@Friends' - Blue planter finds a happy new home

Towards the end of summer/early autumn I went on a little plant-gifting and reorganizing spree.  Hoarding is not something I want to do, unless it is with local honey, because honey doesn't go bad, it is delicious, and has reputed antibacterial properties, they use it on turtles at the aquarium that come in with cuts..... Wait, what was I writing about? The awesome power of honey? No, no, plants, plants! Bring it back to earth. Right. In an effort to weed out my collection* I started foisting plants and plant pots on to my willing (or so they seemed) friends under the guise of 'gifts.'

One of these friends, 'Lady K,' was over while I was in the middle of a plant-splitting and re-potting session.  Just to set the scene, any re-potting session usually involves me sitting on the kitchen floor, surrounded by a mini-jungle, dirt in both bags and open piles, planters piled up within arms reach, all the while holding a knife and staring intently at root balls and rhizomes.  It is actually very satisfying, afterwards I feel like a plant surgeon. Lady K, who was there to see her boyfriend, not me, casually mentioned that she was looking to expand her plant collection and before you could say boo! I had wrapped up some Sansevieria trifasciata cuttings, placed them in a large blue pot, and told her how happy they would be to grow under her care.  And I was right, again.  She recently sent me a picture of the plant in its new home.

So be careful what you casually mention in the presence of a freestyler, you just might find yourself the recipient of the perfect item for your home / office / wardrobe, for free!

P.S. Without plants where would be no honey, so make your world a bee-friendly place.

*pun intended

Orange you glad to freestyle me?

When it comes to framing pictures I don't consider myself to be limited by tradition.  Let me clarify, I love an ornate carved wooden gold leaf frame as much as the next person, but if you want hot pink metal for your modern art, go wild.  Despite this design-sense liberality I had never sought out orange colored frames, much less orange plastic.  Confession, I did not take this small orange frame when I saw it at le dump this summer, I just didn't see it fitting on the blue or cream colored walls anywhere.  Creative Roommate snagged it when she accompanied me at a later date, and I'm glad she did.  Orange and blue are complementary colors, a good thing to remember.

Small and brightly colored? Sounds like a songbird, and that is just what she painted to fit inside.

Moth noms!

Songbirds, yes, but they are eating instead of singing, it is for the kitchen after all.

Happy freestyling, and don't be afraid of orange, after all 2012 is the year of Tangerine Tango. Enjoy it.

We all *softly* scream for FREE ice cream

Don't get all icked out from reading the title of this post, I did not find free ice cream on the sidewalk. I just had to use the sidewalk to get to the happy place known as Toscanini's, on the last Friday of October.  As part of the Green Streets Initiative participating Cambridge merchants given discounts or special perks to people who commute car free.   All you have to do is check in and follow the prompts to get the QR code that you can then show to redeem your discounts.

I had to walk to the T and take it to school and back that day, because my bike had been stolen the night before. :(  Actually it was boyfriend's bike & lock that I have been using, he wasn't upset, but still.  Sadness. I looked around in disbelief for a bit, then decided I might as well take a walk since it was sunny and I needed a study break.

Did the free cardamom-and-pistachio ice cream restore my faith in humanity?  Can happiness be found in a micro-scoop of Kulfi (aka kuhlfee) goodness?  Yes.

So on the next Friday of the month, get out of your car, and then claim your reward, hopefully a delicious delicious reward.  Happy freestyling.

Fabric-covered cork board

I saw a simple cork-board at le dump earlier this fall, and I passed it by. Yup. Walked right by, didn't think I would want it, headed straight for the other shelves.  Silly me.  While I was conversing with the on-site recycling specialist he pointed out that there were actually TWO cork boards available, one large unframed board, and a smaller one framed in wood. So, ok, I took the small one.  I didn't take a before picture, imagine a bulletin board made of cork, then imagine one with an unpainted, unstained wooden frame around it. There you go.

At first I thought I would paint the frame, then I decided to go all out girly and cover it with fabric to make it into a jewelry holder. Cue fabric-hunting music.  A trip to the local Goodwill led me to two linen skirts, one salmon pink, the other black.  ~$2.50 each, and I think I even used my student discount.  Here they are drying after a vigorous wash.

buy, wash, craft!

Then the spray paint got involved.....

not quite what I had in mind

 ...but it turned out to be not quite the shade I had envisioned. Too reddish, not old gold enough, you disappoint me spray paint can [head shaking side to side slowly].  Not one to give up on this frame I thought I could simulate the look of bronze by going over the gold with black permanent marker. Don't judge, I was using what I had on hand.

can permanent marker fix this mess?

At some point I realized that in order to wrap the cork properly I would need to disassemble the frame and remove the work board.  

if you squint it sort of looks like bronze, promise.

Here is the frame, in all its permanent-markered glory, after I pried it open to get the cork out. Hmmm, still kind of ugly, especially up close.  After coming to a place of acceptance regarding the ugliness of the frame color I decided to spray paint the whole frame white. Even that was a chore, it took multiple coats and I finally stopped when I achieve some color I'll call... driftwood (said in a breathy mystical voice accompanied by an expansive hand gesture).

Wrapping the corkboard with the salmon pink linen was pretty straightforward. I wanted to have the decorative seam running diagonal across the board, so there were a few strategic drops of super-glue on the front in order to secure it before I started to pull and staple on the back.

Here is a close-up of the seam detail near the top left corner.

seam detail from the original skirt

I found these decorative push-pins with hooks at my local hardware store, they were probably the most expensive part of this project since I bought 3 packs (3 pins/pack).

After the re-assembly and addition of hanging hardware my new jewelry display was ready for the wall.

 The salmon pink fabric is not quiiiite a perfect fit against the blue walls, but it works for now.  What color combos you would have chosen for the freestyle project?