Latest Project (brought to you by wedding day left-overs)

Check it out!!

We had quite a few bits and pieces of wedding lying around, so I decided to use some of it to fill an empty poster frame. The ribbon on the top and bottom edges are actually the wraps from my bridesmaids' bouquets, and the paper is stuff I had lying around. That brings the total cost to this project to absolutely ZERO! Love it!

I'm still to this day in complete love with my invitation suite. I designed it myself, and Sean's cousin printed it up. I can't put together enough words to say how glad I am that I did this. It. was. worth. it. And now, these gorgeous invitations and programs will be proudly displayed in our home.

Easter!!

One of the worst parts about living away from our families is that we miss the holidays. I work on holidays too, so often times we celebrate them weird. We have so many holidays crammed into one day, trying to see everyone, and we have to drive 7 hours roundtrip for it. That leaves us cranky, annoyed, and probably not the best company.

This Easter, family is coming to us.

Sean's dad will be in South Korea (he's working on a new project there), so Sean's mom, grandma, brother, and sister-in-law will all be coming to see us here in KC!! We're super excited to host family. Sean's mom is the only one who's been to our new place, and Sean's grandma and sister-in-law haven't even been out here. We're really excited to host too. We can't wait to see everyone, and I'm having a blast prepping for it.

Today, I spent most of the day cleaning. I know this week is going to be really busy, so I want to get as much as I can done this weekend. I've done seven (!!!) loads of laundry, and cleaned the crap out of our bedroom, the kitchen, and the bathrooms. All that's left is the living room (which is mostly folded laundry), the office, and the floors.

I've also made a grocery list for our spectacular (and first) Easter dinner! We have to celebrate on Saturday, since I work Sunday (boo), but oh well. Since everyone will be in town, we're figuring we won't want to be in the kitchen all day. I've picked out super simple things we can make the day before!

Our main course will be a Parmesan-Sage pork loin, which is all crock pot, and has potatoes, carrots, and pears. We'll also have green bean casserole, which we prep the day before and just pop in the oven. Of course I'm going to make cheesy garlic rolls, but I'll just make them on Friday and pop them in the oven before dinner to warm them up! Hopefully we won't all be too full to drag ourselves to Easter Vigil mass at 8:30...we'll see though ;)

I still need to decide on a dessert though ;) I'm thinking of a pretty cake that can sit in my cake stand! Teehee.

Man. I'm such a nerd.

Dining "Area" Glory

Sean and I have one of those apartments with the "open" concept - we have a kitchen/living room/dining room area. A breakfast bar (and tiled floor) separates the kitchen, but our living room/dining area is all together. We usually just push our couch back to nearly where the table is, but Sean's mom is planning to come in for Easter, and we needed to do some sprucing.

I've been looking for a fun craft, and I came across the Etsy page of ItzFitz, and her gorgeous yarn wreaths.

Um, hello craftspiration! I've been looking for you lately :p

I found the perfect tutorial over at DanielleBurkleo, and with some left over yarn, I made a gorgeous wreath. For $6. Fan-freaking-tastic.

First, you'll need a foam wreath. I bought this one for $5 at Hobby Lobby. It doesn't matter if it has nicks or anything, because you'll be covering them. I wanted a multi-colored wreath, so I divided my circle into 10 parts - don't worry about measuring. In this, perfection isn't necessary.

I hot glued the first piece of yarn to the wreath. To prevent it from slipping around, I thumbtacked the first piece of yarn down. And then, you wrap. Here's what it looks like two sections in:

Pretty soon, you have a gorgeous wreath. I added a few felt flowers from the tutorial for good measure.

And then I hung it up on our wall using some ribbon that was hanging around

I love our little set up (please disregard the laundry). Thanks to our new table runner (which don't hang off the table like any other runner, because ours is so massive), it's really coming together! Now I just need to find something to go in that cake stand when there's not a cake. I'm also planning on adding a bit of lace or something to the votives. And maybe, you know, actually hang those pictures.

Recipe Book Progress

Remember how I said one of my goals was to make a recipe book?

Well I've been working on it a lot here lately, and I have to say, it's made some pretty awesome progress.

A lot of the book itself is based off of TasteBook, which is essentially a recipe binder maker site. It does exactly what I'm doing - professionally. The reason I didn't go with them? I wanted to be able to print off copies of these recipes at any time. I have this fear of companies like this going out of business...yes, I can order 5 now, but in 20 years when my kids want one, will I be able to get it?

I'll always be able to open a Word Document.

So I opened up my handy Photoshop, made several banners (I color coordinated the sections of the book), imported them into a word document, and then turned that into a Word Template. That way, I could ensure every one of them is the same - and I can give each person a disk with the templates, and they can create their own additional pages.

I've created 10 categories for my recipe book (some of which are drastically empty, because I don't cook things out of them often):
Brunch and Breads
Appetizers and Drinks
Soups and Salads
Sides
Pasta, Rice, and Beans
Fish and Seafood (this would be an empty one, because Sean doesn't like them)
Meat and Poultry
Desserts
Crock Pot
Everything Else

My Everything Else section has measure conversions, ingredient substitutions, and recipes for things like chili sauce. I'm trying to find a catchier name, mostly because I want it at the front of the book, but I can't figure one out :\

I've imported all of my standard, go-to recipes, and now I'm cruising the web for a few additional ones. Every time I see a good one - into the book it goes! Now if only I could get my sisters-in-law and mother-in-law to send me theirs...

Anyway. Want to see a page?

It's a bit shortened, cause the rest of the page is blank space. But that's the banner I'm using (ahem, and created myself). It's simple but adorable at the same time. It adds interest to the page too. Each section is color coded and desserts just happen to be bright purple :) 

We plan on getting personalized recipe binders from Zazzle - that way we can each have our own personal ones! I love that you can change the type, and so first names, last names, and clever recipe book titles are all possibilities. I haven't decided on which one I want - I like WAY too many of them. They're 1.5" binders too, so there's plenty of room for all the pages we could ever need. 

I'm super excited about how it's coming along...I can't wait until it's finished!

Wanting to be Kitsch.

 Have you noticed that "kitsch" is the new thing? The fabric scraps, the yarn, the animal ceramics painted strange colors...it's all "in". Vintagy with a modern twist. Funky, but fresh.

I love it.

And I hate it.

It sounds bizarre doesn't it? I love things like:

(source, source, source)

The problem? It's really not me. I'd feel like I was trying to hard or something if I decorated my house like this...because it's not who I am. Sean defines it as "single me" - the way I would have decorated if I wasn't concerned about others. 

It's partially true. Maybe my style would have evolved to this if I didn't consider Sean's tastes (we do, after all, share a home). Maybe I just don't like the idea of spending money on things that will be out of style in a few years. Maybe I just can't help but think of the clutter in my grandma's home when I see photos like this. 

I think what it comes down to is that I like the idea of kitsch. I like that it's homemade. I like that it can be changed. I like that most of it is "upcycling". 

But it doesn't belong in my life. It doesn't belong in my home. I'm much more of a "classy" and "modern" person. 

But that doesn't mean I can't swoon every time I see a felt-covered, ribbon-wrapped, thrift-store saved pretty thing.