First I Rant Then I Rave...

I'm home sick, bleh. Could it be that it's raining and 65 degrees in the middle of JULY? Or that the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor shot decongestant up my nose yesterday just to tell me that I have a severely deviated septum and that's why I have never breathed through my nose? I did not need to pay $25 to find that out and the decongestant spray has made me feel like I'm underwater ever since.

Now the rave... I had a fabulous wedding shower last weekend which resulted in many wonderful things. First, two of my favorite ladies gave me "Visions in White" by Nora Roberts (one is a big Nora fan). It set me off into dream land about the wedding planning company I keep planning on starting (before I realize that my current event planning job prevents it due to scheduling) but it was a lovely dream land.

Second, I was reminded of the rockin' ladies I have in my life that would give up a gorgeous Saturday afternoon to celebrate with me. Including one incredible chica who drove from Syracuse to Connecticut for a 3 hour shower and then back to Syracuse all in one day. Not to mention my girls from NYC who came up the night before to thoroughly make this a "bridal weekend".

Third, my sister made a beautiful video of photos of A. and I throughout our lives that was absolutely perfect and unexpected.

Fourth, A. and I were literally showered with amazing gifts. For the record, I like to think that we are fairly immaterial people, which sounds kind of funny since most of this blog is things I like and want to own, but that aside. We very much go with the idea of your "presence is the best present" especially with our wedding. Nobody has the cash in this economic climate to shell out for gifts and we love nothing more than to spend time with our faves. Ok, now that that's out of the way... the gifts were super cool!

The shower had a baking theme since I do love to bake and everyone brought baking/kitchen items and recipes. Love it! I have new fabulous pots and pans, and baking supplies, and cake decorating supplies, and aprons, and a new 1930's mini cookbook about Jello (I do love my 30s cookbooks and plan to excerpt soon).

I was completely inspired to start "creating" things again. Baking, cooking, interior designing, card making, letter pressing, you name it. I want to do it... right now. Part of my love for the creating is the conceptualize stage, that excitement before you actually bring it into reality. I'm neck deep in wedding crafting, but it's all been planned for so long I'm looking forward to non-wedding crafting in the future.

My next post will be photo happy I promise!

Something Lovely For My Craft Room...

After I invested time and money in my failed Lettepress contraption (which I still haven't given up on) I found all sorts of testimonials online saying "Thank god I didn't go with letterpress, Gocco is so much better!". Gocco? What was this magical word? It's a tabletop screen printer/rubber stamp made by the Japanese company Riso. You can print on anything including paper, glass, wood, tin and fabric (swoon!). Apparently they are REALLY REALLY hard to find, so if anyone has a lead on one please let me know! Though I did promise myself I wouldn't buy one until after the wedding. I really do not need another project right now!

But how does it work, you ask? Check out this fabulous video at GoccoPress.com. It reminds me of videos that you used to watch at school when you were in Elementary School. I love how proud she is after her first print!

Here are some Flickr photos that really show the amazingness of this machine!1. Little Birds Gocco print, 2. gocco notes, 3. True Love -- Gocco Printed Moleskine Cahier Notebook, 4. Gocco Xmas coloured cards, 5. Gocco print on kraft paper, 6. Trees - Gocco Card , 7. Gocco as appears in Moo, 8. New Poppy Gocco Print, 9. 66 Motel Gocco Screenprint

Elizabeth Anne Designs Blog also features some drop dead gorgeous, drool worthy, make-you-rethink-your-invitation beautiful invitations and wedding related Gocco projects here and here.

Another thing to add to my dream craft room!

Something Lovely for a Wedding...

I saw this Save the Date and gasped out loud (which was really awkward because I was at work and there were a bunch of coworkers around). The combination of letterpress, silhouette, a hot air balloon and an old-fashioned romantic couple is fantastic. Click the link to the original site because the envelope and return sticker are just as cute. Makes me wish that I could go back to the drawing board (and that I had talent even close to this!)

Found via Oh So Beautiful Paper. Originally posted at The Scribbles Vermont (which you should check out because they have a ridiculous fun online shop!)

Something Lovely to Light the Way...

This past Friday marked the 6 month countdown to our wedding so I spent the weekend doing fun wedding related activities including picking up my gown, meeting with the rental company and working on my invitations!

Meeting with the Rental Company was far too much fun. I got to play with linens, candles and centerpieces for nearly 3 hours! I love talking wedding decor with other people who are in to wedding decor. She also reminded me that I should look into luminaries to line the porch, the steps and the patio for the cocktail hour and reception. For budgetary reasons these will probably be the classic white lunch bag with kitty litter and votives, but I want to do something different with the design. Wedding bells and hearts aren't really my and A.'s style but pieces of lace or damask could be elegant and graphic enough for the job.

Here are some beauties I found. In my dream world I would use the hanging candles in the bottom right photo EVERYWHERE!!!:Feinedenge
Martha Stewart
DC Nearly Weds
Martha Stewart

The Friday Cupcake...

Perfect Centerpieces for a Picnic or Beach Wedding!!!


www.clevercupcakes.com

Something Lovely: For My Wedding Toast!

I was never crazy about the tradition of the monogrammed Toasting Flutes and Cake Server. I have nothing against it, it just didn't interest me in the least. However, in the Winter Issue of Martha Stewart Weddings I saw these beautiful stemless (remember I'm anti-stem at the moment), "Golden Berry" flutes (bottom right from janandaya.com) and it was love at first sight! Which got me thinking about what other fantastic champagne glasses I may be overlooking.

The glasses on the top left are a gorgeous, more traditional option from Simon Pearce, the Wellesley Flute. All of their stemware (and everything else they make) is handmade on-site at their restaurant/storefront/workshop in Quechee, VT.

The top right glasses, aptly named Crystal Dot Stemware by RoomServiceHome.com, also struck a chord with me as I love polka dots! A. doesn't want polka dots in the wedding, but if I could sneak this in I definitely would.

The Marie- Antoinette glasses from Pottery Barn are absolutely fabulous! I love the colors and the design, though knowing me I would go to gesture while I spoke and slosh it all over the side... probably best for me to stick with the tall and narrow design.

And then there's the "Golden Berry". I can't really tell you why, because all of these options are so fantastic, but I love this one the most! I don't think the little picture below does it nearly enough justice!

Something Lovely: For My Feet!

First my ode to the flipp-flopp: I love flipp-flopps. They are my trademark footwear. I wore them to Senior Prom (applied the glitter myself with ModPodge paste... they started to melt as soon as I started dancing), High School Graduation (white with a daisy chain ribbon hot glued onto the straps), College Graduation (a very mature black kitten heel flipp flopp), and pretty much every day between the day the snow STARTS to melt and the day the snow is too deep to walk in again. At one point I owned over 16 pairs. Currently I own a pair of hot pink platform flipp flopps with plastic fruit attached (Think the Chiquita Banana Lady-- they were a gift). They are comfortable, inexpensive, available in any color you could want and generally fabulous. I love them.

My heart will always be with the flipp flopp so please don't hold the next statement against me. I think I want to wear heels at my wedding. Well at least for the ceremony - let's be honest the flipp flopps will make a comeback for dancing at the reception. But I love the idea of a brightly colored shoe peeping out from underneath a wedding gown. It's all pretty in white and then BAM! crazy color. Now which shoe to pick!?! (Left to Right): Overstock: Nine West Georgy Dark Purple/Dark Purple Fabric; Overstock: Tribeca Net Prime Grape Satin; Overstock: Charles by Charles David 'Tux' Women's Peep-- In teal!!; Overstock: Two Lips Maia Purple.

Something Lovely For My Hair...

I'm donning the traditional veil for my October Wedding, but don't want have to worry about it during the reception so I'm thinking about a flowery piece instead and I absolutely love these from my favorite etsy shops:

Left Top: PETALS - Winter flower in golden brown sunset colour changing organza and taffeta by MGMart; Right Top: Muscari Persimmon Woodland Feather Flower by EasterYu ; Bottom: Muscari Brown, Ivory, and Rust Woodland Feather Flower 2 by Easter Yu (reserved, sorry!)

Of course, I won't be doing the smart, time saving thing and let the professionals make one of these beauties! I'm going to take a crack at it myself. If it comes even close I'll post pictures... (if I can ever figure out how to format this thing!)