DIY Varsity Letter Art

The book I've been collaborating on over the past few months has to do, in part, with flea markets and home design. And that means I spent much of my summertime browsing the aisles and bins of fleas in the tri-state area. (It's been heavenly.)

Seeing as how I live in 475 square feet of space, however, I am not able to take advantage of most of the deals I come across; there simply is no extra room. Except apparently when it comes to art. If the stash I've been accumulating lately is any indicator, I have no problem with the idea of purchasing something I can later frame and hang -- like this varsity letter I unearthed at the Golden Nugget in Buck's County, PA, while visiting my friend Danny (himself a flea expert).

I've been collecting A's for around 15 years at this point, so am a bit overloaded on the letter, to be honest. But this little treasure was one of a kind and only $1. It reminded me of pennants I'd seen framed at the Boat House in Lambertville, NJ. Plus, I liked that it has a history: it's probably from an old-timey letterman jacket worn by some jock with a greasy pompadour and a comb in his back pocket. (Or whatever. Just let me dream my Danny Zuko dream, okay?)

Danny (Seo, not Zuko) (although I am pretty sure Seo could rock a pompadour much better, if he wanted) advised that I put it in the freezer overnight, just in case its fabric contained dust mites. When I was in the clear (whew!) (and gross!), I mounted it on a piece of $1 hot-pink felt. I cut the felt to the size of a $10 Ikea Ribba frame, and then used similar colored thread to sew the letter to the felt. To keep it stabilized, I also stitched the felt to the frame's paperboard mat.

For a grand total of 12 whole dollars, I now have a new letter for my collection that sits and cheers me on at my desk. (I need all the help I can get, really.) Cute, right?

Oh! And P.S. This where I insert a "tell me about it, stud" joke. You're welcome. xo

Want me to push?

I am not sure how it's possible, but as soon as I got home from the breathtaking art installation "the event of a thread" by artist Ann Hamilton, every New Yorker I'm friends with on Facebook popped photos of the show on my timeline. (And we'd all somehow missed each other by minutes!)

If you haven't seen a billion photos on FB yet, here are a few of mine, taken today with my always-fun friend Kristin. I won't go into the details of the exhibition's concept -- hopefully the pics do it a little justice, and if not, you can read about it here. All I'll really say is that it was super smart and really inspiring. But there's only one more day left to see it in person, so if you're a city dweller, definitely get thee to the Park Avenue Armory on Sunday. Just be sure to buy tickets first -- it'll let you skip the long lines that snake way around the building. Because, hey, it's a bunch of swings moving a giant curtain up and down in a big room, y'all. Everybody wants in on that action.

Ann Hamilton's "the event of a thread," Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Avenue between 66th and 67th Streets, through January 6.

Wednesday's Pick: "Streams of Light" Print

— Adding this to the "Things That Make Me Smile" list. —

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Tuesday's Pick: "I Need You So Much Closer" Print

— Still true. —

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