I told you I was obsessed with monograms.

The other day I took all my little accessories down in the living room and redistributed them.  I set up my mantle, but it needed something else.  Then I remembered this little thing in the basement:

It's from when I was first learning to use my jigsaw (this picture was taken after I fixed it up a little bit).  It was the smaller rough draft of this monogram.
Then I thought of this wreath, so I decided to wrap this guy in twine.

It took about 15 minutes, plus burning all of my fingers a million times (is there such a thing as a glue gun that doesn't just keep getting hotter and hotter and hotter and hotter...?)  It was just what my mantle needed, though.

I also did another little twine type project after I did this.  You know those wine jugs that PB had awhile ago?  The ones covered in hand-knotted jute?  (I couldn't find a picture online, but I did find them in my catalog)  Well, I have some old cider or vinegar jugs that I found in the basement, and the bag around these (from IKEA):

Some slight modifications to the bag, and ta-da!  See it in the background?  Those are my sands in front.  Geologically cool sands.  Ooids, garnet sand, and a bunch of little shells.