And then, I made a giant wooden ampersand.

Some people supersize their fries. Some people need supersized bras. I am not in the habit of either of the above.

But I do supersize my ampersands.

Why giant? And why an ampersand? Giant because I like wall stuff to be large-scale. This ampersand will take up a lovely amount of space above the currently-being-painted desk that will go in our room. I’ve also never seen an ampersand that is quite this large, so the unique-ness of it appeals to me. Unless you have already seen ampersands that are taller than swimming pools?

Let’s face it: if this ampersand were being sold in the lingerie department, it would be a triple-E. Or something. I wouldn’t know. There are infants with bigger boobs. My attraction to large-scale art probably stems from my complex over my bra size.*

*This is not an actual feeling of mine.

As for the ampersand part: at least in the design world (I sort of feel like a tool saying that, except I’m not entirely sure what the connotations of the world “tool” are, so maybe I don’t actually feel like one), it’s sort of become a symbol of “togetherness.” One AND the other. It’s going to be hung in our bedroom. Rick AND Erin. His AND hers. Socks AND bras. (Don't you keep yours in your bedroom?) Humans AND cats.

These cats take their role in our art seriously.

But anyway, at 4.5’ tall, this is life-size, and if the above photos are any indication of its versatility/how weird I am for parading an ampersand around my yard, the ampersand will most likely be joining us in all future family photos. Maybe we’ll even send it around the globe to appear in popular tourist destinations.

Photo compliments of my degree in Corny.

The best part of all this? I made it all.by.myself. I used a jigsaw (read: power tool with sharp blade and Hi-my-name-is-Erin-and-I-am-a-klutz) to make about a million cuts and came away with no trips to the emergency room and a jigsaw that was still fully functional as opposed to no longer functional because I used it incorrectly. This is a victory. Rick fully expected me to come sidling along, begging him to please do the complicated manly power tool step.

Little did he know that I would finish this project feeling confident that I could now build an entire house or maybe even another Eiffel Tower with exclusively a jigsaw.

I am woman, hear me roar.

Hear me roar in my little girl bra.

But HOW did I make it? The lengthy tutorial will be posted tomorrow.

Honesty time: I would rather watch earwax grow than write a complicated tutorial. This is because when you write a tutorial you aren’t supposed to mention things like bras or show pictures of your cats or badly altered photos of your project hanging out by the Eiffel Tower. I also hear that earwax monitoring is all the rage these days.

I hope you’re not looking in the ear of the person next to you. I made that up. See? I am not cut out for tutorials. You aren’t generally encouraged to lie in tutorials.

But said lengthy tutorial is written, nonetheless, and you will be able to read my full nail-biter of a bra-less wonder tomorrow. Get excited! ;)

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Making one large shape out of individual boards was loosely inspired by this listing on Etsy, which I pinned four months ago. And since today is the Pinterest Challenge, I am linking this up to Centsational Girl, Young House Love, Bower Power, and Ten June! Go check out the other projects!