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.

gardenin' fool.

we're not just eating lettuce these days. my other half planted a lovely garden which he tends to day in and day out! so far we've been enjoying fresh herbs like this rosemary plant.

we didn't go too crazy like last year with our tomato plants but we're still hoping to produce some monster size fruit. i'm excited to be trying out some new plants like acorn squash and broccoli.

i love these glass flowers that i got last year at the corn hill festival. they are such a nice splash of color for the growing-like-mad SAGE plant.

happy summer everyone!

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?!?

free icebox.

you know you're a junker when.....

you get two text messages in one day from friends asking you to haul away fun FREE junk. this latest one made me squeal:

Lanie: Any desire 4 a free icebox? I think its metal.
me: omg. i love you.

junk alerts via text messaging are not quite as fun as scoring junk via a roadside pile. it must be the lack of the hunt and the swerving that can be involved. this icebox practically landed on my doorstep! (which can also happen quite a bit to us junkers).

i can't say my other half was as excited about it as I was - but he'll get there! it has such POTENTIAL! I'm already looking forward to the project!

baby johnson.

today we're congratulating our friends on their not-so-little bundle of joy that came this past Father's day weekend. clara elizabeth johnson was quite a big bundle of joy topping the scale at almost 10 lbs. we're so glad to hear mom and baby are doing well after their SPEEDY delivery. we can't wait to come visit - congrats to the whole family!

cup-a-cake.

this one goes out to all my fellow CUPCAKE lovers. i made cupcakes last night in celebration of a couple things:

1. my 300th post!! who knew I could make it this far.
2. flag day.
3. my mom's bday. (also flag day)
4. the best piece of TUPPERWARE $4 can buy.

williams-sonoma has DONE it again! we were there drooling over nearly everything when i spotted several only-use-10-times-per-year-but-gotta-have-it-anyway items. this was one of them... although we do eat cupcakes WAY more than 10 times per year. it's flippin INGENIUS!! no more LOST frosting or smooooshed cupcakes. ever!

i prefer everything in the shape of a muffin or cupcake. my brownies, my corn bread, you name it. that said, my cup-a-cake has gotten LOADS of use already as I put it to work this week hauling corn bread muffins and cupcakes. these cupcakes were nothing like my 50th post, they were patriotic and adorned little red stars and blue sprinkes. gotta love the stars and strip cake mix.

happy flag day everyone!

letchworth park.

we stuck around these parts for our memorial day weekend. we have quite a busy summer going here and there so it made sense to spend a quiet weekend at home. we putzed around the house a bunch doing projects here and there but on sunday we flew the coop for a hike at letchworth park. hard to believe both of us have been here over 10 years and never gone. letchworth is a NY state park with nearly 15,000 acres of scenery that runs all along the genessee river. i read up on it and it was voted one of the top 100 places to camp in America and it has over 66 miles of hiking trails.

this park is nearly in our backyard! we clearly need to get out more.

you can see more pics here.

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. ;-)

salad bowl.

my mom made me a salad bowl for our garden and now we're eating lettuce like rabbits... it grows back like crazy!

1000words.

today I'm on Kodak's blog 1000words talking about what else... more finds on my JUNK travels. i used these finds to display some of my FAVE pictures.

i mean, come on, doesn't EVERYONE use tennis rackets, ladders and rubber stamp holders as picture frames?!?!

see for yourself and comment there if you'd like!

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...

lilac festival 2008.

after work, my beau and i went to the lilac festival. the festival takes place on about 20 acres of rolling hills in highland park. there are over 500 DIFFERENT varieties of lilacs planted which makes the entire park and surrounding areas smell absolutely LOVELY. during the bloom season - i drive through the park with all the windows down and you can smell them for MILES. you can see the rest of our pics, including the blooming onion, here.

yes, there are three of me - click and see for yourself!

hit the bottle.

with a camera, that is.

by now many of my regular blog readers are used to my crazy photo-takin habits. i just love photography. i may not be good at it. but that's why i have a digital camera. i take HUNDREDS of photos to find the perfect bakers' dozen.

and sometimes i photograph random things. like rum & coke. ok so totally not random b/c some people think they're a perfect match. and really also not so random b/c there is a story behind it. remember - this is 'connect the dots'.

so the dots are my bjb ('best-junk-buddy' for the must-know acronyms folk) sondra is marrying a fella named myers. he's a real nice fella who happens to share a name with a popular rum. thus... i decided to take pics of another perfect myers match. its like a self-portrait - but not with people. (get it? nevermind...)

i really don't think any of us drink rum & coke - we prefer the hops, but nonetheless i couldn't resist. i took black-n-white, sepia, low saturated color, and odd angles. fun, right?! who knows what we could use these for!

you can see the other 50 i had to take to get the good ones here.

lazy lucy.

how quickly gave up this for LAZY LUCY on my computer's wallpaper.

i wish i were lying in the grass soaking up the sun.

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.

may wallpaper.

last month i discovered smashing magazine which publishes free desktop wallpaper. there are lots of sizes and options to choose from - i'm currently enjoying the colorful HAPPY MONTH. you can go here to see all the options.

lucy in stripes.

lucy got all dolled up in her *newest* shirt to go visit Murel for his 6th bday party. she had quite a good time and even got to share (aka: steal) most of his bday gifts.


*i should clarify that this is her ONLY shirt. lucy and i think she looks CUTE all dressed up however someone else in our house would beg to differ.

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!)

garage sale glass.

how much do i love garage sales?!? let me count the ways....

ten
twenty
thirty
forty
fifty
sixty

sixty cents worth! can you believe they were selling these FUN apothecary-like jars for only TEN CENTS each?! i couldn't... so i snatched all 6 of them up!

this was my FAVE find of the day. a science kit! tons o beakers, test tubes, petrie dishes.... just oodles of fun, fun fun!! i got the whole box for $4.00. it's going to make one great BLOOMING centerpiece on our dining table. oh - and i'll have to be a mad scientist for halloween and decorate it all spooky-style. my ideas just overfloweth!


ps - yes, one of them looks like it has some gunk leftover from the most recent science project. i'll have to sterilize that one before i go putting mini blooms in 'em....

hoosier daddy.

check out my newest antique! the easter bunny up and brought me a HOOSIER cabinet this year. it belonged to my bff's parents for like a bazillion years and they were going through a re-model so i snatched it up for a steal. i have a few pics of it here. i'm still struggling with where to put my favorite cherries, but other than that - it's making the adjustment to it's new home nicely!