weekend adventures

Howdy folks! I haven't been doing a good job at updating the ol' bloggie lately, but that's good for you because now you get a big post choc full of pictures! Woop woop! 

Two weekends ago, I went down to Auburn for the Arkansas game. Since it was a dumb 11:00am kickoff, I decided I would bring my nice camera along for some pics since I could walk it back to the house before going out (I'm very protective of that thing..).   

SAMMY! 

Gah I just can't get enough of Samford Hall. If you tallied all of the pictures I post of him on my blog, I'm sure the number would be in the triple digits.

SO the MAIN THING I wanted to get a picture of with my nice camera was the eagle flying. I was a crazy lady about waking up early and marching to the stadium to see the flight. If you know me at all, you know this was quite the task (waking up early that is). I usually roll into the 11am games halfway through the first quarter. I was so proud of myself for getting there in time. 

Well. Wouldn't ya know, THE EAGLE FLEW FROM A DIFFERENT SIDE!!!!! UUGHGHGHGHGHHH. The eagle ALWAYS flies from the ramp under the flag, which just so happens to be the one I walk up. I got there a bit early, so I found a good spot where I could get some shots of her coming out of the carrier. The announcer comes on and says something like "Ladies and gentlemen, please cast your attention to the center of the field for a special presentation!" And I was all like "where the eff is the eagle?!" and then the crowd started chanting "warrrrrrrrrrrrrr". To my horror, I realized they let her go on the complete other side of the stadium. How rude! This turned my "best place for an eagle pic" spot into "the worst possible place to stand for a shot of the eagle" spot. Curses! 

Oh well. We moseyed to the seats to watch the rest of the pre-game festivities. 

Gameday dates! Binky and Caroline came to sit in the "adult" section (aka, the non-student section). 

Murray was my gameday date! He's a bammer, but so nicely wore navy for the game!

My ma and her bff Francis. They wore pink for breast cancer month. How cute! 

'merica.

We didn't win the game, so we took it as an opportunity to take silly pics walking down the ramp.

"Take my picture"

So seksi. 

"Get a picture of our butts."

"Let's go to the baaaaarrrrr!"

And to the bar we went. We had to drown our sorrows somehow, now didn't we? We walked through Toomer's Corner on the way. So so sad. 

Maybe we're losing games to save the trees. No win means no toilet paper, right?!

One is looking a little better than the other. 

Sammy in the back!

The infamous Toomer's Drugs. 

I stopped taking pictures for some reason, but we went to the bar for a bit before heading home (I had to drop off my camera, duh) and watched the LSU Florida game. Siiiigh. Losing is killing me. Especially losing at home. LOCK IT UP, BOYS. 

The next weekend wasn't much better game-wise, but luckily I was preoccupied with the art show at Ross Park! EEEE! I bought a tent to use. She's pretty fancy with the windows..

My ma and Binky came to help since I had been sick earlier in the week. I wasn't suppose to be lifting anything heavy, so they were a HUGE help in getting everything setup. 

All the string art!

Cards, prints, and pet paintings! Ma brought some candy to help lure people over (it promptly melted). 

Aw wee, look at that cute little helper! 

I put a rope on the tin Bama that I made a few weeks ago. I need to make more of these suckers and paint 'em up pretty. 

Binky helped document me with all the goodies at the art show.

TA-DAA! 

Workin' the sell. 

The cards were a big hit! 

As I mentioned before, there were FREE wine and beer tastings! Bink documented me standing in line for some haha! 

My glorious helpers! Ma had her hand up, and when I told her to move it, I got the next few poses..

There were about 12 more I didn't put on here hahaha. 

Katie and Bradley came to the show! Katie's laughing at Bradley's hand holding attempt. What a creeper tehehe!

That's all folks! 

I made some sales and good contacts, and have already had several orders from people after the show! EEE! 

I have some big news. BIG. HUGE. I'm planning an epic bloggie post to reveal it, so be on the lookout for that this week! IT'S SUPER EXCITING!

guest posting!

Good morning, my lovelies! Today I am guest posting over at my friend Whitney's blog about some design tips for finding and transforming pieces for your home. Whitney is one of my friends from Interior Design at Auburn, so she knows all about staying up late to finish up crazy projects! She currently live in Ringgold, GA with her hubs and cute little baby boy! 

Click here to check out the post, and be sure to follow Whitney if you want some great design inspiration! 

Thanks for letting me guest post, lady! 

my whereabouts

I betcha thought I dropped off the edge of the earth! Or perhaps I was drowning in projects.. but no, both would be incorrect (although I do need to get on multiple projects). 

I've been schick. I've seen multiple doctors and was told I needed a specialist, so I'm FINALLY seeing one today. Vague, I know, but you really don't want to know whatsagoingon up in here. My ma has been with me, carting me around, and helping me out. If all goes well at the doc today, I'm going to push through and do the art show on Saturday with her assistance. If you're in the Birmingham area, stop on by! Here's the info: 

dumps like a truck

Time for another string art dump, y'all! I try not to double up so you only see new things. 

Here goes nothin: 

At Artwalk, I made these bitty bamas. I nailed a bunch before I went, and I strung them while I sat there. They were a big hit! 

Here it is next to it's big brother (so you can see the scale). They're about 6.5"x5.5".

I had an Etsy order for Massachusetts. This sucker was a doozie. The foot was quite the challenge, but the end result made it worth it. 

Oh what do we have here?!? A customer that purchased one of the big ol' bama string arts ordered this from me after Artwalk for one of her friends. It is Drenthe, which is a province in Holland. HOW COOL! 

In case you want to see a map: 

via

This sucker is huge. She wanted it around the same size as the big bama, so I made it 32"x32". 

These next couple were ones I tackled last weekend during the big production push. (HA! That's what we call product release stuff at work.) First up is Indiana. 

Then Chicago, Illinois! I dig it! 

I told y'all last week that this past weekend was going to be project-palooza. I had tons of Etsy orders that needed to be filled!

It's so weird, but they seem to come in twos. Two Auburn's, two Tuscaloosa's, two Texas's, two Colorado's (only one is shown here), and two I states (Illinois and Indiana). Yep, I'm counting I states as a category. I also have two Tennessee's coming up. Weird, eh?! 

It was nice having an off football weekend (for AU) to finish most of the orders. I was happy as a clam watching other teams all day Saturday working on these pieces (along with also working Friday night and all day Sunday). Needless to say, I'll be headed back down to Auburn this weekend for the Arkansas game. I have pre-nailed some boards to take with me, so after our dumb early morning game, I can (hopefully) get some work done! Cross your fingers I actually do this.. the good news is since the nailing is done, I can drink a couple of brewskies while I string 'em! Multitasking, y'all! 

You can see the beginnings of the small breast cancer ribbon ones in the back there, along with more boards to be nailed! 

Shipping 'em out! I love taking them to the post office for some reason. It's almost like releasing doves.. "Go, bring joy to people, little string arts!". It also means I can mark {insert whatever state} off my to-do list, and we ALL know how awesome it feels to whittle the ol' list down.

I was so excited to get these finished! Stress relief! For a little bit anyways..  I have 5 more orders waiting in the wings along with bulking up for the art show! Ultra stress mode will be back in no time! Don't forget, the show is all day (8am-5pm) Saturday Oct. 13 at Ross Bridge in Hoover, y'all! 

I'm so excited! 

breast cancer awareness month!

Heeeyyyy yoooouuuuu guyysssss! It's October 1st! You know what that means, right?! It's breast cancer awareness month! Let the pink takeover! 

Most of you probably know this, but my dear sweet mom had breast cancer about 8 years ago. Thankfully she has been healthy and well for a while now! I'm glad I live in Birmingham so whenever she comes up here for her checkups we get to have spend the night parties (or yard work parties. or see how much food we can eat parties. or see if I can sneakily make her take me shopping parties.). She was diagnosed in October 2004 (BC month), and we never missed an opportunity to buy something that supported the cause! Ma is always wearing some combination of orange, blue and pink (because we all know she has to support Auburn too!).

Note the pink bracelet (in the midst of orange and blue ones)..

This was 2010 right after Auburn beat Georgia and we knew we were going to the SEC championship game. Mom had also broken her wrist that year, and only managed to miss ONE game (which was the week she broke it). 

Anyhow, back on subject.. I LOVE when everything turns pink! Here is the Vulcan statue here in Birmingham.

via

Samford Hall in Auburn is one of the many buildings on campus that turns pink! And you KNOW I love me some Sammy.

Of course my sweet baby Cam wears pink for the cure! 

via

And because just one isn't enough..

via

You're so pretty, Cammy Cam.. swoon..

Well of course you know I had to contribute in my own way, so I made some breast cancer pink ribbon string arts! 

The big one below is gold with pink string. This picture is midway through.. the sun was going down and I wanted to get a picture with halfway decent lighting..

All finished! 

Note the heart in the middle. Big thanks to David McMath for suggesting that! 

The big one is 11"x14" like the regular sized state string arts. 

     I also made these smaller ones that are about 6"x5.5". I made this one gray with light pink string, but I have several different color boards waiting to be finished (and I can use the dark or the light string)! 

There are also a couple of smaller ones with hearts in them waiting to be created. 

They're all a little different because I have been free handing the ribbon before nailing it. I made listings for these on Etsy, and I'll be giving 20% of the sales to Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation! If you want to order one, CLICK HERE! If you'd like a different color board, just let me know and I can accommodate you. 

Think pink, y'all!