Bits & Pieces

Alaska in autumn, according to my camera 🙂

I’ve been struck by the incredible urge to celebrate all things “autumn.” Today marks the first day of the best month of the year. October, oh birthday month— bringer of all things colorful, crisp & chilly, sweaters, and cinnamon spice etc.— how I love thee. I also love ANY excuse to wear/decorate with the color mustard yellow! I wish I had something more thought provoking to share, but instead I leave you with a few snaps of our cozy little domicile. I’ve been feeling mighty crafty as I prepare to nestle in for the coming winter. (<– yikes!) I am particularly fond of my old tea cup shelf turned spice rack. Hoorah for a bit of spraypaint and determination. Happy October!

The little cherub I nanny, getting his fill of pumpkins 🙂

G R A T I T U D E

If you follow me on Facebook, you will have already read my novella of a status update regarding my wedding this past Sunday. I can’t help re-post those words here, because I am still floating on cloud nine and astounded by the amount of people willing to volunteer to make our special day…a special day…in the fullest sense of the phrase.

I just want to take this moment to be overly sentimental, as well as express extreme gratitude toward everyone who was even remotely involved with our wedding.

To those who got up at 6 a.m. with us to load vehicles & pick up flowers; to those who showed up at the venue at 9 a.m. and stayed til 9 p.m.; to those who donated and/or spent hours picking and/or arranging flowers, heavy lifting, hanging decorations, moving, sweeping, pushing, taping, tying, modifying, adapting, etc.; to those who who volunteered their talent to capture the semi-mayhem, the controlled chaos, the beauty, & the emotion of the day; to those who had anything to do with food prep or food delivery throughout the entire weekend; to those who dealt with my constant, scattered brain and inevitible answer of ” I don’t know! I am the bride!” and occasional snappy retort; to those who had anything to do with our ceremony–from the music, the officiating, the rehearsing, the sound set-up–to all those who were in attendance to watch as I laugh-cried at my father’s corny jokes all the way down the aisle and then married my best friend; to my Russell/Holmquist family who blessed Seth and I so immensely; to all of our guests–our extended family and friends–local and out of state attendees alike; to everyone I just forgot to allude to because I am so tired right now….to the God that made me cry with happiness the entire drive over to the venue just because I had stepped outside and it was 70 degrees & partly cloudy (exactly what I asked for)…

THANK YOU.

It was the most beautiful day, and Seth and I are so thrilled to have had all of our creative vision and ideas for the day realized in such a perfect way. We are so blessed and fortunate to have shared September 1, 2013 with you all.

Honestly, I had a few things in mind about how I wanted my wedding to look, but I was never that girl who had the big day planned out in entirety since the age of eight. However, since getting engaged this last Christmas, I certainly had framed a picture of what I wanted to see come September 1st, the day of my wedding. Let me just tell you, it was everything I wanted and more. You know how you don’t even know fully what you want until you see it and suddenly yell, “THIS IS IT!” That is how my wedding day came together. I had laid the groundwork with all of my planning and crafting these last eight months, but being able to step back and let my family and friends take charge of decorating and pulling it all together was incredible. These people–these fantastic volunteers that spent so many hours helping to realize my wedding vision–they get me. They made it happen. When I emerged from my sequestered room, where I had been painstakingly applying fake eye lashes and curling my hair for hours, I was AMAZED to see how the venue had been transformed. I cannot wait to share more pictures. Here are a few iPhone shots of some of the things I had been working on for the last 8 months to whet your whistle for now. More pictures to come!

My mother-in-law and I spent HOURS layering acryclic paint on mason jars to get this neat ceramic finish effect.

I whipped up these tags in Photoshop and had them printed on this lovely recycled cardstock, and then cut them out/hole punched them to be tied on with twine. A lot of busy work, but the end justifies the means, no?

I think we painted 25 mason jars–quart to gal.– total. NEVER AGAIN. 🙂

Another quick photoshop project, printed and stapled onto these favor bags from the Party Fairy

I neurotically collected these recyled glass jars, buying them whenever I saw a few for sale at Marshalls or Homegoods. The best part is that they are now going to be a staple in my kitchen cupboard. Perfect for beer or milk, etc.

One of the arrangements, the day after the wedding. Still going strong! My parents’ friend Marsyl blew us away with her floral arrangements that she created for our wedding day! (wildflowers all donated by the groom’s family friend, Deb!)

This song by The Pines is very special to us. My sister and friend Matt played/sang this as I walked down the aisle. How PERFECT.

Sick Day: DIY Madness

As I alluded to earlier, I am SICK AS A DOG. This is the worst cold I have had in awhile…sneezing, coughing, sore throat, watery eyes, fever…the whole nine yards. One would wager that I am not moving very far from bed…and while I wish this were the case, I am at the point where I simply cannot sleep due to coughing and congestion…so sad, so gross. Why do I share all this? Well, a strange fact about my personality is that I have been known to have issues resting and often am inspired to clean the entire house while sick…possibly a subconscious need to expel all germs and disorder before I can do the same in regards to my body.

Who knows. I am enigma. (the other day I spent an hour researching the mummification process…just for fun….I digress.) Anyway, I can’t sleep, and I am so bored and my mind is racing with ideas and things to be done, in spite of my physical body  telling me to SLOW DOWN.

SO….what am I doing? In between intermittent and fitful naps, I was suddenly inspired to craft.  Hilarious. (cold medicine inspired?)

I purchased some odds and ends from Michael’s a month or so ago…with the thought in mind that I would make my own boutonnières for the groom and lads involved in my upcoming wedding. Why pay someone else to do it when you can slap it together yourself for a fraction of a price, right? After sitting in in a plastic bag in the corner of my room for several weeks, the craft supplies finally came out today.

I took my next dose of cold medicine, washed my hands, and plugged in the hot glue gun.

This was a really simple project and nothing earth shattering or amazing as far as end result…but I thought I would document the process regardless, and post a few pictures of the end result. I got as far as making one prototype for today, and after blogging about it, I am back in bed, sipping orange juice, and trying to will my body to sleep, regardless of coughing spells and the inability to breathe.

All I used in regard to supplies was two varieties of dried plant life (from Michaels), some brown rafia, small pin backs,  very thin, gold wire, and a dot of hot glue. Like I said: simple. I am using the marigold color in most of my decorations, so I was inspired when I found these dried yellow-gold flowers at the craft store. The dried baby’s breath-like bundle of flora seemed an appropriately pretty addition.

 

I cut three buds free from the bundle (and ended up only using two for the arrangement) and proceded to trim most of the green leaves from the stems. They just looked too messy with the dried leaves attached. Next, I added a small clipping of the baby’s breath to two of my flowers and proceded to bind everything together by winding the thin wire around all of the stems.

I added a pin back, and wound the wire around that as well to fix it into place. Next I wrapped everything in rafia, tying it off at the end, and finishing it off with a another strand of wire at the bottom and a spot of glue to ensure it all stayed in place. I also lightly sprayed the flowers with hairspray (thinking on my feet here) to provide a little more stability and longer shelf life, as it were, for my dried plants.

TA DA! Anyone can do it (even someone sick out of their mind and reliant on cold medicine.) Now I just have to make a few more of these puppies, and I can cross boutonnieres off my wedding checklist way in advance. I am going to store these in a shoebox or something that I can pull out later. That’s the great thing about just using dried flowers…this can be assembled ahead of time and set aside for the big day. No coordinating with a florist, and one less thing to have to think about the day of the wedding…. yay! Annnd, if you play your cards right with coupons and sales, the whole thing should cost $20 or less. Win-win.