number five;

may has just been the best month. so, i had to obviously end it with the best craft.

i saw this, i can't remember where or how i found it but i knew i had to make one when i saw it (because $80? i mean, just please. this cost me less than $5). i had planned on making montana since that's where i live and junk, but then evan was like, "no, we should do africa." and i obviously have a genius for a husband.

the entire reason i know how to do this is because in 7th grade my teacher thought it would be a good idea to give each student in his art class a piece of plywood, a hammer and some nails. then we hammered in some shapes and strung yarn around the nails and made every other student and teacher not in our art class hate us. because hammering nails on a wooden desk is fairly quiet and all.

but back to the shape. i have issues doing art because i have to have things perfect. i started out hammering the nails in and after every few i'd stoop down to eye level to make sure they were perfectly even. and i was doing pretty good until evan decided he needed to man up and hammer. he isn't as much of a perfectionist as i am and the nails were crooked and uneven and spaced further apart and i took a deep breathe and did not rip out all of the nails. when i took the hammer back i tried my best to hammer them in straight and follow the lines and that was all. i didn't care if they were even or perfectly spaced because this is mine and it is OKAY to not be perfect. and it is not perfect and i am totally and unabashedly in love with it.

and the heart on ethiopia. you don't exactly need an explanation for that one. except for how i made the heart too big but you cannot erase pencil on wetish stain and so we left it and we hammered it in last and ended up ripping it out so many times and almost not even doing a heart until i looked at that texas picture again and had.to.have. the heart. so we tried again. with patience and the ability to have mistakes and funky shaped hearts.

pretty sure this could be my favorite piece of art. it was the perfect piece for may. africa has been on my heart a lot. and with those adorable letters from our children it just fits. remember how i made a million of those lyric pictures? (pictured above with the 'home is wherever i'm with you.') i think this is our new that.