Say hello to my new baby...

Good morning lovely people! How are you doing? It's grey and raining here and I wish I could cuddle up under my duvet and stay in bed! I know I haven't been blogging too regularly these days but there is just so much going on. Do know that I still pop into my RSS reader on my iphone every night and read through all your blog posts? I love hearing what you are all up to even if I don't have time to comment on everything!

So now that my wedding invites are complete (thanks for all your sweet comments!), I've decided to take on a new creative challenge. I know you're probably thinking - what about your Etsy store?? - and the truth is, that is still in the works (slowly but surely). But I was really just craving something new and so I got myself this beautiful (almost-new) Brother XL-3200 sewing machine off Kijiji for a steal! Check her out...

I know I've mentioned this before but my younger sister Lindsay is a sewing SUPERSTAR and I long to be able to do what she does. Plus now that I've had a taste of tailored clothing, I love the fit and would like to make myself a few things (hee hee, see how I turned my shopaholic ways into a creative weekend project?? J won't notice...).

Can I sew, you ask? Why yes I can. My mom had a sewing machine growing up so I dabbled with her plus I took Grade 9 home ec! I also went through one of my flights of fancy in my early 20's that involved sewing so I already owned this of course:

You know me, love to read the books! Regardless of how well this new endeavour goes, I'll enjoy the creative journey. I hope to post a few projects on here as I go, but nothing too regular. After all, there's only so many hours in a day right?

My very first project is to add straps to this lovely strapless summer dress I ordered from Shop Ruche. I knew I needed straps but I couldn't resist the pretty material and long flowing maxi style. I'll be sure to show it off when I'm done!

 

So what's your most recent creative obsession? Have you been longing to try something new? What's holding you back or propelling you forward?

Have a fantastic week friends!!


PS: I taught my very first Red River College workshop this weekend on 'Intro to Social Media' and my mind is still swirling from the experience and all the things I learned (yes learned - teachers learn too!). I'll share more but I'm still digesting it all and it will take it's own blog post to say it all! Plus I'm gearing up for this Saturday's follow up workshop 'Learn to Blog' - if you know anyone who might want to sign up, send them the link!

To all the lovely mothers...

Happy Mother's Day to my hot mama! (sorry for my nakedness in this shot...)

We had a fantastic brunch this morning with my mom, my sister and her family, my grandma, my aunt and J's mom. It was so nice to celebrate all the wonderful mom's in my life. A special shout out to the other moms I love on this very special day - my stepmom Laura, my other grandma Cathy and my amazing mom and mom-to-be girlfriends (Laureen, Carrie, Jess, Shannon, Anna, Leah, Martha, Mel, Tara, Liz and Shauna).

Hope you found a special way to honour your mama today!

The Wedding Invitations!

I am so so excited to finally share my completed DIY wedding invitations! It was quite the process and there were definitely some sleepless nights, some tears and some wine (ha!) to get through it all. A shout out to J for being soooo supportive and constantly offering to help even though I was too controlling to let go of anything. This was the stack, ready to go to the post office yesterday morning!

And here are some shots of the final printed and cut invite pieces! Yay, it feels so good to finally share them with you and I'm so jazzed to hear from my guests once they receive them...

It's a little tough to read, but the invites say 'Boy meets girl. Twenty years later they're getting hitched...' as a cute little nod to our teenage years together. We're inviting our guests to 'join in the next chapter of our love story', since that's exactly what J and I have - a love story full of crazy chapters that take us up, down, here, there and finally - together.

 

I did the main invitation on a cream cardstock from Staples and the accompanying map was printed on a thinner 24lb laid white paper (has texture). The RSVP tags were printed on a turquoise scrapbook paper from Michael's in the colour Patina. I then cut them out and hole punched them to resember shipping tags. The thin jute twine is from Michael's as well.

The envelopes are kraft paper from Michael's. The return address labels are simply Avery standard labels I printed on at home. The guest labels are from Michael's and they're supposed to be favour stickers but I used them as address labels instead.

All the design was done in Photoshop and InDesign (ah the learning curve...) with the help of my lovely friend and co-worker Lorraine. She was such a doll and kept me from sweating things too much - thanks Rain!!

I hope you like them and a big hug to you all for all the words of encouragement during this process. Now I truly feel like all the tough stuff is out of the way and I can concentrate on having an awesome summer filled with cute DIY wedding projects. Nothing too too stressful (hopefully). That's the plan anyway!

Have an amazing day friends!