state of the union

... of the facebook pages.

To merge or not to merge? 

I currently have two facebook pages, one for the bloggie, and one for Fish + Line Design. The two entities were separate at first, with the bloggie being solely house projects, and Fish + Line being just invitations. But then the two started merging.. making a string art for my dining room here, designing a print there, and now the lines have blurred between the two. I want to show the prints on both! And string art started out just as a house project for myself, but those have just taken off, so they're in the Fish + Line Design Etsy shop now. 

Sooo I need your input. Should I merge the pages? Do you even care if they're merged?! I try not to be one of those people that post multiple things at once (well sometimes I post bloggie posts on my personal page..), so I have tried to keep myself from posting something on both at the same time since I know there are a few of you out there who "like" both. If I did, I would keep the "i like what i'm herring" facebook page as the remaining one. You might have noticed I've been getting more likes lately.. I've been shamelessly asking people to like the page haha! In order to merge, I need more people liking the bloggie page than the Fish + Line Design page. 

Just when I think I'm ready to merge, I keep going back and forth in my head. What to do what to do...

My other thought is this.. facebook will let you change the name of the page before it gets to 200 likes. Maybe I should keep the Fish + Line Design page, then change the name once I come up with one I like? (Remember the branding issue from a while back..) 

I've also researched other big blogs/companies with my issue, like Jenny Komenda who has the most fabulous blog: Little Green Notebook. Her blog has a fb page, but her interior design business, Jenny Komenda Interiors, does not. Same with Kim and Scott's blog Yellow Brick Home. They have a bloggie facebook page, but not one for Kim's pet painting business called The Pet Shop. I'm basing these off people whose blog has a different name than their business, btw.. 

SOOOOO what do you think? 

Are you just tired of me rambling about it?! haha 

Onto another state subject..

I made some new string arts this weekend. One was a state I hadn't done before..

Arkansas! 

The city was Cabot, which I had never heard of..

but I'm guessing she was a Razorback fan due to the colors she chose! 

And you know it's getting close to football season when I'm popping out SEC colors! 

Next was ol' rocky top, Knoxville, TN. 

Can you believe they make the circus peanut orange spray paint color?! haha! 

That made it much easier. 

I shipped 'em out today! I've sold a bunch of the You Are Beautiful Auburn and Alabama as well, so if you're looking to show your team spirit, visit the Etsy shop! 

And let me know if you have an opinion on the facebook page debate! HA! 

this little piggy went to the bank

Gah, I love a good piggy bank. I have about 4 in my house. I guess it goes back to when I was little. I loved emptying the piggy bank/cup of change and counting the money. Just for fun. I blame it on having an accountant as a parent.. ha! 

I found this glorious piggy bank when I was in college and had to have it. Of course this was back when I had money on my Tiger card (a card we used at Auburn for multiple things, but the best was having money on it to use as a debit card to go shopping at all the boutiques downtown), and I didn't mind dropping $20 on it.

via

I did some research on this piglet, and it's made by Pamela Barsky. It's actually cast from an authentic Mid-century Modern mold, which is probably why I love it so much! When you buy one, ol' Pamela puts an envelope of money in the box, and you can get anywhere from a few cents to a hundred dollars! This probably aided in my decision to purchase him. If I remember correctly, I got $0.16 when I bought it. Wah wahhh. 

It comes in white and pea green. I bought the white one, and he's been living on my bedside table for years. 

Now imagine my surprise when I found one at the thrift store for A DOLLAR! Someone had mutilated the paint job, so of course I had to rescue it and restore it to its proper glory. 

The only downside was that it was missing the stopper. 

It had clearly been painted and fired in a kiln, so it had a slick ceramic finish, but I didn't sand. I just jumped right in with some chalkboard paint! 

I did several light coats with the spray chalkboard paint. It covered very nicely! I was kind of shocked! 

There was still the issue of the stopper.. 

So I went to the dollar store, and found another piggy bank and stole the stopper!

I mean, I bought the piggy bank and stole it from that pig to use on my chalk board piggy.. There was no actual theft involved. 

Side note: Do you think there's a factory somewhere that produces all the piggy bank stoppers? Or is there a piggy bank hole standard? This is what I thought of during this project.

When you paint something with chalkboard paint, you have to cover the entire area with chalk, then wipe it off before it's ready to write on. 

This kind of made me sad, because the piggy was now tinted gray. 

But he was write-ready! 

I love it! 

Anyone else have this little piglet? 

Diesel's fur almost looks chalk ready as well. haha! 

Not Cotton, although I'm sure her furball self would make a good eraser. 

This weekend was project-palooza, so I have more goodies to show you this week! 

stream of consciousness

I'm back with another installment! haha! In case you forgotten from the last time, that's what I'm calling the bloggies where I just talk about what's happening in my life! 

Ok you caught me. It's when I am juggling tons of projects at once and haven't really finished one of them, so rather than you not having anything to look at, you get to see a random assortment of things! 

Exhibit A: There was a ladybug in my room last night, just hanging out on my lamp. Naturally I took a picture of it. Get down with your stylish polka dots, little lady bug!

My Avett Brothers tickets came in the mail today! How much were they? Oh, just FREE. I've told you before to go listen to bhammountainradio.com. They're only online, so I stream it at work. They do giveaways everyday. Up to 6-8 a day actually.. and they do them on facebook, so you just have to be the first to comment on whatever question they ask.

Just call me Quick Fingers McGee, because I've won about 6 times. WOOP WOOP! 

Project city is happening in the dining room. 

Spray Paint Queen, right here! And these are just the ones I bought this week. I'm not lying.

If you follow me on Instagram, you saw this little gem earlier. I stained another string art board, but this time it's darker. 

The darker the board, the more the string pops.  

And this sucker pops.

Don't forget these are for sale in my Etsy shop! 


I can't wait to finish up some goodies to show everyone! 

pups and sucs

And by sucs, I mean succulents of course! 

I found this awesome bowl at the thrift store for just a couple of bucks. 

And if you recall, I had tons of plants leftover from the bathroom succulent project. 

I also had this little guy that came as a "free gift" with an online purchase I made. He was hanging out on the old TV stand, and I knew he was ready to come roam amongst the plants. 

I added rocks to the bottom of the containers, then added some cactus soil I bought at Home Depot before planting the succulents. The little bowl below also came from a thrift store for about $1. Yay for thrifting! 

They look lovely! 

I placed them on the little mid century modern table between the two leather chairs in the den. 

But someone was camouflaged.. 

What to do, Diesel man? 

Spray paint him! 

GOLD! Just in time for the Olympics! 

Ahhh, now he stands out perfectly! He's even gleaming in the overhead light as I write this! 

Onto the pups! 

I needed to start building my inventory for Birmingham Artwalk, so I found some popular breeds of pups on the interwebs to paint. I chose a dachshund and a yellow lab!

Of course I have to sign it with my signature RH. This is how I initial everything.

There's a tab at the top of the bloggie outlining pricing if anyone is interested in having their pup pup painted! Or any pet for that matter. Perhaps I should tackle a different animal next time.. 

In case you missed the facebook post, I put this print from the bathroom reveal on Etsy! 

I made a rather large, premature purchase online, and it's scheduled to come in tomorrow... I can't wait/am dreading finishing the space where it will live! Can you guess what it is??! 

string art au naturale

I posted this on facebook and instagram, but of course it needs a bloggie feature! 

The string art au naturale! 

I had a request to do this from someone who went into City Arts Boutique (where I have some of these for sale). 

Confession: I've never stained anything before. 

I found a tutorial on pinterest for aging wood using vinegar and steel wool. You just stick the steel wool into the vinegar and rub it onto the wood. 

I failed. That's it on the right. I let it sit overnight, and the next morning it still looked super light, so I grabbed some Minwax stain on the way home. I brought both outside and tried another couple of layers of the vinegar/steel wool but no luck. You'll see why further down..

The stain looked lovely though! I got a cheap paint brush to brush it on, and used an old tshirt I cut up to wipe it off between every layer. I wore gloves, and I suggest you do the same or else you'll look like a brown ink pen exploded on you. And we all know what brown ink looks like..

I added a couple of more layers of stain after this picture. I let a couple layers sit on there for several minutes to soak in a bit before I wiped it off. 

I'm going to have to try the vinegar stain again because I accidentally grabbed steel wool SOAP PADS. Ugh. I was frantic running through the store because I wanted to get it done before the sun set outside. I clearly wasn't thinking straight. 

It was probably for the best though. The stain turned out awesome! 

I'll be making several more for Birmingham Artwalk! EEE! 

These are also for sale on Etsy! I can do any city and state. Check 'em out in my shop!