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: 

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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.

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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! 

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And because just one isn't enough..

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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! 

ha wah ya?!

That's how my dad says Hawaii! haha What a silly goose.

 With that title, I'm sure you know what that means...

A Hawaii string art! 

My co-worker's sister lives in Hawaii, and she wanted a pair of string arts. The first was a neon green one of her current state. I love the color on that dark stain!  

I'm not gonna lie, it was a tad more challenging than most states. 

Especially the little heart over Honolulu. 

In addition to Hawaii, she wanted her home state in hot pink. Good ol' Alabama!

I dig the pink! 

They look great together! 

They finally arrived after being held hostage at the post office. I googled how long it takes for things to arrive to Hawaii (bc that's where these were shipped). Everyone said about 6 days. It took almost three times that long! EEK! 

Thank goodness they finally arrived! 

I think the universe wants me to go to Hawaii. First, my roommate went, then my coworker, then I did this string art (not to mention the dozens of TV shows that just happened to keep showing stuff in Hawaii). 

Who wants to take me? I want to learn to surf, dammit. 

stream of consciousness

Ugh, sorry for the lack of posting. Not only do I have a million string art orders, but wedding season is starting up, so I've had multiple save the dates I've been working on. 

And let us not forget football season. 

Auburn just had 2 home games in a row, and it just about killed me. There are FOUR in a row at the end of the season. Pretending to be a college kid is fun, but I've gotten to where I need about 2 extra days to recover.. Not to mention the fact that it takes a couple of days away from projects when I'm out of town. I brought some boards, nails, and string with me to Auburn this past weekend, which is laughable because WE ALL know it just sat in the car the entire time. We have an off weekend coming up this weekend which means I'll be hanging out with my string art the. entire. time. 

I went to Auburn on Thursday night last week. I was not going to get caught in traffic on Friday, so I took the day off work. I was talking to roomie Katie before I left, and she was talking about getting the new iPhone 5. When she asked me if I was thinking about getting it, I said: well this one has to survive this football season before I get the new one..

Famous. last. words.  

Gah, I should've knocked on wood. I was taking pictures of Samford Hall while walking back to my sister's house and I dropped it on the sidewalk. Ol' swearing Herring came out in full force. How could Sammy do this to me?!? (Sammy is what I call Samford Hall for those who aren't aware). I was so mad. I've had this sucker over a year and was so proud of my non-cracked screen. 

At least it still works. I have a screen protector on there that's holding the shards of glass together.

(Note: I have so many emails because I get my work email on my phone. And I wasn't about to go through them all so I left them.. Also, I don't check voicemails.)

Can you see that the screen saver is my niecey pup, Possum? She is a nut.

Saturday was game day, and it was packed. It took forever to get inside, and I was terrified I would miss the eagle flying. 

But I didn't! I was there just in time. I practically ran up the ramp. 

I had a feeling all day that we were gonna win. It's the same feeling I got when we beat #2 Florida back in 2007.

Sadly we did not win. BUT we played better than we have all year. When you hold the #2 team in the county (LSU) to a 12-10 game, you KNOW you're improving. Watch out, everybody else! 

On Sunday, we had a yard work day at my sister's house.. it was miserable. Below Binky was being a vegas feather dancer with the branches.

Three swearing Herring's yelling at each other. Can you imagine?! hahaha I am dying laughing as I write this. Mom kept crazily ripping the branches down, cutting me, Binky, and Colby (bink's roommate) with minimal cuss-age from us. But when Binky accidentally cut something too soon and it whipped mom in the face, you would've thought you had just poured water on the wicked witch of the west. Now I'm not comparing my ma to a witch, but the instant screeching reaction was priceless. 

Look at that big pile of sticks! 

Have I mentioned on the bloggie that Binky is walking again? She still has the nickname Little Moe with the Gimpy Leg, but at least she can get around now! Sadly, she can't wear heels, but it's real nice for me to wear them and be her height. HA! 

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Did y'all catch that elusive post I made about the mysterious glasses? Turns out it WAS my roommate's boyfriend. He had brought them in here to clean for his friend that was waiting out in the car, and accidentally left them in the sink. Why the friend didn't notice he didn't bring them back is strange, but I'm super relieved someone hasn't been hiding out somewhere in the house!

Case closed! 

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Did I mention I'm going to be in ANOTHER art show?! It's called Art & Music on the Green, and it's here in Hoover (basically Birmingham). There's another wine/beer tasting event at the same time called Uncorked on the Green. It takes place Saturday Oct. 13, and guess what?

They are getting me to do the poster and tshirt design! I just sent the lady the proofs, but I want y'all to see the one I hope she picks: 

Yes, you read that right. FREE ADMISSION! There's gonna be beer and wine tastings, y'all! I'm super excited! 

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Have y'all seen this video? It's called Hot Cheetos and Takis, and it's sung by these kids, and it is hilarious! It's so funny to me for them to be singing about snacks.

Let's be honest, if I had to rap, it would probably be about snacks too. 

finally a W and a birthday!

Yesterday was one of my very best friend's birthday! My dear sweet Katie is a few months younger than me, so welcome to 27, my friend! You may have recalled me talking about Katie before on the bloggie. We have been friends since kindergarden and are currently roomies! How many people out there have known your bff for 22 years? This is what she had to say about old age: You know you're getting old when you have to buy 2 boxes of candles. Haha! 

I love being in charge of decorating the cake, so of course this year was no different. A few days ago I saw something on Pinterest I knew I had to try..

Gum lettering! 

It looks pretty neat in real life! I used the ever classic bubble tape.

I just eyeballed the length of the letters and cut the bubble tape with scissors. Since the icing was a little thick, I had to carve into it with a knife just a little bit before sticking the gum into it. Pretty nifty, eh?! The only complaint I would have is that the bubble tape is a little flimsy, so some of it didn't stand completely straight. I think sticks of gum would work well (I believe they are just a bit thicker). Anyhow, HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE! 

In weekend news...

My sweet baby Auburn Tigers finally won a game. I've only been alive for one other season where we started 0-2, so it was quite a relief to pull this one off, especially since ULM had just beat a ranked Arkansas the week before.

I didn't take pictures during the game, but it was HOT in the stadium. Like I had to get out of the sun and sit under the shade hot. Here's Binky, Caroline, and I after the game. 

pic via Binky 

I did get to take some shots of my favorite place later on in the evening.

It was full of toilet paper! EEEE! 

Tons of it everywhere around my poor poisoned trees..

These night time pictures are a bit deceiving of the state of the trees. I found this one below that my mom shared on Facebook. Isn't it just the saddest thing? I think they were extra covered in toilet paper because it might be one of the last times people get to take part in the tradition. I fairly certain they won't be there next year.

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Many people don't understand the tradition or why these trees are so important to Auburn. I will spare y'all the novel of reasons of why/what I think, but I will say this: It's really sad when there is something you take part of with your parents and grandparents then it's destroyed so your own children and grandchildren can't experience it. 

LSU is coming up this weekend. It's gonna be tough. One of my favorite Auburn blogs, warblogle.com, wrote this hilarious article today about it, and you should check it out if you're already thinking Auburn doesn't have a chance. I'm so excited for this weekend! I can't wait for all the corndogs to arrive in Auburn! (Click here if you don't get the corn dog reference..HA!)