Taking a break from wedding posting

So lots of decisions have been... well, um... decided. I can't can't anything other than that because we haven't really acted on anything, other than the paint samples that I made F look through with me. Actually that was really funny because I cut out all the paint chips and we laid them out and each eliminated two until we got down to 4 green and 4 brown. F probably would have been happy just to let me choose, which is why I turned it into a game! (Preschool teacher much?) ANYWHO

I went and spent some quality time with my mom a weekend or two again and we went to see He's Just Not That Into You. I, being the romantic sap that I am, really liked it. I loved the stories (although being the English major that I am, I can understand some of the criticisms of the movie like there wasn't enough attention paid to each story).

Most of all, I loved the people in the movie. So many people who inspire my fashion (ok, don't blame them for my lack of fashion). But people I just love anyway, if you haven't had a chance to see this movie... make time to. It's a great movie to go see with girlfriends or mothers. Maybe even the man in your life, although one of the funniest things that happened was at the end during the credits, one of the guys in the theatre pretended to sob really loudly which made all the women laugh.


First off, Ginnifer Goodwin
I absolutely love her! I think she is as cute as a button, and she stars in one of my favorite shows... Big Love!

Second, Scarlett Johansson
So, she's not the world's best actress, but she is stinkin' cute, and everything she wears looks good on her. Plus, I'm so jealous that she can rock any hair color.

Third, Jennifer Aniston
Who doesn't love her, honestly? From Friends to now, she has always looked classy. She even rocks a salmon colored bridesmaid dress in the movie!

Fourth, Drew Barrymore
Her company produced the movie, but she is not in it a lot herself. But the scenes she's in are hilarious, and if I'm being honest, I have watched her True Hollywood Story and think she is pretty amazing to have survived the childhood she had, AND become a smashing success. Plus, she's beautiful!

Last, but not least, Jennifer Connelly
I don't know much about her, but she reminds me of a young Demi Moore. I think she has a classic beauty and she rocks business fashion in this movie.

Now for some eye candy.

Bradley Cooper.
So often he plays an ass, but I still love him! He's adorable and he's good in another one of my favorite shows... Alias!

Second up for eye candy, Ben Affleck!
My mom and I both love him, but say "he's so cute, you want him to succeed", but yet, he does so many crappy movies. Poor Ben. Just stand there and look cute.

Third up! Kevin Connolly
He's honestly just so cute. He's great at playing earnest characters who you always relate to and cheer for, like in another one of my favorite shows... Entourage!

Last but not least, Justin Long
He's not my idea of eye candy, but he's really funny and you gotta love a man for a sense of humor (I know that was the first thing I loved about F).

Check out the fashion!


Ok, so now that you all think I'm ridiculous AND addicted to television, I apologize! I needed a little break to get all the weddings things organized so I can present you with REAL stuff, yay!

I have some other movies that I'm going to blog about, but those are movies that are wedding inspiration, so they aren't quite as off topic.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Monday!

Progress!

F and I sat down and talked about all things wedding today, it was so nice! I had been feeling really frustrated thinking that I would have to do this whole thing by myself, and that F didn't give a flying hoot about the wedding. Well, we sat down today (which he suggested) and discussed all things wedding! Many decisions were made, but the one I'll share today is... our color scheme!

I've been so inspired that I've been having a really hard time narrowing it down to just two or three colors, so I decided, why?



According to Home Depot's paint section, our main colors are Pucker Up (which I will probably refer to as apple green) and Revival Mahogany, with accents of Palace Rose, Celestial Sun, Autumn Glow and Candlelight Ivory. So basically, green and brown with accents of pink, yellow, orange and ivory. Why do I need to narrow the colors down? Who says that you should only have two or three?

VistaPrint is having a huge sale on invites and other stationary! They have great party invites and some very tempting save the dates (STD's... hehehe, there are lots of funny acronyms in the wedding world) that I would use in a second! I'm pretty sure when we get around to make our STD's that I'll use VistaPrint. This sale I could get 100 STD's for 46.00 with all the info printed. And we could use a picture of ourselves that would be printed in color as well! Exciting! Now I just need to choose a date... F and I are supposed to be sitting down and doing some major decision making this weekend, I'll keep you all posted.

And just so this isn't a completely word filled post...

The snowman F and I made with the first snow of the year. We had some more last friday, but here's hoping that it was the last.

Real wedding

I have so many things I want to blog about (the zoo, the movie I went to see this weekend, bridal jealousy) but I'm exhausted from my first day back to work, so those are going to wait. Until I can post for real, here is an adorable wedding from Style Me Pretty

I love these colors! So bright and pretty!

"Mary and Justin knew that they wanted the focus of their wedding celebration to be on family and friends … so there could be no better place than Mary’s parent’s backyard."

"Mary and Justin knew that their family would love a candy buffet, so the centerpieces and other floral design incorporated bright candy-colors into the overall style."

“ 'Style Me A Pretty Wedding' … yep … I think Mary, Cindy & Signature Events did!"

"Photographs provided by Signature Events. A huge thanks to Amy for sending us Mary & Justin’s delightful celebration!

Vendor Credits: Photography by Wendy Cahill; Floral Design by D. McLeod; Catering by Red Blazer

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009."

DIY Valentines

Ok, so it's a little late, but here is the post I've been talking about! I decided to make valentines for my whole family because it's the first Valentines Day I'll spend with my family in a couple of years. So I was thinking, what is a cheap something that I can make, but still cute, easy and fun?

DIY Recycled paper bag valentines
Supplies:
1 Brown grocery bag (I used one normal sized bag and got 5 valentines bags)
Scraps of fabric
1 dvd (I found the ones with the square cover best since they are really square)
pencil
Sewing machine and brightly colored thread
Needle
Candy (I'm using some I already had, but I also bought some more to fill it out a little more... that was the only thing I had to buy for this project, so the total cost of the project was around $3.00 and a couple hours of time)

Step 1: Cut open grocery bag and lay flat on hard surface.Then trace DVD cover. Next I free handed the angled edges at the bottom (these are showing on the top, but imagine them flipped around) to create an envelope effect. Not necessary, but I liked it better. You can freehand this because you can just trim them to match later on.
I used my copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to trace.
Step 2: Pick out the fabric or design you want on the outside of the bag and pin it on. Make sure it's where you want it though because the pin marks show if you move it around. In this case, I cut a heart out of fun fabric for my brother.
Step 3: Sew design on using your regular sewing machine. Be careful not to go to fast or pull too hard as it will tear the paper.

Step 4: Lay two pieces together with the rough sides out (the sides that will be on the inside) and sew the angled parts of the bottom together.
I also folded along the pencil mark from the DVD tracing so that when I did the next step it was a cleaner fold.
Step 5: Fold two pieces at line down and away from each other until those two pieces that were just on the outside are now on the inside and your pretty design is on the outside.

Step 6: Sew straight-edges up each side. I chose a bright color that matches the bright fabric.
Step 7: I added straps so I can hang them on their doors the night before, so they can have them first thing in the morning! I used scraps that I already had. If I could change how I did this for next time, if I'm adding straps I would have done it before I sewed the two pieces together. Because after I sewed them together, I couldn't use the sewing machine, so I had to sew them together by hand which was the most time-consuming part of the whole project.

And voila! Easy, cute and cheap (cheap cheap!).

This one is for my older bro.

This one is for my little bro.
For my mom (painted with pink acrylic paint before sewing)
And for my dad (painted with white acrylic paint, and the red is made from a red paper napkin)

All my cuties all together.
This was such an easy, cheap project that I'm almost considering making them again for my favors. Can you imagine a candy buffet with these to put the candy in? And it would only cost me time and energy because I have so much scrap fabric that could be used and they could all be different and I could even maybe get a monogram stamp to put on them too! Love it :)



In other news, here are my anniversary roses almost three weeks later. I think there is something really elegant about dying roses. I've saved so many of the flowers I've received in my life (I dried the roses Evan gave me on our first date and still have them).



And in even other news.... My kitten boy thinks he is a man and has to control the remote. So cute :D
And now I've off to fill up my valentines bags and finishing F's other valentines projects which I will show later. We are going to the zoo tomorrow and I'm sure I will have pictures of that to share soon too.

Have a wonderful Valentines Day!

Um, how cute is this?

I will have my DIY valentines stuff up later tonight, but until then... check out this adorable idea for a valentine! Who doesn't love a mixtape?

Mixtape Card Tutorial

This card is so easy to make it hardly even needs a tutorial, but I thought it would be fun to put together anyway. And I wanted to show off my amazing graphics and photoshop skills (yeah, right). This card makes a perfect handmade Valentine if you embroider something sweet on the label, or the title of your favorite lovesong... Don't want to sew? Use fabric glue! Don't have fabric? Use paper and glue instead!

Without further ado, let's get started!

You'll need:

• 8 1/2 x 11 sheet cardstock


• felt, denim, or any sturdy fabric


• embroidery floss


• scissors


• needle


• pen or chalk pencil (for dark fabric)

Optional:

• fabric glue (for a no-sew version!)


• fray check (to prevent raggy edges)

Make the Card

1. Click to get larger size, and print the pattern:
   


2. Cut the pattern pieces: use sharp scissors to keep those edges tidy!



3. Using a pen or chalk pencil, write a lovesong or romantic phrase on the label. Simple block letters are easiest.



4. Embroider the label.



5. Sew pieces together using a blanket stitch or straight stitch.
   No-sew version: Glue the pieces together with fabric glue.



6. Optional: If using denim or other fabric, treat raw edges with fray check to keep them from fraying. I didn't use fray check on my card because I like ragged edges!



7. Fold the 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock in half for a large card. For a smaller card, fold one more time.



8. Sew the finished cassette to card using blanket stitch or straight stitch.
   No-sew version: Glue the cassette to the card using fabric glue.



9. Say something nice and memorable on the inside of your Valentine!

Voila! You just made a mixtape card. I could churn out a bajillion of these, I think they're so cute. And so much less goopy than your average card bedecked with pink hearts and so forth.

Feel free to use this pattern however you please - alter it, leave out stuff, and adapt to your heart's content.

Love this! It would be so easy to replicate!

Making Candles in Tins

Tea tins are ideal for making these simple but effective container candles. However, you can also use olive oil jugs, sardine cans, or any other tin imaginable to make beautiful and colorful displays!

Supplies:

Four 6-inch-length wire-core wicks, primed

4 wick holders

4 tin cans, approximately 4 inches deep and 2 inches wide

2.5 ounces stearin

1 disk wax dye, if desired

1.5 pounds paraffin wax

Directions:
1. Insert a length of primed wick into each wick holder and place a wick in the center of each tin.

2. In the top of a double boiler over medium heat, melt the stearin and wax dye, if using.

3. Add the wax. Melt and mix thoroughly. Heat to 190 degrees Fahrenheit.

4. Anchor the wicks in the tins by pouring enough wax into each tin to cover about 1/2 inch of each wick. Allow the wax to cool for about 30 minutes.

5. Wrap the end of the wicks around tie rods and rest the rods on the tops of the containers. Take up any slack in the wicks and center them within the tins. Be careful not to dislodge the anchors.

6. Reheat the wax to 190 degrees Fahrenheit and fill the tins to within 1/2 inch of the top. Allow to cool for one hour.

7. If the wax settles, reheat the remaining wax to 190 degrees Fahrenheit and top off the candles as necessary.

8. Cool for several hours or overnight. Remove the tie rods, trim the wicks to 1/4 inch, and the candles are ready to light.

This project originally appeared in the book Country Living Homemade Candles.


I'm going to start collecting tins as soon as possible!