Pretty Paper: Halloween!!

*If you haven't checked it out yet, please scroll down after finishing this post and take a look at my post from yesterday. Thanks!*

Happy Monday all! Happy Halloween! Since today is Halloween, I thought that I would leave you with Halloween-inspired Pretty Paper today (it's kinda fun to get away from wedding for a while). So today I bring you a Halloween party through paper!

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Such cute coasters and perfect for a Halloween bash!

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Halloween is here and I hope you have a wonderful day and evening. I for one hope that I am not subbing today, because that would be one hell of a day! Hope you are doing something fun. What are your plans for the holiday?

Handmade Ribbon Wreaths

Hello all. Here is what I have to say today.

It's that time of year again! Celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, or even just the changing of the seasons with one of my beautiful handmade ribbon wreaths!

Each wreath is uniquely made up of hundreds of individual ribbons made of different material and color appropriate to the design. They are held together via pins and hot glue to make them sturdy, and they are perfect for indoor or outdoor decorations.

I can customize each one to make it fit whatever color or style you're going for, and I'd be happy to accommodate any special request that will make your wreath extra special! You are only held back by your imagination! If you know the general idea of what you want, but aren't sure how to make it extra special, I can offer a free email consultation.

Some customize-able options are your school or favorite team's colors, seasons, Christmas, Thanksgiving,  or you can add on embellishments (bells, ribbons, flowers, etc). The wreaths can hang inside your living room, outside your door, above a fireplace, or they can sit on your coffee or dinner table as a centerpiece. I can also make kissing balls or trees as well covered in simply ribbons or you can request anything flower-covered.

They make fantastic gifts as well (each member of my family received one last year and loved them!) for that special sports fan, craft lover, or your own home.

I offer affordable delivery, shipping, and gift wrapping options as well.

Please feel free to contact me for any info! I can provide quotes, answer questions, or email you pictures. :)

10" Christmas or Thanksgiving wreaths start at $30.00. But other sizes (smaller or larger), and embellishments are available. Paypal or cash are accepted.


You can tweet, email (ashley [dot] debisschop [at] gmail.com), message, or comment to get in touch with me if you are interested in gifting or purchasing one of my wreaths, kissing balls, or trees (or any shape that you can imagine). 


Also, please tell your friends and share! Thanks so much for all of your support and putting up with the slight interruption. We will now return to your regularly scheduled programming.

Happy Holidays! 

Happy Weekend... Almost!

Happy Almost Weekend, everyone! Hope you have a good Friday and Saturday and Sunday. Here are some of my plans for the weekend.

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That's spending some time with the man (not pumpkin picking, we did that two weekends ago), hot chocolate, and pumpkin chocolate chip bread. What are your plans for the weekend? Hope they are fun!

Overwhelmed!

As I write this post, I am somewhat panicking, so I am sorry if this becomes one big rant session. Here's the truth: I am terrified and overwhelmed. I am sure people are thinking right now, how can you be overwhelmed? You haven't done anything yet! Well, I find this to be the most overwhelming part. My plan is to take it one step at a time and try not to be stressed, but the hardest part for me isn't the projects and the planning, it's figuring out where to start.

I have no clue where to start. I don't know how to start finding vendors. I don't know everything that I am going to need. I don't know how to budget because I don't know what I will need. I am talking about little things, but the little things matter in my opinion. I don't know how I am supposed to find vendors in my budget. Google tends to yield zero results, I don't know anyone who has gotten married recently, and I don't really know what is available in Connecticut anymore. I have no problem calling tons of places, but I don't know how to find the names of those vendors. I am terrified I won't be able to find people that do a good job while still working within my budget. I know they are out there! How can I find them?

One of the biggest problems is that Connecticut is not a cheap place. It is expensive!! If I get someone not located in CT then it will be the same price because of travel costs. Ugh. If anyone has any advice, I NEED it. Badly. Really bady. Where do you find budget friendly vendors? Any Google technique tips?

Science Wedding Ideas!

This idea for a wedding was so amazing, come up with by on No Impact Bride. It was science themed and she did a fantastic job of putting together the theme throughout the wedding. I am a sucker for detail shots, so I will share a few with you here. This first one is my favorite!!

I love the glass balls hanging with flowers in them. It creates such a atmosphere.

Don't you just love it? No, only me? Well, in case you couldn't already tell from this blog, I am a super nerd and get excited about nerdy things. (See Pretty Paper this week, scroll down to the last picture.) This is such a good idea of you or your fiance are into science or do something related to science as a living. Ah, so cool! Go and check out the full inspirational post by No Impact Bride!!

Wedding Meeting: Week One

Wedding planning can consume me. Like, I sometimes think that there is something wrong with me because I can simply not think of anything else. This usually happens when I find an idea that is particularly inspiring or I am looking into vendors and like what I find. Unfortunately, usually my outlet is talking Josh's ear off about it. Now, he is a man that doesn't mind being involved in wedding planning, but he doesn't want to hear about it 24/7. It finally escalated to a disagreement that turned into a shouting match.

This is Josh when he comes home and I talk about weddings non-stop.

We decided that the best way to avoid this would be a "wedding meeting." We decided that one day a week for about an hour we would talk about wedding stuff. Today on the agenda was budget and date. We haven't officially set a date for the wedding yet. Whenever I would talk to vendors about pricing and services, I would either say summer of 2013 or just summer. I felt kinda embarrassed asking questions when it was so far in advanced. Today we finally picked a date, but haven't told many people to confirm it yet, so I am not going to post it here yet. But we are very excited. It is nice to finally know the date that we are going to get married. The feeling was similar to being engaged again, it was nice.

Second was budget. We had disagreed on the way to do a budget in the past. Today, I think that we finally found a way to do it in a way that we can both work with it. I am happy to say it was a successful first "wedding meeting."

I also don't think that I have posted what my budget is officially yet. I have thought about this a lot because I am not sure if I want everyone who reads this blog to know what I will be spending on my wedding, but then again, a big purpose of my blog is trying to do a budget wedding that is just as beautiful as ones that have generous budgets. So anyway, I decided to post it. My unofficial budget is $10,000. Not teeny, but not huge. I now pledge that I will have as gorgeous of a wedding as all of those that get published on other wedding blogs. So there!

Pretty Paper: Tags!

I owe all of my regular readers (assuming they still remember me) a big apology. I told you I was going to take a day off. I ended up taking a week off. It was fun, but I am sorry for not posting!! I have something for you today and an awesome wedding I found later on in the week! (Something to look forward to, I promise this time.)

Today on Pretty Paper we are going to talk about tags because I LOVE tags. They are awesome. I love to collect them, make them, look them up on Etsy, buy them, etc. Anything you could do with tags, I like to do it. Here are some that I found on Etsy that I really liked.

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These are adorable because they are in kraft paper, which I obviously love, but the bunting is so pretty!! Also I love that the string is twine. So beautiful.

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Both the one above and the one below would be good for a baby girl shower or a bachelorette party. I love the glitter, but I imagine it would go everywhere!

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The phone tag and hot air balloon tag have a vintage feel that isn't too over the top for me. Often I am not a big fan of REALLY vintage stuff, but these are modern enough for me to still enjoy them as a vintage tag. Very nice.

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And just because the sight of freshly sharpened pencils makes me happy, here you go.

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Hope you enjoyed Pretty Paper today! Happy Monday!

My Birthday

Today is my birthday so I am going to take a day off. Hope you all have a fabulous day!

Yum!

Pretty Paper: Knot and Bow

I decided to do something new today. I think that I am going to launch a series called Pretty Paper. Every Monday, I will post something about paper, whether it is a store that I love, invitations, menus, paper that I love, etc. Either way, it will be something that I love.

Today I am featuring a store on Etsy called Knot and Bow. And let me tell you, I am in L-O-V-E. As I look through the store, I rack my brain as to why I would need something that is sold here. I. Must. Have. Something. Let me show you what I am talking about.

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This is kraft tissue paper. It's recycled and amazing.

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When I first saw these library cards my thought was "I can use these in my classroom!!" Too bad I don't have one. Aren't they spectacular?

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These could be perfect for anything! And in so many colors!

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This is ribbon! How creative is that? How do you even make that?

I am just so in awe and I love the things that are in this store. There are no words to describe how spectacular these things are. Check it out sometime!

Wedding Favors

Originally, I was really dreading the idea of favors. It seemed like they were so expensive and something that your guests would just throw away or not use. I thought about doing the tired candy bar, or a donation, but I don't like either of those ideas.

I did some research and thinking and now this is one of the details that I have become obsessed with. I now have way too many choices for my own good. For someone who is already naturally indecisive, this is a nightmare. At least I have time to make up my mind. Here are some things that I am thinking.

I made a post about these last month, but I like them a lot. They are low cost and eco-friendly and easily transportable!

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I could put them in one of these cute bags with a stamp on it to make it pretty.

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Next up is he caramel apples. These serve as both a place card and a favor. I could put a label on the sticks so that it tells people their table as well as giving them something yummy. The only problem with something like this is that my wedding will not be during apple season, so it would be more expensive to buy them.

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Next is these awesome pencils that I found on Etsy. Josh thinks that they are cheesy, but I love them. He said that maybe if we could change them to things that related to us. I was also thinking that we could change the 'me and you' to 'Josh and Ashley.' But of course, these are things that I would need to email the seller about and not sure if she would even do it. But here they are.

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Next is mixed CDs. I thought that Josh and I didn't really have any songs that we would be able to add to it, but then I started thinking of songs from movies that we both enjoy or just songs that were playing during important moments in life, even if they aren't really 'our' songs. I also love these CD covers, so maybe I am just looking for an excuse to make these. Who knows.

I got this from Pintrest, but the user did not have a source.
Here is the link to the Pintrest picture, but I don't have an actual source.
Sorry.

This looks awesome too, but I am not sure how much work I want to put into something like this. I would rather put the work into another favor that I have just mentioned. But here they are.

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Or I could make the always comforting cookies and put them in a paper lunch bag.

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All of these are very cute and I like all of them and all are fairly inexpensive. Ahh, so many choices! What do you think? Tell me your thoughts.

Wedding Dress Woes: Part II

The last dress shop that we visited was a bridal shop called Pearls & Lace. We got the name from a waitress at a restaurant that we went to for lunch. It was a beautiful little place. I loved the feel and setting of it. They don't take appointments, so we went right when it opened and were there for two hours, with the shop to ourselves. It really made me feel like I would be getting married someday because my mom was there helping me into the dresses, rather than a consultant, just like it would be the day of. I liked that better, I think. But the store owner was very attentive and came over to lace up my dresses when I needed it and offer advice. Here are some pictures from that day.

At this point you are probably wondering why I named this post "wedding dress woes." 

As I was trying on dresses, I came across one that was GORGEOUS. It is not pictured here because it might be my dress. I can't give you any details about it because certain people read this blog. I didn't go shopping to find my dress really, just to find what looks good. This dress is something that I would never have picked for myself, but I tried it because we were just looking for the shape. 

Now you are probably thinking (assuming you know that I am poor), well, that's great! Just go back when you have saved up the money and purchase it. Congrats!

I would love to do that, and it would be the ideal situation, but this dress is discontinued. So the longer I wait the harder it will be to find. The dress has very unique aspects to it that I would probably not be able to find in another dress, so I couldn't really find one that was similar. So now I am left to think, is it really my dress? Is it possible to buy this dress this early and not be disappointed later on? Or will I realize that I only like it because it is something completely different from what my mind goes to when I think "wedding dress"? My wedding is so far away that it is quite possible that I could see another dress online or in a magazine and be convinced that I made the wrong choice. That would put us in a very difficult situation. I would be committing 100% to this dress, but am I really ready for that? 

Does anyone have any suggestions or advice? I really need some help with this!

[all photos are personal, courtesy of my mom]

Wedding Dress Woes: Part I

While my mom was here last week, we went dress shopping. It was pretty exciting, but didn't start out that way. Our first stop was David's Bridal. They were nice, but I was not impressed with their dresses. The fabric was not good and the prices were very inflated. However they did have some pretty designs. Here are some of my favorites.

Please don't look at my face and weird expressions. These pictures are to showcase the dress, not my weird-ness.

That trip left me feeling really down. I thought that I would never be able to afford a dress. At those prices and quality, that would be true. Luckily, I realized on our next trip that the prices were way inflated for the quality of the dresses.

Later in the week we went to a place called Blue Sky Bridal, which is a consignment shop for wedding dresses here in Seattle. They had a lovely store and a wonderful employee that helped me. If you are in the area, I strongly suggest that you visit this shop. Here are some dresses from the shop. Please excuse my chopped off head, bra straps (I was not prepared), and gloves (these are not part of the ensemble, they want you to wear them while you handle the dresses).

Hope you like the pictures. We visited one other dress shop, but I will post that one tomorrow, so check back tomorrow! Happy hump day!

[all photos are personal, courtesy of my mom]

Paper Source

On Saturday, while in Downtown Bellevue, Josh, my mom, and I were looking for a place to kill time before heading down to the botanical gardens for a 2 'o clock tour. We happened upon a Paper Source and decided to look around inside. I thought Josh was going to die of boredom while my mom and I were looking at linen paper, but he actually got into it and enjoyed looking around the store. I then started browsing for the paper that I wanted for wedding invites so that I could show my mom. I was able to describe to her what I wanted and show her what it would look like (she was unable to picture it by me showing her the bits and pieces that I had pulled from). We then found some stamps and such that would be absolutely PERFECT! I am honestly freaking out writing about this because I am so excited about it!

I was then looking at something that I thought was fine glitter, but it was actually used for embossing. Let me tell you right now, this is the absolute coolest thing that I have have ever seen. If you don't know about it, you should. It is where you stamp on the stamp that you are going to use and then cover it with embossing powder. Then you proceed to dry it with this really hot hair dryer thingy (way cool). The image becomes raised off the paper. Oh. My. God. I am in love. I am going to try it as soon as I get a paycheck from school!

Really hot hair dryer thingy

My mom and I were also able to pick out some ribbon to wrap the invitations in and other things. I found an enormous amount of stamps that I MUST have. It was glorious. We missed the tour time at the gardens because we were having so much fun in the store.

I wish that I had thought to ask my mother or Josh for their phones to snap some pictures of things that I loved, but alas, I have yet to get a Windows phone, so I just do not think of it. I will show you some things that I am in love with.

Going back to my true Maine self:

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Some other fun things that I couldn't resist:

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Some pretty holiday cards:

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Hope you got some really cool inspiration for this post. Also, be sure to go and check out the Paper Source website!

[I wanted to let all my readers know that when I am talking about different websites and stores that I like, these are never sponsored posts, just things that I enjoy. Hope you enjoy them.]

Best. Family. Ever.

Sorry for the absence the past week. My parents were in town for the week and I was enjoying a lovely time with them. They had not been to Seattle since we officially moved here, so it was nice for them to see our new apartment and the city. Unfortunately, it was raining the whole time, but that's ok! I think they still had a good time. They have gone now, and I am missing them terribly, but I now have time for new posts!

First on the agenda is my amazing family. The first morning that my parents were here, they tried to sneak out for coffee. They didn't know that our door makes a horrible cracking sound when opened, so it woke me up. When I ventured out, I saw this.

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I had told my mom that I wanted her to look and see if she could find one or two Connecticut bridal magazines. This is what she brought to me. I was a very happy lady. I don't think that I will go too crazy with magazines, but in the first month of engagement, how could you not? I thanked her for the gifts and she said that my brother and his girlfriend, Megan, had gone to many different places to pick up magazines for me! I owe them a big thank you. They had included a trip to David's Bridal and picked up a few catalogs of dresses (not shown in picture). I have managed to read half of one in the last week, but I am sure that I will have more free time now. Hope your weekend went well!