Desiring Joy

Happy Thursday, lovelies! I have the day off of work and I will be spending it gettin' ma hurr did, and let's be honest, probably some more cleaning and packing.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen this picture I posted earlier this week:

How gorgeous is my new scarf?!?!

With fall just around the corner, I've been on high alert for some new scarves. Who isn't?! Well, when a friend of mine from college announced via Instagram that she was adding some new scarves to her Etsy shop, I automatically went to her shop and snagged this beauty minutes after she put it up. And I'm in love!

I know most of you are as obsessed with scarves as I am, so I want to introduce you all to Anna, the creative mind behind my beautiful scarf and the owner of Desiring Joy. This girl is not only super gorgeous, but Anna has a heart of gold and has been beyond blessed in the creativity department (unlike myself). Not to mention, she's hilarious. I've had the honor of spending some quality time with this woman...like when we stayed in the sketchiest motel ever in Upstate New York for a wedding. I know you all will love her as much as I do!

My name is Anna, and my wonderful husband and I are starting a new adventure in Pittsburgh. I recently opened a new Etsy Shop called Desiring Joy. I have the blessing of being a stay-at-home wife and using my design background to create things I love and things that will spread happiness to those around me. Scarves are my first passion - they are the most versatile accessory in a woman's wardrobe. I carefully hand-pick fabrics that are vibrant and unique, girly and chic, trendy and timeless - I want every woman who wears one of my scarves to feel absolutely breathtaking in it. 

Right now, Desiring Joy is all about the scarves. I need to get busy sewing - I have a ton of new fabric that I am excited to debut to the public. While sewing is one of my favorite things to do, my passions also include graphic design and photography. Save-the-Dates, Wedding Invitations, Greeting Cards and Photos will soon make an appearance on Desiring Joy. I hope you make a visit over to my Etsy shop, desiringjoy.etsy.com, and meanwhile keep reading Jenna's blog - I love her and her blog is awesome! 

Ladies, do me a favor and head over to Anna's Etsy shop STAT! You don't want to miss out on the gorgeous scarves she has for sale right now. Here are some of my favorites:

Classic Paisley Blend Infinity Scarf

Vibrant Purple and Green Art Deco Infinity Scarf

Classic Leaf Purple and Green Infinity Scarf

And, of course, the scarf that I purchased, the Spring Dogwood Peach Floral Infinity Scarf!

So what are you waiting for?! Go get yourself a beautiful new scarf just in time for Fall! I promise, you will not be disappointed!

**Go check out the giveaway going on over at Messy.Dirty.Hair! I'm giving away an Ulta gift card!**

I Actually Crafted

Ladies, a couple weekends ago, I actually crafted. This. Is. Big. You see, I have a weird insecurity about crafting. I always want to try all this amazing DIY projects, but I'm afraid of failing. Nothing is more depressing than spending your time trying to perfect a project and then it turns out like a pile of cow manure cover in flies. But, I put my insecurity aside and started a DIY project, a twine-wrapped letter door hanger (which I saw on Pinterest, obvi.) And, I must say, it turned out great!

What do you need? A wooden or cardboard letter found at any craft store, jute twine, scrap fabric, a hot glue gun, and ribbon. That's it, that's all!

How to start? Hot glue the twine around the top of the letter. This will keep the twine anchored as you begin to wrap the letter. From here, just wrap the twine around the letter! Be patient, it's tedious and takes some time. I had a hard time keeping the twine wrapped around the curved part of the 'J', so I just used some hot glue where needed.

This is what your letter should look like when you're finished wrapping it with twine! Easy, peasy! Now it's time to make the fabric flowers. I picked up some scrap, off-white fabric at JoAnn Fabric's for $1. Simply cut a long strip of fabric...

Fold the strip of fabric in half, long ways, and begin to roll! I like to gather the fabric strip to make the fabric flower look a tad more like a flower. When you have the fabric strip rolled to look like you would like, hot glue the end of the fabric to the back of the flower. Let the hot glue cool before gluing it onto your letter. I made three fabric flowers, you could make as many or as little as you would like.

The hard part (which isn't really even hard) is over! Now all that is left is securing the ribbon onto the back of the letter with hot glue...

...and tie the ribbon into a bow. I put a little bit of hot glue inside the bow to keep it from coming apart in the future. And voila! You have yourself a super easy, and super cute, door hanger!

You can make this yourself, or if you're like me and a little on the lazy side with DIY projects, I've set up a super professional (that's me being sarcastic) Etsy shop where you can purchase one of these lovely door hangers from Yours Truly! You can find it here. And please don't judge the bareness of my Etsy page. It's a work in progress, a.k.a. I'm too busy to make it look nice right now!