My First DIY

... for the wedding! I considered a lot of different things: gifts, making cards, buying cards. Nothing really struck me, but I knew the minute that I saw these babies that they would be perfect. I was so excited to do these little boxes to ask my friends and family to stand up with me at my wedding. I got the idea from Project Wedding. I think I googled "will you be my bridesmaid ideas" or something like that.

The idea is that when you open the box an accordion of paper would fall and ask them to be my bridesmaid.

I went to Michaels to get all the supplies that I needed, which I do not have a picture of, unfortunately. But here are the things that I used:

• Glue Dots
• Jewelry boxes
• Cardstock
• Ribbon
• Marker/pen
• Any decorations that you would like to include (I had pearl tape and glittered designs)

First I cut all of the strips of paper out. It helps to have a paper cutter, but what would have really helped me would be one of those paper cutter attachments that doesn't completely penetrate the paper, but just makes a line that is easy to fold.

I wasn't too careful about the way that I folded it, I just made sure that all the squares were roughly the same size and that they would fit inside the box.

Then I wrote my message. It was the same for everyone, except for the adjectives that I used to describe them. I made a little chart so that I knew what I would say for who.

Once I wrote all of the message, I attached the little trinkets that I picked. I tried to have them correlate to the words that I used to describe them.

Then I just stuck a little Glue Dot inside the box and stick the paper to the top of the box so that the paper would fall when they opened the box.

I decided to leave the boxes the color that they were and not paint them like the tutorial that I followed did. The kraft brown was going to be a big part of my wedding, anyway. I finished it off with a little lace and a yellow ribbon. I made a small tag out of leftover blue cardstock and a silver stamp with their initials.

Everyone really liked them and I was so happy with the way that I asked. It was very me and personal for each person, which is exactly what I wanted. Yay!

*all pictures are personal

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.

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.

personal photo

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!

Irresistible Things

I was surfing on Twitter and came across this Etsy store called Hey Yo Yo. They have some adorable things that are wedding related and some, not so much. But since it is so cute, I am going to share it all! What I was originally looking for were those paper straws that are so adorable. I am thinking about our wedding colors, which I will make a post on later. But I loved these:

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When I saw these it almost made me wish that we were having a fair themed wedding for a minute. Fair theme would be perfect for a fall wedding. I could just imagine it. Maybe I will make a board for it a little later!! But I loved these things:

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I also found some festive things for the season. I love this time of year!! They would be perfect if you were having a Halloween party or something. Here is what I found:

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Hope you liked my selections! Have a good Thursday!