I still like pretty!

Oh hey there. I know it’s been a while. I seem to be all work, no play right now. Ok, not all work, but definitely more work. You won’t hold it against me, will you?

Also, if I ever get the privilege of turning 80, I really hope someone makes a big deal out of it. Am I right? I mean, really; 80 isn't something to be taken lightly.

There should be some flowers. Perhaps like these.

Or maybe these, all prettied up with some apples!

And there ought to be some tissue paper poms and some custom signage.

Maybe with a picture of me when I was a child (well, you know, if I was a little boy back then).

Maybe custom signage all over the place!?

If you hadn't guessed, we had a big ol' birthday party bash for my uncle's 80th.

There was a dessert table, because well, duh...

Some of the birthday boy's favorites made their appearance: homemade chocolate chip cookies,

homemade peanut butter blossom cookies,

non-dairy Rice Krispie treats,

and vegan (so I could eat them 'cause I'm selfish like that) mini-donuts from Mighty O Donuts (in two flavors - vanilla and orange, no less).


Also, got milk?


Maybe you do, but, do you got adorable milk bottles? (That just doesn't have the same ring to it, but I tried.)

The ugly cake was delicious (or so I'm told - it was made with cream and whole milk and cream cheese and butter, so it wasn't for me). (Do note my lack of photograph highlighting the drippy, lopsided cake. Not an accident.) It was homemade red (wine) velvet cake with a butter cream cheese frosting. Tragically, it turned out to be a massive cake fail in the pretty department. Probably one of my worst cakes ever, in fact. Sigh. That was a busy morning and I just didn't have time to tame uncooperative frosting.

There was also a candy bar because, well...because knowing when to stop is not my family's strong point.

Cinnamon lips.

Salted caramels.

Australian licorice, Reese's Pieces, Coconut Jelly Bellies (I wonder where those could have come from!? Hello, wedding leftovers!).


Oh, and Swedish fish!

Mmmm.

I know some people are over the vintage stripped straws. But, I'm not one of them. I'm still quite into these straws. This is why:

And don't pretend you didn't see that mini vintage suitcase. You know you love them as much as I do. (Ok, maybe not that much - I do have 3 sets. That might be a tad on the ridiculous side...again with the knowing when to stop.)

Did I mention there were donuts!?

A good time was had by all, and many were forced to take home way more treats than they wanted. But I betcha they ate them in the car on the way home.

Tissue paper flowers. Everywhere.

I know, I know. I've been neglecting you, blog. But I've been trying to be a doer. You know, one who does. So, here is one of the things that I did:


There are tissue paper flowers taking over!


These are the Martha Stewart's poms that are absolutely every.where. Just google it - I promise, you'll find them. Instead of pulling them both ways to make a round pom, I just pull them up one way, and ta-daaaa: Flower. It's kind of the opposite of magic because it's so simple, but when you need to make a bunch of something, simple is good.

I'd say that most of these flowers made with tissue cut about 14 inches long and 6-8 inches wide. But I made some that were a bit bigger. None of this was very scientifically or exactly measured. I used between 5-7 sheets, most of the time. But if you want a more carnation-y look, use more. Be forwarned however - too many sheets of paper can make it very hard to to get a nice clean flower. Ditto if you make the flowers much smaller than 6 inches wide. A couple of them met the inside of my recycle bin for that reason.


Sometimes I rounded the edges. It makes for a more peony-looking flower.


Sometimes I made spikey edges, which makes them look more dahlia-like, which is really what my other flowers are going to be, so I probably should have stuck with that, but I liked the variety, and since I did this for 5 hours one day, I mixed it up a bit.


Yes. Five hours in a row. Now I'm going to have to figure out how to get rid of the tan lines on my shoulders because my dress is strapless. Oy. The good news is that the sun was out in Seattle, and while the rest of the country is experiencing a heat wave, we're having a very lackluster summer here. So, if the rest of the country wants to come cool off, it might be time to come visit Seattle!

Ok, focus. Here we go. My pile eventually grew from this:


to this:


Which I thought would be enough. But it wasn't. So I had to make a few more. In the end, I had enough to make plenty of bouquets of flowers.




And what will I be doing with these, you ask?

Well, these puppies will be holding up the table numbers. Like this.



And this.


Then there will be some real dahlias hanging out with them as well and hopefully each table will have one tissue and two "real" arrangements, 0r something along those lines. That will cut down on cost, and also on the time it will take to make the arrangements the day before. Yes, I know I'm crazy, but there will be a number of us hopefully just squishing the dahlias into the vases the day before. I'm not going to be too picky about it, and it should go pretty smoothly. Don't worry, I have a couple of plan B's - or is that a Plan B and a Plan C? It'll all work out, I'm sure.

Look what I made.

Mmm...glassy baby and peonies.


This was a hostess gift for my new boss' house warming party. That's right. My new boss. That, friends, means a new career.

I have so much more to share, but I have to catch my breath over here. Life's a little hectic. I promise more here soon! Wedding related, even. :)

Awash in Yo-Yos

I love these easy-as-pie to make fabric yo-yos that I've been making out of dupioni silk. So far I have about 75 of them, but I'd like to have at least 200-250. I can see these being used to decorate around the flowers on the table, attached to glass jars for a little cute-bling (that's totally a thing), and wherever else they may fall. I have so much crafting to do, but I'm really enjoying the process! Yay!

366 Days (But Who's Counting!?)

Oooh Oooh I am! We officially signed our venue contract and put down the deposit yesterday. Yay! Chris wasn't even concerned when I texted him telling him that we had signed our lives away. I'm taking that as a good sign. I now have one year to accomplish the ridiculous number of crafting projects that I love and want to include at my wedding. But, I do have a good start on them. I have about 85 dupioni silk yo-yos (photos to come), and six silky flowers, thanks to an impromptu pie eating/wine drinking craft night at Chelan's last night. Here they are:



Love.

Also, last week I made this vegan cake and sold it to a friend. I really wish I had tried it! Vegan coconut cake with lime cream (soy) filling and lime buttercream frosting with toasted coconut on top. Mmmm...



I also feel the need to start the hunt for a great inexpensive wedding photographer. I'm afraid that such a thing doesn't exist. I understand that photographers put a great deal of time into editing photos, and sooo much money into their equipment, but it seems that all the photographers I like charge a minimum of $3,000 (without any prints), and that is a LOT of moolah to pay. Ah, another challenge. I'm optimistic that we'll work it out - everything else has gone well thus far!

Kerissa Likes Crafting

I adore my friends and family! Last night, 8 of us gathered to eat pizza, drink fizzy white wine from Trader Joe's (so good!), and make wedding crafts! Between us all, we managed to make 3 fabric ruffly delicious pom poms. (Doesn't sound like much work, but it took at least 3 yards of fabric, which had to be cut into 4 inch circles and then individually glued onto tiny chinese lanterns! I never could have done anything close to that amount of work in one night by myself!) I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with the poms at the wedding just yet, but I love them so much! Maybe as chair markers for Chris and me, or perhaps as hanging backdrop behind the dessert table. Here's a photo - they still need their ribbon, but that part's easy!



And for fun - one more:



I definitely could not have done it without my aunt, who picked up and baked the pizzas before I even got home for work, and had everything all set up. She also made me this ridiculously adorable champagne cake for dessert!



There was champagne in the cake itself, and also a champagne/powdered sugar glaze. It was worth all the lactose intolerant pain I may endure as a result of eating it, but so far, so good! :) (You can also see my "slight" addiction to wedding magazines in the background of that photo.)

We also made a number of fabric silky flowers, although I need to sew them together before I take a photo. Oh, and so far, I've made 50 fabric yo-yos from dupioni silk. It's moving right along - now I just have to keep up the pace!

What a productive evening! I love to see the crafts all coming together with still more than a year until the wedding!

It's only the beginning...

And I already have a zillion ideas for our wedding, stemming from years of helping all my amazing friends plan their weddings (or at least that's my excuse for being in love with all things wedding). The fiance is, in his own words, a "big picture guy," which means I pretty much have free reign over the decor (as if there was any question about that). Here are some of the lovely, charming things I'm currently obsessing over (all pilfered from other amazing wedding blogs, of course).

Fabric pom-poms are so gorgeous. I just want to smother them to death. Weird, I know - we all have our issues, right? Ever since I saw them here (and by the way, as a lawyer lacking in creative outlets at my job, I want to BE her) I have been obsessed. Imagine the squealing noise I made when I found this tutorial on Once Wed. There are tiny Chinese lanterns under all those fabric ruffles. Um, brilliant! I never would have come up with that. But, now that I know the trick, I can whip these up in a snap, and I can't wait to start! (Granted, I'm guaranteed to burn my fingers with the hot glue gun - I've done it so many times, I'm pretty sure that's just an inevitable part of the process.) I see a trip to the fabric store in my near future. Also, a severe lack of sleep, but who needs sleep when they can peer through blurry eyes at pretty? Not me!

I also want to try my hand at making both of the following fabric flowers. Someone come over and check on me if you don't hear from me for a while...I may have been buried by a bolt of fabric! Hmm...or don't - I wouldn't mind being buried in fabric right about now.

Fabric Yo Yos can be found here on Style Me Pretty (project by Posh Paperie).



And another lovely flower project can be found here - thank you 100 Layer Cake!
I think I'm in heaven.