new wall stencil

It’s amazing what a hit of juicy fresh color can do to a place. Like our living room, for instance. Above our fireplace, we have an enormous mirror affixed to the wall that feels circa 1983.

As a special bonus, it reflects the oversized 80s track lighting on our ceiling. We rent, so we couldn’t do anything drastic or permanent. A couple years ago, we covered it up by spray-mounting patterned wrapping paper to a big sheet of foam core, and velcroing that to the mirror. The finished panel is lightweight enough that it stays in place with the help of mirror hanging from the picture rail.

This all worked like a charm, but the original paper was Christmas-inspired with partridges in pears trees, which surprisingly no one noticed (we have very observant friends). Eventually, we got a little bored of the design. So I finally motivated the other weekend and created a stencil based on design I saw in Lotta Jansdotter’s kit Lotta’s Printing Studio. I am endlessly impressed and inspired by Lotta's flawless eye for design and color. I drew a similar design freehand, then traced it onto a sheet of mylar and cut it out with a craft knife. Then I measured and marked out on the foam core where the designs should go, and stenciled out a repeat of the design in chartreuse and leaf green.

And voila: a vibrant update. And here’s the happiest part: the sheet of foam core was about two inches too narrow on each side to cover the mirror. So instead of having to seam two pieces of foam core together, we bought a strip of fake foam molding and added that to each side. Let me tell you, universe, it fit exactly. Which makes us irrationally happy.

skirt makeover

Chambray is whispering sweet nothings in my ear right now. And while I love the look of those short little skirts with the wide elastic waistband, I feel the need to wear tights and a tucked in shirt to pull them off. Which is not an everyday look for me.

Instead, I grabbed a skirt from a thrift store and made some modifications.

It came with a ruffled selvedge hem that felt a little too grungetastic to me. After a little howdoyado with a seam ripper, it was gone, revealing a perfectly fine hem that I didn’t need to mess with.

I drew up and cut out an elaborate flower stencil but then ditched it because it felt too overwrought. Instead, I added happy gold dots from a Lotta stencil in glittery textile paint.

Apparently the dog is hypnotized by the sound of a camera shutter. She wouldn't budge.

a new spring project

From Natalie's first book. Now onto all the hand sewing and embellishment, which I find daunting and exciting in equal measure.