seasonal swap

After spending a few gluttonous days with family and friends in Upstate New York for Thanksgiving, my husband and I returned to the city for a quiet weekend at the apartment. While some may be spending their Black Friday and subsequent weekend shopping, I decided to take inventory of what I already own - and can barely fit - in my tiny closet by swapping my seasonal wardrobes. 

After living in NYC for 8 years, I'm no longer a novice at "the swap" and decided to add one more layer of OCD to my routine: p-touch labels to the outside of the stowaway boxes. This will help in the ensuing months when I've forgotten what box has what in it and need to dig into them for lighter weight pants or sandals, but am not yet ready for the next full-on swap. 

It took me about 2 hours in total, which is a time commitment considering I wasn't swapping for a family of five, but the payoffs are worth it. I like having some wiggle room in my drawers and enough hangers for all my clothes. Not to mention the clarity it brings in these dark, cold, wee winter hours of the morning, when a turquoise and lime green tunic is just not going to fly come 9am at the office.

Here are the supplies I found that helped me:

- Clear Storage Boxes by Container Store // I measured the bottom of my closet, checked the sizes online, and requested them to be ready at the store for me when I arrived. I used (2) of the "Our Jumbo Box" size. These are reasonably priced but note that they aren't air-tight.

- P-Touch Label Maker by Brother // I have nice handwriting, so this was an appliance I thought was completely useless until I caved and bought one for labeling my file folders. Now I prefer how easy these labels are to read compared to my handwriting, although I still like handwriting notes.

Now that I've said goodbye to my summer palette for real, I'm welcoming my cozy winter bolds and will be taking a trip to Good Will with those items I know I didn't wear last year, or the year before, or the year before that... I'm sure you all feel warm and fuzzy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Summer Camp *friendship bracelets

With just three last official days left of summer join me in denying that it's really over, with one more summer craft project from my Maine excursion, before inevitably deciding on your halloween costume and consuming large amounts of pumpkin candles.

You don't have to be a certain age to wear friendship bracelets. In fact, the older I get, the more I appreciate a great true-blue and am ever more ready to sport this age old tradition of the wrist, even if that means pushing corporate casual boundaries. Start by making this Chevron Style bracelet and you'll be able to downgrade to the Single Angled Row easily.

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 {DIY Friendship Bracelet}

Materials Needed: 

// \\ Embroidery Floss // \\ Scissors // \\ Heavy Card Stock or Chip Board // \\ Friend // \\

• Embroidery Floss is available at any craft store, just pick your colors. I suggest 3 - 10, the more colors you have the wider it will be. Also, the more colors you have the longer your threads need to be before starting. 
• There's no science behind how long to make your threads before cutting, I would start with about 72" in length, then fold it in half and tie a knot - so that your strings are each 36", you have a loop at the end and two of each color.
• Cut a 1" Slit at the top center of a piece of chip board (could be the back of a notepad) Tape your loop and knot behind this, leaving your strings dangling in the front. 
• Cut several more 1" Slits along the bottom of the chip board about 1/2" apart - you want more slits than you have strings so as you work you continuously have a place to secure your string.  
• Arrange your strings according to how you want them to show up in your bracelet. The ones along the outer edges will end up meeting up in the center, so alternating these gives a variegated effect (as I've done in the photos) 

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 {Step One}

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 {Step Two}

• Now that your ready to start, here are a few tips: You're always going to start on the Outside and work towards the inside and you'll essentially be making (2) knots on each string using the string that you have picked up. 
• Pick up the first string and start the 1st knot... Create a sort of "4" going over the string your about to tie a knot on, then going under, and then back up through the loop you just made. 
• Pull that string up and through and viola! You've made your first knot!  Now you'll just be repeating that twice on all strings until you get to the center...

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{Step Three}

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 {Step Four}

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 {Step Five}

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 {Step Six}

• Then start on the other side, again, working from the outside in...

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{Last Steps} 

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 (finally}

• Each round makes one set of stripes on your bracelet, so you just have to keep going - perfect for a long car ride!

I wish you luck on your friendship bracelet making, let me know if you need clarification with any of these steps by posting a comment! 

Shark Week!

This post is dedicated to Shark Week: for inspiring the pirate in us all and the movie Sharknado.  

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 {a handmade card is such an easy alternative to the grocery store offering}

In lieu of flying to Texas during my friend's 8th month of pregnancy to decorate the nursery for her, I pinned pirate themed ideas to my pinterest board and mailed her a gift box full of the cutest pirate themed items I could find... 

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 {Pirate Booty}

Here's what I included: 

1. Scull and Crossbone Hand-knit Baby Booties via Etsy here (the woman was super nice and even included an eye patch)
2. Hooded Shark Towel via Target here
3. Pirate Bathtub Squirters via Target here
4. Pirate Nap Book (about learning colors) via Target here
5. A couple brightly striped outfits found at Target and Old Navy...
6. And a bag of my favorite snack for the Mama, Pirate Booty!

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{Treasure Box made out of a plain white mailing box drawn with markers to look like faux wood grain} 

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 {tiny booties}

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{my pirate box ready to ship - I used black tissue paper + skipped formal wrapping paper}

She picked a pirate themed nursery based off of the bedding she had selected, but I could imagine this working for many other baby room themes: farm animals, the alphabet or flowers for a baby girl?

Sometimes you just can't be everywhere you would like to be, mailing a care package makes the distance more bearable. Seeing a picture of little Luke two months later in his eyepatch wasn't bad either...

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{Baby Luke as Blackbeard Baby "Shiver me timbers!"}