All About That Base

Grab those peanuts and Cracker Jacks baby, because it’s BASEBALL SEASON!!!

In my city, opening day is pretty much considered a holiday. There are fireworks, parties, a parade, and even some celebrity sightings! This year Mr. OxyClean himself, Anthony Sullivan, was among the honored parade guests.  

On a baseball-scale of “have we made a touchdown yet??” to “I have a Yankees tattoo on my leg!!”…I consider myself to be a solid 6. Since my husband is such a fan, going to a game is a great way for us to spend time together while doing something he loves. I also truly enjoy the atmosphere of the ballpark. Everyone is so excited, and the comradery of the crowd all supporting the same team is intoxicating (as are the yummy adult beverages we usually down before the game starts).

Although my “baseball high” usually fizzles out around the bottom of the third inning, one thing I never lose interest in is the merchandise! I don’t know what it is, but the combo of a sports logo, paired with an adorable design gets me EVERY time.

Seriously, just take my money.

So if you’re more concerned about what you’ll strut at the stadium than who actually wins, visit Strong Is Our Sexy and find 10 accessories to help you get your game on! Who says supporting your favorite team has to be drab?

Head over to Strong Is Our Sexy and click the links for all of these World Series worthy baseball finds.

So who’s ready to play ball??!!! Let’s storm the mound, swing for the fences, and get ourselves ready for a whole new season of men in baseball pants!

Go sports! Do the thing and score the points!!!

I Seriously Nailed this Gift

Last week was Eric's Birthday. 

I know everyone always complains about how their spouse is "Soo hard to buy for!" but seriously, anytime Eric wants something, he goes on Amazon and orders it himself. Sometimes he tells me, sometime he lets it be a surprise and I just find packages sitting at our doorstep. 

Usually it's the latter. 

Lately though these impromptu arrivals have had a theme, and that theme is; Deck Out the Man Cave. 

Yes I called it the MAN CAVE 

Sigh... 

He's won. Whatever.

Luckily! I keep a running Pinterest board of ideas for gifts to give people, especially gifts for Eric. I was inspired by the nail and string art by THIS SHOP on Etsy, and it reminded me of a glorified version of an art project we used to do in elementary school. So I figured it couldn't be that hard, and thought I'd give it a try myself.  

First I picked up one of the 2''x2'' pre-cut boards they have at Menards and painted it white. 

After coming up with my Cincinnati Red's design (see above/ MAN CAVE theme), I printed it out and taped it to my board so I knew where to nail my nails. I tried to evenly space them about a half inch apart, and keep their heights consistent.

Hammering nails is strangely therapeutic. 

Once my outline was complete, I tied some red string to one of the nails and simply started wrapping it around haphazardly. 

There really wasn't a rhyme or reason as to how I wrapped the string, I just tried to evenly cover the space and make sure I used every nail. 

And here is the final result! 

When Eric saw it he thought I'd ordered it online! Then when I told him it was handmade by his lovely wife, his next question was "wait...how?". 

Pshhs, like this woman couldn't handle some lumber and a bit of hammering. :) 

I love that this easy technique has seemingly endless possibilities how it could be applied. Below are a few examples I found online of different string art applications:

How adorable is this version of the state design! I like how the two different colors of string give more variation, and kind of blend together where the states overlap. (source)

I'm not even sure if this piece uses string at all, but it totally doesn't need it. The nails are so close together they create an incredible line for the type. This would be stunning at a wedding. (source)

This use of the negative space is fantastic. The geometric pattern the string creates is so edgy and modern. (source)

And speaking of negative space! Can you even FATHOM how long this took!!?? Makes me dizzy just thinking about it. Such an incredible statement. If you have the patience to complete this, I bow down to you. (source)

Does anyone else remember making art like this in school? I totally am going to do something else with all of the nails I still have leftover, plus I have string from my rattan chair makeover! Maybe a giant "W" somewhere in the backyard? We do have a fence that I could pound into...hmmmm.