Upcycled Hoop Art...

I bought a shirt from Forever 21 and surprise, surprise--it shrunk;) And it didn't just do the overall normal shrinkage, oh no. It did a weird shrink up, but some how widen through the body??

Now I'm not knocking Forever 21, I buy a lot of clothes from them because they're cheap and trendy, but usually you're allowed to WASH them....

Do not wash?!? Really??? I mean come on!
Well, that loss turned into a fabulous hoop art project:)

I grabbed a seem ripper(why is this such an awful task?!?) and took the applique off.

I took the body of the tank and stretched it over the quilting hoop I had laying around. It was a little see-through, so I backed it with a white flour sack towel I also had laying around. I had this gorgeous massive blue flower that Amy made and didn't know what to do with(ummm I'll take it!!) so I decided to add it because I'm lovin' the blue yellow combo right now

and it really was massive...too massive for a lot of projects...but not this one!

I attached the flower and applique(which I decided to cut in two so I'd have "leaves")....pretty sure I did this wrong, but they stay...and that's what matters right?!

I then trimmed the excess fabric and used my trusty glue gun to glue my fingers....errr fabric to the hoop. Why is that glue so hot?! And why must it always find it's way to my finger??

I'm so happy with how it turned out! I kinda feel like somethings missing up top, but I had to resist my usual urge to add too much to it :)

So I made some art...for free!! I had all this stuff laying around, I love when that happens!

Linking up here....

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Beauty...

Aubrey asked me what my favorite animal was at the Bronx Zoo and I automatically said the giraffes. But thinking back, I'd have to say it was the peacocks. There is just something about these magnificent creatures that just speak to me. I mean, look at them!

Just looking at them, with all their intricate beauty, makes me smile and marvel at God's creation! How could an animal that beautiful just morph from some random cell, or be created from a "Big
Bang"?? I mean, come on! Only He can make something so wonderful and full of beauty!

The one question I have is why do the males get all the beauty?!? Poor, poor dowdy looking female peacocks...

Her Highness....

Aren't these shots adorable?!? LOVE when Aubrey plays dress up, for some reason it just does my heart so good to see her use her imagination and play:) She got this particular set from our Realtor in Georgia, isn't that sweet? Like I said, the Realtor gave Aubrey a little basket of goodies and these were inside, perfect timing because we were heading back home and she needed a new distraction on the way home. We all had the pleasure of wearing the jewelry, Grammie, Daddy and I, no one was left out :) She'd giggle like crazy when someone else was wearing them and then promptly demand it be put on the next person. Ahhhh bossy 3 year olds!
This shot was from the Bronx Zoo, where we went with friends for Aubrey's birthday. This along with the picture I posted the other day on the "I Wish" post are my absolute favorite! Anyway, did you know that the Zoo's free on Wednesdays?!? Well not free per-say, but suggested donation. So the whole day, gas to get there, toll road into NYC, and Zoo for two families(mine and Amy's) was 28 dollars...AND we found free parking! Woot woot! Oh the Menno in me is SO all about that! Lisa came out with her kids, all the way from CT, had a seasons pass so she got in (and all the exhibits) for free---lucky girl! Aubrey had her favorite people there and she was in her glory! Her little friend E and Maddie .... they looked so cute toddling around there so old! I have pictures of the day, but that'll have to wait until tomorrow...seems as though I'm always trying to play picture catch-up!

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In other news..... I got my new camera lens in the mail!!! Its a Pentax 50-200mm, but I like to call it a "Creeper" lens:) I'm so excited to finally have another lens to work with and it was worth saving my birthday money for! You can read about my adventure into NYC with Amy to get the lens on her blog !

In other news--part deux-- the mouse is STILL in our house! Little Houdini ate all the peanut butter off the traps we set:( Now that I'm thinking about it...did I write about the mouse before? hmmm if not, I have a mouse in my house, that I've seen scurrying around for the past few days and we've set traps and nothing. Creepy little thing scurried by my feet as I was making dinner last night! Ballsy. That's what I say. Right in broad daylight, stupid thing. I'm so DONE with this house, bugs...mice...stink bugs...it's like a third world country! Get me outta here! I was going to write about it yesterday, but decided not to because I was in an awful mood and didn't want to do an entire complaining post, cuz that's what would have happened had I started to write...bad bad bad mood for some reason...so I spared you...You're welcome ;)

Springy Boston Goodness...

Even though it's a little grey outside today, this is how I feel in my heart! Sunny, with gorgeous flowers/trees blooming. I think I could honestly live in perpetual Spring...mmmm sounds nice. And if I could live in perpetual Spring in Boston?!? Are you kidding me?? Heaven! While we were there a few weeks ago, Zach and I had a chance to go to Newbery Street for a few hours, without Aubrey, to just stroll around at our leisure and take pictures....and take pictures I did! I love that when we are not worrying about a 3 year old(that still feels weird to say!) when we're out, Zach is so relaxed with my picture taking meandering. So patient when I sit at the same magnolia tree for about 10 minutes getting every angle of their blooming goodness. What a good man ;) I can't believe how my love for photography has grown in the past months. I never thought that I'd become so addicted and obsessed! It feels like every post I do it is bursting with the results of my can't-choose-just-one-picture-so-I-post-them-all-itis! Oh well, I personally am not a fan of blogs that don't have at least one picture to accompany their post, I'm just visual like that ;) I feel like God has given me this desire and passion for photography and I'm not sure where it will lead, but I'm happy just to practice ALL THE TIME!

Speaking of photography... I bought my first lens yesterday!!! I went into the city with my best photography buddy, Amy :), and we went to B&H! Speaking of heaven! Oh man, so amazing...and intimidating! I felt like such a rookie in the midst of all those pros, but we end up talking with the guy behind the counter(who was SO helpful and just downright funny!) for almost an hour and ended up with the perfect "creeper" zoom lens for me:) I'm so excited, it's being shipped as I type and I CAN'T WAIT to get my hands on it! If you live in the NYC area, I totally recommend going there, even if you are not into photography....seriously the place is nuts and I could have just sat on a bench and watched the goings on! I could go on and on about this, but I'll stop myself there...but seriously...go! Wow...that turned into a random post!

When I Get Something In My Head... {Handmade Doll Carrier}

I'd been looking for a specific doll carrier for Aubrey for quite some time and I had only found slings. I had something in mind and was determined to find it and when I didn't(tutorial or for sale) I knew it was up to me to figure it out.

This project was about a month in the making--- I would work on it, get frustrated, leave it for a few days and get back to figuring it out....after calming down... In the end, I'm soooo happy with how it turned out! Gotta say, I'm proud of myself for not giving up on it and man there were times when I wanted to!

Aubrey enjoyed snapping it on and off:)

There are a few kinks that I need to work out on it and I'm going to make one for Aubrey's friend Maddie to see if I can figure them out.

But overall, I'm happy with it and Aubrey seems to love it too....good thing because as much as I love it, it'd be moot if she didn't;)
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I'm linking up here this week......

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