Pin Win: "It's My Special Day" Plate

Sometimes, your year throws some curve balls.  I completely intended to be an active blogger this year, but my caseload is a little heavy, and I would rather take a break than be overwhelmed and inconsistent.  Married life is also great, but hectic.  We bought a house in September, are trying to get pregnant, and recently had our basement flood.

With being so busy, I tend to get overly stressed and incredibly anxiety-ridden.  I've been struggling all year with keeping calm and on task, especially after stressful weeks.  I've tried all sorts of different things - pedicures, reading, baths, chiropractor, asking husband for backrubs - yet nothing had helped.  Then I thought back.  One of the things that best relieved my wedding planning stress was making my wedding party gifts (which reminds me - I never finished posting those!  I was pretty darn proud of the results) at the pottery painting place in town, Artful Designs.  I decided earlier on in the week to go there on Thursday or Friday night.  Well....the house flooded Wednesday, so Thursday was out to meet with the people drying out our basement.  So I headed to Artful Designs last night to paint.  But first, I had to consult Pinterest for some painting inspiration.  I happened upon the following plate design:


I decided it would be perfect for some stress relief.  My friends Meghann and Alex had a beautiful baby girl late last year, and I think that each child deserves some kind of special day plate, mug, cup, or bowl.  Off I went to Artful Designs to paint my plate.  Instead of the plain paint like they used in the original pin, I used the speckled paint.  I just love the look of it.  I used what I think was called Lime Lizard for the rim, Blizzard Blue for the background, and a speckled yellow for the star.  I then used bright kiwi for the spots and a dimensional paint for the writing and outlining.  I like how it looks before firing, and I will update this post at the end of the week, once it's done firing.  I also like that it's bright, festive colors, but not pink and purple.  I guess because I was so resistant to girly colors when I was little, that I always push that on gifts for little girls that I make or buy.

My plate, before firing

My plate, after firing

You might notice that this post's title begins with "Pin Win" - it's because I love the blog Pinstrosity, and when I saw that they were holding a contest, I decided that I would look around for some pins to try.

The Little Things: Blackhawks Bridesmaid Gift

For my girls' gifts, I wanted to do something personal and crafty.  Enter Artful Designs in my town, which is a paint your own pottery and ceramics place, or any place like it near your town.  I love painting pottery, and it had been a long time since I was able to do it.  My mother and I decided to go together, and I sketched things out and painted details, while she painted large sections for me.  I wanted to get something that all of my bridesmaids could use, so I settled on travel coffee mugs.  They all drink tea or coffee, and putting something personal would make it even better.

One of my bridesmaids is a HUGE Blackhawks fan, so a Hawks mug was truly the only answer for her.  I painted the detail of "Commit to the Indian" with a small brush, then sketched out the feathers and passed it on to my mom to paint the black and the base of the feathers.  I then used their smaller writing bottles to go over "Commit to the Indian" again, drew the lines on the feathers, and wrote "Bridesmaid 8.4.12" on the bottom of the mug.  One week later, it was ready for pickup after firing.

In coming days, I will post the other 5 bridesmaid gifts, as well as the ringbearer and flowergirl presents.

Wedding I Spy Reception Game

As you've read previously in my Summer Bucket List: Wedding Edition, I have already had some of my I Spy games printed.  I went through Vistaprint e-mails when they offered free Rack Cards.  The Rack Cards come in packs of 50, and you are responsible for shipping.

The mock up I made on the site looked like this:

To get the different texts and colors, I had to make each line a separate text box.  I played around with order and sizes until I liked what I saw.  Luckily, I don't have to do all of the playing around again, since Vistaprint saves your previous designs in your portfolio.

I received the printed product ahead of schedule.  The rack cards are shiny and a nice quality, thick paper.  I also forgot until I received it that I chose to have a simple black and white graphic printed on the back.  To see how it turned out and my inspiration links, hit the jump!

Vistaprint Is My Friend (or, How I Got My Wedding Invites on the Cheap)

I have gotten many a thing from Vistaprint for both my wedding and classroom.  Classroom printing projects can come at a later date, for today is about all of the things I got for my wedding from Vistaprint.

First, a caution:  Be careful about checking extra boxes on this site.  Check and double check that you are not opting into monthly services.  I have had no problems with this, but the internet abounds with complaints of getting charged monthly for something from Vistaprint.

And now, a tip: Buy something cheap there first.  My first purchase was custom return address labels.  Once I bought that single thing, I started getting offers about once a week.  Sometimes they are 40-60% off, but quite a few times so far, I have gotten offers for free things.  That is how I printed out my invites (oversized postcards), RSVP cards (postcards), wedding website inserts (business cards), and picture website business cards.  I also watched Groupon and bought a $17 for $70 worth of goods offer, which is how I got my I Spy games (rack cards) and thank you postcards.  I ordered a few other free things in the mix.  The print quality is generally very high.  The things I have printed have always come out clear and in accurate colors.

The total I've spent for all of the following, shipping and product cost, is just under $140.  The majority of that was in shipping.

I'll post in the next few days with actual photos of what I've gotten from there (haven't had time to remove our personal information!)  But, for now, here are picture from the online mockups at vistaprint.  Hit the jump to check them out!

Summer Bucket List: Wedding DIY Edition

I saw this "summer bucket list" idea on Miss Kindergarten for school.  Lucky me!  I get two big projects this summer!  I get married August 4, so I have plenty of to-do's for that, and I go back to school later in August to a different classroom and level to teach, so I have plenty of to-do's for that.  The first "summer bucket list"/to-do list that I have is my wedding one.  I'm doing a lot of DIY for the wedding, so I have just over two months to do...well, a lot of things.  Thanks to Pinterest, I have tutorials for many of them.  As I complete these, I'll post and add links to them.

(sorry, had to take this down for a bit to fix the links, but now they should all be fixed)

Here is my overview of wedding to-do's and DIY's for summer, with deadlines:

• Stamp invite envelopes and send them: By June 1
• Bridesmaid's wedding shower: June 2
• Create veil using mom's veil: By June 6
• Make ring pillow and decorate flower girl basket: June 11
• Send bridesmaid's shower thank you's: By June 15
• Aunt's shower: June 16
• Finish decorating cake toppers (either dinosaur or panda bear salt shakers): June 20
• Send aunt's shower thank you's: by June 26
• Gone in Washington DC for NEA RA: June 27 through July 6
• Second dress fitting: July 7
• Work out some kind of toasting flute: by July 9
• Guestbook set up: by July 11
• Finish ceremony and send it off to Piper: July 12
• Bachelorette Party: July 14
• Programs: July 16
• Card box: July 18
• 3rd and hopefully final fitting: July 20
• Start table numbers/favors/escort cards: July 21
• Seating chart: July 22
• Finish and practice vows: July 23
• Sometime over summer: printing more I Spy, vow gag, all of the fabric flowers in the world, prettified hangers, bridesmaid gifts, gift for the groom, parent gifts, centerpieces

After the jump, see pictures of project inspirations with links to my pins.