Dan and Bethany: Lakeside wedding part I

I haven't had a chance to go through all the photos from Dan and Bethany's wedding, but a couple of shots stood out to me and I thought I might share.

This one I think is gorgeous, serious, but glamorous: {do you think I should remove the lamp post in the back of their heads? I'm debating it.}



I really love the composition here:



And this one was a difficult but fun shot to try. I've never done anything with sparklers before so it was definitely a learning experience. Luckily we had several sparklers...

another quick note:

Here's something else I've been so busy working on:



This little minor bit of information now gives me the opportunity to design and decorate the nursery! Oh what fun we will have. I already have a name picked out that I absolutely love, but the husband's not as keen, so it's either going to go by the wayside, or there's going to be a lot of convincing to do...

a quick note

Here's just part of the commotion this past weekend:

craft night: wrap bracelets

So I have/had lots and LOTs going on this week and last, been uber busy and have tons to tell, but for now, let's focus on the craft night at hand.

We'll be making these. They seem easy enough and adorable. If you, of course, have something else to work on feel free to bring that! Hope to see you there!

Some quiet time

is what I really needed this morning. I have a great fantastic wonderful friend in town for a few days, but due to my preggers exhaustive state, I've been sitting out on the day trips. Today she and her husband went to Boston/Salem and with the wedding coming up this weekend, I knew a long day like that would just wear me out for good. Tomorrow we'll be hanging out though, so no worries.

In the meantime, I spent a little quiet time making my wedding jewelry {not my wedding, rather, the wedding I'll be photographing on Saturday!} and these this morning:





As soon as these next couple of weeks are over, I'll be listing them in my etsy shop. In fact, I have several new things to list, which is on my to-do list, which is rather long and tiring to look at...

winner winner, what's for dinner?

So the lucky winner of this would be Amber!!

Congrats Amber!! Now send me our info on facebook so I can ship this to you before summer's over. And thanks everyone for playing along, i'll do another one soon, so stay tuned!

because I'm crafty like that

I decided I wasn't ready for maternity pants just yet, even though my belly seems so be. It's disconcerting to outgrow a size you've been for the last 15 years of your life, but I suppose everyone has to at some point. Maybe now I can stop shopping in the Junior's department.

For the time being, I plan to make my pants and shorts last as long as I can, so I came up with a clever and crafty way to do that. I give you the fabric covered button ponytail holder that used to keep all my random cords organized.



Now I have several to hold my pants up. This is good news, because I seem to be growing fast, and I'm a little shopped out presently {I didn't think it could ever happen either}. Here's how it works:



Don't judge me, my belly looks huge in this photo.

vintage sheets: a quilted pillow cover

So I have a sick obsession with vintage sheets. I have a whole collection that I have no idea what to do with and yet every time I walk through a thrift store I find a beautiful new pattern or colorway and I just have to have it. That said, I've decided I'm finally going to make something out of them. All of them. For now, I sewed up this little number. I've had it in my head for weeks, as soon as I bought the embroidered pillow in front of it. I love the eclectic feel when you combine these mismatched fabrics together. I think it gives the guest bedroom a cottage-y, cozy sort of feel.



I did quilt it, but just with straight lines. I'm not that daring yet. I plan to make a vintage sheet quilt soon, and possibly one for the baby, depending on what we end up having. For now it makes me happy just to see this guy laying around.

luck and laze

Well today was a day off from all the house projects {minus one minor hanging-the-blinds incident} and I was off to the beach. I somehow managed to last for hours in the sun without a burn to bring home. It may have been the first time ever! I guess that's where SPF 50 will get you. The weather was delightful and the breeze off the ocean always makes me smile. So here's to lazy days. If only everyone could be as lucky as this girl.

craft night: a GIVEaway

Yes, you read that right, I'm giving away my craft night craft that I slaved over! But seriously, I had a lot of fun making this bag and I think it came out lovely, so I want one of you to have it...even though I'm secretly warring with the I-want-to-keep-it fairy on my shoulder.

So here she is in all her wicker bag glory, complete with silk flowers and unique buttons. The inside is lined with a deep teal fabric. It's pretty perfect for the beach, large enough to fit your reading materials, sunscreen, flip-flops, etc., but small enough to make you look stylish and low-maintenance.









Ok, so the details. In order to win her, you can enter in the following ways:
{You get one entry per task completed, so be sure to comment here and tell me which ones you did.}

Become a follower of this blog.
Become a follower of my facebook fan page.
Become a follower of my photography fan page.
Leave a comment here {and please don't forget to tell me all the tasks you completed!}.

So the max number of entries you can get is 4. Make sense? I'll announce a winner on Monday, the 18th.

Good luck everyone, and just for 'kicks' here are the flip-flops I did lastnight:

master bedroom COMPLETE

To say complete is a little misleading, there's still blinds to buy and install, a large floor mirror to find and some wall art to install BUT complete to me at this point means no more construction or paint needed. So we've moved in, sans blinds and all.

This is where the room started:




As you can see, there's not much to work with. The cat hair carpet HAD to go, the drop ceiling was awful and the panelling I had decided I could live with {after some paint that is}, until we made some layout/wall changes and then it seemed silly to even attempt to keep.

Here's the during process:




We have new sheetrock, floor to ceiling. And after painstakingly removing all the leftover staples, we have a raw plywood floor to work with. The biggest changes happened on the opposite wall, where we changed the entry door location and removed the closet. Then we changed the door position to the {new} bathroom to accommodate double sinks and built out cubbies for his and hers custom closets.

And here she is, in all her finished glory:





Now the husband has full reign over both closets, since, if you've ever seen my hall closet, you know that gluttony already becomes me in the clothes and shoes department. Having addition space for my 'stuff' would just be shameful. So now he has room to spread out. All in all we love having the space and it's just so nice to have a bed you can walk around...

guest bedroom/craft room COMPLETE

So it is definitely nice to get a room completely finished. Here's the progression of the guest/craft room. Originally, the baby room was set to be the craft room but we all know what happened there! So using half of the guest bedroom was a good compromise. Here's the before with nasty carpet and dark woodwork:



And here's the same side with new paint, refinished hardwoods and all new painted trim work:



No one really needs a set of dressers for guests, so I opted for the bench with drawers, for guests who prefer to unpack some things. The closet is also empty and ready for guests, and there's plenty of extra sheets and blankets hanging around along with some lovely reading materials and candles.

The other side of the room houses all my craft supplies and tools nice and hidden in the two wardrobes we no longer needed for clothes. With some new drawers and shelves, I could give them a second life without having to be openly organized to visiting eyes. The desk is an old door from the demo, and the set of drawers was picked up at the thrift store for five dollars. After some paint on everything, I have a really great set-up for minimal cost. More money to spend on fabric...




And just for kicks, here's how big I am already: