Diy Stamps

Making lots of wedding things for friends and family right now. I was experimenting with creating my own stamp and I can't believe I've never tried this before. What a dummy. 

So, water bottle caps are the best, because I (a person who embraces and loves happy accidents) discovered this awesome postmark looking ring around the image. I literally cut up a styrofoam togo box for these shapes. 

Here's a heart..but you can see the other stamps I made. 

I am loving the sailboats. 

I used super glue to attach the foam and I also use wine corks, bottle lids and wooden discs that I had lying around. So easy and fun! 

Napkin Artistry: The Candle

My hubs and I learned how to make "The Candle" on our honeymoon cruise in a Napkin Artistry session. It was one of the highlights of the trip...I guess I'm a dork. There were others but this was the one that really stuck with me. 

It's an easy way to fancy up your table and...it's easy to remember! 

These can also hold your silverware for you, stand up on the plate (depending on the stiffness of your napkins)...they're easy to be creative with. So have fun. 

Step One: Right side down, make a diamond shape.

Step Two: Fold in half, upwards. (pretty side is showing now)

Step Three: 

Fold up about 2 inches...sometimes they look fun when you do a thick piece at the bottom. 

Step Four: Flip it over! Then begin rolling across...don't forget to flip it!

Step Five: Roll all the way to the end, but leave this little flap out. 

Step Six: Tuck the flap into the pocket....see step 4 if you don't have a pocket...gotta remember to flip. :) 

Step Seven: If you want a true "candle"...at the top peel back one piece of napkin to add some flare. 

Voila! The Candle. 

Pretty cute! 

You could also put a flower in each one...right off the bat I'm gonna say Zinnia's would be lovely. 

Hilary's Bachelorette Party Invitations

My cousin came over tonight for dinner and "invitation assembly night"...we got it all done in one sitting and they look pretty cute. So "L" bought all the supplies and I think she spent around $30 on ribbon, cardstock (2 colors), pearls (that we didn't use), pink puff paint, pink construction paper and a nice black felt tip pen. We made 20 invites in about 2 1/2 hours...mind you they were all handwritten.

To start, I drew a very simple corset and we cut that out from thick paper to use as a template. The white background you see is the heavy cardstock cut at 5" x 7"....we were able to just cut a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 in half then trim off the excess. Our envelopes, which I already had, were standard hallmark-y ones that are about 5x7 so that's why we went with that size. Start with what you do have and go from there!

The bows are pretty self explanatory (used hot glue) and on the back we cut out 'pink panties' which I didn't take a pic of...but that's where we wrote details about the shower and her sizes on the panties...we used a regular old glue stick to attach the corset and the panties. (dollar tree!)

I think "L" is going to put 3 little dots of the pink paint under the little poem just to help define that space.

They turned out adorable and we super easy to put together. Hope this helps if you're thinking of affordable/easy invitation projects. 

July Drawings

Trying to be productive on my summer vacation. I guess I can't just sit around and watch movies and play Donkey Kong all day. I mean that's what I've been doing, but sooner or later I start to feel like I'm wasting my brain away. So if I draw and paint, I don't feel so much like a degenerate. 

Snacks and 4th of July

Fruit Flag

blueberries, strawberries (halved), bananas in large chunks

Roasted Tato Fries

sweet potatoes and yukon gold potatoes

olive oil

sunflower seeds

salt and pepper

garlic powder

oven, 395 F for 20-30 min. 

Bahamas Vacation...

Well, we looked forward to it for a year! Lovely Bahamas. I am so happy with our excursions to private islands. Best part of the trip. And snorkeling in the clear waters of the Bahamas? Perfect.

Blue Lagoon

2 year anniversary

love me some Coco Cay

typical beach foot shot

crazy thing on the beach

tiger stripe pedi

he found a bun

elegant night jewelry brought to you by forever 21...

favorite meal: beef tenderloin and mashed taters. yumm. 

beautiful waters of blue lagoon island, bahamas

i cannot tell you how amazing this water was. it was like swimming inside a jewel.

boats

our boat, enchantment of the seas

i love tug boats.

me, climbing the rock wall 

last day on board

cocoa beach, fl

July Nails

Well I usually do some flags or red,white and blue themed nails for the 4th of July...and then a day later I feel like my Christmas tree is still up in January. So this year...I decided to do a deconstructed color scheme still within the patriotic bounds of 'Merica.


I found this idea on Pinterest...of course. Is anyone else getting tired of referencing Pinterest? I guess you have to...or else you're lying to yourself. Although us creative types don't "need" to steal everyone else's ideas, but I guess it's like finding lessons on the internet...why should you re-invent the wheel? Anyway, I'll post a link dammit.

No link...but this is pretty self-explanatory and luckily she's smart and puts her name all over her images.
 I basically copied this idea...hers looks better though. I think she used a better brush?


I always hate seeing stark white on my toes...seems ghostly. Or like I'm in bored in high school and painted my nails with white-out.

I layered colors just like that tutorial shows above. I am in love with the Dollar Tree's little nail polish brushes...but I might use a very small paintbrush next time. Clean it with nail polish remover? 

I used 4 colors....of blues. 

Then I tried this on my nails...and my hubby likes the pink better than the blue. However, after our recent trip to the Bahamas, I felt like a 'wave inspired' design was appropriate. 

There ya go...summer time, July nails.