let's start from the beginning {of January}

it has been soooooo long since my last blog post. it would seem that i'm the kind of girl who blogged during her wedding planning, and then stopped. sadly, it's true. this post starts it back up again, so here we go!

i loved blogging about all of my ideas during the wedding, and things i stumbled upon along the way. there were so many ideas flowing all the way, that I could not even begin to share all of them. planning my wedding was actually one of the hardest, most challenging, and incredibily fulfilling things I have done. it was so nice to be able to dream a dream, and then see it all come together. we could finally see the fruits of my labors on January 19th. on a cold, wintery day, i became a wife.

i think everyone says it about their wedding, but the day was absolutely perfect. i thought that i would be a ball of nerves, and a crying mess all day. i spent so much time fussing over details that i think i finally let it all go the day of, and truly enjoyed the day!

our pictures before the ceremony, but we couldn't see each other

all photo courtesy of pure amour photography

what I also realized (and what you hear so much of, but never really believe) is that all of the details can go unnoticed, even by you. there were so many things that i spent hours agonizing over that I never even saw myself. i spent hours and hours thinking about the branches and hanging votives, probably even days. unless someone has a picture of these, i never saw them, and unfortunately, my photographer didn't capture them. i am sure that they turned out great considering all the time I took to get those together. i hope that they added to the decor, but i'm not sad that i missed them.

while i may not have saw the final product of the branches, there were so many things that I talked about in my posts that did make it into the wedding and reception. here are some highlights:

Our unity candle during the ceremony - blogpost: falling

{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!!

{tie}d with love

one of my favorite things is baker's twine. this simple twine with white & an alternating color really spice up a craft project, gift, card, etc.

as with the colors, the possibilities are endless. head over to Etsy to find some great supplies or inspiration. or if you would like, here are a few items to get your project started:

let love {light} the way

as I look around for inspiration, I often find so many neat ideas for table numbers. there table numbers can be framed, painted, stitched, mirrored, fabric, wood, floral, and anything you could imagine. my favorite seems to be illuminated table numbers. this can be done with luminaries, lanterns, or candles.

               

                                                                                                                                         

since my fiance and I set our hearts on a winter wedding, I have always envisioned lanterns being a part of the decor. I searched all over the internet, and in stores, to find a lantern that was afforable and nice looking. I finally found a great lantern at Ikea for only $6.79 (normally they are $7.99, which is still a fantastic deal!). these lanterns are even more substantial than I thought they would be. so I headed down to my local Ikea, and purchased 30!

ever since I've had these in my possesion, I have been dreaming of how I will use them. I had orginally wanted to create a luminary similar to these ideas:

this is a great project that uses cardstock glued together with a letter or inital cutout

this number lantern can be created using this template.

this cute little project can be used using frames, hinged together, or inserted into a lantern. print photos onto vellum paper, and voila!



as always, it occured to me that I could use my lanterns as the table number, and create something by either painting,  using vellum printed numbers, or adhering decals to the lantern to create the perfect table number for all to see! I've decided to use the picture below as my inspiration, but I will not forget the other ideas, nor should you!

once I have made up my mind, and created my final product, I will be sure to post pictures of what I end up with. Happy Tuesday!

                                                                                     

{DIY} Hanging Candle Holders

for my wedding reception, I don’t think there could be enough candles in the room. I dream of the room glowing, and filled with romantic light. since I got engaged, I have been scouring the internet for beautiful ways to incorporate candles into the table settings. one trend that I could not resist, but was Manzanita branches with hanging candles.

                 
as you may have figured out, I’m a girl on a budget. this is not necessarily because of financial reasons, but I’m always dedicated to creating and buying based on the best product for the least amount of money.
in order to create this look for my wedding, created by me, I was going to need several items to complete this project:

• Manzanita Branches
• Vases
• Candle Holders
• Wire (20 or 22 gauge)

early on, I spent time searching for affordable sources for these branches. I found the best prices to be from Blooms & Branches. this site offers not only affordable options for Manzanita branches, but many other decorative needs. I also liked this site because it offered instructional videos on how to arrange, and care for your branches. I ended up purchasing Manzanita that had been cut into pieces, as it would be easier to arrange in a vase.

here is a tutorial on how to arrange your branches

the candle holders proved to be the part of the project that I am having the most trouble with. hanging candle holders can be found all over the internet for about $1.99 and up, depending on the size and style. I was determined to find an affordable solution for less than $1.99. this proved to be a little more difficult to find candle holders to use to create the hanging holder. in order to make sure the wire stays in place, the straight candle holders will not work. you must find something with a lip or one that opens larger at the top than the bottom.  I searched the internet, and was feeling a little down that I might not be able to pull this off.

then it dawned on me…. JARS! I had seen the tutorials on how to create hanging mason jar candle holders, but this was too large for what I wanted to accomplish. however, shrinking the size to fit a tealight or votive would be perfect! the jar provides the threading to hold the wire in place, and still gives the illusion of being a candle holder. I again went to the internet to find a source for my tiny jars. I found a site: Speciality Bottle. This site has many different shapes and sizes, and most under $0.75/jar.  I narrowed my selections down to two:

                                                                               

the jar on the left starts out at $0.48/jar, and the jar on the right starts at $0.54/jar

now that I found a source for the jars, it was time to move on the other items. next stop: wire. as it turns out, wire is really cheap, and without spending more than a couple of minutes, I found 15yds of wire for $3.97 at Widget Supply.

I estimate that I will use 1ft-1.5ft for each candle holder. to create the  holder with the wire, please look at this video:

 

so after this is complete, the only thing left to get are the candles. Ikea has 100 tealights for $3.99. with the candles, and the supplies I have listed above, each candle holder is going to cost $0.60-0.66/holder. That is 70% less than what these are selling for on the internet! I couldn’t be more pleased with my findings.

I have not done this project yet, as my wedding in still 6 months away. when I do create these lovely little gems, I will be sure to post the pictures!