Owl and Instgram Winner - Wordless Wednesday

1. This cookie jar is by far the cutest thing I ever saw, I just had to buy it. Honestly I might have cried if my husband told me no. Doesn't he just make you happy.

2. I am so excited to have won a ticket to the Build Your Blog Conference. Who's says you can't win anything on social media. Now I just need to buy some tickets to Utah. Who has airline miles they want to share?

Race to the Altar: Marathon Themed Engagement Party

My sister-in-law, Sara, and her boyfriend, Joe,  recently got engaged during a trip to Europe. On their first morning in Barcelona he suggested that they go take a run to the beach. As they were dipping their toes in the Mediterranean Sea he bent down on one knee and proposed to her. They are a wonderful couple and I couldn't be happier for the two of them.

As soon as I heard they were engaged I wanted to help throw them a party! As Sara and Joe were runners, and they got engaged while running, what better theme could there be than a Marathon Themed Engagement Party. The two of them were a little hesitant at first but we promised them that we would make it work. 

Our first hurtle was the invite (and yes I am trying to use as much sports lingo as possible). Since the wedding day is our finish line, we decided on making the engagement party the starting line. After a few iterations we decided on this:

Join us as the starting line, 

as we cheer on 

Sara and Joe 

as they race to the altar

Next was the decorations. I asked the couple to send me dates that were important to their relationship. When they first met, when they started dating, their first races together, etc. I then made racing bibs in their wedding colors that said what the dates meant to them.

I also made pom-poms out of dollar store table cloths. I plan on writing a post later on how to make them, so for now you just get pictures.

I stalked them on Facebook and found some fun pictures of them throughout their relationship and updated the picture display from my wedding to match the theme of the party.

We also set up a photo booth were people could write signs that gave words of encouragement to the couple. My favorites were "Plan like you love each other" and "Only 287 days to go"

Finally the dessert! This was my pride and joy!

Everybody had a wonderful time and the theme really set the mood for the party!

DIY - Wedding Name Hanger

As many of you have seen on pinterest, etsy and everywhere else on the web, wedding hangers are the new thing. Bride and bridesmaids love to take pictures of there dresses hanging on hanger that has their new last name on it. Well of course I had to be one of those brides too!

I started on Etsy, but with the price of hangers starting at $15 and going up I knew that would be too much of an expense for myself and 5 bridesmaids. That would be over $90 just for hangers!!!

Next, I moved to Pinterest to learn how to make them myself. Unfortunately when I made the hangers for the wedding I didn't document me making them. (That was a busy time in my life...) I went through some trials and errors but they came out beautiful in the end. I packaged them up with my bridesmaid gifts and the girls loved them. Plus they made and adorable picture.

So, when I got a bridal shower invitation the other day I knew i had to make her a hanger, and document it to!

Without further ado. Here is the tutorial:

Supplies:
Wooden Hanger with slits (The wedding dress is really heavy! It will slip off without it.) Pack of 5 for $8.99 at Bed Bath and Beyond
12 gauge wire (found in the jewelry isle at craft stores) $5 to $10 depending on how much you buy
Computer + Printer, Or Good Handwriting
Needle nose pliers
Drill
Super Glue
Painters tape - optional
Pens, Highlighters - optional

Step 1 - Make a stencil
If you have beautiful handwriting (which I don't) draw a straight line the length of a hanger. Write out the name in cursive how you want it to look. If you are not sure how some letters should be desgined, search on Etsy to see how they made the letters.

If you don't have beautiful handwriting, find a cursive font online, type your name and print it out. I settled Clementine Sketch from dafont.com. You can download it for free. I like that this font is "hollow" so you can move your wire inside the letters.

Step 2 - Bend Wire
Once I had my stencil I could start bending. My first few attempts were pretty awful. But once you get a hang of it, it becomes a little easier. Use the stencil to get the general shape of the letters, and feel free to get creative. I made the "dot" after Mrs a heart.

Tips while Bending:
1. If your needle nose pliers has grooves it will imprint on the wire. Use painters tape to cover the grooves.
2. Start with about 3-5 inches un-touched. If your name comes out shorter or longer than you wanted it to, you will still be able to center it on the hanger.
3. For round letters use pens or highlighters to bend the wire around. This will give it a smooth look.

Step 3 - Attach to Hanger.
Using a pen measure about one inch from the bottom of the hanger and make a dot. Repeat on both sides. This will usure that when you drill the hole the wire name will be level.

Using a drill with a small drill bit, drill a hole at a 45 degree angle to the hanger. You want the name to be able to slip in at a straigt line.

Once the holes are drilled, use a scrap piece of wire to "test" the holes. You don't want to mess with the wire name to much. If the wire fits you are good, of not drill the hole a littler bigger.

Next lay the wire name ceter on the hanger and cut the extra ends of.

 Insert both sides of the wire name into the hanger and viola!! you have a beautiful hanger! If the name is a little loose add a small dab of super glue into the holes. That will keep the name from tipping over.

Step 4 - Admire
See how simple that was! Now if you want, you can add bows or ribbon to the hanger to add a little extra touch.

60th Wedding Anniversay Cake

What a wonderful life 60 years together can hold! This past weekend I got to celebrate David's grandparents 60th wedding anniversary! Can you imagine 60 years? The two of them have so much love for each other it amazing.

 When I got asked to make the cake for them I knew I had to make something as special as them! Since the 60th anniversary is the diamond anniversary I wanted to make the cake in white and silver, since diamonds were a little expensive to put on a cake.

 I made a vanilla cake with cream cheese butter cream. The cake is covered in white fondant. Sorry I didn't take any pictures up to this point.

My first attempt at quilting fondant. I used a fondant impression mat to make the quilt pattern. It didn't show up very well so I went over it with a straight knife.

Next I placed the gum-paste flowers my friend Lauren and I made. That was a process and unfortunately I did not take any pictures. I think i watched about 10 you tube videos on how to make them. I think there is still powdered sugar on my phone from that day!

Adding the silver pearl sprinkles to the cake. I used a small amount of butter cream icing as the glue to keep them from falling off.

 

The finished product! I made the cake topper out of cardboard and glitter. I cut the numbers out of the cardboard and then attached toothpicks to they would stand. I then covered the numbers in Elmer's glue (but I guess you could use mod-podge). I sprinkled glitter over the glue them let them dry. I then applied two more coats of glue so the glitter wouldn't fall into the cake.

 

The happy couple! 60 wonderful years together!

 

Happy 60th Wedding Anniversary!

DIY - Wedding Thank You Cards

David and I did a really good at the thank you note game. We got about 95% of our thank yous out the door before the 1 month mark! I think that is really impressive. Those last ones were delayed by missing address or not knowing who the gift was from.

When I started looking at thank you notes I really wanted to get some printed that had pictures of the wedding, but after looking online, we really didn't want to pay that cost. So we made our own!

I found blank packs of folded cards at hobby lobby, a thank you stamp and some ink. We already had the Texas stamp with a heart. It was our wedding logo and we used it on various things at the wedding.We also included a 3x4 picture of us from the wedding.

With 40% off coupons from hobby lobby and the printed photos I think we spent $20 on 75 thank you cards (not including postage). That's alot better than the $0.50 to $1.00 per card we had seen online! Plus the cards really reflected our wedding, and from what we heard from friends and relatives, everybody loved them!

1. What did your thank you notes look like?

Wedding Photo Display: A Collection of Memories!

When David and I walked into our reception hall for the first time there was this long bar about 12 ft long. The venue had suggested that we put hors d'oeuvres on the table, but we were not sold on that idea. We had talked before about putting pictures from our parents and grandparents weddings somewhere at the reception, but the place was just so long.

Instantly we both had the same idea! Why not put pictures of ALL of our families weddings!

So we made a list of all the grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and siblings and realized we had 28 couples that we wanted to display! We contacted all of our family, and asked them to send us pictures from their wedding day. It took us a while to finally get everyone's picutres, but we did it!

Next, we collected old frames from our parents, and then supplied the rest of the frames from the dollar store.

After removing the glass and the stands, we spray painted the frames in our wedding colors. Shipley even tried to help!

(on a side note, my spray paint box is an old ikea box!)

We printed out pictures from walgreens, I kept looking for sale's online so we got them pretty cheap. Also, so nobody would be mad at why their picture was bigger than the others, this was the system we used:

Grandparents & Parents: 8x10

Aunts, Uncles, & Siblings: 5x7

Cousins: 4x6

 

Finally, I printed the names on card stock, cut them out with a paper punch and attached the name tags to the frames so everybody at the reception would know who the people were.

Honestly, it was my favorite decoration at the wedding! So many people kept commenting on how much fun it was to look at all the wedding pictures. It was also a nice way to show our family how much we look up to them, and how we want our marriage to be as happy as theirs.

 

1. What are some fun displays you have seen at weddings?

DIY - Wooden Framed Picture Display

When David and I were planning our wedding we agreed that we wanted to make it really personal. We decided that one of the best ways to do that was to share pictures of us together over the past years of dating.We had seen a project like this similar to online once, so we decided to jump on it and make it our own!

I was also really lucky, we had some old fence boards, eyelets, and ribbon laying around so this whole project cost me $7, and for a budget bride I couldn't be happier!

You could also use this at any event! Birthday parties, graduations, anniversary, or just a fun way to display pictures around the house!

Here is what you need:
sandpaper
wood
saw
metal braces
eyelet screws
ribbon
clothespins
photos

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of making of (sorry....), but here is how you make it!
  

First cut the wood boards into the lengths you want and then sand the edges till they are nice and smooth. Lay out the boards on a flat surface in the shape you want, and then attach the boards together using a metal plate or brace.

Once you have your frame created now its time to attach the eyelets. Using a ruler or tape measure mark the locations of where you want them. I wanted to hang 4x6 pictures so I spaced the eyelets 7 inches apart. Then screw the eyelets in on the spot you marked.

Finally attach your favorite and your done!

Decorate with your favorite pictures and enjoy! I hope you like it!

We had so much fun together over the past few years!

1. What are some fun ways you have seen to show off pictures?

Wordless Wednesday: Galveston Island

My second installment of wordless Wednesday... Enjoy!

Getting some sun at Galveston Island!

Shipley's first trip to the beach!

Saturday night boredom.... I made a bridge!

I finally changed my name tag at work to show my new last name!

1. Does your dog like water?

2. What kind of things do you do when your bored?