bridal shower invites.

did i already share with you how excited i am that one of my best friends is getting married soon?!!!

i am so excited to celebrate her big day in just over one month!

this is my first time being a matron of honor.

it's was my first time planning any sort of showers.

i wanted to make it personal, memorable and unique.

so i thought.. why not make it all handmade!

i figured i made a handmade wedding, why can't i do a handmade shower too??

and so.. i did!

here are the invitations i made..

these are the supplies. paper. your stamp. embossing ink. embossing powder in the color you would like. (you can use clear ink and a colored powder OR a colored ink with clear powder - they turn out the same way.). a tray to dispose of the extra powder. a heat gun.

i got some colored paper and created the invite on the computer and left some open spaces for some crafty touches. like stamping and embossing. two of my favorite things for cards and invites!

my wedding invites were also handmade, stamped and embossed!

i did this sample on a white invite to make sure it turned out how i was envisioning.

the process..

first you stamp on the paper where you want. i don't have a photo of this since it was clear.

then you dump the powder on it. i like to make sure i get the entire stamp covered.

once you have all the ink covered, shake off the extra powder into the tray to save and use again. i usually tap the paper lightly to make sure the powder around the design is off too, otherwise that will also get embossed.

once you're happy with how it looks, start up that heat gun! i hold the gun about 6-8 inches away and then once it starts embossing i usually adjust as needed. be careful to not hold it in one place too long, otherwise you will burn the paper.

let it sit aside, it will be hot. the paper will also probably be a little wavy or discolored, no worries! it will lay back down and the color comes back after a couple minutes.

after trying my sample on white, i moved on to the real deal.

once they were all stamped and embossed i added the final touches (a strip of paper on the bottom, the thread and paper at the top [where i wrote where they are registered on one side and rvsp date on the other]) and they were ready to send out!

what do you think?
miss riss didn't even understand them.. silly girl.
do you?

day seven. part seven.

happy sunday!! our one year anniversary is on monday - so i'm sharing all about our love! read each part up to this point to catch yourself up! [part one], [part two], [part three], [part four], [part five] and [part six]!

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today i wanted to share with you some of our official engagement photos and lots of photos of preparation for our wedding day. be prepared for some fun and craziness!

we loved, loved, loved our engagement photos! it was so fun and so natural to take them.

the preparation for the wedding was full of so many emotions! stress, happiness, fun, nervous, excitement, ups, downs - pretty much every emotion possible!

to release the stress, we went and got manis and pedis :) and then headed out to get ready for rehearsal.

but we ended the night before our wedding with bang - we flash mobbed another wedding! it was so fun!! the bride was not very happy at first.. and then she went along with it.. and then we got kicked out. definitely a memory we look back on often!

we did almost my entire wedding handmade.

i made the [invitations] and the programs. 

my mom, friends and i crafted all of the center pieces together.

my mom and i made all of the 'thank you for coming' gifts.

we decorated all of the cupcakes for our dessert table.

i made every one's seating mugs.

the entire back drop for our ceremony was built and we used lots of live plants and flowers.

we bought all the flowers from the farmer's market [remember how i love shopping local ;)?] and we put them all together for the aisles, up front, bridesmaids bouquets and my bouquet.

it was so much fun to make our wedding hand crafted and special, just for us.

definitely wish i would have had more time if i had to do it all over - but i would definitely do it all myself just like we did!

and... i didn't even have pinterest at that time!

if you have any questions about our wedding, how much it cost to do it all, or are interested in doing a self crafted wedding and wondering more details - email me and i would LOVE to help you out! 

bridal shower.

no.. not mine. i'm already married - although one of these days i will reminisce about our wedding day :)

anyways - as i mentioned yesterday.. this past weekend we celebrated my cousin co as she prepares to enter into marriage. it was a scorching hot day. here is the thing.. i don't sweat. i don't know why.. i just don't. i could be taking a very difficult work-out class and i'll look over and all the girls are dripping in sweat like we were at a white t-shirt contest. i was definitely the loser, my shirt wasn't even wet. well.. this day.. i was sweating. it was THAT hot. my hair was sticking to my back. good thing i had a slip under my dress.. otherwise it wouldn't have been a pretty sight.

even in the midst of all the heat, sweat, and cotton mouth [the shower was outside if you didn't already gather that from all the sweating i've been doing] - the shower was a blast. my momma hosted it at her house. here are some photos i captured from that day before the sweating took me out of commission.

one of my sweet cousins' daughters - she loved the cups of fruit and she was so sweet with her american girl dolls.

olivia is the daughter of another one of my cousins. she was born a month after mr. b and i got married - so this was my first time meeting her. she is such a happy-go-lucky little girl that instantly smiled every time she saw my camera

lots of chatting and trying to stay in the shade to keep cool

delicious punch and water to refresh us. these glass drink dispensers were used at our wedding. they are awesome and i love that they are glass and hold 4 gallons!

this sweet peach is another cousin's daughter. she was just adopted a couple months ago. she just loves babies and wanted to hold onto baby olivia. she was pulling on her legs saying 'wanna come up stairs to play?'. yes. it was precious.

the food was delicious - when it's that hot out.. it's hard to have an appetite. but then again.. when you've got my mom's cookin'.. it's hard to resist :)

these were the delicious delicious brownies we had. oh my word - they were so good. peanut butter and chocolate.. totally my weakness! i wish i could take the credit for making them - but i can't :) but i can take the credit for the cute stands ;) my mom and i made them from glass plates and wine glasses. we stuck pearls in the glasses and then glued a plate to the top and to the bottom. we had lots of these and used them as cupcake stands for our wedding!

here is myself and the gorgeous bride to be!! she will make a fabulous wife!

co's future sister-in-law must want her to have babies.. and lots of them! this is how she wrapped her present. AND she made those little slits in the ribbon so co WOULD break them when taking it off. so funny - but co STILL got the entire thing off with none of them breaking. we were all very impressed!

we grew up just down the street from each other and had tags sewn into our clothes labeled 'kissing cousins'. her home is where i would go when i would 'run away' from my own. have i ever told you that i was a naughty, trouble making daughter??

and here was my gift to her

my sister-in-law got me one of these for one of my wedding showers. i love love love it and use it all the time! i knew i wanted to do this same thing for my cousin when the time came around. it's a cake pan with a lid [the black piece is the lid]. the cake pan also says her name and i put some delicious goodies in there for her. it's such a fun gift and you can never lose your pan when it's got your name stamped on it! :)

have a joyful tuesday!