{dress}ed to impress

i may be jumping back and forth between past and present since there was so much that I did during our wedding that I couldn't talk about, for fear of spoiling the suprise. of course, I couldn't talk about my wedding gown because it was to be surprise and I didn't want to spoil that. as I talk about my current and future projects, I can't forget some of the ones that I'm most proud of, so I must gush a little :)

as I posted in one of my first posts back this year, i had a few pictures of our wedding, and the dress. since this post is going to be about the transformation, i will begin with the finished look.

the wedding dress for every girl is the biggest deal. it is probably, depending on who you are, the most expensive single item of clothing you will purchase in your life. every girl dreams of what her's will look like, and the quest to find that dress is one that will consume your time and energy until it is yours. shows like Say Yes to the Dress promote the importance of that moment when you look in the mirror, and tears well up in your eyes. The moment you have found the one (dress).

I started my dress journey with my mom and sister. I was so excited to try on a dress and see what I was going to look like as a bride. It's a very special moment in any girl's life. I wasn't successful on my first trip out, nothing seemed to be the one. I was disappointed but knew I would find it, eventually. To make a long story short, I went to almost every bridal store within a 30 mile radius. Weekend after weekend I spent my days searching, and coming up empty handed. I was so discouraged and was not sure if I would ever find what I was looking for. One Saturday I stumbled into Bella Bridal, in West Bloomfield, Michigan, and my journey ended. There was a Essense of Australia trunk show. I tried on a couple of dresses and still wasn't feeling anything. Why couldn't I find something that seemed timeless, classy, romantic, and had an interesting neckling? I was again frustrated. I then tried on this number:

I should mention that this didn't make sense at first. I had been looking for a bateau neckline, and definitely not strapless. Sonia, the owner took a piece from another dress, and showed me how we could customize the dress. She added the piece, and then added a beautiful beaded belt, and then it happened. .I teared up, and finally had my moment. This dress had the most beautiful lace and was so romantic. I knew that this was the dress. At that point my budget was out the window, and I was moving on to the make it happen for the dress that made my heart feel full. If I couldn't find my dress, I was going to make my dress.

Six months later the dress came in and lacey piece by lacey piece, literally, we started to transform and create the look that I wanted. every month or two I would go in a see what we wanted to do next. little my little, my dream was becoming a reality. Sonia would get so excited to see the progress, and would tell me how beautiful it was. I picked a beautiful beaded belt from Etsy shop, Luxe Bridal Couture and my grandmother's earrings and broach to complete the look. Since my dress was so detailed, I chose a simple veil from David's bridal.

my dress through the year of making -
also shows the transformation that my trainer was making to my weight & back fat :)

I went to all of my appointments alone, until my final fitting, and so this project was all of me, and no one else. It made it that much more special when my mom and sister were able to come to my final fitting, and see the process come full circle. this dress still holds such a special place in my heart. I hope that in years to come I still look back at the pictures and feel that this was the dress of my dreams. I fantasize that my daughter would want to wear it, and that it doesn't seem like something from 2013, whatever that will mean in the future.

{fall}ing

it seems that fall has definitely turned into my busiest season this year! it might have something to do with that event i have coming up in a few months. either way, i have been slacking on my blogging, and that is something i do not want to do! i find blogging to be very therapeutic and not doing it as often leaves my head filled with all of these ideas that I need to get out!

at the end of the summer, i started really "nesting" for the wedding. i had started to purchase all the things I was going to need to craft over the fall so that I would be ready for the holiday season, and wedding. while I feel accomplished with having all of these items, it is a little overwhelming to see all of things I need to do, literally.

so september has been quite busy, and so i'll catch up a little bit on what I've been up to.

it seems that we have started a tradition with some good friends {sean + abby} to go to a Michigan. we did miss a year because Sean and Abby live in Florida, and were getting married (fair enough!). this year we went to the Michigan vs. Navy game. Michigan {barely} won! woo!

that same weekend we had our engagement pictures, which was very exciting! i was definitely a little nervous before the shoot since I hadn't had a professional picture taken of me since... senior pictures! nick, my fiance, did a great job! thank you so much to Amy Schrodt of Pure Amour Photography for being such a fantastic photographer! we took the pictures on Detroit's Belle Isle.

we celebrated a friend's 30th birthday the following weekend in Kalamazoo. it was a beautiful day spent with great people!

this past weekend we spent some time with our favorite couple and celebrated my birthday, and our friend Amanda's. we managed to register for our wedding, which was done very nicely with my fiance.

with all of the activities going on, i haven't slacked on the crafting. i started decorating for fall by creating a scrapbook paper wreath for our front door. this was super easy. this blog has some great ideas to make your own wreath. I also printed and framed some autumn subway art. look at this blog to find one for your mantle!

i managed to make our unity candles for the wedding. i'm not sure if this is the final product, but could be. i made these out of birch paper that I purchased from etsy, and used some ribbon and embellishments that i had. total cost of the project: about $15.

i have been working on some other things, but want to dedicate a different post to those ideas/projects. i hope everyone is having a great fall so far! xo

re{purpose} jam jars

so I am trying to take my mind off of my friend Meghan, who is currently in labor, and is going to have her first baby any minute! i am hoping that by the time i finish this post, I will have some amazing news! here's to wishful thinking..

we are having guests this weekend, and so my task is to clean out our guest bedroom/craft room/wedding storage room/office. as i was merely moving the boxes into our bedroom, i noticed a box of little glass jars that i was to return to the vendor...ooops! i guess i got a little busy.

 if you remember from one of my first posts, i was going to use them to make hanging votive candles. these jars ended up being too small for a votive candle, so I had purchased the next size bigger, and those worked out perfectly.

so what can i do with 54 glass jam jars????

oh i will give you a few ideas...

salt and pepper shakers

by hammering some holes into the tops of the lids, you have an instant salt & pepper shaker! 

a pincushion jar

by following this simple tutorial, you can have a cute pincushion for yourself, or give to others!

office storage

this cute & quirky way to organize your office is sure to give you a laugh during the work day. to make the extra fancy, add some color to the lids

soy candles

by melting soy wax flakes and adding a fragrance, you have a cute gift/favor in no time!

diy body scrub favor

these little jars can hold a homemade spa treat! click here for some advice on how to create your own salt or sugar scrubs!

 as i finish that last idea, the news is out, baby girl Buchanan is born, and momma and baby are doing great! can't wait for the announcement of her name!!

{eye} love eye primer

as I was getting ready this morning, and putting on my makeup, I had a moment where I was truly thankful...for my discovery of eye primer!

once upon a time, I was standing up in a wedding. as any bridesmaid knows, hair & makeup can be an expense. for this specific occasion, I decided to try my hand at doing my own makeup, smokey eye and all! you should know that I am not a makeup artist, nor did I have any real talent for applying makeup. of course I could do the standard foundation, blush, eyeshadow, eyeliner and mascara, but there was no technique for any of it.

for anyone interested in trying to do their own makeup, definitely head over to youtube or pinterest to find great step-by-step tutorials on how to achieve any technique. for me, this was very helpful to see what tools and products I needed to achieve the look of a professional makeup application. I found pinterest to be the most helpful in seeing the final product, and then taking me to the video, wherever it was hosted.

after acting like a 5 year old in my mother's makeup for a couple of weeks, I felt like I was finally ready to buys the proper tools & makeup for this experiment. from all of the videos, it seemed that eye primer was a very important part of the process to prep the eye, and keep the shadows in place. So, I headed into Ulta to browse the selections. my first choice for advice on makeup is heading to Sephora as I just personally have had great success with the products I have taken recommendations on. either way, the prices are about the same.

so I asked the girl wandering around with pounds of makeup on, what she recommended for an eye primer. She told me that her favorite was Urban Decay Eye Primer ($20), so I picked it up.

as I browsed the selections, I came across some shadow that I thought would work perfectly, Starry Eyed Baked Eye Shadow Trio ($26).

this trio has a bit of a shimmer, and can be used wet or dry. As I continued to fall in love with all the products, I noticed this kit, that contained everything I could possibly need, Close Up: Real Life to Red Carpet Eye Tutorial ($37)

here I had everything I could need at my finger tips: eyeshadow, eye primer, mascara, liquid eyeliner, a makeup brush, and a step-by-step book on how to accomplish several different looks! I picked this up too, and headed home to try my hands at a smokey eye.

as with anything, practice makes perfect, and it took me a few tries to accomplish, but I started to get the hang of it. the wedding day came around, and the true test of my practice needed to pay off. I had to say I was pretty pleased. as I looked around, I couldn't tell that I had done my makeup myself. I felt a sense of accomplishment.

I had another wedding a month later, and I tried the technique again, and with another successful attempt. I was pleased at how professional the look ended up being, and I had spent a fraction of the cost for the professional services. the shadow lasts through the event, and does not smudge or leave creases. over the months, I have continued to practice and experiment. I receive many compliments on the shadow, and because of that, I have purchased more Lorac goods to replace the originals. while I normally am quite thrifty, these products are worth the money, and last for quite a long time.

to swing back to this morning, I use the eye primer by Lorac every day. however, I don't wear shadow every day. during the week I prefer a more natural look, and don't wear eye makeup. in the past, I would wear shadow because my eyelids would be more red, or would appear shiny compared to my skin that had foundation. to mask this, I tried putting foundation on my lids. this worked, but by the end of the day, the oils from my lids would wash the foundation away. this is when I decided to give that lovely primer I used for weekends and special occasions to good use. the primer is relatively skin colored, which creates a very natural appearance.

image from today, a random tuesday, with a sun burnt eyelid to boot.

now again, I am not a makeup artist, so this is why I share this with you. a simple product can be easy to use, at any skill level, and give you a very finished look. eye primer brought me joy this morning, and I'm hoping that if you aren't using it already, it can bring joy to you too!

{shoe}ly possessed

since my dress came in a few weeks ago, I have had the task of finding the shoes to wear with this dress. one of my first posts was about these amazing Sergio Rossi shoes that I had wanted, but were $1600! I loved the uniqueness of the shoe, and was hoping to find something similar.
on my lunch hour today, I decided to step into my local DSW to see what deals I could find for cute shoes on the clearance racks. sadly, nothing sparked my interest so I headed for the door. I decided to head up the aisle where the special occasion shoes are located, just to browse and see if there was anything that caught my eye.

and there they were...



lulu townsend - vada 
$69.95

while these shoes are not the Sergio Rossi's, the scaling is quite similar, and 96% off the price! these pictures don't actually do the rhinestone justice for how sparkly they are in real like. the front of the show hardly looks like it has color, and looks like it's made out of glorious diamonds! if you can't tell, I was very please with my find!

i'm not certain these shoes are the ones, but they are the ones for right now! I cannot wait to get home, and try them on to see how they look!

{LBD} Lovely, Beautiful, Detailed

I'm off to Chicago for a bachelorette party for my friend Stephanie! the weekend should be beautiful, 85 and sunny all weekend. We have quite a list of events, and it should sure be a lot of fun. All of the girls going have decided to wear black all weekend so that the bride stands out. i LOVE black! I often find myself buying black shirts, dresses, sweaters, and it's not like I really need anymore. however, since this is a bachelorette party, I felt I wanted to spice things up. I'm still a conservative/classic girl at heart, so I needed something a little sexy, but still classic. I loved the pieces I chose, and loved accenting with colored jewelry(turquoise, coral, gold) from my giant jewelry box.

I decided to go to another fave site, Polyvore, to check out what was out there and to get a little more inspiration. All the items I looked at were under $50!! here are a few of my favorite things:

I looove animal prints when wearing black!

a little edgy, but definitely something fun & sexy.

simple. classic. done!

big, costume jewelry is something I cannot live without. perfect accent to any solid-colored dress!