Year of Fulfillment

There are certain years I will always remember. "Big years" in my life.

2003 will always be the year that opened my eyes to the world. I graduated from high school. It's the year I went to college, met Maggie, and truly realized the world didn't revolve around my friends and me.

208 will always be my year of growth. At the beginning of that year, I had just returned from living in Germany. I moved four times that year, from my parent's house (where I was storing all my stuff) back to Kalamazoo to finish my student teaching, within Kalamazoo, and finally to Chicago. In Chicago, in a matter of a week, I moved into my first and only apartment where I lived alone, started teaching, and started dating the man I would marry. It was scary, stressful, overwhelming, and exciting. Looking back, I was entirely unprepared and overly confident. 

2011 was a year of change. In January, we lost my Grandma to Alzheimer's. She was an intelligent, kind, and crafty lady. There's not a time when I use her hand me down sewing machine that I don't think of her. In April, Jeremy and I got engaged. In July, we moved in together. In August, we picked up our little guy, Mosby. In December, my sister and Tony got engaged, were about to move back to Chicago, and were quietly pregnant.

As you all may have guessed, 2012 was a big one. Jeremy and I got married. My sister had Sofia. Emily and Tony got married.

To remember that year, I made a Christmas ornament for Jeremy & I, and also one for Em & Tony.

I started with clear glass ornaments and our wedding invitations. 

Then, I cut the invitations into strips. I made sure to preserve the writing by cutting horizontally following the lines of print.

Then, starting with the most important lines of print, I rolled each line around my pinky.

And placed them inside the ornament.

Then, I placed the colored paper of the invitation into the ornament and placed the top back on.

Both Emily and Tony's and Jeremy and my invitation had ribbon. So, I used the ribbon as a way to hang the ornaments.

Here's a look at Emily and Tony's finished product.

And at Jeremy and my finished product.

I used small bulbs, because they were the only ones available. The larger bulbs would work too. I'm really pleased with the result. It was be a wonderful way to remember 2012, our very important year.

Which brings us to 2013. There's no way that 2013 can compete with the significance of 2012. I knew I wanted to make 2013 an important year, in it's own way.

I was introduced to a "New Year's Resolution" form by one of my fellow teachers. She was using it with her 4th graders, but I loved the idea.

The idea is to start with a word. One word, for the whole year.

I chose "fulfillment". I chose this because too often, I find myself "going through the motions". I go to work, come home, eat dinner, and watch TV. I find myself unhappy and dreading work. While work is an important part of my life, where I spend a lot of time, when I start to make work, and the problems there too important to me. They start to become my WHOLE life. And when things are tough at work (like this school year), I begin to feel unfulfilled.

So, here's where the rest of the resolution sheet comes in.

You have four sentences to finish, to help support your word of the year.

It looks something like this:

Word of the Year: fulfillment

What I want in 2013 is: to feel comfortable in my skin, by exercising and eating portion controlled, healthy foods.

What I need in 2013 is: to watch less TV.

What I will share in 2013 is: my blog with more people.

In 2013 I will succeed at: making a least one Etsy sale.

So, little by little, I am working towards feeling more fulfilled by using my goals.

I have been seeing some more of this:

Sorry for the blurry picture. I was trying to be sneaky, no one likes their picture taken at the gym.

And even when it's a little more effort, I've been saying 'yes' to seeing friends and family, instead of hunkering down in front of the TV.

1. Mom with besties Sofia & Mosby, 2. & 3. Phil Vasser concert with Lindsay, Lindsey, & Lauren  4. game night with Kenny, Rachel & baby Evie 5. night out with Stefanie & Mark

As for my other two goals (blog and Etsy), I'm working on making the time and gaining some confidence to share my blog more. A special thanks to those of you who give me such encouraging words & pass my blog on to others. 

I may have overdone the "getting off the couch" part, as I was sick all week. I'm a little behind on my blog, and hope to be back with another post later this week. I have an idea that I'm excited to work on and share.

Until then, keep crafting!

SB

A Fall Wedding

More Wedding Crafts

Hi Everyone!

We are back from my sister's wedding! It was wonderful! I feel so lucky to have been able to be a part of her and Tony's big day!

When I was up north two weeks ago, I had the chance to help out with some wedding crafts. My mom got REALLY crafty for Em's wedding. It turned out just GORGEOUS! (Much like my sister on her wedding day!).

We had just a GREAT time! I'll give you a little run down of the weekend, with some crafts thrown in!

So, we arrived on Friday. After the rehearsal, our Aunt Amy (with help from Aunt Cindy) hosted the rehearsal dinner. My sister and Tony invited all family members from both sides to celebrate at the dinner, so we had a packed house! It was fun catching up with all of our family and getting to know Tony's two sisters who came in from Australia and New Zeeland.

Our cousin, Jill, with Sofia! Jill and her sister, Kristen, were so AMAZING this weekend! They helped out Miss Sofia and even took her overnight both nights so Em and Tony could be rested!

It was so amazing to see them and their families all weekend! 

 And speaking of Kristen and Jill's families, Mosby made a friend in Jill's son, Parker. Parker was the first really little one who liked Mosby. I think that's more a testament to Parker's easy going nature than to Mosby's understanding of how to interact with one year olds.

   

And here's Tony with Sofia! Cute little outfit! 

Aunt Amy with Tony's sisters. Our family can be slightly overwhelming, but these ladies held their own!

 Here's our dad with his first born daughter.

 And first born granddaughter

Liza (the best ma'am) & me (the matron of honor)

The family of the hour!

And their beverages! (Bet you can't guess who each drink belongs to!)

SISTERS!

Emily got me a beautiful locket. We will put a picture of us at my wedding & a picture of us at her wedding inside. It is such a thoughtful gift; I just love it!

On Emily & Tony's wedding day (hooray!), we had lots of fun getting ready!

We woke up at the crack of dawn...

 ...Literally.

And we had fun getting ready.

And playing with Sofia.

On Wednesday, Emily texted me because she didn't have anything borrowed or blue. She asked if I could think of anything.

I decided to go for one last craft before the wedding.

Remember my wedding handkerchieves? 

I had made a special "I Do" hankie for myself. I decided that this would be something nice to borrow. But I wanted to add something blue to it.

 So on the opposite edge, I wrote in Jeremy and my initials and wedding date and Emily and Tony's initials and wedding date.

Then I embroidered them in blue. I thought it might be a nice family tradition to start. Someday, maybe Sofia will want to use the handkerchief when she gets married.

Anyways, we went to the ceremony and it went off without a hitch. Our childhood priest, Fr. Bill, married Emily and Tony. It was so wonderful to have someone who knows our family perform the ceremony. It made it feel very special.

After the ceremony, we went for pictures. 

We went to a park where the colors where just gorgeous!

Then I headed over to the reception to help my mom and dad set up.

When I was up north, I helped my mom gather little leaves for the escort cards. She had already done a lot of the gathering, and we looked for lots of different types of leaves.

Then, we glued the onto the escort cards.

 They turned out so cute!

While I was up north, my mom and I trying to figure out a cute place to put the gift cards that Emily and Tony were going to receive. 

We decided to get a HUGE pumpkin.

 

Paint a little plaque and letters.

 

And attached the plaque with ribbons. (There is plastic wrap inside the pumpkin so cards didn't get all "pumpkin-y".)

Emily, my mom, and the caterer, Carol, also design these beautiful centerpieces.

Didn't my dad to a great job carving all the pumpkins??

After the set-up, it was all fun! It was so fun to see all of Emily's friends!

Jeremy and I had a wonderful time dancing and chatting the night away. And of course, celebrating the beautiful couple.

Until next time, keep crafting.

SB

Bachelorette Party Invites

Bachelorette Party Invites

Hey All! Oh boy, it has been quite a week! The week began with me succumbing to the little flu bug that had been bothering me for a few days. I spent Monday and Tuesday mostly on the couch.

There's nothing like being totally useless and sick to:
1. Make you wish you still were little and lived with your mommy & daddy, so they could take care of you. (Is it ridiculous that I wish I could ask Jeremy to stay home from work and bring me popsicles when I'm sick?)
2. Put you SUPER BEHIND on so many things that you have to do!   

Even though I was sick/still recovering this week, I managed to get a lot done!
I finished our wedding thank yous (finally), got them sent out, went shopping for gifts for my sister's wedding shower, went shopping with my sister for my bridemaid dress for her wedding, went shopping AGAIN for the dress, because they didn't have my size at the first store, made Friday Treats for work (with Jeremy's help), made my craft for the wedding, ran 4 times, and finally went to my sister's wedding shower in Michigan yesterday.

Is it any wonder that I slept 14 hours last night and took a 2 hour nap today? Yup, that happened.

BUT it was totally worth it to spend 6 hours in the car looking at this yesterday.

Isn't she getting so big and beautiful?

And snapping this picture after the shower.

Cute little family

So, now, onto my craft for the week.

The week before the wedding, I am throwing my sister a bachelorette party. Of course, we needed invitations. So, I looked at some online and in a couple stores. They were all pink and black and just a little too "bachelorette party-y". Since Em wants this to be a lower key affair, they just didn't seem right.

So, I headed over to The Paper Source (I went to a store, but their website is great too) and picked up some fall colored supplies to go with the theme of their wedding.

And then I gave my sister about 5 options of neighborhoods/businesses were we could go get mani/pedis and sushi (I MAY have gone overboard).

Then, I was ready to print.

I am pretty impressed with myself for coming up with a printing idea. I wanted to have cute fall paper to print the invitations on, instead of plain white. So, I looked up a picture of fall leaves on google images. Then, in Microsoft Word, I went to "edit background" and inserted the picture of the leaves. I had to monkey with scale of the background and if I wanted it "muted" or not (I chose not). But, overall, it was an easy and inexpensive way to get patterned paper!

I started with two different colored big envelopes to put the invitations in. I also got little envelopes for the guests to send back their RSVPs. As you can see from the photo, if the guest had a big yellow envelope, they get a small red one and vice versa.

Next, I tackled putting together the RSVPs. The salon that we are going to wants to know ahead of time which services guest are getting. So, I added that to my RVSP. 

I also added a purple card. I put a note of explanation for the guests, but didn't take a great picture for you guys to see. The guests will use the purple card to write out their wildest, craziest, most bachelorette worthy moment with Em. Then we will all guess who wrote what.

I know my sister didn't want too many silly games, penis straws, and stuff like that, so I thought this would be a fun alternative. PLUS, I have never had my CRAZIEST moment with a friend at her bachelorette party. I have been to a bunch, they have all been fun, but usually by the time it's your turn to get married, your craziest days are behind you. I thought this might be a fun way to have my sister relive hers. 

Then, I put together the front. I added some twine to the edge, because I thought it made the card look a little more "fall-y".

And then, the inside spread. I used little pieces of masking tape to tape the front side of the pre-stuffed envelope (that already had my address) to the card, and then the RSVP instructions to the envelope.

And, then I was done! I was really happy with how they turned out! 

I'm off to run some errands and spend some time with Jeremy!

Until next time, keep crafting!

SB

Honeymoon Collage

Honeymoon Collage

This week and weekend has been all about playing catch up and getting organized. This was at work and at home. Because we were so busy once we got home from our honeymoon, I never felt like I settled back into home and a routine. I spent a lot of the day yesterday and this morning doing laundry, organizing, cleaning, and writing thank yous for the wedding (they WILL be in the mail this week).

My project this week is an extension on settling back in and getting organized. I lived in Germany for about four and a half months while I was doing my student teaching in college. Of course, I took a lot of pictures and gathered a lot of tickets, brochures, maps, and receipts. When I got home, I made a HUGE scrapbook and included both pictures and mementos.

For our honeymoon, I wanted to again take a lot of pictures and gather a lot of mementos. But this time, I had a slightly different plan for our mementos.

Here's a look at the finished product.

And there's how I got there...

I used one of the Target gift cards from our wedding to buy a 16x20 inch frame.

I gathered all of our mementos.

I cut a map of Heidelberg to fit the 16x20 frame. It's actually facing up and down when the map is read across, but since I just used it as a background, it doesn't really matter.

Jeremy likes the progress I'm making.

Then, I just kept layering different mementos until I got to the look Jeremy and I liked.

Here's the finished product out of the frame.

And the finished product in the frame.

Jeremy and I both REALLY like this project. It's in our dining room, and as I'm typing this, I keep glancing over to look at it. It's a fun reminder of our wonderful honeymoon.

And now I'm off to get ready for the Boulevard Fest. Jeremy and I are heading there with some friends (if it doesn't rain).

Until next time, keep crafting!

SB