DIY Wedding Coloring Book!

 

Completely loving this super cute idea! If I’d come across it sooner, I definitely would have done it! So maybe it’s good that I didn’t! Like I really needed another DIY project!! It definitely would have entertained the kiddos, but they were already pretty entertained with all the toys I had at their tables, the endless supply of the desserts, and lets not forget the DANCING!!

I found this recently posted at Blue Sky Designs, and just had to check it out, even though I can’t use it myself! It’s pretty customizeable (is that a word?), giving you options to insert names and dates, as it gives highlights of the wedding day events and people. It’s in word format, so it is pretty easy to edit/delete/add to suit your own style/needs!

Go check it out, and also see Tara’s final product when she recently used it at her wedding, along with cute little ribbon tied bundles of crayons!

National Scrapbooking Day!

Today is National Scrapbooking day! Yay, so exciting, right?? ) I was searching a couple days ago on JoAnn’s for some ideas for making t-shirts for my 5th graders for field day (surprisingly not looking for something wedding related!!) and saw that today is a national holiday for Scrapbook lovers! I wonder if that means there are lots of scrapbooking parties going on today!!

I personally would LOVE to have a scrapbook party, just so I’d actually carve out time for the enormous project I have to do- totally unwedding related- at least unrelated to my wedding!! I am REALLY getting into the scrapbooking thing lately!

So if you are a scrapbook lover, you might want to head out to Joann’s or another craft store today for some good deals! Although, I’ll be straight up honest and tell you I’ve seen Joann’s have better prices on scrapbook stickers during regular sales! But there are lots of other supplies that aren’t usually on sale!

Great time to stock up if you are thinking of creating your own wedding scrapbook for your self or someone else!

And I just found out that teacher’s can get a card for 15% off every time you shop and Joann’s, plus a one time 20% off coupon! Just have to show proof that you’re a teacher, like a paystub, etc.  Wish I’d known that before, since its usually my craft store of choice!

Also if you frequent JoAnn’s be sure to grab a flier (in your Sunday paper, in the mail, sign up for emails, or at the customer service desk!) to get 40% or 50% off an item not on sale- they usually run this coupon every week! You should of seen all the ones that Chaundra and I used to buy the fabric for the flower girl and jr. bridesmaid dresses!! (Which I can’t WAIT for some progress on those to share! We found some great material!!)

There is this really cute scrapbooking tote, that I really want! Just waiting for when I can splurge! It’s 40% off right now, so not too bad (originally $100!) but I just can’t see myself spending that kind of money on something like this right now when I need so much else!!

 

My scrapbooking stuff is organized, but just in a bag, and I’m not loving the file organizer I got! Some stuff doesn’t fit right!

But this is how I’ve left my stuff since the last time I sorted through it….ooops! ) I tried to leave it out as inspiration to actually do some stuff….that didn’t work!!!

(Oh look, it’s another pile!!)

So, Happy Scrapbooking Day!!! Here’s hoping I finish my projects soon!! )

The Organized Bride!

Between the chaos of my spring cleaning, finding a place for the fiance and I to call our new home, sending out Save the Dates, picking out patterns/buying material for flower girl and Jr. bridesmaid dresses, finding rehearsal dinner and bridal luncheon locations, registering for gifts, making up shower invite lists, AND all of my everyday normal life activities (which was already more than enough to handle!), school work, etc…..I’ve somehow become overwhelmed with papers, business cards, flyers, vendor info,  registry info……AH!!!

I had kind of a breakdown this weekend- it wasn’t too bad (if you don’t count the yelling at the fiance for no good reason!), but I had to remove myself from everything and everyone for one night and get CRAP DONE!! I am pleased to say that I feel pretty organized now! At least as far as my wedding information goes! Last week I bought some organizing stuff

and I finally finished putting it to use!! I’m so thrilled that I’ve gotten rid of a huge bag of unnecessary stuff and kept only the essentials!

I threw away the whole red bag of stuff, everything else fits in my cute Target file organizer!

I was so excited, I took a few minutes break to decorate the organizer!

I bought a great Martha Stewart Wedding Planner, but it’s just too much for me (even though I do love me some Martha!)! I’m doing pretty well just using the file folder, and this blog is sort of a filing system for all my ideas too!! My agenda is my new best friend too, with all my to-do lists, calendar to kepe track of important dates (my list of important dates has more than tripled!), my addresses and MUCH more! I’d lose my mind if I lost it, I think!

The Knot has been a great place for me to organize my guest lists and my mom has been a HUGE help with that! I think she’s on it more than me! )

So I’m getting organized but keeping it simple! At least for now!

And I feel sooooooooooo much better! I’m SO looking forward to Ray and I going to Chicago this next weekend to visit Bridget! I’ll have three full days that I won’t have to do a THING related to the wedding!! Just Cubs games, relaxing, and eating Chicago food!! I’m loving all this planning, but it does get overwhelming when you have more things to do than you have time! Thank GOODNESS I’m still over 3 months out! )

Save the Date’s are ready to go!

Whew!!! My magnets came in last week from Vistaprint and I am PERFECTLY pleased with them! Except for the fact that there was no notice on my apartment door that they were here! I knew they were though because of online tracking, so I popped in the office to ask about them, and there they were!! The last time I ordered from Vistaprint, it ended up in my mailbox! This would’ve fit, but it was REALLY heavy, so maybe that’s why it ended up in the office!

At any rate, they turned out perfectly! I really wanted to do them for CHEAP because they’re only a pre-invitation, and it turns out for EVERYTHING, including mailing them, I’m spending about $100! Yippppeeee! The magnets themselves were around $40 for 200, and I picked up the rest of the supplies at OfficeMax. I got some plain white invitation envelopes, and these great preforated post cards- 4 to a sheet- with blue outlining. Typed up the details and note on the computer, printed them out and used restickable double sided tape to stick the magnets on the cards. They turned out exactly how I imagined! Wait….BETTER than I’d imagined since my original idea was to go with cardstock, and then use the papercutter at my school to make them each sheet into 4 cards!

You might notice the mailing seals in the picture…..they didn’t make it! I’d planned to print our monogram on them and use them as envelope seals. I didn’t realize until a few minutes later that they are the ones that fold over, so they were a no-go! ( I searched high and low at several craft stores for appropriate envelope seals, but they were all pretty tacky and/or expensive! So much for that! I ended up buying some foam letter stamps and blue ink and stamping an “H” where the seal would’ve gone! I’m not so worried about it being formal!

 

The work wasn’t too hard….and I’m pretty satisfied with the overall result…..however…I’m thinking of not DIY-ing  my invites!! I’m getting some friends to help me out with several options, and might just put it all off on someone else! I have better things to worry about!! Like DIYing my flowers! ) THAT I’m excited about! And I couldn’t even spell my sis-in-law’s name right on the Save the Date (good ole “engagement” brain!!), so I think I need to have nothing to do with that on the invites!!

*Ummmm……it seems that wordpress has reformatted everything and I canNOT find the spell check button anymore!! Anyone know where it went??! Ahhh! It was my friend! ( *

Fun Bride/Bridesmaid Gear!

 Team Bride

I’ve written before about how much I adore all of the cute tanks, tees, and bags out there for bridesmaids and brides! I’m excited to have come across some new stuff and even created some of my own!!

My cousin and bridesmaid Ashley directed me to this great site to design shirts, etc,  and they have some really cute ideas!

Customized Girl

Almost anything you could think of to put on a tank or t-shirt, someone has already done it! If you search for Bride or Bridesmaid, there are some great ideas, or you can create your own! I’d show ya if I could but they’re all in flash for editing purposes, so go look at these!!

You can add your own graphics or ones provided, change fonts, sizes, etc. I played around with it for awhile, and it’s a lot of fun! It’s not too expensive if you design something from the Sale section! (*note*- it’s $10 more to design the back of the shirt too!)

I’ve also been working on making my own stuff!! I went to Walmart and found these iron-ons.

The Future Mrs. one is actually a pale pink- hard to tell in the picture!

I also got some plain tanks – gray for Future Mrs. to have one that was a little more subtle! – Navy for Bride to Be!

They turned out pretty good, and the instructions on the iron-ons were very simple to follow! The only problem I had was with one little stone on the Future Mrs.  not sticking- I think it had already lost its stick before I put it on because no matter how much I tried to put it back on, it wouldn’t stay!! Now, I’m going to look for an “H” to put “Future Mrs. H” We’ll see if I find one! I’ll still be happy if I don’t!

There are lots more great ideas out there for DIYing your own gear, or for buying some custom made! Happy Shopping! )

Favors and Escort Card Ideas from The Knot

I’m debating whether or not I want to have favors at my wedding…while I think they are a great idea, very often are cute and fun…how many wedding favors do you still have from weddings that you’ve been to? Let me count mine….oh wait! I can’t! I don’t have them anymore!

I’ve seen a lot of stuff lately that is actually useful and unique lately. I’ve spent a lot of time searching on The Knot for ideas. I think my biggest question is….should I just use my escort cards as my favors?? I’m doing candy at my cake reception, and thinking of just using something cool for my escort cards at the family/wedding party dinner that will go along with my theme and be the favor at the same time!

Here’s a few things I’ve seen lately! I may add more later!

  

Oriental Trading Company- Wedding, Bachelorette, and Shower supplies!! Plus lots of other fun goodies!

I’ve used Oriental Trading Company before for things for school. Like these adorable Magic Color Scratch Sombrero Ornaments that my kids had a blast with around Christmas time. How can you beat a craft for 120 kids for only $30!?(although just saw right now I’d get the same amount for $18 on clearance!)

 OTC specializes in bulk/cheap items, but it never occurred to me that they might have wedding stuff!! I’m not sure why I never thought of it, but I hadn’t! I get catalogs at school all the time, but of course no wedding themed stuff was in there!

So in searching for stuff for out-of-town gift baskets/bags, I came across a forum that talked about getting stuff from there. Like these tote bags $9.95 for a dozen!

 

 I’m not going to make any claims on the quality of their stuff because I can only attest to the crafts I’ve ordered! They all came quick, and were well packaged! These bags are cute, but a little too beachy for me!

The possibilities are endless for what you can find from their site!!

Here are some cute things I came across (ahhhhem….my bridesmaids, you might want to take some notes- now that I know some of you are actually reading this!!)

$4.95
How freakin cute are these flip flops!??! I’ve seen something like this before, but not exact. Totally great for the honeymoon!

$3.95
Also VERY much a fan of these black and white flip flops, which also come in men’s (I’m a size 8, Ray is 11!) These might be cuter than the previous ones- which kinda look like garters!

$3.95
These are totally cute iron-ons! I actually picked up some similar ones from Walmart for pretty cheap!

 Lots of fun bachelorette party stuff too like this party pack-

There’s lots of other great stuff too, but there are some goofy things as well. Like an inflatable arch! But a lot of stuff is cute, great for a bride on a budget, and lots of stuff can even be personalized! Like these cute glass champagne flutes (which I may be getting for myself!)

And this personalized banner!

Do some searching for yourself, and you just might find a few great things you’ve been looking for! Favor ideas, bubbles, centerpieces, there’s tons of items to chose from if their in the realm of what you’re looking for! And someone must be buying those inflatable arches if someone was crazy enough to think of the idea to make them!!

Beautiful flowers!

So I am still considering going the fake flower route, and have been searching hard for some matching ones! Just this weekend, Kelley and I were searching through Hobby Lobby and found pretty much the perfect ones! I’ll post my actual pics later, but for now, here are the pics from the Crafts, etc. site (the site Hobby Lobby sends you to, if you want to shop for florals on-line!) These hydrangeas match the bridesmaids dresses/sashes PERFECTLY!

We found several similar color roses to intersperse with the hydrangeas and white roses!

This is one (but not sure about all the shades of green in it too)

Or it may have been this similar one…not sure!

And I can’t find it on-line, but in the store there was another similar rose but with darker edges instead of the lighter green! They looked soooo pretty and I was practically jumping up and down when I got home and saw how closely they matched the dresses! YAY! ) Possibly one more thing checked off the list!!

That reminds me….I need to go to my checklist at The Knot and mark off a bunch of the tasks I’ve completed recently! )

More blue details!

Oh, I am going to have so much fun over Spring Break looking at all the blue details from the Blue Bio!! )

Love this!!!

And this is some of what I’m actually doing already!!

Can I just call everyone who is invited?? :o)

I still have no idea what I’m doing for wedding invitations! I’m about to kick this DIY project to the curb and let someone else do it for me! Especially after the day I had trying to make completely un-related invitations yesterday…..well, at least maybe I have some experience now! I’m really unsure of what I’m going to do, and it’s something that I’ve put on the back burner. Guess it’s getting time to pull it off the back burner and up to the front! Now that we have the date and location, I actually have something to write on them!!

I love this adorable invite above made from paper from paperpresentation.com I love how cute and modern the blue and red is, although that won’t be what I do!! I might do something like what you see above, with aqua folder/envelopes, white paper and navy printing then maybe navy ribbon? Who knows!!

The only thing that I know for sure is that it HAS to be a double sided invitation. One side in English, the other in Spanish! I think it’s just a cute idea, period, but a lot of Ray’s family and all of my students will love it!

On another note…..Kelley tried on her bridesmaids dress tonight and it is sooooo cute!! I’m am thouroughly relieved that my clearance deals from Ann Taylor appear to be working out perfectly! I was so glad to see the dress on someone who will actually wear it!! )