52 Weeks of Felt Paintings - Week 18

Blueberries!!!

With this blue addition, I've now felted a rainbow's worth of food!  (I'm probably too excited about this...)

Florida Favorites - Part Two

Our trip was very nature-oriented. I keep a bird watching list, so I was sure to bring a book to identify birds while we were there.  (Go ahead, you can call me a nerd.) We had lots of fun beach combing and looking for the perfect shell (my favorite is pictured below.)  My only complaint was the mosquitoes in the Everglades.  I knew they would be bad, and they love me, but I ended up with three different repellents on me during that kayaking trip.  Ugh.  I kept running into the mangrove roots, because I was too busy swatting mosquitoes away. Ha!

Florida Favorites - Part One

My husband and I just got back from a two week trip to Florida last week.  We drove about 3600 miles in total, filled up our gas tank 11 times, and bought 6 bags of ice for our cooler.  When we travel, we don't like to stay in one place.  We wanted to see as much as we could, so we stayed 7 different places (some originally planned, some not) and not including the overnight stops on our drive to Florida and then back to Missouri.  Our stays varied from camping to bed & breakfasts.  We played on the beach, hung out with alligators in the Everglades, biked a few trails, and learned about rockets.  It was a good trip.  I thought I'd share some of my favorite photos over the next week or so.

Check out Part Two and Part Three too!

I'm back!

 

Hi friends! I'm back from vacation, and I just wanted to let you know that I've reopened my shop!  I've already got some orders to fill, so I better go dust off my felting needles!

52 Weeks of Felt Paintings - Week 17

With this addition to the food felt painting collection, I've done all colors but blue.  Can you think of any other blue food than blueberries? 

I got a suggestion on instagram to do a hamburger.  I think that could be really cute, yes? I'll have to try one!

Tattoo Update - Second Session

It's been a few weeks now, but I got to work on my tattoo again.  I thought I'd share a before and after photo with you.  The first photo is the healed, pretty line work.  The second photo includes a couple progress shots during the second session. 

 

Gabe tattooed me for around four and a half hours, and it wasn't terrible.  I did learn, though, that my skin bruises and swells like crazy.  That purple that you see in the photo is not ink.  It's definitely my skin freaking the eff out.  I was sore for a few days, and it started peeling within the first week.  Over the weeks, my tattoo peeled twice, and a few spots even peeled three times. Healing tattoos are weird.

I'm so excited to start working on the flowers! I'm ready to finish this!  

52 Weeks of Felt Paintings - Week 16

You guessed it---more felted food! 

 

And now I want a salad.

Fur, Feathers & Scales - Pigeon

I have some new critter friends to share with you!!  At my zoo job, we now have these  pigeons! 

 They're homing pigeons, which means they have the ability to find their way home over very long distances--not that they'll be using that particular skill though now that they live at the zoo.  These types of pigeons can actually be very fast and are sometimes even raced against each other. So neat! 

 

We've named them Orville and Wilbur after the Wright brothers.  Cute, right?  I love the noises they make, and I love their iridescent feathers.

Pigeons are found worldwide, and have a wide lifespan--they live an average of six years in the wild but can live beyond fifteen years in captivity. They eat lots of seeds, and sometimes maybe leaves or even fruit.  They'll also eat small insects and worms.

If you're a bird fan, I highly recommend the book Birdology.  It's has a whole chapter on homing pigeons, and other chapters include cassowaries, chickens, parrots, etc. 

I look forward to working with these birds more and sharing them around my community!

52 Weeks of Felt Paintings - Week 15

Here's another food related felt painting...surprised? I thought needle felting a lemon slice would be easy, but getting the wool to translate into the texture of pulp was a bit difficult.  I think it turned out okay, though!

Now I want some lemonade...

My Fifth Stitch Fix!

I can't believe this is my fifth Stitch Fix delivery!

I get so excited when it's time for my fix to come in the mail--it's such a fun experience.  (In case you don't know, Stitch Fix is a clothing delivery service.  You pay a $20 styling fee, fill out lots of info about your style preferences and body type/size--you can even link up your Pinterest style board--and a Stitch Fix stylist picks out five pieces that she thinks you'll love.  You try them on, test them out with other pieces in your wardrobe, and send back the pieces you don't want in a prepaid bag that they include in your shipment.  Also, your $20 styling fee is applied toward any purchase that you make from your fix!)

I have been wearing a lot of skirts and dresses lately for a couple reasons: one, I needed a break from pants as my leg tattoo healed, and two, I have really enjoyed wearing cute clothes (and my husband apparently doesn't mind either).   I didn't know if they would or could, but this time, I asked my stylist to send me all dresses and skirts.  And she delivered! This was a super fun fix!

There were three dresses and two skirts.  These first two dresses are the pieces I decided not to keep.  The Laney Empire Waist Jersey Maxi Dress fit okay, but it was about three inches too long (with heels).  I feel like it was too expensive for being just a plain dress--I wish it had a print and was a more substantial material than jersey.  The second dress, the Daphne Scalloped Colorblock dress, fit really well actually.  However, it was polyester and lined, and I just didn't see myself wearing it very often during the humid Missouri spring and summer.

But I did keep three pieces!  Let's talk about this shift dress.  It's called the Wendle Embroidery Detail Shift Dress, and it's beautiful and fits like a dream. Apparently, shift dresses are my jam, and I need more of them in my wardrobe.  I also love love love the embroidery--I've been really attracted to embroidered details on clothing lately, so this dress was a total score.

This Jordanne A-line Skirt is a fun addition to my skirt collection.  The green color is amazing.  The fabric is just heavy enough to be worn into the fall and winter, but I can also wear it during warmer weather comfortably.

I also love skirts with bright prints, so this swing skirt is perfect!  The Kye Box Print Swing Skirt will go with a lot of tops that I already have.

I was so happy that they accommodated my request for all skirts and dresses.  I've really enjoyed getting these fixes.  My husband even commented the other day that he thought it was cute that I got so excited about them.  Awe!

If you want to try it out, you can use my referral link (click here), and I will get a credit when you get your first fix.  Then YOU can share your own referral link with your friends to get credit for your own Stitch Fix addiction. 

What do you think of these pieces?  Would you have kept the same ones?

(You can check out my other fixes here:  First, Second, Third & Fourth.)

I'm Closing Up Shop for a Few Weeks...

I'm taking a break and going on vacation!  I'll still be blogging a bit, so you can still catch me here.  Hopefully I'll be able to pop in once or twice with some beach photos...

I'll be sure to let you know when the shop is up and running again. :)