and the two larger base pieces for where bills go. 

What you do:

1) First, I glued down the top inner card pocket to hold it in place. Make sure to only glue down the very bottom, left and right edges of each pocket - NOT the top or in the middle!

2) Punch holes along the bottom of the pocket using a hammer and nail (much easier than trying to force a needle through two layers of leather)

3) Sew just the bottom of the pocket, and repeat 1-3 on the second rows of pockets.

4) Place the other large base piece (what will end up on the outside of your wallet) underneath the piece with the pockets sewn on so the "nice" sides face out. Punch holes along the entire bottom of the wallet, sewing the last row of pockets down as well as attaching the outer piece to the inner.

5) Punch holes for and sew down the inner sides of the pockets. Make sure you only sew through ONE layer of the larger base piece not both of them, otherwise you won't be able to get your bills inside the pocket!

6) Punch holes for and sew the outer edges of the pockets and the larger base pieces together.

 7) So awesome.

DIY: Dreamcatchers

So we all know by now that I'm totally obsessed with FreePeople and everything lace, right? I'm a complete hippie at heart (outfit post coming soon to prove it), and have been craving some more earthy love in my life. I found some awesome yarn and this sweet doily (and I always have feathers on hand)... and the rest just fell into place!

What you need:
Doily
Embroidery hoop
Various kinds/colors of yarn
Beads
Feathers
Leather fringe/string
Other charms, decorations, etc

What you do:
1) Attach your doily to your embroidery hoop. I think it might be super cool if the doily was a bit smaller than your hoop so you see more of the yarn ties, but mine was an almost perfect fit.

2) Attach leather fringe, more yarn fringe, feathers and beads to the bottom.

Try adding a dab of glue to secure your feathers. Also, excuse my wreck of a manicure :( I promise its prettier now!

3) Add more yarn, leather string, beads or charms throughout the doily.

Do these charms look familiar?

Try sliding a bead on a string before tying your feather on, the slip the bead over the end of the feather

4) Make a hoop to hang your dreamcatcher, and put in a window or above your bed. Sweet dreams!

Looks pretty good above my happy little succulents in their tiny DIY'ed pots!