her ideal bookshelf

A while back my sister gave me a super fun book called My Ideal Bookshelf by Jane Mount and Thessaly La Force. In this book the authors asked famous chefs, fashion designers, actors, writers etc. to list their favorite books and explain why they love them. These mini interviews are accompanied by playful illustrations of what each person's bookshelf would look like. So neat!!

Of course this got me thinking about my sister's ideal bookshelf because she LOVES books. I was curious... what would be on her bookshelf because she has read SO many books. Could she pick ten?? So, I asked her and after a few days she emailed me a list.

Well, I have known my sister my entire life and yet, I was seriously surprised by her list. Half of the books I never would have guessed!!! Amazing that people can surprise you after 28 years!

Then, I started thinking about Christmas. Wasn't my sister deserving of her own ideal bookshelf?? So I went online and saw that you could custom order an Ideal Bookshelf and I got very, very excited! What an awesome gift right???!!! Then I saw that they were over $100. I mean I love my sister but I am way too practical to spend upwards of $20 on something so frivolous.

This (of course) got me scheming...I could DIY the crap out of this project. So, I did!! Thanks to my husband's abundant art supplies (watercolors mostly) I made my sister her own ideal bookshelf.

I think it came out okay and she loved it!! She said she was going to put it in her library. Which is a real honor considering she has a personal (hand written) note from Kevin Bacon in there. I kid but seriously, the idea that she would hang up this silly little painting is pretty cool.

Pretty neat if I do say so myself. Thanks for looking. Love, Ms. Kate

Jack Frost

Holy crap it is ICY here!! Currently it is snowing but it is supposed to warm up by the end of the week. I would love a sunny Christmas...we'll see. Hope you are all having a festive week. Thanks for looking. Love, Ms. Kate.

Decorating a Christmas Wreath Part 2: the bits and pieces

Hello!! Here is part two of the wreath tutorial. We have made the bow and now we need to make the other little decorations.

For this half of the tutorial you will need:

a naked wreath fake or real (I purchased a live one for 8.99 at a grocery store)
prewired decorative Christmas balls
other random Xmas decorations like painted branches, ribbon, birds, curling ribbon, berries, pine cones, whatever you want as long as you can somehow attach wire to it.
24gauge wire
wire cutters
kabob skewers or large toothpicks (you can also use twigs)

To start, fluff out your wreath. Give it a good shake and make sure it is nice and full all the way around. Once your wreath is adequately fluffed you are ready to decorate.

Note: The decorations that you use will be "picked" into your wreath. This means that you will use sticks or skewers with decorations on one end and literally stab the stick into the wreath. Trust me, it works and is super secure!

Start by cutting up a bunch of skewers in different lengths... I wouldn't go shorter then 3 inches.
Then, take your various decorations and wire them to the sticks.

simple wire wrap around the stick

 You can take cuts of ribbon and fold wire down the middle, twist it and then wrap it around a stick.

 You can take plastic branches, cut them up and then wrap them with wire.

I wired a fake branch to a literal twig bit.

When you are satisfied with the amount of decorations you have "picked" you can attach a pick to your bow using the wire leftover from the previous tutorial. Then, you are ready to decorate your wreath!!

NOTE: When decorating a wreath I always start by attaching the bow first. That way if there are any bald spots or your wreath is wonky a big bow can help.

Simply take your stick and stab deep into the wreath (at an angle) so that the stick is lodged. EASY!

Once the bow is secure add the rest of your decorations.

Bunch them to one side, add them in clusters.... have fun with it! When you are happy with the placement of your decorations you can cut down the middle of the giant loop hanging off of your bow. This cut forms two hanging ribbon tails. 

 

Ha Ha! I like that you can see my legs in this picture! AWKWARD.

There you have it!! A lovely holiday wreath! Have fun!!! Thanks for looking. Love, Ms. Kate.