Easter Basket: Puppy Edition

I hope everyone had a fun-filled Easter yesterday and were able to spend time with close friends and family. It was a beautiful weekend here in Michigan, I just wish I could have enjoyed the weather a bit more than I did. Thank you finals! Yes, I realize I have pretty much been MIA for over a month. Blame school, the second half of this semester is taking every second of my time. But don't worry, after next week, I will have more free time to spend doing what I love: crafting and blogging!

Anyways, I did find some time to make Easter basket's for my puppy and my man. Today, I am sharing the basket I made for my sweet fur baby.

Lucy's Easter basket didn't have much in it, but the milkbones were enough to keep her happy. She needed a new harness since she gained a bit of winter weight, so of course that meant a new leash and collar to match as well. I put the leash in her basket, but the rest was too big to fit. We also bought her some bacon treats, stylish (and scented) poop bags, and filled the rest milkbones. 

Her basket was very small, so I ran out of room quickly. But I also purchased a tug toy and some tennis balls to throw in just in case. 

We waited until Lucy went outside, and then hid her basket in the corner of the living room, thinking she would smell the treats and run to find it. Well, with all the guests, including another dog, she was a bit too distracted. She did dive into the treats immediately once she found it though. 

(Look at how good she got at "leave it"! We never thought the day would come.)

Anybody else make Easter baskets for their pets?
I just can't help it, she is my child.
::crazy dog lady right here::

Happy Easter!

Wedding Place Cards

Ahh. Wedding place cards. I don't know what it is about them, but I'm in love. It seems silly to care about such a small thing when you think about the fact that people will only use them to find their seat, and they will be thrown away at the end of the night. At any rate, the are one of my favorite details in weddings. When they are all lined up in alphabetical order, it is just simply beautiful. Call me crazy, but I love it.

When my best friend asked me to make her place cards for her, I was so excited! And when she told my what she was thinking she wanted, I was jumping for joy (in my head of course, that would be too weird to actually jump for joy over place cards, right?)

As I'm sure you guessed, her colors were navy blue and yellow, not what you would expect from an MSU grad, but it sure was beautiful. 

In order to make these, you will need:

ribbon, card stock, regular hole punch, large fancy hole punch (from any craft store), wine corks, exacto knife, glue stick, and a printer.

Something that cuts straight is also very helpful.

Once I bought all the supplies, I spent about three afternoons at my best friends house. Her mom, aunt, and I worked until our fingers bled to get these done (kidding of course)

First, we cut the navy blue card stock 2.5 inches by 3 inches. 

Then, we cut the ribbon into 8 inch long pieces. 

Using a regular hole puncher, we punched to holes into the top, it doesn't really matter where, as long as they are somewhat near the center. Once we added the ribbon, you couldn't really see the holes anyways. 

The fun part was the wine corks. Holy cow, I swear my hands ached for days after cutting all 125+ corks. 

To get the corks to lay nicely, I cut each cork in half and cut a slit all the way across the top, rounded spot on each half. Each cork makes 2 place card stands.

The last part was the easiest, but it had to be done at the last minute, once every response card was returned and the seating arrangements were finalized. I simply typed up all the table assignments on my computer, printed them out and used my large, fancy hole punch to punch out each one. Then we used glue sticks to adhere them to the cardstock. 

**While you might not think the glue sticks will hold well, I promise they will. I tried using rubber cement, but it will make your pretty white paper look very dark due to the wetness of the glue on the navy cardstock.

Once they were all put together, we slid them into the wine corks and alphabetized them so they were ready to go. The whole process probably only took about 9 hours to make 250 place cards. We split it up into three afternoons, and it really was manageable. 

And look at the beautiful final product:

Totally worth it!

And I'm not kidding when I say I need someone else to get married now! Wedding crafts took over my life for a year and a half during my wedding planning days. I got a small taste of that again while making these place cards, and I'm ready for more. 

Apparently I should just drop out of school and be a wedding planner... a girl can dream right? 

Happy Friday!

Wedding Morning Playlist

A while back, I showed off the Engagement Gift Basket that I made for my dear friend. Included in the basket was a Wedding Morning Playlist that I created for us to listen to while getting ready the morning of the big day. When her wedding day came, we listened to it quite a few times. It was fun having songs that were so fitting for such a special day.

Here is the playlist I created if you care to use it. Scroll down to listen using Spotify.

While spending hours getting ready the morning of the wedding, this is the perfect playlist to listen to while sipping champagne, and getting into hair and makeup. All the girls will be singing along to these upbeat tunes while slipping into their gowns. 

Enjoy!

Bachelorette Party Fun

As I mentioned before, my best friend got married last weekend. But before we could let her get married, we had to celebrate with a Bachelorette Party!

No one will probably find it surprising that I was put in charge of decorations and anything crafty....which I loved. Here are some fun things I think no bachelorette party should be without.

1. Future MRS T-shirt

This is something that was at the top of my list since Jenna got engaged. And it turned out to be pretty simple to make on my own. I purchased iron-on vinyl (glittery pink of course) and used my Cricut to design the logo.

2. "He Put A Ring On It" Banner

Another simple Cricut project. I cut out the letters on sparkly silver cardstock and hole punched them at the top to slide the ribbon through.

3. Tissue Paper Garland

I got this idea after seeing Amanda's version of the tissue paper garland on her blog Happily Ever After that she made for her daughter's nursery. (view post here)

4. Glittery Wine Glasses

I used mod podge and all different glitter colors to make these. The bride got this silver one with the pink bow. Everyone else got to choose their favorite to use and then take home with them. You bet we were sucking our pink pantie droppers out of these glasses with our penis straws. Classy, I know. 

I had way too much fun doing all this. I should have been a party planner, because I absolutely love it. 

St. Patrick's Day Slacker

I must admit, life has been a bit crazy lately. I have become a slacker in the holiday decor department (so sad, I know!) and am almost embarrassed to admit this. It is March 16th, and I have not gotten a single St. Patty's decoration out yet this year, and at this point I probably won't. So if you wandered to this blog looking for St. Patrick's Day decorations, you will not find them here, at least not this year. 

Instead, I have decided to share posts from last year. I can't completely bypass this holiday after all.

First off, I created this beautiful vignette last year. So simple, yet so festive.
(view vignette details here)

I created this wreath for the front door a few years ago.

St. Patty's Day Rag Wreath

With the leftovers from the wreath, I made these.

(Decorative Fabric Balls)

I also made these wood block letters with scrapbook paper and mod podge.

(Lucky Blocks)

I wish I could have spent more time decorating this year, but it snuck up on me so fast. After this post, I'm at least going to go hang my wreath!

My Best Friend Got Hitched!

A week ago today, my best friend, Jenna, married the man of her dreams!
We made the 8 hour hike from Michigan to Iowa for a fun-filled weekend including the Bachelorette Party, Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner, some pampering, and best of all the WEDDING DAY!

I am preparing some posts next week in honor of her wedding, including bachelorette party planning, a wedding morning playlist, and the beautiful place cards I helped her mom make.

It's been a while since I got married, so I am excited to share some of the details of her big day since I got my start  blogging about my wedding day.

photo credit: Artsmith Photography

Isn't my best friend beautiful!? Isn't her new husband the luckiest man on earth?!

The answer is YES! to both those questions.

I can't believe how far we've come since we became friends in the 5th grade.

My Wedding Day: August 2012

Jenna's Wedding Day: March 2014

I am so happy for Jenna and am so glad I was able to be there for her on her special day. I know for a fact that she will make the best wife and mother around. 

Antique Sewing Cabinet Transformation

If you follow me on instagram, you saw a before picture of an antique sewing cabinet that I decided to paint. 

When I first saw this sewing cabinet at Adam's grandma's house, I fell in love with it. I was so excited a few months later when his parents delivered it to our house. And that's about as far as the sewing cabinet went for the longest time. 

I had dreams of painting it, but was terrified that I would ruin such a beautiful piece of furniture. I went back and forth for months trying to decide what to do with it. Either way, it was going to require a lot of work. If I didn't paint it, I'd need to sand it down and re-stain it. Finally, I told myself that I hated how dark the wood was, it didn't match a darn thing in my house, and I might as well make it match my house if I planned to keep it hanging around. 

My husband and I went to this painting class not too long ago, and long story short I was introduced to Cottage Paint. Immediately, I knew it was something I wanted to try and eventually I convinced myself to try it on the antique sewing cabinet that had been sitting in my office for months. AHH!

We bought gray and white Cottage Paint to paint and distress this beautiful piece of furniture. The process was pretty simple, first painting it gray, then adding wax and letting it dry over night. The next day we were able to paint it white, and I went through all the edges and details to give it that distressed look. I simple used a sponge to rub off the white in the areas I wanted the gray to show through. We added another few coats of wax to finish it off. 

With each coat, I told myself I ruined such a beautiful piece of furniture. Even when it was finished, I looked at my husband and said "what have we done!?" It took me a few days to get used to it, probably because it was so bright compared to before. I must say, it has grown on me and I really like it now! It just fits in the room soooo much better.

My favorite areas are the drawer handles and the sides. Unfortunately, I just realized I don't have any pictures of the sides. I might need to change that.

What do you think of me painting this antique?

Was it wrong of me to cover up such a beautiful piece of wood furniture?

OR

Would you have done the same thing for the sake of home decor?