Old, New, Borrowed... and Blue!

I think I've mentioned before, but in April I am going to be in back-to-back weddings. Not only that, but I am the matron of honor in both, so I have double-duty when it comes to making the time leading up to the weddings special for each bride. On the upside, there are a few small details that I have been able to duplicate, such as fun shower games and printables, but because of this I've had to put off the first of my recaps until both showers had been celebrated. So, even though this was back in January, here's a quick look at the fun we had at my best friend's bridal shower!

If you've ever met Elizabeth, you'll somehow learn very early on that her middle name is Blue. It's a family name and she loves it, and I do, too! Many people call her that, and so it seemed appropriate that we use the very appropriate theme of something old, something new, something borrowed, and of course... something Blue!  The I'm not posting a super-great image of the invitations, mainly because I swiped an image from the Internet and used it for my own design, but you could order very simlilar ones here:

We of course had hints of blue everywhere, but also used lace doilies and decorated with Mason jars to give it that vintage, old feel. I personally loved the way it all came together!

And ohhhhh these cupcakes were amazing! They were a chocolate-peanut butter creation from Annie's Eats. The frosting was to die for!  And how fun is the wine bottle in the high heel? The idea was from one of the other bridesmaids and I do believe that heels and wine were made to go together!

 

As for the food, we kept it simple and purchased finger sandwiches and a vegetable tray from Kroger, served pita chips and hummus, and an easy (yet delicious!) salad made up of field greens and spinach, mandarin oranges, sliced strawberries, sliced almonds, and poppyseed dressing. Delish! And thanks to someone who is much better at mixing beverages than I am, we even had blue sangria! It's hard to tell in the picture though!

 

After everyone had something to eat and mingled a bit, we passed around a notebook for them to write some advice for the bride-to-be, which will be a fun little keepsake for her. And then we passed out bridal shower Madlibs to do with a friend during the gift opening! I always think it's a good idea to have something for the guests to do while the gifts are being opened. I think it makes the guest of honor feel a little less awkward, too, since it's all eyes on her at that moment!

 

 

 

For the Mad Libs, I once again swiped someone else's brilliant design (are you seeing a pattern here) and customized it to fit my needs. But to give credit where credit is due, you can check out the original here.  Once I tweaked it, mine looked like this:

 

 

These were a huge hit, but even funnier was listening to everyone try and remember what a noun, verb, and adjective are! Wow, it's been awhile since we've all been in grammar class!  And as you know, I like to share, so if you ever wanted to use this, just email me and I'll gladly change the groom's name (since I highly doubt she'll be marrying a Dara!) and send you a copy.

 

All in all, it was a great day! I can't wait to stand next to these gorgeous bridesmaids in just a few weeks as my favorite person gets hitched!

 

But even sooner than that, I REALLY can't wait to meet up with them for our Bachelorette Mountain Getaway this weekend! After a week and a half of taking care of sick kids, this girls' weekend could not come at a better time... this mama needs it!  Look out Smoky Mountains, here we come!

 



Friday Freebie

I have a couple of friends going through tough times right now. It seems like bad news has hit the people I love left and right, and even though we all know it's part of a bigger plan, it's hard to see that when you're in the midst of it. I know one of these fine friends in particular reads my blog from time to time, so this one is for you:

There may be more of you out there that needed to see that today. Just remember that no matter what you're going through, if you keep your eyes fixed on the Almighty, He'll make sure to bring you through it. I wish we could know what His plans are, but just know that they are far greater than yours or mine. Just put one foot in front of the other and He'll keep pushing you forward and holding you up until you overcome this bump in the road.

And just like my last creation, if you want a digital copy, I'm happy to share, so just email me or leave a comment.

Last Minute Love Day

While this family isn't one that really does much for Valentine's Day, this was the first year that I happened to notice just how many cute (and free!) things you can find on the web for decorating, making cards, etc. So if you forgot all about it and still want to do something sweet for your honey-bunny, check out some of these free printables:

 

I used this as a card, but I bet it would look really cute framed, too! Found at Guess How Much I Love You:

And if you forgot to get them for the whole class, try printing these right at home, brought to you by The Rubber Punkin:

And how cute is this from the site, Flamingo Toes? This would be cute at a wedding, too!

I've actually hand-written this sign for my family before, just on a random morning. I feel like these cute surprises almost mean more on a random morning... why just save them all for one day of the year? Dave's Wife has a cuter version than the one I made... and according to her blog, she also made her own donuts!

This just might be my favorite... found over at the Bonjour Blog:

There are tons more out there... I love when bloggers create something and then decide to share it with the rest of the world... that's what it's all about! All of these sites have more than just these prints, so they are worth checking out for more fun stuff. And as a common courtesy, whenever you use something that someone else created, you should always thank them with either a comment, or even better, by following their blog. We bloggers love followers... not really sure what it is about it, but it lets us know that our words are being read by at least a few people out there!

Enjoy your day and spread some love and kindness today (and everyday). I'm off to go make my love-bugs some heart-shaped pancakes. Hmmm... maybe we kinda do celebrate this day afterall!

What are some of your favorite free finds?

Subway Art

While I in no way claim to be some sort of graphic design expert (that would be my sister), every once in awhile I do come up with something on the computer and think that it doesn't look half bad. I spend some time with one of our high school girls from church on a (almost) weekly basis, and wanted to give her something special for Christmas. We often talk about Bible verses and each time we meet I try to give her one to really think on, and hopefully memorize. As a sophomore in high school, I remember the days of peer pressure, trying to impress the wrong people, trying to fit in, and even compromising my standards and values to get to hang out with certain crowds. I knew about God, but I did not know Him as a loving, non-judging, caring Father who thought of me as beautiful and invaluable no matter what I did. I never worked to please Him, and instead worked to please people that I don't even have a relationship with any more... clearly they just don't matter in my life now, but God matters eternally. It's such a hard thing to teach a teenager, and even though she understands far more than I did, it's still a struggle to find acceptance. Some people say they would go back to high school, but I would never want to... unless I could go back with the knowledge and relationship I have with Christ now and change some things, and even then I'm not sure I could stomach that environment.

But back to my point... one of the verses that I think every girl should know from the time she is a tiny little thing is Psalm 139:14:

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

    your works are wonderful, 

I know that full well.

I looked online to find a "subway art" type of thing to either purchase or download and felt like most of them either did not have enough of the verse included, or were geared toward a nursery. I actually loved some of the nursery ones, but again, I was looking for something that a girl in high school would actually want hanging in her room. I found one I really liked, and just tried to create something similar myself. I first tried Photoshop, which was a total fail, and then went back to the trusty old Microsoft Publisher. With that being said, it's not quite as professional as I probably would have wanted, but I am pleased how it turned out. Oh, and can I just add that learning that you can download free fonts has totally changed my world? Yeah, that's how non-graphic artisty I am... I had no idea!  So here is the outcome of my first attempt at creating subway art:

So what do you think... and please be nice! Haha! And in the spirit of not keeping things to myself, you can download it for yourself here if you'd like.  I hope you like it... maybe if enough people do I will attempt something else in the future and even take requests... but let's not get ahead of ourselves! Enjoy!

A Crafty Christmas

Guess who actually had a successful crafting project for once?  Yep, it's yours truly! I rarely blog about crafting becuase (a) I hardly ever do it and (b) my project usually ends up looking like a kindergartner made it. I'm the person who would rather spend the extra money to buy something already made than save some money but spend my time working on something that, in all honestly, ends up looking homemade. So many crafters out there make things that  could be sold in stores, but I was not born with that gene. But alas, from time to time, I do try.

Last week our mom's group had a Pinterest party, which is pretty ironic that I went considering my thoughts on Pinterest. But more than anything, it was just a fun reason to get together. Since I don't Pinterest, I surfed some blogs and saw a bulletin board covered in fabric and ribbon, used to display Christmas cards, and thought it looked easy enough (seen here). Plus, I love looking at all of our cards and have absolutely no good place to put them up in this house.

I went a bit rogue once I got to JoAnn's (probably due to a curious 1-year-old running amok in the store... who knew Lilly would find crafting supplies so exciting!) and ended up purchasing a thick piece of rectangular styrafoam, 1 1/2 yards of fabric, a spool of ribbon, buttons, thread, and a needle. All told, I probably spent around $25, mainly due to the fabric.

The actual Pinterest party was a blast... this is the second time we've had one. Basically, everyone picks a craft and makes two of the same thing, or if they run out of time, they make one and have all of the supplies in a bundle along with instructions to make a second. We hang out, eat, make our crafts, and at the end we either exchange one of the finished crafts or the project bundle for someone to make at home. This party was Christmas-themed, so we had our holiday tunes blaring, hot coffee, and plenty of festive snacks... it felt so festive and really got me in the holiday spirit, which has been difficult to do this year for some reason. And after some debate, I ended up fabric gluing the cloth to the styrofoam and literally sewed the buttons on through it. I chickened out on the snowflak pattern and ended up with this:

 

I must say, I was quite impressed with myself, and since it didn't take too terribly long I decided to give it away in our exchange and make the one for my own house at home. As a sidenote, I took home a jar of homemade brown sugar body scrub that smells delicious and leaves my hands and feet so silky smooth! I would share how to make it, but I forgot to grab the directions. But back to this...

 

At home I got a little bit braver with the design and thought a Christmas tree pattern would be simple enough. Here is how it turned out:

The ribbon is literally sewn on through the styrofoam backing. It was kind of hard to find the button holes and I poked myself a lot, but it worked:

 

I'm sure I could've used hot glue and it would've been fine, but I could not find my hot glue gun. I added the cards, sliding some through the ribbon and used a couple of thumb tacks for the others, especially the heavier ones. Anyway, I still need to add a piece of ribbon to be the "trunk," but all in all I think it dresses up a blank wall in our dining room and I love how it looks with the cards:

And I bet some of my blogging friends can spot themselves on display:

I have to say that this has reinstilled my faith in my crafting ability... there is hope! I probably won't attempt anything more this season, but next year I have my eye on this wreath that was made at our party, and was surprisingly super simple (and under $20) to make! (sorry for the picture discoloration)

 

But for now, I think I'll just quit while I'm ahead. How do you display your cards each year?

Decor on the Cheap

Happy Monday, y'all! Yes, I said "y'all" and to my defense, I used that word long before moving to the bluegrass. Besides, if you've ever visited Lexington you'd see that it's really not all that redneck... it's more Midwestern with some South mixed in... or what I like to call perfection. But I digress...

Today I thought I'd post a few projects that I've been working on around the house. As a disclaimer, let me just say that my level of craftiness is pretty low and most of my projects end up looking fairly... well... home-made. But, these are just a few things that I'm quite proud of:

A few months ago, we moved Lilly out of Jake's room so they'd both have their own space. Since Lilly's walls were bare, I had a blank slate and wanted to work with what we had... hanging these four pictures close together did the trick:

(Going clockwise)-

Top Left: old mirror we had with an Uppercase Living decal (a bird on a limb since it's hard to see)

Bottom Left: Cross-stitched prayer that my mom made for me and hung in my room as a baby. We painted the yellow frame dark brown to match eveything else

Bottom Right: A picture of Lil in a $5 Wal-Mart frame. Their frames are cheap (and you can tell sometimes) but they work.

Top Right: Used to be the picture below, but I covered it with a piece of scrapbook paper, used a stencil to paint on the chandelier, and voila!

Next up was a garage sale find for $4. I mod-podged the Miami Dolphins portion to match the letters that I did awhile back (seen here) and we actually had the "Faith, Hope, and Love" wooden cut-outs already (and Josh made them). The woods matched perfectly, too! I do want to print out her monogram on a circle and stick that on there, but you get the gist here:

I also used cheap frame-less frames (if that's how you describe them?) and a mat to frame one of her birth announcements and a greeting card and hung those alongside a canvas my (much more talented) sister, Mindy, made:

Her room is bright, sunny, and happy... just like our little Lil.

Next up was Jake's space. He still had quite a bit of stuff on his walls from before she moved out, but there was one big wall that I really wanted to update. Since he loves trains, I Googled "train stencil" and came across a pretty basic design. I printed them at home, cut them out, and used acrylic paint on very cheap corkboard tiles.  I used a ruler and a permanent marker for the tracks. Hereis the result:



We already had the "Train up your child..." picture and the "Let him sleep" vinyl expression and metal board is also from Uppercase Living. Are you starting to see a trend? Yeah, this is why I sell the stuff!

My only other note-worthy project involved an 8x10 frame that had broken glass, a mat, and some scrapbook paper. Ever wonder what to do with a fram that has lost its glass? I covered the matting in contact paper and then printed out my favorite quote from one of Jake's favorite books (On The Night You Were Born). Then I mod-podged over it all with a paint brush and spray-acrylic'ed (is that a word?) it to no end. It's hard as a rock and the frame has life again!

So no, they are not perfect, but I definitely love the way everything turned out! It's amazing what you can do with things you already have... just go through your closets and find old frames, mirrors, etc. that you haven't used in years and get creative! With some glue, a printer, and a little imagination you can turn old junk into something worth putting on display. The next room I'm working on is our guest bedroom / my office, so hopefully I'll have updates to post soon!

Have a great start to your week!