Watercolor paper flowers video tutorial!

The lovely ladies at 100 Layer Cake put together a video tutorial for the watercolor paper flowers I made for our wedding. Bonus - it shows you how I put the actual centerpieces together for quick onsite arrangement. Critical if you have a short set up window and can't be fussing with piles of flowers.

You can check it out here. And the click through photo tutorial is here.

It was so much fun to work with those girls, even though video makes me nervous. Luckily it's just hands, so you're spared the awkward grimaces that I make when I'm concentrating on crafts.

Watercolor drink tags template

{painting}

Anyone who was asking for the template for the watercolor drink tags from the shower - they're up today over at Emily's along with an easy tutorial. Head over there if you were looking for them!

I couldn't make them completely identical to the ones I used at the shower because it would have required you all to have Adobe Illustrator! But I think the tag template + handwriting the names is an easy option for a party and would work just as well. 

And a little follow up ...

Okay, so you should send thank you notes.

But what do you do if you can't figure out who to send them to? I'm giving my advice on the anonymous wedding gift dilemma over at esb's place this morning. Naturally, I couldn't match her clever brevity so I didn't even try.

Wedding, logistics + budget

I have a looong post up over on 100 Layer Cake right now, giving my take on wedding planning/budgeting. We ended up not really having a wedding budget. Yep. Hop over and check it out and feel free to ask questions in the comments. If you like, I can expand on the budget stuff over here sometime in the future. We did put a lot of thought into our non-budget, as weird as that sounds.

The wedding

{entrance - photo by melissa of happy confetti photography}

Our wedding is up over on 100 Layer Cake. There'll be posts up over there this week (including a few tutorials!) and I have posts lined up here, for the wordy bits that wouldn't quite fit. Feel free to settle down and hang out for a while. It's going to be a busy week.

The weekend, briefly

{baked}

{flower shopping spree}

{Malibu hills}

{granola making, resumed!}

{blogs + babies}

{yogurt stop}

{notes}

:: A project-y Saturday with a dear friend, hence the cakes + flowers.

:: A very quick stop at the vineyard to pick up our quarterly shipment (and the sad realization that we need to stop being members and only go up when we actually have time to enjoy it).

:: A bloggy get together on Sunday that involved multiple adorable babies. And lots of good food, as you might expect. None of it was contributed by me, because I decided to sleep in rather than cook.

:: If there is any way to detour through West Hollywood, we will brave the traffic and do it, solely for the joy that is Yogurt Stop. You guys don't understand how good it is - so good that I have actually stopped eating all other frozen yogurt, because it pales in comparison. So good that I will refrain from complaining about how long it takes to find parking, and I never miss a chance to whine about parking! Miraculous.

Guest post, part two

The second half of my guest post on sewing is up on Jamie's blog today - go check it out if you're looking for some suggestions on getting started with your machine! (The first post is right here, if you're looking for advice on machines and supplies)

Guest post

Hey kids! Still haven't had a chance to go through my photos this weekend, so nothing to look at today.

BUT, Jamie had her baby (!) and a few of us are contributing while she enjoys some time off. I have a guest post up today (part one of two) for those of you who might want to start sewing but feel intimidated. It isn't scary, I promise. You can check it out right here.

10 things

I'm over here today, sharing ten of my favorite things. Thanks, Emily!

HEARTS + HANDS (for japan)

Hello! I'm still around. A little overwhelmed with actual life. I even had pictures this week but still haven't gotten around to getting them off the camera. Soon. I hope. 

The ever inspiring Lynn is organizing an artist's benefit for Japan. In the face of devastation, it's hard to know what to do. But if everyone takes little steps, it can add up quickly (yes, I realize that sounded like one of those inspirational posters, only less thoughtfully phrased - sorry). As a nice side benefit, if you donate to the cause you also have a chance to win some wonderful gifts.

Around 80 artists (so far!) are generously donating pieces. 100% of the profits will go to relief efforts in Japan in the aftermath of the March 11th earthquake and tsunami. Please click over and check it out right here. You can see a list of links to the artists participating in the right hand column. The list is amazing, truly.

Guest post on A Practical Wedding

I'm over at Meg's place today, talking about making the decision to get married. It's a post that I've wanted to write for a while, but it didn't really seem like it fit over here, so I was thrilled when Meg asked if I could do it for APW. Head over and check it out if you'd like.

And yes, I've been reading wedding blogs for years. I actually discovered blogs when my sister got married and I was looking for an alternative to wedding magazines. Then I just never stopped. I mostly only read the personal ones because it's the experiences I love hearing about.

EDIT:

P.S. Thank you for all your sweet comments about the post and for the discussion over on the post itself! You  guys are amazing, as is the APW community and it's a pleasure to be surrounded by such smart, thoughtful people. And also, may I just say that I'm amazed you are all too nice to call me out for publicly admitting that I watched Friends? That was going to get deleted in the edits, but I left it in for historical accuracy. 

Valentine's Day 2011

This year I decided to play with crochet thread for the Valentine's Day cards. I just drew little lines with plain Elmer's glue and then stuck the thread right on. It looks like the glue will be really obvious but it flattens out a bit as it dries and it's fine. The balloons are just red felt hearts.

{valentine's day card 2011}

I was searching through my archives to see if I've adequately explained my Valentine's Day thing (obsessed, platonically) and I think I've covered it. In 2009 I gave it a whole week, complete with garlands, cookies, and cards. Oh, and I participated in Amanda's swap and Lauren and I became instant internet friends.

Last year Circe got a new bandanna and I sent goodies to Lily and became obsessed with her work (and eventually purchased two paintings that I treasure) and we became friends and I got goodies from cevd, who was already a friend. I can't find any record of my cards, but I definitely made brownies. Shaped like hearts.

In summary, Valentine's Day is good for friends.

Also, I haven't decided what to bake yet. But I still have several days for that.

Penpal project

I got a package from sweet Marta in the mail on Saturday  ...

{penpal project}

Wrapped perfectly, as always - I'll never get over her handwriting. These postcards are a collaboration between Marta and Summer, both of whom are seriously talented.

{postcards, wrapping}

I love getting personal mail, but I've gotten worse about sending it over the years. I used to have actual friendships that relied on letters because long distance calling was expensive and email didn't exist. Remember that? I would write long letters and then put fun stuff in the envelopes, like glitter. I'm sure people looooved getting those glitter bombs - that stuff sticks around for weeks. (I actually own over 30 different shades of fine glitter but D made me swear to retire them when we moved in together. He is not a fan.)

I'm going to make a vow to send more random mail this season and I can't wait to get these guys out into the world. If you want your own, they're available here. And when I wrote Marta to thank her for the sweet surprise, she offered a little discount for you guys. Enter HEARTOFLIGHT at checkout to get 15% off penpal project orders for today only. Blog friends are pretty wonderful.

Friday flowers (fabric edition)

Playing with flowers and stripes this week.

{stripes}

These sashes won't be in the shop for a while (um, possibly months, because I'm pretty far behind on my new listings as it is) but one of them will be offered as part of the giveaway for Liam. I thought it would be fun for someone to win the very first one and have it in time for the start of summer.

{stripey sashes}

I've already entered (did you notice that the Heath set that's been on my wish list is one of the items available? - that would allow me to neatly sidestep the whole hiatus issue, I think). Details are here.

So excited to be participating in ...

Starting today (Liam's birthday!) you can enter by making a donation here (click on one of the buttons in the sidebar to donate). There are so many truly amazing people donating goodies to be given away as prizes and I'm honored to be among them. My offering is in the works and I'll post pictures soon.

Lynn is the creative genius behind Satsuma Press, and her beautiful son Liam has Spinal Muscular Atrophy. You can read more about him here (or just look at the cute pictures) and there is wonderful interview with Lynn here where she talks about Liam and SMA. All proceeds will go towards renovations that will make the bathroom in their home fully accessible for Liam. This is a wonderful opportunity to help a fellow blogger and to possibly win some very fabulous prizes in the process.

For those of you who want to participate but can't donate directly, you can also be entered in the giveaway by spreading the word via your blog or twitter. Read Lynn's original post for details.

CAKES!

I saved my favorite topic for my last guest post on 100 Layer Cake. Make sure to read the comments as well, for a discussion of toxic vs. edible flowers. I totally used toxic flowers on my sister's cake and didn't realize it until a week after the wedding. Whoops. But no one died (or even got sick), so I don't feel too guilty about it.

Guest post - DIY details over at 100LC

For those of you with a thing for DIY details, I'm offering up some tips over at 100 Layer Cake today. Realistic, type A scheduling advice included.

Guest posting, this week

Guys, I'm guest posting over at 100 Layer Cake this week. I was a wee bit intimidated because, well, everything they post is lovely and I'm not a wedding expert. Repeat, not a wedding expert. Not even married yet.

But it was so much fun (and I have a new appreciation for all the work those girls do on a daily basis). I'll be posting about DIY related stuff, naturally.

My first post is up now. You can download my DIY reality check flowchart, which I have to admit I'm massively in love with, even if I am the one who created it.

And if anyone has wandered over here from 100 LC, welcome! Come browse through the DIY index or the food index, depending on what you feel like. Or just check out some pretty flowers.

More me

I did an interview over on the Design Boards blog - hop over if you've ever wondered what I would take for a year on a deserted island.

Style resolutions, updated

Curious to see how well I did with my style resolutions from last year? Hop over to Tea for Joy to find out.