Make Your Own Nature Tapestry!

If you follow me, or anybody, on Pinterest, you'll know that wall hangings are huge right now. Weaving is such a cool and technological art and can be done super inexpensively, like here. I made this tapestry last weekend when we were out camping for Joel's birthday, and I was even able to bring it and hang it on the wall at home, and the best part- I didn't have to buy an expensive loom, I used just nails and the ground to create the framework for this wall hanging.

SUPPLIES:

For this project, all you need is a couple common camping supplies, and a bunch of random stuff you find in nature. I went on a hike to gather supplies, it's basically a crafting workout when you mix exercise in. Bring on the bikinis!

• Nails, or spikes
• String (I used rainbow hemp that my awesome friend brought)
• Random materials from nature- Bark, moss, marking tape (that I found on the ground), sticks, etc.
• Two strong sticks that are around the same length, but longer than the finished width of your tapestry.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Create a rectangle in the ground the size you want your finished tapestry to be.

2. Put an even number of nails along the top and the bottom.

3. Starting at the top left edge, wrap the string around the nail a couple times, and then down to the mirrored nail at the bottom, and up to the second nail, all the way to the last nail. Wrap around the last nail a couple times to stabilize.

4. Weave the two strong sticks into the string, one at the top of the tapestry, and one at the bottom. Over the first string, under the second, over the third, etc.

5. Fill out all the strings with the random materials you found on your hike. Make sure you are weaving your materials in on opposite strings. If your first item started on top of the first string, then your second item must under the first string, and then your third has to start on top again, and repeat.

6. When it's all filled in and you're satisfied with how it looks, take the two ends of your string that you wrapped around the nails, and tie them around the top strong stick.

7. Tie a hanger string to the top strong stick.

8. Carefully slide all the strings off of the nails.

9. Adjust the strings until it all fills out naturally, and voila! You're very own super personalized and unique memoir, nature wall hanging tapestry!

Any cool camping crafts you've tried and loved? I'm all about painting rocks and Joel loves finding the perfect stick and carving it and embellishing it until it's perfect. I'm also thinking I wanna master a nature wind chime before the summer is over! 

Hope you try this out, and hey, if random nature isn't your thing, feel free to use fabric or yarn or wool roving instead. Weaving is one of those crafts that make people really impressed, it's a good trick ;)

XO_BITS

PS
This is BITS' 100th post! Thanks for reading along and keeping me inspired! Can't wait to see where the next 100 posts take me! 

Monday Musings: So We Went Camping

Joel's birthday was on June 1st, and as per tradition, we went camping!

We went to Weaver Lake this time around. It's an amazing little piece of Paradise tucked into the Fraser Valley perfect for a relaxed weekend away with friends. I finally got to use the fabric bunting I made last year, and I gotta say, really brought the festive vibe up a couple notches. 

If you wanna make your own, I made a tutorial last year, or if you're short on time there are tons of etsy shops that sell cute varieties.The weather cooperated and it was warm enough for shorts, but not too hot that we yearned for AC. There was no wifi or running water, and it was hella refeshing to just chill in the woods for a little while. 

 We made some super delicious meals, and a bunch of perfect coffee. The logs floating all over our section of the lake were taken as a challenge and we spent our weekend trying to make it to the last logs, and to improve our circuit time. It was actually super fun, and I'll have you know, I made it right to the end. Thanks to some help from a certain cutie birthday gentlemen. ;)

 We hiked around the perimeter of the lake and found some super beautiful serene creek/bridge combos straight outta a Japanese Zen garden, and also saw some pretty intimidating bugs. There was an otter (muskrat?) slithering around in the lake and so many red-headed woodpeckers and Robins.

I even managed to get my camp craft on with a nature tapestry! A couple of spikes into the dirt made my loom, rainbow hemp string made my warp and materials gathered from nature made the weft. I managed to pack it home too, and now it's chilling on my living room wall. A camping wall hanging- such a great souvenir for such a great trip!

 There were whittling adventures and late night glow stick parties, raspberry-orange jello shots and gigantic bubbles blown into existence by the wind. Overall it was the perfect weekend away.

I'm thankful for so many amazing and creative friends, life would be much more dull and uninspired without your shining faces. And to my brilliant other half, a very, very happy 25th birthday. It's only up from here!

XO_BITS

A huge thanks to @ehodgson_08 and @tamara675 for taking most of these beautiful photos. 

Monday Musings: Winter Birthday Camping

It was one of our best friends birthdays this past week. Last year his birthday fell on moving week  and was too hectic of a time for a party and this year we had to miss his celebrations as they were being held the same day as my little sisters. To make up for it we teamed up with his wife (also a best friend) to take him on an awesome one-night camping trip in the woods.

Joel and I found the campsite accidentally last weekend while we were exploring some logging roads (which we commonly do to avoid boredom). It's actually an old Boy Scouts camp that has been abandoned and fallen into ruin. It has a couple cabins with wood stoves and lofts. There are even outdoor camp sites and big fire pits. It's basically a dream come true and I actually thought it was dream at first because it is so great (you know that feeling, the "I know I'm going to wake up from this, it's just too good" feeling.

Conditions weren't exactly ideal. We left early to get there on Saturday morning and enjoyed some semi-sunny weather to explore and collect cool artifacts from the beach. We were all on the hunt for the perfect walking stick and spent the day whittling our sticks and adding stones and copper wire. By the afternoon it started pouring rain and by nightfall we were in the middle of a full-fledged storm. It was a little spooky and super duper dark out, but we made a makeshift couch out of tables and blankets and put it in front of the fire and stayed warm making s'mores (you know how much I love them) and discussing the different pictures we could see in the embers.

It was a fairly cold sleep, but a pretty good one and in the morning we had cinnamon buns and French press coffee <3. What else can a girl ask for- forest, fresh air and french pressed, the trifecta of f-word goodness.

I'm happy to be home and cozy, but all-in-all the trip was a highlight of my winter. Seasonal structure can't hold me down! Haha

Hope you all had a great weekend filled with inspiration and adventure as well! Thanks for reading :) <3
XO_BITS

5 Ways To Make S'mores!

The first time I went camping, there was a definite shortage of s'more-age. I made up for it the second time by eating twice as many s'mores as anyone probably should. Just short of a sugar induced coma, I created 5 different types of s'mores, and it pretty much changed my life. Let me introduce you to the line up:

Even More Camping!!

After camping for Joel's birthday weekend, I got the itch to go again, and ended up dragging my mom and sister to the woods to camp for a couple of days. All of my camping stuff was ready as I had just used it and so we just threw it in the car and went. We brought art supplies and tons of good food and got creative and just enjoyed the forest. It was close enough to home that we could stop in if we needed it, and Joel came for the weekend when he was off work.

We made all of our meals directly on the fire, I painted a couple of pictures, wrote a haiku, "Ode To Camping", Joel carved some wood and it was overall a really beautiful and inspiring time away.

I'm feeling a little camped out now, probably won't go for at least a couple of weeks, but that definitely felt good for my soul. The forest just does that, all the tall trees an rushing water and refreshing air- you can't help but feel great after.

I also got a good dosage of kitty love, he's now a bonafide campin' cat! Look how badass he is!
What gets you inspired and excited for the coming summer season?

XO_BITS

Woodland Weekends

My man turned 24 this weekend and it has become somewhat of a tradition for us to go camping. As his birthday is on June 1st, it's the perfect excuse to pretend it's summer and go camping, even if it is a little bit early and cold out, we usually have fun.

Jello Shots in Oranges & 5 Minute Hobo Packs

Every year on Joel's birthday we go camping; his birthday is on June 1st, which is probably one of the most exciting days of the year as it sort of unofficially announces the commencement of summer, and it's the perfect time of the year to spend with our friends in the woods. I've been spending the last couple of days getting prepared.

I got inspired to make jello shots by Emma at A Beautiful Mess. It's awesome because you make them inside a citrus fruit, such as an orange, and then you can cut the orange into slices once the jello jellifies- jello slices! It's genius!