Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy!

1680×1050 HERE

1600×1200 HERE

Kelly, along with her co-host Claudia from Lashes and Beard laid out the details HERE and HERE.  Basically, you get matched up with a fellow blogger, swap emails a few times and scour each others Pinterest boards then whip up a fun package for them.

My Snail Mail pal is Lysha from Magnolia Mom.

Here’s a peak of what I sent to Lysha.  You can see more details on her blog post HERE.

And now for the fun part… what I received!!!

Everything is my box screamed SUMMER LOVIN’!  From goodies for my Project Life, pinwheel straws, a new insulated cup filled with lemonade and tea drink mixes, jelly bellys (my FAVORITE), chip clips, nail polish (that made me stop in my tracks to paint my nails) and candles that I can’t wait to use up!

If I had to summarize this swap in one word it would be:

Thanks again, Lysha!!!!

Check out what other folks sent and received HERE.

Here’s to catching up!

Adding another year to my age.

Babying my bad ankle.

Celebrating lots of ladies in my life through Mother’s Day and birthdays.

Drinking specialty green birthday cocktails.

Eating loads of goodies off the grill.

Finishing my surveyor stand lamp at long last.

Grateful for weekends full with family and friends.

Happy to watch my baby cousins first dance recital.

Immersed in my microns and sketch book.

Jumping up and down over visiting the building big dreams are made of.

Knitting a red cabled slouch hat that reminds me of the one from Elizabethtown.

Loving the life being brought back into downtown Melbourne.

Marveling at the summer sunset.

Noticing hibiscus exploding everywhere.

Obsessing over my new silverware organizers.

Planting lots of veggies, herbs, flowers, and succulents.

Questioning my use of time and goal/habit strategy for 2013.

Relieved to finally paint my office.

Sewing runners for a birthday dinner.

Trying Thai iced tea for the first time.

Uncorking lots of cheat moscato.

Using all my organization/discipline skills to get my work projects back in line.

Visiting with my mom for an overdue girls’ weekend.

Watching The Good Wife and The Glades.

X-ing off parts of big house goals like the office and yard.

Yielding to the reality of my physical limits.

Zooming through days at an alarming speed.

How was your May?

A week or so ago, I was organizing my fabric stash and in the “I’ll do something with this someday” pile, I found this:

What is it, you may ask?  Well, a million years ago, I started a purse for someone or other.  I had knit this in the round and closed off the bottom with a double bind-off… then it sat in a drawer.

This time, as I tackled the “I’ll do something with it one day” pile with enthusiasm to purge, I finally had an idea.  Naturally, I stopped the presses, grabbed some white yarn and a needle and got to work, completely disregarding the half sorted piles surrounding me.

Before I knew it, the pillow was speaking to me… and I was in love.

I did a simple mattress stitch along the already sealed bottom, for decoration’s sake, then sewed up the top, pausing before closing the last few inches in order to stuff the pillow then finished off the top edge.

Voila!  Say hello to the cutest little pillow to ever meet my couch!

saying I have freaking

awesome friends.

Period.

Back in March, my friends Lynn and James, along with my then roomie, Christine, tackled an unimaginable amount of “to do” from my run on project list in what I like to refer to as a “Warrior Weekend”.  I never cease to be amazed with the amount of progress that can be made with the right people!

Within five hours on a Sunday, we (with 99.5% of the credit going to James) accomplished the following:

Swapped out all the outlets and switches in the master bedroom from bisque (die bisque die!) to white.

Patched holes left over from a long-gone towel rack.

Whipped out a raised bed garden frame.

Frames out the master bathroom mirror.

Oh yeah…

and we built a dinning room table from scratch…

no biggie.

Now, it all still needs a bit of work, caulk here, paint there, but I’m stoked!

I can’t wait for the next

WARRIOR WEEKEND!

1. TV free “T” days – that’s Tuesday and Thursday just in case you needed clarification.  I’m a TV addict.  I’ll admit it.  I justify the time waste by knitting or processing photos so TV time isn’t exactly unproductive but I get so much more done when it’s completely off… and usually, I have more fun!

2. Give myself a break – we are our own worst critics.  I set unrealistic expectations for myself as a norm.  I plan to work on gaining some perspective, with a little help from my friends, and be a little more gracious with myself.

3. Do something creative every single day – anything.  This includes 5-minute “make something out of office supplies” creative challenges amongst Skype buddies in the middle of the afternoon on a Tuesday.

What are some habits you are trying to develop?  Any projects on your radar?

FIRST PERSON TO COMMENT GETS A FREE 30-DAY AD!!!!

(yes, that’s right… I’m bribing you!  Be the first to share a post from OneThreadThatWinds and get two-months free.  That’s what reading the fine print gets you!)

Nothing outside the box technique-wise this week. 

Although I do have a nice stash of cards from the Cherry Edition of the Project Life Kit thanks to my awesome friend Lynn.  That’s her in the bottom corner… she’ll probably kill me for this screen shot but this is how we work for now, conquering the world one brainstorm at a time, via Skype.

I finally sprung for the  Poulain Camera Rubber Stamp from Plaid Barn.  I’m a nerd for packaging and this camera tag that came with the stamp HAD to be included!

I love the little moments that end up in here like working from my front porch in a perfect breeze and the shopping scores for my new little nephew.  Those are Cherry cards in the middle… yummy sherbet colors for summer days!

The highlight of the week was celebrating Dustin’s birthday.  We started with a ridiculous meal at Prato then capped the night off at the Wine Room.  I loved the menu, printed daily, so much that I let it take up 4 pockets.  I am terrible at getting people pictures… I totally neglected my super fun friends, Kathy and Z, from My Urban Pantry.  They blogged about the grub HERE.

I stinking love this project!  I know, I’m a broken record but it makes me SO happy!

Here’s a little bit of sunshine in honor of my favorite month!

1680×1050 HERE

1600×1200 HERE

Anticipating: a full weekend of friend time and projects.

Booking: my flight to Vermont in June.

Changing: big chunks of my novel in draft two.

Drinking: decaf blueberry coffee.

Eating: kelp noodles.

Feeling: tired and inspired.

Grateful: for extraordinary provision.

Happy: I finally sprung for Adobe Cloud.

Ignoring: the voice in my head that says it will never happen.

Jumping: into a huge project full of unknowns.

Knitting: another endless blanket.

Listening: to ZZ Ward, Mumford… and Technotronic (don’t judge).

Making: final touches to my bedroom redo.

Noticing: my clothes fitting better after 6 weeks.

Optimizing: every free moment.

Practicing: my French accent.

Quizzing: my brain over at lumosity.com.

Ready: to start painting cabinets.

Satisfying: my carb cravings with brown rice pasta.

Thinking: about the next storyline on the horizon.

Using: washi tape like it’s going out of style.

Visiting: old friends and new ones.  

Working: on new products for the Etsy shop.

X-ing: unrealistic expectations off my to do list.

Yielding: to my doodling cravings.

Zooming: through a re-read of all seven Harry Potters.

Here’s the before:

Now, you got to see a preview of the wall color and one DIY art project HERE.  Next up has everything to do with this fun fabric that I snatched up on clearance ages ago, with no project in mind.  I love the colors… and even more, I love coffee!

After the bedroom began to take shape, it became pretty obvious that the bed needed some more color.  The brown leather throw pillows were too close in color to the head board so I decided to give them a new look.  I started by taking the cases off the existing pillows to get the measurements I needed for the new cases.

Width-wise, the fabric was the perfect dimension to leave on the selvage and just fold in half so I only needed to sew up the long sides and hem the opening.

I went back and forth between zippers and buttons for closures, but in the end, I opted for simple ribbon ties.

I just pinned them were I wanted them then sewed away, going back and forth a couple times to make sure they’re good and secure.   Singe the ends of the ribbons a bit if you want to make sure you don’t end up with fringe.

And there you have it!   Voila!  Literally a 10 minute project.

And here they are in the natural surroundings… that middle pillow is now screaming out for a new outfit.

What’s your vote?  Color? Solid? Pattern?  Fur of some kind?  Help!