Ah, the Lovely Days of Summer

As this is my last week of school- EVER. As I am graduating on Saturday, I will have a great deal of time for crafting this summer! I am very excited to really get this blog going with more of my own craftiness and artwork.

Some of my plans include:

• making a headboard

• painting an arm chair (that is upholstered, so it will be difficult, but I will be using a cool method I saw on another crafting blog)

• painting some walls in my house.

• Putting together my art studio (aka the back bedroom in our house)

• painting some awesome portraits

This summer is going to be great and I can't wait to share it with you!

Dry Erase Calendar!

In my home, organization is not something of which we are proud. Adam and I are both busy people, but we never take the time to write things out or create places to store important documents. Since this is the case and we are ALWAYS asking each other, "hey, when is that thing you told me about last week?" I found this great idea on Pinterest that will help us both get organized. PLUS, it's adorable! I, of course, made it my own...

Their version:

My version:
I wanted my calendar to match my decor, so I used decorative paper along with paint chips to match one of my decorative pillows. My house has a lot of black, blue and green.

You'll need:
- 35 squares of color (mine were just under 3" squares)
- Scissors or a craft paper cutting board like the one I used.
- Glue or tape depending on how permanent you want the calendar.
- A large frame (I spray painted mine black because it was a nasty gold).

The first step is to measure your frame. Subtract 1 inch from the length across and divide it by 7. That will give you the length of square you need and still leave some room for white space to separate them. Then measure the height of the frame, subtract 2 inches and divide that by 5- this will be the height of your squares.

Once they are cut, arrange the squares how you like them on the backdrop of the frame (mine is an old art poster I found by a dumpster). It's always good to have an array of color or pattern.

Now glue or tape them where you arranged them. (I didn't want gaps between mine because the background wasn't all white.) Make sure you leave a space at the top for you to write the month!!

Then place it into the frame and hang and VOILA! Beautiful!

Paper flowers and Madlib Fun!

I first saw the giant paper flower pom-pons hung at my cousin Beth's Bridal shower. They were hung above the refreshment table and made the area look incredible. I wasn't even engaged yet, so I took the idea and hung onto it, knowing that I might need it someday soon. Once Adam had "popped the question" I felt that I could go crazy searching for wedding ideas and immediately went for this one. I found that it was originally a Martha Stewart design. Simple to make, yet time-consuming.

As you can see, Martha's design calls for large amounts of individual colors so that each flower is made of one solid color. My sister, Jackie, and I decided that mine needed to have multiple colors in each flower. Different hues of blues, reds, yellows, and even greens. Mix and match to find what you like. Also, the smaller they are, the more difficult they are to make without tearing them to shreds. 

Our Madlibs were created by Adam, but I'm pretty sure he took the wording from one of his friends' weddings. This is the wording we used:

Words for the Happy Couple

Dear Madeline and Adam,

I am so _____________ for you both! It seems like only yesterday ______________________ was 

               (a feeling)                                                                            (name of bride or groom)

______________ and ______________! Now that you are married, I have some advice.

     (verb + ing)                 (adjective)

Adam, never forget to _____________ Madeline.

                                        (verb)

Madeline, please remember to ________________ Adam's ______________. 

                                                        (verb)                                     (noun)

You both looked so ___________________________ today!

                                              (adjective)

Always remember that you ________________ each other.

                                                 (verb)

Best Wishes,

__________________________

(your name)

P.S.

_________________________________________________

(Anything you'd like to add!)

At the bottom, make sure you give them 2-3 lines for their own personal notes- they are the best! As you can imagine we got answers ranging from sweet, to perverse, all the way to nonsensical. It was fun and our guests loved it. Many even did multiple sheets getting answers from each other without looking. 

Decor Encore

           

Our wedding was at my home church and the reception was in the welcome center, just outside the worship center where the ceremony took place. Adam and I decorated the day before the ceremony. We set up tables and hung lights and paper flowers as my mother ironed white table clothes that the church had in store. We decorated the stage with multiple candles. The decorations for the isles were pretty easy. I simply wrapped white decorative lights in white tulle and they become a beautiful glowing runway. I lined it with more of the paper flowers we made. (I had lots of help with the paper flowers from my mother, sister, and even my groom! They are rather simple to make once you get the hang of it!)

Adam created an awesome game for the guests! Instead of leaving the tables with nothing but decorations, we supplied Madlibs for them to fill out with space at the bottom for notes to the bride and groom. My cousin Paula took advantage of this and wrote a rather silly Madlib with some scandalous advice at the bottom. It was one of the best moments after the wedding when Adam and I got to go through and read all the funny Madlibs and notes while we were on our "honeymoon."

One important note: If you are in total control of your venue, make sure you know exactly how you want your lights to be set for the ceremony and the reception. We spent 20+ minutes messing with all the settings and testing to see how photos would come out. They still came out more orange than I prefer, so it is important to work with the people in charge on the day of so you aren't blinded on stage and/or you don't look pale or orange in photos.


Directions for paper flowers and Madlibs to come!!

Flowers & Details

As a rule, I prefer not to buy things that I know wont have a long life expectancy. Things like goldfish. Clothes that will surely shrink within the first accidental washing. Leggings my dog will tear up from jumping on me. However, one thing important to me, no matter how soon they were to die, was the bouquets, corsages, and buttoners. Each of us made our own bouquets. Since my wedding was on New Years Day, my sisters had a party to go to the night before. I was left to make 6 buttoners, 4 corsages, and another bouquet for throwing. (And multiple other things)

The flowers were bought from Target the day before the wedding. They were extremely low-priced, which was the only thing I had in my budget. I chose the only seasonal flowers that were close to my colors, but I recommend searching around for what colors you really want, even if you can't afford much. If you have a wedding during the winter months and want to save money, you can't get much for $50. I learned, however, that you can make up for a lot of the colors that might not be available by using various white flowers. They help tie the wedding dress white in with the bouquets of the bridesmaids. 

Our guest book was no book- it was a drawing that I did of a tree. This is a new trend I spotted a while back and I caught on to it before it could be over done. Instead of signing a book that no one cares about, guests fingerprint a "leaf" onto the tree and sign in or around it depending on the darkness of the ink. Not everyone understood the concept, so I'm not positive if all the guests actually signed. Most did, though. I also drew a guitar at the base of the tree representing what brought us together- music.

Our programs were designed by me, but they were assembled by my AMAZING friends- the Denny sisters, Lauren, and a few other great ladies. The M&A stamp was made by me. Using an exacto knife, I carved the letters into an eraser. I also used it on other things in the wedding. 

   

Wedding Fashion

         

Since my all-time favorite color is teal, I used my large scarf as a wrap (it was below 30 degrees outside that day!) and it matched my wedding shoes as my "something blue." My bridesmaids (sisters) chose their own dresses, but the men needed a little help. I would have loved for the two bearded men to have shaved prior to the wedding, but instead I was stuck with two Amish-looking men at my husband's side.

My hair and makeup were done by my sister's friend, Jennifer, for free, and my dress was SUPER inexpensive from an amazing used wedding dress site, Oncewed.com. I also used greenweddingshoes.com quite a bit.

(Photos by Erica Jenkins)

Welcome to My World!

I thought I'd begin my blog with the DIY project I am most proud of- My Wedding Day! My husband, Adam, and I were married on 1.1.11 and we did EVERYTHING ourselves. From decorations, to flowers and bouquets, all the way to the guest list and programs were all hand-crafted. My sisters were my bridesmaids and my brother was what we dubbed a "Bride's Man."All the photos I will be posting were taken by my wonderful cousin Erica Jenkins!

(Photo by Erica Jenkins)