Save Me

And the wedding planning marches on. The caterer is booked, the venue deposit has been made, the DJ do-not-play list is underway, the dress is bought. That means our next step was to get out our Save the Dates!

Now, I am not one of those girls who has had their wedding planned out years ahead of the ring. I didn't know what I'd be wearing, where we'd be or what color the bridesmaid dresses would be, but for the last four or five years I have known what my unique Save the Date would look like. Just as I had known for awhile what my Bridesmaid Invites would look like (check those out here) Without further ado. . .

I'm not sure how it popped in my head, but the idea of "saving the date" in the literal sense seemed to be a fun spin on the Save the Date. I keep looking on Pinterest and other sites and have not seen the same concept yet, but I'm sure I'm not the first to think of it. Original thought was to photoshop the date into Bob's hands. Unfortunately, we do not have photoshop and I wanted to make sure it didn't look too cartoonish or fake. Michaels had a healthy supply of wooden craft letters, but they all ran a little small or flimsy for our purposes. I perused some websites and stumbled upon craftcuts.com. I ordered "82512" in 12 inch letters, 1/2 inch thick. Instead of having to glue them together when they all arrived, we had the option of ordering the numbers scrunched together - perfect! Upon arrival we painted the sign a mustard yellow to match our wedding colors and I added a couple painted blue cardboard dots to mark the date distinction. I almost ordered "8-25-12" but didn't want to pay for an extra two characters.

The photo we would use came out of our engagement shoot. This took place on a chilly February Saturday Our photographer, Gilbert Reyes of GReyes Photography, and his wife were troopers as we dragged them around from the loop to museum campus. We fit in a costume change, but it actually looks like we had more outfits than we did because there were certain shots I just flat out refused to take off my coat. Did I mention we did this shoot in the middle of a Chicago February? Check out highlights from the shoot on GReyes facebook page and be sure to email him for any photo shoot needs you may have!

Gilbert passed along our winning photo straight away so we could get our postcards ordered. I used paint to add a word bubble to solidify the joke, but at the last minute realized the photo quality diminished greatly when I saved it as a .jpg. It looked okay on the web, but might look pretty poor when we ordered our postcards. Instead, I used the free (but not available for much longer) site Picnik to create the card.

This was then uploaded to Vistaprint where we created the front and back of a postcard and then uploaded a mailing list to have them mail the cards directly. This freaked me out a little bit, not seeing the finished product before they went out in the mail, but it was definitely a time savings. 

We ordered an additional supply to mail out as one offs for the few folks we didn't have addresses for/extra invites that occur along the way. I had purchased a Groupon last month for Vistaprint, which got us $70 for $17. This savings was very helpful, considering I spent about $60 on the wooden numbers.

The order was placed and a week later the texts started to come through that they were finding their way to recipients' mailboxes. I breathed a sigh of relief that the order stayed intact.

So there we have it, the story of the Save the Date. I'm just glad Bob thought it was an idea worth pursuing! I also know what the Thank You cards will look like, but that's another story for another day!|

I'll let you use your imagination, but if budget and time were no option, here were my alternate ideas for  "saving the date"
- Bob and I are dressed as lifeguards on the beach and the date is drowning (I'll say it again: mid February in Chicago. Swimsuits may not have been the best idea.)
- I'm driving a car and Bob pushes the date out of the way as I'm about to hit him (considering my fear of driving, this one might have given me a complex)
- We are dressed as surgeons and the date is on the operating table ("Clear!")

So how would you save the date?

Prove It - Part 3

Let me introduce you to the latest lady in our life. . .

Bob has been hard at work the last couple of weeks finishing up his painting: the black streaks in her hair, the "prove it!" word bubble, her eyes and lips. And I have to say, this is one impressive work of art!

It all started last summer when Bob was leafing through an X-Men comic I inexplicably own and found an image he thought he could paint. I skimmed through it myself and when we landed on this cell we knew we found a winner. 

The dimensions were perfect for above the fireplace at our new condo and the color scheme matched the look we were going for. And, of course, the dottiness of the comic book cell would bring a little bit of pop art into our lives. Hey, when you can't afford a Lichtenstein original, you create something yourself! Or, you find something you can copy completely to hang in your house. To that point, allow me to cite the original artists. The cell was taken from The Uncanny X-Men #213: Psylocke. Chris Claremont, writer; Alan Davis, guest penciler; Paul Neary, guest inker; Tom Orzechowski, letterer; Glynis Oliver, colorist; Ann Nocenti, editor and Jim Shooter, editor in chief.

Read all about the painting's creation here and follow the saga of how to make dots here. I should mention  that Bob took some time to dampen the dots bright white color into a more muted look as they got a little overpowering. He used a chamois type cloth with a dab of water to get the right effect.

It's been a long journey since we bought this 5 foot tall canvas at Blick last summer, but its been fun. Well, fun for me watching Bob work and asking him every other day, "are you going to work on your painting today? Are you going to work on your painting today?"

Congratulations Bob! Now we just need to hang 'er up and call it a day. I'll leave you with a shot of how our library is coming along. . .the DIY shag rug is in place, three IKEA Billy Bookshelves stacked full and a perfect space for a pair of armchairs.

Pinterest Project - Cutting a Rug

The makings of this Pinterest Project go way back to last summer when I first pinned this DIY shag rug. I added it to my list of goals for the year, and in January decided to finally get started on it. The tutorial warned of the time commitment involved, and while I believed her I still thought I would be able to knock it out in a few weeks.

Well, make that two months and you might be on to something!

The timing of this pinterest project's completion couldn't be better, considering Young House Love and Bower Power just announced another Pinterest Challenge!

In the same way that I am a good cook because I can follow a recipe to a tee, I could not have made a successful rug without the detailed tutorial on Xoelle. She even dyed her rug the same color I planned on making, so it really is a basic clone.

Here are the supplies:

• 1 latch-hook rug canvas (30" x 60") - bought from Amazon - $15
• latch-hook tools (4) - I bought 2 at Jo-Ann Fabrics to start and broke them both about half-way through, I think I pulled too aggressively! - $10
• Rit dye in Pearl Gray (4 boxes) - also from Jo-Ann Fabrics - $15
• @28 white t-shirts - I used as many old t-shirts that Bob had lying around the house as I could, but the logos on some of them wasted some good real estate. I found a great deal at Target that rivaled the local thrift stores and meant I didn't have to scrounge for old shirts - a pack of 9 XL white crew neck tees for $16. Picking up 2 packs of those I had enough on hand to get started. - $32
• Rug binding fabric - $5 - Michaels (though it was technically free with a gift card)

First off, I perfected the art of cutting t-shirts into 4" x 1" strips. By the end I was knocking them out pretty quickly. Using my self healing mat as the cutting surface helped me keep up with the correct measurements. I found I could get about 300 strips to a shirt if I maximized every inch. With 286 squares on the canvas and 25 strips to each square, my aim was to get to about 8,000 strips. The tutorial I followed mentions using a rotary cutting tool, but I just used normal scissors and it worked out fine, although I ended up with a couple blisters to show for it.

I didn't know if it would make a difference, but many of the strips were stuck together because of the stacked layers I created in the cutting process. I didn't want them to stay stuck together in the washing machine and not fully dye themselves, so we took the length of a Law & Order to seperate all of them. Sonny jumped in the laundry basket and allowed himself to get basically buried underneath the t-shirt strips!

I followed the directions on the Rit dye box, though I was nervous how true a color I would get considering each box said "good for 1 lb of fabric" and I had about 8 lbs. Call me cheap, but I didn't want to buy 8 boxes of dye. So I halved it and hoped for the best. In the end, I wasn't disappointed.

I did have a near disaster with the washing machine - It was filled with the dyed water and I suppose I took too long to put all of the strips in machine. Suddenly it started draining itself and I could see visions of wasted dye! I ran back to get the rest of my strips, slipping and wiping out on some water that I had spilled by the washing machine! Lesson learned - if you see a puddle of water on the floor and say, "I should probably wipe that up now" - you should do it then.

Ahh well, crisis averted and wash one cycle later I had some lovely gray strips on hand. They even did what the tutorial's photos promised and curled up nicely. I like this curled up look more than the flat strip look that some people take with their DIY rugs.

So the hard part was over, and the monotonous part was about to begin. Youtube taught me how to latch-hook properly and after a few attempts I started to get on a roll. I had previosly decided to add 25 strips to every square, so that 1/4 of the little squares were used. The tutorial I followed used double this amount, but she even admits that hers is very thick rug and halving it would not be an issue. Now, by the end of the rug, I was able to cut my time by more than half, but after the first couple hours I realized it took me 20 minutes to finish 1 square. At this rate, I wasn't going to finish the rug until summer. Yikes.

Bob was very encouraging throughout the process, even with just a couple rows done you could see how the rug would turn out. Here are two other little men who loved the whole process. About every two seconds I had one of them jumping in my lap and positioning themselves completely on the square I was working on!

I pressed on, watching a lot of Downton Abbey and the entire 7 Up documentary series in the process. I gaurantee I spent about 60 hours on this bad boy - but again, most nights I would have just been sitting at home watching TV, so we might as well put something in my hands to multi-task. I did encounter some delays, including breaking both my latch-hook tools and a couple out of town weekends, so this step took about 4 weeks to complete.

As I neared completion, I realized I was going to be a little short. What can I say, math was never my strong suit. I made sure I didn't leave half a row hanging, and in the end only missed out on 1 last row of squares. The last step includes binding the back of the rug to make sure that the ends do not fray. Even just the act of folding the edges underneath the rug really helped complete the look!

Here she is in her $70 glory. Keep in mind our fireplace/library area is not yet complete, we still want to find the perfect 2 chairs and a small table to create a sitting area. This IKEA chair is in its temporary place, mostly to keep the rug from being pushed around the room by those cats. Look closely and you'll also see a sneak peek of Bob's almost finished painting.  He has started to add the black which has not only given her eyes, but I must say looks amazing!

I am so happy with the result, and it feels great underneath the feet! Cross this Pinterest Project off the list! Next up, DIY Pottery Barn Bedford Project Table. . .this one has been calling my name for at least a year. . .

Fondant? Fondue!

For my brother in law's birthday, Bob and I decided to try our hand at making an extra special birthday cake. Using some cake decorating tools that Bob received for Christmas, and some fondant skills he picked up during his gingerbread house making days we got to work.

We started with a chocolate cake recipe from America's Test Kitchen, but instead of using 1 9x13 cake pan, we split the batter into 2 round cake pans. After letting them cool, I attempted to file off the uneven tops. I won't say no to extra cake pieces to snack on! I used a dark chocolate frosting recipe, also from America's Test Kitchen, for the filling in between the 2 cakes. I tried to make less than the recipe because I always end up with way too much filling/frosting/sauce. Unfortunately, I think cutting it to 1/4 the original might have been a little too light as I could have used a little more in the end!

Bob pulled out some fondant that he had purchased awhile back and started to roll it out. Uh oh, I think we have a problem. This is not going to cover the cake!

It was time for Plan B - did I mention we were supposed to leave for my sister's house in just over 1 hour? We consulted The Cake Boss. Well, at least the Buddy Valastro cookbook we had on hand. First off, we mixed up some buttercream in the mixer and I frosted the cake - or "dirty iced" it as Buddy says.

Bob found this recipe for a marshmallow based fondant after googling "homemade fondant."

1 lb mini-marshmallows
2 to 5 Tbs water
2 lbs powdered sugar
1/2 cup Crisco

Perfect-o. We threw in some color and before long had it stretched out to a 15" circle, more than big enough to drape over the cake.

Using the smoothing tool, Bob affixed the cover over the cake and cut it to shape with another pastry tool.

Next up, Bob used a little bit of water to rid the cake of the excess powdered sugar. With a clean look accomplished, we thought about how to elaborate on the cake. After adding some more blue to the leftover fondant, Bob cut a strip to act as a ribbon around the base of the cake (although I think it helped it resemble a blue "easy button" from Staples!). I used a couple star shaped cookie cutters for a simple top, and also attempted to pipe in a buttercream base using the pastry bag. This could have been cleaner, but I think our buttercream was a little too hard in the end - did not spread very easily.

The cake may have been finished, but the kitchen clean up was not. Oh boy. Why yes, that is my iPad thrown in with the rest of the mess on the counter!

End result? Fondant is not that scary, in fact the recipe was made in less than 10 minutes. What do you think? Are you willing to give fondant a try one of these days? Do the stars I added to the cake make it look a little like its for a 10 year old as opposed to a 34 year old? Just a little bit.

Happy Birthday Ike! 

Uncommonly Good

I knew I had to fit a post in today to take advantage of our added day this Leap Year - to somewhat make up for my poor showing in February - a measly few postings to this ole blog. While the output may be lacking, the in progress at the house is anything but. Over the next month I promise to share with you the trials and tribulations of making my own shag rug, Bob's amazing painting in all her glory and an entertainment center fit to print. 

So what to cover for you this February 29? Unless frozen pizzas count, my cooking endeavors the past couple months have been slim to none. Our wedding planning has had some great developments, but I'm not quite ready to share the latest (and ruin the "save the date" surprise for our invitees!). 

How about a trip down "gotta have it" lane? Have you ever visited the site uncommongoods.com? Its a treasure trove for unique gifts, both kitschy and useful. It is usually one of the stops on the Christmas shopping go round, but I visited it again just recently after receiving a very fun gift from my sister (she who introduced me to the site). all images are from uncommongoods.com.

I will be visiting London in April (wahoo!) and have no sense of direction. What better gift than a map that you can crumple up and is never in danger of ripping? This was the perfect item to bring the excitement level up a notch. Especially since Kara and I booked our hotel in the last couple weeks. 

So what else can you find on this site? 
This plate is sloped to catch syrups and sauces so you make every bite count.

An OCD cutting board is going to make sure each one of your dices is accurate.

A search for cufflinks provides ample options, might Bob be sporting these come our wedding day? 

If you take a few minutes to peruse the site, what do you find interesting? I think it has a good mix of budget friendly options with a few luxe items thrown in for good measure. What other gift sites are you using for housewarming and happy holiday shopping? 

Bob's Bday - Puzzle Perfect

By now you probably know the drill. Every February I try to outdo the previous year's celebration of Bob's birthday by creating a theme and decorating the house. Since we now live together, this has also involved kicking him out of the house for a few hours and instructing him when it is safe to come back!

For a trip down memory lane, check out the indoor camping trip, the Lost: Season 3 marathon weekend, an Around the World trip and last year's James Bond theme.

This year presented a bit of a challenge. I was going to be out of town on his Thursday birthday and would not be coming home until late Friday night. Also, we had our engagement photo shoot scheduled for Saturday. Hmm. . . I got to thinking and then saw a promotion come across my inbox I couldn't pass up. The new hotel PUBLIC Chicago recently opened and I had the pleasure of attending a recent work function there. Instantly in love with the design of the place, I was on the look out for when our next staycation could be scheduled! I quickly snatched up a room for Saturday night, and the Valentine's Day package which included breakfast for two, 2 drinks at the famous Pump Room bar and a bottle of Prosecco in the room. Gotta take advantage of the proximity of Bob's birthday to V-Day!

But how to present the hotel stay without losing out on my usual process of decorating the house? I kept it a secret until Thursday the 16th - his actual birthday. I decided to get up early that morning (he leaves for work way earlier than I wake up) and decorate then so he would come home to the surprise even while I was traveling for work.

I picked up a 24-piece puzzle from Michael's, which was the smallest number of pieces they had and printed out pictures from PUBLIC's website. You can see that my printer ink was pretty poor at the time, so it just goes to show that while I put effort into these things, it is not so much that I'm willing to go buy new printer ink! Along with a couple phrases to clarify the plan, I modpdged a collage onto the completed puzzle.

So let me start with how this was going to work in my head: I would use an Xacto knife to cut around the puzzle pieces resulting in a perfectly formed puzzle piece with a new image on the top.

Here's how it actually went down. The paper ripped apart too easily and left me with a mess. I don't know if the paper was too thin or if I didn't let the modpodge dry enough. Probably a combination.

Take Two: I outlined each puzzle piece on the collage and cut them out individually. Again, I'm no perfectionist so this wasn't the cleanest of cuts. Some of the pieces had a little trouble sticking together after I glued on the images, but you can still get the gist. And if I thought my printer ink was suspect with the first round of photos I printed, the quality only went down further. . . .

I jumbled up the pieces and seperated them into trios. Using ziploc bags and numbering them created 8 little clue sets.

The clues were placed throughout the house, aligned with "hotel" type activities/items. Chocolates on the pillow, travel sized toiletries on the bathroom sink, coffee machine with mugs and individual serving packets.

And the most ghetto Do Not Disturb sign you will ever see.

Bob said it took him a little while to get the puzzle together thanks to our cats - they will disrupt any project we happen to be working on by laying on it or stealing pieces of it. 

And to sum it up, our staycation was a great one: drinks at the Pump Room bar, dinner at Gibson's and a lazy Sunday morning breakfast. I definitely recommend making a staycation at least an annual activity. If nothing else, it is a great way to experience a different side of the city you call home!

ScrapFest 2012

This was a day so big, I just had to take off of work for it. . .for awhile now my sister, aunt and I have talked about getting all of our crafty stuff together in one place and having a day of creativity. With my sister still on maternity leave for a little longer and my aunt visiting from Madison, we took advantage of this past Monday to do just that. By 8:30 we were all set up, the living room pretty much filled up - even the extra card table made its way up from the basement to make more surface area for all of our stuff. Suddenly, it was quarter to 4. Where does the time go? And why can't we do this every day??

While my sister focused on completing her baby books for Ella (so that she can start up on the baby books for little Amelia!) and my aunt helped out on some creative scrapbook pages, I focused on a new set of cards for my declining stockpile. Bring on a collection of birthday cards, wedding congratulations and "just because" cards.

But first, check out some of my aunt's handiwork. Using the phrase "you've got the little cutest baby face" as inspiration, my niece Ella was put center stage. Adorable!

Not to be outdone, Amelia's newborn photo shoot got her own page as well. My Aunt Christine created a little pocket on the page and decorated a tag with Amelia's little feet on one side and some cute giraffe stamps on the other.

And on to the cards. . .This just because one could also be a good St. Patrick's Day card perhaps?

This birthday card, using the phrase stamp "happy bird-day to you" and some cute little chickies, features balloons made out of circle punches and string. Just minimalist enough.

Can you tell I like tags? And scalloped edge paper?

I used a tried and true version of the wedding cards I typically make, but then used some yellow rick rack and a Love stamp to change it up a bit. Who doesn't love yellow and gray together?

Finally, we would be remiss if we did not focus on some Valentine's Day cards! My aunt has a lot of cool heart stamps so I took full advantage. With the red one I just went nuts with the stamp pad and with the music themed one I used the scalloped edge paper (again) to frame a piece of music sheet. Both feature the phrase "all you need is love." The hearts are cut out from a vintage sheet of heart art.

And finally, a play on words to leave you with.

Have you been making any creative cards lately? Or seen any ultra-cool ones in the stores? Do share.

Until the next ScrapFest. . .