PLUS ONE

When my good friends Binh & Bethany got engaged last year, I made them this:



Bethany is an amazing artist, and I was thrilled that she and Binh liked my little project enough to display it at their guest book table at their wedding.




Now they've gone and done the most creative thing of all, and one more family member needs to be added to the cross-stitch. Welcome to the world, Baby Margot.



Congratulations Mommy and Daddy. You're going to be amazing parents. And I can't wait to watch this precious baby grow into a Jurassic Park-loving, art-appreciating, shawarma-eating, superhero-cape-wearing, craft-making, computer-programming little girl. Yes, I demand that she be all these things.

Muh girl Martha provides a great tutorial on cross-stitch portraits here.

*2nd photo courtesy of Kelly Ly

MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING SHOWER

My dear friends Reagan and Brandon got married two years ago today, and to celebrate, I wanted to share some photos of the super-fun shower we threw for them a month before their nuptials. It's one of my all-time favorites. Instead of a traditionally stuffy affair, we had a fabulous couples shower with a chic fiesta theme.
















Please excuse this picture-heavy post! I just loved so many details of the shower, many of which Bella and other wonderful people helped make possible. From the personalized hand-cut Papel Picado banners to the scrumptiously fresh food, from the cheesy good piñata to the hilarious participation of our friends and Reagan's parents in the Newlywed-style game--everything was just relaxed and fun.



Happy Anniversary, my loves. Your joy is as contagious now as it was that day.

START 'EM YOUNG

I'm surrounded by gorgeous pregnant friends and beautiful new babies these days.

My dear friend/sister/neighbor, Bella, is due in August.



Yes, she is, indeed, the most adorable pregnant lady you have ever seen.

The amazing streamer installation in the photo was created for Bella's baby shower, which I might feature in a future post. Bella's best friend and my dear friend, Kelly, planned a colorful, creative, A-B-C shower--which was perfectly representative of our Bella and was a fitting way to share in the anticipation of and preparation for her first baby.

In keeping with the shower theme, I found a couple of books that I just had to include as a gift...and that I just had to share with you!



I am in love with this happy board book Pantone: Colors by Pantone and illustrated by Helen Dardik. The book introduces your child to 9 basic colors, with 20 shades of each.

I can just imagine the conversation between Bella and her little girl.
Bella: What color are the leaves in the tress, little one?
Baby B: Green!
Bella: That's right, sweetie, they're green!
Baby B: Well, actually they're more of a pistachio green, or maybe even a moss green.
Bella: !!!



Then there's Paul Thurlby's Alphabet by Paul Thurlby, which has a stylized, retro feel, but is very surprising and refreshing at the same time. E is for embrace and U is for underground?! Love it.


Everything in life should be wrapped in this awesome amphibian paper...



I hope Baby Girl enjoys these books as much as Adult Me does!



Throw a little pantone and some hipster illustrations into your child's daily reading, and you're bound to get a little artist. Gotta foster those creative genes early!

MARBLE-OUS

I received so many nice comments about my nails in the last post that I decided to share a funky manicure technique called water marbling. This process is not for the faint of heart. Buried under a mound of acetone-soaked cotton balls, I think I finally got it down. Basically, you create a marble design on the surface of some water, then dip your nail right into the design, and the design transfers right onto your nail! Here are the step-by-step instructions.

What you will need:

-At least two nail polish colors
-Clear top coat
-A small container of room temperature water (Make sure this is a container you don't mind getting polish on.)
-Toothpicks
-Tape




1) First paint your nails with one coat of the polish that you want to be your base. One coat is sufficient.



2) Use tape to cover all the skin around your nail, and wrap it around your fingertips as well. I cover just about a third of my finger because that part will be submerged in polish. Don't forget to get under your nail. The tape is kind of hard to see in the photos.


3) Loosen the caps of the polishes you'll be using for marbling. Choose your first color and let a drop fall onto the surface of the water in your cup. Make sure you do not touch the water with your brush because this will ruin your bottle of nail polish, but don't hold your brush too high, because this may cause your droplet to sink to the bottom of the water.


4) In rapid succession, drop a bead of a different color within the circle of the previous polish, until you have something that looks like a bullseye.


5) Now comes the fun part. Create a marble design in the polish by dragging a toothpick through the colors, as seen in the photos.




6) Dip your taped-up finger, nail-faced-down, into your favorite part of the design.



7) Hold your finger in the water for a few seconds as the rest of the polish on the water surface dries a little. I blow on the polish a bit to rush the process. Collect the excess polish by twirling your toothpick in it. If you don't collect the excess polish, your finger may be re-coated upon removal, probably with a design you don't like!


8) When all the excess polish is collected, take your finger out of the water. Hopefully you have a super-cool design! Go ahead and remove the tape.


10) Remove any stray polish with a Qtip and some polish remover, and when your polish has dried, apply a good quality top coat, so that you can enjoy your art for a long time!

You can do just one or two nails for a more conservative look, or go crazy with all your digits! I like to do just a couple colors, but I've seen awesome nails with various colors! Just depends what you like, and how much polish you have!




Send me a photo if you decide to try it!