National Picnic Day

I heard on the news that today is National Picnic day. Here to for: grab a picnic basket, your cutest friend, and have some fun!

Huck is with me today. Hopefully he will be a good worker bee and will help me address save the dates, make some cute picture display found on pinterest, clean the kitchen, do laundry, mop the floor, make wedding crafts, and re decorate the living room. Oh he also needs to help me put away all my thrifted wedding decorations in the dinning room and refinish the table in the garage since I sold my old kitchen table in the yard sale.

He is currently napping, hopefully hes getting rested up for our big day.

I'm going to get some iced coffee. Mmm. My sis in law Josey always has the BEST iced coffee in her fridge so I followed her directions and have some amazing caffeine in my fridge. It really could not be easier. She said she uses Pioneer Woman's recipe but changed it slightly.

It couldn't be easier. It isn't possible. First you need a big container with a lid. Next, you dump a whole bag of coffee grounds (mine was 12 oz) and fill up with water, stir. Josey swears that freshly ground coffee is best, but I'm too lazy for that. I have done this twice this month so far, this first time with old coffee I found in my cabinet, and the 2nd with Folgers chocolate truffle. Obviously this second batch is better.

After it has sat on your counter for at least 8 hours (with a few stirrings in between) strain into your container with a cheese cloth. Discard your coffee grounds into your compost bin and your garden will love you.

 Don't judge me for my messy sink. That is what Huck baby is here for today, remember?

I have trouble with drippy spouts on these things but I am hoping this one is ok. It is certainly cute (as all impulse buys from Target are.)

I mix mine with raspberry syrup and some 1 % milk along with a teeny tiny splash of half and half. You can adjust the strength in accordance with your addiction to caffeine. 

The Folgers coffee I bought was $5 something at Pricecutter and if you figure that this jug lasts at least a week of morning coffee you would save a ton, especially if you spend $4 plus dollars at Starbucks each day. Whoop. Thanks Josey!

Have a good day picnicing and making iced coffee!

Maybe if I get my kitchen counter cleaned off today I will post later tonight about my kitchen remodel in progress.

xoxo,
Ash

p.s. So happy I decided to only work part time this summer. Wish me luck in being productive today so I don't regret it when my paycheck SUCKS. 

Engagment photo props

Another delightful aspect of pinterest that I LOVE is the ideas for pictures. I love looking at pictures of weddings/ engagement sessions. I generally, don't like being photographed, but I actually had a ton of fun when Chance and I met with Anna. Seriously, she made us look so good. If you need any kind of pictures taken, you should definitely call her. I can't wait to see all the awesome stuff she does for the wedding.

 I was really happy with how easy the initial embroidery hoop turned out. I just hot glued buttons, so cheap and cheesy... but it worked. There was no way I was going to sew all those buttons on there. Part of my plan for wedding decorations is making some that I can use in more than one way. This for example was obviously in our engagement photo, it will be used somewhere in the wedding, and then I think it will hang somewhere after the wedding in the bedroom with pictures of us around it. Fun!

 I used stencils from Martha Stewart for the date sign. Don't ask me where I got that piece of wood... I found it in my craft stash. Oh, and it was just a sharpie, work smarter not harder right?

Emily actually made the banner. We used hot glue, twine, doileys, 2 hankies, and regular ole acrylic craft paint that costs 50 cents. We got in a fight over that silly cursive L. It turned out awesome!

Another awesome thing about Anna, is that she gave me the rights to my pictures. I have been hoarding groupons and living social deals that have anything to do with using pictures. I spent a lot of my free time at the yard sale last weekend creating the photo book that will be our guest book, some gifts for parents, and some save the dates. It was very fun. I did find though that the groupon to Picaboo didn't end up being the best deal. I ended up paying $24 dollars in shipping for the $100 that I had to spend (it was a $35 groupon). Anyway, I got some of the stuff in the mail today and it was very high quality so I am happy about that. 

Peace yo.
Ash

Summery fun breakafst

I love breakfast foods. I love getting a weekend started with a good cup of coffee. A few weeks ago I whipped up this little treat for myself. You should make it pronto. Just because, for something special, for someone special... just make it!

I didn't take step by step pics because it is really just too easy for that. I used a gingerbread man cookie cutter because that's what I could find, but you could use anything. It would fun to do on holidays/special occasions.

I put my gingerbread man in the toaster oven while I buttered the bread, placed it in a skillet, then cracked an egg right in the space. I let my egg get cooked hard before I flipped it over, but that's just me. You could have a runny egg too if thats what you like.

So tasty.

Wedding craft-a-thon, part two

When Chance and I got engaged, one of the first things he demanded I do was get a facebook account. Now I wasn't stuck in the stone ages or anything, I used to have FB, back when it was cool and only college students could use it... back then it was only used for stalking your fellow dorm dwellers or potential study partners from class. But alas... The best thing about FB these days is that it gives you access to the beloved Pinterest. Oh pinterest.

I have used pinterest quite a lot to help come up with wedding craft ideas, but my favorite so far is for upcycled china plates and goblets to be turned into cake stands. I have found with all my intense pinteresting, some people don't know how to pinterest! I had to spend an extra 5 min to find this original link to give credit to the creator.

Emily had already experimented with the project, so it took us no time at all to whip these bad boys together. We first slightly sanded the bottom of our china plates to make a better surface to adhere the goblets to. Once that was dry, we brought them outside so that we could spray paint the goblets. The original tutorial showed painting the plate and glass, but we wanted the vintage plates to be high lighted. 

 

I bought some spray paint at the good ole Dollar General for less than $2. It wasn't pearlized, but it did kind of look like it once we got it going. 

 Emily is a spray painting pro.

These need another coat of paint, but you can still tell how adorable they turned out! 

 I have a delightful breakfast date this morning with one of my lovely bridesmaids... hopefully we will be able to find her dress and then we will have all the dresses done!

xoxo,

Ash

Wedding craft-a-thon, part one

Emily (MOH) and I happened to have a day off on the same day last week. We crafted our little fingers off from dawn till dusk, fueled by our creative passion and raspberry coffee. It was magic. 

I have many more pictures to share, but I thought I would share my favorite first. 

I am very pleased at the final result. I'm planning to use this at the head table. I took the antlers Chancey provided for me and with a little hot glue, wire, and twine... I turned it into the perfect blend of vintage and country. I had been hanging onto that hankie for something special and this was definitely it. My original idea came from pinterest,but once the hot glue got to flowing, I just went 

with it. 

We also made some very adorable fabric hoops. I'm not sure where I am going to use these yet, but that doesn't matter yet. My dear Momma gave me a giant bag of the prettiest vintage fabric scraps. So happy to use them. I am going to have to find some where in my house to hang them up after the wedding. They are too cute to not use later. Maybe I will hang them up in the craft room/ guest room after Jessi moves out. Decisions decisions.

Here is our little craft helper. He was a good boy and either cooed at us while we worked or took naps. 

I'm sad the weekend is over... Trying to hang on to the last moments... Maybe I will be productive and do some dishes or laundry or something. Or maybe I'll keep staring at my computer while watching Dateline... Its really a toss up. 

Earlier today was my favorite kind of Sunday magic. A glorious brunch with my dearest friends while listening to the sound of harp and guitar at Gailey's. Sigh...

I love summer.

xoxo,

Ash

Wedding upcycle

I am a terrible blogger I know. I'm sorry. I really do try, I just get so very busy. I am a very blessed bride, as I have several friends who are lending/giving me their used wedding decor. I am so happy... Decorations are the main part that I am loving... I mean, its every craft girl's dream right? Of course right. I know though, that left to my own demise, I could spend more on the crafting and tiny details than anything else. But not to fret! Help has arrived. My fiance's cousin got married last week at a BEAUTIFUL wedding, and my dear future aunt gave me several left over goodies.

Exhibit A: Simple, classic tea light candle holders.

 I spent just a teeny bit of time and ZERO dollars to transform these from the classy spring wedding center piece to my fall vintage county wedding decor. I have endless supplies of lace scraps and who knows how many bottles of mod podge and that was all I needed! 

Ta da!!!

I made each one a little different, but all with the same theme. I am so pleased. They will look perfect mixed among my blue mason jar vases filled with paper roses and vintage tins.

I'm getting very excited for all the crafting to be done! Can anyone say wedding craft night soon???

Oy vey... So much crafting to do!