S Reception

I haven't even posted pictures from my own brother's reception in June yet, I'm awesome! I've actually been having issues with the computer all those photos are on and haven't gotten to transfer them yet. But someday soon I will post them, I promise!

Last Saturday I got to be in charge of a childhood friend's reception (open house shingdig). I've known the Pratt family my entire life and they're such amazing people. So generous and helpful and kind, and just awesome (plus they're my bosses!). So when they found out Haley was getting married in August they asked if I would be willing to help them. Summers are crazy busy for them and I knew with everything else in life right now, trying to plan a reception would be really fun for me, and not as much fun for them. Of course, I said YES! haha

I believe it was mid-June that we started the planning. Now I'll be the first to admit, I'm bossy and like to get things done my own way, which I think can be good, sometimes....but not all the time. So once I got the OK, I was off! Her parents took care of the food, cupcakes, chair/tent/tablecloth rentals and I got to do the rest. I seriously LOVE this stuff ok.

It was so fun looking around for ideas and inspiration and I had a really good time pulling it all together. It's hard to know someone else's taste (even if you have known them your entire life:)) but I did know she wouldn't like diamonds dripping from the tree branches and peacocks wandering around so I crossed those off my list (I kid, I kid).

It was a backyard reception and I think it went wonderfully! Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves and lots of people came out to congratulate the happy couple. I was so glad to have the chance to help them out.

Here are some pictures (all from my phone-high fives for attending a reception that I didn't have to take pictures at! I can count on one hand the # of receptions I've been to that I haven't taken pics at since I was 17).

Others have better photos but I only have access to my own for now.

I made several of these planters for succulents! I also made this chandelier out of wax paper for the gazebo.

Some silly details. Water bottle labels and wrapped silverware...intriguing! (These types of pics are mostly for myself so I can refer back.)

Tree branch bubbles! Some of my ideas are a little over the top to some (cough, mother, cough) and it's probably true but if it's something that I WANT to do and LIKE to do then it's all good.

Amazing HEIDI and her amazing aunt did the flowers! Heidi and I ordered flowers online about a month ago and they arrived two days before the wedding. So they were hard at work all day Friday and half of Saturday working on the beautiful flowers. They made 10 table centerpieces, 6+ ball jar arrangements, lots of corsages for moms/grandmas, 3 or 4 mini bouquets for the sisters, two head crown things for the flower girls (nieces), lots of boot-in-ears (never can spell that word)

for groom/brothers/dads/grandpas. Seriously so amazed. We had lots of flowers left over so just before everyone got back from the temple, I put some baby's breath into a couple bird cages to put around.

 This was the gate where people walked in. There was a guestbook table....

 A birdcage card table, a favor table.....

The favors were mini succulents that I made mini cement pots for. Kind of fun, kind of a pain, but it was fun to make the pots!

 I made 500 paper cranes to hang from the trees but it was a pain to hang them and I didn't have time to worry about it so only some of them got hung up. But it was ok.

 More centerpieces (and BBQ sauce)

 I had some amazing help the day of to get ready for this. I would still be sitting huddled in a corner if they hadn't come to help cut fruit/veggies and make trays, help decorate, set up, take down, etc....

 This is the buffet table. Bare Bones BBQ catered the dinner. Really we just went that day to pick up all the food from them and handled the rest ourselves.

 The drinks! We had a little mishap with the lemonade dispenser just before the family got back to eat dinner....the seal was broken and juice went evvverywhere! 

 The flowers were just so pretty!

 The tent where we put all the food stuff was really cool and handy. This is the dessert table.

Some more flowers Heidi made

 As the party was winding down.....

The end of the night. I loved the gazebo in the dark! The chandelier is now hanging in my room :)

 The cutest flower girl I've ever seen!

 And the last pics of flowers.

Wow I congratulate you if you actually made it through that mess of words/pictures! Yikes.

Overall it was so great and while it's a lot of work trying to prepare for it, seeing everyone come and enjoy themselves was awesome.

Promise to post Ty's reception pics sometime hopefully soon.

Chyla's wedding this Saturday! Literally 15 wedding invites in the mail in the last two months...cray cray.

12 Days

There is a wedding for a friend happening in 14 days. Guess who's 'in charge'? ME! haha I'm helping out the family by handling the reception/open house thing. I love this kind of thing so I was happy they asked :)
However....I'm a freak of nature that cannot be tamed. I am also ADHD. I am also a human tornado. I am also crazy. I always say this but I'll say it again, I don't know how to do a lot of things. I just try it out and if I'm able to learn something, great! If not, ehhh, I'll survive. I don't like directions though so as long as I'm able to do something without reading a manual of directions I'm good to go. 

Alas enter the 'cement mini planter project'.

Literally like a mad scientist. I coined a new word, scienticism. It means when you do something that has nothing to do with real science but it makes a big mess and looks crazy. You're welcome Webster.

So I went to the store yesterday and bought a freaking heavy bag of cement. The first one I grabbed was 80 dang pounds and last week I did something to my wrist so it's hard to do things with it. So that was super fun! 

Once I got home, I found a whole bunch of random containers to use as molds. I got plastic, metal, glass, cardboard stuff, etc...The most successful planters came from using an almond rocca container (the kind with the cardboard outside and metal bottom), and a small applesauce cup. Go figure. I recommend not using glass bottles, or those fancy 'crystal' throw away cups. No bueno.
The Tupperware worked well too.

6 out of 10 worked! 2 others were successful also but I accidentally cracked them with a hammer on purpose... (I haven't gotten around to evening out the tops yet and I'm still deciding if I want to white wash them or not)

 I'm hoping these can be used as small planters for the wedding favors, but I'll decide for sure in the next day or two. I want to get little succulent cuttings and plant them in there. I found similar favors on etsy but they were 10 for $40 or something ridiculous like that. I can make 40-50 of these planters for  less than 5 bucks- they really aren't 'hard' to make either. Then the succulent cuttings are about 70 cents plus soil I already have. So it's not too bad. Cheaper than the candy bar favor we did for Ty's :p.

Anyways. That was yesterday. Earlier this week I finished making these planter boxes for some larger succulents. They are just super simple wooden planters that I cut to size, nailed super quick and stained. They try to sell these planter boxes online for $10+ each too. Pssshhhh how about $1. Plus, when you make them yourself, you get to use power tools! And hammers that sometimes hammer your thumb and make you bleed profusely and remove 1/2 of your thumb nail.

I also got all the wood measured and cut for a cart that I'm going to try to make. It's tricky. Plus I don't have the right tools for a couple parts so I'm at a standstill. I just need a nail gun and a kreg jig come on!

 

 

This is part of that above project. They used to sell a rolling dessert cart at Anthropology which I'm hoping it will look like somewhat :)

Oy this is long and ridiculous. 

super quick though, some friends got sealed in the Vancouver, BC temple on Tuesday! It was such a neat experience, one of my favorite temple trips so far for sure. Plus the weather was wonderful! The grounds were looking really bright, colorful, and cheery as well.

  

 

And last but not least...

 

I became obsessed with this little 'show' on youtube called The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. It's a modern day twist on the Jane Austen book, Pride and Prejudice. The format is so different and something that hasn't been done before. It's 'Lizzie's' online vlog diary. Her friend helps her with it. It's mostly about her and her sisters and the other key characters from the book. 

There are 100 episodes plus there are little side-story split off videos occasionally from other characters. Each episode is about 3-6 minutes long so it's not like a huge time investment. It's just cute and not so crazy as other shows that are out there. I'm hoping the producers decide to do another 'season' because I would like that very much!

Finished

I forgot to post a completed picture of the closet I built for myself. Phew good thing I remembered! ;)

I'm still trying to figure out that little space on the bottom left- I have some ideas though.

BEFORE

Stubborn

stub·born  

/ˈstəbərn/

Adjective

1. Having or showing dogged determination not to change one's attitude or position on something, esp. in spite of good arguments or reasons...
2. Difficult to move, remove, or cure.

That's what I am. I freely admit it. When I get an idea in my mind, it is the best idea and I don't rest until it is done....or something like that.... :D

Well last Wednesday I was madly organizing my room, trying to get it cleaned up before Ty and his fiancee Jessica came up to visit. When I realized that my closet is awful. It's tiny and crammed with junk/clothes/shoes/everythingthatdoesnthaveahome. So I grabbed my handy dandy yellow notepad (love those mini ones!) and started drawing out what my new closet would look like. I measured and re-measured and drew out the plans. It was going to be awesome!
(after this chicken scratch I made it official by typing it all up and even breaking down how much all the wood would cost, I was $4 off!)

I obviously didn't get it done that day, I didn't even buy the materials that day. Ty and Jessica arrived reallllly late Wednesday night/Thursday morning. They just left Sunday afternoon but it was really fun to have them here and we got to meet Jessica which was cool. So we did lots of family stuff those days, no time to work on my new closet. Which is fine.

Saturday I did have a little bit of time so I cut all of my boards to size.

 First I measured and marked each board so I would know the exact pieces that board would make. That was very handy.
Cutting all the boards didn't take a whole lot of time, maybe about two hours (that includes digging for the correct tools-the tool section of the garage is next on my list).

A couple days later (today) I had a few hours between work and going back to work. The above is a ^^photo of my closet BEFORE ^^

Yaaaa....can you see why I need some help? Ridiculous.

There are 35 pack boxes of those thin velvet hangers at costco right now, seriously the best things I have bought in a long time! My mom bought me a box, then I went back and bought 2 more ($10 each!). So what I have a lot of clothes! I do have one whole box leftover for future use though.

These things are awesome clothes don't slip from them and they take up half the size of a regular hangers. Serious space saver.

   I have this $4 ikea clothes rack that I used to house all of my hanging clothes until the closet it finished. My room is literally an obstacle course right now.

Today I managed to get my 'shoe rack' done! Hurray. I cut little dividers for each of those shelves to split them in half, but I actually like it better without them, plus i have more room. Which I obviously need because I still have several pairs of shoes that don't fit.... (donation time!)

everyone scoffed at me and told me to get a pre-packaged closet kit. Glad I saved myself hundreds of dollars and proved them wrong!

 Tomorrow perhaps if I have some time I will finish up. The only parts I have left to do are cut 3 hanger rods and screw in 2-3 more shelves on the sides. To the left of the shoes will be a skinny rod to hang my long dresses. There will be a short shelf below those dresses for additional storage (remember we don't waste space). 

To the right of the shoes at the top will be another hanging rod for all my 'tops', sweaters, shirts, etc....Below that I am going to put another shelf and rod for all my skirts. That way, each type of clothing is sectioned out and much easier to sift through. The side shelves will be gone through and cleaned out, they are a mess right now.

Hopefully it will all be done soon so I can have my room back! 

My fingernail polish organization corner now! :) I obviously love the stuff.

Maybe this should be a 2nd post but I'm including it here....

We also worked hard and fast to get our craft room done. It was a disaster but between the garage, the laundry room, re-doing food storage, organizing closets, painting, etc....it got done finally.

 Walking in to the room this is what you see (Nicole, do you notice no more pink/white wall?:))

 The back 'kitchen' corner

 This is a craft cutting table I made for my mom for her birthday (2 months later....). I bought two of those expedite 4 cube bookcases for the base. Then got REALLLLY lucky at the re-store and found this heavy duty solid table top for $10. It was ugly and brown but I painted it and it works perfectly! There is a rounded spot at one end for all of the cutting supplies and the table fits our huge cutting mat exactly....literally exactly.

 The other side of the room has more of those expedite bookcases and desks for my mom and I to work at. Lots of storage.

 And looking towards the back.
It's nice to have it all organized and put away. Let's hope it lasts longer than a week :)