Featured

Upcycled Kid Art Garland

My parental friends tell me that one of their ongoing sources of guilt is throwing away their children’s artwork. Not that they don’t want to keep it, but, you know… quantity + storage room + 835 drawings of Dora the Explorer = a secret garbage bag that only leaves the house after bedtime. A lot of these secret garbage bags are born at the end of the school year, so I thought it might be fun to come up with a way to use those art projects for a new and exciting purpose. Also, who doesn’t love garland?

To be honest here, I decided a couple months ago that I am going to steer away from doing craft projects geared toward kids (there are enough people doing a great job with that on the internet), however, sometimes, an idea will come and I need to starch the itch! When Cindy from Skip to My Lou asked me to guest post, I thought this would be a great project for her site which is kid and adult friendly. I think I started reading Skip to My Lou since before I even had a blog, which seems like it was when dinosaurs still roamed the earth, but really, it was just when Everyone Loves Raymond was still on the air. I know – it’s easy to confuse the two.

Anyway. Right. Garland. Want to make one on your own? Check it out for yourself!

Sad Day for Flamingo Lovers

by aunt peaches 4 Comments

A group of crows in called a murder. A group of pheasants is called a bouquet. And a group of flamingos is called a flamboyance, which is strangely befitting because everyone else I know who lives in the cult of flamingo has been at least a little eccentric. Go figure. But perhaps none of us are so flamboyant as the creator of America’s favorite flamboyance, Don Featherstone. In addition to inventing the original pink plastic lawn flamingo, Don was a talented artist, industrial production designer, and general badass in the wardrobe department.

And while I have long admired Don for his innovation and a life well-lived, my biggest shout out goes to him as a husband who liked to dress up in matching outfits with his wife.

I mean…

Image Sources

Sadly, Don died yesterday, leaving his wife, his family, his friends, and millions of now-fatherless plastic lawn flamingos behind. Can the rest of us in the flamboyance carry on the tradition in his absence? I don’t know, but I’m going to do my part to pick up the slack.

You can read move about Don, his wife, and his life in flamboyance here.

Happy Monday: Goats, Trees, and Munchkinland.

by aunt peaches 4 Comments

The environmental benefit of urban goat stampedes.

Why can’t the US government’s graphic design be this cool?

The man behind Dos Equis “Most Interesting Man in the World” is actually very interesting.

Why walk a dog when you could walk a tortoise?

The eleven best art documentaries streaming on Netflix right now. (PS: I highly recommend The Art of the Steal)

Ten tricks for appearing smarter in meetings.

A real life Munchkinland.

New Ikea textiles designed by refugees living in Texas.

How can you measure income inequality from space? Trees.

Favorite Trend: Adult Coloring Books

by aunt peaches 25 Comments

“It is the childlike mind that finds the kingdom.”

I read that quote last year in an obituary for Charles Filmore, a famous grammatical linguist who devoted his life to breakdown of proper syntax. Prior to that obituary I had no idea that grammatical linguists could even get famous, but there it is. If you devote a life to the rigidness of language you might one day die and people will remember you with a quote about the rejection of rigidness in general; To think think as a child = To succeed as an adult. Interesting, no?

Anyway. All of this is a longwinded way of lending validity to one of my favorite collections: adult coloring books. No, not adults coloring kid’s books. Adult coloring books. These have been around for years but the trend has really kicked up in the last couple of seasons. And I can see why. They’re fun. They’re cheap. They’re great for coffee table candy. And they make an excellent birthday gift! One of my favorite gift ideas for adults/kids-at-heart is a humorous coloring book and a brand new box of 96 Crayola crayons tied off with a big fat bow. Not even the grouchiest left-brain adult can result the siren scent of a jumbo box of crayons.

Yesterday, my friend Heather wrote a post on adult coloring books featuring the mandala series from Wendy Piersall. Interestingly, I had lunch with Wendy a couple weeks ago and I was so engrossed – not just to see her newest mandalas, but to hear about the process of making a coloring book. I had no clue! This has put all kinds of ideas in to my head about making some coloring book pages on my own, but for now, I thought today my be a good time to share a few favorites from my collection. Adult coloring books can be super detailed, but most of my favorites are easy to color. Big. Bold. Dare I say, fat…

Not unlike the ladies of the Advanced Style coloring book, Fat Ladies in Spaaaaace: a body-positive coloring book is unapologetically awesome. It features…you guessed it: fat ladies in space. It’s like a bunch of roller derby gals took over Star Trek; a nerdtastic, sci-fi, space jam of fictional feminist icons.

My favorite from another page, “Chief Communication Officer Ulka Saiph speaks seventeen languages from across three galaxies and knows how to swear in five.”

Just Add Color: Botanicals: 30 Original Illustrations To Color, Customize, and Hang is lovely because it’s printed on thicker perforated paper so you can tear sheets out and paint them and frame the results. Weirdly, the lines are smooth and almost like block prints, so if you color or paint outside the lines it looks better, more artistic, and more interesting. There are several Just Add Color books that follow a similar formula (Folk Art Patterns, Mid-Century Modern Animals, Mid-Century Modern Patterns) that are all terrific.

Lisa Congdon, an incredible artist (if you are Instagram she is a must-follow!) has another book called 20 Ways to Draw a Tulip and 44 Other Fabulous Flowers, which is not a coloring book, but one of those basic how-to drawing quasi-instructional books that are spectacular at releasing that non-intimidating artistic side. If you can doodle, and you own this book, you can draw any flower. Look at these dandelions…

Yeah. You can totally draw those. I promise. This is a fantastic book.

Speaking of fantastic…

I know you have been waiting for this moment. The Gangsta Rap Coloring Book is here! Truth is, I bought this as a stocking stuffer for my cousin but it never made it in his stocking (Sorry Bubba!). If you have a soft spot for 90s rappers, this is the book for you. If you don’t have a soft spot for 90s rappers, that’s cool too, but lighten up. Even my cat loves 2Pac.

And, because you have been searching for that special touch for your Eazy E shrine…

Additional highlights from this genre: Bun B’s Rapper Coloring and Activity Book and The 1990s Coloring Book: All That and a Box of Crayons (Psych! Crayons Not Included). I for one would like to know when someone going to create the Dawson’s Creek coloring book. That’s going to be a money tree right there that’s what that is. Money tree.

Switching gears, this next one was a gift to me from my friend Karen. Did you even know my boyfriend Benedict has a coloring book?

Neither did I.

I know, you’re like, “He’s not your boyfriend. And he has a wife. And a baby.” and I’m like, “NOT IN MY COLORING BOOK HE DOESN’T.”

So that is what I know about that.

Adult coloring books: cathartic, creative, and way cheaper than therapy.

Happy coloring!

Fun with Faux Stained Glass

by aunt peaches 7 Comments

Stained glass is a big deal in these parts, especially the linear-prairie school of design type of stuff. It’s gorgeous. It’s expensive. It’s not-at-all weather proof, and sort of a pain to keep up. And yet, everyone loves it. Including me. So when I saw the ladies at A Beautiful Mess make a faux stained glass panel a few months back, I took note. And then my friend Kiki, who hates crafts in general, also took note of the project as something she might like for her kitchen, I said WE ARE DOING THIS. And here we are!

This all came about because she wanted to avoid fabric curtains in the kitchen, and I have to say, it does a decent job of providing privacy without blocking light. And the whole thing cost less than $20 to make. Can’t beat that.

I would encourage you to visit the original tutorial over at A Beautiful Mess for their materials and instructions, but, I will share a few pointers I picked up along the way…

*The Frame. This project will look far more custom if we had painted the actual glass in the window, or had a custom glass panel cut to size, but we were doing this for cheap and a 24″x36″ picture frame worked just fine.

*The Adhesive Strips. This is my first time working with adhesive lead strips, and even though the box says you can curve them and make shapes, I did not find them very flexible. At all. This grid pattern is a keeper.

*The Paint. In my mind, when I read the term “glass paint” I assumed it would dry like glass. Like, somehow slow-drying and self leveling. This was not the case. At all. It dries very streaky. Kiki doesn’t mind that, and I think it gives the piece some character, but it’s far from the “faux glass” look promised on the bottle. Infact, if you are doing this project on something unprecious like a frame, I would just stick to regular acrylic paints. Maybe mix in some matte medium gel to make it less opaque, but don’t waste your money on some fancy glass stuff. And, if you want it to dry with less streaks, slightly touch the wet paint with a wet sponge to give it that mottled look. Or do two thin coats. Either way, it’s not going to look like genuine glass close up, but, the overall effect is majorly nifty.

Quick. Inexpensive. And not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Happy Monday: Peonies and the Kindly Cab Driver

by aunt peaches 8 Comments

“Ways in Which I am Winning This Week”
By Aunt Peaches

1. I cleaned my couch yesterday and found 3 hairbrushes, a stuffed leprechaun, and $17.38 in cash.

2. I let a lady cut in front of me in line at Walgreens because she only had one item, and then when she proceeded to have a 15 minute/utterly fruitless argument with the clerk about said item’s sale price being twenty-two cents less, I did not grow fangs or a tail.

3. I snipped homegrown peonies from the garden, gently laid them in a basket specifically designed for such a purpose, then arranged them in a charmingly old vase (<<pronouced VAAAAS not VACE). Did they drop 50% of their petals them moment I set that vase on the table? You bet. Is it preventing me from fantasies of a career in professional flower growing and fancy flower arrangements? Not a bit.

Now. Onto happier distractions!

An interviews with the Mrs. Meyers behind Mrs. Meyer soap.

Attention all anxty 90s teenagers: Alanis Morrisette’s Jagged Little Pill turned 20 this week (!) and there is a bunch of stuff we didn’t know about it (!!!!!!)

The history of ombre.

The Magna Carta is 800 years old and now comes embroidered.

There was a woman with 17 Persian cats who changed the art world and I had never heard of her. Incredible!

43 ways you are not really helping.

Hillary Clinton’s logo has some serious graphic design mojo.

A solid reason you can feel good about eating at Chipotle (and it’s not the burrito) (but that’s pretty swell too).

“If you want to change the world, start out by making your bed.”

For everyone who got obsessed over the blue and black / gold and white dress debacle, here is the smack down color test to end the conversation.

The cab driver who took on a very special set of passengers.

The most attractive names in the world.

This gal made her own prom dress and it’s stunning.

Baked salad?

Everyone is going to the movies these days, but who needs Jurasic Park when you could have Iris Apfel? Check for a venue near you.

Easy Peasy: Tension Rod Hook Rack

by aunt peaches 9 Comments

I posted this photo on Instagram a while back and some folks commented that they were digging my Window O’ Cups, and even though this isn’t exactly “creative” territory, I thought I would share the nifty gadget I made.

Cup storage wasn’t a problem I was planning on having, but then I picked up an reveange-fueled addiction to green glass and all assumptions went out the door. These emerald punch cups are unusually common in thrift stores (I think they might have been a gas station giveaway back in the 60s), and even though I don’t drink a lot of punch or coffee, they come in handy for all sorts of stuff…and I adore the way they look. Especially when the light shines through them. For a while I was thinking about building a glass shelf across this window for all my green glassware, but it turns out glass shelves are unusually expensive and a major pain to clean. Solution: tension rod hook rack.

Yes, I have a friendly history with tension rods.

This was Super easy to make. Just get a a tension rod, add S hooks, and call it a day.

I know. Complicated, right? Even better: it’s cheap. You can get both items at Home Depot for under $10. Maybe under $5, depending on the width of your window and how many hooks you are looking for.

If you make one, the only think I recommend is that you get a squareish (<<technical term) tension rod. The oblong ones with the screw in the back. There are perfectly round tension rods that twist to size and I have found the springs in those give away after time. The ones with the screws in the back take a little more effort but they are far more sturdy and could hold a little weight. Not that these cups weigh a lot, but if you want dot hang other stuff — kitchen utensils, potholders, etc.

HEY NOW. Wouldn’t jewelry look good hanging in a window like this? Ahoy, beaded necklaces!

So that’s what I know. Yet another happy edition to my cluttered kitchen. It’ll be rainy and dreary all weekend here, which is perfect weather for cooking, so you can bet I’ll be looking out at my happy little green cups all day. Huzzah!

PS: If you are in the Chicago area this weekend and looking for something fun, consider a field trip to the Wilton tent sale going on through June 16. Wilton is known for their baking supplies, but they actually make quite a bit of standard kitchen supplies and craft materials (including Martha Stewart’s glitter line!). Everything in the tent is 70% off (sometimes more). I went last week and bought my age in rubber spatulas and cupcake liners. That’s not an exaggeration.

Happy weekend!

My Five Favorite Phone Apps

by aunt peaches 17 Comments

The other day I was in line at the bank and the guy in front of me was messing around with a map app on his phone —I asked him what it was and not only was he willing to tell me, he was excited to share. And then I found out about the app (Waze) and I got excited too! And then the two of us were excited about mapping traffic patterns together. And it was awesome. And then his mortgage guy called his name and the moment was over. End of story.

But. It occurred to me that the only way to get great recommendations on apps is ask other people and offer my favorites in return. So I’ll share mine, you feel free to share yours. Or not. I’m not a tech person, so I can’t tell you how these translate across the different smart phones or carriers, but these five have made a big difference for me and I want to talk about them. Here goes!

Dark Sky
Okay, most smartphones comes with a basic weather report that is already way more accurate than any television weatherman, but, when skies are looking ominous, or when the weatherman says today will be a “30% chance of rain in some sections” and you are like “NOT EXACTLY HELPFUL, WEATHERMAN ” Dark Sky is what you want. It maps your exact location and indicates not only if it will rain in your zip code, but when, how hard, and how long it will last. Same with snow. You also get the basic stuff like temps and a fast-loading radar (<<something I have struggled with on other weather apps). It’s also great for people who are nuts about well-designed charts. That probably means everyone. For the days you are not worried about rain or snow but still want to know what’s going on, I recommend Weather Kitty.

Evernote
Someone explained Evernote as a “digital filing cabinet” and while that is true, it does not reflect its full capacity. At all. I think of Evernote as functional/practical version of Pinterest. I store everything in here that is worth keeping, and it’s all in little piles that I can sort or sift or build whenever I want. You can store documents, emails, PDFs, calendar items, text, images…just about anything you want, !BUT!, the cool thing is that you can tag every item so it’s easy to organize and find later on. So much easier than trying to sift through desktop folders. I didn’t even use this function the first three years, but now it is saving my butt at least once a day. At least. Also, you can login to your account from any phone, tablet or computer, but it is SOOOOOOOOO much more effective than the search function on my Mac (which rarely indexes more than 50% of the total capacity – no clue why Apple doesn’t address this – and PCs aren’t much better). Evernote also has an incredible search function — not only is it able to search the text in the documents, Evernote will scan the text in images and find it for you. As someone who is self employed and has to deal with contracts all the time, this function alone is worth the effort. The free version is awesome, and the only reason I pay the yearly fee is because I upload a lot of images and there is a (more than reasonable) space limit on the free version. If you are using Evernote already but haven’t joined cult status, it’s probably because you don’t know how rad it is, in which case, this podcast might be helpful.

The Book of Awakening
This is the part where Imma get woo-woo on you. The Book of Awakening started as a traditionally printed, spiritual daybook (which changed my life and highly recommend) but now it’s also an app. The first thing I do every morning is reach for my phone and read the daily passage, usually a couple of paragraphs or less. What is it about? It’s hard to explain. But the words are beautiful. Contemplative. Easy to understand. The author is a respected poet, but this is not a poetry book at all. There is zero preaching or brow beating. I’m tempted to call it self help, but it’s more of a compass to help you see your surroundings in a different light. Is it helpful? Sure. It’s a touchstone. A guidepost. I love starting my day with it – it’s like oatmeal for the human spirit. I have purchased this book as a gift for several people, and while it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, if you are an open minded “seeking” type, you will dig it. You will dig it deep.

Camera Plus
There are oodles of great photo editing apps (shout out to Afterlight) but this is my favorite app for taking photos. It allows you to control the camera on your phone like a DSLR. You can manipulate depth of field, exposure, etc. Your regular camera app is great for daily snapshots, but when you are wanting something artsy, Camera Plus is the bomb dot com.

Songza
First there was Pandora. Then there was Spotify. Then both Pandora and Spotify crawled back in their ugly stepsister dungeon because the royal carriage rolled up and the true princess stepped forward: Songza. This is not an app, it is a lifestyle. Literally, since the day we met this spring, there has been a Songza playlist going on in the background of my house at least 5 hours a day, more like 10 or 15 on weekends. AND IT’S FREE. And you don’t even need a phone – you can listen on any computer! Why is Songza better than the others? It does not use algorithms to estimate your personal taste (a totally useless strategy for people with interesting-but-erratic taste), but hosts thousands of playlists curated by world class DJs and music lovers of every spectrum. You can search by artist or genre, but the best way is to let it guide you through based on your mood. Or just search a random word like “milkshake” or “Roger” or “cats” and see what comes up. There will probably be something rad. Explore around — it is a rabbit hole like no other. My favorite Songza playlists right now:
Winter Thaw
Mom Jean Jams
Vintage R&B Cocktail Hour
Emerging Canadian Indie
Andy Warhol’s Record Collection
80s Wedding Dance Party
Southern Soul BBQ

If you are having a party, or run a shop or restaurant and want to play some ‘mood building’ jams without having to curate a playlist, Songza is your girl.

Other apps I’m digging right now; Office Lens, IFTTT, Best Parking, Wunderlist, Field Trip, The Dirty Cursing Generator and probably a dozen more I can’t speak to at length. Do you have a favorite phone app? Tell me about it!

Leaf Print Pillowcases

by aunt peaches 11 Comments

People say Memorial Day is the beginning of summer, but in my book the season doesn’t start until the feather duvet gets yanked off the bed and swap it for a beloved, lumpy, bumpy, oil-spill-quality-absorbant-cotton, chenille blanket. Always white. Always retro. Chenille blankets are wildly impractical 9 months a year, but when they are good they are great. Only problem is I don’t do plain white anything, which usually means that June is when I get a hankering to go pillowcase shopping, which means I have an absurd amount of pattern and color dense pillowcases. This year was different. This year I made my own!

I’m not even going to tell you how easy it was to make-over a couple of thrift store pillow cases.

Okay. That’s a lie. I am going to tell you. It involves stuff I cut out of the alley behind my neighbor’s house and a secret ingredient that will change the way you think about fabric paint. Want to know the down low? Get it!

DIY Pom Pom Garland Necklace

by aunt peaches 10 Comments

I have never met a pom pom I didn’t like. Big, small, round, floppy…doesn’t matter. If it vaguely resembles a pom pom or a tassel I will be on it like white on rice. True story: I met a woman at an event a couple weeks ago who was wearing a the raddest pom pom necklace and I instantly liked her. Thing was, after ten minutes of conversation it became clear that she was actually a dirtbag, like a really awful sort of human being, but because of her necklace, I still had to like her. Isn’t that bizarre? That is the power of pom poms. That is also why I went home and made a similar DIY version for myself.

If you saw my tassel necklaces from last summer you might already know how I made this. It could not be easier. Just a little embroidery floss and some beads and BAM. It’s ready to wear!

Materials
Embroidery Floss
Beads + Twine (You can also use a readymade necklace)

Instructions

1. Cut embroidery floss in half.
2. Tie off each bundle directly down the center, secure with a knot, and snip the ends.
3. String beads to the desired length (the necklace here is 25″)
4. Tie pom poms to the strand at random intervals.

The pom pom making can be done in about 15 minutes. The hard part here is stringing the beads, especially if you are like me and chose super small beads. If anyone knows a source for buying readymade wooden bead necklaces in bulk (like Mardi Gras necklaces but wooden), holler. I scoured the internet and could not find anything that did not require stringing or re-stringing. Can you tell how lazy I am by my resistance to string beads? Listen: the struggle is real.

And there you have it, and all-season, all-occasion, Rad As All Get Out, pom pom necklace. Enjoy!

Main navigation

Featured