DIY Log slice Christmas ornament

It's not even Thanksgiving yet but I'm already looking forward to the Advent season and Christmas. A month ago I made these wood log slice personalized coasters for my brother-in-law's wedding. I had a few wood slices left over so I decided to make a Christmas ornament for my friend Kristin since these logs came from her backyard. I personalized it with Kristin's dog Rooney's name. Rooney is gentle and loving and eats curtains in his spare time. He actually tried to eat these wood slices after we cut the log.

This was a super simple project. Sand the log, apply varnish, write out Rooney's name with a brush marker, applied Modpodge to seal, drill a small hole for the ribbon to go through, and...all DONE! 

30th birthday and fall-themed quilled birthday cards

My friend Kristin recently ordered these 2 custom cards from me. I love how quilling adds a 3-dimensional effect to jazz up simple greeting cards.

Requests for card #1: 30th birthday, champagne, pink, and teal. The recipient of this card is an upholstery expert so I picked out this patterned paper to mimic upholstery fabric/wallpaper design.

Requests for card #2: fall colors, birds, and flowers.

DIY Pallet Bench

After 11 months of storing a pallet in our garage hoping to make it into a DIY project, we finally bit the bullet and made it into a bench for our front porch!

Click below for the tutorial!

Brushlettering wedding signs and Jordan almond wedding favors

Andrew and I made these wedding favors a few weeks ago for his brother's wedding, silver organza bags filled with Jordan almonds. We filled the bag with Duke blue (groom's alma mater) and UNC blue (bride's alma mater) Jordan almonds. I designed and printed the favor tags and then we watched Tarzan, which Andrew had never seen before (!) while cutting, punching out small paper hearts, and assembling the 180 favors. 

 I also did more brushlettering practice to make the guestbook and gift table signs for the reception!

DIY Tutorial: Wood Branch Slice Monogrammed Coasters

My brother-in-law is getting married this weekend and I decided to gift the newlyweds with monogrammed wood slice coasters!

My friend Alex helped me slice the logs. He was quite the trooper because it took us several tries to a) find the right size log that didn't have cracks and b) he did all the slicing while his wife Kristin held the log steady and closed her eyes because she didn't have extra safety goggles. Do as I say not as I do...wear safety goggles to protect your eyes from flying pieces of wood!!

 If you don't have wood logs/branches laying around and/or a saw, you can buy wood slices here.

Read on for the tutorial below.

Ecosphere closed aquatic system

My sister surprised me this year with one of the most unique birthday presents I've ever received: an ECOSPHERE ! She noticed me admiring hers sitting on her bookshelf and thoughtfully ordered me one this year. It arrived in a very well-padded/temperature-controlled/protected box from Amazon.



See the little orange and translucent shrimp? They were zooming around the ecosphere when I took this photo, so you can only see little orange blurs around the perimeter.

What is an EcoSphere, exactly? The ecosphere concept has apparently existed since the 1980s but the EcoSpheres that you can order from Amazon are based in Arizona (which makes it even more awesome because Arizona is my birthplace). The shrimp consume the algae, which grows faster when exposed to light. I read the instructional pamphlet that came with the ecosphere from front to back several times because I want to keep my pet shrimp alive as long as possible. The science nerd in me is intrigued by how the enclosed system works and how I'll never have to feed the shrimp. Best. Pets. Ever.

It's already provided me with many cumulative hours of staring at the shrimp, mesmerized by how they move faster when the light is on and become sluggish when I turn off the light.

The "warranty" on it is that if all 4 shrimp die within 6 months, they'll replace the ecosphere. So far, my sister's shrimp have survived for more than a year!


*Disclaimer: I was not compensated by Amazon for this post. I just thought I'd share about an awesome gift that I received!

Emma Grace!

Welcome baby Emma Grace! I was supposed to grab dinner with my dear friend and coworker M this week, but Emma decided to make her grand entrance 2 days early!

I forgot to take a photo of the sheep-themed flannel receiving blanket I made for Emma, sadly, but here's the card I made her with watercolors!