After painting a few rooms, I enlisted the help of my dad for the first big project I wanted to learn how to do in our new home - HANG WALLPAPER!

In the 80s, my dad single-handedly wallpapered 70% of our childhood home. His level of precision is incredible. A real measure-three-times-and-cut-once kind of perfectionism that he ultimately passed along to me. I knew this wallpaper project would take us some time, even in a small laundry room. We wouldn’t cut any corners.

The project began and immediately ended on our first attempt when my dad learned I only ordered one roll of wallpaper for an entire room (hilarious rookie mistake). After ordering three more rolls, we rescheduled and got to work. Our 100+ year old house tested us with no plum corners, but we finished in a few hours!

It was a great learning experience, and an awesome first project to do with my dad <3

In 2019, we bought our first home! Located in the historic West End neighborhood of Southwest Atlanta, we joined a gorgeous area with deep roots in the Atlanta community. Our house was built in 1920 and it was renovated prior to our purchase … but that won’t stop me from adding my own touch in every room! We can’t wait to get started!

As an avid art zine collector, my brother wanted simple magazine racks to display his favorite publications in his living room. His design aesthetic at the time was colorful, so I created simple shelves that let the playful magazine covers double as art on the wall. The shelves were made from pine 1x4s, 1x2s, wood glue, wood filler, and flathead silver nails. To finish the project, the shelves were sealed in a clear polyurethane to maintain the natural color of the wood. Merry Christmas, Tim!

It's twins!

When my brother and his wife Abbi found out that they were pregnant with 2 little baby girls, she asked me if I would make one of my wall hangings for the new nursery. Duh, dream request! She shared her inspo photos with me, including the room's future color story and the plans for playful decorations - we covered all the charming whimsy that often details a baby's first bedroom.

Abbi and Mark settled on a precious aqua, pink and grey palette, and I went to work on the wall hanging. As with all the others that I have made before, I waited until I looped all the yarn to decide what the shape of the hanging would be, and then trimmed the yarn at the very end of the craft process.

My gift was supposed to be completed and presented at the baby shower, but wasn't completely finished until the week of the planned c-section! I gave them the hanging the night before Abbi went into the hospital - just in time to welcome home Penny & Harley Lampe, my new nieces!

professional family photo taken by @chrissynoelphotography

photo taken by proud mama @abbilampe

In the hot Atlanta heat of a July afternoon, I cohosted a baby shower for my brother and sister-in-law. They were pregnant with TWIN GIRLS, which was incredibly exciting since their pregnancy journey was difficult, and also exciting because my brothers are twins as well! 

I cohosted the shower, and we divided out decorations responsibilities. I volunteered to create a large balloon archway for photos and as a large decoration on the deck in the backyard. You can find various tutorials online, but I primarily worked from this excellent one from the website The House That Lars Built.

The hardest thing to problem solve was how to make an arch structure in the wide opening at the top of the deck stairway (the online tutorial linked above was for a more organic shape). I found an 8ft PVC pipe at Home Depot that allowed for enough bend for a curved archway, and wouldn't snap. I inserted 2 4ft dowels into the ends of the PVC to give me some structure that I could attach to the deck stairway with zip ties. 

Lastly, the one thing that I wished I could have done differently was start earlier -- filling a structure this large with balloons was incredibly time consuming, and I would have liked to have made it a fuller display with more time (I invested about 5-6 hours total on the installation, and had most of the balloons already blown up prior to installation). Also, that hot Atlanta heat caused many of the balloons to deflate to about 1/3 of their size by the end of the shower, which is also good to know in hot temperatures!

Overall, I was so happy that I could create a statement that my brother and sister-in-law loved as part of their shower. Shout out to the Oh Happy Day party shop, which sells some of the most beautiful, durable balloons available, and in all the best color assortments. I love this source for party supplies! 

MATERIALS:  ARCHWAY FRAMEWORK -  1/2" PVC pipe, wooden dowels (must fit inside PVC), zip ties (and decorative ribbon to cover the zip ties for presentation), chicken wire, and clear packing tape. BALLOON DECORATIONS - assorted balloons in different colors and sizes (Oh Happy Day and Amazon), handheld balloon pump, low temp glue gun and glue sticks, and thin silver wire

(all throwback posts feature projects I did years ago, but have stuck with me as favorites)

It's never easy to talk about a loss of a friend or family member, but sharing about the death of someone close has always been therapeutic for me. I was close with my mom's oldest brother for my entire life, and he was particularly similar to my mom -- which I always loved to acknowledge when they were together. In 2010 my uncle Jim passed away after losing his battle with brain cancer, and the effect of his loss was incredibly impactful on my mom's family.

My grief sparked a creative energy in me that I used for healing soon after the funeral. I traveled back home to NJ from Columbus, Ohio with a large handful of flowers from the funeral. I dried and pressed the flower petals, and started thinking of a commemorative way to use them.

Once the petals were ready, I put a small handful into little favor bags that I bought at Michaels. I used other various scrapbooking/craft supplies from Michaels to make the details of a commemorative plaque. I made about 8 matching plaques in remembrance of Jim, and gave them to our immediate family. 

My uncle was a huge Beatles fan, so each gift was stamped from a lyric from one of his favorite songs: 

"TAKE A SAD SONG AND MAKE IT BETTER"  -THE BEATLES

As part of the bridal shower that I co-hosted for my friend Heather (see previous post), I handmade a guest book for the occasion. With our Pie & DIY theme, the guest book was our star DIY element.

I designed the book so that each guest could share 1 recipe and 1 note of sentiment or advice for Heather, and a photo of themselves. All of this was part of the fun we had during the shower, and provided the guests with another way to socialize and meet each other. 

The pages are accordion bound using paper tape (I actually prefer medical tape for this), and I used book cloth to assemble the hard cover. I drew and cut out a diamond ring "die-cut" for the cover page. Once all the love letters and fun photos were added, I actually needed a leather tie to hold the book closed -- it was exploding with well wishes for Heather in her new married life!  

MATERIALS:  book cloth (purchased from Binders), assorted decorative paper (purchased from Michaels and Binders), paper medical tape, X-Acto knife and tons of extra blades, bookbinding adhesive (archival grade), recipe cards (purchased from CloudsandCurrents on Etsy), houndstooth note cards (purchased from Chaos By Design on Etsy), and a Fuji Instax camera and film 

In the Fall of 2015, my best friend Heather got married. Before the big day, her mother, her aunt and I hosted a bridal shower at her aunt's house in beautiful rural Pennsylvania.

Let’s start by saying I am a huge fan of a theme for any shower event.

Heather's mom and I settled on a Pie & DIY theme for our ladies' luncheon (see next post for the DIY portion of the party). The menu was quiche and a dessert table filled with homemade Pennsylvania pies, whoopee pies and pie pops. All of the decorations were geometric and made from paper to pay homage to the location where Heather got engaged (we were taking a paper origami class when her then-boyfriend proposed). 

My mom and I made all of the paper garland that I hung in the cabin above the tables. We used die cut punches to make various geometric shapes, and then we used a sewing machine to connect all the shapes together into garland. It was really special for me to have my mom involved in the shower prep, and I loved making the garland together.

For years, Heather has referred to me as the creative director of her life, and her shower was no different. After months of editing and finessing every detail, I made sure that the final touches checked in with her playful side. I added candy and toys to the party in the last weeks.

I've loved Heather for 9 long, incredible years, and her shower was one of my favorite ways I've ever been able to extend my love to her. Cheers to the future Mrs. Santana! 

DECORATIONS: handmade sewn paper garland, paper honeycombs and tissue paper fans (Oh Happy Day)  TABLETOP: aluminum pie containers (Amazon), mint and foil paper plates (Bash Party Goods), floral paper napkins (Oh Happy Day), wooden utensil sets (PG Supply Co) HUMOR:  felted pie set (Felt Food Truck), champagne with rock candy, and Looney Tunes toys.

Thank you to Julie McMahon for taking most of the stunning photos below!

In the Fall of 2016, UO opened a new store in the beautiful city of Athens, Georgia. I was very fortunate to get to work with the Events team from Home Office to help organize an oversized opening party at Creature Comforts Brewery. Nearly all of the details were solidified by the events team, but I got the opportunity to go to the party and bring a few of my direct reports to help with the setup. 

Once we arrived at the brewery, our team was responsible for adding our branding to the stage where Unknown Mortal Orchestra was performing later that night (!!!). We also added balloons and string lights outside Creature Comforts for the party. Inside the brewery, I directed the setup for the Dreamers and Doers Marketplace event. The vendors, who were all local artisans that UO invited to sell their goods during the event (UO takes no profits -- all money made goes directly back to the artists). I directed the fixture and branding placement, and added flowers throughout to brighten the marketplace.  

Most of the photos below were taken by Ian Abineri, and the Events coordinator of the entire event was Meaghan Creamer. However, I really did enjoy the small role I was allowed to serve in the success of this amazing opening event! 

The second time that Jessie at Ramble Supply Company asked me to work with her, she gave me creative control over the direction of her monthly artist event with Nail Yeah. As I mentioned in my previous Ramble Supply post, Jessie has a kickoff party every month on Raleigh's First Friday. For June's event, she booked the amazing Crystal of Nail Yeah to do 30 minute manicures during the event, and had a bartender serving craft cocktails with White Whale mixers. 

My idea for the event was to create an environment where Crystal and her manicures/customers naturally became the spotlight in the room. So I decided on a black light/dark room party! We covered all the walls in the gallery with black craft paper and drew Ramble's branding decals on the walls with chalk. With the help of Jessie, Crystal and a few friends, we painted all the decals with white paint so they would pop under black light. 

My strategy was to set Crystal's table up centered on the main wall of the gallery, and have her working under one powerful spotlight for her manicures. With all the lights off and the glowing decals, Crystal really became the highlight of the party! Jessie supplied serious tunes and glow sticks for her customers and we celebrated the June kick off with delicious White Whale cocktails! 

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check out Jessie's shop on Instagram @RAMBLESUPPLYCO and see all of Crystal's amazing nail art on Instagram @NAILYEAH

My good friend Melissa had seen my oversized wall hanging in my house and mentioned how much she would also like to have one. I stored that little note in my head for a few months leading up to her bridal shower where I made her this hanging as a gift. It is another large hanging on a 4ft wooden dowel, but I used thicker yarn this time. I also made the pop color in the center a red/scarlet/burgundy color since that was the central color for her wedding ceremony. Hey, not every gift has to come off a registry ... 

Last winter I was fortunate to meet this amazingly talented small business owner Jessie, who had recently opened the coolest new boutique in downtown Raleigh -- Ramble Supply Company. Jessie had a great customer engagement model where she would host one local artist from the Raleigh-Durham area every month in her store, and kick off the monthly featured artist series during First Friday with an event. And then at some point during each artist's focus month, the artist would also host a workshop or demonstration in the store to present their creativity and share it with the community. Jessie was really making a difference in the creative growth in Raleigh, and I was super grateful for her new friendship. 

I felt really honored when Jessie wanted to partner together on an upcoming event for the quilt artist Kelly Kye. She gave me creative freedom to curate the Kye + Hardy installation in the gallery in her boutique. I focused on creating 2 horizon lines from which all the art was placed, and I took a symmetrical approach to hanging all of Kelly's art. The Kye + Hardy quilts are remarkable, handmade and high quality. It was truly a pleasure working with Jessie and Kelly on the installation! 

In the final 2 photos below I included pictures from Kelly's artist workshop -- she taught us how to make potholder designs using a folded fabric quilting technique!

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check out Jessie's shop on Instagram @RAMBLESUPPLYCO and see Kelly's involvement in the Raleigh community @KYEANDHARDY

In January I visited friends and family in the LA area. I arrived with a long list of swoon-worthy boutiques that I had been lusting after on Instagram, and a plan to visit them all. The edit and curation in each of these stores was so on point, and my shopping experiences gave me some serious inspiration for opening my own shop one day. Below is the list of the shops I visited, as well as some pretty goodies I couldn't go home without ...

• GENERAL STORE (my favorite!)  /  Venice  /  ceramic container with cork lid, shibori handkerchief & potholder

• INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY STORE  /  Atwater Village, LA /  clay ring & Mary Meyer candle

• MIXED BUSINESS LA  /  Silverlake  /  stunning drop-crotch linen pants and a black cape dress (not pictured)

• SPITFIRE GIRL  /  Melrose  /  sassy matches 

• MELROSE FLEA MARKET  /  Melrose  /  no purchases, but ran into an ex-boyfriend from high school in New Jersey! 

After I finished my first wall hanging, I decided that the next one would not be so large and time consuming. I started experimenting with thicker materials and different ways to hang the yarn. Most of what I have seen on Etsy and on blogs show yarn hanging from a dowel, copper pipe, or stick -- but I liked the idea of combining my love for vintage home goods with the yarn. After digging around on Etsy, I found a few vintage double pants hangers! So I played around with creating a layered hanging, with one row of shorter yarn hanging in front of another longer layer behind.

I cut some balsa wood down to the same size as the wooden hanger supports, and I tied the yarn to them. Each balsa and yarn insert was then wedged inside each clip, and nailed firmly together. The hanger was a perfect way to create a wall hanging that felt a little more original than similar decor being sold online!  

After a dramatic transition moving from up North down to the Southeast, so many of the people on my team were amazingly welcoming. For the holidays I wanted to create a handmade gift for all of my direct reports, and show them back some of the love I had felt for my first 7 months working with them! 

As part of their weekly responsibilities, they style and outfit forms in new apparel almost daily. We rely on our t-pins, but they are always a pain (literally) to carry around. So, I designed custom name badges for the merchandisers that would also hold their t-pins (and look a little more stylish!). The first image below is how many merchandisers used to carry around their pins, and the last photos are the 2 options I made as gifts: 5 badges in genuine leather and 3 in faux leather for my vegans! 

MATERIALS:  plastic badge protectors (aka the old UO badge sleeves)  //  genuine and faux leather samples  //  waxed thread for leather  //  x-acto knife and tons of extra blades!  //  leather awl tool  // waxed thread for leather  //  bookbinding awl  //  hammer

When I hit the ground in full creative mode last fall (and I finally locked myself into making progress on my SquareSpace account), I realized that the logo I had originally designed for my 'brand' didn't feel at all like my identity.  I wanted the logo to represent what I do, and less represent a mark about my name. The first slide in the images features some of my original trial designs, and the hanger/speed square design in my website banner is the final logo!

A short back story: I had originally imagined this final logo design as a tattoo! Let me explain ... when I first started working for UO some of the really seasoned visual team legends (aka the "cool kids") had this group tattoo of a screw and a t-pin, representing their common merchandising and display identity. I thought it was the coolest. I so badly wanted that same tattoo, BUT it was a moment in time, a signature for a certain "band of brothers." Later on in my career I thought about what the current version of that tattoo would be, and for me, it was a hanger and a triangle speed square. Voila!

I got completely carried away with the size of this project -- doing my first wall hanging with a 4ft long dowel was a little aggressive, and the longest string hangs nearly 5ft long! BUT, I love the oversized scale, and it completely filled up an empty wall in my house. DIY projects that have steps that must be monotonously repeated are sometimes my favorite, they really are kind of therapeutic ... 

MATERIALS:  4ft wooden dowel  //  various yarns  //  drill  //  leather cord  //  metal needlework hoop

Pulaski Lake, Wisconsin -- my most favorite place to enjoy the Summer sun. My grandparents own 2 cottages on the lake and I have visited almost every summer since I was born. The skies tell a different story every day; each sunrise and sunset brings a new mood. This is this summer's best ...

"A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature.

It is earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature."  

- Henry David Thoreau

In May 2014 I accepted an exciting new position with my company, yay! However, it required me to relocate to Raleigh, NC -- yikes! While I was excited for the culture change, my roots had been planted in the Northeast for years, as were my friends! And so, the month of June became my tour of goodbyes.

While I like to refrain from filling my blog with too many personal photos, I couldn't resist dedicating this one post to all my friends who made a point to spend time with me in June before I moved. From the goodbye parties, dinners at my favorite restaurants, sweet indulgences, gracious gifts and group tattoos ... I felt the love.

Thanks, friends! I miss you already xo 

(you know who you are! Andrew, Heather, Nika, Alyssa, Joe, Kassie, Kim, Megan, Dan, Sam, Danny, Nic, Alex, and Sierra) 

(all throwback posts feature projects I did years ago, but have stuck with me as favorites)

r e a l   t a l k ... this was the most effort I ever put into submitting an application and portfolio for a job. But, I was applying for my dream job working for David Stark Design and I needed to impress them. Let's rewind to Summer 2011 and the time I built a box to mail my portfolio and resume to Brooklyn for their open position. 

the good news: the lead designer called me when they received my application/box and I got an interview

the bad news: I didn't take my fun application box back home with me after the interview (they even offered!)

the worse news: I didn't get the job and was basically devastated 

In hindsight, I can imagine how young I must have appeared interviewing in such an established, renowned design agency. AND, I'm sure some of my youth translated into a desperation to work for their company (which isn't always cute). However, I was still so proud of myself for putting all of my energy behind my application and interview preparation for the few weeks leading up to the studio visit. I knew it was a big deal to even get that callback. 

APPLICATION BOX MATERIALS:  1/2" plywood  //  door hinges  //  tape measure "pull"  //  hand bound portfolio book (museum board cover and digitally printed pages assembled accordion style)  

(and David Stark, I'd move back to NYC in a minute to work for you if you're ever interested in talking again!)