Wedding Reception v2.0

Wedding reception #2 took place this past Sunday and it was lovely. People came from all over the world to see us . Considering the weather they've had this summer in the UK , we were very lucky to have a nice sunny afternoon.

Here's the River Stour where the party took place.

There was a big tent beside the river where we had dinner.

This is what it looked like inside. Recognize those table runners? It was mostly dark by the time we were in the tent. I'm glad I took a photo earlier in the day.

And here's the cake. What a great evening it was. Don't ask me to recall the names of all the guests! We'll be flying back on Monday after a visit with Nick's sister & a few more days with family. It will be nice to have a break after our break, haha.

Wedding Invitations v2.0

I mentioned yesterday that I'd tell you about the other project I'm working on. Here it is.


Nick and I are having a second wedding reception in the UK in September. We went out to Paper Source on Saturday to pick up some supplies. Nick has been an excellent helper this time around. He did all the printing! YAY!! I've mailed the majority of these now, so that's a big thing off the to do list.


We've got thank you's to send out too. I spent some time working on the graphics for the cd we'll be sending with the cards. I found some great blank cd's that look like a record. You know, old school vinyl records? My friend Dan did the original caricature and a cool Yosemite background & I did the layout & the disk. I think the labels turned out very cool. Now I just have a million cd's to burn, bits & pieces to print, and lots to assemble.


After Paper Source we headed down the street to Scrapbook Territory. The racks of paper in this place are such an inspiration! I got a new monkey stamp & some papers to make gift tags. Nick was nice enough to get me these cute buttons! They'll be seen on monkeys soon enough.

Leftovers

As you may know, I made almost everything I could for my recent wedding. And now that the wedding is over, I'm left with a pile of fabric scraps. I'll be using the table runners again at our UK reception, and I might make a kitchen curtain out of one of the table overlays. What should I do with the rest? I knew you guys would have some great ideas, so bring 'em on!

One Beer at Table Two

Nick and I are not a silver doves & monograms type of couple. So, rather than get the usual custom printed match books & cocktail napkins we went for beer coasters. I found this website called My Wedding Labels, and they can print pretty much anything cool you might need. The print quality is excellent and they have tons of design choices. I'd much rather have these laying around than a white napkin with my name on it.



And last week I got my table numbers made (all 8 cocktail tablecloths too). I had to take a little break from the dress and do something else. I used some pre-cut scalloped ovals from Paper Source, my sewing machine, buttons & embroidery thread. I'll tie them onto the centerpieces with some fabric that I've used here & there. I'm very happy with the final version.


My goal for this week is to get my dress completely finished. My matron of honor arrives early Sunday morning for a quick visit. Wouldn't it be fun if I could just mess around while she's here & not be working on my projects? Wish me luck. As of last night, the dress had a skirt hand basted onto it. The first time I've seen it look like a dress!

Handmade Gifts

As you all know by now, I'll be getting married in a few weeks. I'm pretty much making everything I can for this party, but for a few things I decided to just let go and shop! You'll be happy to know that the majority of our wedding party gifts are Etsy purchases (I'm making the rest). I've ordered a whole plethora of fun stuff, here's some now:

I've always wanted to buy some monkey soap. This one's from dreamy1 and will make my flower girl very happy.

My 11 year old niece is going to be a junior bridesmaid. She'll love this necklace and matching earrings from jensjewelry. Jen went out of her way to alter these pieces to fit my niece. She also made a bracelet kit to match.

This one's a gift for me! I bought a bunch of rose colored pearls & crystals to sew onto my dress. When I saw this, I had to get it from RingsbyMarie. She made one in my size and had it in the mail the next day!

Who wouldn't like an adorable little lavender sachet from lindylou2? They smell divine and are as cute as can be. I liked them so much, I ordered 2 more.

Our ring bearer, Nick's nephew, will dig this beetle soap. His mom and my future husband were brought home from the hospital in a car like this. I doubt it smelled as sweet! Thanks to SpecialtySoapShop for making it especially for me.

At my rehearsal dinner/BBQ I will be giving this bracelet kit to my flower girl, Nick's niece. I though it would be a great way for her to bond with my niece. It will be nice for them to make friends before the big day. Put together special by handmadeliving.

There's more to come too! I've been having some fun amidst all the work. :)

Seattle's Best

Here's my morning cup of coffee in action. Notice I have the same mug as the famous Gromit of Wallace & Gromit fame.

I meant to tell you about my favorite coffee in this post, but I got so wrapped up in my new cuddly toy that I kind of lost track. haha We stopped in to get a coffee at Seattle's Best this weekend and I have now confirmed it as my favorite brand of coffee. Nick and I tend to put a lot of cream in our coffee, we don't like it strong. What's great about Seattle's Best is that I can put a little cream in and still drink it. I love it. It has a very smooth flavor. They also have a blend that's named after a ginger cat. How could I resist that? His name is Henry and we had to adopt the plushie version. He just reminded me so much of my Jody (minus one tail). He even has the same little white feet & pink toes! So cute.

This past weekend Nick & I traveled to Ahwahnee to visit out friends Jim & Julie who are hosting our wedding at their home. We met some other friends there to talk about the sound & lighting for the event. I'm so glad to have worked in entertainment at Disneyland so long. I can't tell you what it's done for my wedding. Most of my best friends are techs at Disney, so the lighting and sound will not only be exactly what we want, but excellent (and nearly free). The place is shaping up for Spring too. The grass is coming in, flowers are popping up. Jim & Julie have really done a lot of work on their property to prepare for the event (Julie's really happy to be getting so many things done too). Nick and I are soooo lucky to have such nice friends.

Ahwahnee is about 20 minutes from the south entrance of Yosemite National Park.

Now I must return to the sweat shop. I'm way into the production of my dress and still have a long way to go. Yesterday I finally got to sew some pieces together. I nearly have a bodice now. Maple was so helpful!

She's really just interested in my toast. Naughty girl.

The Ring Bear

This was my inspiration. I've been carrying it around for ages.

I think I was most attracted to the buttons, and probably the simplicity. I didn't end up using buttons, but I'm still very happy with the result. Also very happy to have another item crossed of the wedding to do list! Only 4 weeks to go and UK visitors arriving in 2 weeks.

I used some wool I got at JoAnn's & a little scrap from one of my chosen fabrics. I'm glad I decided to put that little ivory square in the center too, the rings would be lost on that floral, no? The ribbon is from Paper Source, bought along with invitation making bits. Who knows, maybe I will add buttons to the corners. What do you think?


Last night I finished the 3 day project of cutting out my dress. Yes, I'm so glad I decided on such a simple dress. It's the lace overlay that's putting me in a tizzy. It's taken me weeks to decide on how to do the skirt without too many seam lines. In the end, I've gone with the maximum number of seam lines. Ha! I spent a lot of time placing the lace just right on the pattern pieces and lining things up and cutting around motifs that will have to be hand sewn. Today I'll be hand sewing silk to interlining. Thank goodness I have so many dvd's.

Have a great weekend!

p.s. I receive a newsletter from Lion Brand Yarn & today they've posted a cool podcast mostly devoted to Etsy. I think it's the best story I've heard so far about how Etsy go started. Check it out here. (And if you're not an iPod/iTunes person, it's okay. You can just listen online in your browser)

Bailey's & Coffee Please

One of the things Nick & I are planning for the wedding is Bailey's. I love to add a little Bailey's to my coffee. Doing something like this is so much easier when you're having a wedding at someone's house. I can't imagine the caterer at a hotel letting me throw Bailey's on the table for less than $10 each. Know what I mean?
Anyway, the idea was settled, but we couldn't decide what to put it in so people would know it's not creamer, hehe. Uh oh, Grandma's drunk! I've been searching high & low for some individual creamer containers that might be a little different. Then one day I was emptying my dishwasher and took a look at the little frappuccino bottle I'd just washed to use as a mini vase.

(photo tip, never take pictures next to a bright pink carton of grapefruit juice, baaad color)

Behold the perfect, yet affordable bottle. It's just the right shape, no? It looks like a mini milk bottle, which is just what I wanted. And, I get to reuse a bunch of old frappuccino bottles. Reduce, recycle, reuse! So now I just need to figure out the best way to label it. I had thought about a tag tied to the neck with ribbon, but that could get messy. Then I thought I could get some vinyl cut by an old friend and just stick on the word "Bailey's". Seems easy enough, but I can't make up my mind.
Here's where you come in. I've mocked up some rickety versions of 4 different ideas I have. #'s 1-3 would be labels, stuck right to the bottle. Version #4 is adhesive vinyl cut lettering. Please, vote for your favorite by leaving a comment!

(That fabric they're sitting on is what my table runners will be made of)

Anything New?

Hey, how's everyone doing? I feel so cut off from the world these days. The wedding is now just under 5 weeks away...gulp. I'm actually not feeling too stressed about it all coming together at this point. I've been getting a lot done lately. It really helped when I decided not to worry so much about my Etsy shops until the wedding's over. What's the point in having your own business if you can't give yourself a break sometimes?

I hate to bore everyone with all this wedding talk, so I'm going to start with our new cookie jar, Clyde. Nick & I saw him at Target this weekend and we liked the monkey cups & napkin holder so much we felt like we'd better bring home the cookie jar too. (I think Nick is starting to "get" monkeys a little) It's a good thing they didn't have these, I'm not sure I could have resisted. Doesn't Clyde just make you want to eat cookies? I actually got a chance to do a tiny bit of non-wedding sewing this weekend too. I sold this pretty bag to a pseudo-relative in England so I decided to whip up a matching zipper pouch. That red fabric was such a great find. Other than that, I've really only been doing wedding related crafting.

If you must know what wedding projects I'm finishing, I made all 6 neck ties this weekend. I even altered my old printed labels to reflect my upcoming name change (something I've been waiting for my whole life - no foolin'). Pretty good, eh?


I'm also well immersed into the construction of my dress. I made a muslin and have found that the pattern I chose fits me with almost no alteration. Great news! Now I have to cut into the pretty silk and lace. I'm a little nervous about that. I got a great book from Amazon that is giving me lots of tips on how to deal with lace. If you ever decide to make your own wedding dress, I highly recommend the book. Thank goodness I chose a really easy pattern. I'm not going to show any pictures of the dress, sorry, I want some things to be a secret.
And lastly, I came home today to find a very exciting box waiting for me. My friend Sue has finished carving my personalized cake topper. That's right. Nick, myself, Jody and Maple. So great to have something so personal. Hehe

Have a lovely week everyone. I hope it's as springy where you are as it is here in Marin. xo

One Big Project

I just popped in to tell you guys I've finished my flower girl's dress for the wedding. Nick's niece Evie will wear it, I hope she likes it.

The pink fabrics are taffeta so they have some weight and make a nice swishy sound. The cranberry color around the waist is organza. I think I'll do a little adjustment to it in front, but it's mostly there. Just need a couple buttons on the pinafore and I've got another big thing crossed off the list. Yay!

Work in Progress

Slowly but surely I'm making progress on my wedding plans. I had hoped to get my invitations in the mail about two weeks ago, but well, not so much. This has been an incredibly busy month for us so I should just be glad I even got some invites made. This is how many are ready to go in the mail at this point. I still need to make the card that gives all the info about the weather, bringing kids, transportation etc., but I have everything else printed and/or ready to assemble. If you'd like to see what the whole invitation looks like, click here.


I have a very long list of sewing projects for my wedding and this weekend I got a chance to start on one of them. I'll be making these chair covers for about half of the chairs for the reception, that should be 35 or so. I've got them all cut and the side seams sewn. I'll be serging the bottom edge, then folding it up to hem. Maybe after the wedding I'll turn the fabric into placemats & zipper pouches. haha Maybe after the wedding I won't like sewing anymore.


I also found some new fabric for the neck ties. Not that I'm a last minute kind of person, really I'm not. I had chosen and purchased a reddy/brown print, but I like this better. Now that I know what the bridesmaids are wearing, I just think this will look better. It's an outdoor, country setting so the plaid will fit right in.


Between wedding projects, I'm still finding time to manage the Etsy shops. phew! I'll be adding Miss Mary to Monkey Travel Club later today.