I am now the queen of DIY

The title of this post says it all. Now that I'm really down to the wire (and I mean really. Like I can reach out and touch it I'm so close...) I have had to kick it in high gear to finish up my DIY projects.

First up, I finished my card box! Woo hoo! Took me long enough...




and this is where the cards go...

(like you couldn't have figured that out)

You may be asking yourself "why in the HECK did it take her so long to make such a plain looking box?!" Well let me tell you why. Because I am a procrastinator. Plain and simple. All I did was buy a $4 cardboard box from Hobby Lobby, spray paint it brown, and add some stickers. In total, it probably cost me $15 (including the spray paint). Not bad, eh? I just for some reason put this project off over and over. I'd do a coat of spray paint, do the next coat 2 weeks later. I had Matt cut the hole in the top for me, and then started the whole spray paint process over again. And just yesterday I finally got my butt to the craft store to find some stickers. I think it turned out pretty nice...especially for under $20!!


Next up are the (blasted) programs. This is another money saving DIY adventure I took on. And again, I have procrastinated. Now that we're 4 DAYS AWAY (holy cow) I can't really procrastinate much more. Matt and I stayed up until 11:30 or so last night working on these bad boys (isn't he a trooper!?) and we'll probably be up late finishing them tonight. But we did get a whopping 25 of them completely finished last night, so I'll let the cat out of the bag and post pics early. I doubt I'll have much time for blogging after tonight, so thought I'd get one final post in to relish in all of my accomplishments. :D


look at all those beautifully tied bows...









so...what do you think?? Please tell me how amazingly gorgeous and perfect you think they are. :) These puppies have been a lot of work. Yes, I saved about $100 by doing them myself, but I've been working on them for a good 3 weeks or so now. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, though (finally).

So there you have it...my last 2 big projects...(almost) in the bag. Next up - start packing for the honeymoon!!

I'm going to guess this will be my last blog post as an un-married chica...woah. The next time I post, I should have hundreds of wedding pictures to share! It's been fun chronicalling my adventures in planning this shin-dig, and I can't wait to come back and read this in 10 years and laugh at how crazy I was (am). If you're coming to the wedding...hooray! See you there! If you aren't...thanks for reading all my babbeling :)

I'll leave you with a lovely quote...that just so happens to appear on the back of our programs...


Adios! For now...

DIY Programs...& more from the bridal shower!

Well here we are, less than 3 weeks to go!! HOLY MOLY! I'm doing well, though, not too stressed out (yet)... ;)

This weekend was another productive one! (I don't have much of a choice with only 3 weeks to go...I have to be extra productive these days!!) On Friday, Mom and I had a meeting at Evergreen Events with the coordinator, Julie, to go over final details and choose our table linens. It was all set up for another wedding this week, and it was kind of surreal walking around in there imagining it set up for OUR wedding! But the place is just gorgeous, and every time I go there I'm reminded of that. So we decided on the ivory table linens with chocolate brown napkins. I think it will look FABULOUS with all the coral in my centerpeices. We also put together our game plan for the ceremony music, and talked about lots of other small details (most of which I've already forgotten about...good thing Julie wrote everything down! :)

On Saturday, the family and I made our 10 millionth trip to craft store central. :) We started at JoAnn's, where I had an entire list of things to get, and then went to Hobby Lobby as well since I didn't quite find everything we needed at the first stop. My uber-crafty Aunt Terri and I had our wheels turning with ideas for my DIY card box (I will post pictures soon, it's not quite done yet!) and the programs. My original plan for the programs was to design them and have them printed at Kinko's or Office Max, but after getting my first quote of over $160 for 50 of them, I changed that plan. It is now my current DIY project. :) I found ivory paper at Office Depot, and will just print them at home. While at Hobby Lobby we found brown cardstock for 50% off (so $0.15 per sheet!) So I snatched up the 25 sheets there, and then we teamed up to hit the other Hobby Lobbys in town and got the rest! I got another 50 at the Olathe store, and Aunt Terri found 30 more at her store in Merriam. We also found a great paper puncher (not sure the technical name...) to use for the cover, and some awesome "love" quotes stamps. So now I just need some ribbon, and then to put them all together (that's going to be the hard part!!) All in all it's going to cost us about $60....much better than the original quote! So here is a picture of my first attempt at putting one together (sorry, fuzzy cell phone picture)

What do you think?? I love them. I need to get a smaller width of ribbon to use so the bow looks better, and I'm also on the hunt for a 2-hole punch. I think they're going to end up looking really cute though, and so much cheaper than paying a printing company!!

So that's where I'm at...still a lot of little things on the to-do list, but nothing huge. Like I said, I'm still not feeling too stressed, more excited than anything!! I really want to finish up all of these last projects so I can move on to getting ready for the honeymoon!!!!!

I'll leave you with a few more pictures from the Bridal Shower. These are some my mom took, and she uploaded to our FLICKR site... (ahem...anyone else who took pictures feel free to upload!!)

A better view of the table set up...wasn't it just ADORABLE?! And yes, those are Aunt Terri's 2 cutie pie doggies in that framed picture on the wall :) (check out this post on my photo blog to see them in real life...)

And this was our little ladies man...Bryce. He is my friend Brandy's son. What a cutie, huh!?Jess (my lovely Maid of Honor and best friend since pre-school :) and IMe & my beautiful bridesmaids!! From left to right: Caitlin, Jess, Me, Ash, Shelley. That's 4 out of 6, Elaine and Jessie live out of town so couldn't make it (but we know you were there in spirit girls! :)Like I said before, my bridal shower was absolutely perfect. I wish I could do it all over again!! A huge thank you to my family for putting it all together for me, and to all the ladies who came!!

Well, 3 weeks to go...keep your fingers crossed that this one is super-productive! I'll try to update this week, but no promises because we're headed to the lake on Thursday (WOO HOO) and then it's the 4th of July (which means the wedding is 2 weeks away!!!!!!!) But I'll catch up when I can :)

P.S. This is your last reminder for RSVPs. Our final count is due this weekend, so if you want to come, and haven't sent your RSVP back...DO IT!!! Otherwise there will be no food or alcohol for you :P

Productive weekend!!

Now that "summer hours" at work have officially started (I work an extra hour Monday thru Thursday and get Friday afternoon off...sweet, I know!) I have devoted Friday afternoons to wedding stuff, and it's really helping me to be more productive. FINALLY.

As of Saturday, we were offically 6 weeks out. HOLY COW. As I say every week, I really need to get my butt in gear!! Well, I did just that this weekend, and finished up most of the DIY projects I had started, and then started a couple more. (Go figure)

I finished the 2nd flower girl basket, so those are officially done now. Here's a picture of them both-

And one of a single basket so you can see the whole thing...

I also finished the basket which will hold the programs. Matt is awesome, because he just walked by and gave me the greatest idea for decorating it!

See the flower? Yeah that was all him. I couldn't figure out where to put it, and all he had to do was walk by and say "well what if you put it here?" and I said PERFECT! So I told him he had to help with all my DIY projects from now on. He's just thrilled... :)

I also got a basket for the Koozies we will be giving out at the rehearsal. I have yet to order them, but Mom and I were discussing it on Friday so when I was at Hobby Lobby and saw 50% off baskets, I had to take advantage. We have decided on our Koozies (I think), so I hope to order those this week.

Also while at Hobby Lobby, I found the perfect box to use for our card box! That's actually the whole reason I made the stop...even though I almost left without it, hehe got a little distracted. I had found some really cool ideas for making your own card box out of picture frames, but wanted to see if there was an easier solution before diving into yet another huge DIY project. So I found a box that was the perfect size, spray painted it brown, and viola! Just need Matt to help me cut the hole in the top, and it's done! Much easier than the photo frame idea, but still cute! I also found a huge "G" a few weeks ago (I think at JoAnn's...one of the million craft stores I frequent...) which I also spray painted brown on Friday. I have no idea what I will do with it, but it's really cool!

In this pic you can see the card box and "G". And yes, I know the G is backwards, but it was drying, cut me some slack.

So as you can see, I had a fun-filled DIY spray painting weekend. By the way, spray paint is my new best friend. That stuff is awesome!! I have turned so many previously boring things into Chocolate Brown Beauties!! :)

This week Matt and I have to nail down all of our song choices so we can send our "worksheet" in to the DJ, and finish up the programs. I've been putting this off FOREVER, so wish us luck!! Like Matt said, Looks like we'll be having a date night with the iPod...

2 months and counting

Holy crap. As of today we are 2 months out from the big day!! How CRAZY is that?! I feel like I still have 10 million things to do. YIKES. But I am making progress. I actually took off work Friday to run a whole bunch of wedding errands. That helped, although I didn't quite get to mark everything off my list. I guess I overestimated how much time is in a day. :)

The main task at hand this week is INVITATIONS. They should come in today, and then it's up to Jess and I to address, stuff, stamp, and seal the deal on those bad boys!

I also have several DIY projects going that I need to finish up this week and next...still haven't finished the FG baskets, and now I decided to DIY the programs as well. Oh and I also bought a basket to hold the programs that I need to spray paint and jazz up. :)

So as you can see, things are coming along. I have all of the decor for the ceremony, aside from what the florist is doing, and almost everything for the centerpieces. Just need to order some flower petals and hunt down a few more vases. Other than that I think I have all the decor pretty well lined out.

I had my first dress fitting on Saturday...it went great! (meaning yes, the dress still fits! :) I will be going back in a couple weeks for a second fitting, and to see the veil she is making me - oh, I guess I should mention, the veil I got from eBay is white. My dress is ivory. Once I put it on it was pretty obvious, so we decided to ditch that. Barb (The Lady Who Makes Dresses) is awesome, and is going to whip up a veil for me in ivory. I really need to work on finding my jewelry now.

It's really exciting to see so many things crossed off of my master to-do list I made back in February, but don't worry there is still PLENTY to do. So let the countdown begin...2 months to go!!

Back to "square" one

Remember when I mentioned that I had square vases and votive holders on the way?? Well. The votive holders came in last week. I was super excited - until I opened the package. Note to self: READ THE DESCRIPTION OF THE ITEMS YOU ORDER OFF THE INTERNET. They were tiny. Teeny tiny. And the website said perfectly clear that they were 2" squares. Ok my candles are 2 inches...that doesn't leave room for ANYTHING else. DUH. So luckily the website has a generous return policy :) Those are being returned...and after playing with my centerpieces some more (see DIY post) I decided to nix the square votive holders and do round instead. I know, I know, how indecisive can I be...

So today, I ordered THESE:

This time, I measured my votive candles first, and actually read the size listed on the website :) So hopefully these will work. Since we're making our own candles, we have a bit of leeway on the height, just not the width - and I made CERTAIN that the width would work. (I say that now...) So the OCD girl is doing it - ROUND votive holders with SQUARE vases :O can you believe it?! But I think it's going to look really good!


I also ordered 12 of these:
which I will use for the candles going down the aisle. (see DIY post for picture of that) It's hard to tell from the picture but it's just a cylindrical vase, very simple. And much cheaper online than in most stores!! Both items came from save-on-crafts.



So, hopefully both of these items will work out and I won't be returning anything else...but no guarantees there.



Also - I received the square vases yesterday. I haven't even opened the package yet (it was a busy and stressful evening last night...). I will have to take a picture of it before I do, though...it is the funniest looking package you've ever seen! It's a giant bubble! Please keep your fingers crossed for me that what's inside the bubble will work for my centerpieces... I'd hate to try to wrap that package up to send back... ;)

DIY Extravaganza!

Yesterday, I made the mistake of going to Michael's on my way home from work. I went there for a hot-glue gun. I came home with a whole ton of stuff - and no hot-glue gun. Oops. Guess you could say I got a little...er...distracted... A lot of the stuff I bought will be part of my gift to my bridesmaids (so I won't be posting pics, sorry!) but I also got some supplies to finish the flower girl baskets (well, one of them...) and play around with centerpiece ideas. Of course the first thing I did when I got home was take over the kitchen table and had myself a DIY extravaganza!
First of all, the flower girl baskets:

Before

After!

You have to tilt your head for this one...sorry about that :)

I originally bought some coral silk gerberas to put on the sides (where the bows are) but I decided that was a little too much. I'm thinkin simple is better. I used up all my ribbon on this one, so I need to go back and find some more so I can finish the second one. And since I didn't do the silk flowers on it, I didn't even end up needing the hot-glue gun! :D

My next project was some centerpiece action. I found a (plastic) Ivory tablecloth to simulate what I will have at our venue (the real thing will be much prettier - and less wrinkly :) I also recently decided that I am nixing the coral runner idea, so I wanted to see how that would look. So for the flower centerpieces (which will be on half the tables), this is what I'm thinking...

For the other half of the tables, I'm just going to do a simple candle centerpiece, using the same vases as the others. This is my first mock-up:

I'm still not sure what color petals I'll use - possibly the same color as the ones I got for the flower girls (which is a pinkish coral) or just an ivory. The ones pictured came out of a box I got at Michael's, which was called coral - but it was really just 1/3 pink, 1/3 orange, and then these ivory ones with orangeish tips. The ivory/orange ones are what I used in the picture. I'm also not sure about the pillar candle - the one pictured is ivory, but I'm thinking of having Matt's mom make them in the same coral as the votives will be. Oh, and I also am pretty sure I've changed my mind and want to go with round votive holders instead of square. :) I actually received the square ones I ordered this week, but they are WAY smaller than I thought. Like tea light size. So those will be getting returned. And I've pretty much just decided that this is just a sign that I should have ordered round ones. :)

The last thing I played with was the aisle decoration. I am going to line either side of the runner with petals, and then do a pillar candle in a cylinder vase every few feet, sort of like this:

(tilt your head again. sorry, the computer doesn't like me today...) I stole this idea from another bride, but I really like it. I think it's really elegant, but I love the simplicity. So now I just need to find some cheap pillar candles and cylinder vases!!

Well, that's all of my DIY adventures for this week. What do you think?? I think I'm getting there. I'm not 100% happy with everything, yet, but I know that is mostly because everything is sort of half-done. When I have the real flowers, on the real tablecloth, with the real candles, etc., I think it will look great. At least I'm hoping!!

In other news - the invitations are almost done!! Woo hoo!! I should be finished with the design next week and ready to order those bad boys!! Once they're all sent out and everything I'll post pics.

Well, happy Friday! Here's to hoping I get some more wedding stuff checked off the list this weekend! :)

Making (some) progress...

Well well. It's been a while since I've given an update hasn't it... (other than my bridezilla freak out moment from last week :) I can't say I have a whole lot to update on, but I'll give ya what I got...

Matt's Ring

We looked at Helzberg over the weekend, and Matt picked out one that he liked. It is made of Tungsten, which we're told is scratch resistant and very durable (a MUST for him). I couldn't find a picture of his exact choice, but this is pretty close:

It's very simple, but i like it!

Centerpieces

I still haven't received all of my vases and votive holders, but thought I'd post the pics from the website since I never did that.

There are 12 of these bad boys on the way (which will hopefully match the 4 that I currently have...) coming from this website

And 72 (yes SEVENTY TWO) of these. coming from this website.

Inspiration

I will soon be receiving an awesome Inspiration Board from The Blissful Bride, and this is the preview of my color palate that she sent:

Not that you didn't know what my colors were (I know, I'm slightly obsessed...) but I thought it was a good teaser :) I can't wait to see what she creates!

Flower Girls

Baskets- still in the works. I am almost done spray painting them, they just need one final coat. It started raining when I was doing them, so I couldn't finish. After that I'll just need to dig out my hot-glue gun and put the finishing touches on them. I'll be sure to post pics when I (finally) get them done!

Dresses- I got a call from Jen last week...the dresses are in! I'm anxiously awaiting pictures of the girls trying them on. Once I have them you bet I'll post!

Passports

On the way!! I took Friday afternoon off so that Matt and I could get our pictures done and turn in our applications at the post office (which only does passports until 3pm...crazy isn't it?!). Now we just have to wait for either a call saying we did something wrong :) or the real thing in our mailbox! The guy at the post office said they're currently only taking 2-3 weeks, so shouldn't be long!

Shoes

:( Nothing to report. Matt is the trooper of all fiances and went shoe shopping with me on Friday, but we left empty handed. I'm running out of places to look. Who knew that a hot pink glamorous shoe with a 2" or less heal would be so hard to find?! I'm not giving up just yet though...

Hair

I made our appointments for the wedding day! EEK! And I have a trial on July 8th. another EEK!

Whew. Seems like a lot, but the to-do list is still way too long for my liking. I haven't quite finished up March's items, but hopefully this week I will. Then I'll have a whole 4 days to get April's stuff done! YIKES. Time is flying. As of Saturday, we are 3 MONTHS AWAY. That seems like nothing! It has always seemed so far away until now... it's right around the corner! I'm super excited and totally freaked out all at the same time. I think that's how I'm supposed to feel though...right?!?!

Stay tuned, hopefully lots of updates this week!

We passed!

Ok, so they didn't really grade us, but still. Jessica and I made it through the 5 week calligraphy class! Last night was our last class. We don't by any means feel like "pros" yet, but I'd have to say we are certainly better than when we started...that's somethin, right?? We still have a month or so of practice time, so hopefully in that time we CAN become pros!!

Check out this sweet certificate we got at the end of class:

As I'm sure you could tell, we got to put our name and date on our certificate ourselves. Not too shabby for a beginner, eh? You better believe this bad boy is hanging on my fridge right now. :) And I can guarantee you that Jessica's is too... we're cool like that.

So stinkin' CUTE!

How freaking adorable is THIS: It's a DIY Envelope liner...and yes that is CORAL and BROWN you see!! I think I have just assigned another DIY project to myself. :D

P.S. I discovered this AWESOMENESS on this post from Lucky Designs' blog. On there you can find the link to the website where there are a bunch more awesome liners available for download.

If you couldn't tell I'm bored at work today. Too bad I don't have my pictures uploaded to this computer...I have several updates to blog about!! Guess you'll just have to stay tuned!

DIY Garter

Ok, so I can't really call this a "DIY" project, as I personally did not do it. But my awesome Aunt Terri did, so it's still home made. In my last post I mentioned that I got 2 garters at JoAnn's last weekend, only $3 each. Well, I gave one over to Aunt Terri, and she made it FABULOUS! I was *this close* to ordering one online a while back, and it would have cost me $15. And it was nowhere near as cute as this one!!

Here is the "before". This is the plain one, how they both came, and will be used for my "toss" garter.

Pretty cute for $3, but of course the one to keep needed to be spiced up a little, and my wedding colors needed to find their way in! So a little brown lace and some coral ribbon, and voila!

She even added the little charm that says "Love" on it. HOW CUTE IS THAT?!

And here are a couple pictures of the 2 together. Just imagine them on my leg...actually don't... :)

Ah, it's so wonderful to have crafty people in my family... My next DIY project (that really is DIY because I will be the one doing it ;) is the flower girl baskets. Unfortunately it's snowing outside right now, so not exactly the best conditions for spray painting. Hopefully the weather will be better next weekend and I can get going on those. I am also expecting a package in the mail very soon with my napkins inside!! I can't wait to see them!! Of course I'll post pics when they come. I also hope to book our honeymoon SOME DAY and once that's done I'll post an update as well. So stay tuned!

P.S. I'm getting ready to update my Photography blog...go check it out! (click here)

Ladies and Gentlemen...we have a Guestbook!!

As you may (or may not) remember, I recently designed and ordered my guest book from Picaboo. I had a 50% off coupon code, so last week I decided to go for it and place the order... all in all with shipping I paid $23.99 for this bad boy!! Now that is a deal. Almost Mama T worthy! (if you are a member of my family, you know what I'm talking about. If not...Mama T is my grandma, and nobody - I mean nobody - can find a bargain like Mama T can!)

Well yesterday evening we had a knock on the door, and it was the UPS man, WITH OUR GUESTBOOK! I can't believe it arrived this fast, I just got the email saying it shipped like 2 days ago. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the actual book, but here is a sneak peek of the cover taken from the Picaboo Website:

I'd give you the link to look through the whole thing...but that ruins all the fun for those of you who are actually coming to the wedding! Gotta keep some things a surprise...I'll tell you this much - it's not your typical guestbook. Instead of boring blank pages with lines for everyone to sign their names, it is full of pictures of Matt and I (from when we were little up until our Engagement Pictures) and there is space around the pictures for everyone to sign and write us a message. This way, after the wedding we have an awesome keepsake! But you'll just have to come to the wedding to see the real thing ;)

DIY Centerpieces...attempt #1

Last week Sarah and I went to Old Time Pottery (which, by the way, is the COOLEST STORE EVER!) The plan was to find some cool vases and such for centerpiece inspiration. I did buy 1 vase...and a whole bunch of Christmas stuff...oops.

Then last weekend, while shopping with my family on Saturday, I picked up a few more DIY supplies - coffee beans, ribbon, a cute square votive holder, and the closest thing I could find to a coral colored candle. I had some silk Gerbers at home (yes, I'm obsessed with them...they're everywhere...) so I threw some of those in as well.

Here's my final product....what do ya think???

You'll have to ignore the fact that the large vase isn't entirely full of coffee beans...I didn't quite have enough. You'll also have to ignore the multi colored gerbers, and pink candle...these will all end up being coral. :)

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out... I just need to find some more multi-sized vases. I'm thinking big and square. And I need to find a place where I can find lots of coffee beans really cheap.

The DIY adventures continue...