My Full Circle Life

So JP and I were more then bored last night, so we said, “lets just go have a mall adventure” and if you are wondering what a mall adventure is…its making a DIY Movie, Music Video…

It means you basically go around the mall thinking of a particular song, ours was Work It Out – By Jurassic 5 featuring Dave Matthews Band, and do stupid semi-embarrassing stuff and have like a million laughs. We were getting everyone going in the mall. ie: all the store managers that saw us dancing outside there stores for an uncomfortable amount of time…too funny.

At this point I may have sealed the addiction to imovie, and stop/action-like-ish music video remakes…haha!!! Go with me folks, there will surely be more of these coming your way. We are headed to Brooklyn tonight for a friends BDAY and we most certainly will have our cameras rolling.

Enjoy the show!!

Yes, I am that crazy person that has an impromptu photo shoot inside the post office right before handing over a giant stack of DIY wedding invitations that we so preciously designed, printed, handcut, scored, taped, and assembled for the sake of our sweet sweet wonderful love for each other. Ha! No but really, these were made of pure love and were hard to hand over to the abyss that is the mail system.

Here is a sneak peak of how it went down. I will be back shortly to give you all the deets I just have to wait till my guests have them in their own hands before I reveal it to the world.

Simply put, Joe Guizar documents the interesting Windows of New York.

He says:

The Windows of New York project is a weekly illustrated fix for an obsession that has increasingly grown in me since chance put me in this town. A product of countless steps of journey through the city streets, this is a collection of windows that somehow have caught my restless eye out from the never-ending buzz of the city. This project is part an ode to architecture and part a self-challenge to never stop looking up.

 I am a Graphic Designer living in New York City. I’m into all kinds of visual things, sharing good stuff with great people, and apparently, staring creepily at windows.

These are beyond simple, but they are equally beyond mesmerizing. I am a visual person, and I am also a huge fan of repetition, and categorizing, and collecting, oh an art! This is just a great collection of all of those things. He brings it to life with color, and detail and turns an other wise innate boring window into a point of interest.

Check out his other graphic work at his site.

My DIY wedding journey has been contrastingly easier then some might think it would be. To date, the save the dates were the “hardest” thing but really weren’t hard at all. We really wanted to do something special here. We wanted to make it about us, but also about our peeps and how JP and I came to be together.

As many of you know my soon to be hubby is an Art Director which means that the Save the Dates and the Wedding Invites have been and will be his biggest contributions to the wedding planning. Don’t get me wrong he has a long to-do-list that I so effortlessly wrote for him but this is where he really wanted to show his stuff.

However, I may or may not be the boss…hehe.

Supplies needed for the DIY Wedding Save The Dates:

1. Staples Legal Size Pastel Paper ($8.99)

2. Staples 81/2 X 11 Cardstock – Same color ($8.99)

3. Bone Folder – We already had this item

4. Exacto – We already had this item

5. Stamps 100 count – ($45.00)

7. Ink (approx. $50.00)

8. Envelopes from Envelopes.com ($25.00)

9. Washi Tape ($3.00) – from Cutetape.com

10. Time, Effort & Compromise ($FREE)

TOTAL: $140.98 – Call it $150.00

The item on the left is our “timeline” we cherry picked some of our favorite life events. It starts briefly with our childhoods before we even knew of each other which really shows everyone just how different him and I are. It quickly jumps to college where we met and became “friends” – only friends! After we first met we were only acquaintances and went onto our own college life paths. Then we were casted in one faithful B-Rated movie together and the sparks flew! Then it goes on to speak of our lives together, the various jobs we have had, our first apartment, and finally ends with me saying yes to his proposal!! It was so much fun to write the time line and to document our most memorable moments together.

From what I hear it was also a hit with our friends and family! It really helps to get them “involved” with our little love story.

The photo on the front of the Save The Date was our favorite picture out of about 1000 shots that we took on a little photo shoot up in the catskills. We bought some fancy clothes and some props and had a photo shoot in a Spring filled field. Our friend John was the photographer and he had all the patience in the world to take so many photos. Turns out we liked the photo with just us being us the most and we nixed all the ones with silly props or that were too formal and stiff. It just isn’t us…ya know?

I think this photo does a great job setting the tone for the wedding. We are throwing a casual, fun, spirited, love filled wedding. Do you get that from the photo? Ha! Keep that in mind though when you are making your save the date, you really want to set the tone for the wedding – so your guests get the idea of what to expect.

Here is a close up of the timeline. Johnpatrick really tricked this guy out. He made custom icons for all of the points on the time-line, including a street sweeper machine!

You can see how I added the washi-tape as a nice little detail on the back of the envelopes.

On the sides of the frame are the tools we needed, an exacto and a bone-folder. We had to individually cut out each one of the save the date postcards, and fold each one of the timelines. We wanted to spread it out a bit, but it took approx. 4 hours if you just went straight through. Not bad if you consider the cost savings.

Here you can see the back of the save the date postcard. He carried the image from the front of the post card to the back, and masked it off within the shape of an ampersand, his fave! It highlights our faces in that photo. This is where the information went.

Information to include on your DIY Wedding, Save The Date:

1. The date!!!

2. The city/state of the event.

3. The Wedding Venue name if you have picked one yet.

3. A website URL if you made one for your wedding, where they can find more information if they are so inclined.

And thats it! Not too hard right? If anyone needs any help designing their Save The Dates, I know a guy and a girl that are more than willing to do it! As you can see I went a little photo happy on these because I am so proud of them. It feels so gosh darn good to work hard on something for yourself.

Anyone have any other DIY Wedding Save The Dates to share? Comment and PIN away!

The next step on my DIY Wedding planning was to visualize the bridesmaids. The whole theme that you will notice as I lay this all out is sort of understated and sophisticated. Nothing to over the top but classic and clean. The scenery is my wow factor. When it came to my bridesmaids dresses I was thinking grey…I asked them to purchase this dress in the color “grey ridge” thinking a warm grey could be nice and neutral. The dresses were on sale when they placed the order $150 with free shipping! When the dresses arrived they were more purple-ish but in person it isn’t so saturated because the dress has a layer of chiffon over it.

So then purple-ish grey became the central color for their outfits. I thought a nice nude or metallic gold shoe could go nicely with the purple and balance out the purple color. The silver apply to the jewelry, and a nice neutral white/beige/soft pink mixed bouquet to really contrast against the dresses.

As for the actual items I made a little mood board to give you a clearer picture. The dress has a high waist fit and nice thick straps which were my  only two requirements when I set out on my search. The high waist was a requirement because it works very well on many different body types which is important considering not all my girls are the same size and shape. I wanted thicker straps because some of my girls need the support to hold them girls up, if ya know what I mean? and also it is just a lot classier when you don’t have to worry about bra straps sneaking out, or having to wear a strapless bra, that is uncomfortable for everyone. They can dance the night away at our DIY wedding without having to worry about a wardrobe malfunction.

I told my girls to where whatever they have in nude, or gold, or silver if they only have that. I did not want to mandate that they buy any specific style of shoe because shoes can be tricky and again I wanted everyone to be comfortable. Most of them have a pair laying around already so that helps on their budget too. I put a gold shoe up on the mood board because that happens to be my particular favorite.

The earrings here are simple and sophisticated along with the necklace that I may be purchasing as a gift for the girls. This etsy shop Bride Girls has a lot of great options for bridesmaids jewelry, so I am not sure if the ones in the mood board are the final ones but I wanted to give you the idea.

Anyone have any other ideas for my DIY Wedding?? It is starting to all come together, very exciting stuff.

OK, so when we set out on our search to find the perfect DIY wedding venue we had one thing in mind: BARN! We knew we wanted a barn just so gosh darn bad. You  might understand a little more if you google search “barn weddings” the images are just too beautiful for words and the result is such a casual happy atmosphere that we so desperately are looking for. We do not want a stiff wedding, maybe a stiff drink, but NOT a stiff wedding.

Now, after about three months of searching Westchester for barns we realized, wow barns are popular, duh! Since barns are popular the prices are through the roof if you want a nicely manicured clean-slate of a barn. Especially if a wedding has been thrown there in the past, then they know they can get you for a good penny. So that was that, we decided to nix the barn idea and search for a sweet B&B that has a nice outdoor space so we can have a tent and an outdoor wedding.

If you google search “B&B CT” or “B&B NY” you come across a lot of really nice B&B’s however if they are advertising like that, and have an SEO friendly website chances are they know what they are doing, and they have “wedding event pricing” that is 7 times what they would normally charge. In order to find an off the beaten path B&B that was similarly nice I went to google maps and typed in B&B. Then I zoomed in on the NY/CT area. The result was this:

See all those tiny little red dots? I continued to zoom in from here to zero in on my town and then slowly move out and away from there checking in on all of the red dots. If they had a website I opened it into a new tab check the photos, and either moved on to the next or sent them an inquiry email.

The inquiry email went something like this: My name is Jennifer and I am interested in throwing an event at your B&B next year in June. The event would  be outdoors under and tent and consist of about 100 guests, it is like a casual BBQ affair. Would your B&B and property be suitable for such an event? Please let me know and send pictures of your property so we can get a better feel for the environment. 

Notice how I do not mention the “wedding” term. The second you say that, Mrs. Jane B&B owner turns to her husband and says, “ohh a wedding!, how much should we charge?” and the devise a plan right then and there.

Long story short I emailed over 20 B&B’s and received polite declines from about 10, pricing from 9, and then there was Bob from the Inn at Mount Pleasant that simply said “Come on up and stay for a free night, the place will sell itself! Oh and we are dog friendly” So up there we went.

Believe it or not, all of the rooms look similar to this. Which is the exact opposite of most Mom&Pop B&B establishments. They usually have doilies on every table, dusty old furniture, and a myriad of landscape paintings on every wall. This place was different. It was fresh and modern and clean.

We wanted a B&B because I love the idea of getting ready on site, the bride and bridesmaids in one room, and the groom and groomsmen upstairs. Those photos of everyone nervously, happily getting ready are some of my favorites. Plus we don’t have to get in a car or a limo to be at our wedding.

It was gorgeous, and Bob couldn’t be any friendlier. The B&B is actually a restored 18th Century New England Farm House, and to our dismay conveniently accompanied by a restored…you guessed it…BARN! Bob will tell you all about the deep history of the farm house if you want him to, he told us all about it. He took us for a tour around the 70 acres of undisturbed rolling hillside, and we asked “Can we see inside the barn?” He said “sure, if you want?” We did.

The barn was recently painted a year ago a fresh classic Barn Red to bring it back to the vitality it once had when it was up and running.

Here is a side shot of the barn so you can see how long it is. Those doors on the far right are where we will be entering for our wedding ceremony.

Now, mind you that the inside isn’t so pretty just yet. The biggest thing about throwing a DIY wedding is that you have to have vision. This barn might look like this now but the bones are awesome, the natural light that floods this space is gorgeous. The layout is perfect, and the views are awesome. We have a couple of options as to where we will be standing for the ceremony and this is one of them.

This is the view from up in the hay loft. It gives you a better idea of the lighting. We asked “Can we have our ceremony here?” He shrugged his shoulders and said, “Sure if you want to!?” Haha. He said he would happily move some of the mowing equipment out of there and sweep it all up for us.

We imagine the space being all lit up with globe lighting and ribbon like this…or this

Right? You getting the vibe now? The decorations are going to be simple. Lights, ribbon, and flowers. Buckets of white flowers everywhere, cafe globe string lights hanging from the ceiling, ribbon tied to the chairs, white chairs will form the aisle and so forth.

Now as you come out those same doors and around the other side of the barn you see the rolling hillside. Over there we plan to set up a DIY photo booth (Detail on that to follow).

As you continue back toward the B&B on the right side of the back yard we will have a 30×60 white pole tent.

This photo gives you a really good idea of the atmosphere that we are going to try to mimic for our outdoor wedding reception. On this nicely groomed FLAT lawn. He has had a frame tent installed here before by a local vendor that he referred us to so that was a relief. We knew who to call.

Ok, so this quick sketch gives you an idea of the wedding layout. Mind you that this is not to scale, AT ALL! The dotted line is sort of the path that will be followed as the wedding flows throughout the afternoon. the rolling hillsides are at the bottom of the sketch, so virtually every point of interest has an awesome view.

Is anyone else crazy enough to map out their wedding space? How did you book your venue?

Budget Breakdown:

For TWO DAYS (Wedding Rehearsal & Wedding Day) with no hourly limitations Bob is charging us $500.00. This is an absolute bargain. It really pays off to do things differently and to go off the beaten path. Additionally, we will be booking the B&B for 2 nights. 1 night for all four of the rooms is $660 x2 = $1320 + $500 = $1820

Our total for the Venue itself and some of the accommodations for our Bride, Bridesmaids, Groom and Groomsmen is $1820.

We will keep you posted on the rest of the planning. Bridesmaid outfits to come next week!

2012. 366 days. 366 seconds. from Jonathan Britnell on Vimeo. This video is very captivating, I love the idea of capturing just 1 second from every day. It seems so difficult to pinpoint one single second from a 24-hour day, but Johnathan Britnell did it, and the result is beautiful. It is very inspiring to see someone be so dedicated to a project like this. It makes me reflect upon my own life, and the ever so important New Years Resolutions.

I can admit that I am known to start projects such as that and have my mind just drift off to something else.

This is definitely something I would like to work on but my excuse is that according to my zodiac description that is just one of my defining qualities.

My main New Years Resolution goal is to become more fit. Primarily for myself, and secondly for the wedding that is quickly approaching (June 1st!). I am using a free App called MyFittnessPal to log my calories, and exercise. It actually is a lot of fun and offers just the right amount of structure to make it feasible.

A second New Years goal, is that I am also starting to write my own book! This is just a fun little project I plan to chisel away at over a long period of time. The idea came to me from the book The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I forget the chapter but here is a link to the concept called Creativity Boot Camp, she mentions that if you write 1.167 words a day you will have a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I may not be able to do the 30 day bootcamp, maybe more like a 365 day bootcamp? Either way I want to try this.

Websites like lulu.com allow you to self publish your book, get expert reviews, print, and bind the books. Even better they provide an outlet to sell them on Amazon and so fourth.

I am starting out slow, just trying to get my head around a strong concept that I know I can develop enough to be a real novel.

Anyways,

What are your New Years Goals??? Everyone has got to have at least one, right?

Ok, so its the last day of this Holiday Season and back to work….sigh….I spent a lot of time with friends before and after Christmas and of course Christmas Eve and Day with my wonderful family. One of the best things about getting married is that your family just doubles! I have so many good people in my life, I am so grateful for. They know who they are! Many laughs and moments of reflection this Holiday Season. This New Years was pretty low-key for us, but we like low-key now. This post is about those fun gatherings that you always want to bring something to weather it is a home-cooked dish, baked cookies, or a sweet DIY hostess gift it is just nice to enter a room, house, apartment with something to give. It makes me happy!

Ok, so I got this plant at my local Stop & Shop they were on sale for the Holidays 3 for $10 which is great considering the amount of end of the year gatherings I was going to be attending. I thought I could spiffy it right up and it would make the perfect hostess gift. I always feel bad walking into a friends apartment empty handed especially when I know they put a lot together for us prior to us arriving.

The only change I made was the pot it is in. That gold foil stuff that it comes in, yuck! just not my style. Now, I happen to be a weirdo and have an overload of pre-painted teracotta pots around. I get mine form the Dollar Store and paint them with any outdoor craft pain that can be found at Michaels. The last step is to spray poly them quickly to make the paint waterproof.

Simply slip the plant out of its old holder and drop it into the new pot. Tamp down the dirt, and tie the bow!

Just tie a simple bow around it with some spare ribbon and voila!! If you want any help in the bow tying department you can head on over to Design Mom blog and check out their tutorial “4 Secrets to Tying a Perfect Bow“, it helped me a lot!

Here is a video on just how quick this process is!

This DIY Hostess Gift project costs in total about $5.o0 and it is sure to put a smile on your friend or family members face! I hope you all enjoyed your holidays!

What gifts have you given lately? Lets start a conversations, tell me what you have given in a comment.

I found this video of Jonathan Adler on another blog I read called, Making It Lovely. This video is a little long but delivers a strong message to all those creative people out there that struggle with self doubt and definitions.

I personally know that my definitions are rarely aligned with the rest of the world and it makes me unique. My fiancé and I have debates conversations that typically lead to our definitions on the topics at hand. Lets just say, that me and the dictionary don’t often agree and it usually leaves him with a confirmation of how crazy I am.

If you aren’t abreast with who Jonathan Adler is you can find his success timeline here.

This Daschund Bookends are very exemplary of the style Jonathan Adler exudes. He mentions that after a few years of just doing what he wants and saying “f– it, I have nothing to lose” he figured out his style, and he has dubbed it, “Irreverent Luxury” or “Happy Chic”

Here is another example of his work. The colors gold and teal together are luxurious, but the shape and the symbol are cheeky and fresh. If anyone were to spot this in your home they would immediately know it was a Jonathan Adler piece. Over the years he has definitely defined his brand despite his unwillingness to admit it.

So, watch the video and I hope it inspires you to just do what you want with your creative life.

OK, so its Christmas time and I love Christmas time!! Two nights ago I spent a solid four hours listening to Christmas music and wrapping my little heart away. My fiance thinks I make wrapping presents painful, because I really like to take my time and make it special. Not his idea of fun, but thats me!! I wanted to make my DIY Christmas wrapping very simple, understated, but also with some nice details that your friends/family could appreciate while taking their time to open this hand-picked or hand-made gift out.

I mean how much time do we spend trying to find the perfect gift, or better yet making the perfect gift for this special person in your life. You don’t want to just slap some santa paper on it and call it a day! (although, there is probably a way to make that look cool too!) I rather make the whole experience exciting and match the niceness of the gift with some DIY Christmas wrapping.

Now, for the supplies.

$2.00 for 2 – craft paper rolls

$3.50 for 10 – small craft paper bags

$4.00 for 6 – baker twine rolls

$4.00 – washi tape (My new favorite craft supply!!!)

$0 Scissors (had on hand)

$0 exacto (had on hand)

$0 printable tags

$13.50 Total

My total: $13.50 round it up to $15 and it wrapped all of my presents, and I have a lot of left over supplies!!!

I don’t know about you and your gift choices but I have a habbit of getting several small gifts and wrapping them into one large box so my friend has a couple of goodies to unwrap. I like to wrap them all individually (quickly) with tissue paper and pack them inside. Then I wrap the box (slowly) with the good stuff.

This video gives you a quick little video showing how I do what I do…incase you are interested. Oh yeah, and please ignore my “quick pony bald spot” I am rocking in this video. Clearly my camera guy did not have my back, except for when it came to tying the knot. Trust me I do not actually have a bald spot my hair was just disheveled and parted weird!!

Then I had a little fun photographing the pile of DIY Christmas Wrapping gifts under the tree. I am so excited to have everyone open them. It is really hard to wait this long!! I actually try not to get the shopping done too early so I do not have to wait so long for the reveals.

From the top.

My favorite are these small little packages, I think the tape and the twine being layered really stands out on these packages since there isn’t a lot of bare craft paper on these. The result is a more balanced appeal, which is always cuter to me.

The tags are a great touch, very simple and natural feeling.

Just a quick detail shot.

Anyone else have some DIY Chritmas wrapping to share?? I can’t help thinking about what I will do next year.