Save the Dates
The biggest thing with the save the dates is that they had to go out fast. I was engaged on May 19. On May 20 I booked a Dec. 11 date at the venue. On May 21 I bought I dress (I’ll do a post after the wedding…). Save the dates generally go out 6 months before the date. That is June 11, just over 2 weeks since after the engagement. I elected to go with a simple magnet. They were cheap and easy. We ordered from Vista Print and they came out to just under $0.25 each. Plus a card and a $0.44 stamp. The total ended up being about $80 when it was all said and done. Stefan’s roommate happens to be a quite good amateur photographer. We went to see some sights in Boston for a quick engagement shoot for a photo to put on the magnet.
I sketched out an idea of what I wanted and translated that to a photoshop image. If you don’t have photoshop, I recommend using Microsoft powerpoint. It does a surprisingly good job at laying out these things.
We got size A4 or 5.5Bar invitation envelopes because they are exactly ¼ a sheet of standard US paper. It just makes things easy. We printed the cards 4 to a page and used a paper cutter to cut them. Hot glue does a pretty good job of affixing magnet to cardstock. It has the added benefit of being super fun and easy.
We used Microsoft Mail Merge to print the addresses. We elected for a nice serif font. I know the invitations have to be hand addressed but the Save the Dates are fair game I say. Overall, we managed to get them out and mailed by mid-July which was quite an accomplishment considering the magnets had a 2 week lead time. If I could do them over, I would have designed the magnet and card together for a more unified look. I didn’t even use the same font. I got confused and I didn’t have the magnets when I was printing the cards. I don’t think many people noticed though.
I also highly recommend getting the magnets printed somewhere. It is seriously cheaper than printing them yourself and they look better I think.
What do you think? What would you have done differently?
Sarah
Getting Started with Crochet
I started this morning with no real knowledge of how to crochet. I wanted to get up and running fairly quickly and I think I did it. In about 3 hours, I went from yarn and crochet hook to my very first granny square.
Far from perfect but not bad for as quickly as I was coming up to speed. I tried to find a simple tutorial or directions that would take me from no-clue to getting started on a small project. I couldn’t really find anything but I will piece together my process here for longevities sake.
First, I learned to slip-knot and chain stitch:
http://crochet.about.com/od/learntocrochet/ss/Crochet_Slip_Knot.htm
http://crochet.about.com/od/learntocrochet/ss/Chain_Stitch.htm
I very much prefer picture-by-picture tutorials over video tutorials. I find I have time to compare all of my details with those in pictures.
Then I learned some basic stitches. The single crochet and the double crochet.
http://crochet.about.com/od/learntocrochet/ss/Single_Crochet.htm
http://crochet.about.com/od/learntocrochet/ss/DoubleCrochet.htm
I basically did a row, pulled it all out, and started again. After doing that for the single and double crochet, I got bored and decided to try to actually make something. It’s always the case. I never want to do the learning part, only the making part. I suppose that’s why I’m writing this, to get you from learning into doing ASAP.
I looked at a bunch of tutorials but none of them really made sense. This abbreviation chart was helpful:
http://www.crochetspot.com/crochet-abbreviations/
and this was the best picture tutorial of a granny square I could find:
http://www.purlbee.com/granny-square-project/
Oh, and as soon as I started, I realized I probably needed to find out what a slip-stitch was so I found it by looking at the abbreviations page and heading to the slip-stitch length:
http://www.crochetspot.com/how-to-crochet-slip-stitches-sl-st/
And ta-da! Granny square. It really didn’t take me long at all and I am at least confident that I could do a real crochet project with a little online help. I’ve wanted to learn this for so long and finally got up enough courage. Why didn’t I start this when I was younger? I could have been a pro by now! I never could get the hang of knitting. The string just gets tighter and tighter and I get frustrated. I’ve always heard crochet was faster and easier but I was scared to try. Never again!
Sarah
And finally…the living room is decorated
What was once an ugly, boring, college pad is now decorated and homey. Some super simple curtains, hemmed and tied to the blinds make the windows stand out. Pillows add some fun colors to the boring brown couch. Neat decorative touches like the cool train lamp and some good coffee table books and we are well on our way to living like grown-ups instead of college students. Now if I could just convince the boys not to leave cables and computers all over the place, we’d be set!
If уоu’vе juѕt ѕtаrtеd thіnkіng about dесоrаtіng your hоuѕе, аnd first on thе list іѕ your living room, уоu mіght bе overwhelmed wіth рuttіng аll thе ріесеѕ tоgеthеr tо mаkе a hаrmоnіоuѕ аnd арреаlіng whоlе. Yоu hаvе tо соnѕіdеr раіnt соlоrѕ for thе wаllѕ, whаt kind of furnіturе you аlrеаdу hаvе аnd whаt you need, and how tо аrrаngе аnd accessorize it. But the fіrѕt thіng tо fіgurе оut аbоut yourself іѕ what уоur decorating ѕtуlе is. Lооkіng аt рhоtоѕ оf lіvіng rооmѕ hеlрѕ уоu dо thаt. Knowing thіѕ gіvеѕ уоu ѕіgnаlѕ along the dесоr road to hеlр guіdе your decisions оn furnіturе, раіnt соlоrѕ, wіndоw соvеrіngѕ, flооr соvеrіng and ассеѕѕоrіеѕ.
Furnіturе
A соmmоn problem реорlе have іѕ not knоwіng hоw tо аrrаngе thеіr lіvіng room furniture. More often than not реорlе push a sofa аgаіnѕt оnе wall, a соuрlе of сhаіrѕ against аnоthеr аnd thаt’ѕ іt. But аrrаngіng furnіturе is ѕоmеthіng thаt requires a lіttlе more planning. There are іmроrtаnt considerations like choosing a focal роіnt, creating соnvеrѕаtіоn areas, and соnѕіdеrіng traffic flow, not to mention the type of furniture you choose, I always recommend getting living room furniture in rosenberg tx, they have mt favorite pieces.
Art
Emрtу wаllѕ аrе a ѕіgn of аn іnсоmрlеtе rооm. Thіѕ dоеѕn’t mеаn уоu nееd to fill every inch, but decorating thе wаllѕ with аrt іѕ іmроrtаnt. It’s іmроrtаnt, but іt does nоt need to bе еxреnѕіvе to create an еntісіng аnd соhеѕіvе lооk. Whаt one реrѕоn соnѕіdеrѕ аrt might bе drаѕtісаllу different frоm what someone еlѕе thinks. Thе bеѕt thіng tо dо іѕ tо fоllоw your іnѕtіnсtѕ whеn іt comes to what уоu lіkе аnd whаt will gо іn уоur rооm. Gеt informed on thе basic rules of what tо hаng аnd hоw tо arrange іt, аnd then lеt уоur heart bе уоur guіdе.
Sarah
Ikea End Table Re-Vamp
There are thousands of ideas for spicing up the $8 ikea end tables. Here is my newest ikea revamp.
I decoupaged maps from the Museum of Modern Art in New York City All over this plain white Lack table from Ikea. It is a more modern look than I usually go for but it was a super fun project. This would be great in a kids room as a craft table. You could decoupage flowers or Disney princesses or Legos to the table. It is also great as a modern conversation piece in a living room or entry way. Travel maps are a good choice as they lend themselves well to travel stories.
For now, this table is acting as a catch-all next to the front door. It is a little low to be perfect for dropping mail and purses but I’m working on a way to give it physical and visual height.
To decoupage a table, use a decopauge glue such as ModgePodge and apply a couple of coats of acrylic sealer over the top to give it a nice hard surface. There are plenty of good decopauge tutorials online so I won’t get into the details but I will say that for a piece like a table, a good sealant is key.
I’d love to see pictures of your decopauge projects. Embed images or links in the comments.
Sarah
