I love Raleigh, y'all.

Husbo had an appointment to get his tattoo finished this afternoon (more on that later) so I needed something to fill my time.  Over the past 18 months, I've been mildly obsessed with collecting Raleigh-inspired artwork.  After purchasing the world's most fetch record cabinet (why don't people say "fetch" anymore?), I finally had a wall to display my collection.  Once I hung it, I realized it needed to grow.  Five pieces isn't much of a collection.  SIX.  Six was going to be golden.  I'd seen an idea on Pinterest that I knew I could do myself...so armed with a little free time and a DVR full of stuff he hates to watch, I put on my craftin' pants and got to work.

Here's what I got:

• A piece of 1/4" thick, 6" x 12" birch plywood from Michaels: $3 (And then I used a 50% off coupon to see if the lady would judge me for being JUST that cheap.  Spoiler: she was sweet as pie.)
• A pack of 5/8" linoleum nails (needed to make sure they had enough of a head to catch some string): $2
• Hammer (Already owned.  Because I have an impressive tool collection.)
• Paint & brush (Also already owned from previous projects.  I went with a dark grey color that's currently the star of my bathroom.)
• A pen for imprinting
• White Embroidery floss (Already owned b/c I used to crossstich as a young girl.  I dare you to laugh.)
• A map of North Carolina.  I used this one.

Total cost of project: $5.  Factor in my billing rate of $450 an hour, and you've got yourself a $630 piece of art.

Here's what I did:
1. Paint the board.  I did this in the morning so it would have plenty of time to dry.  We did a little Yoga for Golfers and ran a few errands before official "alone" time ensued. 

2.  Once Husbo was officially gone, it was time to get real.  No turning back now. I cut the map of NC to fit my board and then centered it to where I wanted it to be.  Here's where the pen comes in.  Because the wood was relatively soft, I was able to trace the outline of the map with some heavy pressure and leave an imprint on the painted surface.

It might be hard to see but squint really hard.  Or just pretend.  Whatever.

3.  Next came the step where I thought I might hammer my own head out of frustration.  I hammered the nails to follow the shape of the imprint I had left, as well as a small heart over the area where Ruff Raleigh resides (hello, alliteration).  Easy, right?  Well let's just say, short nails + big hammer + thin wood= all kinds of wonky.  



Seriously, I had to think back and think if I had downed a giant margarita before this project b/c it would appear as though a drunk person had taken a crack at my beautiful art project.   I was frustrated.  I was distraught.  I looked up at the TV and wondered WWSLD?  (What would Stacy London do?) 

Inspired by my style icon, and being the stubborn person I am...I refused to go out and buy a smaller hammer, OR throw in the towel all together.  So I grabbed a pair of small pliers to hold the nails (rather than using my fingers) and was able to better control the direction in which they were being hammered.

BOOM!

4.  The hard part was done.  It was the home stretch.  So I grabbed some embroidery thread, divided the 6 threads into (2) sets of 3 and started stringing. 

String and knot.  String and knot.  Listen to Clinton and Stacy's witty banter.  String and knot.  Until finally...

 She was done.



All that was left was to hang her next to the rest of the gang.  I think she's pretty amazeballs.

Is it weird that I love Raleigh even more now?  I don't even care...I love this place, y'all.