Mustachioed Mini Man

It was a Mustache Bash to celebrate the almost-arrival of a little one named Calvin this past weekend, and the hosts went all out. Full of high school friends, it was a baby shower of perfectly fun and modern taste, and I just had to share a few of the details.

You saw the above photo in my Random Round Up from Monday, but what I didn't get to show you were all the other fun touches of Calvin's nursery colors: Gray and orange. As always, click on any image to see it a bit larger.

The queen's throne - Color coordinated, of course.

Such a pretty, rustic venue.

Every detail accounted for.

The gorgeous mama-to-be and her hosts.

I won! Check out the game below:

Famous 'staches for guessing fun. (see the stamped 'staches on the bunting?)

Dessert? You mustache?! Why themed cupcakes of course.

This little guy is a long time coming, and so loved already. Everyone can hardly contain themselves!

...And don't you think the hosts should box up this party and sell it on Etsy?! Amazing.

Reader Recreation: Thanksgiving Decor

My bestie Emily sent me a quick text the other day that made me grin so wide I just have to share.

Remember this round up of Pinterest-found ideas for Thanksgiving decor? Well, Emily decided to try her hand at one and look how cute:

I especially love the floral touch of those spiky white dahlias. Perfect to offset the green veggies! It's so fun to see these ideas we see and pin or take note of come to life in such a real way. Makes it more approachable, no? Thanks Em!

Clean Up Crew: Tissue Flowers

Happy Sunday! In reality, I'm recovering from what I'm sure was a super fun pre-birthday fiesta planned by my best buds (and bridesmaids) Emily and Paula, along with the hubs. But thought I would do a little show-and-tell of another wedding leftover being put to use for today. Surely pics will be posted of the fun had this weekend in a Random Round-Up later on in the week.

Remember that sea of tissue, tulle, and lace flowers I created for the table decoration? I just couldn't bear to throw all that work away immediately, so I've been holding on to 'em in a big storage tub in my someday soon-to-be sewing room.

And well, now that I want to use that space as an actual room, those flowers have got to go.

I've seen a million-and-one different variations of wreaths on Pinterest of late, so thought I'd see what I could come up with. One $4.99 Michael's grape vine wreath form later... Ta da!

Because the 'stems' of the flowers were a thin wire, all I had to do to complete this project was stick the wire through the wreath and bend/wrap it around the vines until it felt secure. The whole project took about 10 minutes.

The plan is that it'll go on the inside of our front door since tissue can't really withstand the outside elements. I still have a ton of the flowers left, so speak now if you want a wreath made for your own interior... Otherwise - and I hate to say it - in the trash they go. Glad I have some to remember the project by!

Update: It's found it's official home!

Quick Craft: Mason Jar Candles

Moving and sorting has brought several small collections to the surface that are in need of either being put to use or donated... whether that's to the thrift store or the recycling bin.

The other day I figured out how to combine two of these mini collections: Mason jars and old small candles. A leftover bag of copper-colored stone chips poured into each jar, a candle plopped in, and boom, table centerpiece.

Less than 10 minutes start to finish, and now I have something that's taking up less space then when all the ingredients were apart collecting dust, and pretty to boot. Most of the jars are from Classico pasta sauces who package in real Atlas mason jars and whose labels are blessedly easy to remove. I was thinking it would also be cute to use sand in place of the rock chips I used, either bought at a craft store or saved from a happy beach vacation. Pretty!

P.S. How sad is it that the weather is still so un-summery here that I took the last photo at around 4:30pm and just turned the lights off in the kitchen to get it so dark?! BOO. Ready for some nice weather.

Clean Up Crew: More Bottles

As promised yesterday, more bottles! I know, I know, you barely made it you were holding your breath so long.

As you've probably figured out from the LOVE letters going on the big ledge in the master bedroom and the other bottles going on the deep above-built-in ledge in the family room... Our house has more ledges then we quite know what to do with.

There are two facing each other in our big entryway to the house, and one in particular was looking pretty naked to me. Enter, bottles!

 If you've figured out those orange-y balls-on-stems are leftovers too, well, ten points to you (and may I suggest branching out from reading ONLY this blog). I had plans for our wedding colors to be all shades of saturated blues with little pops of coral, but that was scrapped when I just couldn't get enough coral together to make it look deliberate and not random. So! In the castoff pile (aka: my future sewing room) they were tossed, only to have their moment in the sun post-wedding.

Like I mentioned before, in the entryway there are two ledges facing each other. We found this sign on our Mini-Moon and decided it was just crying out to live on a random, peaked ledge. Not a bad fit for having not measured, eh? We were proud.

Now, are you confused yet with all this ledge and entryway talk? Let me offer a better visual:

So there you have it. Most of the bottles are used, the ledges are lonely no more, and the house is becoming a little more of a home and less of a wedding-craft-war-zone every day.

I'll probably recycle the rest of the bottles... But for now they remain in their containers waiting for more inspiration to strike.

Clean Up Crew: Bottles

Clean Up Crew continues with aaaaaaaaaall those matte white bottles I puff-painted and spray painted for the reception tables.

By the time we packed 'em up to head to Lord Hill Farms on the wedding day, the total had hit somewhere around 70.

Not ready to toss them in the recycle bin quite yet, I've been living with them in storage containers for a while as I mulled over what could be done with them in the house without making the place feel like a brewery.

So here's what I landed on:

 Because our home was built when televisions were much smaller and boxier, we can't use the built-in cubby for our flat screen. I guess in some sort of strange decorative attempt the builder put up a large gigantic darkened mirror above the built-in. Thankfully our tv covers most of it, but it still needed... something. So now, or at least for the time being, the bottles are just the thing!

From far away it just looks kind of textural and interesting with the varied heights, and close up you can see that each is different. Because they're all white - and a matte finish at that - they don't seem to add any busy-ness or reflective distraction to the area.

And you're right if you've decided that not all 70 are there... The new home for a few more to be revealed tomorrow.

Update: Looking back I feel like the pictures in this post look a lot stranger than how it looks in person. It's actually quite a clean and Anthropologie-like look... I'll have to see if I can't get some better pictures with better lighting in the near future!

Clean Up Crew: L-O-V-E Letters

Kicking off a new little mini-series here I've decided to call 'Clean Up Crew'.

I've never really heard anyone talk about what they do with all that post-wedding stuff. Not the presents or the dress, but the leftover decor. I mean, what does one actually do with two foot high cardboard letters covered with turquoise tissue fringe?? Or you know, something normal people have left over from their wedding.

In our case, those cardboard behemoths are just the thing to fill out an architectural shelf in the master bedroom. But first, a frustrating little tale :

After the music had stopped and we'd said most of our goodbyes to our guests, 'Maid Melissa reported that one of the female guests had stolen the V from the LOVE letters. She'd seen her walking out the door, but was across the room and couldn't get to her in time to stop her.

I. Was. FURIOUS.

Really, it was the only flawed moment in the entire perfect day. Nearly from conception of the project I had plans for these letters to be used in our home, and the fact that someone thought it was funny to take this thing I'd put so much time and thought into made me so angry.

And I did NOT want to start over and make another V. You all know how long it took me to fringe these things, after all.

Anyway, long story short, Melissa's consternation was overseen by one of Nate's former neighbors, who said she knew the woman who had taken it and she would make sure it was returned (the culprit ended up being her daughter-in-law). The next day Nate thought his rooftop storage box on his truck had been broken into... Low and behold, he went to investigate and found the V crammed inside, shredded and damp.

Again with the furious-ness.

But now, repaired and reunited with L,O, and E, the set is complete and stands where I always envisioned.

Admittedly, I'm still not totally in a forgiving mood over the temporary theft, but I'm glad it ended as well as I guess I could have hoped.

The Sea of Tissue

The title is true : At this point I could almost add a geographical sea of tissue to the map of where I live.

I said it was all about volume, and indeed it is. I'm racking up the tissue/tulle/lace flowers like my life depends on it. While I'd love to say the end is in sight, it's kind of a 'the more the merrier' deal, so the end just may come when my options are A) I'm going to scream, or B) I need to sit still so I can get my makeup done the day of the wedding.

Hopefully neither.

But probably both.

The staging area...

...the results, stuffed into their bottles and ready for tables.

Flower Power

At this point it's all about volume.

Since I'm not using real flowers, that means kickin' it into overdrive on the tissue/tulle/lace bloom creation. Nate's been helping with the prep work, which makes the assembly process go much faster. Thank goodness!

So that's what I've been trying to crank through nightly - at least 10-12 per weeknight should get me about where we need to be to create a lovely, full tablescape.

Picture This

I've always loved old family photos, so wanted to be sure to incorporate them in some form into our wedding.

Recently, Shutterfly offered a deal to get 101 prints for free (plus shipping). I snapped it up, using the same photos I used in our photo guest book I ordered a while back. Then came some figuring out of exactly how many tables we will have at the reception, followed by some photo sorting, and what was this...

...will become sheets of trimmed and puzzled together photos for each table to peruse. The plan is to also have a little note on each to 'pass around the table, then trade with a table near you' so everyone can see them all.

I also dug up a photo of both sets of grandparents on each side and both Nate and I's parents on their wedding days to display somewhere.

You may notice one photo is missing : My mom is currently making and sending a copy of a great photo of her parents for me to use. And I'll be picking up this 'French Memo Board' in ivory to tuck them into. Since only 2 grandmothers out of the 8 grandparents in the photos (once complete) will be attending, I love that they'll be represented in other ways.

Sittin' On Top Of The World

... Actually, sittin' on top of the doughnut cake.

Same thing, really.

I'm telling you, this week has worked me over, and these blog entry titles are living proof! Anyway, we've already covered what happened to the ball of string in the photo of the latest haul from Michael's craft store, so now we're on to that random wooden "J".

Cake topper! I'll attach two wooden 'spears' to the base, and that's what will stick into the top of the cake to support the letter. Easy and cute. Count it.

Don't know why these pictures are loading sideways, and quite honestly I don't have the patience to fix it today. You know it's a J.

It's painted in that same 'Lagoon' that I covered the cake stand bases with, so that whole doughnut situation will be a coordination station.

Wow . I need to be done . Happy weekend!

Two Random Tidbits

I just couldn't come up with a better title today - It's been a long week already!

Check off the list the tulle tassel strand. I spotted this photo on Pinterest :

And made my own (in the photo it's in work - it's actually now two strands and much longer) :
In house news, the curtains are finally up in Nate's man-cave room and the guest room, and I'm obsessed. Picked 'em up on our Ikea run, and just couldn't love them more :

So there you have it : Two Random Tidbits. I wasn't kidding.

White Wash

Talk about a bottle neck.

Those bad boys are still hanging around, more voluminous in number than ever before. Now that there's a garage in the mix, however, they're able to be painted and dried in bulk.
I took down about 10 tables worth one morning last week (wonky work schedule had me starting the business day at 1:30pm - YUCK), and here's the [almost] results :

I kind of love how ugly and hodge-podge they are in the beginning, and what a stellar kind of unified, 'shabby chic' vibe they throw off post-paint.

And see the "FLAT" finish description on that can? That, my friends, is the key. By going flat instead of any sort of sheen, they end up looking more like actual fired porcelain, rather than the high-gloss glass that they actually are. They're still wet in the photos above, but once dry : Glare-B-Gone! Gloss and shine just don't jive with the tissue/tulle/..... homemade thing I've got going here, so flat is just what the doctor craft gods ordered.

Let Them Eat Cake

...Er, doughnuts as the case may be. But either way, dessert needs a perch.

Remember the supplies I picked up at Goodwill for cake plate making? Well, the time has come. A little newspaper coverage of the garage* and a can of Rust-Oleum in 'Lagoon' and the process was underway.

Next up is a little glue action, affixing the gold and silver chargers to the once-bottom-now-top of the goblets. Another project well on it's way to completion, woohoo! 

*A moment to celebrate the fact that I now have a garage, please!

On The Fringes

Fringe Fest 2011

That's what the craft projects of the weekend should be titled. 'Maid (of Honor) Emily arrived and flexed her patience craft muscles on the project of attaching fringe to the 3-D letters (remember those guys?). And you know what? I'm going to let the pictures do the talking.

 My view from the 'V' to Em's 'L'

No, not a hula skirt. 'V' in progress (have faith, grasshoppers!)

Craptactularly (yep, you heard me) lit photo of the finished 'V'

'E' is for Em!

My best gal and the dog who worships her (mine. feel the love).

 

I still need to finish the 'E' and tackle the 'O', but we're moving right along. The worst part is snipping all the tissue. Can you say hand cramp?! But hopefully the textural finish and scale will be worth it.

Insider trading tip of the day : Invest in Scotch tape. Because I'm about to go buy a few cases. 

And for the record, I know it's gotten a leeeeetle bit quieter on this blog of late, and that's because it's just frankly less of a crazy wedding whirlwind then it has been. And you know what? I'm grateful. With the holidays around the corner (um, literally : 12 DAYS until Christmas, can you handle it?), out-of-towners making their appearances, and trying to buy this house in the middle of it all, I'm soaking up the respite.... If that's what you can even call what I just listed off. A respite from wedding planning/stresses at least!

So cheers to time with family and friends who love you enough to sit on your apartment floor buried in tissue for hours on end. Thanks Em!!!

P.S. Need an insight to how my brain works? (careful, it's scary in here...)

Here is the original inspiration for what's clearly taken on a life of it's own in my hands.

Task Master

Is it just me or as the holidays approach do the weekends fly by even faster? Even though mine kicked off a few hours early with our Lord Hill Farms tasting on Friday, those two-point-five days just seemed to evaporate. Maybe I'll feel better after an Accomplished This Weekend In Pictures sesh.....

Tasted (and chose!!) The Day's din din :

 

Gorgonzola Pasta at Lord Hill

Asiago-Stuffed Chicken with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce at Lord Hill

  

We also managed to eat SO MUCH FOOD that we literally didn't eat for the rest of the day. The bride and groom that had the tasting appointment with us were having appetizers, so while we managed to avoid that up-sell, we still got to partake in the deliciousness. Because, you know, we needed more food.

We also hit up Home Depot :

A little laminate research - This one's my pick

Mini Christmas Tree!

The mini Christmas tree was the best compromise this year as A) I advocate for a real tree EVERY YEAR and Safety Nate always denies, and B) with moving looming on the horizon (no new house news - STILL waiting on the bank that owns it to drop the hammer), this seemed an easier route than hauling out the big one we use every year and then having to pack it up again so soon.

Last but not least, my logical self decided I needed another project, so I gathered up all the ingredients to make some gifts to send my pals (don't judge me, I know I'm nuts) :

I can't spill the beans and tell what I'm making, but my hot craft tip-o-the-day is Buffalo Snow. It's the stuff you're supposed to put on the mantel or around the tree to look like fluffy snowfall, but it's basically a gigantic bag of Poly Fill but softer and for like half the price. I got mine at Michael's... I'd say "in the Christmas section", but apparently the entire store has been taking over by craft-centric elves because I actually had a hard time finding NORMAL craft supplies.

At a CRAFT STORE.

But I digress. It's good stuff, and I think could double as batting since it comes in a sort of weird sheet. Information  you never knew you wanted, eh? You're welcome.

Weekend success!