Wreath Interpretaions: A holiday outing

I'm always looking for holiday activities that will keep me out of Times Square and Rockefeller Center. I saw "Wreath Interpretations" listed in Time Out New York and gave my fiance a lunch date on our advent calendar. I wasn't sure what the Arsenal Gallery was and was pleasantly surprised to be lead to a building right before the Central Park Zoo. It is the offices of Park and Recreation with wreaths hung up on the third floor. It isn't shiny and it feels like a hole in the wall type place. But the lobby has amazing murals and the place is charming (esp. if you watch Parks and Recreation).

I've been obsessed with wreaths so this was the perfect thing to see. Some of the wreaths are inspiring and some are just plain strange. It is open until Jan. 6th and it takes 30 minutes MAX to look at the wreaths. Could be a fun and low key New Year's adventure!


Here is one of my favorites!

Checkout the Parks Dept. Website for more info.

Carried away

I got just a teensy bit crazy today with making things. Yesterday I got the futon that's on my big to do list here and some pillows and a throw which should have been on the list, but weren't. Anyway, they are both lovely and cozy and set up in my guest room/office/dog nursery (the dog nursery part is a joke, but don't tell Parsley that). The new furnishings really help the room feel welcoming, but the walls are still pretty barren. So, I got three cheap frames and an old wildflower field guide. Color pages were ripped from the book (please color photocopy; ripping a book feels like such a sin) and tossed into frames. It was something, but not quite enough.

So I made this.

How? I took a photo of Parsley that I snapped in the dog park yesterday.

Cropped it to highlight her pretty doggy head.

Turned it black and white, upped the contrast and balance to the extreme.

Printed it, cut it out, and filled in any leftover white bits with black Sharpie (my favorite crafty tool). Then I simply slapped the cut-out onto a plain old piece of printer paper and put it in an 8 1/2 x 11 frame.

Viola!

Easy as pie! Speaking of pie, I also baked tonight, prowled Craigslist for dining chairs, found said chairs exactly one block from my apartment, bought and lugged the chairs home, and finally cut up the feller's old t-shirt and made his Christmas stocking.

I know. It's a lot. I'm just as impressed as [I sincerely hope] you are. But if you'll excuse me, I have a dog to walk.

-Bea