d.i.y. adventures in birch bark.

This past weekend I went on a short camping trip with my dad out to West Hawk Lake in the Whiteshell.  We usually try and get out there at least once a summer and it's really nice to be outside and on the water.  Fall seems to come so much faster out there, all the poplar trees were already turning yellow and every morning when I woke up it smelled clean and crisp like October mornings.

I love being out in the Whiteshell because of all the trees, going for walks in the forest/ Manitoba escarpment and especially collecting all the birch bark that has started to peel off the tree trunks - on it's own of course!  I have always loved birch bark.  It's a little weird.  I think it's because of how papery and smooth it is.  I always imagined writing letters on it when I was little.

I found a few good pieces over the weekend and brought them home with the intent of doing....something....with them.  I didn't feel like just pinning them up on my wall, they needed something a little bit more...plus I really wanted to try writing on it.  Turns out its a pretty good writing surface...and an even better material for embroidery!  The bark is more brittle than cloth but it's super soft and punctures easily with an embroidery needle.  I chose some words from one of my favourite She & Him songs and a few little green star flowers, just to try it it out.  It made me excited for all kinds of other embroidered bark projects, I think another camping trip is in order!

Have a happy rest of your week, I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a very great day! xo, T.

d.i.y. embroidered locket.

June continues to be sunny and wonderful, which is completely awesome and makes life so much happier!  This little craft project is one that I whipped up one rainy evening before the sun decided to come back.  It was super quick and easy, I've had this locket for ages but couldn't figure out what to put in it.  I decided to add some embroidered sweetness, I find hanging little pictures of people around your neck a little odd anyways.

All you need is an old locket, some muslin [or any white cotton fabric for that matter], a needle and embroidery thread.  A wooden hoop to pull the fabric tight in helps a lot but isn't necessary.  First I popped out the two thin, oval metal rings inside the locket [used to hold pictures in place], and traced them onto the fabric in pencil.  Then I lightly sketched out my design, put the fabric in the hoop and stitched away using a back stitch.  You could experiment with all kinds of stitches and thread thicknesses [sometimes I used all six strands for a thicker line, like on the heart, sometimes I just used three] to come up with all kinds of lovely designs!  I think this would make a super sweet, simple gift.

Also, since I've had more of a chance to work on blog entries I've also had more posts, which has made me decide that it is most likely getting pretty annoying having the bloglovin' links continually pop up on facebook. So, although that is the main way people connect to the blog I think I shall stop that for a while. Instead, you can subscribe to posts with bloglovin' [link on right], rss feed [link at bottom of page] or you can simply bookmark it and check back throughout the week! What do you think?

I hope you have the best week! xo.