We're back!

Phew! I'm back. We closed, we packed, we moved, we painted, we unpacked and set up all in a few days with the help of a LOT of wonderful people. Can you believe our realtor and her husband helped us paint, clean and move? (Our realtor's husband also happens to be M's bestman, but I digress). Thankyou to my mom, dad, sister (MOH), M's brother and groomsman, our friends P and A, and our friends K and A. We couldn't have done it with out you!

Anyway, we finally have cable, but I was only able to wrestle the computer away from M's greedy little fingers long enough to say, "we're back" and that pictures are on the way. As soon as I can get the computer again.

Ps. Go check out My Husband is Annoying. It's hilarious!

See You On The Flip Side!

So, we're finally closing on, and moving in to our new home this week! Since my life is consumed with packing and sorting and paperwork, I'm going to be taking a teeny, tiny haitus and shall be back next week with some new projects I've been working on. You won't even miss me, I promise.

Topiaries of a different persuasion

I've already decided on our wedding centerpieces, and have been diligently gathering supplies to make my vision come true. I (or me and my mom and who ever else wants to help) will be making topiaries, of which I won't say another word until we've made a few to photograph and show off.

But, as I was perusing my favorite blogs today I came across these lovelies:

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Pumpkin Topiaries, how perfect for a fall wedding! The top right one almost made me change my color scheme altogether. And the bottom right one would be awesome to use on a smaller scale as centerpieces to identify each table. Yum.

Can't Believe People like this S...tuff!

Hey guys! Some exciting news that, for some reason, I haven't blogged about till now.

I was awarded the Kreativ Blogger Award

by another creative blogger, and super sweet Bride to Be at Happily After All.

Woo! By accepting this award, I've committed myself to revealing 7 facts about myself. They are as follows:

1. I like raw carrots, but hate cooked carrots.

2. I was once likened to Balki, from Perfect Strangers. In temperament, not apperance.

3. I was once best friends with a former cast member of Big Brother 8, and a cast member of Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll.

4. I haven't dyed my hair in over 4 years.

5. I like anything with polka dots.

6. I grew up without air conditioning. (or cable)

7. I was jumping off the high diving board as a toddler.

And now for my recipients:

The incredily talented and crafty Ballyvaughn Maven

The scrapping genius, Scrappin Nelly

The kind and gifted artist, Wendy Sue

The giveaway Queen, The Roddy Bride

The lean, mean, Poem-writing machine, Small Town Stranger

The super cute and loveable, Miss Pug

Congrats Ladies! And good job on being so darn Kreativ!

Moving On Up!

Just a quick note. Some of you may or may not have noticed a few small changes around here, and in case you're wondering......I have retired from selling my Bustables. I no longer wish to sell them to strangers, but would much rather make them as gifts for friends and family. I will still make them for friends or family that would like to give them as gifts, but I am no longer going to sell them online. Truth is, I didn't sell that many anyway, and selling them to faceless strangers on the interet just wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. I'm actually really happy to be retiring from this. I will, however, still be blogging so don't you worry!

That's all, carry on!

Shivering in my Kate Spades

We've now attended two October weddings, and the weather has been....COLD. This got me really worried because we've planned to have an outdoor ceremony next October. (In fact, at this point, I've sort of got my heart set on it.) Remember our precious ceremony location?

Although we do have a backup plan if it rains or (worse) snows, what if it's just really cold? I really don't want our guests to be miserable during our ceremony, and Bridesmaid J is especially sensitive to cold weather. If it's miserably cold, of course we'll move the ceremony inside but it got me thinking of other options. We could supply our guests with complimentary pashminas, as some brides do. But, really if I'm attending a wedding in October I'm probably going to wear a coat, and a pashmina isn't really that heavy of a garment...so I don't think it would do much for a cold wedding in October.

At one point last week I happened to see an infomercial about these.

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(And while I have my doubts about whether those people pictured are actually Amish, the idea seemed pretty cool.)They come with a bit of a hefty price tag, but they would solve our problems, right? I could place them around the guests and in the gazebo to keep everyone warm and toasty. Obviously, these are a bit of a pipe dream, as they aren't in our budget, but I also recently read about these:

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A portable fireplace built by Electrolux. Unfort, when I searched for this at the Electrolux site, I couldn't find it so at this point I don't know if it will be another pipe dream, or perhaps something attainable??

Of course, this all hinges on if it's cold next October or not. One of M's friends reminded me of the very warm October we had a few years ago, so I'm crossing my fingers we have a repeat of that.

Another option I've been thinking about since last week, is a hot beverage bar during cocktail hour. M and I went to our first October wedding last week and we were freezing. We made it to the reception venue and all I wanted was a warm beverage, but when I asked for coffee I was turned down immediately. They only had cold beverages at the open bar. I know this wasn't an oversight of the bride's or anything. Who wants coffee before dinner? But, just in case there are any guests at our wedding like me, and if it is forecasted to be cold, I'm going to make sure to talk to our venue caterer about at least supplying coffee during cocktail hour! Maybe having a whole Hot Beverage Station? Maybe something like this?

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The prices of the company above aren't too steep, and I don't think it would be too expensive to add this into our catering at our venue. Therefore, it might just be a bit more realistic than a portable fireplace. In the meantime, I'm going to be crossing my fingers for nice weather.

A Special Way to say Thanks

As I mentioned before, we're attending three weddings this October. The bride getting married this weekend asked me if I would make her thank you cards for her six bridesmaids, and I of course, happily obliged! She remarked she likes when sets of cards are each a little bit different. She also told me the wedding colors of their upcoming nupts' are chocolate brown, deep orange and deep red. And then she left the rest up to me! This is what I came up with, step by step:

To make the actual cards, I purchased heavy ivory cardstock at OfficeMax about a year ago for the base of my Bustables, and I still have the majority of it left since each Bustie takes such a small amount of base paper. I measured the size of each card based on the ivory envelopes I always keep on hand. And then I scored each piece. The scoring tool I purchased (pictured above) at a craft store has been a great investment so far. Only a few dollars it saves me the expense of buying prescored cards..that can get expensive.

After I made each card, I hand cut the dress I wanted to include on each card and used that to trace and cut out five more.

I also had some yards of lace on hand that I knew I wanted to use over the skirt of each dress. To cover up the point where the lace meets the dress, I cut a piece of ribbon, punched a flower, added a pearl and the dress is finished!

For each card, I tried to use a variety of papers in the wedding colors. This I did by sight and preference. I didn't really plan any of it out.

I stamped the "Thank You" in brown ink and embossed it with Latte scented embossing powder. Apparently, the embossing powder is scented...but I bought it because it was a nice color and on sale! To emboss you'll need ink, embossing powder and some source of heat. Cover the stamped image completely with powder before it has a chance to dry.

Let the excess powder fall off the image. I like to use a coffee filter to catch the extra powder. It also makes it much easier to pour the powder back into the jar.







Use your source of heat to harden the powder to the ink. You can find an inexpensive embossing gun at any craft store for under $20, and I personally think it's worth the expense because it ensures your safety, and it makes the job super easy and fast.





Certain powders will exhibit different finishes when hardened, but it will always add height to the image and a professional, finished look to your projects!

And here they all are together.

What do you think?