DIY: Milk Maid Braids

So yesterday was yet another beautiful wedding, I cannot wait to share pictures of all these beautiful events with you. I swear someday I will catch up!

But for now I have a fun little how to for you! One of my very favorite summer hairstyles is milk maid braids, not only are they so nice with the heat but they are also super simple.

Last week my cousin Becca Boo stayed over a few nights, she pretty much the best hair ever.

I asked if she would be my little blog model, she agreed:)

Basically all you need is a comb, lots of bobby pins, and hairspray if you want it.

first, part the hair down the middle.

next, braid each side.

after that, just wrap the braid around the top of your head and bobby pin them to death.

(you can also hair spray it at this point if you'd like but I know some people are not so fond that)

Becca's hair was awesome to do because it is so long that it made more of a braided crown then milk maid braids, which looked beautifulll on her.

Yippie for my pretty baby cousin! I always love our time together!

more later, xo

j

ps. Sally if you read this you should know that Greg continually refers to these as the "Sally Murphy Braids" :)

First Friday.

Whew. Well, the madness continues but I am so excited to share all the recent happenings.

Today I got in my car and drove to Jersey for yet another wedding, which is in Philly and should be most excellent. But this week has been full of happy things, spending some solid quality time with my best friend Danny while he was in town and helping transform a coffee shop into a magical world.

A month or so ago a friend of mine, Ben, asked me to participate in our city's First Friday event at Joe Bean Coffee Roasters. This is where every first friday of the month local artists set up new exhibits in coffee shops and galleries that stay up for that entire month. I was pretty hesitant in accepting, trying to assure Ben that I did not paint, or do anything to be considered "art" enough to hang on a wall. He told me the theme was "The Last Days of Summer" and they really wanted it to be childlike and imaginative and I decided that was something I could definitely handle. I met with Kathy (who is phenomenal) and we totally synced with this idea that people have forgotten how to play and really experience things. Whether toys or coffee, we agreed people have become more spectators to life than actually getting in enjoying it being apart of it.

I set up all yesterday with the help of my good friend Pete Lake, who I pretty much owe my life to for sticking it out with me. The boys were SUPER helpful with everything, I am really grateful for them.

It was pretty late and dark when I left, I wanted to see everything with the sunshine coming in so I stopped in there this morning before my drive.

It makes me smile! I also hung butterflies throughout Joe Bean and they look like their flying with the fans on:) but my favorite hanging things were...

yup swinggggs!

My friend Meg was working and she made me a delish treat and told me she felt like she was working in a magical world. My heart felt super happy.

I was sad I couldn't be there for the opening, but I hope everyone enjoyed it even though it was not real art.

hope you all have splendid weekend ahead of you, LOTS more updates on the way.

xo j

hearts and happiness.

So as I have already told you I have been crazy busy. Not only with traveling, house sitting, and numerous weddings, but crafting because yesterday was

Hearts and Crafts♥

I am going to be honest that I am not entirely sure how I pulled it off. After I got home from Jersey and Connecticut I went right into five days of dog sitting and finally made it back home. When I got home I had about 3 days of non stop sewing and prepping because I could not do my usual stay up the whole night before ritual (because I had yet another wedding) I had to just get up that day and go. I was basically hitting rock bottom at 6am the morning of just from complete body exhaustion but lets be honest I have the best support system of humans ever.

So we got there and set up and it was a complete flow of my loved ones all day to come look at pretty things and support me. I am so thankful to them.

The day was full of happiness. My dear friend Lisa also surprised me with a little gift that deserves its own post because I find it so lovely. We also did a trade and I got some of her new cards, yippieee!

I am so lucky to be apart of something so amazing that Rochester has to offer. I am excited for a fall/winter show. ekks!

I have one more big upcoming project that I cannot wait to share with you, then I am traveling yet again this week for another wedding. Maybe after summer my life will slow down (haha) I can dream right?

xo j

And it was just like the sun.

A few months ago two dear friends approached me about making some little lovies for thier wedding. I felt honored and super happy to be able to be able to do anything for them really.

(credit)

Are they a beautiful couple or what?

They had shared with me that they did not want traditional cake toppers they wanted me to make wedding dolls to sit on the cake table. Though I had never made a wedding set before I was honestly MORE than thrilled.

I honestly couldn't have been happier with the outcome.

I also made some new tags, I pretty much love them.

The wedding was this past weekend, look how sweet they looked on the table!

Ekkkk! I have soooo much more to share from this wedding. I promise to do so, all I can say is love and beauty were seeping through every square inch of this day.

xo j

don't go quite yet.

HELLO MY LOVES!!!

It has been farrrr too long, if I could even explain to you what my last few weeks have looked like, you would probably get tired just listening to me. And its not over yet, a few more big events and happy things and then we will back on our regular schedule.

Another huge factor in me not blogging is for weeks is my camera charger has been completely MIA since camping and I have been shooting all film until the past week when it finally resurfaced. And as much as I adore film, it was incredibly hard to keep up and I am more than thrilled to have my camera back for such an amazing weekend.

Since I have no real idea where to start, I decided I most likely will not share sequentially (I hope that is okay). I just am excited about this past weekend so I need to get that out of my system:)

So here goes.. get ready for lots up updates.

It may be a busy life but it is sure a beautiful one!

xo j