The Lost Art of Handwritten Mail

After writing a third of my wedding guest addresses on envelopes, I felt carpel tunnel in my left hand from holding a ruler... felt high on Sharpies... was surrounded by eraser dust all over the table and floor. Boy, people better appreciate the lost art of handwritten mail! I just wish I had thought of buying vintage stamps for the envelopes. Oh well, next wedding! Kidding! :P

Aloha!

The perfectly coincidental final touch to my wedding RSVP cards... Just came out this weekend Aloha postcard stamps!

Pinterest Project

I learned how to make this from a recent posting on Pinterest. One snowed-in weekend, $5 worth of jump rings, one fab necklace!!! :)

Necklace laid flat:

Necklace on neck:

Christmas Memories

I love spending the holidays with my fiancé's family! It's been a while since I scrapbooked. One of my New Years Resolutions is to get back into scrapbooking and treasure special moments like these! :)

The picture doesn't really show it but the little ornaments up at the top spells "merry xmas". :P

Valentines Day Card with Baking Supplies

Thank goodness for my seasonal card swap group keeping me on my toes because I feel so darn busy that I would never make time to make cards for special occasions like this one coming up soon!

So this month's swap with my Close to My Heart ladies is for Valentine's Day.

Who said you can't use baking supplies for scrapbooking? I've been noticing a recent trend for twine, doilies and flags for scrapbook pages and cards. I love my massive roll of twine! And I love that I get to use my sewing machine on my paper crafts too! My fiancé said "Babe... Stop sewing paper together..." :P

This card is for my future husband. :)

Sample Thank You Place Card

Here's a sample Thank You Place Card... Which is going to be translated into Japanese too! :)

Cut fabric hearts with Sizzix heart die cut templates. Love them! It didn't cut entirely through the fabric but nothing a good scissor couldn't fix. ;) Whipped out my sewing machine which I haven't used in MONTHS! :P love the way this turned out! :)

Table cards - WAHINE STYLE

In case you're wondering what "wahine" means, it means surfer girl in Hawaiian. :)

So this surfer girl has incorporated her passion for surfing into her wedding. On natural river stones, guests names will be sharpied on one side. Flip the stones over and the guests will know which table they'll be sitting at. The tables will not be numbered like traditional weddings. The stones will have names of beaches the BRIDE has surfed at! The only wrinkle is that the bride has only surfed at 8 beaches all over the east and west coast and a beach in the Dominican Republic! ... but there'll probably be 12 tables at the reception. Well, just in case, I've also included beaches I plan to surf at in 2012! After the wedding!!! Woohoo!

San Onofre is where it all started... back in 2004... this unexplainable passion for the ever changing nature, ocean, surf, sand, and great unforgettable friendships that developed from surfing... :)

My Cuttlebug below has been lovingly used during this DIY wedding planning process! I've discovered these new Spellbinder stencils. I LOVE THEM! Love the shapes and how easily they cut shapes from paper and card stock even through my Cuttlebug machine! :)

Beach Themed Wedding Invitations and RSVP Cards

I've been brainstorming, experimenting, and now working hard on my beach/surf themed wedding invitations and RSVP cards. All it takes are good quality scrapbooking paper and some tools and anyone can create unique and personal invitations for their wedding!

For card stock, inks and stamps, I used Close to My Heart products because after selling them for 3 years, I still think they are one of the best quality scrapbooking products out there! :)

I embossed the folder with my Cuttlebug. Truth is, I bought this embossing template YEARS and YEARS ago because as soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to use it for my wedding invitations. :) The sand dollar embellishment is punched out with Martha Stewart paper punch - - - I LOVE Martha Stewart products!!!

I'm happy with the simplicity of my wedding invitations and RSVP cards.

I did a lot of research on the wording of the RSVP card - - - I wanted something unique for a beach wedding and let my inner surfer girl personality shine through... hence the Surf's Up! for a Yes response and a Wipe Out! for a No response! :) I also added a "Songs you'd like to hear at our wedding" section at the bottom. :)

Welcome Table Album

This project took a lot of my time... Last year, Living Social had a deal where My Publisher lets you put together a 30 page hard cover album for just $19!!!

So voila! I put together a Welcome Table album for our wedding. It includes pictures of me and my fiance's travel photos, our friends, family, pets, and even our childhood photos. This is the cover of our album. :)

Picture Props

After putting in about 35 hours of work the past 3 days, including a Saturday in the office, I was happy to unwind with some crafty projects. :)

I made some props for guests to play with when they take photos with my Instax Fujifilm instant camera at my wedding. :)

Happy New Year!

2012 is going to be an exciting year for me! Despite starting another busy busy busy tax season that lasts 8 months straight... my wedding is officially 3 1/2 months away! Whoohoo!

Rung in the New Year with my fiancé and my dog by my side... making confetti for my lovely flower girl... (I'm nixing the real flower thang...) while in my jammies! My kind of New Year!

Here's the beginnings of my flower and heart confetti. I used various Martha Stewart paper punches on a mixture of old just-gotta-get-rid-of-it and new I-love-it!!! scrapbook paper.

I love love LOVE the vintage rose paper. I actually forgot I even had it but once I found it, it was difficult to part from it... even if it's for my special day... knowing its sole purpose will be for it to be thrown on the ground. I highly doubt that anyone would bother to look down and notice my hard work. If anyone does, that person will be my new best friend!!! :) Anyhow, I thought this was a happy addition to my confetti. I used the big flower punch for this paper so that the pattern doesn't get lost. :)

I'll be pazzazzing the confetti with the Martha Stewart glitter. :) Can't wait to sprinkle this in a cute basket for the flower girl to carry. :)