Saturday, January 29, 2011

A Loving Wreath

Well--I really want to share the wreath I made for Valentine's Day. I bought this pink tinsel wreath at Target after Christmas sale for 25 cents! I didn't know what I would use it for--possible something for next Christmas but the longer I thought about the color of it--I thought why not make a Valentine's wreath--so that's what I did.


I just took some felt scraps I had in white, pink and fuchsia and made little layered hearts and then added some super cute love bug foam stickers I picked up at Michael's on sale. Super simple but has a big impact.



I can't get over how cute those little stickers are!



It's a gloomy, rainy day here in NC. A perfect day to stay in, watch a little rugby and stitch. I'm currently working on a really cute cross stitch that I want to make into a new pillow for my couch. I really do need to paint again though--I'd really like to submit something for the upcoming Unfettered show at Visual Art Exchange. I've got a week to complete something. Maybe I should paint today instead...hmmm.

Happy Birthday Sis!

Well my first real embroidery of the year was for my sister's birthday. She recently moved out of the state and I miss her something fierce! I had this tote from Sublime Stitching that I've been wanting to stitch something on so I decided to use it and give it to my sis---but what to stitch? I recently purchased some the new Stitcher's Revolution patterns from here and so decided to do this pattern of a super cool tree from the Gypsy Magic set.


I used bright, fun colors and am thrilled with the results! The tote itself was very easy to stitch on, too.

The "leaves" of the tree were really fun little designs--stars, hearts, etc.

I still struggle with french knots. Some days I do them with no problems, then there are times when I couldn't do one to save my life. I don't know what that's all about.

I also stitched up this little sock monkey!



I'm mean really---how cute is this guy!! The pattern is out of "Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments 2010 (Vol 28, Num 6). It was designed as a Christmas pattern but I just stitched the hat in different colors so now he's totally ready to give some love year round. I really want to stitch it for myself too.


It felt great to be stitching again after such a hiatus from it due to the wedding. I've got many things planned that I'm sure will keep me busy throughout the year.

Wedding craftiness!

So here's a few of the things I made for our wedding. I really did a lot myself (with tons of help from my sister and mom). It was very important to me to have a sense of of who we are represented in our wedding. I chose two main design themes of buttons and maps that did just that. The buttons were for me. I used buttons in my artwork and for me they are a literal translation of bringing two things together--in this case--me and hubby. The maps were representative of our love of travel and hubby is actually a total map geek and will study them for hours. So those elements along with bright colors was the theme of the entire wedding. (Beware: Lots of pics ahead)



These are the other bouquets I made for the ladies. A bit smaller then mine but with the same types of "flowers" made out of buttons, felt and fabric. I used the tutorial here for the fabric flowers. They are so easy and turned out really great. I think you can make all sorts of themed bouquets with these flowers for holidays and parties. Lots of possibilities. I made extras of all the bouquet "flowers" to use for the table decorations too!



I used my grandmother's Ball jars and some of my milk glass vases for the tabletops. We were on a pretty tight budget so i really tried to use things I already had--I didn't buy any fabric, buttons or ribbons for these. I only had to buy more wire for the stems.


There's even one in my hair.


This is our invitation. I wanted this to be the thing that tied all the themes together. So I sewed a button on each and used maps in the background. I used four ink colors. It was simple but really pretty. Again, I used things I already had. I used our old road atlases, buttons from my collection and we got the card stock free with hubby's Staples Rewards!

This is our program. I tried to make it look like a luggage tag to go with the travel theme and using the words "Away We Go." Again I made all of this using stuff I had. I used a lot of the scrapbook paper I've accumulated over the years. I also used little hearts punched out of maps on the front that I totally loved.


I ordered these totally awesome button-shaped suckers and had to display them somehow. I just made little "trees" out of Styrofoam covered in ribbon and stuck the suckers into them. Simple, easy, cute.

This gives a few of the tons of Martha Stewart tissue paper poufs I made in all sorts of colors. I had them hanging all throughout the barn which is where the reception was and I hung two in the oak tree where we had the ceremony. They are so easy to make and really look great hanging all together.

I used some of the leftover tissue paper to make smaller versions of the poufs and made some garlands that I put on the chairs at the ceremony and hung some inside the barn for the reception. Really added a punch of color to the boring brown chairs we used.

I also made garlands out of the maps I had. I really loved how these turned out. I had them lining the chairs down the aisle and again more inside the barn for the reception. Again, to me these were so simple but really made an impact and carried out the theme I was going for. I saved them too and have them hanging in our apartment.

These are the favors I made--just simple glass stone magnets. We punched a bunch of hearts out of map and glued them to the back of the glass, then covered that with a small colored piece of paper. Add a magnet to the back and it's done.


These are the napkins that my mom ordered. I used a tree symbol to echo the oak tree we were married under. Here you can also see the awesome cupcakes I got from Sam's. They were SO good. I also made cupcake picks with a Martha Stewart button punch I got at Michael's. I just punched then out of old magazines and glued them to a toothpick.

Here's another cupcake table shot. My stepfather made the amazing cupcake stand for us! Isn't it great. I just added a little ribbon and a button to the sides. I know we will use this for years to come. The top two cupcakes were for me and hubby. The toppers for those were some scrapbooking stickers I found on clearance at Michael's. How appropriate--they even had a little button on it and a tag saying "love". Too cute.

And to end things--I didn't make this--but check out that beautiful pork barbecue my uncle cooked for us! This is NC after all---what's a party without some good food.

Phew--that's about it I think. It was a lot of work but so worth it to me in the end (plus it saved us a ton of money). Our wedding really reflected the two of us as individuals and as the couple we've become.

We got married!

So it's been a few months now since we've gotten married. I think back on that night with such happiness. I totally loved my wedding. We had a few hiccups (music didn't work so had to pick all new songs, minister had a family emergency so had to use the back up, Colby's car broke down) but all in all everyone had a great time and I married a wonderful man. We got married at a lovely old dairy farm. We absolutely fell in love with the place. It just felt like the perfect place for us. Here's some of my favorite shots from my awesome photographer Nicole Faby.


Me and my ladies--My sisters and my new niece.


The whole wedding party


We got married under this big, old oak tree. What a perfect symbol for a strong, healthy marriage.


One the my faves of us at the barn doors.


Fun party shot. I have all the photos on my flickr if you'd like to see them. I also made a ton of things for the wedding and am going to do a separate post on that.

It's 2011 and I can't believe it. I feel very optimistic about this year. I have also deemed this the year of super creativity--so more painting, stitching----everything! The wedding really took over my life last year so now I feel like I have more time to focus on things I want to do. Happy 2011 everyone.