my shower

I must say that I am truly blessed to be surrounded by and related to some of the most gifted, generous people. My sister-in-law Lisa and dear friend Barb threw me the most beautiful bridal shower today, despite their incredibly busy lives. (With the valuable assistance of Lisa's mom Annaley, my sister Micah, and another friend Natalie!) I could not have asked for a more perfect shower. Lisa put so much thought into every detail, making it something that was so special.

Barb coordinated the food and made it all with the help of Natalie and Micah. It was so delicious! We had assorted breakfast delights like eggs tarragon, oven-baked french toast, and a delicious potato and ham casserole. We also ate bacon-wrapped green beans, stuffed mushrooms, fruit kebabs, banana choclate muffins and Natalie's famous chocolate truffle cookies. It was delectable.

The table settings were gorgeous...complete with burlap table cloths (which I plan on using for my wedding, turquoise vases with yellow flowers (my favorite color combination right now... and sun filtering through the windows. It was all so elegant and natural-looking.

This was incredible... because I am a lover of the outdoors, Lisa wanted to create a "field of flowers" going up the staircase. She and Annaley spent hours perusing antique stores for these incredible bottles for the gorgeous flowers she bought. It was breathtaking.

While driving near her house, Lisa and her mom saw some men trimming trees so they stopped and snagged some branches which they spray painted my favorite shade of blue! These branches were hanging from the ceiling above the food. I wish my camera could capture the whole shot, because it was stunning! We plan on getting married in Ashley's garden area under this incredible arbor. I'm going to hang this from the top right above where we stand.

Lisa had this flower centerpiece made and it was incredible. Not only are there gorgeous pink and yellow roses, it has different vegetables and fruits interspersed. Red cabbage, tomatillos, purple and orange cauliflour, plums, kiwi, red grapes, and limes. I am going to see if Lisa can recreate this for my wedding as well.

The Crown Jewel of the day was the wedding dress. Lisa borrowed my dress form and used pictures from wedding magazines to create a beautiful gown. Annaley spent three days putting this together and she has the burns and pricks on her fingers to prove it! I'm hoping that it will stay in good shape for the next three weeks so I can make this part of my photobooth. I don't think my pictures do it justice!

One of the things I love about Lisa is how thoughtful she is. She takes care of all the little details that really make you feel special. She found this print by a Polish artist (Bart is polish). She picked it because she thought that it looked like me and it does! It actually looks like someone painted me. This was such a special day, and the ladies I was able to spend it with were so special. Overall, a great day. It makes me more and more excited for my wedding...coming up in three short weeks!

THANK YOU EVERYONE! I love you!

Baby Shower

I understand that the nature of this blog has changed over the course of its life, and I'm not exactly focusing on wedding plans. But that could be because wedding plans have been shelved for the past week or so to throw a baby shower for my dear friend, Teri. She's pregnant with twin boys, so I had fun creating some home-spun decorations for the shower.

The circular garlands at the top were cut from a massive pile of scrapbooking paper I had and I sewed them together in long lines on my sewing machine. For the banners, I backed fabric with freezer paper, cut each piece to 8.5x11" and ran them through the printer. Then cut the flag shapes and bound them with bias tape. The yellow polka dot came from a thrift store sheet and the blue (stripe) came from a super clearanced Target dress I wore for a bit and then retired to my fabric scrap bin.

As I don't typically enjoy traditional baby shower games (does anyone, really?) I opted for a project for guests to participate in. Our friend Natalie bought and collected a variety of onesies she found from a second-hand store and I pulled out various fabric scraps from my bin. I backed all the scraps with wonder-under and cut them into 5" squares. I had an assortment of suitable pictures for guests to choose from (elephant, monkey, spider, seahorse, etc...) Guests then taped the picture over the fabric, cut it out, removed the backing and ironed it on! This was such a great activity that everyone could do regardless of artistic ability! They turned out sooo cute!Lastly, I had a little practice run for my wedding dessert table. I created all sorts of cake platters and food stands using an assortment of vintage plates, teacups, goblets, and candlesticks I've collected from thrift stores. I stacked plates on top of the candlesticks or goblets and created unique, multi-tiered platters. To keep them from toppling, I used glue dots to hold them in place. The glue dots work great for this as long as everything remains on the table and you don't move them. I like this better than gluing them permanently because this way I can mix it up next time, not to mention, they are much more efficient to store.

Midwinter Break Part IV Birdcage Veil

To cap off a lovely and productive week, Micah and I got together to make me a birdcage veil. Actually, Micah made it for me while I sat unpicking the seams in my wedding dress. Micah is incredibly talented at making beautiful hairpieces. We spent our morning driving through the maze that is Seattle to find Nancy's Sewing Basket in Queen Anne. This is a great little fabric shop that has beautiful fabrics and accessories. We picked out some beautiful silk flowers, feathers, felt, and birdcage veil netting.

As I sat in the couch unpicking the stitches on my dress, Micah spent an hour arranging and rearranging the feathers and holding them up to my head until they were perfect.

Once it was how she wanted it, she glued it together with a hot glue gun. We had enough flowers for two, so she went ahead and made both so we could see what we wanted once I had my dress on. We'll add the veil later as well once I know how my hair will be styled. I am so happy with how these turned out and wish I could wear both!

Midwinter Break Part III Green Chairs

This is yet another piece that I will use both in my wedding and at home around my breakfast table. I found a set of four of these chairs at Goodwill for about $6 a piece. They are extremely well-built, unique chairs and they're actually made in Poland! Since Bartek is from Poland, that warmed my heart and I knew that I was simply meant to find them.I love bright colors, and I love fabric, so I decided to join forces and use this amazing Amy Butler upholstery print I found. I could only afford about a half a yard, so I thought that this would be a great way to use the fabric.

After painting the chairs an apple green, I used the heavyduty modpoge to attach the fabric to the seat of the chair!