Shop Locally-- Online!

I just discovered that I was featured on a local blog.... What a nice early Christmas present! The purpose of the blog entry was to encourage shoppers to shop locally online. What a cool concept! They featured a few local Etsy shops run by local artisans. I'm honored!
Check it out here.

Your New Boyfriend stocking stuffer!

Maybe it's because I work in a high school. Maybe it's because of my weird sense of humor. Maybe it's because I recenlty attended my high school reunion. But, honestly, whatever the reason, I think these are the funniest things I've ever seen. They are available from etsy seller nowvember. PERFECT stocking stuffer... at least I think they are! Too funny!

For the Photobooth...

...that wasn't. Did I ever mention that we had a photobooth booked and paid for, but that we never, in fact, had one at our reception?? Despite a signed contract, and despite the fact that the photobooth guy scoped out our venue ahead of time, it was a no-go for our photobooth. Here's the heartbreaking story... My husband went to meet the afore-mentioned photobooth guy the morning of our wedding. When he got to our venue, he was told that there was NO WAY the photobooth was going to make it up the (five!) stairs into our reception room. When he called to break this news to me, I honestly thought he was kidding. Until I realized he wasn't. I wanted to cry! Instead, I begged him to figure out a way to make it work. He tried. He told the guy to just leave the booth, and he would round up family and friends to carry the stupid thing up the stairs. Photobooth guy wouldn't do it. (something about liability. ugh.) So, darling husband offered to pay photobooth guy an extra $500 bucks to leave it and let us figure out how to get the damn thing up the stairs. Still, he wouldn't do it.

So there you have it. We had photo props, we had a guestbook that was supposed to be filled with awesome photobooth pics of our guests... and, yet, we had no photobooth. Three months later, and I am still heartbroken. =(

Anyway, heartbreak aside, I want to show you these cute table tents I made to let everyone know about our photobooth.

Not sure you can read it, but it says:

"Say Cheese!

Before the end of the night, make sure to give us your best mug in the photobooth and write a little message in our guestbook. Return visits to the photobooth are not only allowed, but encouraged."

Cute, right? Too bad no one saw them. They were already on all the tables when we got to the reception, but I remembered to have someone go take them all down. Too sad.

Give Thanks

Another holiday, another banner! This one was listed in my etsy shop for ONE DAY and then it sold. Gotta make some more! What do you think? Like it?

...and one for Baby Boy!

Personalized Baby Gift
Originally uploaded by ColShelly

In my last blog post, I featured a frame I made for a baby . Another co-worker asked me to make one for her new grandson, and here it is! Don't you just love the little birds? :)
Do you think I should feature these in my etsy shop?

My Latest Creation...

Custom Picture Frame for Baby Girl
Originally uploaded by ColShelly

....is this picture frame! When my friend needed a baby gift, she asked me to create something for her, and this is what I came up with. I love the colors pink and brown together. It's hard to tell from the photo, but there are tiny pink polka dots on the brown paper, and tiny brown polka dots on the pink paper. The polka dot bow is the icing on the cake! She loved it, and I'm hoping the recipient will love it too! Email me or convo me through my etsy shop if you are interested in having me create a custom frame just for you!

A Few of Our Pink and Green Polka Dot Details

Ok, here's a confession. I am sad every time I look at my wedding photos. SAD! Our photographer didn't get ANY detail shots. ALL of these shots are from different family members (thank God for them!!).

I. Wanted. Detail. Shots.

(because I worked my butt off for a year on all these details!)

Getting My Stuff Together

I have been workin' it lately! Now that my wedding is over, I have the time to work on getting my etsy "stuff" together. Check out my collection of paper-crafty love here. I'm so motivated!

Time...

...is FLYING BY! I can hardly believe it's October already. I am in upstate NY, and it definitely feels like fall. It is freezing! Ok, I guess it's time to pack the flip-flops away.

In honor of October, I just made this little banner, which is listed in my etsy shop.

What do you think? Time for Halloween!

Our Completely Informal Yet Loveable Processional

We wanted to have a fun vibe for our wedding, and when we thought about processional music, we knew this was the perfect way to set the tone. To that end, we chose the song "All I Want is You" from the movie Juno. If you haven't heard it, hear it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQESZszV0Sg

What do you think? Perfect for the fun, funky vibe, don't you think? My Darling Husband's brother sang it for us, and he was great. We didn't tell anyone what I was walking in to, and as soon as he began playing, people were loving it! I can speak for myself..... I was GRINNING from ear to ear all the way down the aisle! :)

REMEMBER ME??

Hi again! I know, I know... I have had a pitiful amount of posts lately. What can I say? Wedding, honeymoon, and the beginning of the school year all within the last couple of weeks add up to a complete lack of blogging time. But, here I am..... I'm back! :)

We don't have any professional pics back from our wedding yet. However, we've had LOTS of family members post their pics to facebook. Hate to say it, but none of them are really blog-worthy! Here's a teaser to hold you over. It's not much, but it does show one of my favorite moments of the night. My Darling Husband's brother is giving a toast in our honor, and we are surrounded by the people we love. What more could I ask for?

Flower Power

I admit it. I used to hate. carnations. Really. I thought they were the cheesiest, tackiest, most cheap-o flowers on the face of the earth. That is, until I discovered how they look in clusters. Check out this post from the fabulous Eddie Ross. If you aren't already addicted to his blog, check it out, and you will be. I promise.

Any-hooo, I ordered tons of carnations for my DIY wedding flowers. I plan on making centerpieces and a bridesmaid bouquet out of them. What do you think? Did Eddie Ross convince you to love carnations, too?

Aisle Decor Inspiration (I am lacking!)

Ok, so it's three weeks until my wedding (HUH? How did THAT happen?!?), and I am seriously lacking ideas for decorating the church. I think all my time, energy, and resources have gone into DIY and reception details. **sigh**

These two pictures are all I got! I love them both, and, lucky for me, I think they will pretty easy to do. Great. My to-do-list just got a little longer. What do you think? Which do you like better?

(not sure were I got the pics, but if they are yours, please let me know so that I can give you the proper credit!)

New Etsy Listings

I have a couple of new listings in my shop! One of them will look familiar to you.... I've decided to list the thank you cards I made for my bachelorette party. My friends all loved them, so I thought maybe others might love them, too.... and maybe someone will love them enough to buy them! Included with the thank you cards are lined envelopes and envelope seals. Not a bad deal, if I do say so myself. :)

The other new listing is for a journal decoupaged with the vintage newsprint I found in my garage attic. Remember me telling you about that? Here's one of the journals I made. Visit my shop to see all of them! I LOVE feedback about my stuff! Let me know what you think!

It's Taking Over My House!

Anyone else's closet look like this? It has been completely taken over by wedding STUFF! Everything from the gift bags for the girls, the cardbox, the tons of candy for the candy buffet, the pomanders (and I could go on and on....) is stored in here. And you should take a look under my bed. I think we are going to need a u-haul to transport everything to the reception site! I am getting to the point that I want my house (and my life!)back. ugh.

Do Not Disturb Our Guests!

Here's another wedding DIY-- a quick and easy one! I decided to make these for our out of town guests. I am going to put them in the OOT bags I will have in each hotel room. They are double-sided, and therefore do double-duty. In case you can't read the photos, one side of the tag says "Do Not Disturb, We are getting ready for Colleen and Kurt's wedding," the other side is for the next morning.... It says "Do Not Disturb, We were up late partying at Colleen and Kurt's wedding." Of course, they are pink and green and feature polka dots... gotta match the theme! I have the template I created in Microsoft Publisher, email or comment if you'd like me to send it to you; I'm happy to share!

Midnight Snack

When I first started wedding planning, I stumbled upon the idea of having a midnight snack at the reception. I think it was Weddingbee's Mrs. Emerald's McDonald's Cheeseburgers that inspired me. It may not be a new or completely unique idea, but it's new to me! I've never been to a wedding that had anything like it. And, what do people want after a night of drinking, dancing, and celebrating? FOOD! My Fiance and I decided we would do something like this for our guests, so we are having pizzas brought in from my family's favorite restaurant. Our band stops playing at midnight, so that's when the pizza will be served. YUM. I know my family, they will be ALL OVER that pizza! I think it'll be a nice treat for our guests... and a good way to end the night. What do you think? Are you serving a "midnight snack" at your wedding or after-party?

Thank You Cards Fit For a Queen

These are the thank you cards I made for the ladies who attended my bachelorette party. I wanted to make them special, since they all made ME feel so special! ;) The envelope liners are made with silver and gold striped wrapping paper. If you are planning to use wrapping paper for any of your envelope liners, I recommend using nice thick paper, not the cheap stuff. It does make a difference. To seal the envelopes, I made stickers with the same crown image I used on the card (forgot to take a picture, but trust me, they were the perfect way to seal the envelope, and looked super cute). I love how they came out, and I've heard lots of great feedback from the ladies. I'm starting to think I may never buy another card..... sorry Hallmark!

Favors to Feast On

I am not sure it's the norm, but I felt like I HAD to make some sweet treats for the lovely ladies who attended my bachelorette celebration. I made them oreo truffles using the recipe I found here. With only a few ingredients, they were pretty easy to make, but a little time consuming. Everyone said they were delicious (especially my fiance who got t eat all of the "rejects"). An easy, yummy recipe.... that's the best kind!

I found the cute boxes at the dollar store, but they had some not-so-cute foam type stickers on the tops, so I removed those and replaced them with some stickers I made. It's all in the presentation!

Ok, now I'm hungry.... off to make dinner! ;)

Blasts from the Past

I know, I know, it's been a few days! But, I have been busy with etsy orders and my girl-getaway-bachelorette party weekend (I promise a post on that as soon as someone sends me some pics!).

One of my favorite etsy projects this week has been for my customer DeeDee. I am making her rehearsal dinner invitations with vintage envelope liners. She wants all of her liners to have a wedding theme, so I've spent lots of time in my garage attic going through old newspapers. Her liners are coming out great; I've found wedding related artwork, wedding announcements, and wedding advertisements. They will look like this:

And, bonus, when I was digging through those old papers, I discovered a newspaper from November 1963 containing news of JFK's assassination and funeral. What a cool find!

A Shout-Out from Project Wedding

There was a post on the Project Wedding forum recently about my cocktail napkins! I sold some of my gocco'd napkins to fellow PW member "MommyLynda", and she had such nice things to say, it made my day. If you haven't checked out PW yet, do it! You'll be hooked. I promise.

Get on the Bus!

In a recent post, I gave you a sneak peek of our "getaway car," my '78 VW bug convertible. Now you get to check out the sweet ride we booked for our guests!

Yep-- it's a big yellow school bus! My fiance and I are both educators, and many of our guests (both family and friends) are teachers, school psychologists, and school administrators. We thought it fitting and appropriate that they get to and from our reception in a big 'ole bus! I am thinking this might make for some good photo-ops, especially at the end of the night! And, it definitely fits in with the fun, whimsical theme we've got going. What do you think? Are you incorporating any unique modes of transportation into your wedding?

So Many Dresses, So Few Places to Go!

If only I had lots of places to go! I imagine summer evenings of cocktails and jazz.... I absolutely LOVE all of these retro looking dresses from ModCloth . Why, oh WHY, did I already buy a dress for my Rehearsal Dinner??? I may have to return it and buy one of these beauties.

I Think I Need To Order This.

This awesome little find is from etsy seller The BrickKiln. I love how the car resembles our "Getaway Car," my 1978 Volkswagen Convertible Bug!
Don't you think I HAVE to order it?

I am a STALKER

...a mailbox stalker, that is! My RSVP's have been steadily rolling in for the last week, but there are still SO MANY to come. I am home for most of the summer, and I honestly check my mailbox 10 times in the morning before it is actually full. There must be something wrong with me because I am actually sad and disappointed when there are no little pink RSVP envelopes in there! The worst thing to find in my mail these days is a returned invitation. Like the one I got back because my darling cousin gave me the wrong address. Bummer. So far, there have been three returns, and hopefully that will be it.
Don't you love it when people write little notes on their RSVP cards? That's the BEST kind of mail!

Look What Came Today!

I always find inspiration on Weddingbee, and sometimes I find really good deals! Bee Miss Joey recently posted about steals and deals. Thanks to her, I found a perfect pink clutch to match my perfect pink shoes! And, what a deal! I ordered it from Aldo, and paid less that $15.00! Love it!

Charm-ing bouquet

So, I blogged about my inspiration bouquet recently. And, I love it, I really do. But I don't love those dangly pink crystal chandelier thingys hanging from it. But I did want SOMETHING dangling from my bouquet. I turned to etsy, of course, to find the perfect bouquet charm. This is what will make my bouquet charming! It's from etsy seller magpiedesignz. I love it, and I can't wait to see it on my wedding day.

Flowers

I decided a while ago that I would DIY the flowers for my wedding. Since I made that decision, I have been second guessing myself! I did a few practice bouquets, centerpieces, and bouts, and they actually weren't half bad! I don't really doubt the fact that I have the ability to DIY my flowers, I just wonder about the toll it's going to take on my sanity the week of the wedding. This picture (I've had it saved to my flickr site forever, so if it's yours, please let me know so that I can give you props) is the inspiration for my bouquet. It's why I ordered a jillion ranunculus. I only hope mine comes out this good!
I am doing bunches of clumped up carnations for my centerpieces (don't I make them sound so nice?!?) I used to HATE carns, but I actually like the way they look when all bunched up together. Cheap and easy. Nice.
I ordered all my flowers from www.fiftyflowers.com, and I promise to review them after the big event. Wish me luck. I have a feeling I'm going to need it!

Cocktail Napkins

Another project I did months before the wedding was gocco my cocktail napkins. I liked the idea to personalize the napkins with little facts about yourself and your fiance, but wanted to do something a little different. You may remember that I described our wedding as a big huge PAR-TAY, with the main theme being F.U.N. To go along with that, we decided to gocco lots of different funny quotes about love on our cocktail napkins. We are having a cocktail reception, so I figured we'd need lots of cocktail napkins.

Here are some of the quotes we used:

I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life. -Rita Rudner

Your love is better than ice cream. -Sara MacLauchlan

I have seen him in hawaiian shirts, she said, so there is nothing hidden between us. -Brian Andreas

Anyone can be passionate but it takes real lovers to be silly. -Rose Franken

I was naseous and tingly all over. I was either in love or I had smallpox. -Woody Allen

I love you even when you're sick and look disgusting. - From the movie Love Actually

Falling in love is so hard on the knees. -Aerosmith

I'm not a smart man but I know what love is. -Forrest Gump

Men are from earth, women are from earth. deal with it. -George Carlin

People will say we're in love. -Hannibal Lechter

This was a fun project, my fiance and I had lots of laughs when searching for quotes. I think they will make for some good conversation starters. :)

She Wore a Flower in her Hair

hair flower
Originally uploaded by colleenshelly

Ok, so in my last post I mentioned my hair flower, and promised "more on that later," so I'm keeping my word... here it is! I ordered this gorgeousness from Etsy seller Mikiye. It is a beautiful creamy pink color, and when I went for my hair trial, everyone thought it was real! Now to decide if I want to wear a birdcage veil or not.....

First the Shoes... and now the Dress

Here she is. This is it, only in white, err... actually "marshmallow." Not the greatest picture, but it is the only picture I can find on line. It's made by Dessy, and is actually a bridesmaid dress. I knew I wanted to be a "short-dress bride," and quickly realized that bridesmaid dresses were the way to go... such a savings! I am going to add a little extra pouf to the skirt by wearing a crinoline. I'm still looking for jewelry, I really like the look of the big necklace in the picture, but think it may be too much with the big hair flower I'm wearing. More on that later... :)

Must.Have.These.Shoes.

I have been lusting after these for a while! (source: Zappos.com; they are Kate Spade Clarice). I showed them to my darling FI last night, and he didn't even flinch at the $300.00 price tag! He told me to ORDER THEM! I love that man. But, I am having a hard time justifying spending that much money on something I will probably wear once.

And then FATE intervened. I was perusing the Weddingbee classifieds this morning, and someone is selling them for $175. Now THAT, I can justify! Say a little prayer for me that they fit me! I am in love.

Wreath Tutorial

This is a picture of one of the wreaths I will be hanging on the church doors for the wedding. After the ceremony, we'll be moving this to the doors of the reception venue (gotta love decor that does double duty!). This isn't the greatest photo, but the initials will be centered in the middle of the wreath before the big day.... I guess I should get on that!
Here's how I made them.

Supplies:
1. Rectangular sheet of styrofoam. I got mine at JoAnn Fabric.
2. Hot glue gun
3. Silk flowers, and lots of 'em! My colors are pink and green, so I used silk hydrangeas in shades of these colors. As you can see from the photo, I used mostly pink with green as an accent color.
4. Initials of the bride and groom. I found these at Michael's. They are made out of a smooth, sturdy styrofoam.
5. Paint for initials
6. Ribbon
This was one of the first projects I did for our wedding. They can be made WAY ahead of time, which is great!
Steps:
1. Cut styrofoam into desired shape and size. Mine are about 10 inches square. The craft stores sell a fancy expensive styrofoam cutter; don't waste your money on it! I just used a knife to cut my styrofoam. It leaves the edges kind of rough, but it doesn't matter since they will be nicely covered with flowers.
2. Pull the flowers off of the stems with the plastic center of the flower still attached. I tried to get a picture of this, but all I got was a blurry blob. It's a good idea to have that plastic center attached; you'll see why in the next step.
3. Add a dab of hot glue to the back of your flower, on the plastic part. Stick the plastic into the styrofoam. Repeat this step a zillion times until your wreath is covered. I recommend placing the flowers close together so none of the white styrofoam shows through. Make sure to cover the sides of the wreath. Also, if you are going to be using your wreath on a window or glass door, do the back, too. Don't worry about the stringy hot glue stuff; it is easily removed when you are done.
4. Once the wreath is covered, attach ribbon to the back. I used hot glue for this because the back of my wreath won't show. If you are covering the back of your wreath with flowers, attach the ribbon first.
5. Paint your letters in a color to compliment the wreath. I wouldn't use the same color as your flowers, because you want it to stand out a bit.
6. If you want your initial centered in each of the wreaths, use fishing line hot glued to the back of the wreath. (this is the step I haven't done yet, despite the fact that I've had these wreaths completed since January!)
Feel free to email me with any questions.... cshel829@gmail.com. Have fun!

My Next Project (after the wedding!)

I think I found a new use for all those original old newspapers from the 1950's/60's stashed in the attic of my garage...Paper Mache bowls! Maybe they will be Christmas gifts next year...shhh, don't tell. I found this on the Painted Fish Studio Blog. Check it out here. www.paintedfishstudio.com/?p=257

What do you think?

Treats for Dancin' Feet

Our reception is going to be a BIG HUGE PAR-TAY! Our band is playing for four hours, and we aren't doing any of the traditional formalities. It's the second wedding for both me and my FI, so we just want to have fun and celebrate with the people we love. So, no cake-cutting (actually, no cake!), no special dances, and no garter/bouquet toss mean that we will have four straight hours of DANCING! We MUST, therefore, provide flip-flops for our female guests! I have eighty pairs of pink and green flipflops ready to go! I found the nifty baskets at Target and added the sign post, sign and ribbon. For the flipflops, I made stickers to show the size and attached them with coordinated polka dot ribbon. I know our ladies are going to appreciate them!

Just Married

Here's a picture of the banner we will be using for our "getaway car." The car, by the way, is my 1978 Volkswagen Superbeetle Convertible. Yay! Unfortunately, my sweet lil car is in the garage, so I couldn't take a pic of her wearing the banner. :( So for now, it's just tacked to my corkboard, but you get the idea... right?

I used my cricut for the cutouts. I like how the scalloped circles incorporate the polka dot theme. And, of course, I had to use my pink and green!

I will make a banner just for you if you'd like.... see my etsy shop for more details! :)

Getting My Invitations Ready to GO!

This is what I'm working on tonight. I made my invitations with my gocco, and incorporated our pink and green polka dot theme. This little project kept me very busy during several cold, dark upstate NY winter weekends! I have had them packed away for a while, but got them out this afternoon to get them ready to go in the mail. For a gocco novice (never even heard of the thing until I started planning my wedding!), I don't think they came out too bad. What do you think? I mean, besides the horrible "erase" job of personal info I did in photoshop elements! :)

Etsy Shop is OPEN!

I did it! I have a few items listed in my etsy shop. Check it out! It's www.colshelly.etsy.com.
I am a TOTAL NEWBIE to this kind of thing, so I am open to feedback/comments/constructive criticism.... let me know what you think!

Gifties for my Girlies

It all started with this bag from etsy seller tinygreenapples. I had the bags personalized for each girl and of course, they feature pink and green polka dots! Not the greatest picture, but you get the idea! They have black handles at the top of the bag, not visible in this pic.

I went on to fill each bag with all kinds of personalized goodies, like this little box that I found at the dollar store. It's a box/picture frame, but instead of putting a picture in the frame, I made a monogram for each girl, printed it on cardstock, and added that! Inside the box, I put book plate stickers I made for each girl. I think I need a new camera, because they look A TON better in real life!!

I also put in a dollar store photoalbum that I personalized for each girl, and a disposable camera. To personalize the photoalbum, I adhered ribbon to it and made cardstock circle stickers and used the same monogram I used for the bookplate box. I think they came out cute!

Another etsy find was from seller ItsAllAboutYou. I ordered scrabble tile necklace charms with each girl's initials, and then created the ribbon necklace myself.

Each girl is also getting flip-flops, personalized notepads, and a picture frame. What do you think? I can't wait to gift my girls!