I’m posting this a little bit late this year since Halloween has already passed, but I thought our families would like to see our simple Halloween decorations. A couple days before Halloween we weren’t exactly feeling festive and knew that something needed to change: enter bats. I downloaded the bat template from Country Living. After folding the construction paper in half (hamburger style–not hot dog!), I traced the template two bats to a sheet and cut out my critters. (Can be bats be categorized as critters?)
Then we taped ‘em up on the wall and called it a day. Simple Halloween decorations!
I wonder how long we’ll leave them up. We would take them down but this apartment wall looks pretty sad and empty without them.
Is anyone else still enjoying their Halloween decor? Any last minute projects you want to share? Peter and I are planning to make Day of the Dead bread tonight! We’d intended to do it yesterday but I ended up on the couch with a migraine instead. Womp womp. I’ll let y’all know how the recipe turns out!
I know the blogosphere is already buzzing with chatter about everyone’s 2011 resolutions, so I thought I’d share a little DIY project that I did to prepare myself for the next 365 days. Before I begin, let me tell you that I stole 100% of this project from one of my best friends, Leanne. Leanne is not only a million times more organized than I am, she’s also a big influence to me when it comes to things like setting goals. So this year, when she gave me a planner just like the one that she always uses, I was completely up front about copying her.
First, let me say that I never knew her planner was quite so fabulous. It has the normal three year view and then it has a three year view that you can write dates in on. It’s great for long term planning.
The planner pad also offers a full month view before each month starts. Call me crazy, but this is something that I’ve always wanted. This way you can look at your full month without having to flip somewhere in the beginning and then find your spot again.
Then each week gives you a spot for your major goal that week, lists of activities, daily to-dos, and appointments. The top allows for all your general to-dos and funnels to the more specific details of your week. I’m kind of obsessed.
Leanne’s thing that she always says about planners is that if you love your planner then you’re more likely to want to take it with you. So, following Leanne’s example I went to Hobby Lobby and picked the prettiest, most luxurious paper that I could find. Of course it’s the same paper that she uses too. I really tried to pick something different, but what can I say? The woman has fabulous taste.
After tracing the paper (leaving a little extra to fold over the outer edges), I took the whole project outside and sprayed everything down with Tacky Spray. I can’t warn you enough against this stuff. Before you use it change your clothes, put something down like you’re painting, take off your wedding rings, and be really careful. I tried so hard not to get it everywhere and by the end of the project I had glue all over my hands and I left a huge discolored area outside where I was spraying it. I hope it will go away. If you do end up getting it all over your hands, baby oil and rubbing alcohol worked well for me.
But even after all that trouble, I have to say that t was worth it. My planner is beautiful. I have a pretty purple metallic paper clip holding my spot and my week is planned.
I’m hoping now that our wedding is over and we’ve had a bit of time to relax, Peter and I will be able to finish so many of the tasks that we’ve left sitting around for the past few months. We’ve got the bathroom to finish, loose ends from the wedding to tie up (including changing my name), and about a million books to read.
And since everyone else is doing it, I’ll give you a little peak into my resolutions without boring you with the minutia (Hey, they say the more measurable your goals are the more likely you are to achieve them, right?) I have a bit of fitness (stretching, exercising–bleh, eating better, and drinking more water), a bit of personal development (reading more, writing more, taking lots of classes), and a couple of miscalaenous goals, like starting a supper club. I have high hopes for 2011. So far, it seems like it is going to be a great year!
What about you guys? Have any resolutions that you’re itching to tell me about?
The good news is that we’ve finished all of the thank you notes from the wedding. The bad news is that we can’t find two addresses. Ugh!
It’s a cold and rainy day here in Texas, so I’m spending the evening flipping through Gifted. So far I’ve found a bunch of really adorable ideas for wrapping gifts this year, like these paper pom poms. I can’t say that I’m usually a fancy gift wrapper, but maybe this year is the time to start!
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What did yall think of Gifted?
I never loved or hated the idea of a garter. I knew that I didn’t want to do a garter toss, but I was never against the idea of wearing one for tradition’s sake. As the wedding approached I had no garter, no time to order something off of Etsy, and no take to make something extravagant. I also knew that the type of garter that I could buy at the craft store wasn’t for me. So, I went to Nordstrom and bought a simple lace headband.
I could’ve easily gone to the craft store and bought a bit of lace, but believe me, days before the wedding any amount of time that I could save seemed like a huge deal–and I already had to go to Nordstrom.
Because my thigh is not the size of my head, I took a needle and thread and tightly hand stitched the headband so that it would have a tighter fit.
My sewing was messy, but I was in a hurry and no one was going to examine the seam. On the day of the wedding it looked great. I added a couple of strips of fashion tape to ensure that it would stay put throughout the night and that was it.
Since we’re all so close, I’ll show you what it looked like.
I loved the simple and classic look. This would be great for a bride with a fitted dress who didn’t want the bulk of something more elaborate.
Did you wear a garter? What did it look like? Did you DIY or buy something you loved?
A couple days ago I posted a sneak peak of our boutonnieres. I originally found the idea through Martha Stewart’s wedding inspiration section on her website. Personally I thought it would have been helpful to have just a little bit more detail, so I’m providing that to you.
We made the boutonnieres because it seems like every wedding that Peter and I have attended, the boutonnieres end up getting crushed from all the hugs that the groom and attendants receive. We felt it was silly to spend a lot of money on something that so often gets destroyed. After looking for inexpensive alternatives, Peter and I felt that these particular boutonnieres would hold up through a ton of hugs, could be made well in advance, and still had an element of sophistication. Peter’s family bought most of the materials to make them this summer but after piecing together all of the receipts it it seems like they spent about $15 on 12 boutonnieres–rather than the $180 or more that it would have cost through a florist.
All in all the project was really easy! The first boutonniere that I made looked great and there was very little tweaking to be done from there on. Nonetheless there were some little bits of information that I wish I had when I started, so here’s a walk through of how to make them.
Martha’s directions called for covered button, but didn’t specify a size. Peter’s mom did a great job guessing. I think the sizes turned out really nicely. We used three different sized button covers 5/8 (pictured), 7/8, and 1 1/8. The directions provided on the box of button covers are really clear. Each size comes with a separate pattern. You cut out the pattern and trace it onto the wrong side of your fabric.
Then you cut out a circle in the necessary size. (The edges won’t show, so you don’t need to cut it perfectly.)
Below is a bad picture of what to do, but basically you hold the fabric tightly and push the button and into the mold. I tried to capture this action but you really need two hands to do it so taking a picture impeded the process.
Repeat over and over and over again until your fingers feel like they’re developing blisters from using the button press.
Create stems using floral wire.
Then wrap the ends in floral tape. The leaf is made in a similar way. You create a pattern (Peter used his art skills to do this for me.), cut them out, put a piece of floral wire in between each side, iron them together with the no sew bonding tape, and then wrap the end in floral wire.
After you’ve assembled all of the pieces then you can arrange you bouquet in any way you like. Finally, secure it with floral tape and then cover the floral tape with a pretty ribbon. I’m paranoid about things coming undone so I coated the back of the ribbon in fabric glue that make sure that my knot wouldn’t unravel during the ceremony. Can you imagine, a knot coming undone while you’re tying the knot? OK, bad joke, but it still seems like a bad omen.
So there you have it. That’s how we made the boutonnieres. It took a few hours of solid crafting, but I’m sure it would have gone much faster if I had enlisted a friend. Good luck and happy crafting!
