Lisa and Marty's Bridal Shower…By Me

This past weekend and days leading up to it derailed all other projects on my list….it was my sister's bridal shower.  Being the crafty human being that I am, I wanted to have a heavy hand in the design and creation of this special day for my one and only sister.

You saw the invitation that set the tone:

Sticking to our champagne theme, circles were a huge part of the design, along with the wedding colors coral and sea foam.  In designing this shower, I learned something very pivotal that will stick with me for every project moving forward.  Are you ready?….Keep things simple.  Yeah, as much as you may want to go gang busters with a bunch of different things, your vision will be easier to understand and execute if it is streamlined to only a few things.  We had one game, simple centerpieces, a few banners that directed the guests, signage, three colors, and four fonts that I stuck to.   That's it.  Take a look:

Guests were greeted when they entered Tazza Italian Ristorante by a champagne bar.
The circle garland signage was easy to make too…circle cutter to cut circles, printed letters cut out and hot glued pretty twine to it.  Easy peasy.

3 different juices with complimenting fruit garnishes.

I created the labels that were tied to each of the juice carafes.

Gifts were brought unwrapped per the bride's request.  Who wants to waste time opening up gifts!  Save a tree!

Centerpieces were wine decanters to tie in the bubbly theme, and flowers were provided by the amazing Viviana of Petal Play Design.

Favors were a mini bottle of champagne with this cute baggy containing a lip balm and bath salts from Sweet Pea Floral in Ann Arbor, MI.

Guests were asked to sign a very large champagne bottle that mom painted dark gray. 

Something to open on their 1st anniversary!

I made these cute cards for our one and only game.

And mom put pics of the bride and groom in these glass hanging bubbles.

And together we had the game "What Age?" where guests had to guess the ages of the bride and groom in each picture. It was a total hit!

Another hit…the macaroons by Artesa Bakery!

Needless to say, the couple was very happy with the turnout of the day as were all of the guests. The food was amazing, the game was a hoot and I don't think anyone felt tortured by spending a Sunday afternoon at a bridal shower celebrating Lisa and Marty.

#happybigsis

Studio Storage Makeover

The Everygirl feature of my apartment is going to be published next month, and I still have a few more projects to share with you beforehand.  You've already seen my painted lamps here and my chalkboard inspiration board here.  Now it's time for one of the easiest projects I did to update my studio.

I had these storage boxes that I got on super sale at Michaels ages ago.

I don't know why I didn't make them over when I got them since my color scheme has never been gold and red diamonds, but anyways... They were still serving a purpose, so rather than hunt down new storage, I expectedly made them over with my favorite supply: paint.

Spray primer-sealer was used to prime the inside of the boxes, but the outside needed a bit more coverage, so I had to go with the Kilz primer and roll it on.

I wanted these boxes to sink into the background of my studio rather than be standout storage, so I painted them the same color as my studio walls.

While putting everything back together with some hot glue, I also added some ribbon to spice things up.  And, voila!

Aren't these cute?!  Nice, clean, subtle storage for my new studio.  I can't wait for you to see them with the full scope of the photo shoot.  Agh!  We'll just have to wait.

Chalkboard, Corkboard and Resolution Board All in One

It's February 1st and it's a blizzard outside today….a good day to stay indoors and refresh.  A month into the new year, and how many of you have already forgotten what your new years resolutions were?  The first couple of weeks of the new year are filled with regular reminders of improvement, but let's be honest, after that things start to dwindle.  Well, I've found a great way to remember my intentions for the new year.

I had this old cork board hanging in my studio cluttered with inspirations that started to blur into the background.  You can see it behind my old computer:

With some leftover wall paint, I decided to paint the cork board dark gray to mimic chalkboard and touched up the plain frame with some sliver paint.

This year I actually chose words for the year rather than actual resolutions.  Though they may be more vague, they open the doors to so many possibilities of how these words can shape my 2014.  Here's my list:

-Perspective

-Intentional

-Awe

-Systems

-Get Outside

-Stay in Motion

-Create a Path

With some chalk, a ruler and a little layout I plugged into Illustrator to get some cool fonts, I made up my own chalkboard/cork board resolution board.

Throughout the year I anticipate covering these words with other inspirations and starting again fresh for 2015.

What are some of your words for 2014?  Oh, and what do you think of the new studio color?!!

Making Shit Happen

I had some very deliberate intentions of writing a couple of blog posts last week with the updates I've been making to my place for The Everygirl photo shoot, plans for the new year and other projects I have in my back pocket, but Tuesday morning, bright and early at 7am, the shit hit the fan.  No, literally, it kind of did.  Due to the extreme cold weather temps we experienced here in Chicago, the pipes below me froze in my condo and since I am the last unit before you hit the garage, I got the back up.  There's nothing like the sweet sound of waking up to a waterfall and thinking you are in a cabana in South America and your handsome masseuse is on his way to…well, you catch my drift.  Instead, reality hits you like the 2 inches of sewer water you plunge your feet into to turn off your water and watch as your scale drowns right in front of your eyes (there's a new year's resolution slap in the face).  Luckily, (yes, there is a bright side) I was repainting a few of my walls (see, another update) and had drop cloths down to which I pushed aside and piled to blockade my bathroom door and contain the nasties that continued to come up my toilet for several hours.

So, instead of going to work on the mural project I had scheduled (and again, wanted to share last week), I spent the day bailing poopy water into my bathtub.  My how life can throw you a curve ball.  The rest of my week was consumed by cleaning and finishing said murals in time for a two year old's birthday party on Saturday.  My body ached by the bending and bailing and painting and ladder climbing and standing for longer than I'm used to, but through all this, I kept reminding myself of one of my words for 2014: Perspective.  Yes, I didn't have any usable facilities for a day and a half, but I did and do have a fantastic neighbor that let me come and go as I needed and let me shower at 10 o'clock at night in the most cleansing shower of my life.
Yes, I've never felt so helpless with the ringing question, "What do I do?" resounding in my head, but I had a mom that came over right away to help me with the dirty job and disinfected my place like it was a part of her Reenie Rose resume.
Yes, I put in an almost 13 hour day of mural painting that involved ladder climbing and reaching and movements that my muscles were screaming at me for, but how awesome is it that I can grow a tree in someone's house.  Really, these are the things I am trying to focus on this year….perspective.  I have a couple other words and phrases I'm trying to focus on, but I think I'm going to put them into my studio makeover somehow and show them off to you later.

So, for now, let me share with you the light at the end of last week's tunnel and all the beauty I was able to create out of a very poopy start to my week.

Before

During

After

Chalked in tree

Looking back to last week, things can only go up from there!  Happy Tuesday!