Our Wedding Decor

This time of year is most definitely the thick of wedding season! Steven and I have been to two weddings in the past few weeks and we know someone getting married every weekend in June! All of these wedding showers, ceremonies, and receptions have got me thinking back to our wedding last April 10th.


I think planning for my wedding marked the beginning of my love for DIY projects, and looking back, that occasion really encompassed my style...I kept using words like simple, muted(with splashes of color), antique, and rustic to describe what I envisioned for the wedding, and I still tend to follow that route.
So, here's to feeling great about months of planning and projects completed and for a wonderful first year of marriage! 
I hope you enjoy this peak into a part of my history!

To decorate the entry table at the reception site, I used a square piece of fabric cut with pinking shears, a few famed pictures, and our initials stuck to old vintage books for added color and stability. The floral arrangement behind was brought over from the ceremony.

For every table we had a square of patterned fabric, cut with pinking shears and laid on top of a white table cloth. Then we added log slabs to the center with mason jar candles. Some tables had alstroemeria in vases, while others had potted herbs and other plants.

The tables also had fabric puffs scattered on top, which you can barely make out on the bottom right of this photo above, tutorial found here.

Each candle sat atop gray sand inside the jar, then the jar had thin strips of patterned fabric tied around the lip. We collected jars for months! Some of the cutest were olive, pepperoncini, and mustard jars-they made for more unique sizes and shapes. Depending on the size, the jar either got a tealight or pillar candle.

They looked beautiful lit up at night! 

On one side of the tent we hung italian street lights, while on the opposite side we hung pennant banners.

These pennant banners were so easy to make! I used this tutorial. It did take me a long while to complete them though, because I made so many of them!

Rosemary was a theme in the wedding, I wanted it to be everywhere!

When I first started thinking of flowers, roses were the last thing on my mind...I thought they were overdone and predictable. I had my heart set on peonies, but, they wouldn't be in season for another month or so and that means $$$! Well, my florist was amazing, and she made me realize that there are endless types of roses. I loved these! They were so soft and full and a brilliant champagne color. They looked simple and "antiqued"...if that makes sense. The bouquets were decked with greenery and full of aromatic rosemary (straight from the florist's backyard) and the groomsmen just wore sprigs of the herb for boutonnieres. 

There was so much rosemary bundled up on the ends of the first few pews that the smell filled up the whole sanctuary, it was lovely!

All I knew I wanted in our wedding cake was simplicity, rosemary, and the two adorable blue birds I found on etsy.

Steven's Aunt Susan made our cake, and it not only looked marvelous, but it tasted even better!

Thanks for letting me reminisce for a little while!

I Think I'm a Fan

With our family growing and funds getting tight I've recently delved into learning about the joy of coupons. Today was the second time in my history of shopping that I've used coupons. I've gotten pretty excited about my most recent transaction so I had to share...

I bought 24 items including Claritin, mascara and eyeliner, detergent, two Old Spice body washes and two Old Spice deodorants, shampoo and conditioner, trash bags, and body wash. These items amounted to $116.42 without coupons and $76.80 with coupons. I saved $39.62! Not quite 50%, and nothing nearly as amazing as what they come up with on Extreme Couponing, but I thought I did pretty good considering I'm new at this!
I used Walgreen's coupons, manufacturer's coupons(found in the Sunday paper once a month) and Walgreen's Registered Rewards.
Without any coupons I probably could've only purchased the deodorants, body washes, medicines and makeup before I totaled around $70.
Next, I'm going to try to use multiple manufacturer's coupons for a single item and see what happens! If I can learn how to do this, anyone can.
Anyone have any couponing/money saving advice for this almost momma?

Auggie Crib Bedding

Lately my mind has been full of everything baby...I have an extreme case of nesting syndrome, but, our home situation is causing me to wait, and wait, wait....and wait some more before I can full on attack the nursery for our son due mid August.

So the situation goes like this:
My husband is slaving away on our master bathroom remodel. We have a tub, tile is laid, grout is coming, and lots and lots of sheetrock has been hung and even more is waiting to go up. We are currently using what will be the nursery as our bedroom and once the bathroom is close to being done we'll move back into the master (which is being used as a gigantic tool storage area). Once we're out of the (future) nursery I am going to town with paint and design, etc. etc!

Without the ability to commence this nesting process, I've found myself habitually looking at the same products and swooning over them again and again....this crib bedding is the worst of it, because well, to someone on a budget, it seems a tad out of reach (but not completely, right?)!

I first heard of Auggie bedding on Design*Sponge one day and immediately fell in love with the bright and bold colors against clean white.

I had been looking for something that would be gender neutral and wouldn't make you feel like you got sucked into a Sesame Street episode or suddenly had an infestation of some sort of animal because it was printed all over everything...sorry! (That's my soapbox and now I'm through)

I also wanted simple and as much as I want my son to enjoy his space, me and his father need to love being in it too!

I love the cross stitch pattern in fern, which is this lovely yellowy green color that will look so great with gray.

Auggie is a Canadian brand, everything is made with 100% cotton, crib bedding to queen size, just debuted in April of this year...see what else they offer here.

Now, back to more swooning...and waiting....:)

Free Alphabet Print

I have so much fun creating text prints for decoration! I completed another one that I want to share with you...I used Zierinitialen2 font from dafont.

  

8X10

5X7

Remember, just righ click, save, and print!
I pulled colors from the quilt and other items that will fill the nursery. My idea for this print is to cover a frame in pieces of broken twigs.
Alphabet prints are so popular right now for nurseries and children's rooms. The best part is that they are so simple and you can create your own for free using any font style and colors you want!
If you download this print, let me know where you'll use it! And be sure, if you haven't already, to check out my other free prints here and here!
Hope you're having a great week!

Wonderful & Woodsy

I just stumbled across my new favorite Etsy shop, Chasing the Crayon. After just about 7 minutes of browsing, I purchased two prints, and cannot wait for them to get here! They are exactly what I envision when dreaming up a nursery space for Finn (yep, he's already got his name!).

"Whats this, a load of forest creatures off on a grand day out?"

"I wonder what this lot are hiding from?"

These prints are so thoughtfully unique and imaginative, I would love to meet their creator!

I love how the artist describes what inspires her work... 

 "I am inspired by words, stories, poems and very tall tall tales. Other inspiration is gleaned from choice finds in second hand bookshops or on colourful flea market stalls. My work is an assortment of eccentric individuals in a variety of guises; playful, humorous and a touch surreal."

Is anyone else in love yet? Check out the rest of her magnificent work here! ...I'm now motivated to read a story where animals talk and great things happen!

DIY Bird Mobile

I could also create a mixture of the two like this beautiful mobile:After looking through countless beautiful nurseries, I found the most simple and sweet crib mobile. The best part about this mobile is that it is fairly easy and you can add your own tweaks to it to make it your very own.
Use the Mister Bluebird pattern found here.
I used the same fabrics that I used in the quilt for the nursery and got started!
Here's what your fabric pieces will look like once you trace them and cut them out.

From left to right: back piece, 2 tummy pieces and another back piece folded in half.

I opted to leave the seam on the outside rather than sewing it and turning it inside out. Both ways look great, it's really just a matter of opinion, although keeping the seam on the outside is a tad bit easier.
Here's what the bird looks like after you've sewn everything together but the tail and before you begin stuffing.

To stuff the birds, I just used cotton balls. I stretched the cotton out and stuffed them really full to make sure they would keep their form.

Now I just have to decide whether I want to complete the mobile with twigs  and have the birds perched on top like this one:

From Spool Sewing

Or suspend the birds from a wreath like so:

From Naptime Novels

From The Virginia House

What do you think?

A Free Gift

These roses smell even better than they look...and the best part was that these little trimmings were stolen free! Let's just say they may not have come from our yard, but they were hanging over our driveway and each time we drove past they got smacked by our windshield, so I think that counts for fair dibs ;).

Don't you just love all those colors? Marvelous! Happy Monday!