“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it…” ~ Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Drafted March, 2025: The last three months have been nothing if not eventful. Depression is terrifying sometimes. My head has not been completely with my body since some time in September when I made the decision to start weaning off of an antidepressant I’d been on for…

❤️✌🏽

There’s nothing quite like the flu over the holidays followed by a sinus infection to knock you out of commission for 3 weeks. A very delayed Happy Turkey day to all! :) 

For the sake of not scaring everyone away within the first few blog posts, I’m going to delve into some lighter topics first. So, let’s talk about what I do with my days now as an agoraphobic hermit! (I mixed in pretty pictures too, don’t worry…)

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Many people who know me well know that I have a semi-unhealthy obsession with yarn. A fifteen yearlong love affair that may, at times, even make my husband a little jealous. The graduation from those lovely, massive, electric blue Ikea crinkle bags filled to the brim with acrylics and discounted yarns from Michael’s to the silks, mohairs, and soft merinos I’ve now collected in cube shelves all over my office; there is just nothing better. 

When I first picked up knitting needles at seventeen years old (stop doing the math), there was nothing I wanted to ace more. My anxiety and personality disorders had begun to manifest and having something to pick up and distract my brain with helped my mind focus. Much like my adolescent years spent teaching myself to play classical guitar, I would spend hours daily locked behind my bedroom door practicing. Determined to master the two-needle craft, sometimes I would find myself tossing the entire ball, needles and all, across the room out of frustration (teaching yourself to do something Prior to the introduction of the vast YouTube library of how-to’s – how DID we do it?). After my initial few years of knitting, thanks to my dyslexia, I found out I was knitting all of my stitches backwards and would end up re-teaching myself again at twenty. 

A few more years of knitting obsession passed and by this time I had mastered lace, ribbing, cabling, sock knitting (my favorite!) and more. I would visit every independent, yuppie, yarn shop within a hundred mile radius to learn more about how fibers felt, what they looked like in person, the differences in weight, and which brands were totally taking you for all you were worth. I had shocked countless indie shop owners by letting them treat me coldly as I strolled through their shop browsing for the first 15 minutes as they offered me no help and stared. I’d follow this up by asking them very specific questions about their personal techniques on their own projects they had in hand and it was like flipping a switch, suddenly I wasn’t the young, dimwitted brown girl with no idea where she was and smiles and conversations would ignite. I would then smile back, thank them for the conversation, and drive home and order it online. My own, little version of “Pretty Women”. ;)

After a while, boredom ensued and at twenty-three, I was ready to pick up the crochet hook instead. I really could not get enough of finding different ways to make yarn into pretty and useful things and would spend the better part of my twenties making piece after piece, always with the hopes that whoever the recipient was would love it as much as I loved making it. Until life started happening. 

I learned the hard way that spending days, weeks, or even years on a project doesn’t matter if you are not the one who put in the time to create it. Beautiful heirloom pieces that I had made with love or that were commissioned from me that I would never see again or that I was cheated out of being paid for. After the last massive project of knitting a wedding blanket was returned with an emotional fist to the gut, I lost my confidence, I lost my motivation, and until just a few years ago, I had stopped making things with anyone in mind altogether. In 2015, I had begun letting everything gather dust and for the next two years, I would not pick up a single thread or needle. Projects that were half completed were stuffed in Ziploc bags in storage to sit and wait. 

Fast forward to the end of 2017 and my joy for creating fabrics began slowly returning by way of some family encouragement, as well as learning a new technique. I had just suffered from my second massive breakdown and my hands needed a distraction more than ever. I still had no desire to knit and crocheting had become dull, but I needed to get my hands on yarn, so I hit the pinning boards for inspiration, and there she was. Weaving. It only took a few months of research and practice on my first loom to get comfortable with dressing a loom and measuring my spaces, creating stripes and adding flares (I echo – what did we do before YouTube?). When I was not over-working myself at my day job, I was practicing weaving. I would soon take on teaching myself to use a Singer as a way to learn how to combine my woven fabric into clothing and eventually, I was able to pick up all of my old projects collecting dust.

This coming year will mark close to half of my life as being a self-taught textile artist. It hasn’t been an easy, kind, or fruitful road and to be honest, most days I still do not share my work with many people, though, I’m constantly surrounded by varying types of projects in our home. I will never regret a single second of my experiences since starting this journey, as they have shaped the way I create and the way I have learned to love what I do. Things are not always rainbows and butterflies, even when it comes to doing the things you love in life, but if you love it, isn’t it all the more worth it to keep going? 

It’s a difficult thing, finding something you love to do in life, so when you do find that thing, don’t let it go. In the great words of my favorite, fellow agoraphobe – 

“That it will never come again is what makes life sweet. Dwell in possibility. Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.”

~ Emily Dickinson

It has been a long, wonderful, difficult, adventurous, painful, and beautiful five years since I started this blog. My original intention was to provide my DIY notes for a budget wedding, one that is (thankfully!) still talked about to this very day. Unfortunately, the scattered mind of an overwhelmed, budget conscious bride-to-be with a non-existent work-life balance yielded two blog posts and a tumblr alone to collect dust for over five years.

Today is the day that I try to dust off what I’ve left behind and pick up from a new thread.

Due to mental health decline and the effects that it has had on my social capabilities, I have been hiding away in my home for the past 2+ years from family, friends, co-workers, and pretty much anyone and anything that is beyond the threshold of our front door. To give you the best possible picture, I have probably seen the inside of a grocery store twice in 2019. 

I plan to use this space as a lame attempt to re-enter the outside world and share my thoughts, experiences, poetry, food makings, textiles, and that Stippich Burrow life with my best friend...

Can't believe I've allowed 5 months to pass without posting some tidbits about our preparations for wedding things. So first thing's first...asking the ladies.

  The women I've chosen to be in my wedding party are each extraordinary in the most unique ways...gymnasts, singers, teachers, mothers, crafters, yogis, and most importantly for me, my sisters. They have influenced and befriended me from 6 years old 'til now. We've each had our share of arguments, laughs, melt downs, tears, excitement, ridiculous nights of insomnia, and an incredible amount of fun. And now they get to experience probably all of  those things in less than a years time as we begin the planning process together. 

  Something I've always found to be very cool is Bridesmaid boxes. Boxes, bags, containers of some sort filled with wedding info, personal gifts, and more than likely some kind of alcoholic beverage. 

  I know that a lot of women give their gifts right before, during, or after the wedding, but I wanted to do this upfront. This is how I wanted to ask them to stand next to me on the most important day of my life. Not just to be goofy with ring pops and airplane sized liquor bottles, but more so to remind them up front that they are special and appreciated. Weddings are a lot of hard work. A lot of stress. A lot of time. This was my first step in making them feel that they are loved. And that no part of their work in the planning process will go unnoticed or unappreciated. 

  These were really simple to make. I, of course, snatched some ideas from Pinterest. My brain did the rest. I wrote little notecards to each of my five gals and chose chocolate I knew each would like, their favorite kinds of alcohol, different ring pops, and bags of chai tea. I used twine, ribbon, and random scrapbooking assortments to make it all look pretty. I used a leaf stamp that reminded me of fall and stamped each of their notecard envelopes with it, tied each box with a satin ribbon bow (the deep red and gold ribbon below go along with our wedding color scheme), wrapped tulle around the satin ribbon and viola! This was a lot of fun, and very exciting and nerve wrecking, despite the fact that I was pretty sure they would all say yes.

  Viola! 

Okay, so before I begin this blog, I should probably start with an explanation of where WE began. The Proposal.

Anyone who knows my fiance, Joshua, knows that when he gets an idea seed planted in his head, that seed will more than likely grow into an entire rose garden. His ideas, when put to action, are incredibly unique, extremely thoughtful, and well executed. I recently had the pleasure of witnessing him play role of Best Man in his good friend's wedding. I have never seen a man dedicate himself so fully to a role. Not only was he at the groom's side from proposal to "I do," but he also planned an entire weekend event for the soon-to-be-groom that even included top hats made from scratch (yes, he made them) for each groomsmen to adorn on their adventures. 

Josh is no ordinary man. And I feel like the most blessed girl in the world. 

But I digress... 

Being the typical frustrated girlfriend constantly plagued by the "When is he ever gonna ask me?!" question swimming around my brain about 24/7, I had very low expectations that anything was going to be happening anytime soon. But obviously, I was extremely wrong. 

Near the beginning of October, a good friend and 'little sister,' Timae, contacted me about setting up a photo shoot date in the near future for a class project she was doing. Tim is an incredible student photographer working her way through Antonelli Institute for graphic design and photography. Since it is not uncommon for random photo shoots to be planned, naturally, I accepted and a date was arranged. 

October 27th was an absolutely gorgeous day. The temperature was perfect. The sky was an impossible blue. The clouds were drifting in perfect waves and the sun was smiling down on Philadelphia. What a beautiful day for an outdoor shoot! I arrived at Timae's mid-afternoon, ready to be dolled up to picture acceptance.

After preparations, we traveled to a part of Wissahickon Creek Park above the Wissahickon Trail, a part of the park that Josh and I had yet to explore. I had been told that we were to meet a fellow Antonelli student somewhere along the trail as they had supposedly been hunting for a good place to begin our shoot.

Not long after beginning our hike through the trail entrance, we came across two old friends of mine, Kerith and Jay Hiatt who I'd had the pleasure of reconnecting with in recent months. Two very outdoorsy friends, might I add, whom it would not surprise me to find in the middle of a park having an afternoon picnic. We commented on how funny a coincidence it was that we were running into each other and chatted for a good ten minutes before Kerith finally said that she had something with her that she'd been meaning to give me. 

A map, quite reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda. Very clearly illustrated by a certain artist boyfriend of mine:

A map designed with a trail for me to follow. Seven stops. Each stop a group of loved ones, friends and family, readied with markers to mark my way on the map and pieces of a seven part poem written for the seven stops along my journey. Thanks to the help of my beautiful Timae, this is my story in photographs: 

Kerith and her husband Jay begin my journey...

One of my best friends since we were seven years old, Tatiana, and her husband Luke, whom I had the pleasure of being a part of their wedding in September.

Another one of my best friends, Christy, also since seven, and her husband Robin.

My awesome cousin, Greyson, and his gorgeous wife Sarah.

My 'little brother' Robert and dear friend Ben on the phone reading part five of the stanza.

My 'sister' Jamie and her husband Rafael, with two of their four children, Remington and Zeke. My amazing friend, Emily, in Texas, on the cell.

And my seventh and final stop, my gorgeous, dread locked, little brother and amazing cousin Lezlee, via Skype.

And there he was, waiting.

"SHE SAID YES!"

I could not have been more thankful for the way he made this day special for me. Not only the proposal, but the inclusion of my family, made this day the happiest day of my life (so far).

My ring was sketched out, designed specifically for me. The Zelda heart box made by my extremely talented friend Robin (Who's work you can find here). A secret facebook event page created by Josh where my friends and family plotted and planned for many months. And a photographer to capture the beautiful event.

So very unreal. I think these things only happen in the movies.

I am an incredibly lucky and extremely blessed girl and am so happy and excited to share my story with all of you (even if my readers are only people I know ;-) ) 

I hope you enjoy reading my sappy post and future posts to come! 

Hello all. 

My name is Gabrielle and I am a Philadelphia native. I'm a writer, a knitter, a crocheter, a crafter, and a self taught photographer.

Recently, I was proposed to by the most beautiful man I have ever met. His name is Joshua. He is an artist, a teacher, a writer, and a visionary. 

Together, we are planning and designing our wedding on a "Normal People"'s budget. With the immense love, support, and helping hands of our amazingly wonderful friends and family, we will be making this a team effort. And with that being said, this is our DIY Wedding blog.