March Favorites 🫘

March makes me want to get way ahead of myself because we’re so so close to escaping winter and just being spring.

There are lots of ginkgo trees in my neighborhood and one of my favorite things is seeing the teeny tiny baby ginkgo leaves starting to come in— I can’t explain what it does to my brain but it’s incredible and everyone needs to see it.

Here’s what else is on my mind:

✹ Ren Faire

There’s a Ren Faire here in PA that I’ve been wanting to go and experience! I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make it this year because it’s right in the middle of busy summer plans, but I love the idea of making a costume or thrifting clothing I can style into something a little medieval. For some reason, I’m convinced I could throw together a corset with my baby sewing skills lol.

✹ Sewing Spring/Summer Clothes

A running theme that will probably keep coming up until I scratch that itch is sewing— specifically sewing my own spring & summer clothes. I really want to make some wrap skirts, the Syd Graham Lane pants/shorts, and tank top dresses. Super flowy, breezy items to wear on hot days and add to my closet. [See: Studio to Closet— Behind the Make of My Wardrobe Project 🌱]

✹ Spring/Summer Accessories

Besides sewing, I also want to create custom pieces to go along with my spring/summer outfits like: hand-painted kerchiefs, flower straps, charm bracelets/necklaces, bag charms, an embroidered sun hat, scrunchies, etc.

✹ Container Gardening!

I want to grow things! It’s the time of year I start thinking about growing flowers + veggies.

Every year, I start a small garden, only to neglect it by getting too busy with life or traveling during a heat wave that knocks everything out. I seem to be successful at starting, but not always maintaining, especially when everything is in a container and needs a little more attention. We shall see.

✹ Ribbon Garlands

In my wedding decor journey, I’ve been looking for a way to drape flowers over the chairs for our ceremony. Fresh floral arrangements are outside our scope, so I’ve been turning to alternatives like ribbon garlands.

There’s this amazing artist who makes full tutorials on how to make ribbon leis— she’s been instrumental. She goes by Momslittlethings on Youtube.

Update: The garlands are in process! Wedding Updates + Flower Garlands 🌱

✹ Water Soluble Graphite

I love experimenting with new art mediums (or old ones that I haven’t picked up in forever). And I’ve been wishing I could play around with water soluble graphite. It’s got such a film grain quality to the way to looks on paper. And I like the simplicity of using one source to create a spectrum of values to paint with.

It reminds me of when I had to make all these ink pieces in my college art classes using ink and water to create a range of washed out tones. I don’t have water soluble graphite on hand, but I suppose I could break out a tube of watercolor or gouache and try something similar in my sketchbook sans the grain look.

✹ Craft as a form of resistance & figuring out what that actually means

I’m drawn to craft & creation on a daily basis, but I’m especially feeling the need to create with more purpose in times like these. I keep finding myself procrastinating other things in order to self-soothe with creativity. And I’ve been searching for better words to understand what I’m feeling around craft as catharsis, as agency, as solidarity, as resistance. But I don’t think slow craft as an isolated act is the whole definition of these things.