Friday's Fancies #13: Team Spirit

When I originally wrote this post we had just made it to the sweet 16...aaaaaaaaaaand now we just lost. Good thing I sound peppy from writing it before...

This week {av} encouraged us to center our Friday's Fancies around our favorite team for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. As I've mentioned multiple times before, Michael and I graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.  I don't ever dress up for sporting events- give me a big jersey or a sweatshirt and I'm good to go! In general, since the main UW sports are football (outside in cold WI fall) and hockey (in a chilly arena)- everyone is bundled up to watch the games anyway! 

Funny story actually:  For the 2011 Rosebowl a few of us road-tripped out to Pasadena to see the Badgers play TCU. Everyone was wearing goofy, ridiculous outfits, with every speck of red we could find. Huge beaded necklaces, face paint, I even bedazzled some white keds (shown below). The funny thing was the TCU fans were dressed to the NINES. The guys were wearing chinos with tucked in oxfords, and the ladies were wearing silky purple dresses with pearls and heels. Our HUGE tailgate was a massive party (80 cases of beer and 13+ handles of  booze with 110 people) across from a classy, dry TCU tailgate. They were drinking Starbucks and wheatgrass. I kid you not. At. A. Football. Game. BLASPHEMY!!

I digress, you get the picture.

With all the fun colored jeans out there, I am totally getting a pair of red ones for the upcoming UW Band concert in April...my outfit will go a little like this:

Any other Badger fans out there sad as can be today?

(psst, make sure to head over to {long distance loving} for more gameday getups!

DIY Chevron Stockings

Project of the day:

As I mentioned in a recent post, I was raised celebrating Hanukkah with my parents, and thus have been adding Hanukkah decorations around the apartment (including a sweet garland my parents sent us recently!). Michael grew up celebrating Christmas- so of course we have decorations up for both holidays.

I've always thought stockings were such a cute idea, but had never had one until last Christmas when Michael's ridiculously thoughtful mother Lorie let me in on the tradition and had a penguin stocking out for me! (If you haven't figured out the love for penguins yet: yes, I am 23 an love penguins like a 5 year old. I've come to terms with it)

We have the gorgeous ledges on our brick wall that I thought would be perfect for stocking hanging. I loved these two:

(source HERE)

(source HERE)

So I decided to combine them. I grabbed 2 white stockings from the dollar store and sketched out a big chevron pattern:

With some cheap acrylic paint I filled in the pattern. (Started with grey but ended up going to a turquoise)

While the paint was drying I took the $0.25 wooden letters I bought from Michaels' Crafts and simply painted them white, sprinkled with white glitter, and mod podged over to seal it all!

Here's how the stockings looked after the paint dried:

When the letters were dried I took them and two snowflake ornaments I got last year at Target on super-clearance and simply sewed them on...

A few nails later they were hung on one of the ledges...

What do you think? Do they look more chevron or Charlie Brown? Either way, they make a great addition to our holiday decor- can't wait to have them filled!!

Tape Art

In case you haven't caught on by the 23948230 times I've mentioned it, we have too much white space goin' on in our apartment. The huge walls are overwhelming, so I decided to start with the little nook under the stairs by our dining room table. I found this picture on Pinterest and decided to turn it into a triptych!

All you need for this craft is:

3 canvases (I used 16" by 20")
Painter's tape
1 small paintbrush
Acrylic paint

Step 1: Lay out your canvases side by side.

 Step 2: Begin randomly laying strips of tape across the three canvases, making sure to keep the canvases tightly together.

 It'll seem like a lot of blue space from the tape- but the more crossing lines the better!

 Once your canvases look like a Rhianna-inspired bondage outfit, you know you've done it right!

 Step 3: Begin to paint your base color over the tape (I mixed up a light grey- super bold, I know)

 Leave a few triangles out to be filled in with your accent color. (I filled mine in with a medium grey-blue)

 Step 4: Give the paint a minute or two to set, and then take off the tape to reveal your lovely pattern. Wait until the paint is fully dry and then fix any errors/paint leaking under the tape.

 Step 5: Hang a few inches apart (juuust close enough to see that the lines are meant to connect), and enjoy!

I got the canvases and paint on sale from Michael's - so these three all together cost about $6. Plus, if we get sick of the design, or I suddenly decide to be exciting and use brighter colors, I can just paint the canvases all over in white and start again! (or wrap them to look like gifts for the holidays...)

Halloween

So, as you saw here, I've been working hard to make the new place a little more homey by adding Halloween decorations. Now, this is a little difficult since we don't have tables or anything- and Michael is limiting my spending at craft stores (which I guess is smart so I can pay rent...). Here's a look at a few of our Halloween touches:

A few of the many supplies: Wooden skeleton,  acrylic white paint, mini pumpkins, and Martha Stewart glitter (my love).

Mr. Skellington to start

After layer 1 of white paint

After layer 2 and a little glitter

With the addition of a glitter glove- Yes, we did make him a Michael Jackson skeleton. We blame it on the Madlibs we did on the car ride in....

MJ Skellington hung by the window- glitter glove and fedora...

Next came the pumpkins- some I painted plain white and left- the rest I smothered in glitter

Silver, black, and orange glitter!

Glitter pumpkins along the window sills

Lining the kitchen counter with some orange and white candies.

With the Badgerized pumpkin and a few skeletons..

Glitter skeletons!

Mini skeletons hanging from the stairs

And of course, I jumped on the banner bandwagon...

The full shebang!

 The best thing about Halloween is how much I love candy corn and how much Michael hates it. This means any and all candy corn I bring in is mine! ALL MINE!

More soon,
xo