rising gas prices.

i've decided to come out of hiding in the blogging world and publicly face what has been taking up all my spare time.


no, it's not the rising gas prices. it's the date of our upcoming wedding. our fast-approaching, getting closer by the day, can't put off any longer wedding date.

i apologize in advance, for all the wedding subject posts that are in our future. well, minimally mine, and yours too if you continue to have me ;-)

table numbers.

sondra and josh are getting married and she asked me to create twenty table number cards for their reception. ingredients: brown cardstock, burlap, buttons, raffia ribbons and STAMPIN love. here are the results:

shower invites.

my bjb sondra is getting married this fall and my other half and i have the pleasure of standing up next to them as they get hitched. i just got done sending out all the bridal shower invites and i loved them so much i wanted to share them!

with one bazillion women on the guest list - we wanted to keep the costs down. postage alone on that many invitations could break the bank. i went with cardstock on cardstock and trusty old 'powerpoint to design the invitation text.


i used the brown Simply Paper envelopes at Michaels that went with their color palette: burnt sienna and brown. i googled my brains out until i found a sondra-esque design image to layer in the background. then i played around with the border width and placement of all the text. the slicing doo-hickie saved me time and my fingers pulling it all together. i used double sided tape instead of glue for no reason other than sometimes glue can do funny things.

i took the leftover time and got coordination snazzy by pulling the font style, color, size and image on the address labels. how's that for the fancy-schmancy designer in me?!

my fave part of all? how well the liberty bell stamp went with the brown envelopes. a bit odd, I know. sorry it looks a little weird with all the rectangles. as much as i like you all, we just don't have room for bridal-shower-crashers.

vintage letterbox.

i have been coming up w/ideas for how we can incorporate some of the things we enjoy most into our wedding decor. two of them being photos and travel.

so perhaps you can understand my delight when i found this vintage letterbox on one of the wedding blogs i love to read. snippet and ink always has fun, themed inspiration boards which can get the creative juices flowing for wedding ideas. they included the letterbox which featured on Grapevine weddings to showcase invitations. I just HEART the idea of old photographs that guest write on in lieu of a guestbook.

Now the question is - where can I get one?!?

thirsty wedding guests.

this post goes out to the love-everything-about-Pottery-Barn-but-the-price crowd. so i gets my pottery barn catalog and LOVE their glass dispensor, just not their price. i've been looking for one b/c i want to use it at the wedding. outdoor wedding + hot july day could = thirsty guests. so i found the one above at Sams Club for oh, i don't know, $50 LESS than what PB will charge ya! (can't find a link to it. boo.)

so my plan (*CAVEAT* current plan which could change at a moment's notice) is to have two of them (they are 2.5 gallons apiece) outside or on the porch for the wedding ceremony. one with lemonade and one with iced tea. then pair them with these mason-jar style mugs i adore. on that table I can have my BIG galvanized bucket filled with bottled waters. these plus handmade wedding-program FANS will keep our peeps cool.

hopefully.

who knows - they could get some use at a couple PARTY events this summer too. ;-)

she'd be honored.

my girlfriend allison responded to my MOH card by one-up'ing my crafty creation. she made me a DARLING little book with photos of her and i and my other half and included a small tag saying "i'd be honored"

she has produced these before and i've always been in AWE when i see them. it really is a tricky puzzle i'd never be able to follow!! she swears it is only 3 pieces of heavy cardstock, 2 pieces of cardboard and some scrapbook paper. as soon as I have the steps - I'll let everyone know!

ps - if you're reading this allison, we really didn't need 2 publish evidence of my 9th grade hairstyles...

will you be my bridesmaid cards.

my other half and i have been engaged for AGES. we're not in any hurry but things have finally been moving along so i want to share a recent 'wedding' project...

the girls i wanted to ask to be in the wedding are close friends/family and have been around for awhile. during my wedding research i found some cute bridesmaid cards here and here. i loved everything about them but the actual design!! (too cutesy for me) so what better way than to share my love of crafting to ask them in a special way. i came up with a cheezy poem and married it (no pun intended) with some supplies from our local craft store. i love the dress stamp and know i'll use it lots in the future. if interested, check out the steps and pics on my projects page.

stampin' fool.

who doesn't love a rubber stamp?! i'm pretty crazy for 'em. check out my newest set of STAMPS. this one came from an estate sale that sondra and i ransacked. i literally squealed when i came across it... well - after i removed the half inch of dust that is. it's a sign stamping kit from 1894. or atleast that's what the copyright is... let's just say it's OLD. there is a small & a large set of numbers and letters. and i just LOVE the typography on them!! they might be the oldest stamps on the planet - but for $15 - the set was a STEAL!!

so what can i do with them?! well i played around with them to scrapbook and make a save-the-date card for J&S. (that's my new nickname for josh-n-sondra) they're getting hitched lickety split here and don't really have time to send these out to their guests. i still thought they really deserve one irregardless. (i just hope she opens the card b4 she reads the blog)


then i made them some place cards for their bazillion guests. i invited my better half a few times, myself, her bro and SIL, and even 'G'. 'G's our favorite barn sale guy who calls and gives us the heads-up whenever he's having a BIG sale. for all he's given us in the junk world... he made my list. (who knows - maybe they'll be some of his junk decor @ the wedding ;-)

(you'll have to click them to look at 'em up close)




next attempt - i'll make sure i have more supplies stocked in their color scheme. seems i'm overloaded with browns and short on 'rust'.

ps - the craft world is a better place now that slicing doohickies have made it mainstream. man i can cut a STRAIGHT line in a skinny minute with that thing. (thanks again allison!)

winter wedding wonderland

Last weekend, McAllister and I went to Niagara-on-the-Lake to watch our friends Wes and Tonia be WED.

They had a beautiful wedding and reception at The Queen's Landing.

Even though we had a minor memory card mishap (forgot to remember the memory), we still managed to capture some GREAT memories. Check 'em out!