I'm Surrounded by Yo-Yo's

I have always adored vintage hand-sewn yo-yo's.  Something about their simplicity has me mesmerized and slightly obsessed.  While I have really been trying to be a good girl and focus on just getting the kitchen completed, my attention as of late has been drawn to the need for an entryway rug.  I haven't beaten myself up too much about my diversion because in fact I have been in desperate need of an entryway rug and every time I try to find one, there is some reason to not get it.  Early one morning (a 2am epiphany) the idea to make a yo-yo rug grabbed hold of me.  As I was contemplating this idea, I realized that I had some mismatched sheets that were blue and white stripes that would go perfectly in my entryway.  The next day I began tracing out the 2" diameter circles onto the sheet and spent hours cutting out the circles.  I am now forever sewing yo-yo's.  To break up the monotony I have also been doing some small projects to finish out the kitchen but I will save those pictures for later...  Here is what I have sewn of my rug thus far....

Here are the circles I have remaining...

I have not sewn yo-yo's in forever and forgot how much they cinch up.  In hindsight I would have done bigger circles so that I would not have to make as many but I am still loving the results.  What has been inspiring you lately?  I would love to hear about it....

Oh! As many know, I LOVE Tracy Porter.  As it turns out, she has been doing some giveaways on her site and I thought I might share the opportunity with you.  Just go here http://blog.tracyporter.com/more-tracy-porter/worldly-scavengers-treasure-giveaway and leave a comment and we can cross our fingers and toes together!

Flight of the Bumble Bee...

No, I am not talking about the orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.  I am actually referring to my next decorating adventure taking place in the kitchen.  I have some areas that consist of faux-tile that i decided not to tear out but instead painted over them.  After several months of looking at the tiles I decided that despite my fears I needed to add something more.  See the before....

I was afraid that with everything else that I have going on in the kitchen, adding another design would be too much.  I am glad that I took the risk and put my Cricut to use.  I looked through my cartridges and realized that I had a beautiful bee pattern on my Sentimentals cartridge.  I grabbed the black vinyl that came with my Cricut and started on my newest adventure. Here are the results so far...

I am still working on getting the effect I want for the upper portion of the wall but all in all I am pleased with the results the vinyl bees have added to the tiles.  All I need is to make a quick trip to my local Michaels to purchase some more vinyl.
Happy Decorating!